Executive Board Meeting Minutes

The meeting was called to order by President, Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman, at 9:05 a.m. In attendance were: Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman, Grace Wrigley, Ash Tyler ,
Dominique Loewenstein, Joe Loughlin, and Patty Burns.

General Information and Discussion:
- All board meetings are held at 9:00 a.m. on the 3rd Thursday of each month except for November which will be on the 13th. General meetings are always on the 4th Thursday of each month from 9:00 a.m. to noon except for November which will be on the 20th. This year's Recognition Luncheon will be June 10, and the Christmas Party will be December 10. The 2008 plant sales will be April 10, 11 & 12 and May 8, 9, & 10.
- Workdays are always on the first Monday and third Tuesday of each month. Shirley will talk to David on who will be in charge of assigning work activities. The days, time and work activities, if possible, will be put on the calendar several months in advance. More volunteers are needed; a sign up sheet will be passed around at the January meeting.
-The website calendar of events will be updated to reflect these dates.
-Committee chairs will be verified and a sign-up sheet for workers will be passed around at the January meeting.

President, Shirley Waggoner-Eisenman:
-Will propose to the membership that the Newsletter be given a name.
-Would like to get all the committee chairs and committee members together to discuss what they are doing and if they need more workers.
-Needs to appoint a third person for the nominating committee as per the by-laws.
-At year end, will be asking for short end-of-the year report from each committee chair on what they did and what they would like the BCMGVA to accomplish the following year.
-Stated there were seven districts in North Carolina for cooperative extension but due to the retirement of a District Director, the entire state was redistricted. We are, as before, in the SE district with Danny Shaw as our new District Director.

Vice President, Grace Wrigley:
-Would like to find out why there are a large number of people in the classes but so few continue on. The reunion party last year was an attempt to find out what was keeping them from coming back.
-Indicated that people at the meetings don't fully understand what is expected from them in the MG association. This needs to be explained more fully in the classes. Shirley indicated she would like to see a mentor system put in place where experienced MG's work closely with new members until they feel comfortable with the hot line and other MG duties. This needs to be discussed with the David or Charlie.

Newsletter Editor, Joe Loughlin:
- Articles for the newsletter need to be sent to him by the 5th of each month. To the best of our knowledge, Lisa Miner is still the webmaster but has moved to Florida and a new person will be taking over shortly. Shirley will talk with committee chairs for update reports to put in the newsletter. Joe will contact, Barbara McCoy, Historian, and also put something in the newsletter to see if there is anyone is interested in continuing as Herbarium which is a collection of dried plants mounted and labeled for use in scientific examination.

Restitution & Greenhouse, Ash Tyler:
-He is at the greenhouse from 7:00 to 11:00 a.m. everyday to show people what needs to be done. Help is needed anytime.
-Two exhaust fans with louvers and four circulation fans in the greenhouse need to be replaced to provide better circulation for the plants. The top of the big greenhouse also needs to be replaced. Ash said continuation of the Restitution budget looks favorable for this year; a $6000 increase is being requested to cover capital improvements.
-There are twelve kids in the Restitution Program but only three or four come out to work. This weekend they did 1400 flower plugs for a total of about 4000.

Membership, Dominique Loewenstein:
-Membership needs to take over the responsibility of keeping track of the payment of dues. At the end of the year when timesheets are turned in, David or Charlie, gives membership a list of volunteers who have put in their required hours and are qualified as master gardeners. The list of certified master gardeners should be passed to the association. The membership list then needs to be purged in March according to the by-laws.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Patty Burns, Recording Secretary