NORTH CAROLINA MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
BRUNSWICK COUNTY COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, BOLIVIA, NC
DECEMBER 6, 2011
ATTENDANCE: Bob Kellam, President; Paulette Kenley, Vice President; Barbara Walters, Treasurer; Carroll Gaissert, Recording Secretary; Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman, Past President; Brenda Bernhardt, Iredell County delegate; Wayne Carlson, Wake County delegate; Jean Dilworth, Union County delegate; Sandy Goetz, Wilson County delegate; Carol Holman, Durham County delegate; Lucy Bradley, State Master Gardener Coordinator; Susan Brown, Brunswick County Extension Agent, Dominique Loewenstein, President, Brunswick County Master Gardener Volunteers. Attending via Elluminate: Deb Blevins, Gaston County delegate; Bethy Jackle, Forsyth County delegate; Jan Miller, Jackson County delegate; Jacquelyn Weedon, Polk County delegate, Vicky Brown, Halifax County alternate; Linda Brandon, ncsugarden.com team.
WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS: Bob Kellam
The meeting was called to order by President Bob Kellam at 10:00AM. He introduced Susan Brown, Brunswick County Extension Agent and Dominique Loewenstein, President of the Brunswick County Master Gardener Volunteers and thanked them for hosting today’s meeting.
MINUTES: Carroll Gaissert
Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman made a motion to accept the minutes of the August 17, 2011, meeting. Carol Holman seconded the motion which was then approved.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
BUDGET AND FINANCE: Barbara Walters
Treasurer Barbara Walters reported that the loan for the 2011 conference has been repaid. The current balance in the treasury is $14,112.41.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE REPORTS
LICENSE PLATES: Bob Kellam for Janie Taylor
There are currently 137 applications for the special Master Gardener license plate and there must be 300 paid applications before the DMV will produce the plate. Once that threshold is reached, the plate will continue to be produced. Various ides for getting more people to buy the plate, even if only for one year, were discussed. Local chapters can put the information in their newsletters, talk to members at the meetings, and let new classes of Master Gardeners know about the plates. Make people aware that this is a way of supporting the Master Gardener Endowment. One does not have to be a Master Gardener to buy the plates. Many of the current applications are from people who are not Master Gardeners.
NEWSLETTER: Bob Kellam
The Fall issue of the newsletter was published September 9th. Only 140 copies had to be mailed. The Winter edition went out about ten days ago and had to be increased from twelve to sixteen pages to accommodate all of the district reports. Lucy Bradley circulates the newsletter to all the Extension Agents via e-mail. A number of them then send it on to all of their local members. Bob said that he is trying to list upcoming events from the counties on the front page where they will get more attention. This time, there is an article about the new capabilities of ncsugarden.com.
STATE CONFERENCE REPORTS
2012 CONFERENCE UPDATE: Bob Kellam for Kathy Connors
Conference plans are progressing. January is being targeted for getting registration information out. They are planning to e-mail registration information, rather than mailing it. This method was used successfully for the Western Symposium. Lucy Bradley has the capability to send a mass e-mail to all of the superadmins and they in turn can distribute it to all of their local members. Wayne Carlson offered to help the conference committee with obtaining funding if the committee would like to consult him.
2013 CONFERENCE PLANNING: Bob Kellam
Bob has been lobbying some of the piedmont counties to serve as hosts for the 2013 conference. He has talked with Forsyth, Guilford, Davidson and Rowan. All of these remain possibilities at present.
REPORT FROM THE STATE MASTER GARDENER COORDINATOR: Lucy Bradley
Lucy thanked the group for the $600 donation to her program budget which was approved at the August meeting. She stated that the money is much appreciated. She reported on several items of interest.
A new searchable data base will soon be available on ncsugarden.com containing information from horticulture agents. New publications are coming out, including one on planting schedules.
Lucy asked for suggestions regarding possible improvements, structure, topics and speakers for the Plants, Pests and Pathogens series. In the past there were four presentations each summer, which evolved from the Plant Clinics. Now there are five and there are opportunities to present things in different seasons. All recent presentations have been taped and are available on-line. Eventually all will be available in a searchable data base.
A new and improved Master Gardener policy and procedure manual is being developed which will clarify many issues. Lucy is not sure when it will be available. When she has more clarity around the process and what the manual will contain, she plans to seek input from Master Gardeners.
She is also getting ready to launch a social media campaign around the Master Gardener program. She wants to put some structure to it, rather than just launching a facebook page and seeing where it goes. This will take longer to organize, but will be much easier to manage in the long run. Please let Lucy know of any Master Gardeners who would like to be part of a Social Media Team.
Lucy introduced Linda Brandon, attending via Elluminate. She is a member of the ncsugarden.com team. Nell Armstrong, chairperson, was unable to attend due to a conflict. The team has spent many hours working to fine-tune the website. They have collected information about what Master Gardeners want to be able to get and do on the site. They are looking for better ways to obtain data and information for reports. They are looking for ways to obtain $4,000 in funding that it will take for programming. In the past, counties have paid for specific chunks of improvements to the site. Now, the projects have progressed to a point that it is not possible to separate the programming into discrete chunks. Guilford County may be willing to contribute to the programming and Lucy would like feedback from the group regarding ways to approach the counties with a funding request. A question was raised about using students to do the programming and Lucy responded that this had been looked at and the IT department at NCSU questioned letting hundreds or thousands of students into a pass-protected website, so an outside firm was hired.
OLD BUSINESS
MASTER GARDENER PROGRAM SUPPORT PROPOSAL: Barbara Walters
Barbara reviewed the three ideas which were discussed at the August meeting for ways to funnel some money to Lucy Bradley for program needs because the state’s budget cuts left her with no operating funds. Ideas were to give 10% of 2012 membership dues to Lucy, to match voluntary donations of $1 given when dues are paid, or to accept donations of any amount and match the first dollar of each donation. Lucy was asked to explain the new member assessment. This is a one-time assessment which is included in the counties’ tuition fees for the Master Gardener course. It is used to cover the coast of awards pins, a $6 overhead fee charged by the university for each new M.G., and other expenses associated with maintaining the Master Gardener program at the state level. Since this is a one-time assessment for each new member coming into the program, there is no on-going stream of income for program materials, administrative support or travel. Since the operating budget was eliminated, Lucy has to pay for office supplies and phones and she has to ask the counties to pay her travel expenses if she visits. She is expected to generate resources to pay for program expenses. After discussion of the various options Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman made a motion that we set aside 10% of our 2012 membership dues, as well as accepting donations of any amount during the year and matching the first $1 of each donation. Anita Lawson seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Many of the Board members immediately gave donations to the Treasurer to be matched and passed on to Lucy.
SURVEY OF EXTENSION AGENTS: Carroll Gaissert
The group wants to survey the Extension Agents to learn their thoughts about the Master Gardener program, as well as using the survey as a way to educate the agents. Carroll presented the proposed survey instrument which was developed using Survey Monkey. The document was discussed and revised based on suggestions from the group. Barbara Walters made a motion to accept the revised survey instrument. Jean Dilworth seconded the motion and the motion was passed. The plan is to ask Lucy to distribute the survey to the agents. Bob was asked how long the agents would have to complete the survey and he said he would have to find out from the Survey Monkey website.
NEW BUSINESS
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE PROPOSAL: Bob Kellam for Connie Schultz
Connie suggested the formation of a Communications Committee to help publicize events, to help with fundraising and to help raise awareness of the Association. Please let Bob know of anyone who may be interested in serving on the committee.
FUNDRAISING PROPOSAL: Bob Kellam
Bob said that he met a potter selling attractive decorative tiles at the Farmers’ Market and he wondered if we might want to consider something similar for a fundraiser. Jean Dilworth noted that there is a thermal transfer process which can be used to produce tiles which is very inexpensive. Her background is in textiles and clothing and she has done this with students. This lead to a discussion of other things which might be sold for fundraising, including mugs, note cards, plant markers, laser-engraved river stones, and garden art. One thought was to do a fundraiser to benefit Lucy’s program budget. Bob asked the Fundraising Committee to look at options. Barbara Walters and Jean Dilworth offered to serve on the committee.
2012 BUDGET PROPOSAL: Barbara Walters
Barbara presented the proposed budget for 2012. There was discussion of the amounts of money budgeted for the Hospitality Suite at Conference and the amounts budgeted for Competitive Grants and Symposia Grants. Jean Dilworth raised the question of whether or not we do anything to raise the next generation of Master Gardeners through helping
4-H or other youth programs. Anita Lawson stated that she would like for some type of matching grant program for counties to do programs with young people to be included in the budget in the future. Anita made a motion that the budget be adopted as presented. Wayne Carlson seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Bob Kellam
Bob reported that he had visited Surry County in September and is scheduled to visit Union County in January and Davidson and Cherokee Counties in February.
Future Board Meetings
March 20, 2012 - Doubletree Biltmore Hotel, Asheville
May 22, 2012 - Annual membership meeting at Conference, Asheville
June 12, 2012 - Iredell County
October-November (date to be decided) - Onslow County
Spring plant sale in Brunswick Co - May 5,6,7, 2012
Mark Blevins, new Extension Agent in Brunswick County, was introduced.
The meeting was adjourned at1:04PM
Respectfully submitted,
Carroll Gaissert, Recording Secretary
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