St Charles County Master Gardeners

St Charles County Master Gardener Steering Committee Meeting Minutes

Friday 12 April, 2019

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Attendees: Kevin Minard, David Wilson, Joe Walker, David Prince, Victoria Gally, Cindy Platzer and Justin Keay,

 

Call to order: Kevin called the meeting to order.

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Meeting Minutes from 8 February were on the table as handouts Joe made a motion for approval of minutes as written. Minutes were approved.

 

Treasurer’s report: Joe reported net monthly change in March . End of March 2019 cash in Bank for 2019 was identified. Unallocated dollars were shown. Plant Sale Allocation remaining . Treasurer’s report was approved.

 

MU Horticulturalist: Justin wants visibility of what volunteer outreach programs are being done. Several were mentioned. Kevin/Cindy will list them for him. A discussion of how to get more awareness into the community of the existence of the St Charles County Extension Office and what is available followed. Past programs that did not work were discussed. Education programs, existing and planned, were discussed. The County Extension Office oversite at the university in Columbia consists of two people for the whole state. Guidance from them was discussed. Inputs to them were discussed.

 

Cindy provided inputs on planned training of how to record volunteer hours to the new trainees on June 5th (their last class). A class graduation on the last night of class for trainees was discussed. Presently, we don’t do this. A certificate is given to each of them at the regular Master Garden Meeting after they have completed all their classes. When they complete the volunteer hour requirement, in addition to all the training classes, then they become a Master Gardener.

 

Demo Garden Leads. Two garden leads have changed. Jeanine Legg will be lead over the Cottage Garden. Craig Varone and Leslie Mitchell Jackson will be co-leads over the Square Foot Garden. A request for approval of the new garden called the Monarch Way Station was made and approved. It is located between the amendments holding areas and the greenhouse. Judy Moran has been tending it and will be the Garden Lead.

There are about 26 different beds.

 

Membership: Joan Wagner has requested Emeritus. Research of her hours shows she qualifies. Her request was approved. Vicki Barnard has requested Emeritus. Research of her hours shows she qualifies. Her request was approved.

 

Bylaws: Joe has found a change in the University URL references in the MG bylaws. The policies and procedures is now at a different link than the one presently referenced. A vote to have Joe update our procedures to correct the reference was approved.

 

Cindy requested a walk through the Demo Gardens. It was delayed until later, due to the weather.

Cindy requested a statement in the minutes to reflect that spraying chemicals in Demo Gardens is only permitted by those who are trained. Discussions about what consists of training was held. A video viewing was mentioned as a requirement.

Justin requested a list of all chemicals being used. Storage location of the chemicals was discussed. No change of storage was approved.

 

New Business: A report on the Main Street garden at 525 S. Main and 1st Capital being taken care of by Master Gardeners was noted.

The need for a group to put the honorary bricks in front of the greenhouse was discussed. It will be put in the newsletter. It is thought that Tom Crisanti installed what is now there. He is no longer in the Master Gardener’s list. Kevin will try to contact him.

Good of the order: Joe said the Boys and Girls Club of St Charles are wanting volunteers to help with their Summer Blast program.

Meeting was adjourned.

David Prince 12 April 2019