The Cedar Milers

Monday, November 12, 2007

Dar Parrow, Club President began the meeting at 7:30 after the social period from 7:00 to 7:30PM. The meeting was conducted in the Sycamore Room of the Beaverton Community Center. We had ten members present.

National News

Recent Federal legislation affects all Volkswalking clubs. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act seeks to improve financial reporting in large corporations, but non-profits are also voluntarily complying. The chief aspects of the act are:

• The organization must have a policy for funds expenditures.
• Documents are required for reimbursements.
• There should be an approval chain before a check is written – someone other than the Treasurer must be part of the process.
• Organizations should use accounting software. The goal is for organizations to be above reproach in their accounting practices. Our informal reimbursement policy should be refined, to ensure receipts are collected to justify reimbursement requests. Someone other than Nancy should approve club expenditures.
• The AVA has set a new policy on Pre-walks: there is no such thing. Worker’s Walks are fine, but participants must later work at the walk.
• Books are to be stamped on the day of the event, not earlier.
• The affiliation with Goodsearch has earned $80 in commissions for the AVA. If you visit the AVA Website and click the link to Goodsearch, it adds to the commission the AVA receives.

Reminders

• Extended information about events must be entered 60 days prior to the event.
• Stamps must be postmarked within ten days after an event.
• After Action reports are due NLT 30 days after an event, or by the end of the quarter, whichever is sooner.
• Annual updates regarding club information are required even if no changes occurred.
• All event stamps are considered 'damaged' at this point, but the extra fees still apply if the stamp is returned in worse shape then when it was issued. There is only one manufacturer for these types of stamps, making them difficult to replace.

Regional News

The next meeting of AVA Regional Directors is December 1st. Becky Forsythe has 14 agenda items for which she sought input.

1. How to handle monies generated by the special programs.
2. There is currently no limit on the number of special programs. It is currently set at 15, but there actually 20.
3. Remove the $100 limit on purchases of IVV awards placed on Regional Directors.
4. Make the information about forming new clubs more accessible on the AVA Website.
5. Sanctioning of Canoeing Events, which will be 1,500 – 2,000 meters in length.
6. Sanctioning of Kayaking events, which will also be 1,500 to 2,000 meters long.
7. Holding National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings mid-week to reduce airfare costs.
8. Revising the NEC handbook on reimbursements for travel expenses for meeting attendance.
9. A special stamp for the Air Force Global events.
10. Changing Seasonal Events sanctioning to 90 days prior, and changing the policy language so that the event could actually meet the less-than-eleven-month definition.
11. Changing 'Regular' to 'Traditional' when describing Hosted events. This removes any stigma from the name applied to 'Year Round Events.'
12. Marketing of AVA Gift Cards. They are limited to IVV Credit, not redeemable for cash or merchandise.
Coupon booklets: a 9-event for $25 and a 20-event for $55. These will be sold by the AVA Store and by clubs at events.
13. NEC members wish to be provided with two shirts, a windbreaker and a ball cap. Each with some sort of distinctive identification so that NEC members will be easier to identify at events. This was one of the few agenda items we had a strong opinion about. We felt expenditures for these items should be limited to a maximum of $75 - $100 for the package.

State News, Walk Oregon Challenge

• Participants may buy the patch upfront with the booklet that tracks the entries.
• For 2007, the Four F’s were added: Forests, Festivals, firehouses and Flowers.
• For 2008, the Four W’s will be added: Watering Holes, Waterways, Water Towers and Water Treatment plants.
• For 2009, the Four M’s: Museums, Murals, Marinas, and Mountains.
• Retired Programs: Festivals, Beavers, Flowers, and Park Trails. The stock of patches for these events is exhausted, so these programs are no longer available.
• Still active WOC Programs: Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall, Pioneer Churches, Vineyards, Covered Bridges, Waterfalls, Walk Oregon Duck, Namesakes, plus others.
• R.I.P., Northwest Walking Magazine. The last issue will be next month – December.

Cedar Miler Club News

Starting Point Books: We discussed the prospective purchase and decided not to order any of the 2008 books. We only sold one of the 2007 books for full price, followed by two at discounts. The remainder went for $2.00 each, resulting in an overall loss to the club.

Group Walks: The Group Walk for December is cancelled, but we will still have them the day before our monthly meetings. Dar will come up with a schedule for 2008.

Special thanks went out to Carol Reed for her superior trail marking efforts on our walks. Dar presented her with a framed Certificate Of Thanks.

Our Wilsonville walk was well attended, with 260 participants. We had 137 walk for credit, 109 non-credit, and 14 workers. We received many compliments, great weather, and served as the host of the November OTSVA meeting. We received $436.00 in registration fees, $43.50 in donations and three Free Walker coupons from New Walker Packets. We probably need a new sign for our donations jar.

Thanks to Bill Carley for offering his store as our Start/Finish. He accepted the Thorlo Sock coupons, even though the coupons were clearly labeled for a different store.

Nancy is in Hawaii, so there was no Treasurer’s Report at this meeting. There is approximately $1,500 in our account.

All of our Year-Round Events were approved for 2008!

• Don Menicozy produced a new Bridges Of Washington County route.
• Dar and Colleen scouted a new Parks of Murrayhill walk. Dar found a new pathway between 155th and Gearheart Drive. She’s hoping there is a path in the wooded area near the intersection of Maverick Terrace and Sexton Mountain Road. If you are familiar with the area, please contact her. Dar will produce a new map.
• Will and Wendy Bumgardner explored a new route called Roxbury Park. It passes through the Wallhouse neighborhood. Will needs to provide a map and directions ASAP.
• Dar plans to update our email list. She will remove all names who have not responded to emails, do not appear to have participated in a walk, or do not appear to have attended more than one meeting.
• To help boost membership, new member sign-up sheets and a display were created for use at our walks. (Dar created them? Your Secretary neglected to ask.)
• To this end, we need new business cards. Our current cards have our old meeting location information on them. Will Glessner created the business cards in Microsoft Publisher and still has the files on his computer, making the update a simple process.
• Dar is working to involve the Girl Scouts with our walks. While the Girl Scout Website promotes Volkswalking with their own awards, the local Pacific Crest Council contact has not returned Dar’s calls. Dar will attempt an in-person meeting at their headquarters.
• We have several opportunities to improve our walk advertising. With fourteen days advance notification, we can get a coverage in the A&E section of The Oregonian. The Washington County Weekly has a similar deadline. Dar has obtained contact information for both publications. Providence Health Centers will also publicize our walks in their organization. Anita forwarded a copy of our Wilsonville Walk ad to them.

Christmas Party: mark your calendar (or re-mark it) for November 9th. We will meet at 5:00PM, at the Sunset Athletic Club. We’ve been asked to park outside the area as the parking lot is reserved for members of the club. There is a shortage of tables at the club. If you plan to attend, and have a card table handy, please bring it, as well as a few folding chairs. Please contact Dar if you can help with setup, and to RSVP. Don’t forget to bring a White Elephant gift for the exchange. AND this is a Pot-Luck, so bring a dish to share. The club will provide the main course, plates, etc. We hope to see you there!

Our 2008 Hosted Events

• Kaiser Sunset Clinic: Dar has obtained permission to use this as our start/finish. We will host this walk on Saturday, March 15th and make it our St. Patrick’s Day Walk.
• Cedar Park Middle School: Saturday, May 17th. The walk needs a lead person.
• Hiteon Grade School: Saturday, July 19th. Needs a lead person.
• Stub Stewart State Park: Saturday, October 11th. Will Glessner will make arrangements for the start/finish and lead the walk. He explored this extensively in November with Wendy Bumgardner and both were highly impressed.
• Christmas themed walk: Ruth Cummings suggested a December walk with a Christmas theme. It would be the first Sunday in December, 2008. We will see what the other clubs are doing so that we do not interfere.
• We discussed having another teddy bear collection at the Christmas party. We felt that we should hold off as our last collection gathered so many.

Next Meeting Monday, January 11th, 7:30PM. We will meet at the Beaverton Community Center, in the Sycamore Room.

Sincerely Yours;
Will Glessner,
Cedar Milers Secretary