RMF BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Dec 9, 2015

7:00 PM - Meeting called to order

Attendance: Wil Huett, Dick Jefferies, Linda Jefferies, Domingo Rodriguez, Dennis Cook, Dave Piske, Tom Culbertson, Phil Wright, Lance Asherin, Paul Wehr. 
Note: A quorum was present.

  1. Board Business

    1. Introductions / President’s Comments
      Dennis and Wil attended the CSU American Fisheries Society chapter meeting. Wil asked about having us exchange web links. After the meeting several members expressed an interest in our club and perhaps by exchanging web links we might find some additional collaborators / volunteers. We agreed this would be a good idea.
      One item we failed on the chapter effectiveness index was that we do not have a review of the finances by someone without check writing authority. Wil and Dick felt that the past president would be a knowledgeable person to take on this task and felt this could be added to the past presidents responsibilities. Dick has offered to take on this quarterly task.

    2. Review Agenda: Wil officially approved Dave Piske as the representative of the Big Thompson Restoration Coalition. Added item 2.4 is Lee’s Christmas Party report.

    3. Consent Agenda: Documents submitted prior to meeting are: Treasurer'srsquo;s Report; Conservation Report; Youth Report; Community Outreach Report; Membership Report.
      Approve Dick Jefferies as the RMF representative to CPRW
      Agenda Approved.

    4. Approve Minutes of Last Meeting: Motion/2nd/Approved: with a couple of corrections.

    5. Pulled Consent Items: None

  2. Old Business

    1. Sustain: Strategic Plan - Next steps
      The draft has been amended and is ready to send out to our members after the holiday period, and solicit their opinions.
      Once comments have been received and incorporated, they will be shared with our outside collaborators and stake holders.
      In conjunction with the strategic plan Dennis is working on a draft of an operations plan.

    2. Sustain: Volunteer opportunities
      Wait on these, so far no interest in Tom’s announcement in the News Letter, to become the new accountant has been shown.
      No interest to take on the mono-line collection project either.

    3. Conservation: Embrace A Stream Grant status
      Dave Piske discussed the George Creek, greenback trout restoration projects status. Barrier to be installed will require an additional $10,000 the max allowed by this grant, this grant will require matching donations, our share will be 434 volunteer hours. The total estimate to complete the project is about 700 volunteer hours.
      Dave is in the process of collecting signatures right now, Grant will be sent out on Dec. 15th.

    4. Sustain: Lee’s Comments on Christmas Party
      Lee sent out an email, we need the fly trees, a rod, raffle tickets etc.
      Tom will sell raffle tickets and dinner tickets at the door.

  3. New Business

    1. Sustain: Behnke Internship proposal
      Professor Brett Johnson has proposed diverting our annual contribution to the Fellowship (which is now adequately funded by Dr Behnke'srsquo;s personal gift to the point it is one of the better fellowships on campus) to an annual undergraduate internship. See attached proposal for details. We previously determined the size of annual contributions RMF can make is probably not meaningful to the Endowed Chair campaign.
      The group discussed this proposal and a few items of concern were noted. The cost to initiate the internship will be $1000.00 (two years). We need to have a job description in place prior to agreeing to take on this person. The chapter would like to be on the selection board when students apply for the internship, we would like to have this in writing. Will the RMF chapter loose its association with the Behnke fellowship if we stop contributing annually?
      First step is to inform Prof. Johnson that we would like to be included in the interview and hiring process. If so then write a position description. Also ask about associating our chapter name rather than just TU. Dennis, Wil and Phil will work on this position description depending on step 1.

    2. Sustain: Poudre River Forum funding request
      Last month we appropriated $500 as operational funding for Poudre Runs Through It, knowing a separate request for sponsorship of the annual Forum would be forthcoming. Here it is, attached. We have supported this in the past.
      The group discussed this request and we agreed to send them $500 for use in operating. We will not participate or donate to the annual Forum this year.

    3. Sustain: RMF logo & new TU standards
      TU has revised its logo standards changing colors and fonts and physical arrangement. Included are guidelines they want chapters to follow. RMF current logo does not meet the standards. Options are ignore standards or change RMF logo.
      We felt that keeping our flycasters design (without the 30 + years.) and changing the color scheme of the TU fish would be enough for now. Paul is playing with changing our logo to make it a little more reader friendly and might have something later for us to look at.
      Paul stated that printing requests would require different formats so ask him for the proper format.

    4. Volunteer Survey results & orientation meeting proposal
      Summary and proposal sent earlier and attached.
      We agreed that having an orientation meeting is a good idea. We asked Mulligans about having the meeting on January 14th.
      We should ask the meeting participants if anyone would be interested in being a volunteer coordinator for next year.
      Different groups could break out by a category of interest and discuss volunteer opportunities with the group leaders.
      A question was brought up about how is the chapter going to long term manage the information gathered and manage the volunteer hours sign up.
      Money is available to buy some software. Wildlands Restoration Volunteers has a proprietary software they developed. We should include all the information they request on our form as well to facilitate working with them.

  4. Future meeting plans:

    • January 20 - John and Jodi Knight - World fly fishing Competition & Duane Cook - project lead for Project Healing Waters

    • February 17 - Fly Tying Expo - Getting a food donor is key.

    • March 18 - Landon Mayer, we added the Behnke’s fellowship winner Cheyenne Owens to discuss her research.

    • April Spring Celebration?

    • May 18 - annual meet, elections - John Perry an Alaska guide & Bob Sampson will discuss Pueblo Tail water fishing

9:05 PM - Meeting adjourned

Submitted by Lance Asherin,
Rocky Mountain Flycasters’ Secretary