Official Minutes Texas Master Gardener Association Board of Directors Meeting August 12, 2017 Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Officers Present: President Peggy Rogers, 1st Vice-President Nicky Maddams, 2nd Vice-President, Jack Downey, Treasurer Elisabeth Castro, Secretary Pat Allen, and Past President Mary Means. Officers and Directors/Alternates were from the following counties: Bell, Bexar, Brazos, Caldwell, Comal, Dallas, Denton, Ector Midland, Fort Bend, Galveston, Gregg, Grimes, Harris, Henderson, Hill, Hood, Jefferson, Johnson, Kaufman, Kerr/Kendall/Gillespie/Bandera, Leon, Liberty, McLennan, Milam, Nueces, San Jacinto, Smith, Somervell, Tarrant, Titus, Travis, Van Zandt, Victoria, Walker, Waller, Wichita, Williamson, and Wood. Call to Order - President Peggy Rogers of Wood County called meeting to order at 12:35 pm Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance were led by Wayne Rhoden from Williamson County. Welcome President Peggy Rogers, Wood County Minutes Pat Allen, Bell County Minutes approved as posted in the August TMGA Newsletter Treasurer Elisabeth Castro, Montgomery County Elisabeth reported that expenses are down for the year $13,314 has been collected from membership dues to TMGA Membership is up (6657 members) Dues collected from 86 counties Treasurer s Report will be filed for Audit Program Coordinator Jayla Fry, TMGA Program Coordinator, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Jayla announced that the Training Pilot Program had ended and should be ready to send out to county extension agents by November for their planning purposes Price should be affordable. Training Modules are meant to be used as supplement to our current training program Handbook updates are in the works and should be ready for fall of 2018. The new Handbook will have full color pictures Some chapters of current Handbook will be broken down into more chapters, as well as possibly adding some new chapters Jayla will be cutting back on her training schedule this coming year. Due to other obligations she will not be able to travel in person to train associations, but will be able to do training sessions online if that can be an option.
Awards Peggy Rogers, Wood County Peggy announced that our time for choosing, writing and submitting awards this year is much shorter due to the earlier date for 2018 Conference. Submissions may begin as early as December 1, 2017 and will end at 10:00pm on January 20, 2018. Peggy asked for questions, answers and advice to help members handle the awards process. Peggy asked how associations go about choosing which project to submit for an award. Jane Bowman from Williamson County said that their organization looks for something different. This year they are doing a Therapy Garden. Advice came from several counties. It s very important to not wait until the last minute to work on the awards; they should be worked on all year. Take pictures, follow guidelines, and all rules. When asked about who to choose to do write-ups, the answer was to choose the nitpicker Look at last year s winners to see what they chose to enter and see how theirs is written up. Before submitting, the President and Awards Chairman should look over the paperwork. Forms are the same and rules are the same. Look them up and follow them precisely. Get an early start and submit as early as possible. Pictures are a must (jpeg format). Must have 150 words and must be written in Microsoft Word. Follow format listed in Handbook. If associations have questions they can call Beth Turlington, (940-781-9084) Awards Committee Chairman or email questions to -- award@texasmastergardeners.org The Gardens at Texas A&M Donna Hagar and Garey Wiley Harris County made a donation of $5000.00 to the Gardens, making our total raised so far, $141.300.00. The website for The Gardens is showing videos of progress made on the gardens Dedication and ribbon-cutting will take place during conference Short video highlighting the vision for The Gardens was played TMGA 2017 Cruise Conference and Galveston Awards Luncheon - Donna Hagar Donna reported profit balance from Awards Luncheon and Galveston Tours was $3543.93, which was then split with Galveston, giving TMGA a profit of $ 1771.97. Profit from cruise was $10,114.60 Total profit from both the cruise, Galveston Tours, and Luncheon was $11,886.56. TMGA 2018 Conference at Texas A&M Donna Hagar Donna gave a brief overview of some of the things we can expect from the 2018 Conference. Conference is scheduled for April 4, 5 and 6 of 2018. We will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Master Gardeners in Texas, as well as opening/dedicating The Gardens at Texas A&M University. The theme for 2018 Conference will be Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present, and Embrace the Future. Conference opens at 8:45am Wednesday morning with Keynote Speaker, Dr. David Gibby, who is the founding father of the Master Gardener program. Wrapping up the conference, the guest speaker is the Director of Butchart Gardens in Victoria, B.C.
Note Montgomery County was first county trained for the Master Gardener Program There will be two speakers that will address technology and tower gardening (Embracing the Future) Some of the tours offered will be Peckerwood Gardens and Mesina Hof Winery Check with updates on the conference website for more information Donna and Nicky are requesting that each organization send in group photos, member selfies, and project photos. Also needed are ambassadors to talk up the conference and get as many people interested in coming to the conference as possible Sessions will be held in the Memorial Student Center and Reed Arena There will be parking but no shuttles from the West Campus Garage (only allotted 250 spaces so people will need to car pool) Parking will be $15.00 day (must pay for the entire 3 days). Fan Field Parking will be available for $5.00 per day (must pay for 3 days). There will be a shuttle from the fan field to the conference venues. The host hotel is the Hilton. They will not provide shuttles to conference. Our first Leadership Training will be at the Hilton on Tuesday afternoon. Registration packets will need to be picked up at the Hilton on Tuesday afternoon or evening to obtain parking passes for Wednesday Expected fare for Uber drivers is $8.00-$10.00. There will be a reception in The Gardens on Wednesday night Donna mentioned that Dr. Steele, Director of Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service wants this to be a top-notch conference and has donated $2,5000 from AgriLife. We also have been awarded a $25,000 grant. Donna motioned that TMGA give the $11,886.56 profit from the cruise/galveston tours/luncheon to help fund the 2018 conference at A&M and requested an additional one-time special expense request of $15,000 for a total of $26,886.56. Because of the nature of this conference the celebration of the opening of The Gardens, our 40th Anniversary, and the cost of the state conference itself being held at Texas A&M, it is going to require more money than the typical conference. Kathy Murray from Hood County seconded the motion for the monetary request. The motion carried. Newsletter Taking Nicky s position as editor of the newsletter is Karen Hix from McLennan County. Leadership Training/Break Donna Hagar As members checked in, they were given the Leadership Training survey During break, members were asked to fill out the surveys and turn in to Donna Members were to meet with other associations of like size to discuss issues in their organizations that might be addressed at Leadership Training on Tuesday before Conference
Leadership Training (cont.) Donna Hagar Some results from survey and meeting with groups suggested needs for volunteer retention, more VMS training, and training in social media and technology. Conference Planning Barbara Porsch, Ector-Midland Barbara teased us with 2020 Conference is in the bag Victoria County has changed their date for 2019 to first week in April. They will present more on their conference at the December 2 Directors meeting. Outreach Sharon Barrett, Henderson County This committee communicates with all the counties to keep member information current, to remind counties to get their dues in on time, and to send in their updated rosters. Currently 86 counties have turned in their dues Sharon urged directors to have their county organization send in dues and all other information on time. Tax Advisory Wayne Rhoden, Williamson County Wayne reported that we have 58 counties under the 501c3 exemption status. All counties need to get information in on time if filing for the 501c3 status Wayne is available to answer tax-related questions for any county that needs help Nominations Mary Means, Collin County Mary Means, Past President and chairman of the nominating committee, presented the recommended slate of officers for 2018. They are as follows: President Nicky Maddams, Waller County 1st Vice-President Jack Downey, Bexar County 2nd Vice-President Louie McDaniel, McLennan County Secretary Jamie Bruns, Grimes County Treasurer Elisabeth Castro Montgomery County Past President Peggy Rogers Wood County Floor was opened for nominations; as there were none, nominations were closed This slate of officers will be voted on in December Board of Directors meeting Announcements Bell County Master Gardener Association - 20th Anniversary celebration October 26, 2:00-4:00pm Ginger Bason, Tarrant County, announced that 2nd Saturday in October their Master Gardener will be hosting a Garden Conservancy Tour, featuring five gardens. Open 10:00am-4:00pm. Cost is $7.50 per garden. Peckerwood Garden is a Conservancy Garden. Money raised will help keep these gardens in existence. Go online for more information. Smith County in Tyler, TX will be holding a Bulbs to Blooms Bulb Sale on October 14 th.
Door Prize Drawing Two lucky people got grape vine cuttings donated by Gary Slanga of Bell County. There being no further business, President Peggy Rogers adjourned the meeting at 3:15 pm. Respectfully submitted, Pat Allen, Secretary