St Charles County Master Gardeners
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St Charles County Master Gardener
Monthly Meeting Minutes
Wednesday 29 January 2020
Call to Order: Kevin called the meeting to order at 6:31 PM
Attendance: 37
Speaker: “Stuff to Do This Year” Annual organizational and awards meeting.
Introduction of the Steering Committee for 2020:
Kevin Minard, President
Jan Carron, Vice-President
Cindy Platzer, Overall Demo Garden Lead
Joe Walker, Treasurer
Rebekah Davis, Secretary
Monthly Meeting Facilitators: A sign-up sheet to volunteer as a meeting facilitator was passed around.
Secretary’s Report: The Secretary’s report for 24 October 2019 was approved.
Treasurer’s Report: The financial report for end of December 2019 was provided. Cash in bank was identified and compared to be almost twice the amount as last year at the same time. Unallocated dollars were shown. The Steering Committee committed to pledge $xxxx to the Bank Stabilization Project.
County Engagement Specialist: No new information to report regarding the “Help Save the Gardens” aside from the Master Gardeners agreeing to pledge $xxxx to the project.
Committee Reports-
Membership: Waneta Parmenter and Bonnie Winkeler: Assisted Kevin in presenting service awards and member statistics. As of January 2020 there are 89 active Master Gardeners, 5 Advanced MG’s, and 24 Emeritus resulting in a total of 118 St Charles Master Gardeners. Service awards were presented to Master Gardeners who have earned 1,000 cumulative hours, 1,000, 750, 600, 300, 200, 100, and 50 total volunteer hours in the 2019 year. A group total of 13,232 hours from 2019, including 1,341 education hours, was recorded.
Speakers Bureau: Valerie Mertz: Reported on upcoming events and speakers for the February, March and April monthly meetings. Two Master Gardeners were presented with the Paul Hendricks award this year due to an even vote. Congratulations Donna Lindsey and Del Moeller!
MU Horticulturalist: Justin Keay is looking to recruit members for an Education Committee. Responsibilities and goals for the committee were discussed.
Education: Dig-in 2020 will be the last organized by Mary Medina. She will be assissting Justin with establishing the Education Committee.
Demo Gardens: Cindy Platzer: Reported on the state of the Demonstration Gardens. There have been two flooding events so far this year, no major damage despite one being our 8th highest on record. All Demo Gardens have Leads. Last year surveys showed members were interested in expanding the educational use of the Demo Gardens. Cindy is conducting a focus group called “Think Tank” to brainstorm and discuss ideas on improving the benefits provided by the Demo Gardens. The second Saturday of each month will be dedicated garden cleanup days. The library classes have been a great success and Cindy has schedule the library for tours of the Demo Gardens in the months of May and June. Tour guides are needed for the Wednesday and Saturday library tours.
The Demo Gardens will be providing mentors for the new Master Gardener Trainees. If interested in becoming a mentor, please contact Cindy. Cindy also announced that the St Louis Master Gardeners will be bringing their trainees to the Demo Gardens for a tour March 28.
Hort Line: Patti Kolek: Reported the Hort Line is on winter call-in schedule. It has been a slow winter season for call-ins.
Greenhouse: Amanda Templer: Will be sending out an email regarding opening the greenhouse for the season and scheduling the annual orientation class for greenhouse volunteers.
Plant Sale: Marsha Brown and Laura Steimel: The next seeding party is scheduled for the 8th & 19th of February. The dates of the Cool-Season Plant Sale are 21st & 28th of March with the major Spring Plant Sale scheduled for 25th of April.
New Business: Kevin Minard: The State of the Garden Report will be available through email. The 2020 MOMGA State Conference will be held in Jefferson City September 18-20th. Kevin wants to know if the group would be interested in providing assistance with registration and set-up for the Conference.
Good of the Order:
Thank you to this month’s facilitators: Cindy Platzer
Meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Rebekah Davis
APPROVED 27 February 2020