Date/Time: June 30, 2025 - 8pm
Location   : Virtual

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM by Blaik Mathews.
The minutes were recorded by Andy Willer

Board Attendees: Ray Bruneau, Loney Carson, Mike Dempsey, Ron Eaglin, Mike Engestrom
                              Joanie Haas, Blaik Mathews, Bob Putnam, Andy Willer
Other Attendees: Gord Hunter, Dan Ingram

A quorum of FLO members and Directors were present.

MEETING SUMMARY

Blaik presented data showing that the current rates charged JROTC are not sufficient for FLO to cover expenses and to rebuild our balance, which has been going down primarily due to increased costs to develop and run events. The club has had limited purchases of capital equipment in recent years and is dependent on volunteer equipment for key functions of running an event.

JROTC Coordinator, Loney Cason commended both FLO and SOAR for the quality of events we put on and proposed a flat $15/racer to cover registration rate, park fees and e-stick rentals for a live event, and that the FULL amount go to the local club (FLO or SOAR). FLO would continue to charge and extra fee for "no show map fee". FLO's pricing has held flat for years, except for a small incremental increase of $2 recently.

Discussion:

Discussion ensued about the inclusion of the SI E-sticks within the price paid, with Blaik concerned that schools would have little incentive to purchase their own and FLO has a limited supply of them. Also, the logistics are better if large groups have their own sticks. Consensus was that a separate fee should still be applied.
The participants also discussed the amount of $15/JROTC. It was noted that the JROTC participants at FLO events paid $11 for years (FLO receiving $6 of that), and recently FLO began to charge $2 separately to cover the park fees, but that when the tally was done at the end of the season, the actual park fees were just over $3/participant. (NOTE: there are additional people attending events that we do not collect the day-use fee from, including families of racers, volunteers who do not do an event, bus drivers, etc).
There was consensus that $15 is a fair price to charge.

There was also discussion about the Host Schools and their using the orienteering events as fundraisers. In the current price structure, $11 is split $5 to the Host School and $6 to FLO/SOAR. FLO/SOAR both charged a separate park fee, but differ in how they charge that, with FLO charging a flat rate and SOAR charging varying amounts based on the venue.
The role of the Host schools to coordinate the other schools' payments, run the JROTC starts, provide trophies and host the award ceremony, and (if desired) provide food for purchase was also discussed. In SOAR, host schools also collect the controls at the end of the event, but this is not the case in FLO, who relies on volunteers.
In response to the concern about schools using FLO/SOAR events as fundraisers. Loney explained that as a host school, he would focus on food sales and requests FLO/SOAR's support in promoting the food sales to participating schools. Schools could also charge a small fee to their students too to cover transport to the events and some of that could go to food costs. There is a risk that some schools may opt out of being hosts and the FLO board also discussed this, but Loney urged the clubs (both FLO and SOAR) to try it for 1 year and reconvene after seeing the results to decide if the structure should be changed.

FLO board members discussed aligning the PUBLIC pricing to match the JROTC ($15/registration, covering 1 map and including the park fee) and continuing to rent out E-Sticks and compasses. Also agreed was to keep a $3 FLO MEMBER discount off of that price - making it $12 for FLO members.

The meeting and motion were limited to the above and Youth Group pricing, Merchandise pricing, possibly charging a separate fee for additional team members, etc were not discussed.

MOTION by Ray, seconded by Bob:

In the 2025/26 season, FLO charge a flat $15/JROTC racer that covers the registration/course fee and includes a map, and that also covers the park fee. FLO would maintain a separate charge for the SI E-stick rentals, compass rentals and the no-show map fee. The full rate charged would go to FLO.

AMENDED to set the PUBLIC participant rate also at $15/registration (includes registration and park fee) and to continue to have a $3 discount for FLO members.

MOTION was PASSED

The meeting adjourned at 9 PM.

I hereby certify that these are the correct minutes of the meeting.

       Andy Willer,  Treasurer