(Chesapeake) Pinky Derieux, Pauline Price; (Fairfax) George Graine, Gwendolyn Graine; (Fauquier) Lenore Plissner, Frank Reilly, Jim Scibek; (Gloucester) Florace Arnold, Sherry Ratcliffe; (Halifax) Bill McCaleb; (Hanover) Pamela Armstrong, Cheri Haggerty; (James City /Williamsburg) Barbara Brouse, Dale Firestone; (Matthews) JoAnna Brown; (Northern Neck) Pat Rogers; (Prince George) Barbara Geer, Cheryl Sebera; (Prince William) Pat Reilly; (Suffolk) Betty Freedman; (Virginia Beach) Paul Campbell, Fran Shelton; (York) Margaret Cotton, Terry Hanson, Rene Kauder, Jackie Lohr, Evelyn Parker, Sybil Przypek, Lanna Rackley.

President Jim Scibek called the meeting to order at 1002.

The minutes were accepted with the following corrections; correct Caroline Norrington's name and correct the dollar amount of the VCE budget amendment from $1.04 to $1.04 million.

Treasurer Shelby Snider reported:

It was requested that future reports break the expenses into their budget items. In addition, interest expense was reported but not to which account it was deposited. This will be corrected by the next report. The treasurer's report was accepted as written pending annual audit. (This the accepted method of acceptance and will be used from now on.)

President Scibek reported that Dr. Steve Umberger been selected to replace the retiring Dr. Dave Barrett. Dr.Umberger has been involved with this board so there should not be much of a change in our relationship. Dr. Relf is in New Zealand until mid April. We hope to see a replacement for Sarah at MG College.

Sarah sent a note expressing her thanks for the gift certificate. She also thanked the VMGA membership for their support during her tenure as Extension Liaison Coordinator.

Kerry Goldmeyer sent a brochure about seminars being offered at Virginia Tech during the winter.

Lenore reported that we are a month away from our education event at Virginia State. So far, we have 65 registrations. After the December 2002 VMGA Board Meeting, every unit that was not represented at the meeting was mailed a covering letter, description of the program and speakers and a registration form. The covering letter requested those units to include contents of the program, the leaders of each part and a copy of the registration form in their newsletters. The next meeting of the Education Committee will be during MG College. Barbara Geer gave a brief overview of the Prince George Gardening Symposium to be held March 15. They have room for 40 and have 20 registrations.

Committee member Fran Shelton is planning to take the driver's test required by her city in order to drive the municipal van with Master Gardeners to VSU.

Florace reported that the path the newsletter takes is simple. News is routed to the Editor, sent to Greg Adams for layout and then to Pat Reilly to be printed and taken to the printer. Prince William MGs prepare it for mailing. The editor needs someone to be responsible for the Resource Corner. The reviews should be 250-275 words. George Graine offered to do book reviews. Florace recommended that you use word wrap rather than "Enter" at the end of a line when submitting an article or news.

Remember that this newsletter is of importance to MGs statewide and your news and articles should reflect that. Try to have your news to the Editor by the first week in March so the newsletter can be distributed before the next meeting.

Julie reported that membership is at 388 with 68 life members. A special thanks to Jinny Estell (Northern Neck) for recruiting 18 new members.

Consists of Kerry Goldmeyer, Cheri Haggerty, Pat Reilly, Karen Sacasky and Frank Reilly.

Pat Reilly has made two speaking trips to Charlottesville. One for Master Gardener Retention and the second for Master Gardener Training. Cheri Haggerty has updated the unit contact information and has made Unit Reports available on the web site. Volunteer Coordinator handbooks have been distributed by Tech. Jim Scibek has a CD version.

Members: Julie Cochran, Cheri Haggerty, Angela Kahn, Shelby Snyder, Frank Reilly and whomever else we can get. This time we had the unbelievable help of Greg Snider, an employee of a MG Trainee in Prince William. He has redesigned the web site for beauty and efficiency. Since the December regularly scheduled meeting, there have been 7,865 visitors to VMGA.net. Outside of the US, our visitors come from more than 29 countries. Canada supplies the most hits followed by Netherlands and UK. Since the December meeting, the site has been updated on 47 separate occasion including the major facelift and restructuring. The most popular pages have been Membership, links to member pages, meeting schedule and educational events.

Angela Cahn is currently accepting changes to the calendar and Cheri Haggerty maintains the links page. Membership applications are available on line at the Membership page.

Master Gardener CDs will be available soon after some minor tweaking.

Frank Reilly reported on Master Gardener College. There will be no major changes in the format. The dates are June 5-8. We have arranged for Kent Mungford (featured recently in the Washington Post) to speak on build out around the bay. The announcement for MG College is scheduled to come out in the March Leadership Newsletter. It is distinctly possible secure online registration will be available. Secure housing reservations will be available on line through Virginia Tech.

The Unit reps attending gave reports and they will be posted at VMGA.net.

Several units reported that they did hand deliver the "Summary of Impacts" to their local legislators. Pat Reilly distributed additional copies for use at the local level.

Barbara Geer and Lenore Plissner said that the Prince George education event is open to locals, not just MGs. An endowment created by the Geers will make funds available for speaker's fees.

Julie Cochran has resigned as chairman of the Membership Committee. She has given two hardworking years to this endeavor. She has been responsible for many improvements to this committee. Pauline Price (Chesapeake) volunteered to assume chair of this committee.

Bill McCaleb (Halifax/ Southside) announced that there is an education event on Tuesday, March 18 at Blackstone Research Station. The topics include Entomology in the morning and Brambles in the afternoon.

George Graine reported that MG tuition is tax deductible on line 26. See page 32 of the 1040 instruction booklet.

George Graine said the April Meeting will be held at the American Horticultural Society Headquarters (River Farm). It is an 18^th century building; one of George Washington's many homes. A Mount Vernon garden and landscape tour, with an interpreter, is being arranged for VMGA meeting attendees. We have also been invited to tour Gunston Hall, home of George Mason. He was the author of American's first Bill of Rights. For a view of 21st century art, visit the internationally acclaimed Torpedo Factory Art Center located in Old Town Alexandria. All studios and galleries are open and the public is welcome. Another enjoyment and educational opportunity is the Alexandria Archaeology Museum & Research Laboratory located on the third floor of the Torpedo Factory. This is a working archaeology museum. These folks really dig dirt!

Fairfax will host the next board meeting on April 12, 2003 at 1000.

The future meetings are scheduled as follows:

June 2003 - Blacksburg

August 2003 - James City County-Williamsburg

The meeting adjourned at 1320.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheri Haggerty

Secretary

VMGA