PIKES PEAK DIVISION Meeting Minutes by Bill Galloway, Secretary Date: Jan 9, 2008. Start time: 7:37 PM Location: Crown Plaza Hotel, location of Jan 10 TECO show

Superintendent: Bob Haggart

Attendees: 10, Visitors: 0

Old Business and Committee Reports:

Milepost Chair: Minutes were not reported in the MILEPOST, as no editor is available at this time. The minutes for the December meeting, was sent out via email to the board and will be read at the February Meeting along with the January minutes.

Treasurer: Report presented by Treasurer Mr. Frank Pareso. We will have a $100 invoice coming for the website, but the account will still be in good shape.

Division Swap Meet: There is a TECO meet on March the 28th. The Superintendent feels we should have another division only meet, possibly in May. It was approved by all to have one if we can get the KoC hall in May.

TECO show and swap meet: The January 10, 2009 TECO show was very well attended. 91 tables were sold, with 5 club layouts in attendance from Slim Rails (2), Pikes Peak & Southern, Pikes Peak "N"gineers, and the Youth in Model Railroading. Total attendance and gross income to be reported by Mr. Roy Thompson, Event Coordinator.

Operating Session: Host Bob Haggart had a small group of PPD guests (6) with a simpler operating scheme on January 3rd at Kiski Valley RR. One near miss incident was noted, with no damage or injuries to RR property or personnel. Jerry Bonds said he had a fun time. It was great.

Vacancies: Seeking members to fill the following positions:

 Module Chairperson

 Editor for the Milepost Newsletter

 Contest Chairperson (Ed Pagels not in attendance?)

 Membership Chair (Bill Poley not in attendance)

 Achievement Chairperson

 Refreshments Chairperson (see new business for this position)

New Business: Model Contest: No entries

Chairperson assignments: Since there is no editor, publication of the Milepost will be suspended until further notice. We need to confirm whether:

 Ed Pagels will still take care of the Contests

 Bill Poley is still Membership and Achievement Chairman.

Refreshments Chair: a discussion about whether refreshments are wanted. A vote to stop refreshments was held, with all in favor of no more refreshments at the meetings. This will eliminate the need for a chairperson. We will try this for a few months, in the mean time its Bring your own.

Modules: Bob suggested that 2 dog-bones modules be built by the division, to facilitate having two different types of layouts for shows. This will make it easier to set up and take down.

Colorado Railroad Annual: The Superintendent asked Frank to scan the 2009 events listed in the Annual and send in to Bob for placement onto the PPD website.

Youth in Model Railroading: Jerry reminded folks of the need for help at the Youth in Model Railroading group. This is a lot of fun and chance to share the hobby skills with the younger generation. These meetings are held on the 3rd Saturday at Emmanuel Lutheran, on Pikes Peak and Institute.

Meeting Attendance and retention of members: A roundtable discussion was held about the why visitors/members are not staying with the division. The following reasons/suggestions were noted: Too much time spent on the board meeting business topics - suggest having a separate (night before) meeting of the board members only, to take care of the business issues, so that the Friday meetings will have more time for clinics, presentations, and other more interesting topics for visitors and members.

 Too much arguing and bickering - this is a turn off for visitors.

 Make the meetings more fun, with clinics and educational programs.

 More time is needed for networking, less time on business issues.

 Avoid showing just train videos or slide shows. More educational content was suggested.

 The success of the division depends on help from everyone. If everyone helps out a little, then no one is overburdened and we all will benefit.

PPD Equipment: The camera seems to have gone missing. Bill LaFollette suggested that we list all assets belonging to the division, including the camera and modules. John said he gave Bob H the list of equipment that he had.

Next Meeting: Will be held at the Sand Creek Police station as usual, same place and time.

Meeting adjourned 9:00 PM.