Board Meeting Notes

President Bo Nonn called the meeting to order at the home of Rosemary Kenney. Other board members in attendance were Paul Edison-Lahm, Larry Purchase, Janet Rasmussen, and Sheila Alfsen. We did not have quorum. Also in attendance were Doug Rasmussen and Dave Olcott. The minutes of the July 2016 board meeting were reviewed. 

The Treasurer’s report was approved. 

Events

Friday night lectures 

No information was available on upcoming Friday night meetings. 

Paul proposed that a having a lecture length recap of a major field trip at a Friday night lecture would be valuable to our general membership who are unable to go, especially considering the extensive work that goes into creating a field guide and all the spectacular photos that people take. Accordingly, Sheila will synopsize and present Dave's Columbia Plateau field trip. 

Dave reports that we have gotten excellent support from PSU AV services; however they need more information about what our upcoming events will be. Dave proposed doing a sound check at general meetings to ensure that the speaker can be heard by all. 

Field Trips 

GSOC Mt. St. Helens helicopter tour: is set for Saturday, October 1st. Sheila needs 8-12 people to get the discount for the helicopter tour. Sheila will give talk on Mt. St. Helens at the Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center followed by the helicopter tour. She will provide a few paragraphs to Bo and Bo in turn will provide some information to her from Scott Burns. Sheila will get content to Paul for email/website promotion. 

President’s Trip to SW Oregon: Bo reports that about 15 people are currently registered, so registration will remain open for the time being. 

Downtown Tour (North Tour): (Paul) is planned for Oct 22nd. 

Eclipse Aug. 21st, 2017 field trip: Board discussed a possible location for the trip. 

Community Outreach/PSU: Sheila has three upcoming talks planned. 

Annual Picnic: The picnic was very successful, with a great diversity of events and very good attendance. Hopefully we can reprise something similar next year. 

Holiday Party: The party date is set for Carol Hasenberg's on Friday, December 2nd. 

Old and New Business 

Bylaws Committee: Janet and Paul have reviewed the GSOC bylaws and recommend switching the “Junior” non-voting membership to a “Student” voting membership. Several compliance issues were also noted: honors to membership are apparently not being tracked; and the requirement for fidelity insurance needs to be somehow addressed. The section on the Newsletter Editor, Assistant Editor, and Business Manager is out of step with our current practice. 

Member database: With the aim on eventually replacing our current membership spreadsheet, Paul will research low cost databases appropriate for non-profits of our size. 

Membership campaign: the membership spreadsheet currently shows that, while we've gained new members, overall our membership may have dropped by as many as 30 members. Paul will initiate a more focused membership campaign, starting in October. 

Communications Report: Paul will explore using paid ads for Facebook outreach to increase our pool of potential members and volunteers. Paul will prepare a report to address concerns about the security and extent of our online resources. 

Next board meeting will be at Rosemary’s at 10:00 a.m., October 15. 

Notes compiled from board meeting minutes submitted by GSOC Secretary Paul Edison-Lahm.