Paige Thacker has offered a complimentary Best Lawns program to Mr. Volles as a thank you for his participation in the Memorial Garden Dedication.

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1 MGPW MINUTES 22 April 2013 The MGPW Board met on 22 April 2013 at Chinn Library in Woodbridge. Present were Ed Rishell, President; Rob Powers, Treasurer; Kathy Burch, Secretary; Bill Willis, Member-at-large; Leslie Paulson, Acting as the Immediate Past President, Paige Thacker, VCE representative. Also present were Bill and Janet Scott and Pat Reilly, VMGA representative. OLD BUSINESS: Rob Powers presented the Treasurer s Report to The Board. The balance is $22, as of 22 April Ed made a motion to accept the treasurer s report. Motion passed. Ed made a motion to accept the minutes from the 18 March 2013 meeting. Motion passed. The Board acknowledges the following votes; Selection of Sister Pat Hagarty as the 2013 MG College Scholarship awardee-3/19/2013 Approval of an Miscellaneous maintenance and Repair allotment for the 2013 TG budget Up to $200 to TG miscellaneous repairs and expenses as Leslie (TG Leader) needs and authorizes it 3/25/2013 Approval of $650 for sealing the tennis court parking lot. We are splitting the cost evenly with BARN. Total cost is $1300-3/29/2013 Funds will come from the DeLoach grant. Acceptance with regret of resignation of Desi Schlitz-Velez as Immediate Past President for personal reasons - 3/29/2013 Approval of appointment of Past President Leslie Paulson to fill the vacancy of Immediate Past President for the rest of the term (until Recert Meeting January, 2014) - 3/29/2013 The Teaching Garden fencing has been completed in the Cooks Garden. Bill is going to resolve the issues with opening the doors on the raised beds. The split rail fence to the left of the raised bed area will be extended and rebuilt. Bill will check to see what supplies are needed. Leslie has gotten approval from Sister Pat to put in handicap parking along the dirt road opposite the chapel. Bill is looking into the cost of an auger for digging the post holes. The BOD approved his estimate of expending $ for 20 rails, 11 posts and auger rental and miscellaneous supplies related to the project. Funds will come from the DeLoach grant. As of this meeting we have $ remaining from the Deloach grant, not including the $ for sealing the tennis court parking and $ for the handicapped parking fencing project discussed above. Paige Thacker has offered a complimentary Best Lawns program to Mr. Volles as a thank you for his participation in the Memorial Garden Dedication. The Master Gardener social was a success. The Board needs to find master gardeners who are interested in taking the lead on future social activities. The rescheduled By-law work session will take place on Wednesday, 24 April 2013 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm in the VCE conference room. Bill Scott has completed the audit of the MGPW financial records and turned the results over to Rob Powers. Bill stated that he likes the format Rob is using for showing the monthly income and expenditures. There was some discussion on how best to back up the financial records. Rob is pushing an electronic copy to the secretary but a couple thumb drives were thought to be the better solution with one copy stored at VCE. Electronic copies of receipts are acceptable and permit easier storage for our records. Rob will back up electronic records weekly for now to help determine what frequency of backup is preferred.

2 Tracy Lovelace has made arrangements for a daily back up keeping a 30 day archive for the cost of $30.00 annually. A Hacker Alert was also added for $1.00 a month. Meeting notes and the by-laws have been moved to the private section of the web site accessible only to master gardeners and not the general public. The Download Event Flyers tab was moved to the public section to allow access by the public and master gardeners. The memorial donation from Mary Hayes husband will help to purchase a picnic table for the Teaching Garden. We have postponed discussing a process of acknowledging gifts to MGPW until the next gift is received. NEW BUSINESS: Congratulations to Sister Pat for winning the first Prince William County Master Gardener Scholarship. This scholarship award will pay for attendance and lodging at Master Gardener College. Leslie will use the debit card to cover the expenses. The plant sale will be held on 18 May Setup will take place on Thursday and Friday evenings. The setup for the sale will be located back by the shed. With the difficulty in getting volunteers to cut the lawn, Leslie proposed that we hire a professional service to cut the lawn weekly for five months. As the service is owned by a master gardener, we could get some volunteer hours thrown in which could take us into October. The cost is $30.00 per week (e.g., $ for a 4 week month) for weekly mowing for a total of $ covering at least five months. Proposal moved and approved. The discussion on the Civil Rights compliance form was postponed until Wednesday, 23 April The Board moved and approved a request to provide $ towards beverages for the Teaching Garden Party to be held Tuesday, 11 June After much discussion on how to calculate the reimbursement money for the cancelled Philadelphia Flower Show, Leslie and Rob were each going to check their figures and come back to the Board with additional information. An anonymous donation of $ was made to the Bee, Butterfly and Hummingbird bed at the Teaching Garden. Leslie has increased their budget by that amount and thanked the donor for MGPW. Pat Reilly presented the VMGA Board meeting notes and wrapped up the presentation going through a list of donation suggestions to fund the Virginia Master Gardener Endowment Fund. UPCOMING MGPW MEETINGS/EVENTS: April 24, MGPW Board work session on Bylaws revisions from 9 AM-Noon, VCE Conference Room behind Jennifer s desk May 18, Saturday in the Garden and Plant Sale Next MGPW Meeting Date June 12, 5:30 PM, at Central Library meeting room; Class: What to expect at MG College

3 MGPW Mar March 2013 Carryover > $21, Check/E Date # Pay to the Order of: Payments Deposits Balance Tina Welsh - Refund for PA Flower Show Leslie Paulson - Green Bio Plant Markers Cash - Bus driver tip on PA Flower Show Trip Hart Seed Company xxx Deposit - Basics of Gardening xxx Deposit - 3 Cobras & 3 MG Socials xxx Deposit - 3 PA Flower Show Trip VISA PMG Manuals - Class 2012/ xxx Deposit - 9 MG Socials xxx Deposit - 1 PA Flower Show Trip Traci Lovelace - website repair VISA Website repair/scherzinger.org - donation to xxx Deposit - Refund Academy Bus Tours xxx Deposit - 9 MG Social & PA driver's tip returned Leslie Paulson - Iris Celebration xxx Deposit - 7 MG Social & 5 Native Book xxx Deposit - Social VISA Montclair County Club Leslie Paulson - social cake Bill Wilis - fence Traci Lovelace - website checks outstanding F8, F26, F27, F Checkbook> TD Bank balance> $22, Teaching Garden Funds = $1, Class Funds = $2, Delocha Award $1,424.78

4 MGPW April 22, 2013 VMGA Unit Rep Report The regularly scheduled meeting of the Virginia Master Gardener Association was held on Saturday, April 13, 2013 at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. As an added treat, attendees were given a tram tour around the gardens which were full of spring bloomers. VMGA President Tom Bolt advised that two important positions need to be filled as soon as possible Education Committee Chair and Newsletter Editor. Both committees need volunteers. The newsletter needs those with the skills of editor, layout and contributing writers, and the Education Committee needs a leader and others to plan events, make local arrangements and handle registration. Those interested should contact Tom at tombolt@cox.net. John Freeborn, Assistant Master Gardener Coordinator, reported on the new Volunteer Management System which all units will be using to track volunteer hours. He provided details of Master Gardener College concurrent sessions, keynote speakers and tours. Keynote speakers include Tracey DiSabato-Aust, Bryce Lane (a favorite from North Carolina), Jeff Corbin (the new Chesapeake Bay Czar ), Holly Scoggins (who could grab your attention talking about pencil erasers) and Art Wolk (of Garden Lunacy fame). New and exciting tours have been added and there will be a plant sale at College this year. John advised that registration for classes and housing will be open soon. Dave Close, Consumer Horticulture and Master Gardener Specialist talked about his work to come up with a strategy and plan to better capture, articulate, and communicate the public value of Master Gardening to Virginia. He mentioned a strategic planning session for the EMG program scheduled for July. There will be four Leadership Development Training dates late this summer, one in each district. Dave and John attended a meeting to look at a proposal from a potential vendor for conducting background checks on volunteers when the time comes to do so. Security is a primary concern. The Master Gardener program is not at a point where these will be required of all volunteers, but all will still be required to sign a consent statement (built into the enrollment and recertification forms) giving us the authority to run one if necessary. Dave has also arranged for a Community Gardening In-Service for Agents, is working on a formal MOU between Trees Virginia and Master Gardeners Tree Stewards to clarify the relationships, and is investigating a joint Certified Horticulturist project with VNLA. More to come on those later. Frank Reilly, Communications Chair, reported that since the February regularly scheduled meeting there have been 9,302 page views, with the web page has been updated on 49 separate occasions since February. He asked for more Calendar entries, noting that listing your activity can definitely help drive participants to your event. Pat Reilly, Chair, reported that the Coordinator Endowment currently has a balance of $442,149.88; $195, in cash. The goal is to have $250,000 in cash by MG College in June. The amount of cash in the fund is important to keep the fund growing with interest earned. The plan to get pledges and cash to total the difference needed ($48,701): 1 donor $3,000 5 businesses $1,000 each 5 MG units $1,000 each

5 10 MG units $500 each 20 MG units $250 each 2 MGs $1,000 each 10 MGs $500 each 40 MGs $250 each 100 MGs $100 each Leslie Paulson, Chair of the Education Fund, was not present but George Graine, Fairfax, spoke on Leslie s behalf. The Executive Board has set the amount of the six 2013 scholarships at $165 each, which covers the cost of a basic registration. The deadline for application is May 10. Each unit is allowed two applications, with the nominations submitted through the local agent and sent to Leslie Paulson. It was reiterated that VMGA members get priority in consideration for the scholarships. Betty Villers, Fund Raising Committee Chair, advised that the search continues for someone to chair the committee. Everything is set up and ready to distribute. It s an easy job as VMGA items sell themselves, and there are no expectations for an amount to be sold. Deb Straw, Membership Chair reported that there are currently 565 members 170 life members, 18 auxiliary members and 377 active members. Membership renewals are due by the end of May. Please remember to send a membership form with your dues of $12. Christy Brennan, State Fair Chair, reported great news, that the State Fair has been purchased by the Farm Bureau Foundation and that change will improve the MG presence at the Fair. The next Board Meeting will be at 5 p.m., Friday, June 21, at MG College. The VMGA Annual Meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m., Saturday, June 22, at MG College.