Attachment C-4

2002 NSS Convention Report

March 2000

Peter Jones, Co-Chairman
Kevin Harris, Co-Chairman

Progress has been made on nearly all aspects of the 2002 Convention. Much of this "cave year" (convention to convention) has been spent working on contracts with local service and facilities providers as well as working on the budget. Here are the highlights:

• Budget: A major impasse has been broken regarding the high cost of family members. After some significant miscommunication, we achieved consensus that we would be allowed to provide separate accompanier prices based on age, to compensate for the JSS fee that most caver-parents must pay for their 6-16 year old children. Details are still being negotiated, but having age-based accompanier categories should encourage a significant increase in attendance by primary members on a budget.

• The cost of the school is still up in the air, see below, but the cost of the Union Fairgrounds was nailed down tight.

• Betty Mullins has done significant research into the possibility of obtaining funds from corporate sponsors.

• Registration: The 2001 Convention in Kentucky is offering fully automated on-line registration service. The developer of this software has kindly offered to help adapt it for use in our convention as well. We're discussing the methods of handling this opportunity with the registration and pre-reg chairs, and the webmaster. We should have a detailed plan regarding how to handle it in a month or so.

• Campground: Both parties for use of the Union Fairgrounds have signed the contract.

• The Union Fairgrounds Committee (UFC) is working on the installation of a septic system, showers, and washbasins. They expect to have this installed by this summer (2001), a year in advance of our needs. They are working primarily on fundraising at the moment.

• The UFC has agreed to operate their on-site food service for campers. This is a small (seats about 100) diner. We have agreed that we will not be providing any other food service at the grounds (i.e., no hamburger/hotdog stands) so that the operator can be assured of a reasonable return on his time and expense investment. Apparently the food service has an excellent reputation as being hearty, home-cooked style food at a reasonable cost. Rumor has it that lobsters can be ordered in the morning for service in the evening. This same provider may also be asked to do a chicken BBQ (a la Lions Club service at OTR) on Wednesday evening.

• Brad Smith is looking into several different options for the hot tub/sauna area.

• School: The school has been open for about half a year now. I attended a performance in the auditorium several weeks ago and the acoustics for it are wonderful. The stage itself should be deep enough for rear projection of the slide salon. There is seating for 814 people in the auditorium, but we might be able to seat an additional 100 with temporary seating in the sides and aisles. We hope this will be sufficient for a single seating at the Photo Salon.

• Unfortunately, we have yet to settle on a firm price for use of the school and this is delaying implementation of a contract, as well as causing uncertainty in the overall convention budget. It appears that some members of the administration would like us to pay a substantially higher price. I will continue negotiating over this issue as it was verbally agreed to several months back.

• One potentially serious issue is that the administration sees the need to keep the school open for some summer classes and clerical staff. We have stated that we strongly prefer to have exclusive use during our contract period, but that we might consider a badging system to allow non-NSS personnel to use some of the facilities. They are currently resisting even this concession.

• Food Service: There has been a slight change in the plans for food service. The school cafeteria will still be providing the meal plan as originally agreed. A la carte meals will be available as well and the school can provide box lunches for field trips and lunch sessions. We may, however, decide on allowing the JSS to provide box lunches instead.

• Beer Service: Peter met with representatives of the Maine State Liquor Commission about beer service at the Howdy Party and campground. Based on Maine state laws, we will be required to keep the beer service within a designated, roped-off area, thus controlling access and consumption. As such, we will have to provide fencing of some sort at both the Howdy Party and on the campground. People can only be served and consume beer within that roped off area. The area can be fairly large, but people will not be allowed to carry beer from the taps outside of those areas. On the other hand, they can provide their own beer and drink it outside of those designated serving areas at the campground.

It is best to view the beer service areas as though they are restaurants. You can't bring your own beer into a restaurant for consumption, nor can you buy a beer inside the restaurant and then carry it outside for consumption. You can drink all you want in either location, but not cross the lines in terms of possession. It is unfortunate, but something that we will have to live with. We can, however, set up multiple taps around the camping area, which we are taking under consideration. We may have three taps all together: The main pavilion, the bonfire area and the hot tub area.

• In all cases, we will have to be very, very cognizant about underage drinking. We will likely create color-coded badges to indicate drinking age but also require those that look questionable to be prepared to present IDs before they can be served. We could easily be shut down if an officer thinks we are not operating appropriately. Absolutely no one is to be served without a proper NSS ID tag, period.

• Transportation: Lynn Kleina, Transportation Chairman, is still trying to work out the logistics of our transportation needs. The main concerns are how many buses to run when and where during the week of convention. Much of this was worked out at the most recent meeting.

• There is still the issue of small vans for the JSS. The main problem is that there just aren't any available within the state for rental during that time. Most vans are already rented out to summer camps within the state during our time. We may have to resort to regular buses for their needs, or arrange to rent small vans out of state.

• Banquet: Daryl English, Banquet Chairman, has been doing a tremendous amount of work on the banquet. The decision was made to use Coastal Critters (CC) as the caterer for the banquet in lieu of the school cafeteria catering service. They are more experienced in handling large services and are eager to undertake the job.

• The flooring material we thought would be available to protect the gym floor apparently is not, at least not at present. It was budgeted for in the school's own budget but has not been acquired as of yet. We may have to deal with this issue ourselves.

• We are considering presenting a speaker at Banquet.

• Guidebook: A major resource has been identified to help provide significant content for the Guidebook. Eric Hendrickson, a teacher in Presque Isle, Maine, has compiled a nearly complete "Maine Cave Database" on CD. There are far more significant caves in Maine than the co-chairmen had previously known about, perhaps as many as 50 will be featured in the Guidebook for Maine alone. In addition, caves in New Hampshire, and southeastern Canada will also be included. There are even gypsum caves in New Brunswick, immediately up the coast from Maine.

• Staffing: Co-chairman Kevin Harris has resigned from Chairmanship of the Boston Grotto as of the March 2001 grotto election, after 13 years as chairman and 23 years as an officer, to devote his full attention to Convention planning.