Minutes for Board of Directors Meeting Lindheimer Chapter NPSOT Jan. 3, 2023
Meeting start time: 9:35 AM, at TPML.
In attendance: President Joel Dunnington, President Elect Sara Torres (and Coordinator of Programs), Secretary Dick Bigelow, Treasurer Sara Torres, Director of Plant Sales Debbie Kyrouac, Director of Community Outreach Ellen Anderson, Director of Formal Education Peggy Haley, Membership Coordinator Bev Willmann. Sarah Mato member. Quorum requirement was met (6 directors).
Not attending: Director of Communications Bob Drake, Hospitality Coordinator Charlotte Wright, Plant of the Month Coordinator Leon Dominick, Handmade Furniture Demo Gardens Coordinator Pam Henderson.
Secretary: Dick said that the November 2022 Board meeting minutes had “Preliminary” removed on our web site, and the December 2022 minutes (corrected) had been posted as “Preliminary”. There were no additional changes for the December minutes so those will have “Preliminary” removed and the preliminary January 2023 minutes will be posted. Dick said he had met with Bob Drake to learn about how to do things on our web site.
President: Joel Dunnington :
- Discussed the results of the election of board members during our December 2022 chapter meeting (President – Joel Dunnington, President-Elect – Sara Torres, Treasurer – Sara Torres, Secretary – Dick Bigelow), all were elected unanimously.
- Asked who does IRS taxes, Sara said this was done by our state organization.
- Asked if we should support our Homegrown National Park more. The discussion was that we should. Bob will be asked to put a link to it on our website.
- Asked about assigning coverage of events for our website and newsletter. Sara said the she and Bob had signed us up for mail chimp and are looking at how to have people do articles to go out. Charlotte will be acting as a clearing house for articles and send them to Bob when they are ready.
- Asked about our Facebook page not being a group. Peggy said that our page was not set up that way by the person that set it up originally and that people can follow it but not join it, that can’t be changed unless we create a new page, she administers it and people send things to her to be posted.
- Asked about the Leaderweb not working for him, Sara said it is being phased out and that the functions were being moved to the member portal.
- Asked about banking access. There was discussion that we need to get the signatures updated at Wells Fargo, Sara and Joel will signature authority, checks only need one signature.
- Asked about a budget committee. Sara said that the budget review is being done in the board meetings (see below) and that our state organization does quarterly reviews (chapters have a budget site set up on the state website).
Past President Peggy Haley: Transferred a number of documents to other board members, said she thought that we needed more time for the Christmas party (there was general agreement to this and some discussion about the next one) and that the leftover food went to the VFW hall and 12 gift bags went to CRCC.
Treasurer’s report. Sara Torres: We have $934.33 in our checking account and $2,085.83 in our savings account for a total of $3,020.16. Sara said that reporting for 2022 to the state is complete. Sara said that Sarah Mato is considering accepting the Treasurers position. We discussed the proposed budget that she had emailed to the board, Peggy moved that the budget as amended be passed, Ellen seconded, it passed unanimously. The amended budget will be emailed to the board and posted on our website.
State NPSOT Joel Dunnington: The Spring Symposium will be Feb. 25th 2023 at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. The Fall Symposium will be Nov. 9-11 2023 in Nacogdoches.
Old Business.
None.
Committees. Joel asked who signed up for committees at the Christmas party, Peggy sent and gave the list to Joel.
Director of Formal Education (NLCP). Peggy Haley: Peggy said our NLCP#1 class for the spring will be held May 13th at TPML, set up will be May 12th. NLCP #3 will be done in October. Peggy wants 3 flash drives to put the presentations on to ensure everybody involved in presenting has the save version and as a backup if we don’t have web access. Several people volunteered to provide her with some.
Director of Community Outreach. Ellen Anderson: Ellen said Peggy had sent an email to Smithson Valley Middle School to ask what they would like assistance with and had not yet gotten a response. Peggy will send another email. Ellen said that the Heritage Center was having a fundraiser January 28th, Peggy said she is going and will have our business cards to pass out. Ellen said we had gotten volunteers for the NICE committee, that they will be reviewing the NICE nurseries, and that the plant list is being looked at. There was a discussion on how “local” plants should be to be considered as Native.
Director of Communications. Bob was not present. Debbie said that she would update the signup Genius for people interested in being on a committee. Peggy said we have 2165 followers on Facebook, we have 22 followers on Instagram.
Director of Plant Sales. Debbie Kyrouac:
- Mammen Library Quarterly Talks – Debbie asked about redoing and having more people assist, there were some volunteers.
- Folkfest April 15th 2023 – We will have sales just on Saturday, she needs the contact to set this up which was provided.
- Discussed the list desired plant to have for sale. She is including information on whether they are Escarpment, Balcones, both, Black Land Prairie, etc. She will post on our website and ask for growers.
- Currently proposing three plant sales – Dino Days (March 25, Debbie won’t be able to attend, Peggy will be), Folkfest, and at/around the NLCP#1 class. There may be some later in the year.
Membership. Bev Willmann said we have 116 members.
Hospitality. Charlotte Wright: Was not present.
Programs. Sara Torres: Said that events and volunteer opportunities are on our web site. Field trips are being worked on, we discussed that February is not a good time for a field trip.
January 17, 2023 – Joel will do a presentation on “Not all plants are good for you”.
Feb 21st, 2023 – Debbie Kyrouac will do a presentation on “Late Winter Landscape Maintenance”.
Mar 21st 2023 – Cheryl Hamilton will do a presentation on “Invasives”.
April 18th 2023 – Field trip/picnic at the Heritage Center
May 16th – Carol Clark will do a presentation on “How to Grow Milkweed from seed”.
Demo Gardens.
Handmade Furniture Demo Garden – No update. Heritage Museum – Peggy and Mickey will be going on Jan 4th. Peggy asked where Demo Gardens fit in the organization, after discussion we said it should be under Outreach as a committee.
New Business.
Peggy said that we needed to clean up the storage shed and waterproof it. Sara will check on dates. There was discussion on how to waterproof it, Dick moved to approve purchasing materials, Sara seconded that, there was unanimous approval.
Adjournment
President Joel Dunnington adjourned the meeting at 11:38 am.