Atlanta Group Sierra Club Executive Committee Minutes
Date and Time: 08 March 2000 19:15-21:30
Location: Carolyn Weber's House
Attendees: Herb Bastin, Ted Jackson, Alan Toney, Carolyn Weber, Janet Westervelt
Quorum: Present
Agenda: Agreed upon agenda used
Minutes: The February 2000 minutes were distributed and accepted with one correction: Carolyn Weber was present at the February Conservation meeting.
Chair: Alan tried to contact Virginia Dunbar via e-mail twice to confirm presentation at next meeting. Received one call today someone was confused about Centennial group's meeting and Atlanta group's meeting. Larry Winslett will give a brief update on Stone Mountain issue. Larry may be applying for Sam Collier's job as Regional Conservation Coordinator. Kyle Hatcher has left to work for the Peace Corps.
Vice Chair: The Earth Day T-shirts are in; Atlanta Group ordered 50 T-shirts (may not be correctly shipped). Upcoming functions: Dogwood Festival, 7-9 April (Conservation, no sales); Decatur, 22 April (conservation, sales); Earth Day service trip with Earth Day network/Environmental Fund of Georgia, morning 22 April with Hands-on-Atlanta (trail maintenance); Piedmont Park, afternoon 22 April, mini-workshops 12-3 at Magnolia Hall and dinner for 300 people at $15 per person; Inman Park Festival, 29 April (conservation, sales); Midtown Music Festival, 5-7 May, 4 booths available but not confirmed. At conservation meeting there were six women who came; delegated people to do research. Karen Austin and Bryan Hager had additional volunteer lists. Sam Booher had Board of Directors notes that indicate that Sierra Club's total membership is at 613,000, the highest since 1996. One Club update from Carl Pope stated that a task force was set up to evaluate the different ways communications between club levels. Georgia Chapter Leadership training course is being attended by Janet; no one else is planning to go. Janet found a website, www.earthday.com, where lapel pins ($2 ea) and stickers ($9.50/500) could be purchased. No other ExCom members indicated any interest in purchasing these items.
Treasurer: $4,400 in checking account and running over budget. Pax World Fund investments now has a balance of $6,100. The Earth Day T-shirts cost $831.25 / 135 (or $6.16 each). Other groups owe us $523.37.
Conservtn: Chris was absent. April 1 will be a stream clean-up in the Tucker area, at the South Fork of Peachtree Creek. Will scout the trip on March 18. March 18 is another Adopt-a-Stream for the Peavine Creek watershed. Alan indicated that the Wildwood Forest (off Cheshire Bridge and Lenox Roads) is trying to develop an Adopt-a-Stream like Sierra Club. They'll need to attend a training session to learn how to do the chemical and biological monitoring. At the Stone Mountain meeting regarding Silver Dollar proposed expansion on entertainment facilities, five Sierrans appeared. Janet was able to be heard at the meeting. Dr. Randall White had an article published in the Atlanta Journal. Alan said the Fulton Soil & Water Conservation District is not pleased with Atlanta and Fulton County's efforts. Fulton SWCD issued three stop work orders.
Outings: The Atlanta Group had four outings leaders (Herb, Lee, Lissa, Ted) attend a Wilderness Medicine First Aid course. On April 8, outings training session is ready to go; Lee Thomas is spearheading this effort to train and recruit more outings leaders.
Membership: Carolyn, after two and a half years of dedicated membership service, stated that she no longer wishes to do membership. Will have to find replacements. Ted would take on membership responsibilities in April, but would need assistance. Carolyn then presented the ExCom with statistics over 1999, 1998, and 1997. Overall, attendance stayed about the same, averaging 31-33 people per meeting. She mailed over 3,500 newcomer cards last year. Typically she receives about 5 calls per month based on the cards and maybe 1-2 show up at the next meeting. Decision was made that after the cards run out (maybe in two months), to discontinue sending out welcome cards. Alternatives included finding someone else to doing the stamping/mailing and calling or mailing a card to existing members (who attend) about the meetings. Motion to discontinue welcome cards passed unanimously. Another example of discouraging turnout from mail-out reminders, 400 Holiday Party cards sent in 1997, 47 people attended, while 350 Holiday Party cards sent in 1999 with 37 attending. Carolyn will write a detailed "how-to" instruction guide and job description.
Store: Herb had nothing to report. He did have a question regarding the purchase of books for Bryan Hager (Chapter). Should he ask Chapter for reimbursement on the invoice (answer: yes). At the March meeting, Herb will be out of town, so Ted will take over the store. Herb will ship back calendars.
AdoptStream: The chemical and biological monitoring will be conducted on March 18. Janet used the new test kit and everything works well. She has to figure out the three new methods. Janet saw a notice about the Adopt-a-Stream on a wall in Starbucks in Decatur. She had four new people (including a Paidea student). A training conference workshop in Austin, Texas is being held on April 26-29. This workshop, called "Moving into the Mainstream", deals with groundwater protection and has field trips and conference sessions.
One Club: Herb told the ExCom that the Chapter efforts to have more conservation and outing trips together was needed. Herb was interviewed by a person in the National Sierra Club office regarding the Georgia Chapter's application for a One Club grant. Herb found out that Georgia was far along in developing a One Club proposal and program.
Web Page: Anup stated was working with the Centennial Group on their website.
Program: March's program will be Galapagos slide show by Virginia Dunbar. April's program will be water quality in India, along with deforestation and arsenic leaching, by John Spots. May's program to be done by Peter Kirby about the southern Appalachians. Need to call REI and Chattahoochee Nature Center for more speakers.
Newsletter: Herb to write a One Club / Leadership article for July.
New Items: Chapter ExCom meeting on March 25 in Savannah. The host of the 2nd Quarter Atlanta Group ExCom meetings will be at Ted Jackson's house, starting at 7:00 pm. Next meeting on April 4. The address is 3188 Kensington Road, Avondale Estates.
Last updated: 01 Apr 00