Trails Club of Oregon Board Meeting Minutes
Date: 2/11/25 Time: 7:00-9:00 PM Location: zoom
Attendees:
President: Bev Drottar
Vice President: Eric Zimmerman
Treasurer: Nicole Rogers
Secretary: Rebecca Knudeson
Publications: Joel Reitz
Membership: Lori Leach
Tyee Trustee: Paul Cutter
Nesika Trustee: Pete Recksiek
Trips Trustee: Craig Gwydir
Outdoor Ed/Outreach Trustee: Vacant
Committee Chairs: Dolores Niebergall (Leave No Trace),
Jeffrey Churchill (social)
Guest: Chris Monte (financial advisor)
REGULAR BUSINESS
Minutes were approved by email prior to the Blazer publication.
Financial Report, Chris Monti
Chris, a TCO member, has volunteered the last 15 years to manage our investment fund, saving the Club the steep fees we previously paid. He meets with the Board every year to touch base about our Fidelity investment fund. We are in a balanced fund position right now. We want to make sure we have cash enough to cover emergencies and any deficit while maintaining and growing the principal.
Treasurer’s Report, Nicole
Beginning Balance, 1/25/25: $8,681.71
Checks and Payment: 859.50
Deposits and Credits: 3,508.73
Cleared Balance: 11,330.94
Comprehensive reports for January financials can be found at: Monthly Treasurer's Reports -
Dropbox
The most current Fidelity statement value is $452,028.
We received payments and application forms from Ken Potter and Juergen Steinhart for Nesika
keys. One new membership application was uploaded on 2/9/25 to: Membership Applications
- Dropbox
Membership Report, Lori
The tabling at the Oregon Ocean Paddling Society (OOPS) was well received. Approximately 60 people attended. The winner of the raffle, one night for four people, will schedule for a summer
visit to Tyee.
Provisional:
Cara Nixon sponsored by Sebastian Powers-Leach and Nancy Schmidt
First Readings:
Patty Toland - Sponsored by Sheryl Wagner and Lori Leach
Rebecca Sexton - Sponsored by Helen Wang and Pete Recksiek
Second Readings all unanimously approved:
Abraham Chung - Sponsored by Tom Thrall and Lori Leach
Emiko Chung - Sponsored by Tom Thrall and Lori Leach
Bob Sauer - Sponsored by Paul Cutter and Nicole Rogers
Eric Eisinger - Sponsored by Paul Cutter and Lori Leach
The Board voted 8 in favor and 1 opposed to grant Eric Eisinger a one year membership for his
work as a nonmember on the Tyee septic emergency last month.
Total membership: 283
9 Golden, 2 Junior, 32 Life, 3 Life/Golden, 21 Provisional, 216 Regular
There are 55 members who have not paid this year’s dues. Lori will contact them.
Publications Report, Joel
Jeff Churchill (social chair) is using a new email: Jeffrey Churchill, jeffrey.t.churchill@gmail.com
Joel is doing regular maintenance on our website.
Nesika Report, Pete
The access road has been clear of snow and trees through late January. Bob Walker replaced the battery of the generator on January 28th. He looked at the tractor, which didn’t start, and we agreed there is a fuel problem to be addressed in the spring. Dave Lechter hauled and stacked rounds in the parking lot. He was unable to get out on January 30th, so his rig is stuck in the lodge parking lot for the season. He covered it with a tarp and hiked out. $432 in dues and lodge fees were collected during New Years’ Eve weekend.
Pete is getting the extinguishers certified. It will be $20 each. He ordered some more, a carbon dioxide detector and some exit signs.
Tyee Report, Paul
The lodge was open every weekend in January but had to close abruptly on Sat 1/25 when Sheryl Wagner reported to Paul that the toilets had completely backed up. Sheryl and her friend, Eric, spent 5-6 hours attempting to clear the problem with no success. As the underground system has no convenient clean-outs, the only option was to work in the confinement of a 4ft crawl space. The lodge closed and twelve people were sent home. Lori Leach and Paul rented a rod pusher the following Monday, sledded the equipment to the lodge and fought the system for six hours and another four Tuesday. Amazingly, a Gresham sewer contractor answered their call, met them in Government Camp and bid the project at $600. The following Tuesday, Cory, Chris and Paul sledded up a pressure washer and a camera and locator. Three hours later, the blockage was located, all pipes cleared, photographed, flushed and located. Paul now has an extensive map of the pipe layout. He asked Chris, the contractor, for an estimate to have two, two-directional clean-outs installed. Two are needed as the men's and women's bathroom pipes join under six feet of snow this time of year. Therefore they would need to be located nearer the lodge. Paul asked several long time members whether they recall if and when the septic was ever pumped. Richard Gaunt had no knowledge of it. Randy Dietrich has not replied. Cost is $700 for 1000 gallons and 65¢ for each gallon over 1000 gallons.
Paul gave NW Trackers date options as their weekend was cancelled in early February. Apart from all this, things are good at the lodge. Paul sent the lodge numbers for 2024 to the Forest Service recently. We had five youth groups with a total 250 nights. Total revenue was $10,500 offset by the work-in-lieu of $3,457 earned. He heard from Catherine Dillion, the FS Organization Camp Coordinator, that they received our numbers and are going to work on the billing at the end of the month.
NEW Tyee Business:
Paul received an estimate of $2200 from the septic contractors to install 2 clean-outs at Tyee.
A septic tank pump-out will cost $700. He is asking the Board to consider these expenses. The
clean-outs could have prevented the need to bring in professional help. The discussion was
tabled until no later than May’s meeting since the work would be done in the summer.
Trips Report, Craig
In January, there was 1 snowshoe and 1 day hike.
The TCO Stormy Trails Committee did not evaluate the Multnomah Basin trails in January. We hope to examine the condition of the basin trails (Franklin Connector trail, Cougar Rock trail, High Water trail) in mid-late February. It is expected there will be obstacles to remove from those trails.
Other trails news:
Bonneville Hot Springs (BHS) reopened under new leadership Jan 31, 2025. It costs $10/car to park within the BHS west lot. A USFS pass is not accepted as the trailhead is located on private land. The trail formerly known as the Dick Thomas trail is reopened and clear of debris. The BHS ownership is considering a rename of the Dick Thomas trail to Carpenters Meadow trail. There is currently (Feb 2025) clear access to Aldrich Butte, the PCT, Two Chiefs trail and Greenleaf Falls from Bonneville Hot Springs.
Please email tripschair@trailsclub.org if you are interested in assisting with trail work, including
trail scouting, restoration and maintenance.
Call for help: If you are interested in learning about adventures on the Multnomah Plateau and willing to help co-lead hikes and/or join a TCO trips planning committee, please join our "TCO Hike Leaders Meeting" this month, or send questions to tripschair@trailsclub.org.
Outdoor Education & Outreach Committee
Board level trustee needed!! If you want to know more about this position, please contact
president@trailsclub.org
Leave No Trace Committee, Dolores
Dolores had a one hour phone meeting with Elise Robinson, Manager of Training and Programs at lnt.org, to make sure her messaging is inline with the copyright and shareable information from Leave No Trace. Elise reviewed Dolores’ presentation notes and made a few recommendations for changes to better accommodate those with color blindness. Dolores has developed two versions of Leave No Trace Trailhead talks (one minute or less). She plans to work with the Trips Chair to incorporate the 7 Principles of Leave No Trace into training of new trips leaders.
She completed a three day solo planning retreat to develop an approximately 20 minute
interactive presentation using Key Note (Apple Version of Power Point) to teach Leave No
Trace. The presentation is to be done in person, it is not to be recorded for later viewing.
lnt.org has many high quality videos for the public to access for free. She believes it will be
helpful to have some links for lnt.org on our web page.
Dolores plans to offer the presentation at pub talks, community centers, libraries, at specific pre arranged Trails Club Lodges Membership events (with permission of, and coordination with, the lodge hosts and trip leaders ) and any place that we can gather an audience. She’s working with Social Committee Chair, Jeff Churchill, to locate venues available for free and to get some talks on the calendar as soon as possible.
She has made handouts (attached for board members to view) to advertise the talks and is willing to give a blitz of these talks if it can be arranged.
A member, Sanjana Sachdeva, has created a bingo/scavenger game for children. The committee would like to locate a relatively remote north coast beach for a hike/cleaning event. SOLV of Oregon will provide tools. The committee hopes to lead a couple of Leave No Trace Meetup hikes this year. Dolores is volunteering with Cascade Volunteers to train trailhead hosts in the Willamette National Forest. She has written the role for the Leave No Trace Committee for Club use. She plans to check with the Mazamas about their Leave No Trace messaging and possibly collaborating. She and Joel will add a Leave No Trace section on the TCO web page.
OLD BUSINESS
501(c)3 Status, Lori
Lori sent an email to StartChurch regarding our progress. Our member language has been a challenge, but they are working with the State to get us into compliance. We should know more soon.
NEW BUSINESS
Cordora House requested to use Tyee 1 day of the March 8 or 9 weekend. The Board unanimously approved.
Social Chair, Jeff Churchill
Jeff is looking for anyone interested in the Social Committee to contact him. He’s looking at
dates for the Annual Banquet, summer picnic and Annual Meeting.
TCO’s Policies & Practices Document, Bev and Lori
Lori has worked on the creation of a document for the more changeable topics that were left out of the new bylaws. Our discussion focused mostly on how to approach the document, division of labor and technical difficulties. Each of us will focus at least on areas related to our specific role in the Club. Our goal is to get the document on our website by summer. Lori, Eric and Jeff will work on technical issues related to the document.
Meeting Adjourned at 9:16
Next meeting: Tuesday Mar 11, 2025, 7-9pm zoom at https://zoom.us/j/9061187636?
pwd=QWdNaVBvRFE4NGU0VUZpNUZBb1Z0UT09
Submitted by Rebecca Knudeson, Secretary
