Minutes from Board Meeting, November 10, 2015
Members Present: Jeff Monks, Jim Willman, Shannon Posern, Carol Limaye, Kay McMurry, Michael Hall
Old Business:
- The vacant director position will be filled by Katie Davis.
- The board would like to collect user names and passwords for all the online accounts associated with Sunshine. The president and secretary will keep a copy of the information for security.
New Business:
- The board would like to set criteria for selecting which gardeners we will support to attend the American Community Gardens Association's annual conference. Possible measures of eligibility include compliance with site rules and positive contributions to the garden. The board is also considering inviting staff from TSBVI and holding a lottery to sponsor a gardener from another Austin community garden. The board would like to sponsor a total of 4 people to attend.
- Texas Tower PR has created the designs for the new signs to be featured around the garden. They are also taking over the garden recipe blog project. Texas Tower PR will be helping Sharon revamp the main website and could possibly take over our Facebook and other social media projects.
- Plot Status - Kay
- Available Plots - 2 Quarter, 2 Half, 1 Full
- Waiting List - less than 20
- Financial Report - Carol
- We should break even for the year.
- We have had more water expenses in the last 3 months.
- Working on the 2016 budget. The board discussed giving TSBVI their own line item in the budget and increasing the amount of funds available for tool purchases and repairs. The board also considered the possibility of donating the revenue from unworked TSBVI hours directly to TSBVI, but decided it is easier on the treasurer to keep the system as is. We currently donate 10% of all revenue to TSBVI.
- Education Committee Update - Shannon
- Shannon is reaching out to Travis County Master Gardeners for help with scheduling classes at Sunshine in 2016. The master gardeners might also help with bringing an education program for children call "Literature in the Garden."
- Spring Plant Sale - Michael
- Tents have been ordered. This year will have two tomato tents instead of the one to hopefully avoid damage to plants from wind and weather we had with last years' tent.
- Seeds have been ordered.
- Jennifer Monks is working on the herbs for the sale.
- We are borrowing plug trays from TSBVI.
- Seeds will be in the trays by mid-December.
- We are looking to get 36 yards of compost and Michael is trying to get 10 yards donated. Due to using a different service, we may pay more than in the past causing less profit on compost than in years past.
- Minor Mishap Marching is being asked to perform again.
- Jim provided a packet with plans to build an arbor for TSBVI plots. See the attached materials.
- Site Rules Revision - Jim
- Jim prepared an outline of the possible site rule revisions.
- The draft of the proposed site rules discussed at the November meeting is attached to this document. The final version will be sent via email to all the gardeners prior to the December all gardeners meeting.
Next board meeting: December 1, 2015, 6:00 pm at Michael's house.