OHA Steering Committee
Meeting Minutes, September 19, 2023
Called to Order: 6:31pm
Attendance:
Steering Committee Present: Carter Bascom, Emma “EB” Brandt, Jeff Colt, Phoebe Howe, Jared Liu,
Lawrence “Stroker” Rogovin, Kimberly “Schroeder” Steward, Gerry Whiting, Dawson Winch, Alex Ziko
Steering Committee Absent: Riley Steward, Deirdre Vander Schaff, Bethany Taylor
Guests: Bill Barrett (phone), Brian Post, Doug Shaffer, Jesse Carlson
Secretary’s Report (Jared)
There were two edits to the June minutes: The Badger land was assessed at $13,900 (not $13,000) and
changed “arraigning” to “arranging” under Trails.
Action: Stroker made a motion to accept the minutes from June and August with edits noted, Gerry
seconded, Committee unanimously approved.
Treasurer’s Report (Alex)
The financial reports were circulated, and the state of the union is strong.
Emily said that remaining cabin construction items will be expensed by the end of the year.
Per later in the meeting, we expect to nominate AL Razat to join the Steering Committee. She is highly
qualified, which was abundantly evident from her interview with the Steering Committee members in
August.
With he help of the investment sub-committee, AL will be researching investment options that offer
higher yields than CDs, yet continue to minimize risk and preserve principal.
Carter made a note that the tax card on file with Jackson lists Alex and his address as the contact. This
will have to be changed to the new treasurer or secretary if it cannot be changed to simply an
organization name. Jared will explore setting up a permanent P.O. Box in Jackson or the area that stays
with the OHA and can be used for purposes such as this, membership, and more.
Action: Alex made a motion to recommend that AL Razat be nominated to treasurer at Fallfest, Stroker
seconded, Committee unanimously approved.
Cabin (Emily & Brian)
Walls at the cabin are already fairly well covered with photos, so Brian has added a note to cabin
reservations to not add memorabilia or anything else to the walls without permission from the cabin
caretaker.
From Emily via email: All is well at the cabin, with a busy season for croo members of all ages. Cabin
improvements made over the summer include new door added in rear bunkroom for use as an
emergency exit, repair and repainting of storm windows (thanks to OH Mea Arego, Dawson Winch,
Gloria Hutchings, Liz Seabury) and various electrical upgrades to be completed soon.
The Fall FirewoodChallenge is currently underway with cabin guests and current croos lending a hand to bringing in the
wood along the Pemi Bob Trail to the old woodshed. The goal is to have it done BEFORE Oktoberfest,
we’ll see what happens! The new OHA Code of Conduct has been posted in the cabin for easy reference
for everyone.
Ossipee Valley Music Festival Report (Stroker)
Run by OH Bill Johnson, Ossipee is a premier roots music festival, close to the White Mountains,
frequented by current croo and OH alike. It presents a great opportunity for OH to gather during the
summer to hear and play music. This year, Stroker put out an “OH Welcome” sign at his campsite and
had a dozen or so OH drop by to play music and shoot the breeze. He intends to continue in the hope of
making Ossipee another annual OH tradition, like Spring reunion and Fallfest.
Hut Ambassador Program Report (Phoebe)
Went well this summer!
Fallfest, 11/4 (Phoebe)
This year’s event is shaping up well! Brian Fowler will lead a tour to the Old Man site and give a talk in
the evening. She will research the best way to make a donation to the Old Man of the Mountain Legacy
Fund.
Phoebe will make sure that other speakers who have a role are prepared- Nicole via Stroker, Gerry for
toast, Alex for treasurer, and Emily for the cabin. Phoebe has worked with
Kevin and John, who are the AMC’s point of contacts for us at the HiC, with regards to the room, menu,
and sound. Ken Olson will speak about the award given to Betsy Bird and share some photos.
Bill will coordinate with Doug, Emily, and Benny about whether we can include Laura Waterman. We
will comp her if she comes and create space in the agenda to honor her.
For future years, we are considering moving the event to Pinkham Notch for the deeper connection to
that place, because it’s 20% cheaper for food and lodging, and it is BYOB. The downside is that the
gathering spaces are smaller. So most of the gatherings from dinner to business meeting would be in
the dining room, but the sense is that will work. Currently, both are reserved for 2024. Phoebe will ask
the AMC if we can continue to hold both spaces until after Fallfest 2023 in order to poll attendees then
about the change, or at least to give us the right of first refusal if someone else wants to book the space
sooner.
Octoberfest (Dawson)
Saturday, Oct. 14 at 10am at the cabin. Richard Stetson and Bridgette Qualey will do the lunch. RSVP to
Richard if you’re coming. This has been posted on Facebook, the website, and the Tator. There will be
light chores whereby we give the cabin a good reaming. Bring an appetizer to share, and the event is
BYOB. Richard’s email address is: [email protected]
Joe Dodge Award (Stroker, Bill)
Action: Stroker nominated Schroeder, and the Committee unanimously agreed.
Stroker will submit the nomination!
Bylaws: change definitions for Honorary & Special Members (Stroker)
The Committee voted to combine the Honorary Member and Special Member Awards, given that there’s
been much confusion over what criteria defined which term. Historically, we’ve been awarding Special
Memberships to people who’ve worked within the hut system, and Honorary Memberships to those
who never worked for the huts, but we’ve had this exactly backwards from how the by-laws define the
criteria for these awards. To simplify the confusion…
Action: Dawson made a motion to combine the two awards into one award- Special Member- and to
have the bylaws reflect this change. Stroker seconded, Committee unanimously approved.
This makes a lot of sense given that the criteria is the same for both awards: “outstanding contributions
that have enriched the experience provided by the AMC Hut System, own its associated facilities.” The
only difference between the two awards was whether someone once worked in the huts or not, which
seems immaterial and irrelevant to the larger intent—thanking people for exemplary service.
OH who receive the award will be expected to continue to pay dues. Non-OH will not pay dues.
Nominations for Officers: Treasurer and 3 Members at Large (Stroker)
Dawson, Jeff, Alex, Riley are concluding their service. We met AL Razat at an August meeting and were
reintroduced to these other nominees at the September meeting:
Jesse Carlson: 2017-2020 caretaking, has been coming to meetings for the past couple of years
and helped Bill with trails
Doug Shaffer: formerly chair of the Steering Committee in the 80s, been helping with video
projects, and thrilled to help with the OH in anyway
Al Kamman: worked in the huts in the 80s, Stroker vouched for him, friends of the Bensons
Action: Stroker made a motion to nominate the following slate for the Steering Committee, to be
approved at 2023 Annual Meeting, Jared seconded, and the committee unanimously approved:
Lawrence “Stroker” Rogovin: Chair
Phoebe Howe: Vice Chair
AL Razat for Treasurer
Jared Liu: Secretary
Emma “EB” Brandt: Resuscitator Editor
Carter Bascom: Secretary Emeritus
Kim “Schroeder” Steward: Website
Bethany “Benny” Taylor: Huts ex officio
Jesse Carlson: Member at Large
Al Kamman: Member at Large
Doug Shaffer: Member at Large
Deirdre Vander Schaff: Member at Large
Gerry Whiting: Member at Large
Everyone will send a bio to EB to publish ahead of the Annual Meeting.
Merch (Brian)
The final remaining old merch will probably be sold at Fallfest. After that, Brian has new shirts with new
colors that will be available.
Website (Schroeder, Brian)
The Who We Are section of ohcroo.com has been password protected since the summer cabin incident
and will continue to be for the immediate future. Steering Committee members will determine for
themselves how much information to share for privacy reasons and keep the OHA appraised if the
harassment crosses into a legal or an officers liability matter that the OHA needs to consider.
Croo Photo Project (Phoebe)
Croo photos will be assembled into a binder that will live at the cabin. This collection will be backed-up
digitally and updated as needed. Project to be completed this winter.
Hut System (Benny)
N/A
Trails (Bill)
At our request, the USFS just erected five beautiful new signs on the Hutmen’s Trail. Most importantly,
there’s now one at the western intersection of the Hutmen’s and Dana place Trails, a location where
recently there had not been any indication where either of these trails went.
For the OH Day, July 15, on the Old Bridle Path trail project, we had a crew of 15, consisting of OH Chris
Thayer, Heather Harland Wingate, and Karl Crag, plus numerous friends and relatives, all of whom spent
the day removing rocks and re-routing and re-grading the trail in the first mile. This was of great help to
the weekday professional crews who then (among other things) built some very durable, wide (to
permit two-way traffic) stone steps.
Resuscitator (EB)
The goal is to publish Oct. 1. EB is still working on a few items including current croo photos. Stroker is
working on a donkey skinning article, and Bill and Schroeder will help edit the draft. Communications
can be directed to: [email protected]
New & Other Bidness (Stroker)
We now have more than 1,000 followers on Instagram. Carter will spearhead a posting challenge that
gives away a T-shirt.
Carter had two edits to ohcroo.com: an updated link for AMC Jobs and new picture for the About
section.
The OH Twitter/ X account is basically going unused, but the Committee agreed to keep the handle
anyway, to prevent someone else from assuming it and possibly presenting as the OHA.
2024 Calendar:
Virtual: 1/9, 4/16, 6/11, 9/24, 11/19
In-person: 2/24 Bertucci’s Cambridge, 5/10 at Shannon Door, 5/11 Spring Reunion, 11/2 Fallfest
Washburn Property: Carter recently contacted the owner of the property immediately north of the OH
Cabin, Mark Gervais, to remind him we’re interested in purchasing his property. Carter is maintaining
periodic communication with Mark, who continues to be preoccupied with caring for his elderly mother.
Bill will connect with Alex MacMillan about the Madison Volunteer Ski Patrol trust. For the record, they
gave the OHA a donation of $10,000 to assist with a future adjacent land purchase.
Next Steering Committee Meetings are:
Nov. 4, 2023, Annual Meeting, 7:15 PM, at the Highland Center
Nov. 14, 2023, 6:30 PM, via Zoom
URL: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/3105879688?pwd=bW1NQUxnNUZPaURCdi9EdXBtM3hkQT09
Or Phone: 929-205-6099, Meeting Number: 3105879688#, Passcode: 780291#
Adjourned: 8:32pm