Minutes of the June Regularly Scheduled Meeting of

The Virginia Master Gardener Association, Inc.

June 5, 2003

Blacksburg, VA

Attendance

(Brunswick) Larry Woyer; (Chesapeake) Pinky Derieux, Jane Montgomery, Pauline Price; (Fairfax) George Graine; (Fauquier) Frank Reilly, Jim Scibek; (Halifax) Bill McCaleb; (Hanover) Pamela Armstrong, Cheri Haggerty; (Loudoun) Debbie Dillion; (Northern Neck) Angela Cahn, Jinny Estell, Linda McConahey; (Northern Shenandoah Valley) Bud Gregory, Fran Gregory, Chuck Walters, Sally Walters; (Prince George) Cheryl Sebera; (Prince William) Pat Reilly; (Roanoke) Shelby Snider; (Rockbridge) Kate Jenks, Ted Jenks, Chuck Norrington; (Suffolk) Linda Spence; (Virginia Beach) Paul Campbell, Fran Shelton; (Virginia Tech) Diane Relf; (Washington) Bill Davis. (There were more attendees but they did not sign in.)

Call to Order

President Jim Scibek called the meeting to order at 1110.

Introductions

President Scibek welcomed us all to the June meeting in beautiful Blacksburg and Virginia Tech. This meeting was held on opening day of MG College.

Minutes

The April minutes were accepted as posted.

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Shelby Snider reported:

Checking Account Balance as of June 1, 2003

6708.44

Deposit - Dues

3093.00

Checking Account Balance

9801.44

Expenses

PC Banking @ $9.95 month

19.90

Web Hosting

1510.57

Newsletter - Postage and Printing

533.60

VSU education event

93.52

Misc. Postage

102.61

Refund Dues overpayment (2)

10.00

American Horticultural Society

200.00

Misc.

103.93

Transfer to Education Endowment Fund

750.00

Total Expenses

3324.13

Checking Account Balance

6477.31

Money Market Fund

5410.74

Endowment

  

4426.96

Certificate of Deposit

6396.51

Total Funds

  

22711.52

The treasurer's report was accepted as presented pending annual audit.

President’s Report

President Scibek reported that the board would be meeting with Dr. Umberger at 1:30 this afternoon. He received a nice letter of thanks from AHS for our donation at the April meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Education - Lenore Plissner, Chair

Lenore was not in attendance but sent word through the Secretary. The Education Committee has no activity to report for June 2003. The committee will hold its next meeting on Friday, June 6 at 5:30 p.m. at MG College. The agenda will include planning for the next Continuing Education program at Monticello and Tufton Center for Historic Plants on September 27 as well as looking ahead to the second Good Gardening Symposium in Disputanta on March 13, 2004, with Barbara Geer providing an update.

Newsletter - Florace Arnold, Editor

Florace was not in attendance. No report.

Membership - Pauline Price, Chair

VMGA Membership Report as of June 3, 2003

2002

2003

Increase

Total Membership

381

536

155

Regular Members

321

457

  

Including : Renew for 2

14

55

  

Life Members

60

79

19

We therefore have 13% participation in VMGA by Master Gardeners, based on 3,881 active MG’s in Virginia as reported in the fall 2002 issue of the VCE MG Leadership Development Newsletter. Membership will hold a recruiting drive at Brag Night. We will offer a MG window cling free to anyone becoming a member, free to any member "upgrading" to Lifetime status or for $1.00 to existing VMGA members (so no member feels left out). We will not be selling them to MG’s who are not members of VMGA.

Communication/Unit Support - Frank Reilly, Chair

Unit Support

Consists of Karen Sacasky, Kerry Goldmeyer and Frank Reilly.

Since the last meeting, we have provided tax and incorporation information to two different Associations and information regarding the State record keeping system to 8 units. We have fielded 15 questions dealing with becoming a MG or educational programs throughout the state. Unit representative information is available through the web site.

Communication Committee

Members: Cheri Haggerty, Angela Cahn, Shelby Snyder and Chair Frank Reilly.

    1. Since the April, regularly scheduled meeting there have been 14018 page requests to VMGA.net.
    2. Since the April regularly scheduled meeting, the web page has been updated on 116 separate occasions.
    3. The new College home page, calendar, Useful links and Hort Update pages are our most visited pages.
    4. Cheri Haggerty maintains the links page. If you have any interesting gardening links to add, send them to her.
    5. We issued the MG College Promotional CD.

 

Unit Reports

The Unit reps attending presented written reports or have e-mailed them to the secretary. They will be posted at VMGA.net.

State Fair

Evelyn was not in attendance. However, President Scibek announced that September 25,26,29,30 and October 1,3,4 were open for volunteers. The schedule is 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The deadline is July 15 for signup. Volunteer name and address information must be sent to Evelyn by August 15. Cheri Haggerty offered to take requests back to Evelyn. Loudoun and Chesapeake sent requests.

Education Endowment Fund

The committee consists of Pat Reilly, Chuck and Sally Walters. The committee received 12 nominations for the ten $50 scholarships. They could not decide on 10 recipients so the board was petitioned to add two additional scholarships. The board concurred and 12 scholarships were awarded. They are as follows:

Betty Beardsworth

Arlington

Christy Brennan

Hanover

Paul Campbell

Virginia Beach

Sharon Corbin

Prince William

Jean St.John

Hanover

Mary Elliott

Halifax

Susie Howard

Northern Shenandoah

Denise Reeder

Arlington

Fran Shelton

Virginia Beach

Rachel Fleury

Prince William

Agnes Gregory

Halifax

Jim Revell

Bedford

Extension Liaison - reported by Diane Relf

Diane has been officially retired since January 1, 2003 but has continued to work in the office. Her position has been noted as a critical replacement position. Things will continue as these positions have been advertised and interviewing is ongoing. Rich Marini is acting as departmental liaison for the Master Gardener Coordinator. The money is there for her position. She reported that Frank has done a fantastic job in organizing MG College.

Unfinished Business

There was no unfinished business.

New Business

President Scibek announced that the audit committee would be reviewing the books before the Annual meeting.

A motion was made and accepted to maintain yearly dues at $10.00.

Announcements

The Secretary announced several new Unit Representatives. They are Jack and Pat O'Leary (Western Tidewater), Ted Jenks (Rockbridge), Cecile Dingus (Wise), Gail Augenreich (Bedford) and Peter Warren (Albermarle).

Future Board meetings are scheduled as follows:

August 9, 2003 - James City County-Williamsburg

The meeting was adjourned at 1155.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheri Haggerty

Secretary

VMGA