TriTrog Officer Meeting Conference Call Minutes 11/14/2007

Participants: Howard Holgate, Mike Broome, Mark Little, John Plyler, and Ken Walsh

Jerry Reynolds of the museum is changing our meeting location to a third floor classroom this month only. We’ll need to post someone at the door. Mike will send out the meeting location change along with the notice.

Regarding running the photo gallery again, Mike discovered that we can do it with some new servers but not with RTPNet because they don’t offer enough space (we need 500 Mb). RTPNet has three different levels but never enough space (only up to 100 Mb). Mike found one place that uses Matt Jenkins’ gallery program company for $6/month with a two-year contract. We could have our own domain name with siteground.com. The price is good, and Mark said that we should register our domain name. Registration is on the order of $10/year. We should square all of that away. Our current registration with rtpnet.org goes through May, so we could have a link to the new site until then. The officers figured that the TriTrogs would be okay budgeting $100/year for web services.

Mark and Rhonda Little graciously volunteered to host the Holiday Party this year on December 8 beginning at 6 PM. It will include a potluck dinner, and the food is expected to be a highlight, as it has been in recent years.

Regarding the TriTrog donation to the MAR/VAR, Barry Horner was the only person who claimed his door prize so far. Therefore, to date the TriTrogs only paid out $50 to charity (WVCC) instead of the $200 budgeted.

The officers agreed to keep the same system for borrowing grotto equipment with a wear-and-tear fee. Helmet and lamp are each $3 for the weekend. Howard did order the new Princeton Teks for the grotto but kept them for himself (no grotto reimbursement). Because we only have 3 helmets and 2 working lights, the officers agreed to buy two new lights (Princeton Tek) and a new helmet to raise the available equipment count to 4.

John Plyler posited the possibility of the grotto owning a rope. He agreed to contact VPI, Gordon Birkheimer, and the NSS to find out if this could cause any complications.

The officers concluded that no change in dues would be necessary this January. The dues should remain the same, but the surplus should be spent more freely in the coming year (parties, outreach, etc.).

The officers concluded that the TriTrogs should be recruiting more heavily. We’d like to be a larger grotto but need to figure how to accomplish that. Howard proposed a committee to increase our exposure in the local community and said that we should run more trips, including more beginner trips. We should also add the fact that we have a library and equipment for loan to the web site.

Regarding Officers and elections, the idea of Board members didn’t work as well organizationally as it did in the past with an established Chair. Officers felt that the best plan would be to return to the more traditional roles. The duties of the officers didn’t need to change much, but the Treasurer is certainly the keeper of the membership list. The TriTrogs officially have an Editor as a position, but that job likely needs to change to a sys administrator. Should we make that a formal role? Should we think about web master as an officer’s role? The jobs of a sys administrator doesn’t necessarily have to be an officer’s role, but the officers acknowledged that the traditional newsletter with upcoming trips, announcements, and written trip reports probably won’t return based on the success of electronic media.

Howard would like to see a full slate of potential officers by the November meeting, and John concurred. Volunteers to fill the officer slots will help the grotto do more, more effectively. Some officers volunteered to serve roles next year and will be soliciting individuals to fill the roles in the upcoming year.

ACTION ITEMS:
1. Mike will note that the meeting room has changed when he sends out the description of the description of the program.
2. Change the web site and mailing list over to a new service. Register a domain name for the TriTrogs.
3. Howard will solicit non-chefs at the next meeting to find out who would like to bring paper products, utensils, sodas, and/or ice to the Holiday Party on December 8.
4. Mike will add the December 8 holiday party at Mark's house to the grotto Google calendar.
5. Howard and Mike will coordinate ordering two new lamps and a new helmet for the grotto supply.
6. John agreed to contact VPI, Gordon Birkheimer, and the NSS to find out if grotto rope ownership could cause any complications.
7. Howard will start a thread on the list serve before soliciting individuals to volunteer to serve in offices next year.