Minutes

Oklahoma Horticultural Society
Board Meeting
July 21, 2002

Board Members Present:

Hugh Stout
Shirley McFarland
JoAnne Vervinck
Dick Moesel
Steve Owens
Russell Studebaker
Sharon Beasley
Vicky Michalik
Cathy Connel
Ann Pinc
George Vaclavek

Board Members Absent:

Steve Sprehe
Dave Edwards
Wanda Manderscheid
Pearl Pearson
Allan Storjohann
Brent Suttles
Brenda Sanders

Also Present at Board Meeting:

Marjorie Moesel
Jennifer Stout
Lyle Henry
  1. President Hugh Stout called the meeting to order at 2:20 p.m. at the Will Rogers Park Greenhouse in Oklahoma City. A quorum = 10/18 – 11 present.
  2. The minutes for the April 21, 2002 board meeting were reviewed. A motion was made that the minutes be approved. Passed unanimously.
  3. Committee Reports
    1. Treasurer’s Report
    2. JoAnne Vervinck gave the treasurer’s report as of 07/20/2002.

      Checking Account:

      Previous Balance for Period Ending April 15, 2002 $1,317.48
      Deposits:
      Memberships (14 new, 14 renewal, 1 family, 1 life) $1,330.00
      Memberships from AHS (95.66 memberships) 1,435.00
      Plant sale, Festival in the Park 626.45
      Tee Shirts 7.00
      2002 Garden Tour Tickets 9,189.00
      2002 Garden Tour Posters 15.00
      2002 Garden Tour Sponsorship` 800.00
      Refund on Post Office Box, USPS 7.34
      Trough Garden materials, May meeting (13@5.00ea.) 65.00
      Advertisements, yearly Horizons (1) 75.00

      Advertisements, quarterly Horizons (1) 25.00

      Total Deposits $13,574.79

      Expenditures:

      AHS Memberships @ $20.00, 14 new, 14 renewal, 1 fam. 580.00
      Monthly meeting room: April, May, June 48.00
      George Vaclavek, trough garden materials & delivery 36.62
      OKC Broadband, annual Website maintenance 220.00
      OSU Foundation (Scholarships: $1000, $1000, $500,$250) 2,750.00
      High-Tech Information Services, Inc; Layout Horizons 300.00
      Vicky Michalik, postage Summer Horizons 185.25
      Kwik Kopy Printing, 375 Horizons 308.00
      Brenda Sanders postage Feb. minutes 2.85
      USPS, Stamps for Treasurer 7.60
      Kwik-Kopy, 113 copies "membership expired" letters 10.34
      Vicky Michalik, print OHS meeting postcards, Kinko’s 17.89
      Baker’s Printing, 1,250 Garden Tour 2002 tickets 690.35
      Garden Design Associates, print Garden Tour posters 65.03
      Cole, Paine, & Carlon, liability insurance for Garden Tour 350.00
      Garden Design Assoc., gifts for Garden Tour garden hosts 196.84
      Teresa Hohner, bottled water for Garden Tour 128.96
      John Steffens, ice for Garden Tour 26.54

      Total Expenditures $5,924.27

      Preliminary Balance $8,968.00

      Void check #422 to Ok. Jr. Hort. Society, never cashed 500.00

      Intermediate Account Balance 9,468.00
      Transfer to Savings Account (7,500.00)
      Checking Account Balance July 20, 2002 $1,968.00

      O.H.S. Savings Account Balance - July, 2002 $21,781.81

      JoAnn reported that the AHS is doing a much better job of sending us our portion of the dual membership dues and lists of new members. She pointed out in the report that our liability insurance for the garden tour had gone up. JoAnne presented several earning options for the OHS savings account. The choices were: a high yield savings account earning 2% interest, or several short-term CD’s. Shirley motioned that we opt for the high yield savings account, Sharon seconded. Approved unanimously. A discussion about giving a donation to the Oklahoma Water Garden Society led to a clarification that a $100.00 donation to them was approved by the OHS in the past. George suggested an idea to give funding to Will Rogers Park. Hugh gave everyone a copy of the memo that explains the increase in rates for room rentals at WRGX.

    3. Membership
    4. Lyle stated that AHS membership list expiration dates are not correct because our honorary & lifetime memberships were causing some confusion. A discussion led to the clarification that our membership stands as:

      Lifetime (Honorary Lifetime)
      Honorary – good for 1 year, non-voting, receives newsletter
      General – no longer called individual
      Family – 2 votes maximum

      Sharon moved that OHS have a 3-month grace period on membership expirations. Cathy seconded and passed unanimously.

      After much discussion about how to make our OHS membership directory available to members, a solution was reached. It was decided that a statement be posted on our website and in the newsletter announcing that any member wanting a copy of the directory send $1.00 to the OHS P.O. Box address and Sharon will mail it to them, or they can pick up a free copy at the OHS meetings. Motion was made by Sharon to adopt this policy. Seconded by Steve Owens. Passed unanimously.

    5. OHS Website
    6. Lyle Henry reported that we were paying $220/yr for 2 websites and suggested getting rid of one of them. A motion was made by JoAnne to cut costs and keep only one website. Seconded by Hugh Stout. Approved unanimously. It was decided that we would keep only the .org web address.

    7. Programs & Publicity
    8. Russell Studebaker handed out bio. Information for Dan Hinkley and stated that he had been in touch with Hinkley’s staff. They told Russell that the earliest he could make the trip to Oklahoma would be early March. Russell asked about having our annual meeting on March the 8th so Hinkley could speak March 6,7, & 8. JoAnne made the motion to hold the meeting on March 8, seconded by Vicky. Passed unanimously. Dan Hinkley’s fee will be $2,400 for the 3 presentations. The Bi-annual meeting is scheduled for 9/22 in Stillwater with speaker David Stahle speaking on " Oklahoma’s Old Growth Forests". Steve Sprehe wasn’t present to talk about the Ponca City program but there will be a board meeting at 1:00 p.m. and a talk at 3:00 p.m.

    9. Education & Publication
    10. No report.

    11. Vaclavek Gold Medal Committee
    12. Committee reported that they had a few candidates in mind for the gold medal this year. George agreed to write criteria he’d like to see used for future gold medal candidate consideration.

    13. Youth Activities

Marjorie Moesel recommended OHS pledge (1) $500.00 TO ANNUAL SPONSORSHIP OF diversified Horticulture for the Oklahoma FFA, (2) $500.00 to provide county project medals for the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation and (3) $500.00 for a 4-H scholarship annually. These motions were seconded and passed unanimously.

  1. Old Business
    1. Woodward Station
    2. Joe Howell has set up a meeting with the Southern Plains Research Station reps and Woodward reps to discuss plans, September 13 in Woodward. Those planning to attend are JoAnne Vervinck, Hugh Stout, Steve Sprehe, Olen Thomas, and Joe Howell.

    3. Documentation of OHS History

No report.

  1. New Business
    1. Heritage Tree Committee
    2. Discussion on forming a committee that would recognize, label and record trees of historic nature or special significance across the state. Tabled.

    3. Request for Funding for Children’s Garden
    4. Tabled.

    5. Board Nominating Committee
    6. Nominating committee appointed. Includes: George Vaclavek, Sharon Beasley, Steve Owens, and JoAnne Vervinck.

    7. Board Member Attendance Requirements

Tabled.

  1. Meeting Adjourned – ???

Respectfully submitted,

Brenda R. Sanders, Secretary