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October 11, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Carol Beckman, Mary Burger,
Matt Carpenter, Steve Jennings, Ed Lynch, Ramsay Rayner, Karl Stang.
Meeting convened 6:35
The minutes were approved.
Financial statement from Ramsay: as of October 11, 2005
On File
The membership meeting will be set up at 5:00. Eating will
begin at 6:00. The meal will be a pasta bar with a server to help. Steve
will contact Brett Gracely to give the talk this year. Trophies were
decided on.
The Board Retreat will be November 19. One point of
discussion will be the Project Support Committee.
The Forest Service is undergoing some organizational
changes as a result categorical exclusions won’t be allowed so FOTP may
have to do environmental impact statements or get it done. FOTP will
explore the avenues available to finance EAs.
Severy Creek may be open after construction of stream
crossings.
The Board voted to investigate the support of the Pike
Centennial Celebration. Steve will follow up.
Carol reported on putting in the Frosty’s Park-Jones
Park-Bear Creek signs. Three signs have been replaced in Horsethief Park.
Karl volunteered to take over the treasurer position from
Ramsay
Carol Becker was elected to the Board.
The Board decided to send out pins to the people who
haven’t participated lately.
VOC will not assist with the Devil’s Playground trail work.
Mary proposed a week-long project with support on site.
Tool cleanup is on Saturday.
The meeting adjourned 7:11
September 13, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Mary Burger, Matt Carpenter,
Ed Lynch, Ramsay Rayner, Karl Stang. Sign Rep: Carol Beckman.
Meeting convened at 6:40 at 330 N. Institute
The minutes for July were approved.
The minutes for August were approved.
Financials: Ramsay:
He had no transactions since the last meeting, but received several items
at this meeting.
Signage: Carol:
The signing group had made two more runs since the previous report, one
replacing three road-side signs, at Bear Creek, High Drive, and Mount
Esther, and another replacing three signs around the Raspberry Mountain
access point. The sign group has been trying to schedule a run through
Jones Park, from Frosty’s down to Bear Creek, since the end of June and
hasn’t managed it yet, although they have had a couple of dates scheduled,
which then did not work out from one thing or another.
Matt reported that Ute Pass trail at Rattlesnake Gulch needs a sign. The
sign group had actually made a run this summer replacing signs on Ute Pass
trail, so it seems like a good candidate for concrete and U-channel.
Projects: Mary:
On Ring the Peak, the Putney Gulch connection is built over the ridge and
down. One more work day for it remains this season, Sat, Sept 17. 12 to 15
volunteers are signed up.
Mary expects to have about one mile of the link completed by the end of
that day, with the remainder for next year.
On Bear Creek, one more Thursday maintenance day remains. The crews have
been leaving the tools out and moving them up. The remaining day will
complete maintenance on the Bear Creek trail, installing a couple more
steps and clearing the corridor.
So the next question is what to do next. Some possibilities are Saint
Mary’s or Seven Bridges, or, to remain on the Ring, between Captain Jacks
and Jones Park. Some disadvantages of the last option are that it would
require a walk in of an hour and a half each time and it is a motorized
trail. Mary threw out possibilities for people to consider and discuss
later.
On Devil’s Playground, Mary proposed the project to Volunteers for Outdoor
Colorado. They will decide in September (Sept 25) whether it is an
appropriate project. Mary is confident that it is. Then in October VOC
will decide whether it fits into their schedule. The project needs VOC’s
logistic support and isn’t something that FOTP can handle on its own.
Issues to discuss:
Solar energy for the summit house:
CS Utilities asked if FOTP would endorse the use of solar energy for the
new summit house. Mary sent the e-mail notice around about that earlier.
Some of the board’s comments:
It depends on how it is implemented, for example, putting it flat on the
roof so it is out of view.
It seems to be an attempt by Utilities to fulfill the voter-approved
requirement to use renewable energy sources, although it would contribute
only a tiny percentage of its requirement.
However it is implemented should be non-intrusive.
It is a good idea in principle.
The board needs more information before deciding on an endorsement.
The use of solar energy at the summit house would increase public
awareness of the viability of solar energy.
The board could invite a Utilities representative to attend a board
meeting to explain the project and answer questions.
Planning the annual party:
The date, October 22, was set and put out, repeatedly.
Matt volunteered to design the invitations. He noted that last year the
envelopes cost more than the invitations themselves, and suggested using a
postcard format. The envelopes last year cost $150. The postage would also
be cheaper. Another possibility mentioned was e-mail invitations, or
sending both e-mail and the postcard. Matt was concerned about outdated
e-mail addresses and bounced mail, but can handle it. The board decided on
postcard invitations, but no firm decision on also sending out e-mail
notices was made.
Mary had several items from the review of the annual meeting.
Mary has made a greater effort this year to take photos at the projects,
and can put together a slide show from those.
The scrap book should be available earlier in the evening.
Bob suggested a comedy skit with tools. Since Bob suggested it, he can put
together a script for the next meeting.
The agenda should be more organized. The best guess was that this related
to the times.
The invitation should say “buffet dinner” since that is what it is, rather
than “light dinner".
Picnic Basket will cater again this year. Matt plans to include that on
the invitation.
The times will be: 5:30 social time, 6:00 dinner, with presentations and
awards to follow. The wording “presentations and awards” seemed more
appealing than “meeting” and a more accurate description.
For more diversified speakers, people suggested several possible speakers
to invite:
someone from CS Utilities to discuss solar energy in the new summit house,
the Barr Camp caretakers,
Deb Accord or Dave Phillips from the Gazette,
the slide show that Mary gave for the Colorado Mountain Club.
Project photos are always appreciated because people like finding
themselves and people they know in the photos.
The board’s counting on Steve to provide the digital projector.
People would like to see more awards given. Some possibilities:
Bob Bunch: rock wrangler
Spencer Johnson: agent orange
Hadj: civil engineering award
Cameron Hickert: bodacious youth
Ken: hard hat
Alicia and Bruce Doctor: weekday warriors
Bob Johnson: root award
The award design decided on was a piece of signpost with Ring the Peak
decals (brown on one side, green on the other, naturally) in a hardwood
base. Ed will cut damaged signposts and mount them in the wood bases.
Carol will supply the damaged posts and decals.
Fall newsletter:
It’s time to decide on content, create it, and mail out the newsletter.
Possibilities:
report on the projects,
letter to Ron, appropriately edited to fit the format of a newsletter,
report on Mary receiving the Land Steward of the Year award from VOC,
probably including a paragraph from the nomination by Matt. Incidental to
that, Mary can invite ten to twelve people to the presentation in Denver,
and took suggestions, which came faster than I can write. So Mary noted
them down.
a note requesting e-mail addresses and updated e-mail addresses,
a list of all the volunteers on the projects.
A question of when to mail out the newsletter, before or after the dinner,
arose. Sending it out after, the newsletter could include the awards from
the dinner. November is still fall, or the newsletter could be designated
“end of season".
Anyone wanting to submit an article for the newsletter should have it
ready at the next meeting.
Matt reported on projects on Barr Trail. Two projects have
occurred since his last report, and accomplished quite a bit. The second
project had to move lower than planned, but the group took up 36 new
rails. Then one volunteer finished the rails in three days and stained
them all, matching the existing stain, in two more days. Usually this work
takes much longer.
Matt is keeping the database up-to-date on projects but is a bit behind on
thank yous. Everyone commended the good job he is doing with getting out
notices and how well organized the information is. Matt has a database for
Ramsay and Bob, with current members, then others sorted on last contact
date, most recent first. Ramsay and Bob plan to mail out pins.
Matt commented on the bills for advertising. Mary observed that the crawl
on the weather channel has netted no new volunteers. The ad in the
Independent provided one new volunteer. They don’t appear to be worth the
cost. Mary and Bob ask new volunteers where they heard about the project.
The web seems to be the most common answer.
Action items:
Mary: contact Picnic Basket.
Mary: organize photos into slide show.
Matt: design invitations and send around to the board to review. To get
them out sooner, he also offered to attach labels and mail them out before
the next meeting. Mary offered to help.
Carol: get damaged signposts to Ed.
Ed: make the plaques for the awards.
Ramsay: contact Utilities about a speaker on solar energy at the summit
house.
Bob: create a script for a comedy skit involving tools, under five
minutes.
Steve: provide a digital projector for the dinner.
Meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Next meeting: 6:30, Tuesday, October 11, 330 N. Institute
(Ramsay’s insurance office).
August 8, 2005
In attendance: Ramsay Rayner, Ed Lynch, Bob Johnson, Mary
Burger
The board had not received the minutes from the previous
meeting, Mary will forward them. Carol Beckman had taken the minutes, and
Mary did not realize that she did not distribute to all.
Financial report was presented and accepted.
An ad has been placed in the Indy, and PSAs sent out to
radio TV and print media.
Signage committee is having difficulty getting out, due to
schedule conflicts.
Projects are proceeding. The work at the top of Devil’s
Playground trail went very well. Steps and drains were the order of the
day. Project proposal for VOC on Devil’s Playground is submitted.
Next meeting will be at 330 N. Institute, (corner of
Institute and Boulder) topics for next meeting:
Do we want to endorse the use of solar energy at the new summit house?
Planning for annual party.
July 12, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Mary Burger, Bob Johnson, Ed
Lynch, Ramsay Rayner, Karl.
Sign Rep: Carol Beckman
Meeting convened 6:35 at Garden of the Gods trading post
The minutes for June were approved.
Financial statement from Ramsay: as of July 12, 2005
On file
Mary reported that she filed the annual report with the
state so FotP is legal for another year.
The Thursday work days are going well, with about twelve people working
each time. On the previous day, June 30, the group staged tools up the
trail rather than carrying them back down, and will probably continue to
do so. Mary will be out of town for the July 28 date, but Bob Bunch has
agreed to organize that day.
The work weekend on Barr Trail went well, except for Connie’s purse being
stolen. Bob said that they are dealing with all the problems that that
entails. Other than that, Saturday, the group worked on maintenance for
Barr Trail and Sunday they worked on the Incline, removing fencing.
The next work weekend is Devil’s Playground to Crags, July 23-24. 19
people are registered. Mary has 3 crew leaders and is recruiting more. 8
people are signed up for camping. Camping hasn’t really happened yet this
summer, but Mary thinks it might this time.
Mary is putting together a slide show from photos from Karl(?) and Carol
for the Colorado Mountain Club on Thursday, July 21, at Centennial Hall
(next to the Pikes Peak Center). Steve needs to be there to handle the
projector. Karl also volunteered to help. Mary believes the meeting is
6:30, so they should arrive around 6:00.
Bob reported on PR.
The weather crawl is running, about twelve times a day, so about every two
hours. It tends to show up around ten minutes to the hour. However, work
days so far have not had anyone show up because of the crawl.
The article in the Gazette a month or so back produced about a dozen
contacts.
Bob found that Friends of Red Rock Canyon had a glossy, color, trifold
brochure, produced with money from CS Parks and Rec. He had samples, and
is looking into something similar for Friends of the Peak.
Bob is considering recruiting project veterans to try to increase the
number of people out on projects.
Several people commented on the great job that Matt is doing with the
registration, timely e-mails, lists of registrants, …
Carol reported on signs. The sign folks made their first
signing run of the year on June 29, and re-installed signs from High Drive
up Palmer/Red Rocks to the beginning of the Intemann Trail. In that run,
the only existing signs were one on High Drive which had moved but still
pointed the right way and one just past the beginning of the Intemann
Trail. The group installed 18 signs and ruined 2 (rocky ground, ruined
point). Having used half the stock of signs in one day, the group ordered
40 more. The next run will be July 20 (weather, health, etc., permitting),
going from Frosty’s Park downhill to Bear Creek trail head. A few signs
(five to six) are missing on the Ute Pass trail. Past that, there are
reports of a few signs missing here and there, but people who have walked
or biked other portions of the trail report that the signs are still
there.
Some discussion of keeping the signs in the ground once they are installed
ensued. One tactic is American flag decals. Both the Forest Service
contact and an employee at the company that makes the posts suggested
that. So new signs, and some of the old ones that have survived, have flag
decals. The new sign posts also have double anchors this year, one metal,
one plastic (last year each post had one plastic anchor).
Mary reported that she has the project request form for VOC
for Devil’s Playground for next year. She talked with a VOC rep. VOC is
trying to help local groups so that they can handle larger projects. This
might come in the form of money, staff, consulting, …
I didn’t notice when the meeting adjourned (so you can fire
me).
Next meeting: 6:30, August 9, at ??
June 14, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Mary Burger, Steve Jennings,
Ed Lynch, Ramsay Rayner. Guest: Carol Beckman
Meeting convened 6:35
The minutes were approved with the change of completive to
contemplative.
Financial statement from Ramsay: as of June 14, 2005
On File.
Mary reported that RTP map was mounted on foam-core. The
May 14-15 Red Rocks Project was done in good time. The Thursday RTP Bear
Creek project is moving along. The Forest Service has signed a decision
memo on the Devils Playground reroute. The VOC has been contacted because
of the difficult logistics involved.
Matt reported that there were 26 new members and 12
renewals. Most of the renewals are from the renewal letters followed by
the newsletter. The evaluation by a private engineer of the Barr Trail
parking lot indicated that 7 parking spots could be added at a cost of 2-3
thousand dollars.
The board approved expenditures of up to $5000.00 for the
Barr Trail parking lot expansion.
The board approved paying Matt $50 a month for data base
maintenance.
Carol reported on the Ring the Peak Trail. There has been a
sign committee meeting to get organized. The board was asked about
commitment to keeping signage on the RTP. The board is committed to
maintaining the signage. Some of the signs that have been impacted are
going to be mounted on U-channel posts set in concrete. The suggestion was
made that placing American flag decals on the signs might limit damage.
The board will met at the Garden of the Gods Trading Post
in July.
The meeting adjourned 7:11
May 10, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Mary Burger, Steve Jennings,
Ramsay Rayner, Karl Stang. Guest: Carol Beckman
Meeting convened 6:45
No minutes were available.
Financial statement from Ramsay: as of April 12, 2005
On File
Mary reported that the May 14 and 15 work days will be in
Red Rocks Park working on a completive trail. Deb Accord should be there.
Matt is improving the data base. Three emails concerning the A-frame
toilet were received. One was against the toilet the other two were for
the toilet, but the support was based on convenience for the hikers rather
than a perceived problem. Karl and Mary attended the Colorado Mountain
Club potluck on May 7 and had a good response. Mary and Janice had a
projects meeting.
Carol reported on the Ring the Peak Trail. Signs paid for
by Wild Oats Market have been installed on the existing trail. Temporary
end-of-trail signs have been installed. Twelve volunteers put in over 400
hours to install 240 signs between May and October of last year. Way
points for the trail are downloadable from the web site. This year the
emphasis will be on replacing signs. The board authorized the use of the
rest of the Wild Oat’s money to purchase signs.
Bob reported on contacts with Home Owner Association on the
west side of the Peak, the establishment of links to the service websites
at USAFA and Colorado College, and the distribution of fliers to the Boy
Scouts of America. Bob is working on a letter to benefactors with Ramsay.
The 10-year pins are done and work is continuing on the Medicine Wheel
logo for the RTP shirt. The board authorized the purchase of a crawl on
the Weather Channel. There will be Independent ads and the brochures are
on standby.
The board will met at Biedelman in June.
The meeting adjourned 7:40
April 12, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Mary Burger, Matt Carpenter,
Steve Jennings, Ed Lynch, Ramsay Rayner, Karl Stang.
Meeting convened 6:40
Minutes approved.
Financial statement from Ramsay: as of April 12, 2005
On File
Mary reported on possible progress on securing additional
parking for the Incline.
Bob sent a printed set of items to be reported to the
board.
Bob has been busy making contacts with organizations including Boy Scouts
of America in order to get more participation on work days. He has also
been working on pins and logos for the celebratory items.
Mary is working with Shanti looking at trail construction
in Red Rocks Park. The web page now has the work days. Deb Accord is
working on an article for the Gazette to come out in the next few months.
Karl, Bob, and Mary will attend the Colorado Mountain Club
potluck on May 7
Karl went the Old Town Environmental Fair and had a good
response.
The meeting adjourned 7:40
March 8, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Mary Burger, Matt Carpenter,
Steve Jennings, Bob Johnson, Ed Lynch, Ramsay Rayner, Karl Stang.
Meeting convened 6:35
Minutes approved.
Financial statement from Ramsay: as of March 5, 2005
On File
Steve reported that the A-frame toilet was in question. It
seems that FOTP is trying to solve a non-problem. The cost continues to
rise and the benefit decline. The Forest Service is not behind building
the toilet. Matt has posted educational signage at the A-frame.
The board decided not to pursue the construction of the
A-frame toilet.
Mary reports that the MOU is in the editorial process.
FOTP has been asked make a presentation about the RTP Trail at the
Colorado Mountain Club May 7 and July 21.
Bob proposed possibly bringing in out of town scout to work
on trails and the possibility of scotch, wine or beer tasting as a fund
raiser.
Matt will update the web site soon.
Karl will go to the 4th annual Environmental Party at the
Old Town Bike Shop on March 15.
Bob showed the board the plaques for Mountain Chalet and
Wild Oats and will attempt to present them with a photo opportunity for
the media.
The meeting adjourned 7:20
February 8, 2005
Board Members in attendance: Mary Burger, Matt Carpenter,
Steve Jennings, Bob Johnson, Ed Lynch, Ramsay Rayner, Karl Stang.
Meeting convened 6:35
Minutes approved after changing the description of the
marketing plan from a rough draft to a finished product.
Financial statement from Ramsay: as of February 8, 2004
On file
Matt reported that he is doing data base management
Dues reminders will be sent out this spring
Over $800 has been receive in honor of Guy
Mary reports that the MOU has been rewritten with the help
of Steve.
There was a discussion of the future of the A-frame toilet.
There was significant doubt about the need or cost effectiveness of
putting a toilet there.
Mary presented a tentative schedule for the year.
Newsletter assignments include Bob-tools and the 10 year
anniversary.
Steve-volunteers to do educational stuff on work days.
Ramsay-hosts and hostesses for food.
Karl will contact Medicine Wheel about a RTP map
Look into crew training tutorials.
And presented a map of the Bull Park-Pancake Rocks area.
Bob had gotten a copy of a local media guide for the
Colorado Springs-Pueblo area
Will design a 10 year anniversary pin and a fold folder design.
The meeting adjourned 8:00
January 2005
December 2004
November 20, 2004 - Board Retreat minutes
In attendance: Ed Lynch, Matt Carpenter, Ramsy Rayner, Mary
Burger, and Karl Stang.
Arriving a few minutes late: Bob Johnson. Arriving at noon: Steve
Jennings.
As the first order of business, Karl was elected to the
board by unanimous acclaim. As a general note: Ed, Steve, and Ramsay are
due for re-election next year. Mary and Matt are ‘up’ in ‘06. Bob, and
Karl will now be ‘up’ in 07.
We reviewed the annual meeting. The following suggestions
are for next year:
A slide show would be a good addition
The scrap book should have been available sooner. People enjoyed it, but
did not have enough time to look at it.
Bob suggested a comedy skit with the tools.
We need a more organized agenda.
We should say on the invitation a buffet dinner rather than a light
dinner.
We should try harder for more diversified speakers.
We should have more awards for project participants. Think up creative
ideas.
The caterer was Picnic Basket. The food was generally good,
but we needed more to drink, and more veggy stuff. The price was slightly
less than we paid previous years.
A review of the “voting” shows: Yes No
We would like more educational programs 21 3
We should add a fund raising component 6 18
We should do more plantings 12 8
We should have monthly members meetings 7 13
People would volunteer more if we had shorter days 3 17
People would volunteer more if we had w/e 1 18
We should work more with COS parks 3 19
We should arrange carpooling 2 20
We do NOT need food on projects 2 19
On the write in question the thing most people would like to receive for
volunteering is “thank you".
From this we decided to do more to educate our project
participants. We will look for speakers or naturalist to address our
projects at end of day, especially on w/e projects. We could ask some of
our volunteers who are on a project to give the talks to reduce logistical
nightmares.
We will offer a place for carpooling to occur. For
liability reasons we will not arrange the car pools.
And, we will continue to offer food and other free bees on
projects, and will attempt again to send out formal thank you letters to
each project participant. We discussed the idea of an escalating premium
being mailed to project participants, but tabled that discussion.
Mary brought up that she is really burning out on the
administrative tasks associated with running all the projects, and keeping
the data base. Ramsay said he if overburdened as well. We agreed to
explore hiring an administrative person. Matt offered tentative on
understanding all the tasks involved. We checked the by-laws and found we
can hire a director to do specific tasks. Mary and Ramsay will write up
potential job descriptions, and give them to Matt. If Matt decides not to
take the job, Mary, Matt and Ramsay will find another alternative.
The financial report was given and accepted. We then
discussed the budget. Next years budget is much the same as this past
year, with the exception of marketing which was allowed a budget of
$2,000. This past year we did not budget marketing. Bob presented a rough
draft marketing plan. Karl agreed to help with distribution of flyers.
Matt brought up that he is beginning to feel that the FOTP
budget is a burden on the Barr Trail income, and FOTP is not doing much on
Barr Trail. We agreed to hold at least two work days next year on Barr
Trail with Matt deciding what the priority work would be. As long as Matt
finds work for us to do, we will continue to hold “official” FOTP workdays
on Barr Trail. We used to do this every year.
Matt also brought up that he is beginning to look into an
improvement plan for the Barr Trail parking lot. The board agreed to
support that initiative.
Bob proposed we hold at least one board meeting out of
doors at the Garden of the Gods Visitors Center next year. They have a
patio which we could use for free.
We discussed, briefly, the toilet at A frame. Ed now has
the drawings, and will work with the USFS to obtain materials and get the
structure built. Steve will get a signed contract with a vendor to remove
the effluent once it is dried.
After lunch, we discussed the Memorandum of Understanding
we are currently working under with our agency partners. We are now 10
years old, and much of the original charter has been accomplished. We also
have moved on to several new initiatives. Steve took notes on some of the
suggestions and will write up a new MOU. Mary will attempt to get it
approved.
The meeting adjourned at 2:45.
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