Virginia Master Gardener Association, Inc.

Annual Meeting

June 24, 2006

(revised Draft August 4, 2006)

Dave Close, State MG Coordinator welcomed everyone to MG College and  introduced his lovely wife, Constance and four daughters, Page, Hannah, Molly, and Stacey who were in attendance.  He reminded all to fill out the MG College evaluation forms before leaving for home.

Call to Order
President Bill McCaleb called the 2006 Annual VMGA Meeting to order at 7:02 PM in the theater of Torgerson Hall on the Campus of Virginia Tech and welcomed everyone attending.

Minutes - Betty Villers
The minutes from the 2005 Annual Meeting were approved.

Treasurer's Report - Pat Reilly
:

Overall Balance of Accounts
	Checking Account Balance					$9,457.68
	Money Market (including PDR EEF of $5297.29)					$7,661.01
	CD Balance					$6,606.40
	Total Overall Balance of Accounts					$23,725.09
Checking Account
	Balance as of 5/31/2005					$6,881.74
		Income
			FY 06 Dues		$3,626.00
			FY 07-16 Dues		$3,930.00
			EEF		$229.00
			Education		$1,143.59
			Fundraising		$6,167.00
			Communication		$24.95
			Gift for VT Foundation		$1,717.95
			Elections		$3.12
					total income	$16,841.61
		Expenses
			Communication, Unit Support		-$292.35
			EEF		-$600.00
			Education		-$1,153.10
			Elections		-$364.53
			Endowment Cmte		-$82.51
			Gift to VT Foundation		-$4,552.10
			Marketing		-$180.00
			Membership*		-$1,493.25
			Newsletter		-$2,760.73
			State Fair		-$142.59
			Fundraising		-$2,506.90
			Officer - President		-$45.00
			Officer - Secretary		-$24.18
			Officer - Treasurer (bank fees)		-$68.43
					total expenses	-$14,265.67
			*includes $5.30 from FY05
	Balance as of 5/31/2006					$9,457.68
	Year to Date Income & Expenses to Budget FY 06
	Income YTD
		Committee	Budget	Income
		Membership
		FY 06	$5,640.00	$3,626.00
		FY 07-16	$1,560.00	$3,930.00
		Subtotal	$7,200.00	$7,556.00
		EEF	$0.00	$229.00
		Education	$3,000.00	$1,143.59
		Fundraising	$3,000.00	$6,167.00
		Communication	$0.00	$24.95
		Gift for Endow	$0.00	$1,717.95
		Election	$0.00	$3.12
		total	$13, 200.00	$16,841.61
	Expenses YTD
		Committee	Budget	Expense	Year-End
		Comm/Support	$450.00	-$292.35	$182.60
		EEF	$400.00	-$600.00	$29.00
		Elections	$360.00	-$364.53	-$1.41
		Endowment	$200.00	-$82.51	$117.49
		Marketing	$150.00	-$180.00	-$30.00
		Membership	$1,600.00	-$1,493.25	$106.75
		Newsletter	$3,500.00	-$2,760.73	$739.27
		State Fair	$220.00	-$142.59	$77.41
		Fundraising	$150.00	-$6.90	$143.10
				-$2,500.00
		Education	$3,000.00	-$1,153.10	$1,846.90
		Gift CoordEndow	$3,000.00	-$4,552.10	$1,552.10
		Officers Expense
		President	$75.00	-$45.00	$30.00
		Vice President	$25.00	$0.00	$25.00
		Secretary	$35.00	-$24.18	$10.82
		Treasurer	$35.00	-$68.43	-$33.43
		total	$13,200.00	-$14,265.67

Audit  - Bill Scott,  Chair
The audit committee consisted of Ted Jenks (Rockbridge-Bath), Jim Scibek (Fauquier) and Bill Scott (Prince William). The annual audit was completed June 17, 2006 and is an attachment to these minutes. Committee acknowledged significant improvement in record keeping over the last two years. Motion made and carried to accept Audit Committee report.

President’s Report - Bill McCaleb
President Bill McCaleb thanked everyone for the opportunity to serve the last two years, it has been a pleasure. He and Dave Close have had the opportunity to visit other states such as W Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Michigan and talk about how they are doing things in their MG program.  Arkansas will probable follow VA with a coordinator. They currently have a PhD running their program.

· Have come a long way since 2 years ago. The creation of the endowment is a giant step for MGs to keep the position in perpetuity. We are the first to get it off the ground and running.  Could not have done it without help from the University and Max Bales and Kim Christopoulos. Many units and individuals have contributed, with multiple donations from some units. 

· Planning brought about a schedule for Board Meetings that everyone was well aware of, well in advance and posted to the website.

· Continuing Education has grown through local units putting on outstanding program opportunities for all those attending.

· Was guest speaker at six functions across the state for graduation and/or annual dinner meetings.

·  Helped two new Master Gardener Units to start up in Appomattox and Lee County. 

· Now have four membership categories;  Active, Lifetime, Auxiliary and Sustaining.  Auxiliary membership is open to those who maintain an interest in Virginia Master Gardening but are no longer active. Can be for those people who move out of state but want to keep in touch.  Sustaining membership  is open to individuals or corporations with an interest in advancing the work of Virginia Master Gardening. These people will be kept informed of what's going on in the MG program.  

· Couldn't have done job without help of committee people and officers. Thanks to Cheri Haggerty for organizing our efforts in Richmond to education our legislators on the needs of the University and VCE.

· Tom Bolt tried to bank enough people to get us a Virginia Master Gardener License Plate but not enough people were interested.

· Revamped our Budget to spread out the lifetime fees as they should be.

· MG units across the state have contributed to the hurricane relief effort in Louisiana and Mississippi. VA MGs gave $1900 to Mississippi Extension to rebuild their program and $1550 to Louisiana Extension. More has been given from VA but the affiliation was not known.

· Electronic Newsletter now in effect, thanks to Tom Bolt and Florace Arnold.

· Plant Introduction Program or PIP is well into its second year and 100 MGs have volunteered to assist with this evaluation program. This is joint partnership between VaTech, VCE, Lynchburg College, VMGA and VNLA and Norfolk Botanical Garden. We did get a substantial grant in 2005 and got another to carry the program through 2007. July 24th will see a program at the Halifax site with key people from ISSR, Jersey Novak from VaTech, and farmers and growers who are interested in getting into the program.  

Vice President's Report - Cheri Haggerty
Vice President Cheri Haggerty reported that in January VMGA  partnered with VCE and spent a weekend at the General Assembly in Richmond with MGs from Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico and Danville giving out information about MG contributions to the commonwealth including number of hours and its value to the commonwealth.

VMGA partnered with Hanover MGs at the Maymont Show. Had 30 volunteers from 14 units across the state and made 600 contacts.  Theme was America's Anniversary Garden.

We have same number of units represented as last year, 41, but they are different. We lost one and gained one. Looking to add unit reps from Louisa, Portsmouth and Arlington. The unit representatives report at Board Meetings what their unit is doing and hear what's happening in other units. You can go to the VMGA.net website and contact any officer and say you want to be the rep from your unit if you don't already have a rep. 

Thanks to Patty Gamache (Bedford) for taking over the goodies bags for MG College. Also, thanks to Jim Revell for getting the bags to Blacksburg.

Standing Committee Reports

Education - Fran Shelton and Pinky Deriuex,  Co-Chairs

Last fall the Education Committee sponsored a program at the Hampton Roads AREC with seven speakers and only 58 people in attendance.    

This fall, Friday, October 27 the program will be at Maymont in Richmond. Peggy Singlemann from Maymont will be speaking followed by LeAnne DeBois, Williamsburg Extension Agent.  Cost is $12 for VMGA members and $22 for nonmembers plus cost of lunch. There will be an extra charge for guided tours of the house and the gardens or you can tour on your own at no charge.  There will be tram available for those who have difficulty walking. 

Any unit can post their continuing education program on the VMGA website by contacting Kathryn Debnar and in return can get information about other programs in their area from the website.

Newsletter - Florace Arnold, Editor
Bill McCaleb reported for Florace. Continue to send unit reports and current news from your unit.

Membership - Mary Ann Kincaid, Chair
As of today, there are 413 current members of VMGA. Of these 264 are active members, 6 auxiliary members and 143 life members.  We are awaiting renewal of 193 members whose memberships expired 5/31/06.

Unit Support - Frank Reilly, Chair
Members: Pat Reilly, Karen Sacasky, Kerry Goldmeyer, Pinky Derieux, Frank Reilly and whomever else we need.