Villages Hiking Club – General Membership Meeting Minutes (via Zoom) 22-Feb-2021
1. Called to Order: 7:31pm by President Al Girolami
2. Attending Board Members:
President – Al Girolami
VP Hiking & Trails – Faye Swanson
VP Social – Michelle Breslin
VP Membership & Website – Jim Beyer
Treasurer – Sandy Petrin
Secretary – Gordon Carbonetti
Total members in attendance: 24
3. Reports
President
· Al confirmed all Board members were present.
· Al introduced the guest speaker: Justin Wang, Advocacy Manager for the Greenbelt Alliance, and he will speak at the end of the General Meeting.
· Al advised all events scheduled thru March 2021 (incl Game Night, Trail Maintenance Day and Club Meetings) have been cancelled by the Villages. He further advised we are considering a smaller-scale volunteer trail workday, and for those interested to help out should contact any Board member. Health/safety protocols will be followed. Finally, Al mentioned he noticed some nice work has been accomplished on some of the upper trails. He said he does not know the person or persons involved, but they are likely HC Members, and he would like to thank them.
· Al provided an update on the following Hiking Club (HC) projects being worked with the Villages Board – #1 Re-work the Steps Trail into a gentler, single switchback trail to be performed by a third party, #2 Install new Picnic Table in NE corner of the Hill Lands, near signpost 50 at the second highest spot in the Hill Lands, #3 Install sign-In mailbox at the Joe Marsh trailhead and #4 create and install 2-by-3-foot map/signs at each trailhead. These projects have been under consideration by the Villages Board for a couple months. Al hopes to get a response from the Villages management in the next few months.
· Al reminded all that HC monthly minutes, financials and schedule of events are available on-line on the Villages website through the Hiking Club Portal.
Secretary
· Gordon presented the minutes from the last General membership meeting on January 25, 2021. With no questions, Gordon made a motion to approve the minutes which was seconded by Cheryl Allmen, and the motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer
· Sandy presented the following financial reports for January 2021:
January 2021 General Fund
Beginning balance as of December 31, 2020 $4,648.80
Income – membership dues (John Chambers) $7.00
Income – membership dues (Annie Ho) $7.00
Income – membership dues (Kim Abelson) $7.00
Total income $21.00
Balance $4,669.80
Expenses
Chk#1670 Donation to Silicon Valley Humane Society (Roy Wash) $50.00
Chk#1671 Dues refund to Heroilda Martinez $7.00
Total expenses $57.00
Ending balance as of January 31, 2021 $4,612.80
January 2021 Hiking Club Hill Lands Project Fund
Beginning balance as of December 31, 2020. $2,801.82
No Income or Expenses $0.00
Ending Balance as of January 31, 2021 $2,801.82
· Sandy also said the HC received $1,932.00 from the Villages for 2021 annual member dues. This amount will be reflected in the February 2021 financial report in the March 2021 meeting. At $7 per member, this amount covers 276 members.
· Al reminded all that at year-end 2020 $500 was transferred from the General Fund to the Hill Lands account to provide additional funds for improvements to our Hill Lands.
· The preceding financial reports were approved by a motion made by Jim Beyer and seconded by Michelle Breslin, and it passed unanimously.
· Sunshine Committee – Ruth DePonzi retired in early February 2021. Al asked Terri Vivoli to create and send Ruth a retirement card with the HC’s appreciation for always willing to support our group. In her long career in the Villages Activities Office, Ruth was most helpful and cheerful in all her dealings with the HC. The HC is sad to see her go, and she will be missed. Al said the card was fantastic, and surely well received. Thanks again to Terri for her efforts.
VP Membership & Website
· Jim reported there were a total of 280 current members. There were no new members in February to date.
· Jim reminded everyone that all minutes are being posted on the website.
VP Hiking & Trails
· Faye said informal hikes are going well given current events. Recent hikes have covered Rambler-Lite, Rambler and Hill Hike categories. Again, Faye gave thanks to Sy Gelman (Rambler) and Bonnie Preston (Rambler-Lite) for their efforts to lead hikes with interested HC members.
· Faye promoted the Hill Hikes as a good opportunity to discover and learn about the beautiful Hill Lands of the Villages. Russ Glines usually hikes into the Hill Lands every Wednesday and Saturday departing at 8:45am from the Foothill parking lot or above that at the stables parking area. Russ is always happy to have people join him, and he is willing to tailor the hike to the preferences and abilities of the members joining him. Since Russ is very knowledgeable about the Hill Lands, he can share that expertise with anyone interested. Several of us have learned a lot from Russ. Also, Russ is considering starting some hikes in the lower-elevation trails to attract some new hikers to the vast expanse of the Hill Lands.
· Faye is thinking we could organize informal trail maintenance days more than once a year. If we can get tools up in the Hills as necessary, then all we need are volunteers.
· Faye is thrilled we have several opportunities to get people out and active to enjoy our Hill Land trails without hiking alone.
· There was a suggestion by Wate for long hikers going on hikes “off campus” to wildflower areas reasonably close to the Villages. As more and more people get vaccinated, he said we should seriously consider this even though carpooling may be challenging. Faye is looking at a possible Coyote Ridge hike in March if we can get a reservation.
VP Social
· Due to the Pandemic, Michelle reported no events are planned for the next few months.
· Michelle was thinking about the possibility of increasing exposure to the HC by putting together a little scavenger hike where hikers can photograph some pre-determined locations in the Hill Lands, with a prize of a HC T-shirt for some of the first people to visit all locales. She is scouting the area for such locations.
· If we end up doing volunteer trail maintenance, Michelle said we might be able to supply participants with snacks.
· Al reminded all that HC events always need volunteers to perform various tasks, and he urged HC members to sign up to participate and support.
4. Guest Speakers – From the Greenbelt Alliance (www.greenbelt.org) – Justin Wang – Advocacy Manager (jwang@greenbelt.org). Justin gave an informative talk on “Conservation and Urban Planning in the South Bay”.
· Justin grew up and lives in the South Bay, and attended UCLA. He loves hiking in the local area with Castle Rock near the top of his list.
· Greenbelt Alliance is a non-profit land conservation and urban planning entity. It is one of 10 organizations which receives an annual donation from the Villages HC.
· Its mission is to assist in shaping the rules that govern Bay Area growth in order to protect our open spaces and ensure our neighborhoods are great for everyone. Furthermore, Greenbelt Alliance educates, advocates and collaborates to ensure the Bay Area’s lands and communities are resilient to a changing climate.
· Greenbelt envisions a Bay Area of healthy, thriving, resilient communities made up of lands and people that are safe during climate disasters and recover quickly from wildfire, floods and drought, where everyone is living with nature in new and powerful ways for generations to come.
· They work at the local and regional level to develop land-use decision with a climate resilience lens and to create the places and landscapes we all deserve to enjoy now and into the future.
· In order to deliver on the mission, they have 3 pillars of focus– Climate risk research (conservation decisions are prioritized based on data-driven multi-climate hazard risks), accelerating climate resilience (working with local municipalities to ensure local weather and fires are not as harmful to the environment through land-use decisions) and Climate SMART (Sustainable, Mixed, Affordable, Resilient, Transit-oriented) development where communities across the Bay Area need to reduce emissions and build climate resilience.
· What they want to achieve is forward looking policy decisions that point to solutions to prepare the Bay Area for wildfires, floods and droughts. They also want natural and working lands restored to reap climate resilience benefits, and for the developments they endorse will create communities of the future.
5. Next Meetings
· General Membership – Monday, March 29, 2021 at 7:30pm, via Zoom with details to follow. Speaker – Lt. John Nores, Retired California Fish & Game Warden and author, speaking about our wild lands. In April Al is planning to secure a speaker about the Coyote Project.
· Next Board Meeting – Thursday, March 25, 2021 at 9:30am, via Zoom with details to follow.
6. Meeting Adjourned – The meeting adjourned at 8:38pm
Respectfully submitted,
Gordon Carbonetti – Secretary