Capital Area Greenbelt Association February 21, 2018 Minutes
Attendance: Keldeen Stambaugh, Cindy Hogeman, Tim Poole, Carl Lorence, Mary Ann Furedi, Becky Schuchert, Diane Kripas, Gary Myers, Lindsey Panassow, Karen Isaacman, Michael Shaull, Bob Johnston, Robert Posatko, Scott Shepler, Geoffrey Knight, Marcia Nye, audio-conference: Dick Norford.
Call to Order: Keldeen Stambaugh, Vice-President
Review/approval of minutes: Cindy Hogeman, Secretary. No changes or corrections were made. Motion to approve/second by Gary/Scott. Motion passed.
Treasurer's report - Marcia Nye, Treasurer. See submitted report. Done Kartorie (assis't treas.) and Marcia are being taught by Tim how to use our new computer program, Wild Apricot, for financial transactions and membership drive.
A new bank account to manage newly awarded grant money was established with PSECU. Motion/second to approve treasurer's report by Geoff/Gary. Motion passed.
Committee Reports:
Governance - Diane Kripas, chair through 2018. See submitted report.
Barry Schoch, President, will need to confirm appointment of 2018 "at large" Board Director.
The Planning Committee will be tasked with wording an updated Mission Statement which is required for various grant applications. It will also be posted on our website, when available.
Audio conferencing is now available for Board Directors unable to physically attend the meetings per our Bylaws thanks to Giant Foods providing their PolyCon device which includes speakers and microphones. Tim Poole has provided us a toll free phone number to use.
Next Governance committee meeting will be held in July unless an emergent issue surfaces.
Development/Special Events: Diane Kripas, chair. See submitted report.
In January's HYP meeting, Becky accepted their $1,250 check donation to CAGA. See her photo on Facebook.
Penn-Cumberland Garden Club has contacted CAGA to accept a donation from their organization. Cindy Hogeman will accept their donation at their April meeting.
CAGA's next Annual Membership meeting is scheduled for Wed., Nov 14, 2018 to be held at the Giant, 6 pm. Bob Posatko volunteered to coordinate the details. The date will be posted on CAGA's website.
Earth Day - Mary Ann Furedi reports Mike Krempasky has finalized arrangements for April 21, Sat, at E. Harrisburg Cemetery, for a tire pick up. Volunteers with trucks will need to transport loaded tired to a clean up area where the tires will be washed. BF Goodrich will recycle the tires.
Five Senses Garden activity is typically included in Earth Day activities. In the past, pizza lunch has been provided.
Geoff discussed the Greater Harrisburg Cleanup. Dumpsters will be made available by the City to be delivered the day (locations to be determined) before the clean up date. Project areas will need to be registered. Bags, gloves, vests, etc may be provided. Usually the time is from 9 am - 1 pm. In the past, lunch was provided. More information will be provided as available. Promotion for this activity could be done in surrounding townships, Facebook, website, etc.
Cindy has been meeting with the local Rotary Club representative, Robert Ihlein (Swatara Twp Director of Planning and Zoning), to discuss where the Rotary Club will be doing their Earth Day Activity. They will be providing the volunteers and coordinating with the Paxtang Watershed Conservancy who will provide the trees. Tentative location: south of the 19th St parking lot along the creek. Identification of native trees/shrubs will need to be done prior to their work to preserve the current native growth.
Earth Day activities will be posted on the CAGA website.
Tour de Belt - Diane Kripas reports having met 2x + conference calls. They have now raised $12,500 cash so far from multiple sponsors including the most recent $2,500 from Highmark. Pinnacle and PPL still may have a donation to make. Zoey Hopkins(student at PSU) (daughter of Sara Hopkins) is designing the brochure which will include all the sponsor logos and will be then printed, distributed, and put on the website. Tim reports Wild Apricot is being tested for accurate handling of registration money. Scott Shepler is being encouraged to solicit additional Youth Groups to register teams to ride TdB.
Greenbelt Weekend planning is ongoing with multiple events: Including but not limited to a Samba mountainbike Ride, Bike the Burg, 5 Bridges Ride, possibly Walk on Paxtang Parkway (with Scott Shepler) and Senators Baseball Game, among other events. The preliminary event information has been posted on the website with more accurate dates/times to follow. Marilyn Chastek, Dick Norford, Bob Johnston, Ross Willard, Donna Flinn and others have been busily making arrangements.
Membership - Michaul Shaull, chair. See submitted report.
Membership drive letters have already been mailed. The returned membership information will be entered into Wild Apricot which should help keep track of where volunteers prefer to volunteer their time. Mike will plan to transition CAGA's membership drive to a date toward the end of the calendar year when many donors plan their giving and renew memberships. Changing the date of membership drive should also alleviate possible confusion with Tour de Belt advertising and registration which begins early in the calendar year.
A revised membership application should help match volunteer preferences to available activities within our organization. Determining what attracts members to join should also boost membership activity. Efforts to minimize paper/mail and rely more heavily on electronic communications.
Acknowledging VIP donors will be a priority.
Utilizing Wild Apricot will become more important to the membership committee as well as to all Board members to keep our members engaged.
Planning- Geoff Knight, chair. See submitted report.
The City of Hbg has filed an application for Bike Friendly Community. They will be forming a bicycle advisory council as part of this effort. Geoff recommends that we send a CAGA representative to those meetings. Dick Norford volunteered to be our representative.
There will be a ground breaking ceremony for the Intersection Upgrades taking place this spring. The Ceremony will be March 27, 10 am at the Five Senses Garden. Press will be there.
Geoff is looking for improved attendance and participation in his planning committee. Interested members should contact Geoff.
PennDOT is paving a section of the Greenbelt from Cameron St. to the bridge near the Lochiel Hotel on Shanois St. in April.
PennDOT will be coming to our Board Meeting March 21 to discuss the I83 construction plans.
Revisions to Update the Strategic Plan will involve all committees. Committee chairs should have received an email containing 6 questions to answer. Feedback would be appreciated by March 21 but by April 18 at the latest.
Finance - Keldeen, chair. Keldeen reports there is nothing to report at this time but the committee will be meeting soon. Keldeen has agreed to help coordinate donations earmarked for Partnering with the Greenbelt. More discussions on what that entails are planned for the future. Several additional members are interested in participating (Becky, Mike Shaull, Bob Posatko, Karen Isaacson, Dick Norford, and Cindy Hogeman).
Maintenance - Carl Dickson, chair. No report. Next meeting will be scheduled in March.
Discussion regarding maintenance coordination (see finance committee notes) which effects/overlaps several committees (membership, finance and maintenance).
Public Relations/Information technology/Communications - Dick Norford, chair.
Dick reported he intends to begin utilizing instagram and U-Tube to help publicize the Greenbelt and its activities.
Cindy Hogeman has agreed to begin to take over Patty Landis' responsibility of posting on the CAGA website. There is a learning curve. Tim will also help where needed. We do have a Website consultant, Jason Ritchey, who has been very helpful. He will be helping put together a new website after Tour de Belt is over. A Website Editor is needed, possibly a few willing members to help Jason design and write the content. Policy decisions concerning what information should be posted on the website needs to be discussed (suggestion by Geoff).
We also need a Newsletter editor. Anyone interested should contact Dick Norford ()
Tim Poole gave us a "show and tell" power point presentation of the Wild Apricot pages for membership and Tour de Belt registration and payment. To view the new website in March log onto caga.wildapricot.org . Board members are encouraged to watch webinars and U-Tube channel programs dedicated to Wild Apricot to understand how to utilize the program to benefit CAGA.
Payments will not be using PayPal in the future. We will use a non-profit system instead.
To encourage more participation of Tour de Belt, post on Facebook, "I signed up" after you register to ride on June 3.
Greenbelt Weekend information located on our CAGA website will have links to Dick Norford's information in Bike Harrisburg(within BSCPA website) with more details as they become available.
Old Business:
Scott Shepler (see submitted file RE TAP grantfor the restoration of Paxtang Parkway).Scott would like people to review the TAP reallocation request and provide feedback byFeb 28.We have $49,000 in cash and commitments towards matching funds, but need another $22,400.We are trying to raiseadditional funds, but CAGA may need to make an additional contribution if those efforts fall short. We also need substantial funding from DCNR or other source in the amount of $131,400.
New Business:
Presentation by Lindsey Panassow. Vista Adult Services. She has many adult volunteers >21 yrs old with Autism who are available during the week to help out in simple tasks. They will be accompanied by handlers during their day programs. Volunteering for various tasks for CAGA could get them outdoors, provide exercise and teach them work skills they could build on for possible future employment. They already have plans to help out at the Five Senses Garden M, W, F but would be able to do other tasks. Contact Karen Isaacman, our volunteer coordinator with ideas on how these volunteers may be used. Could be a win/win situation.
Geoff discussed an upcoming Triyakathalon "Run Bike Float" that would use the Greenbelt for a portion of their route . CAGA may be able to help with their efforts. The proposed date (TBD) is late Sept - early Oct. Funds raised will benenfit Veteran Suicide Awareness.
Announcements:
Next meeting: Wednesday, March 21. Committee reports due Friday, March 16.
On the agenda:
Michelle Goddard from PennDOT plans to discuss how Interstate 83 construction may affect the Greenbelt Trail.
Respectfully submitted,
Cindy Hogeman, secretary
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