Native Plant Society of Texas

Native Plant Society of Texas Minutes of the Quarterly State Board Meeting October 21, 2006 San Antonio, Texas

Past President, Bill Lindemann called the meeting to order in order to complete unfinished business from the Members Annual meeting earlier in the day.

Voting members present were as follows: Matt Turner (Austin Chapter), Betsy Farris, (Collin County Chapter), Joe Hoelle (Concho Valley Chapter), Lonnie Childs (Fredericksburg Chapter), Barbara Anderson (Highland Lakes Chapter), Margaret Gnewuch (Houston Chapter), Sandra Balch (North Central Texas Chapter), Nell Freedman (Northeast Texas Chapter), Rachel Cywinski (San Antonio Chapter), Charlotte Reemts (Tonkawa Chapter), Cynthia Maguire (Trinity Forks Chapter), Ron Loper (Tyler Chapter), and State Officers: Melissa Miller (President), Phyllis Dolich (President-elect), Carol Feldman (VP Administration), Helena van Heiningen (VP Chapter Liaison), Gailon Hardin (VP Finance), Carol Perry (VP Publications), and Bill Lindemann (Past President). Also present: Mike McBride (Coordinator), Ruth Loper, Victoria B. Neal, Paul Waller, Cathy Lustgarten and Joan Mukherjee.

Note: Phyllis Dolich and Mike McBride signatures were not included on the sign-in sheet. Both gave short presentations at the meeting and thus are included as members present.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS Past President, Bill Lindemann presented the Revised Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet for 2006. He advised that after reviewing By-Laws and Standing Rules that the Yearly budget does not need to be approved by the membership; it requires only to be reviewed by the Audit Committee. However, if there were any objections, the NPSOT board would like to address them at this time. There were no objections voiced.

Bill Lindemann turned the meeting over to President, Melissa Miller.

President, Melissa Miller welcomed all Chapter Leaders, Board members and visitors.

Vice President Administration, Carol Feldman presented a written version and a verbal overview of the motions passed in the minutes of the July 15, 2006 Board Meeting.

Motion: Approve the July 15, 2006 Minutes with the following changes: In Elected Officers Report, first paragraph, change ‘C301’ to ‘501(c)(3)’, change ‘Diane Gray Owen Foundation’ to ‘Dian Graves Owen Foundation’, and in the next paragraph change ‘accessed’ to ‘assessed’. 1st Carol Perry. 2nd Helena van Heiningen. Motion passed.

NEW BUSINESS

Issue: It has been proposed NPSOT hold a joint annual meeting in 2007 with the Native Prairies Association of Texas in Williamson County.

Motion: Move to pursue a joint symposium in 2007 between NPSOT and the Native Prairies Association of Texas with the agreement to be reviewed and approved in January by the NPSOT Board. 1st Carol Feldman. 2nd Cynthia Maguire. Motion Carried.

Discussion: At their 9/16 board meeting, the NPAT board voted to offer to partner on the 2007 symposium (with the topic of Blackland and Grand Prairies) as a joint NPSOT/NPAT conference and appointed members to work with our planners. Benefits of a joint NPSOT/NPAT conference include: - NPAT has about 250 members who are all very enthusiastic prairie people, so a good percentage usually attend the conference. - NPAT has several protected prairies within a decent distance of the conference location (Simpson Prairie, 80 acres, near Crawford is probably the best candidate for a field trip, along with the Falls County properties).

Williamson County members expressed a concern that the motion did not assure the planning committee that this was an approved direction by NPSOT. A friendly amendment to the Motion’s wording was found to assure that the idea is approved by the Board and that NPSOT only requires that a written agreement be worked out between the two organizations.

OFFICERS REPORTS President, Melissa Miller indicated that she would like to lead the organization toward a ‘long range plan’ for the NPSOT organization. President-elect, Phyllis Dolich welcomed everyone to next year’s symposium at the Sun City facilities (near Georgetown) and to learn more about the Prairie habitat of that region. VP Administration, Carol Feldman indicated that the two year term will offer an opportunity to continue to make needed revisions to the Administrative Handbook. VP Chapter Liaison, Helena van Heiningen continues to work with Chapters to revive and assist those chapters with declining membership numbers. VP Publications, Carol Perry challenged board members to draw out talent from their chapters and encourage them to contribute to the state newsletter.

CONTRACTOR REPORT Mike McBride represented McBride Consulting & Services and indicated that Symposium preparations occupied the majority of their time in this quarter. Regular office functions such as membership renewals, bill submittals, were also maintained during the quarter.

The meeting was adjourned by President, Melissa Miller.

Respectfully Submitted,

Carol Feldman VP Administration