Date/Time: February 4, 2024 - 2pm
Location   : Gemini Springs

The meeting was called to order at 1:45 PM by Bob Putnam.
The minutes were recorded by Mike Dempsey/Jonnie Haas

Attendees: Ray Bruneau, Loney Carson, Mike Dempsey, Mike Engestrom, Joanie Haas
                   Blaik Mathews, Will Pirnasch, Bob Putnam, Andrea Willer
Online:      Gord Hunter

A quorum of FLO members and Directors were present.

Introductions: No introductions were made since everyone knew each other.

Treasurer's Report - Andrea Willer
The treasurer reported that FLO received income of $9,726 and had expenses of $12,658 during 2023. That leaves us with a balance of $8,233 after a starting balance of $11,165.
The primary reason for the relatively low income was the reduced number of events in 2023.
Andrea also reported that she had filed our 990-N and W-9 forms with the IRS and our tax exempt certificate with the State of Florida.
She has also filed form 8822-B to change the official address used for the FLO EIN. This item is still pending confirmation.
The complete Treasurers Report is available upon request. Email Andrea if you would like a copy of the report.

Membership - Mike Dempsey
As of December 15 we had a total of 33 members consisting of 22 individuals and 11 couples/families. 11 of these are Life memberships. This is an improvement over last years' 25 members. A total of 9 members are also members of OUSA (7 individual, 2 family).

OUSA Charter Renewal - Mike Dempsey
Based on the OUSA method for counting we have 44 'members'.
The $20 re-charter fee plus a total of 1251 starts brings our OUSA charter renewal fees to $2522. These fees were remitted by the treasurer at the end of December.

Old Business:

Technology
We currently have 3 Clear & Check stations, 4 Start and 4 Finish, plus 3 readout and 1 printer.
Last year's flag purchase brought us up to 60 good flags plus 31 older ones with no controls attached.
We received a donation of 6 SI sticks and found one in the woods.
We now have 78 rental sticks available and barely scraped by at Moss Park. A proposal to buy 10 more was passed unanimously.
We are currently using a new Surface Pro 6, plus Blaik's own Surface Pro 6, for both mapping and events.
We have been successfully using the new start clock for JROTC starts.
Proposal to assign JROTC start times based on 00:00 on the start clock rather than actual times. This avoids confusion if the event does not start on time. We can also provide a QR code that would allow participants to sync their phone with the clock so that they know when their start time is approaching.

Mapping
We are continuing to update maps using the latest Hi-Res LIDAR images as a base. Camp Flaming arrow is complete. UCF is almost complete. LBE, Croom South and Princess Place need to be field checked. Tillis Hill is a work in progress.

Park Relations
Wekiva Springs and RSRSR will allow us to use these venues again on a probationary basis. They will check the areas after our event for any damage caused. We received an IOF report showing that there was zero long term impact from orienteering events. Blaik also presented an analysis he had run of impact based on information from previous events. This showed that on average 1/2% of the course area receives one footprint per event. However this is an average and areas close to controls will receive considerably more.

JROTC report
It was proposed to update the JROTC registration forms to include park fees, payment options, and whether the host school would be prividing food. This will allow school leaders to better plan for the event.
Teams should also be identified before the event. Team sizes of 3 to 5 with at least one girl on each team.

Suncoast Report - Gord Hunter
SOAR will be suporting a Navy Nationals event.
Gord is working on a possible national event at Tillis Hill. However this would require considerably more volunteers than we currently have.
Suggestion to promote more Orienteering tourists from Europe. The triple event in January garnered around 700 starts over the 3 events.

New Business:

2024 Event Schedule
Plans are somewhat liquid for our future events due to continuing issues and scheduling conflicts with SOAR.
We currently have about 100 ROYO courses - unmarked courses that use the 'proximity' feature of MapRun. We need to decide how to monetize the use of these courses since we pay 50c per run to MapRun.

Permanent Courses
No plans for any new permanent courses at this time.

Technology - Blaik Mathews
We now have a new High Gain 5G antenna which will give our systems a wider reach at events.

The new features we paid Livelox to add were released worldwide last year. Almost 2/3 of JROTC users are now using Livelox. FLO is the largest user of Livelox in US.
OUSA has purchased a nationwide license for 2024 that allows all participants at OUSA club events to use Livelox.

FLX donated 15 old stations to us but these will all need new batterioes before use.
We currently have stations #31 thru 81 and generally do not use all of them.
These stations could be used as a second set that could be loaned to other groups wanting to put on an event.

Blaik is trying to obtain the loan of a rugedized hot spot with wider Wi-Fi bandwidth that would support up to 128 sessions. May be able to borrow one from Verizon to test it out.

Public Outreach
We have presented a couple of basic orienteering classes at REI. These had attendance of 30-35 people. Each attendee received a coupon for a free event registration. Some of these have been showing up at our recent events.
We may also be offering a one-time training class for the Wekiva Wilderness Trust.

Course Setting / Vetting
For course vetting it is recommended to install the 'OCAD Sketch' app. An OCAD course can be uploaded to this app and it will show your location superimposed on the course map.
Our existing 4 OCAD licenses expire on April 4. A proposal was made to renew them for a further 3 years, at a cost of $1340. This proposal was passed unanimously.

Changes to the Board
A few weeks before the meeting, Andy Willer stepped up to replace Will Pirnasch as FLO Treasurer. This was approved via an email vote. "Thank You" to Will and "Welcome" to Andy.
The board accepted Russ Steinke's offer to step down after many years as a FLO Board Member. Bob nominated Mike Engestrom to replace him. Andy Willer seconded. The proposal was approved unanimously. Thank You to Russ! Welcome to Mike!

Merchandise and Prices
We had a discussion of registration costs. It was decided to increase non-member price by $1, and charge $3 for extra maps.
We are getting low on T-Shirts so Ray will be ordering more. Input on colors to be sent to Ray.

Website Update
Mike Engestrom introduced himself and talked about websites and marketing strategies. He is managing SOAR's website and he made suggestions for FLO's website. He also spoke about other social media options such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. He offered to redesign our website, create a new site, or make a joint site with SOAR. Bob proposed that Mike E. be allowed to modify our existing website, or create a new one, if needed. Andy Willer seconded. The proposal was approved. We broke up before Mike had a chance to provide 2024 costs for his new website design for FLO, and before a motion to approve those expenditures. Mike has provided documentation on upkeep + upgrade costs, so we will vote on these expenditures by email.

The meeting adjourned at 5 PM.

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

       Mike Dempsey,  Club Secretary