Soil and Water Conservation Society
Virginia Chapter
Minutes of February 4, 2003
Attendees: Kilby Majette Dawn Shank
Ginger Kopp Stuart Wilson
Jackie Byars Larry Wilkinson
Don Wells Gene Yagow
Theo Dillaha David Ward (Guest)
The council of the Virginia SWCS chapter held its first meeting on February 4, 2003 via videoconference centers in Louisa and Blacksburg. The meeting was called to order at 10:05 by Kilby Majette president. Kilby asked for everyone to quickly introduce themselves for Jackie Byars who is the new member to the council.
TMDL & Regional Chapter Development Workshop
The first item of business was an update by Theo Dillaha concerning the upcoming TMDL and Regional Chapter Development Workshop planned for March 7-9 in Blacksburg, VA. The plan was to hold a technical training session the first day and then follow with a day for the chapter development workshop. The hope of the technical training was to boost attendance for the workshop. The deadline for registration is March 1 for a $20.00 fee that increases to $50.00 after that date. The program is planned during Spring Break and the hope was to get 25-30 participants. To date no one has registered for either the technical or the chapter development programs. However, by word of mouth several are planning to attend. Plans are to email information about both programs to a distribution list for Southeast SWCS leaders to increase registration.
The technical program is set up and ready for implementation. The chapter development workshop is still in development. The plan is to begin the workshop with a social hour and dinner on Friday evening. Followed by an informal presentation by the state chapter presidents on activities performed by their chapter during the past year. According to the recent survey conducted by Theo, the major topics of interest for the formal portion of the workshop to be conducted on Saturday were: Motivating members through Action, Improving communication in the chapter, and Opportunities for Chapter Fundraising. These presentations would be set for 45 minutes. Of that 15-20 minutes would be actual presentations with the remainder being a discussion group lead by the presenter. Theo then asked the group who they felt could conduct the 3 presentations. The Motivating the Membership Mike Ellerbrook and Bob Meadows was recommended by Dawn Shank. Gene Yagow mentioned someone at Virginia Tech might be available to also do this presentation. Theo Dillaha was recommended for the presentation on Chapter Communication. Wade Biddix was recommended by the council to present the Fundraising portion of the program.
Theo also discussed his concern over ending the Chapter Development Workshop late but this would have to be scheduled this way due to the late beginning. Also that the registration would not have to be tied to the 25-30 participants because any room at the Virginia Tech facilities could be used because the students were on spring break.
Action Items:
Theo send out emails to SE SWCS leaders and VA Chapter members concerning registration
Theo contact Wade Biddix concerning the Fundraising presentation
Gene contact someone for Motivating presentation
Approval of Minutes
This motion was tabled due the lack of the previous minutes. The motion was made by Theo and seconded by Dawn. Motion passed.
Action Item:
Ginger find copy of previous minutes to pass at April 16th meeting.
Treasurers Report
Larry Wilkinson, council treasurer, provided a copy of the treasurer’s report and it is attached to these minutes as Appendix 1. Larry added that this report was from 10/26/01 through 10/31/02 and was prepared for the Annual meeting in October. Since that time, around $6.00 in interest has accrued and Theo added that the Student Chapter had mailed a check for $350.00 the previous day. Two items of discussion concerning the treasurer’s report were the reasoning of the Simon & Associates being counted as an income and as an expense. The clarification was that after the 2001 Annual meeting this company had purchased some silent auction items and wanted to also pay its membership fees with one check. Therefore, $100.00 of that check was counted as income then paid to Ankeny as an expedinture for Simon and Associates. The other area of questions was the reimbursable of continuing education hours. This amount was for $165.00 and was counted in the expenses for the 2001 Annual meeting. Don Wells moved that the treasures report be approved and made available for audit. Stuart Wilson second. Larry mentioned that the audit had already been completed and Ginger should have received the final letter concerning the audit. Motion passed.
Action Items:
Ginger provide official copy of audit letter to Larry.
2002 International SWCS Meeting – Indianapolis, IN
Kilby gave a brief report on his attendance to the international meeting. He first thanked the chapter for allowing him to attend the program and felt that it was time well spent. The silent auction raised $1,600.00 for the Hoosier chapter. The Virginia Chapter donated some Virginia Grown products and that netted $45.00 for them. Kilby has received a thank you letter from the Indiana Chapter expressing their gratitude. He also took a tour arranged by the conference to look at forestry practices, wineries, and caves in karst topography in Indiana. During the delegate workshop, the major discussion item was over the issue of due increases. Headquarters in Ankeny is experiencing some cash flow issues because of an increase in operational expenses. This cash flow issue is a short-term problem that needs immediate assistance. The delegation agreed to increase the dues to the following amounts. Conservationist = $75.00, $110.00 for Canadian, $125.00 Leadership level, $188.00 Presidents Club level, and $25.00 for student membership. Kilby voiced his opinion that this rate increase should be planned high enough so that the dues would not have be raised again in the near future. The other main discussion item during the conference during breaks and social time was the impending Farm Bill.
Annual SWCS Meeting – Roanoke, VA
Dawn Shank reported on the Social/Annual Meeting/Awards Ceremony held during the State SWCD meeting in Roanoke. She said the meeting was well attended and all the food came out just right. It was also a very good idea to have the event handled by the hotel staff rather than trying to handle the food preparations on our own. There are still two awards that need to be sent or given to the awardees. These are to the VA Manufacturing Association and Amy Bartlet-Wright. Dawn is trying to contact VA Manufacturing Association so that she can go to one of their meeting and officially present them with the award. Kilby is drafting a letter to Ms. Wright to explain the award and why she is was a recipient. Gene mentioned that he felt the correspondence to the award winners was not very effective. Several of the awardees had mentioned to him that they had not received anything in the mail. Dawn said we would do a better job next year.
Kilby asked if there were any other suggestions for changes needed for next years meeting. Ginger felt that the awards should be presented first rather than last. We initially had a very good crowd when the meeting started and it quickly dwindle to a small crowd by the time the awards were presented. Jackie also suggested looking into the possibility of shortening or taken out the need to repeat every line of the officers’ ceremony.
Action Items:
Dawn get plaque to VA Manufacturing Association Outreach
Kilby draft letter to Amy Bartlet Wright
2002 Annual Chapter Report
Ginger discussed some parts of the report she was unclear of with some of the council members. This year’s report would be only the first 3 pages because we were not eligible to apply for any of the chapter awards. The report is attached to the official minutes and is available if needed.
Annual Meeting – Committee Report
Stuart would like to convene a small working committee to assist him in planning and executing the annual meeting. He asked the council if there was any suggested topics to base the program around. Theo suggested a meeting geared around the VA Water Quality Standards. Possibly getting stakeholders together to get a better consensus on the biological controls for the standards. Stuart felt that this may not be useful since DEQ has already went through the rule making process with these standards. However, the committee would consider it as a meeting topic. Dawn suggested the C2K Agreement as a potential topic. Theo said this would tie into his idea possibly and also lend itself to the idea of looking at the 2004 Nutrient Standards. Kilby raised the question of the time frame for this meeting. Does any of these topics discussed need to be planned before spring, during the fall, or is the timing even an issue? Stuart felt that any of these topics would be appropriate regardless of the time of year the meeting was held.
Action Item:
Stuart gather individuals for the committee and have topic by April 16th meeting.
Technical – Committee report
No report available.
Budget – Committee Report
Kilby will contact Maryleigh Wolfe and ask her to develop a budget for next year. She will be leaving for Ireland at the end of the month to spend 4 months as a visiting professor.
Action Item:
Kilby contact Maryleigh concerning budget
Awards – Committee Report
Lisa Sizemore has left her position at NRCS. Kilby will contact Lisa to see if she is still plans on being involved with SWCS and would want to continue with heading this committee. If not then Kilby will send out an email to the VA chapter to see if there is a volunteer who would like to take on this role.
Action Item:
Kilby contact Lisa and if needed follow up with an all chapter email.
Membership – Committee Report
Dawn reported the only change in membership is a transfer of a member from Washington DC chapter to the Virginia Chapter. Her plans for increasing membership are to approach state administrative staff for SWCD, DCR, and NRCS to see if they would encourage membership to their employees. She also has several college students she has personal contacts with at UVA and VA Tech that she will try to get involved with the student chapter. Theo mentioned that some students from UVA belong to the student chapter at Tech. She also plans to push membership at the annual meeting.
Action Items:
Theo provide Dawn with dates of next few Student Chapter meetings
Dawn forward Theo’s information to her prospective student members
Spring/Summer Technical –Committee Report
No report available. Kilby felt that the TMDL meeting held in conjunction with the Chapter Development Workshop could serve as the spring technical meeting.
Action Item:
Kilby send email to Phil McClellan outlining his role in working on the spring meeting.
Legislative – Committee Report
Don Wells has been very involved in the legislative issues being addressed by the VA SWCD State Association. If anyone would like to receive bi-weekly updates on the legislative issues being address by the SWCD association they can contact Stephanie Martin and she can add you to an email list to receive these updates. Stephanie can be contacted at . The Association has endorsed several bills addressing Sediment Erosion Control proposed to the state legislature. They have also proposed a bill that would allow the coordination of the Enviro-thon be handled by the SWCD’s. Also a bill was introduced that would allow a change in present quorum requirement. Currently even vacant board member positions are counted in the required quorum amount. The new bill will remove this clause. Another bill proposed for the Senate and House votes is the removal of ex-offico members to the state association board of directors. Some of these present positions would be reduced and the addition of 2 new appointees is being recommended. The two new positions would represent Non-Point Source Pollution and Dam Safety issues.
The largest involvement by State Association is in the area of state budgeting. They have requested a 1.4 million dollar restoration of operational grants for the districts. For the 2004 BMP’s there are present bills for 500,000 in the Senate from the general fund and 1.3 million in the House from the non-general fund. The association is also encouraging the passing of $1,050,000 budget increase for the Cooperative Extension Service.
VA Tech Student Chapter – Committee Report
The student chapter had elected officers at the beginning of the school year and they doing an outstanding job in keeping the student chapter active. They are holding meetings every 2 weeks and are have some very good speakers addressing the chapter.
Newsletter/Web Site – Committee Report
Theo plans to get a newsletter out soon to encourage participation in the TMDL technical meeting and the Chapter Development Workshop. The website does need to be updated with the new officer slate and awards presentations from the annual meeting.
Action Item:
Anyone with articles to include in the newsletter please provide them to Theo by
2/7/03.
Theo update the website
2003 International SWCS Meeting
The 2003 meeting will take place in Spokane, Washington from July 26-31. The chapter delegate will be Dawn Shank, Also attending the meeting will be Theo Dillaha and Kilby Majette if his paper is approved. Kilby will be listed as the alternate delegate if Dawn is unable to attend.