Monthly Archives: February 2019

BOD Minutes

2019 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

2019 WGA BOD Meeting

 

Saturday, February 23, 2019

McMillian Memorial Library

Wisconsin Rapids, WI

 

Attendees

Present: Dawn Children, Lois Stedman, Brian Zubowski, Aaron Wurster, Jim Peterson, Robert Hamblin, Rebecca Brinkmeier, Daniel Bednarek

Absent: Renee Vanselow

 

Agenda

 

Call to Order at 9:15 am by Dawn Children

Treasurer’s Report: The treasurer report was handed out by Dawn Children with a balance of $8,861.68

 

Election of New Officers: Prior to elections Renee was contacted via phone so she could cast her votes.

President:  Lois nominated Dawn, seconded by Renee. Dawn: excepted nomination. No other nominations all voted yes. Dawn will continue as President.

Vice President: Dan nominated Brian, Dawn nominated Lois, Aaron seconded both nominations and both accepted. In a close margin in the vote’s Brian wins 5-4. Brian is new Vice President.

Treasurer: Dawn nominated Jim, Lois seconded and Jim accepted. No other nominations and all voted yes. Jim is new Treasurer.

Secretary: Lois nominated Aaron Jim seconded and Aaron accepted. No other nominations and all voted yes. Aaron is new Secretary.

 

10:05 am break

 

10:15 am end of break

 

Changing all WGA Passwords: All passwords need to be changed for the new incoming BOD. Lois will head that up and will update when completed.

Committee Reports and Assignments:

 

  • Community Education Committee: Dawn and Renee will head up the committee  
  • Website Committee: Rebecca, Lois, Dawn with the help of Chris, Jon, and Amie
  • Historical posting: No access outside of the board. The current BOD or the event  committee will keep the current history up to date.
  • Social Media from the Website Committee: Aaron, Lois, and Rebecca on committee. Instagram password needs to be found to access account. Dawn needs to switch admins on the facebook page. We will run a 3 month trial on opening up to member posting on page with the board approval before it is published. (all hands on deck for this). Lois to update website events and Dawn updates events on facebook. Will be posting POTM on top of the facebook page.
  • WGA Newsletter: Rebecca, Bob, Aaron and Dawn committee members. Will continue mailchimp as newsletter software. We will continue the quarterly “big newsletter” as well as a new monthly newsletter which will be a smaller one but hopefully keeps the member base in tune with the WGA. Ideas are Member spotlights BOD first than will reach out to WGA members. Bob is making a template to assist on the articles.
  • WGA Webpage Articles: All members of BOD on board. We will try to keep it fresh.
  • WGA TB-Race: Brian is the BOD contact with lacknothing. We will continue as is with lacknothing doing an awesome job. Brian will be in contact with lacknothing.
  • Membership Committee: Jim, Dawn, and Bob committee members. Will continue on a 2 week rotation.
  • COTM Committee: Dan and Brian will be chairing. We will switch to doing 1 COTM for the state with a 2yr moratorium.
  • WGA Spring Campout: Bob and Dan chairing the event. The event will be held at Gov. Thompson SP on May 17-19th. Cache page needs to be done.
  • WGA Spring Campout Pancake Feed: Bob and Dan chairing same as #10
  • West Bend Cache Ba$h: All hands for the bash. Dawn and Brian will be contacts with Craig from the West Bend Chamber.
  • West Bend Cache Ba$h Pancake Breakfast: Bob,Jim(captain pancake),and Rebecca will chair this event.
  • WGA Fall Picnic: Dan and Bob chairs. It was decided it should be in NW quadrant. Will be held Sept 21.2019. Have to look for a venue.
  • WGA Winter Chili Feed: Ongoing planning. Discussions on location etc to be discussed at the monthly hangout discussions.
  • Support of Member Driven Events: As a group we need to reach out and get members involved with different areas of the events. Games serving cleanup. Any help is appreciated.
  • New Committee Suggestions: Dawn and Rebecca head up this. The annual GIF as official WGA event to be held at Horicon.
  • POTM Committee: Brian and Dawn chairs. Continue as is working great. Talk is to post winning photo to the top of the FB page.

 

 

12:00 pm Lunch

1:15pm Back from lunch

 

Special WGA Volunteer Updates: Bod felt Kelly king did a great job with the kids club and hopes she will continue to help. Dawn will be in contact with Kelly to see if she will continue to help out.

Maintenance of the WGA GeoArt: Jim with the help of reloader and tapmews will continue with maintenance of the geoart. Will continue as is.   

Cache Rescue/LCG administrator: Pete does not wish to continue with the LCG. Jim and Dan will chair and Dawn will still be contact with wiskid.

 

Events Map on the Webpage: WIP

 

Trustee: After much discussion it was BOD decision to stick with the bylaws and continue as the VP to maintain the assets of the WGA.

 

Hyperactivity:  Squirrel will continue.

 

Webmaster:  Chris, Jon, and Amie help with the website. Called Chris Stolte on the website and the different issues that was going on. Different issues included speed, different pages not loading properly. He stated we were running out of room and the api was issue. Chris suggested different way to fix the issues. We agreed to go to a webshare host. Not only we would have unlimited storage it would save the WGA money in long run. Chris estimated that a turn around of 3-6 months but no longer than a year. The website should not be down more than a couple days when the transition is ready. Different ideas brought up to change or modify to current and future website is a auto membership renewal, the newsletter sign up, and see when people have logged in to the website. We thanked Chris on his continued help. Call ended at 2:10pm.

 

Unfinished business

 

 

  • Distribution on older WGA geocoins in inventory: We will use them a door prizes at upcoming events to give members a chance for the great items.
  • Kidz Club: Aaron and Dawn will head this. Dawn will contact Kelly King to see if she will still help out.
  • When spending requires the need for a motion: Will continue business as usual.
  • Donations and Solicitations: Members will continue to work with event local businesses for donations.
  • Sales Kits for BOD: Members that take merchandise are responsible for items that they take and getting money to Jim.
  • Inventory tracking app to avoid hand count: Looking into a inventory app to keep track of inventory at point of sale. Looking into our current paypal system. Also looking into other possible POS systems.

 

 

New Business

 

 

  • Former BOD voting in the WGA elections even if they live out of state: No, according to the bylaws must reside in the state of Wisconsin.

 

 

2019 WGA Merchandise and Swag

 

 

  • Theme for 2019: Uniquely Wisconsin theme has been chosen.
  • BOD pathtags: As previous years, the BOD will buy pathtags to pass out at events at their own expense.
  • Geocoins: The WGA will purchase a limited supply of coins that will not exceed 100 coins.
  • Shirts/sweatshirts/hats:  Will let Renee lead but has to be done in a timely fashion to avoid extra fees. We have plenty of hats so just worry about shirts. Also other ideas were brought up to sell and raffle prizes.
  • Cachekinz: None to be ordered.
  • Candyman merchandise/WA stickers: WGA will look into other sources for bisons etc.
  • Information relevant to hosting events: We need to encourage members to volunteer to help with events. It is their WGA.
  • Look into a user-friendly storage bins for the WGA merchandise. Brian and Renee will head this up.
  • The WGA seems to be in good standing with the food server certs.

 

 

Other items of discussion.

 

Games: Skill vs chance

 

 

  • Donations are welcomed by anyone but there will not be any silent auctions at this time.
  • Dawn is in contact with a lawyer from Glendale to work out education on caches in their community.
  • Monthly meeting will still be on hangouts.
  • Email Chris on changes to the COTM
  • Buckhorn SP would like the WGA to have a event at their park. Will check out possible ideas.
  • WGA will continue business as usual until we get a budget established.
  • Dawn and Lois will send letters out to the SP trailbosses to thank them and to check if they are willing to continue helping.

 

 

Hack1of2 suggestions

 

 

  • Concerns about COTM and merchandise: We have changed up the COTM and will be working on updating the bookmarks. Always working on new exciting WGA merchandise.
  • WGA sponsored GSAK class/event: Moved idea onto the education committee to get member event in the works.
  • Photo albums: WIP
  • Host a geocaching 201 education day: Will move idea to education committee and get member involvement.
  • Making printable log sheets available: Already available.
  • Printable stash sheets: Already available.
  • Cache Labels: Already available.
  • Geocaching 101 powerpoint: Already available on flash but WIP for a downloadable file on website.
  • Wants to keep tabs of relationship with WDNR yearly: The WGA already has a strong working relationship with the WDNR. Dawn will work with Rebecca and her contacts to get more DNR contacts.
  • Pathtags: None board issue.
  • BOD needs to promote COTM better: NA
  • Facebook pages: WIP

 

 

Rest of the issues and concerns will be address at upcoming monthly meetings.

Meeting adjourned at 4:50pm 

 

Member Submssions, Newsletters

Ice Road open

Drive the ICE ROAD? — For the WGA Big Bay State Park Cache!
Ever thought about driving across an Ice Road? Now is your chance! Of course, this is at your own risk!
The Ice Road is now open for cars and light trucks, between Bayfield, Wisconsin of the mainland and La
Point on Madeline Island. The 2-mile road across the ice is plowed very wide and travel is
recommended at a speed of 15 mph. With the predicted cooler weather this last week in February the
conditions should be excellent!
I traveled on the road to access Big Bay State Park for cache maintenance of the WGA State Park Cache
and for several of my winter friendly caches. The current deep snow would require snowshoes or xc skis
to access the caches along the trails. If you come to cache, you could ignore the closed trail sign for the
Lagoon Ridge trail, as the bears are hibernating which caused a summer closure to this trail. I put out
one new cache which should be published soon for FTF.
See the spoiler picture posted to the WGA State Park Cache https://coord.info/GC4MPYA which should
help with your winter search. Bring something to help you dig through the snow at the fallen log.
For updates on the condition of the Ice Road, please contact the Bayfield Chamber of Commerce at
(715) 779-3335
From Lostcheq 2/23/19

Organization News

What Happens During an Annual WGA Face to Face Meeting?

Today, your 9 elected WGA BODs spent the day behind closed doors planning the yearly objectives for your association. They spent 8 hours discussing annual WGA events and entertained member suggestions, all of which will be made public in the very near future for all members to read. We thank all of you for your votes and input. One day is not nearly enough to tackle every concern but please know that the things that aren’t covered in the annual meeting are kept on the month to month meetings that happen until they are crossed off the list. But, for the most part we watch  videos of squirrels as you can see in the picture below.

And the squirrel will continue with updates still to come for all of your WGA website pleasure.

In the featured image and below, your 2019 WGA BOD and officers are (from left to right):

Aaron Wurster (MASKinWI)-Secretary, Lois Stedman (raslas), Robert Hamblin (hamfam), Dan Bednarek (sevencards), Dawn Children (rawevil)-President, Brian Zubowski (zeeman_clan)-Vice President, Jim Peterson-Treasurer, Rebecca Brinkmeier (graphicsgirl19), and Renee Vanselow (AuntieNae)-not pictured.

Congratulations to all BOD and thank you to all members for voting. We look forward to serving you in this next year.

Elections, Organization News

The Official Results Are In

Many thanks to all of the members that have voted in this year’s election. It’s your voice that the WGA BOD represents and you made your voice heard in this election. Thank you! First ever tie for a seat on the WGA BOD that we could find. The election committee spent many hours trying to figure this out as there is no bylaw stating the length of time for a run-off election in case of a tie. So in this particular case we set a time and date knowing that the annual WGA BOD meeting is on February 23rd in an undisclosed place somewhere in the state of Wisconsin.

First off, we would like to thank Kelly King (King54130) for the countless hours she’s spent on the BOD. She has been incremental to the WGA KIDZ CLUB and countless other things during her tenure including Secretary for the BOD. It will be a hard officer position to fulfill next week during the annual WGA BOD Meeting.

Secondly, as promised, here are the final election results. We’d like to welcome:

Aaron Wurster (MASKinwi)-73 votes

Renee Vanselow (Auntienae)-79 votes

Brian Zubowski (zeeman_clan)-94

Run-off:

Rebecca Brinkmeier (Graphicsgirl119)-72

Kelly King (King54130)-72

Final:

Rebecca Brinkmeier (Graphicsgirl119)-58

Kelly King (King54130)-43

Please say thank you to your outgoing board and welcome the new board. As you can see, every single vote makes a difference.

We have a free membership to an amazing association where others don’t have that opportunity for that perk around the country. Your voice, buying merchandise, attending events, and being social helps all of us.

WGA has the BEST members ever!

Goodnight all! The BOD is exhausted tonight.

 

Message from the President, Organization News

We Asked, You Responded

Wow! The WGA has the most amazing members! We reached out to our members in so many ways this year to get you to vote and you responded. You responded so much so that we have a tie for the 4th open BOD position. We now have a run off election for two of the candidates. This is open now until next Sunday. Yes, it’s after the Chili Feed when your new BOD is supposed to be announced. However, we need to give everyone an ample amount of time to VOTE!

We also want to give congrats to the other three BOD members that ran and put countless hours in answering questions from the membership who were voted in this year. And by no way, in any means, does the run off election take that away from them. As soon as the results are in for all four, a proper welcome and introduction will be made. Until then, in no particular order: Aaron Wurster, Brian Zubowski, and Renee Vanselow will join the WGA BOD this year.

http://www.wi-geocaching.com/wga-elections/
Organization News

Chili Feed!

I hope you’re looking forward to the 10th Annual WGA Chili Feed.  It is taking place February 16th 2019 from 11 am till 2 pm.  We’ll be dining at the George W Mead Wildlife Area located at S2148 County Highway S Milladore, WI.  We will be giving away prizes to those that attend, along with some friendly competition for the best Chili.  This will be a great opportunity to meet the new board (don’t forget to vote!)  And the WGA BOD would love to get your thoughts, drop us a line in the Suggestion box.  Of course you can pass on your thoughts verbally as well, or via email.  See you there!

Elections, Organization News

64 . . .

8 is the square root of 64. 64 is also the number of our members who have voted so far in this year’s election.

We have 834 active members plus 956 inactive members. The newsletter gets sent to 1,254 members. That’s down from 1,315 in 2018. It’s also down from 1,982 in 2014.

Here’s your quest if you choose to accept it: Solve for N “Have you voted?” and W “How can we get more people to vote?” Individually, you all have the numbers to solve this puzzle and the geochecker is YOU!