Core Leadership Team Meeting Minutes October 8, :00 pm Gateway Meeting Room, Gateway Trailhead

Transcription

1 Core Leadership Team Meeting Minutes October 8, :00 pm Gateway Meeting Room, Gateway Trailhead Present: Carole Burton, Rick Cooper, Franco Farina, Raejean Fellows, Sue Handke, Phil Hartley, Liz Hildenbrand, Nancy Howe, Jace McKeighan, Lisa Miller (for Con Englehorn), Mike Nolan, Paul Staker 1. Nancy Howe called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm. 2. Open Microphone: Joni Millavec read a letter from Betty Miller that stated that Betty had been concerned about signage in the Preserve that referred to the Preserve as a park. She communicated this concern through appropriate channels but the issue was not addressed. Acting as a Scottsdale citizen, not as a member of MSC, she took her concern to the Commission, where the issue was heard and the signs will be removed. Betty wanted to remind all stewards that individuals can make a difference. 3. Adoption of Proposed Agenda: A motion to adopt the proposed agenda was seconded and passed unanimously. 4. Approval of Minutes from the September meeting. A motion to approve the minutes was seconded and passed unanimously. 5. Announcements and Responses a. Liz Hildenbrand: Liz showed the invitation to the Brown s Ranch Trailhead Grand Opening, a celebration of the northern region of the Preserve. The invitation had previously been ed and displayed at trailheads. The opening will be from 8-11 am on Saturday, October 19, with the program starting at 9:00 am. Trolleys from Pinnacle Peak Patio will run from 7:30 to 12 noon. Offsite parking was planned because city staff wanted to be very conscientious about not parking on Alma School because of the neighbors. The governor was invited but will not be attending. b. Raejean Fellows: The Steward Kickoff, organized by Rich Cochran and his 1

2 team was very successful. A manual count showed that 152 were in attendance. Melanie Tluczek s presentation on the Field Institute was especially appreciated. Steward and Board Member Jack McEnroe sent a message to the Volunteer Support members that said From the number of volunteers involved, not five but 25+; to the audio-visuals; to the food; etc. everything was professionally done. I heard many, many compliments from attendees all of whom recognized that while MSC is growing the commitment, dedication, and spirit of founders of MSC is alive and well. It is important that we care about the Preserve. It is heart-warming to see how we care about each other. 5. Staff Business a. Mike Nolan: He is still interviewing for the Director of Steward Operations position but he still does not have an announcement. He is advertising both within MSC and outside for a replacement for the Director of Development and Communications. Present staff members are taking care of some of the Development activities, e.g., Jill Feinstein has taken over grant writing and Nancy Heck is helping put on events, such as the Tour de Scottsdale and Sonoran Desert Women events. Mike is working on PR and communications. The Steward Handbook work has been delayed while Mike is busy with other activities. Mike asked Phil Hartley to address the website updates. Phil explained that there was a disconnect between the contract developers and MSC. Several more necessary rounds of conversations will cause a week or two delay. We must ensure that the steward reporting feature works, is user-friendly and supports current functionality. Some code, such as the store front, will take more time to sort out. IT will start testing in two weeks. 6. MSC 2014 Strategic Plan and Its Relevance for the Core Leadership Team Nancy Howe reminded the attendees of the role that the CLT plays with respect to the Strategic Plan, the Executive Summary of which can be found on the CLT page of the MSC website. Each program chair met with Mike and and provided input to the Plan, which has been approved by the Board. The Core Leadership Team meetings are where the team can get together to address over-arching issues that affect all programs and work toward achieving broader goals for the organization as set by the Board. 7. Staff Business: There was no Staff Business. 8. New Business a. Raejean Fellows discussed a recommendation made by the Retention team, led by Joe Blankenship. She explained that for stewards to be happy and stay with MSC, they most connect to activities, connect to the place (the Preserve) and connect to the people of MSC. Small group activities within programs allow stewards to make connections with people. The retention team recommends 2

3 that two times during the season stewards get together in activities such as parties (as Pathfinders have done), field trips (such as the Volunteer Support trip to the White Tanks), or steward-only hikes. If any programs would like support in following these recommendations, they can contact Joe Blankenship. It was noted that limited availability of meeting rooms had led to some overlap of program activities. b. Mike Nolan: MSC has committed to some responsibilities related to maintaining the Preserve trailheads and access areas. Distributing the responsibility for performing these tasks is best understood as an MSC-wide effort with several programs and individuals contributing. This is an opportunity for the Core Leadership Team, as MSC s steward leadership team, to decide how to accomplish this goal. Mike explained that we have not committed to the list of tasks that was shown on the website. The issue is that there are 10 trailheads open 7 days a week. Five city staff members work 5 days a week. What needs to be determined is what can be done by stewards and what is the role of the City of Scottsdale. What can stewards do and what can be handled in some other way? Liz explained that it is important to understand what maintenance functions can be done by volunteers and what needs to be budgeted with the City. The Preserve staff must present budgetary needs to the city and they need to be able to show what can and cannot be done by volunteers. A long discussion ensued, which is captured below. Carole was not surprised by the list of facility needs; these are the challenges that are the normal course of the growth of the Preserve. The only issue she personally is concerned about is cleaning toilets. (Liz subsequently explained that the City has hired a cleaning crew that cleans all the trailhead restrooms. What stewards are being asked is to check that they have toilet paper; that they pick up any loose paper towels on the floor; and that they check the restrooms to make sure there are no problems such as running water, broken toilets, etc. that need immediate maintenance or cleaning.) Carole said a special team within the Patrol program could be enlisted to focus on trailhead maintenance; some steward who cannot hike could be willing to clean signs or do other tasks at the trailhead. Carole is more than willing to help out. Raejean stated the current roles of Pathfinders and Patrols should not go beyond observing and reporting maintenance issues. It is not fair to add anything on to current roles. It would be better to have a separate team to address maintenance. Pathfinders and Patrollers should not assume responsibilities that they didn t sign up for. 3

4 Rick: Trailheads need to be maintained. Tom s Thumb was a good example of what Pathfinders could do with regard to trash and recycle. However, some people cannot do the physical work of lifting trash and recycle. The secondary sites (such as Ringtail and Granite Mountain) do not have Pathfinder shifts. We already do not have enough Pathfinders to cover all the shifts; we can t handle the other access points. There needs to be a committee that delineates by trailhead what needs to be done and then there needs to be a process to follow up. Paul: He agrees that we don t want to change anyone s roles and that we will not ask anyone to do anything they don t want to do. The main responsibility of Pathfinders is to greet and assist visitors. He will try to figure out how to get the list of tasks done. The biggest challenge is the trash because that s not everyone s cup of tea. Recycle is an issue because it fills up more quickly during the week. He recommends that we have a trailhead coordinator at each of the sites who makes sure that things get done, not necessarily to do them. The coordinators would report to Paul. Sue said that the list is not as bad as it looks. She had been doing these tasks at nine trailheads once a week for a year. She did not do heavy trash. She feels that checking everything is part of being a Pathfinder (bathrooms, mutt mitts, trash, litter, etc.) Franco: There is a balance between what the city can pay for and what MSC is able to do. The tasks that are assigned to volunteers need to be sustainable. Some people will leave; many people will observe and report, but not all will perform tasks. Whatever plan we put together must be sustainable. Carole: Trailhead maintenance will not be imposed on patrollers. We could put together a special team for trailhead maintenance. Reidun Daeffler (audience): There is nothing new in stewards doing anything on the trailhead maintenance list. She believes the Preserve is her home and wants it to be clean. But there is a big difference between what we have been doing and building it into a system. The tasks should be optional; some won t want to be janitors. Tom Heideman (audience): Sue used to teach Pathfinders that pathfinding is not just a smiling face and a welcome. Pathfinders were trained to do mutt mitts, map container restocking, checking bulletin boards, keeping material stocked. Pathfinders can be reminded that they are going to do these things. Some other things are not obligations of Pathfinders. Sandy Fefes (audience): As a Pathfinder, she did many of these things, e.g, cleaning the map Plexiglas. Most people will do these things, but there is a difference between tidying and emptying trash and cleaning bathrooms. With 4

5 all due respect to Mr. Drinkwater (to whom MSC promised to commit volunteers to the maintenance of the Preserve), things change and we need to take care of our volunteer group to get the best out of them. Nancy Howe brought the discussion to a close. Paul Staker has volunteered to take on the task of determining how we get maintenance activities handled. He will put out a centralized request to the steward body and see if we have people who will volunteer. We need to correct some misinformation. a. There is No Poop Fairy in the Preserve: Nancy Howe explained that we recognize that we have a problem with dog waste in the Preserve. Both MSC and the City of Scottsdale are trying to address the issue with education, but with increased use, especially at Gateway, there is fear that the problem is getting worse. Some stewards report that at times the trail smells between the Gateway trailhead and the Saguaro Loop. What innovative ways can MSC and COS work together as partners to make a large impact on those dog owners who do not take responsibility for bagging and removing waste? A discussion followed this introduction. Carole: received 35 comments from patrollers who feel passionate about this problem. She received many suggestions that she will forward to the City. Some patrollers feel that having stewards pick up the bags is enabling behavior. Raejean recommends using positive reinforcement, by thanking stewards who are being responsible pet owners. She recommends that we don t let people pick up blue bags if we expect owners to do so. Other areas allow people to leave bags and pick them up later if they are doing an out-and-back hike. Franco suggested that the City place a trash container at the intersection of Gateway Loop and the trail back to the trailhead. He suggested that stewards could take 2-3 blue bags with them and give them to dog walkers who don t have them. Liz explaining that dog waste is a problem in any public space. She believes that there is not one answer, but many things need to happen. On Dog Gone Appreciation Day we plan to have more information about responsible dog ownership. She suggested that we have an ongoing group to work on this. Rebecca Eickley (audience) would like to join the group to work on this issue as she is a dog lover. She fears dogs may be prohibited if we don t take care of this. We need to strategically change where we put garbage containers. We need more information on dog safety; we could train pathfinders. We could use sandwich board signs to educate users. 5

6 Carole asked if dogs can be banned. [Liz: yes they can.] The issue about adding a garbage can is who will empty it (Paul?) Sue recommended that we use sandwich board signs for education and awareness. Tom Heideman (audience) said that dog safety pamphlets were available to Pathfinders at some point. Are they still available? If so, they could be part of the dog event. Nancy concluded the discussion by saying that all suggestions will be forwarded to Liz. Rebecca will meet with Liz to start an ongoing discussion. 10. Agenda Items for Tuesday, November 12 CLT Meeting a. Raejean Fellows: Proposal to Define Continuing Education Credits i) Clarification of the purpose of continuing education within MSC ii) Should MSC identify ongoing requirements for stewards to annually update their knowledge iii) Are there distinctions between continuing education and specific program-area trainings? iv) Does MSC want to develop a course catalog? v) Does MSC want to use a registrar to track stewards course-completion history? 11. A motion to adjourn was second and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:45 pm. 6