I have a few throughts regarding how to reduce the number of missing Trails result sheets.

First, education/notification. I can speak from personal experience that I, and so I'm assuming other Trails directors, may not monitor the cut-offs closely unless 1) the cut-off involves my trip or 2) I have a handful of non-regulars one Sunday trying to pick up a few extra points before the cut-off. So, first, I'd like to inquire as to whether or not there is a way to remind the trails directors a cut-off is coming. If the club has all the directors' email addresses, that may be one easy and inexpensive way to do just that.

Second, tracking of the receipt of Trails results. I don't know who or how the receipt of the Trails sheets are tracked as they arrive, but I'd like to see them tracked as they arrive (or don't arrive, which I guess is the issue). Does it make sense to contact the primary director of a paricular Trail if more that 2 weeks go by without the receipt of a result sheet by the club? Whether that be a phone call or an email, maybe an email at 2 weeks and a phone call at 3, 4 weeks or beyond. I look at the most recent points list and it seems outrageous to me that a Trail could be 5+ weeks behind turning in results and it isn't addressed prior to a trip cut-off.

Third, I'd like to see the points list updated more often, perhaps around mid-month for Trails through the end of the previous month, even if it's only online. That gives those checking the list a chance to see that a Trail they're attending has outstanding sheets. That also gives that player an opportunity to address the missing sheets with the Trails director if they notice it is a trend.

Now, here are a few thoughts I have on how to handle the missing sheets...

I think the trip cut-offs should occur on Sunday and I think all Trails results should be due at the office by the Friday following the cutoff (or some other specified deadline). I've noticed recently, there have been some cut-offs on Wednesdays, but I look at Wednesday as the start of the Trails week and Sunday as the end of the Trails week, so to me it makes more sense for the cut-offs to be on Sunday. How does that address the missing sheets you ask?

I'd like the club to consider using only the sheets that have been turned in by the designated deadline for recept of Trails results (i.e. the Friday after the cut-off referenced above) to determine the top 50 list for the Trip. I realize this will be to the detrement of those who have participated in the Trails with outstanding sheets but, it doesn't peanalize the other darters on the top 50 list that may not have even participated at the Trail(s) missing sheets, it makes the clubs jobs/obligations easier and it may provide a self-policing environment (especially if combined with more frequently updated points list from 3 above), where darters may inquire, of their directors, whether or not the sheets have been turned in.

Finally, and I'm sure, if you're reading this, you're waiting for the end... a recent memo to the Trails directors referenced that the club had tried rewards and penalty programs with the directors to get the sheets turned in on time. I've been running Trails since March '02. I don't remember any rewards program and the only penalty I recall was one that stated the director lost 5 points for every week a sheet went missing. Which, when I inquired, I was told, wasn't enforced. I'd like to propose a tiered penalty based solely on sheets missing at the post-cut-off deadline. So, maybe if a director's missing sheets at the Friday after the cut-off, they get a call and have until Monday to fax, email or drop the sheets off at the club. The first time the director is missing sheets beyond that grace period, the director gets a warning. The second time, the director loses 50 points. The third time, 75 or 100. Especially if combined with a system that tracks and reminds the directors they're missing sheets on a regular basis and that notifies directors as cut-offs approach, there's no reason for the sheets to be outstanding, so it shouldn't even get to this level, although, I'm sure it will... Heck, even if the old 5 points per week rule were in effect, the Trail director that currently has 5+ sheets outstanding would be losing 25 on the oldest one, 20 on the next one, etc... maybe that solution is even more brutal than my suggestion...

Anyway, have fun, throw well and thanks for reading...

Bryon

What follows is a sting of emails back and forth between Scott and I regarding the Youngstown Trails trip and the fact it looked like it would not be offered because of missing Trails sheets. I've done the best I can to cut and paste them so they'll make sense...

Enjoy,

Bryon

My first email:

Since the Youngstown trip was supposed to be offered, would the club consider allowing me to take Youngstown as my Trails trip when the letters finally are sent out? I'll book the hotel, pay for my events, etc. and the club would reimburse me accordingly for the room, the milage, etc. after the fact. That is, of course, contingent on whether or not I would have been awarded the trip based on the number of responders, my position on the top 50 list, etc. The club could decide whether or not it would still be reasonable to provide a trip shirt at that point.

Anyway, think it over and let me know if that's an acceptable compomise.

Scott's reply:

The procedure we have is that committee matters (Trails, Leagues, Allstars, Golf, tournaments, sanctioning, etc.....) go through the committee chair first. Typically, the chair is allowed 2-3 days of deliberation before offering a decision. After which, if the someone isn't satisfied, they can appeal to the board - In league cases there's a Grievance committee, which the board can defer all other matters to, but that's unusual.

IOW, this is Michele's decision to make.

After Sunday's board meeting, I'll have some proposals for her to consider for hopefully preventing this regrettable situation.

I should mention one other thing: "Compromise" isn't a very good word in this instance. Michele has some pretty explicit simple rules to go by. While there have been a few directors before who "compromised", it was frequently disastrous. Dangerous precedents were set, and other Members expected similar "treatment". It's very, very unfortunate - and until you're literally in the hot seat of being responsible for making those decisions and trying to maintain the integrity of the program, it's probably not fully understood.
The one rule we don't have, but should be obvious, is that we can't ethically send out a Top50 letter if we don't have all of the data in. We've done that, and it too was disastrous.

I'll post my proposals in the Trails forum when I have them ready for Michele.
I've not gotten to yours yet, but thank you for getting in there so quickly! It's much appreciated, by all of us.

My second email:

I have no problem with this issue going to committee. I'm also not asking for special treatment. I was thinking about that yesterday at Trails. My request probably should have been on behalf of all those that were looking to use their Trails points toward Youngstown. Since the club listed the trip, I think we should all be given the option to redeem our points in exchange for being reimbursed for Youngstown whenever the next letter goes out under the same selection criteria (points, position on the list, # of respondents, etc) that would be applied if we were applying for an upcoming event. In this case, perhaps we'd have to provide proof we were there, have someone validate that we were there, etc, but still. The issue I have right now is that there are indiviuduals who can't or don't want to travel that were planning on using their points for this trip and now it's going to cost us cash out of our own pockets because of someone elses neglegence.


That brings me to my second issue. I understand the club relies on volunteers to run Trails, but I don't agree with the memo sent to the Trails directors that all but states the club is at the directors' mercy. The club has to have some ownership of the issue, it is the club's Trails program.

Scott's second reply:

If she (Michele) knew how many people intend to go to Youngstown, and all the other offered for this cutoff - then I don't think there's a problem with what you ask for.
I didn't check the Trails fund to see what is available for this cutoff, but for the sake of discussion, what if 2 of those people who would be getting a letter (but can't right now because of 'the current situation') want to go to Virginia Beach, and 3-4 other people want to go to Youngstown or Marietta.... All of which are at or past their "darter rate" deadline for group rates - the consequence of which is increased cost for the Trip, the consequence of which is that there's a good chance that someone may not be able to take a Trip due to lack of funds.
But, if the Trips are awarded before a letter goes out, and the committee knows how many Trips it has to pay for, what they will cost versus how much money there is - it could be a significant dent in the 33% reserve that the Trails Rules require be kept in the fund. There is no language for paying that back. "Shorting" the next cutoff period by that amount is probably the logical thing to do, but whose feathers are ruffled then?
In matters such as this, I wholeheartedly subcribe to Murphy's Law that the worst possibility will probably happen, so plan ahead for it.

What suggestion do you have for this?
This really should be posted in the Trails forum, btw.... So everyone could chime in to it.
If you're not asking for special consideration, there's nothing to hide, I think.

While I didn't choose those particular words, that's probably as accurate a way of stating the problem as any. (I've included the text of the memo at below line at bottom for reference) Not sure why you disagree?
We have a signficant amount of outstanding data, which the committee has made numerous attempts to collect. I will be going to the bar this Saturday if we don't have it in the office beforehand. We're talking about weeks here, Bryon. Weeks, have gone by. We supply postage paid envelopes - the forms get folded, dropped in the mail.... After each of those phone calls, why couldn't that have been done? We're getting mail from all over the Strongsville area, so it's not the Post Office. I won't go into detail with what Michele is going through, but she's probably gnashing her teeth reading this. It is very frustrating.
If you, or someone, can provide the means for which a Top50 letter can be mailed without that missing data, and there will not be repercussions from someone who is slighted by that missing data - either bumped from a Trip by missing points or bumped from a letter altogether, please type it up for us to see. If your solution is outside of the existing rules, then let us have the language/concept for a new rule....
If you agree that it is unfair (as well as not allowed by the Trails rules/policy) to send a letter with missing data and something must be done to prevent Sheets from being late - How do you propose to guarantee that directors will have their data in on time?
I can tell you that we've tried penalties and bonus incentives. They didn't work. If someone was going to screw up, the penalties (just like on league night) had no effect on their decision to go ahead and screw up.
Take this current situation: What if the Sheets aren't at the bar when I go out to pick them up? And I'll be sure to let them know that I'm coming. I presume you already know there have been numerous phone conversations and promises?
Who is at who's "mercy" here?
Should we call the police? I guess that might be a method that's not been tried, that I know of.

In my memo I didn't specifically state that we are at the "directors' mercy" to responsibly turn in Trails data - but if you want to put it that way it seems to be fairly accurate. There's no other reason that the letter hasn't gone out.

What do you want to do to fix the problem?
I recommend that you post in the Trails forum. I have one from the Sunday board meeting that I'll be typing in there today, and it will go to the committee for consideration.

An update from Scott on the missing sheets:

Good news. After calling the bar to put in some more messages, I checked our fax log. My pc went down overnight so it wasn't working when I came in and there was no notification that faxes came in. I just got to them and see that Jeremy faxed 9 handwritten pages over. Looks like he recreated the signup sheets. I'll get to work on them. We'll have the Top50 list done by tomorrow aftnoon at the latest. I don't know if I can get it done today with all the other stuff - I'm alone in the office on Tuesdays.
Doesn't necessarily help the situation, but at least we have the data. I think.

The barowner said she's terribly pis<edit>ed off and embarrassed over the whole thing. I gave her some suggestions and she promised that it will never happen again.

Once again we are at the deadline for a Top50 Trails Trip invitation letter and we've got a significant quantity of outstanding data (sign-up sheets) not turned in by directors.

Some very good suggestions were made here by Bryon C. Most of which have been tried, at least to some extent.

Unfortunately, a 2-person p/t office staff, and current lack of committee chair for the Trails program, preclude conventional methods of collection; phone calls, mail, penalties.... This is an age-old problem that so far has not seen a solution.

Therefore, for at least this next one, Top50 letters will indicate Total Points "as of cut-off date excluding any points earned on the following location(s)/date(s)."

As of today, the list of unaccounted-for Sign-Up Sheets for the November 30 cut-off is:

Mr. B's 10/26, 11/2, 11/9, 11/16, 11/23, 11/30
Pete's Tavern 11/18, 11/25
The Dog House 10/14, 10/21, 11/4, 11/25

It will be unfortunate if someone who earned points as of the cutoff date does not receive credit for them in time for a possible letter.

For the record, only the points indicated on the recipient letter will be deducted from their account tally. IOW, if someone takes a Trip with 650 points, and then we get some missing sheets that have points earned by that cut-off date, those "missing points" will not be deducted. ONLY THE POINTS TOTAL PRINTED ON THEIR LETTER WILL BE USED for the the Trip.

Unless someone else comes up with a better idea - for any of the above....