Branches & Programs

PARK RESOURCE BRANCH
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2004
SOUTH M1DDLETON TOWNSHIP PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT

President Chris Lessig called the meeting to order at 10:20 am. The following members were present: President Chris Lessig, Recording Secretary Judy Houck, Membership Secretary John Mikowychok, Members At Large — Kurt Uhler, Ed Chubb.

Minutes - The minutes have been posted on the website and were approved as submitted.

2005 Conference Program – Discussion on programs for the Park Resource Track. Judy will forward any information she can get at tomorrow’s Conference Committee meeting along with the minutes Discussion was held regarding our annual raffle. It was decided that three prizes would be awarded - $200 Cabela’s Gill Card; $100 Gander Mountain Gift Card and a $50 Bass Pro Shop Card, Tickets Will still be $5.00 and only 200 will be sold. Judy will contact all the members who aren’t present to determine how many tickets they would like to sell.

2004 Park Operations School - Discussion was held regarding Park Maintenance Workshop that was held at Cabela’s on Wednesday, August 11”’. Judy distributed a fina1 report and a summary of the evaluation forms from the workshop. Thirty eight (38) people attended the program Total expenses were $866.13; total revenue $1,690.00; total profit $823.87. The Committee reviewed the reports and determined that the workshop was well received. Many positive comments were made regarding the Hazardous Tree session. This topic should be considered for future full-day sessions or multiple day sessions. Discussion on how to approach the program next year was held. Some considerations were serving lunch in the parking lot during a “vendors on parade” program where each vendor would be given a specified time frame to display and explain their product. The Stihl Company has offered to do a chain saw safety program. The majority of the Committee agreed that the location was a good choice and should be considered for future programs.

The Committee talked about why the Slippery Rock location did not draw any registrants. Perhaps next year the program could be a series of workshops that would be held every Friday (for example). Each week would be a different topic and people could register for all of the sessions, some of the sessions or just one. This would need to be planned almost immediately to allow sufficient time to prepare.

Branches – John Mikowychok will develop a new production schedule. He needs a feature article for this issue. The member profile will be Kurt Cider. John will include an article about the Park Maintenance Workshop in the next issue. Judy suggested the Bushkill Stream Conservancy as a possible agency to highlight in future issues.

Plan of Work - We have already submitted our mission statements and are waiting for comments from DCNR and State Parks. Discussion was held on other items for the institute. We are supposed to be submitting a list of reference materials. EVERY MEMBER IS TO BRING A LIST OF BOOKS/REFERENCES WE HAVE TN OUR OFFICE TO THE NEXT MEETING. Chris will write a brief article for “Branches” that requests members’ input on the question - “What is our role as a branch?”

Old Business

PRPS Magazine Spring 2005 — we need to submit a member profile and a feature park or program. Ed will contact Ron Albright about the Perkiomen Trail as a possible featured facility.

New Business

Elections - We need to get people to run for office. The following offices will be up for election in spring of 2005 - President Elect; Recording Secretary; Membership Secretary.

Web Pages - not enough information on our web pages. Each Committee Member was assigned an area for the web page at the last meeting. Please reference the list below to see which section you are responsible for. Judy will email the meeting minutes to Emily as soon as they are complete.

The following are the topic areas and the member responsible for it:

• Local, County, State and Federal Parks –
• Turf and Athletic Field Maintenance - Kurt Uhler
• Environmental Education - John Spencer
• Greenways, Trails and Open Space Protection - Ed Chubb
• Heritage Areas - Sherry Acevedo
Historic Preservation
Fisheries and Wildlife Management - John Mikowychok
• Watershed Protection - Gary Pinkerton
• Environmental Issues -
• News - Judy Houck
Chris will contact Lindsay and Neal to see which topics they would like to take.

Announcements -
Next Meeting – Wednesday, November 17th - Fall Membership Meeting - Carlisle, PA

With there being no further business to attend to, the meeting was adjourned at 12 noon.

Respectfully submitted,

Judy Houck
Recording Secretary