(Chesapeake) Doris (Pinky) Derieux, Jane Montgomery, Pauline Price; (Fairfax) Frank Reilly; (Fauquier) Jim Scibek; (Gloucester) Sherry Ratcliffe; (Halifax) Bill McCaleb; (Hanover) Cheri Haggerty, Evelyn Parker; (James City /Williamsburg) Dale Firestone, Angela Cingale; (Newport News) Gary Bill; (Norfolk) Tom Bolt; (Northern Neck) Jinny Estell, Pat Rogers; (Prince William) Pat Reilly; (Suffolk) Betty Freedman; (Virginia Beach) Paul Campbell, Bill Everett, Barbara Lott, Fran Shelton, Betty Villers; (York) Jackie Lohr, Sybil Przypek.

President Jim Scibek called the meeting to order at 1005.

Members present introduced themselves. Betty Villers, representing the host unit, Virginia Beach, gave an overview of their projects. They have 191 active members and celebrated their 20^th birthday this year. Virginia Beach held the first ever Plant Sale as a fundraiser and work closely with the Hampton Roads Research Center. In 15 years, their GrowLine has answered over 54,000 calls. Visit them on the web at vbmg.org. The Virginia Beach MGs have joined with Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Norfolk and York County in forming a Regional Leadership Group. They presented a tour at the Botanical Garden after the meeting.

The minutes of the June meeting were approved as presented.

President Jim Scibek reported for Shelby Snider:

Checking Account Balance as of August 1,2002………..4874.17

Money Market Fund…………………………………… 5370.30

Savings Account……………………………………… ...3217.65

Certificate of Deposit…………………………………… 6323.21

Total Funds …………………………………………...$19785.33

The treasurer’s report was accepted. The budget was reviewed and accepted as presented.

Immediate Past President Pat Reilly reported that the meeting with Drs. Barrett and Umberger has been

postponed until September.

President Jim Scibek reported the following:

1.) A decision guide CD was purchased at the Southeastern Master Gardener Conference and copies will be made and distributed to units.

2.) Reminded members present to use the VCE MGs Listservice. Directions for a free subscription can be found through the VCE MG link on VMGA.net

Lenore Plissner was not present but reports that the next program offered by the Education Committee will take place on November 16 at 10:00 am at the Leesburg Extension office. The focus will be on Restoring, Renovating, and Rejuvenating a Garden. A tour of Oatlands is scheduled following the program.

It was moved and seconded to advance the Education Committee the necessary funds, $87.50, to reserve 25 spaces for the Oatlands Tour following the November 16^th program. Oatlands is an old plantation known for it’s sunken gardens. The Education Committee will recoup these funds through the registration fee.

A second Education Committee program is tentatively scheduled for March 8, 2003, at Virginia State University with Andy Hankins. Topic to be announced. It was recommended to repeat the Diagnosing Plant Problems from last November.

Florace Arnold was not present. It was moved and seconded to purchase the Newsletter group a copy of Publisher to facilitate the publication of the newsletter. They will try to either get a stand alone desktop copy ($125.00) or possibly we can be added to Tech’s license (about $40.00). Florace will contact Sara Lineberger.

Julie Cochran was not present but reported that we currently have 394 members. There are 144 yet to renew, 162 renewed through May 2003, 26 have renewed through May 2004 and there are 62 life members. A cut off date of September 15 was set for updating the member directory. There are no plans to post the directory online.

Consists of Kerry Goldmeyer, Karen Sacasky and Frank Reilly, Chair. Frank reports no recent activity and that this committee is here to support you in your constitutional, incorporation or treasury dilemmas. This committee is concerned that VMGA reps are not informing their folks about what VMGA is doing.

Members: Julie Cochran, Cheri Haggerty, Alice Nicolson, Shelby Snyder and Chair Frank Reilly.

1. Since the June Meeting, there have been 2398 discrete visitors to VMGA.net. Since the June meeting, the web page has been updated on 23 separate occasions.
1. The Calendar, Useful Links, and Hort Update pages are our most visited pages. Please send in you events. We get the traffic, and maybe your event will too.
1. PLEASE UPDATE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESSES.

Evelyn Parker reports the following volunteer schedule for the State Fair (9/26 –10/6):

September 26 Chesapeake - September 27 Chesterfield - September 28 Hanover

September 29 Fairfax - September 30 Henrico - October 1 Stafford - October 2 York

October 3 Gloucester - October 4 Norfolk - October 5 Hampton - October 6 Hanover

She also reported that the State Fair wants to cut volunteers again but she held firm to our numbers.

Bonnie Appleton’s donation to the Endowment Fund from her book proceeds so far amounts to $265.00. The nominations process needs a little fine-tuning. Several nominees did not make it to MG College so we had to find other nominees. Sally and Chuck Walters will be asked to continue as chairs for this committee.

The report was given at the annual meeting.

Sarah Lineberger was not present but reported the following:

1). The requested recipes are on the VT MG WebPages.

2). Currently updating Coordinators manual. It should be ready this fall.

3). She is requesting sample questions in order to update the exam. Please e-mail to Sarah.

Jenny Estell said we need an exam of basic competency and common to all units.

It was suggested that members could place their ideas or tidbits of knowledge of "What an MG should know…" on the Forum at VMGA.net

Pat Reilly paraphrased a 3-page e-mail from the VCE office regarding the budget cuts and future plans for VCE. It will be available on VMGA.net.

It was moved and seconded to purchase a new tape recorder for the secretary’s use. The current recorder is an "antique" held together with black tape and prayer. Jim Scibek will take responsibility for this.

The next board meeting is Saturday, October 12, 2002 from 1000-1400 in Halifax County.

The following units have offered to host the next three meetings:

December, 2002 - Hanover

February, 2003 - York

April, 2003 – Fairfax

June, 2003 - Blacksburg

Respectfully submitted,

Cheri Haggerty

Secretary