Attendance: J. Kremis, C. Jochman, J. Mondok, T. Harris, N. Loprire, P. Anthony, K. Tarczy, R. McClelland, J. Kearney, and R. Natoli

• December 13th TU Board Meeting – For the record, the December board meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather.
• Thank You Card – Jeff received a card from the Notre Dame Academy thanking us for the donation we made in Colin Bolin’s name.

• The minutes were approved from October 25, 2010.

• New Format – Carol introduced us to her new format for this and all future treasurers reports.  This new format will comply with TU National’s requirements for our Chapter 216 Annual Reports thus making it easier to do the annual report
• Receipts & Disbursements Report – Carol reviewed her reports (in the new format) for October, November, December, and part of January 
• The Treasurers Reports will be filed for future audit

A. Stream Improvement – Jeff Kremis

• Landowner’s Agreement – Mark Sausser, Pa Fish & Boat Commission representative, requested that Jeff and Doug Pears, President of the Sharpsville Beagle Club (SBC) sign a renewal of PFB-60A.  This document represents a 10-year extension of our Cooperative Habitat Improvement Program for the portion of Coolspring Creek land owned by the SBC.
• Big Run Project – Jeff reported that stone was donated for the mudsill on Big Run.  Tom Weingartner will use his front end loader to distribute the stone on top of the mudsill planking.  Tom has helped the chapter quite a bit, and after some discussion, it was decided to offer Tom 2 tickets for our March Banquet.  R. Natoli will contact Tom and make that offer.

B. Nursery – Pete Anthony & Ken Tarczy

• Cooperative Nursery Seminar – The meeting will be in the Arlington Hotel in Oil City, Pa the afternoon of March 5th.  Three members of the Munnell Run Nursery staff will attend.
• Raceway Status – Average size of the brown trout is 10 ¼ inches long.  We have about 1100 fish left in the raceway, and we lost about 40 fish this growing season.
• Nursery Operations Staff Meeting Saturday, February 19th – The meeting will be in the Educational Building at Munnell Run Farm at 1:00 PM; the main agenda item will be preparing the Spring Stocking Schedule for the Pa Fish & Boat Commission.

C. Banquet / Newsletter -  Nick Loprire  & Carol Jochman

• Television for our Raffle – Carol reported that she purchased the 42 inch Panasonic HDTV for our raffle during our March 26th Banquet.  The tickets were all printed, and they will be given to the board members tonight for the advanced sales.
• Banquet Tickets – We discussed ways to improve our ticket accounting systems and agreed to aim for a comprehensive “List-at-the-Door” to include tickets to be held there and given to patrons as they walk in.  All Board members should be giving input to Reg and Jeff for that door list.  Also, the cutoff date for pre-paid tickets should be Friday, March 18th so Nick & Carol will have an accurate count to give to the hotel at our March 21st Board Meeting.  We also discussed whether to adjust prices for tickets “16 & under”, and decided to get an accurate head count for that group this year so we could make an intelligent decision on this matter.  Nick passed out tickets to the board members attending the meeting, and he asked for updates on the number sold.
• Major Prizes – Nick discussed potential prizes for the bucket raffle:
• Orvis Helios Rod (discounted through Bob Shuey)
• Reddington Reel & Orvis C.F.O. Reel
• Shopping Spree at Neshannock Creek Fly Shop
• GPS system for your car
• Black Powder Gun or Shotgun
• Rod Raffle Prizes – Three rods possible for this raffle include:
• Diamondback Rod made by Jim Brown
• Donated rod from John Carson (T.F.O.)
• Powell rod that Nick purchased for an earlier banquet
• Fly Tying Demonstration – Our long-time supporter Chuck Moxley will be tying along with Glen Wisner from Glen River Tackle Co.  Nick asked whether we should ask Glen to deliver a talk during the banquet, and let him answer any questions later while he is sitting at his fly tying station.
• Free Gift at the end of the banquet – We sometimes hand out free gifts as our patrons are walking out at the end of our banquet.  This year, Nick said he could get a good price on ink pens with our chapter logo on them from National Pen Company.  All agreed that was a good idea.
• Newsletter – Nick said the latest one is up on our chapter website, and he is working on the edition set to be mailed prior to the March 26th banquet.  Any news articles or information should be sent to Nick ASAP.  R. Natoli reported he received a printing quote from Joe Locketti who runs insta copy centre in Liberty Township, Ohio.  Joe’s price per copy of the Newsletter was approximately half the cost we are now paying in Mercer, Pa.

D. Membership – Tom Jochman

• Membership Promotion DVD – Pete Anthony put together a 20-minute DVD of various Chapter events to use as a promotional video to attract new members.  He gave several board members a copy to take home and watch; he requested the members report their feelings back to him.

E.   Youth Committee – Jeff Kremis

• We discussed the date for this year Wolf Creek Youth Fishing Derby, and decided on Saturday, April 30th with a “rainout date” of May 7th.  R. Natoli and C. Jochman will coordinate the activity again this year.

F. Trout in the Classroom (TIC) – Jeff Kremis & Rick Stephens (Delahunty Middle School)

• Delahunty School Report - Jeff reported that a lot of the eggs were lost, and only a few fish developed.  He discussed possible causes for the poor survival rate but was not sure about the cause.
• Grants for this year – They must be submitted by February 24th.
• Potential new school sponsor for TIC – Tom Harris reported that he and Pete Anthony gave a presentation to the school principals at both Mercer High / Middle School about supporting TIC.  They are interested in doing the program, and Luke Rust, 9th Grade Biology teacher agreed to coordinate the program.

Reg McClelland made a motion to go provide financial support for TIC at Mercer 9th grade, it was seconded by Carol Jochman, and the motion carried.

• Chapter Website – Jeff said that it has been updated by our website manager John Siebert.  Pete Anthony and John have been doing a great job with posting the latest changes and revisions to the site.  Jeff said that he thinks that one other person other than John should be able to do “simple updates and postings”.  He said he would review that with John.

• Shenango River Watchers – They will hold their 10th anniversary celebration in the Buhl Park K.G. building on Saturday, February 5th from 12:00 Noon until 3:00 PM.
• Chapter Bylaws – They are to be revised according to National TU Guidelines, and Jeff will work on them this winter.  They are to be submitted for approval by the end of 2011.
• Election of Officers – Nick Loprire and Bill Fay were considered for renewal of their terms of office (TOA).  Nick agreed to serve another term.

Unfortunately, we had to remove long time board member Bill Fay.  Our Monday night board meeting time created a conflict for Bill, and he was unable to participate.  However, the good news is that Bill informed Reg McClelland that he still wants to help out at the annual banquet.

Jim Kearney, a long time TU member, who has been attending our board meetings since last September, said he was interested in joining our board of directors.
Jeff Kremis made a motion to renew long time board member Nick Loprire, and to nominate new member Jim Kearney to our board.  Reg McClelland seconded the motion and it carried.

• Marcellus Shale CCC Training – Jeff reported the training would be held March 19th for those members interested in taking part.  National is also offering a 25-minute presentation to TU Chapters at their board meetings.  He said he would get more information, and determine when a presentation could be made to our board of directors.