Atlanta Group Sierra Club Executive Committee Minutes
Date and Time: 04 April 2000 19:20-21:10
Location: Ted Jackson's House
Attendees: Herb Bastin, Ted Jackson, Chris Kaufman, Alan Toney, Janet Westervelt
Quorum: Present
Agenda: Agreed upon agenda used
Minutes: The March 2000 minutes were distributed and accepted with one correction: Chris Kaufman and Claudette Metz had articles published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Chair: Alan received a call from Arthur-Anderson interested in doing a stream clean-up or some similar hands-on project. Alan asked Bernia (sp?) Lee to email the particulars. Janet is trying to get a crew together for Earth Day. John Spots will be coming next week to give a talk at the general meeting (was 95% sure). Alan gave Soil & Water District slide show to an Optimists Club meeting and noted the talk went over well. He received an invitation to a Forest Summit if anyone is interested; date was unknown. Bicycling people were unhappy being put on Alan's forwarding email listing for environmental issues.
Vice Chair: Chapter ExCom report from Savannah on March 25: Chapter plans to use a Postnet bar code to cut postage costs, maybe by half. They discussed newsletter and subvention: current formula is each group will receive $200 per quarter + $0.40 per member per quarter. Proposed subvention, which was tabled, would subtract out newsletter costs at $2,300-2,400 per page. Bryan Hager mentioned that an Athens Conservation group is trying to be formed and Sarah O'Neil is trying to form a Macon Conservation group. Sam Booher will be travelling to Saint Simons Island to look into starting another Coastal Conservation group. Dahlonega group is doing well in getting political issues going. The Georgia Sierran newsletter deadline is April 11. The topic themes for May/June is Political/Legal and for July/August is Earth Day. Janet ordered 2 rolls of Earth Day stickers to be split between Atlanta and Centennial groups. A 2nd box of Earth Day T-Shirts has been received and Janet needs a check for $446.00 to cover the costs of the T-Shirts. The pastor of Epworth UMC wanted Sierra Club to write a note endorsing that church's bid for United Methodist Church of the year.
Treasurer: $3,600 in checking account and running over budget. Pax World Fund investments now has a balance of $6,200. We are running significantly ($2,300) above budget.
Conservtn: Stream clean-up in the Tucker area, at the South Fork of Peachtree Creek, was held previous Saturday. Eight or nine people showed up and the group removed 30-35 bags of trash. Chris and Glenn Grozman will be meeting with Pete Kelly of OldCastle Precast Concrete to show pictures and discuss how we can work together to get the section of stream remediated. Photos and a story will go into the Georgia Sierran. Upcoming events include the Dogwood Festival, April 6-7 (all slots filled), Decatur Jubilee, April 22 10am - 3pm (have 6 people committed), Hands-on-Atlanta Service trip, April 22 9am - 1 pm (need more volunteers), Piedmont Park, April 22 12pm - 2 pm (Karen Austin & Melinda to staff EFG table), Inman Park Festival, April 29-30 (need people to staff table on shifts), Music Midtown, May 6-7, will receive confirmation soon, Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center, May 13 8am - 2 pm, (educational outreach, need volunteers).
AdoptStream: In March 18 people showed up to do the biological and chemical monitoring of Peavine Creek, a record turnout. There is an Adopt-A-Stream workshop held in Texas on a Wednesday-Friday for $60 by the Groundwater Protection Council. Janet cannot get the time off to attend. This month's Adopt-A-Stream will be April 15 to do the chemical monitoring and a stream clean-up.
Outings: The State Chapter Leader training will take place Saturday April 8 with 15 people likely to attend. There is a debate without resolution relaxing the requirement that outings be published in a Sierra newsletter to allow only posting a notice on a web page.
One Club: Herb stated that Larry Winslett and Randall White will give a talk at the One Club kickoff dinner, just after the Leader training class on Saturday April 8. Dinner is to start about 6 pm and go until 8 pm; RSVPs needed. Herb will be a paid facilitator working 2.5 hours weekly for a total grant of $1,500. Lee Thomas deserves much of the credit for initiating One Club in Georgia.
Membership: Carolyn was not present. Ted will do membership for now and will request help for subsequent meetings.
Store: Janet reported that Herb had nothing to report. Herb will need to ship back calendars no later than May. For the Dogwood Festival we will try to give away canvas bags or hip packs for joining the Sierra Club.
Web Page: Ted indicated that nothing much occurred; the calendar of events needs to be updated.
Program: May's meeting will be Peter Kirby about the Appalachian Southern Forests. REI was unwilling to send a person to talk at our location, but would be willing to entertain us at their location on I-85 access at Clairmont Road. ExCom decided not to move meeting locations for a single meeting. Discussions for future meetings included Upper Chattahoochee River keeper, wildlife rehabilitation, and Greenspace initiative. For July discussion centered around a picnic either at Hebron Hills pool (3rd-4th weeks of July) or evening picnic at Candler Park (across from Epworth UMC) on 2nd Tuesday.
Newsletter: Chris to write an article on South Fork Peachtree Creek clean-up and Janet to write one on the massive Peavine Creek Adopt-A-Stream outing.
New Items: 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 May 2nd. The address is 3188 Kensington Road, Avondale Estates.
Last updated: 27 Apr 00