April meeting minutes

4/6/22

• March minutes: Approved
• Treasurer’s Report: Approved
  • $130k in bank, $85k of it committed. $45.6k available for projects. City took $145k for Huguenot Flatwater.
• Elections 
  • Execs – all incumbents (Approved)
    • Secretary – Natalie
    • Treasurer – Sally
    • VP – Greg
    • Pres – Matt
  • Board (Approved)
    • Sam, Jen, Patrick, Shawna, Jenny, Brian, Joey, Katie, Mike M., Chris H.
• James River Women
  • Storage unit on Cowardin (Mini Price) – $130/mo.; month-to-month lease. 6am-9pm access 7 days/week. 
  • Convo this week w/Stephanie of Richmond Public School, potentially recruiting students 
  • Convo w/Appomattox to get boats – could also order things through wholesale NRS account
• VOF
  • JRPS has the new flip signs. 7-10 posts complete; just need to install. Need to get the website up before installation because of the QR codes- leads to jamesriverpark.org/riversafety (check this). Will have the river level on the site- also want projected levels so no one gets stuck out on the rocks during a quickly rising river.
  • Brochures: finalizing the English. Will soon go to the translator for Spanish finalization. Printing soon after that.
• Gear Swap
  • Last meeting before the swap happens on 4/23
  • Need help w/marketing 
  • Climbing gym day passes for raffle- sellers and buyers receive tickets
  • Permit – waiting to hear back from Burton who is submitting an expedited request for the City to allow a food truck. Shelter 1 and 2 are both unavailable now the 23rd-24th. Gonna be right in the field across the parking lot.
  • Need to source / borrow: more pop-up shelters and tables, tags, tape, squares, 3×5 cards, ropes and hangers, clipboards, raffle tickets, etc., and volunteers! 7-8 student volunteers; will need more. 
  • Students won’t be able to shift the date from Sat. to Sun. if the weather is torrential.
  • 10am start time. Volunteers meeting at 8am. Latest sellers can bring gear is 10; pickup unsold gear at 2:30pm.
  • Funding 
    • For banners and roadside signs / marketing / incidental: $150 – Approved
    • For fb ads: TBD
    • For environmental education group- Tyler T. and Penelope of JRPS working on scavenger hunt, seed bombs, etc.. Need art materials: $100 – Approved
• Huguenot Flatwater
  • Most recent photo received shows that they’re filling– recently successfully pumped out enough water to get to the bottom of the stairs. Have 2 walls on the upper portion– 1 constructed and 1 under construction. 
  • mid-April ambitious at this point. Perhaps May completion date; bumping up against tubing season.
  • In convo w/San Antonio about using at least project renderings/photos for inspiration for a similar access project there. JROC shelled out the $14-15k for the plans, not the City.
  • discussing alt access w/local outfitters- may or may not be necessary
• JRPS report
  • Visitation
    • 154,615 in March. Slight underestimate because of problem counters. No update on data counting system. 340,147 YTD.
  • Projects 
    • Pumphouse dock and ramp complete. Just need sheet of metal to connect asphalt to ramp before it is accessible
    • Trash hut at 7th and Semmes replaced. Mass produce these for us- 10 of these.
    • Wetlands – 10 tons of river stone to improve the area. Might see increased traffic as HRW is closed.
    • Pony Pasture parking lot road work – extensive work done. Gravel, chipseal, asphalt… so many layers over the decades. First aisle intersection at the entrance is a big struggle- lots of removal and additions to improve drainage.
    • Eastern side of Ancarrow’s tree fallen awhile ago- destroyed one of the JROC benches. Has been removed now that hornets gone. Can reinstall new bench here now.
    • 42nd St tower / Shelter Rd- added layers of stone and built up road so it’s much better now.
    • New rock and grading at 14th St done now; 20 tons of river rock. Broom is there so you can help out sweeping the rock back off the road and into the lot.
    • Lots of graffiti and people starting fires near the quarry on Belle Isle. had to rappel off the cliff edge to get rid of it. They’d painted every boulder, and some trees and roots. Spent days helping removing.
      • Pressure washing could work but it’ll just run into the quarry pond.
• JROC projects
  • March – all the benches installed and mulched the area for the Reedy Creek HQ outdoor classroom. Volunteers saw through social media – shows importance of our instagram.
  • Wed. this year for evening projects
    • Take out chain link fence at Reedy Creek parking lot – 5:30pm 4/27 
• Friends, Falls / Scenic
  • Sat. the 16th – Wood River Run. 100 participants, hoping for 200. Race from 9am-11am.
  • 50th anniversary- once race over, will focus on this. Legend beer coming out in May / Riverrock.
  • Data visitation counting- putting together a proposal for pursuing it; seeking grants. $40-50k for a year’s worth of data access (might only need to be done every other year).