Trails Club of Oregon Board Meeting Minutes  
             Date: July 14, 2026                   Time: 7:00-9:00            PM Location: Zoom  

Attendees:  
Vice President:                                  Eric Zimmerman  
Treasurer:                                          Sydney Jackson  
Secretary:                                          Rebecca Knudeson  
Publications:                                      Joel Reitz  
Tyee Trustee:                                     Eric “Zinger” Eisinger  
Nesika Trustee:                                  Pete Recksiek  
Trips Trustee:                                     Craig Gwydir  
Outdoor Ed/Outreach Trustee:           Sebastian Powers-Leach                         

Absent:  
President:                                           Bev Drottar  
Membership:                                       Lori Leach  

REGULAR BUSINESS  

By email in between board meetings, the following votes were unanimously approved:  
The June minutes on 6/15/26 prior to the Blazer publication.  
On 7/1/26  the use of Tyee by Scout Troop 396, West Linn, on 11/14-15/26.  
On 7/2/26, $800 for Nesika’s spring box cover replacement.  

Treasurer Report, Sydney  

Beginning Balance,  5/30:          $16,331.01  

Cleared Balance, 6/30/26:          $11,803.53  

We are officially moved into the 501(c)(3) Tech Soup - discount QuickBooks, and the old  
QuickBooks subscription is cancelled. (But, we are still able to access this information.)  
The migration process has unfortunately been a nightmare! Only about 70% of the information came into the new one and after many calls with QuickBooks, they said this was the best that the software will do.  
Sydney has worked the books so that balances currently tie, but for the following month, she’s going to dig into specific transactions so that the reports are clean and easy to understand for 2026.  
Complete reports can be found by the Board on google drive.  

Membership Report, Lori  
Membership readings, all unanimously approved:  
Debra Dia, Sponsored by Cara Nixon and Lori Leach  
Sierra Wolf, Sponsored by Pete Recksiek and Rob Parker  
Brian Francis, Sponsored by Nora Tanner and Julia Carroll  
David Hoffman, Sponsored by Joel Reitz and Mark Barham  
Richer Schenker, Sponsored by Sebastian Powers-Leach and Eric Zimmerman  
Membership summary: 265 Total  
8 Golden, 3 Junior, 34 Life, 4 Life/Golden, 13 Provisional, 203 Regular  

Publications Report, Joel  
Nothing to report.

Nesika Report, Pete  
On June 13, Pete Recksiek hosted a volunteer weekend. Boards were delivered and painted to replace the curled siding. Lodge windows were cleaned, wood was processed, and the water system drained and refilled.   

On June 28, Pete Recksiek and Rob Parker cleared the road of overgrowth from the lodge  
parking lot to the Multnomah Creek Bridge to accommodate traffic for next weekend’s July 4th opening. The spring box was found to have caved in, and a temporary cover was built by Rob. The spring box was cleaned of debris and the water system drained and refilled. Oil was changed in the generator and Kubota.    

On July 3, the lodge was opened for recreational use by hosts Pete Recksiek and Nina Rohrs for the long holiday weekend. Around 20 members and nonmembers attended, enjoying the beautiful weather and fireworks shows from the point. Pete led a hike around the Nesika Loop Trail, taking a break along Multnomah Creek to dip in the refreshing water. Rob Parker continued his dedication to exterminate the rodents by chasing a rat across the grass with a barbecue spit, unsuccessfully. Don’t give up, Rob!  

Carl Buchanan applied for a Nesika key request. Board unanimously approved.  

Tyee Report, Eric Zinger  
Paul Cutter hosted a Catlin Gable school group for a week and a group from Costa Rica. The lodge is in great condition. Paul washed the chair covers.  

Foundation leaks: Excavation around the wood chute found a cave eroded underneath. Eric filled it with 400 lbs of concrete and built a curb to divert water. He replaced the perforated  
drain line with solid line from above the wood chute down to near the septic tank. He also  
graded between the lodge and woodshed to move water away.  

Trips Report, Craig  
There was 1 day hike, 1 backpack trip, and the Wednesday night hikes continued through  
June.  
When examined on June 14, there were no obstacles on the Basin trails; however, some of the Basin trails had brushy overgrowth (ferns) in short sections. These brushy sections should be cleared by the next Nesika work party weekend.  
Significant work had been done in June (thanks Rob Parker and team!) clearing brush from   Multnomah Basin road towards the Nesika Lodge parking lot.  

Outdoor Ed and Outreach, Sebastian Powers-Leach  
The OEO Committee hosted our Tyee Open House on Saturday, July 11th. We welcomed 9  guests to come see the lodge, learn about the club, and chat with current club members.  
Overall, it was a positive experience and also informative on how we can improve similar future outreach events. Special thanks to Julia Carroll, Tom Thrall, Nora Tanner, Mary Beth  
Sadlouskos, Greg Barrell, and Eric Zimmerman for volunteering their time and resources to  
help put on this event!!  
Tom Thrall (assisted by Julia Carroll) lead an Intro to Backpacking overnight at Tyee on July 10th. They had several participants, and practiced skills one would need for a short  
backpacking trip. The Committee hopes to organize similar educational events in the future.  
If you are interested in joining the Outdoor Education and Outreach Committee, or are  
interested in occasionally helping with our events, please email oeo@trailsclub.org for more  info!

OLD BUSINESS  

Website, Payments & Email, Eric Z  
The payment form is working. trailsclub.org/pay/ is live and has taken real payments at both  Nesika and Tyee, plus $20 in donations, our first donations since gaining 501(c)(3) status.  

For Sydney: Stripe now shows the lodging / meals / donation breakdown on every transaction, so donations can be reported separately from lodge revenue without hand-sorting.  
For the lodge chairs: Nesika and Tyee each have a password-protected page listing the last 90 days of payments, so hosts can check a guest in without asking for a receipt. Joel will change Stripe payout date from the 1st to the 28th to improve bookkeeping cutoffs. He will also remove lodge/meal product from WooCommerce to separate it from membership dues  
checkout.  

Pete will verify Nesika Stripe payment from the July 4th weekend.  

Payment defect was found and fixed this week. Bank transfers (ACH) take several days to  
clear, and the form was wrongly telling members those payments had failed. One member paid four times as a result and was refunded. It now shows such payments as “clearing,” prevents duplicate payments, and alerts the Treasurer if a transfer ever bounces. (Eric will follow up with the member directly.)  

Email migration to Google is ready. Our mail setup has been replicated to Google Workspace and is ready to cut over on July 20-24, subject to aligning schedules with Joel. The Club’s Blue Host email services will be migrated to google email.  

Steinle Challenge Grant, Rebecca  
Longtime member, Robert Steinle, has offered a challenge grant now that TCO holds 501(c)(3) status. He will match member donations dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000, plus a $1,000 bonus if members hit that ceiling within a set time period, up to $11,000 to the Club. The Board moved and unanimously approved to go ahead with Robert’s challenge.  
We decided to hold the fund raiser from mid September through November, allowing us to  
promote it at the annual meeting and to complete it before the holiday season. We discussed projects the lodges need. Right now, the Forest Service road to Nesika needs to be graded. Tyee needs new siding. The lodge chairs will bring other ideas to September’s meeting. Google Sheets was suggested to track non-cash/in-kind donations. IRS thresholds that require a written acknowledgment are $250 for cash and $500 for non-cash donations.  
Lori and Rebecca will draft the Challenge Grant details, with Joel’s help, and present it at the September meeting.  

Threadneedle  → Fidelity Transfer   
No news. Bev can contact Chris. Eric will follow up.  

501(c)(3) follow-on filings  
Bev was to sign the Business Annual Report and the Department of Justice registration form. In her absence, nobody was able to report on this action. Bev can send a written update or report on it in September. These are statutory filings with deadlines; a two-month drift is worth avoiding.  

Nesika tractor removal
The old tractor was pushed outside the garage. Pete is still working on placement and a  
removal strategy. They will try to get it going to move it out.  

Water Bars, Basin Road  
No work has been done as of June since the crews are working on fires. The Forest Service  planned to complete the road repair this summer. Pete should be contacted by anyone who  wants to go in midweek.    

NEW BUSINESS  
None  

Adjourned at 8:20  
Next meeting, September 8,  Zoom  

Submitted by Rebecca Knudeson, Secretary