North Country Trail Association Board Meeting Minutes September 3, 2000 Mackinaw City, Michigan

President Werner Veit called the meeting to order at 9:01 AM.

Present: Leinen, Clark, Yost, Cornell, Rodriguez, Blount, Waldron, Veit, Beye, Williamson, Tait, Coyne and Lucas

NCTA Staff: Papp, Halfmann, and Kindel

NPS Staff: Menke

Approval of Minutes of May Meeting: Correction made on page 3 under NEW BUSINESS. Names of Public Servant Award nominees should be spelled "Kohl" and "Obey." Minutes approved as corrected.

Presentations and Discussions

Result of Election and Introduction of New Directors: Ballots were mailed to all NCTA members of record earlier this summer. Veit announced that as a result of the balloting he, Joan Young, Richard Harris, and Daryl Williamson were elected to serve until 2003. Lynn Waldron was selected by the OH-MI Trail Council to serve as its chair, and Howard Beye was selected by the Allegheny-Adirondack Trail Council to serve as its chair. The membership confirmed their election.

Tony Rodriquez was appointed by Veit to fill a vacancy in the East Division. His term will expire in 2001.

Introduction of Staff: Veit introduced Bob Papp, Executive Director, Tiffany Halfmann, Cartographer and Margie Kindel, Project Manager.

Remarks by American Express Representative: Veit introduced Pat Small from American Express, a sponsor of our Millennium Trail event. Small indicated that American Express is celebrating its 150th year and in doing so looked to find ways to honor other landmark efforts. Millennium Trail project was selected. Besides becoming involved with NCT, AMEX has also sponsored events with the Boston Heritage Trail and with the East Coast Greenways. Small stated that she had the opportunity to talk with NCTA volunteers and staff and was impressed with the organization's efforts. She was also pleased with the placement given AMEX's logo on NCTA's Millennium Trail materials. Small will be speaking to guests at the Pre-Walk Celebration to be held at Headlands Beach House later in the day. She was proud that she would be a NCTA volunteer on the Bridge Monday morning.

Financial Report: Dave Cornell referred to the 2000 Budget Report and asked the Directors to note the YTD figures. The Association has done a good job overall staying on budget. Dave strongly encouraged all Directors to be present at the December meeting. Based on the results of pending grant applications and decisions in Washington, DC, discussion of the 2001 budget will require thoughtful consideration.

• Blount: REI wants to set up NCTA Trail Shops within their stores.
• Papp: Papp has spoken with Richard Banks from REI and referred him to John Leinen for discussion of possible arrangements in REI's flagship store in the Twin Cities area.

Year 2001Budget Outlook: Bob Papp referred to the two preliminary budgets included in the Board's packets. One assumed the Association's move to a new office in Lowell. The other did not. The difference in deficit figures is related to funding being sought from the Lowell Community Foundation. Between now and December the situation should become clearer. Bob is seeking additional REI funding for cartography and "legislative education."

• Membership Dues Increase: Bob Papp noted that the Association may want to consider changes in membership levels. May be advantageous to change sponsored level to $18.00. Other organizations have indicated that memberships at $15.00 or less are almost considered disposable by donors. Association may also want to start sending tiered renewals to members offering "one step down" and graduated increases depending on current giving levels.
• Cornell: Need to bear in mind "carrying cost" of each member.
• Cornell/Veit: Association needs to cultivate large donors and business donors. Cornell moved, Waldron seconded that the Board support an increase in dues.
• Discussion:
  • Lucas: Wanted to clarify voluntary nature of membership.
  • Lutz (guest): Expressed concern that dues may climb out of range of students and other people in his chapter.
  • Papp: Perhaps Association should consider student and senior memberships.
  • Clark: State Parks should be asked to join at $500 level.
  • Cornell: Board should consider what is appropriate for organizations. Current membership levels for individuals are the lowest of all similar organizations.
  • Blount: Association needs to generate revenue but look at alternatives.
• Veit proposed and Cornell accepted an amendment to add a review of membership structure for organizations. Blount second.
  • Discussion:
  • Blount: NCTA should look at possibility of starting Trail Clubs in colleges.
  • Veit: There are so many marketing opportunities to explore which is why the hiring of a Development Director would be so useful.
  • Blount: Chapters could facilitate the Trail Clubs locally.
  • Beye and Lucas: Trail Clubs can be time consuming. Amended motion carried.

Leinen: Would like Annual Appeal to be stated as a separate line item on budget.

Committee Appointments: Veit announced that due to changes in Board membership, committees have been revamped as follows:

Trail Council and Bylaw Change Study: Tait, Waldron, Miller and Papp (ex officio)

Nominating: Cornell, Williamson, Waldron and Lucas

Field Grant: Yost, Leinen, and Clark

Status of Trail Council Study: Veit noted that consensus from the meetings in Minnesota was that State Trail Councils were preferred over regional Trail Councils. The proposal in the Board packet reflects that consensus. Michigan, however, would be divided. The Lower Peninsula will be its own "state" and the Upper Peninsula will decide whether to stand alone or join with the Lower Peninsula or with Wisconsin.

• Waldron: What is the difference between the Trail Council Chair and the State Trail Coordinator?
• Veit: The proposal is to create committees to define what each would do.
• Cornell: Expressed concern that the membership will elect fewer Board Members. It would be preferable to select Board member based on qualifications.
• Veit: Only difference is that a different nominating body proposes the names.
• Cornell: Clarification of job functions and expectations is critical.
• Cornell: Question whether both this proposal and the budget can be addressed within time constrants of December's Board Meeting.
• Veit: Asked Bob Tait to discuss timing with his committee and decide whether the proposal can be fully addressed given the time constraints of the meeting in December.

Board Business

Ratification of Sheyenne River Valley Chapter Charter
Waldron moved that the Charter of the Sheyenne River Valley Chapter be ratified. Blount seconded. Motion carried.

Ratification of the Rock Chapter
Waldron moved that the Charter of the Rock Chapter be ratified. Blount seconded. Motion carried.

Informational Items

Legislative Update: Bob Papp reported that that there are two main issues, Willing Seller and increase appropriations for the trail. Natural Resource committee approved willing seller and it's currently in House. Hoping for a vote soon. Senate support looks good.

Appropriations-hopes to increase from $226,000 to $546,000 are dimming. Facing hurdles: nothing approved from House or Senate Appropriation Committees. House Appropriations people have contacted Gary Warner and asked him for "more modest request." NCT's share is $175,000. Congressman Regula (R-OH) added money for "maintenance" which may get shuffled to boost increase.

Veit: Cautioned that Board remember that figures being quoted don't come to NCTA in total. Funds are appropriated to the National Park Service for the Trail. Papp: If the Association gets the REI grant, one person from each state will be selected to go to Washington, DC as Trail Advocates.

Veit and Tait: Reminded Board of importance of developing relationships with state legislators as well.

Cornell: Invited Pat Allen, Chair of the Land Trust Committee to speak.

Allen: Pat attended Land Trust Training. In MI there are over 40 Land Trusts. All states should be comparable. An opportunity exists with T-21 funds looking at road easements where trail must be routed. There has been an accumulation of wealth and thus a lot of potential for funds.

Williamson: Board members should get updates after each election so they can update their contacts.

Blount: Chapter Presidents and Coordinators should get updates, too.

Yost: Obtained $500,000 in federal Land Water Conservation Funds to protect the trail corridor provided its matched by State of Wisconsin. He's begun forming a group to make contacts to spend money. Chapter should initiate contacts.

Menke: Formal agreement by NPS and WI has been signed which will transfer funds to the DNR. NPS will go through DNR board to get approval for State Trail Designation. This designation will allow for the use of State Stewardship Funds. State DNR has made contact with a landowner for 339 acres near the MN state line for $113,000. The State will take title. The Trail will be protected. Maybe the North Star should highlight these accomplishments.

Update on Diversity Vote: Veit reported that the Diversity Plan passed the Board by a vote of 13-1. All existing Board members voted. The illusion of missing votes is reflective of Board vacancies at the time the vote was taken.

Update on North Star: Papp reported that Wes Boyd has resigned after twelve years as Editor of the North Star. First step in transition was to change the number of issues published per year from five to four. The roles of editing and physical makeup will be split. For the next 2 to 3 issues Werner will serve as Acting Editor. Tom Garnett's company is handling makeup. Roger Meyer has agreed to serve as Photo Editor. The Association has received a grant from NPS to upgrade the look of the publication. Watch for the North Star to be less text heavy, have lots of names, lots of different subjects and more pictures. Total length may go from 32 to 40 pages.

Cornell: There should be a tribute to Wes in an upcoming issue.

Blount: Offered to do tribute and submit it to Veit in late September.

Update on Headquarter's move: Papp reported that current NCTA space is crowded. Staff has been looking at alternatives. Geographically Lowell is a good option. The Trail goes through downtown Lowell. Negotiations are taking place for a storefront in the historic district-about 1/2 block from the Trail. The building's owner has been extremely accommodating toward NCTA, as have the City Manager, the local press and the Lowell Chamber of Commerce. Papp has applied to the Lowell Community Foundation for assistance with moving expenses. The decision to move will be made when the status of the grant application is known.

Kindel: Staff has given careful consideration to the impact of the move on day-to-day operations. Perhaps the most important component is whether existing volunteers would be willing/able to work in Lowell. Most have indicated a willingness to do so....in fact, many have indicated that the new site would actually be less stressful than the commute and parking situation in downtown Grand Rapids. Because of the tremendous growth in that area of Kent County, it appears that we may find more volunteers. Staff has also been encouraged by discussions with people in Lowell and think that a collaborative effort between NCTA and schools and other community groups is likely.

Update on Cartography Program: Papp noted that the Cartography Program has been going now for a year. One possible change is that maps may be produced in a scale of 1:100,000 rather than the current 1:24,000. Samples were passed around for input. Backpackers would prefer the smaller scale maps. The larger scale is more suitable to use by dayhikers or for use in popular areas. One scale will be chosen. The smaller map would be more cost effective and quicker to produce.

Cornell: A marketing study is needed. How can the Association get maps out and make money?

Other Reports

Executive Director's Report: Papp referred the Board to his printed report included in the packet. Results of the direct mail campaign this spring were disappointing and will be analyzed before next spring's campaign.

Papp also reported that the website is going through some exciting changes. Joan Young has been hired as webmaster. The Trail Shop is now online. Marketing will be the key to success. Links to other sites will be available and NCTA will get a cut. Explanations are on the website.

NPS Report: Menke referred the Board to his printed report in the packet. He noted that since Planner Dirk Mason left, no additional progress has been made on the Minnesota Arrowhead reroute. In July the office got $20,000 from the regional office but the timing and expense of hiring a planner now isn't feasible. As a result, the $20,000 plus an additional $3,650 of year-end savings will be transferred to NCTA to use for operations. The money will be withheld from allocated to NCTA for 2001. The Park Service will use the $23, 650 plus whatever else is allowed in the budget to hire a planner in FY2001.

Menke also reported that he and Tom Gilbert visited Dayton, Ohio to look at a route for the Trail as an alternative to the existing Buckeye Trail route, which goes through the downtown Dayton area. The NCT route isn't established and as planned, would be rural. They concluded that the BT route is more interesting albeit on paved trails. They found that following the BT route might be more feasible at this time. They will continue investigating the route.

Menke visited with Bob Tait and John Romanowski in the Allegheny National Forest. As noted in the report in the Board packet, Menke found no evidence of alleged destruction of the trail by Allegheny caretakers.

Menke noted that trail maintenance needs to be reemphasized. A number of trail segments aren't identified. Chapters and trail maintainers need to be convinced to take care of what we have before more segments can be certified.

Project completion reports on Challenge Cost Share Grants need to be turned in before requesting additional funds The report in the Board packet contained a list of projects which have outstanding reports.

The VIP program purchased mowers for Sheyenne River Valley and Peter Wolfe.

There will be a meeting between the Park Service, the Forest Service and NCTA at Clarion River Lodge in Cook Forest October 11th and 12th. Menke would like good representation from NCTA.

Minnesota: Leinen reported that the Parks and Trails Council of Minnesota and Superior Hiking Trail's joint application to LCMR for funding was not approved. The process will be reviewed this year. In Minnesota different parties rule each house and Gov. Ventura could go either way.

Minnesota Renaissance: Leinen reported that there would be an outreach event on September 17th. All MN members of record in August were invited. A copy of the invitation was circulated.

New Business

Blount announced that Cheryl Cheadle of Tundra Outfitters runs tours both locally and internationally. She has proposed a tour to Isle Royale that would be 5-7 days in duration. She would be the tour guide and lead activities. The cost would be $800-$1000 per person for ferry, food, lodging, local hikes and boat tours. (This is less than her normal tour cost.) The tour could accommodate up to 200 people. Veit suggested the topic be considered in December as a program offering.

Future Board Meetings and Sites

December quarterly meeting will be in Milwaukee on December 2nd. Veit reminded the Board of the importance of this meeting.

Spring quarterly meeting was chosen by a majority of the Board to be April 28th in Romulus, MI. Veit reminded the Board that their support of the date chosen implies attendance!

The Annual Meeting will be held August 9th -12th in Caznovia, NY.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:33 PM.