FOS Meeting - 14 April 2004

The Friends of Schoodic Steering Committee met at the Schooner Club, in the Park, at 7 PM on April 14, 2004.

In attendance:  Margaret Grammer, Pauline Angione, Ruth Sargent, Dirk Faegre, Jim Wagner, Bill Zoellick, Bill Stone, Tom Mayer, Nancy Horschak, Jay Horschak, Jeanie Wilson, Burt Allaire, Deedee West, Peter Drinkwater, Robert Babcock, Ed Pontbriand, Bill Zoellick

Website Expenses

It was moved and seconded to pick up cost for website, which has been donated by Bill Zoellick for the past year.  The annual cost is $180.  The motion passed.

Addition of New Member

Margaret Grammer has expressed interest in joining the steering committee.  The committee voted unanimously to add Margaret as a member.

Newsletter

The steering committee thanked Dirk Faegre for designing and printing the newsletter, which was sent to all volunteers and financial contributors.

Logistics of Split from Schoodic Futures

There was a discussion of the question of how to reach agreement on a set of bylaws that we could use as the basis for organizing. Nancy suggested starting from the set of bylaws that Frank Cassidy developed over a year ago.  Bill Stone noted that there was substantial philosophical difference between these draft bylaws and the ones used by Friends of Acadia.  Nancy and Robert Babcock offered to constitute a committee to suggest new bylaws.  Tom will provide Bill Zoellick with a copy of the draft bylaws so that they can be put online.

Membership

There was discussion of whether membership should run for a fixed year or for a year from the date of signing up.  Tom walked the group through a number of examples of organizations -- looking both at "levels" of membership and time period of membership.

Jay Horschak moved that we use an annual approach.  After discussion this motion passed.  The organization will start out with an annual membership.  There was discussion as to the period of the membership -- from when to when.  One idea was to have it run from July 1 to June 30.  Bill Zoellick argued against this, since it would place the start of the membership year in the middle of the prime operating year.  Zoellick would prefer a membership period -- and fiscal year, that placed all of the activities for a season within a single fiscal year.  No further action was taken on the question of timing.  Zoellick will present a proposal at the next meeting.

The next question was how much to charge for a membership.  Bill Stone moved that we establish a membership fee of $20, seconded by Peter Drinkwater.  This motion passed.

Maine Community Foundation Grant

Tom described the thinking behind seeking a grant.  One use for the funds would be to pay the expenses associated with setting the organization up as a stand-alone entity.  These costs will be approximately $2,000.

A second use of funds will be the costs of mailings, with the goal of building membership -- perhaps to a level of 500 or so. Tom is thinking in the range of $3,000 or so to support the membership building effort.

The group discussed the focus for the proposal.  The committee expressed the desire to see a focus on coalition building in the proposal

Training Sessions

Trails training date is May 5.  The session will begin at 9 AM.  Training will focus on standards for grading, clearances and other issues associated with maintaining the trails.

There will also be a "Leave No Trace" program.  This will be in June.

Volunteers to Staff the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center

Peter Drinkwater described the Schoodic Peninsula Chamber of Commerce plan to establish an information center in Winter Harbor.  His question is whether Friends of Schoodic might want to provide volunteers to staff this.  The consensus was that this is not and should not be something the FOS does in any official capacity.  However, any individuals who are interested in doing this are, of course, welcome to assist the Chamber of Commerce.

Downeast Resource, Conservation, and Development Council

FOS will host a meeting of the Downeast RCDD at the Schooner Club on the 24th of June.

Earth Day Road Cleanup

Dirk and Jay will try to set up a park cleanup session on Earth Day.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50.