Association Meeting Minutes – July 24, 2015

Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association
Meeting Minutes
Friday, July 24, 2015

The meeting of the Daniel Boone Wilderness Trail Association was held at the Cove Ridge Center on Friday, July 24 at 12 pm. Present at the meeting were Jim Addington, Robert Chapman, Margaret Crouch, Joe Fuller, Megan Krager, Bob McConnell, Wanda McConnell, Joan Short, Ron Short, and Dale Taylor.

Approval of Minutes from March meeting:
Bob McConnell moved that the minutes be approved as written. Jim Addington seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

Treasurer’s Summary Report:
Joe Fuller delivered the Treasurer’s Report. A full copy of the report is filed in the Secretary’s archive.

Dale Taylor moved that the financial report be approved. Bob McConnell seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.

Report from Natural Tunnel:
Robert Chapman reported that Railroad Day went well and visitation was estimated to be 2,500. He then thanked the Association for helping out Friday evening with the Governor’s visit as well as for helping out at the Carter Cabin and the Blockhouse during Railroad Day.

Robert announced that the park had been approved to begin construction on four new two bedroom cabins.

Report from Natural Tunnel State Park Educational Specialist:
Megan Krager reported that although the park was slowing down they were still providing quite a few programs through Labor Day. Megan also reported that in just the month of May 451 people visited the Blockhouse.

Report from DBWT Interpretive Center:
Bob McConnell reported that all of the bids came back in and each were in excess of at least $5 million. He did not believe that they could raise a little over $1 million.

Bob explained that there are a few pots of money that were designated for the Interpretive Center. One of which was $450,000 that was intended for the operation of the Center that was currently being held by the Scott County EDA. If the Center were to be built that money would be turned over to DCR for operations, however if the Center was not to be built Bob believed that the funds would then be available to be used for some sort of tourism initiative. Another was $100,000 that the Eastman Credit Union had committed to be used toward displays in the Center. Bob believed that if the Association had a project that was appealing to the Credit Union they would still provide the $100,000. The third pot of money was probably about $300,000 from the Governement Highways Program and Bob believed the money could be be used for a project other than the Interpretive Center as long as it was similar in scope. He explained that he felt like the Association needed to make use of the money, if possible, rather than letting it go back. Bob mentioned the idea of handing the money over to DCR to have something related to the Wilderness Road constructed at Natural Tunnel State Park.

Bob informed the Association that the organization that was responsible for the planning of the Interpretive Center would have to meet but he seriously doubted that the Interpretive Center would be able to be built as they originally invisioned it. He suggested that the Association be thinking about what else to do with the funds.

There was much discussion about projects and what could be done with the funds.

President’s Report:
Joan reported that Randell Jones had contacted her and wanted to apply for an award from the Kentucky Historical Society for the map he had worked on. Joan read a letter of recommendation aloud to the Association. Randell wrote the letter and it was written as if from the DBWTA. The Association approved the letter.

Blockhouse Report:
Dale Taylor reported that the upcoming weekend was covered and that he and Joan would host the Carter Cabin for the Lighting of the Tunnel. He let everyone in attendance know that he had the schedule on hand if anyone would like to volunteer for the available dates.

Old Business:
Joe Fuller explained that he had been trying to get a trashcan at the wayside at Speers Fairy. He further explained that it had been voted on and decided that the DBWTA would pay for half of the cost and the Scott County Chamber of Commerce would cover the other half.

New Business:
Joan informed Robert Chapman that there was a large yellow jacket nest by the sign at the Carter Cabin.

Announcements:
There were no announcements.

Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned.