Board Meeting Minutes
Dunwoody Community Garden
The regular meeting of Dunwoody Community Garden was duly called and held on September 11, 2011 at the Greenhouse at the Brook Run Garden at 7:00 p.m.
Present were: Don Converse; Rod Pittman; Angela Minyard; Muriel Knope; Theresa Meschede ; Susan Wynn; and Nicole Maslanka
With the approval of the directors present, Don Converse acted as Chairman of the meeting and Nicole Maslanka (newly appointed Secretary) recorded the minutes.
Treasurer’s Report: The Treasurer (Angela Minyard) gave a brief report noting $4,165.00 as available balance as of 9/1/2011. Current allocated funds include: $103.00- St. Pat’s Community Garden (balance of their own money); $500.00-Emergency funds for the Dunwoody Community Garden; $911.00- Remaining Food Pantry Team allocation; for a total of $1,515.00 in remaining allocated funds. This leaves $2,650.00 in available funds to the Garden.
Minutes from prior meeting had been previously approved by the Board and distributed to the membership.
As there were Board positions needing to be filled (e.g., co-chair and secretary) , nominations were made for both positions and filled by Muriel Knope (Co-Chair) and Nicole Maslanka (Secretary)
As this was the first meeting of the newly elected Board for 2011, there were a number of issues discussed:
1. As part of the discussion of the Garden’s budget, it was noted that of the $1000.00 previously allocated to the Greenhouse, there was now a negative balance of funds. Noting that there were planned improvement projects being supported by the Dunwoody Women’s Club Club (Shade Garden), and Dunwoody Garden Club (Pollinator Garden) it was suggested that there was a need to have a budget submitted by the Greenhouse team for consideration.
Action Item: An operating budget will be requested from Diana Woods
2. At present there are 69 active garden members. Given a $50.00 per year membership fee this is an annual generated budget of $3,450.00. It is clear that there are many generous donations of time and money being provided to the Garden for its maintenance and it was deemed important to determine the Garden’s actual operating costs.
Action Item: Nicole Maslanka was appointed Chair of Committee to determine value of in-kind services of Garden members as well as actual dollar value donations to support operation of existing garden. Rod Pittman and Theresa Meschede will assist in collection of this data. Data will be used to support grant submissions and updates to the City regarding our services to the community.
The group agreed a simple method for keeping up with volunteer hours would be implemented at the garden (volunteer hours posted on a calendar, etc.)
Team Leaders will be requested to submit expenses and volunteer hours on a (frequency to be determined) basis to the Board for inclusion in grant applications etc.
Action Item: Muriel will contact team leaders and request a “state of the team” report prior to the next Board meeting
It was noted that we should also keep track of all education outreach activities such as lectures conducted by Rod Pittman and others to various groups as well as assistance to school gardens and new community gardens.
3. There was extensive discussion about the newly formed school garden team and its affiliation with Grow Dunwoody. This will be clarified with Rebecca Barria prior to our next meeting.
The formation of teams and their official recognition by the Garden was briefly discussed and a mechanism to formalize this will be examined as part of the review of our by-laws.
Action Item: A By-laws Committee was formed to review the current bylaws and address the following areas (Muriel Knope; Nicole Maslanka; Susan Wynn):
Membership-(should there be a secondary level such as “friends of the garden”; “Turn Key Plots” to encourage new membership (will examine cost of these versus current plot)-there are 11 plots available
Team Food Pantry Allocation of Space (Garden and Greenhouse)
Process for Creating Teams: Reporting of Team Leaders to the Board, Funding of Teams, Goals and objectives of the teams, etc.
4. The Board Members requested contact information which will be distributed to them as an Appendix A
5. It was agreed that the Garden would participate in the Food Day Tour.
Action Item: Muriel will organize Food Day activities with assistance of Theresa Meschede. Don Converse and Muriel Knope will be listed as the contact person for the event.
Action Item: Fall clean up days will be scheduled prior to this event. Dates suggested were October 15/16 and October 22/23. (dates and number of days to be finalized) FINAL DATES SELECTED ARE October 15-16, 2011
6. A current controversy surrounding county compost use (which can be obtained for free) in the organic garden was discussed. Rod Pittman has had the soil evaluated as well as Farmer D’s organic compost evaluated.
Action Item: Susan Wynn will compile the reports obtained by Rod on both products and gather any additional information regarding the county compost that is required to determine its safety for use in an organic garden
7. Discussion regarding current management of Domain Name and email was discussed
Action Item: Angela Minyard will take over email to main organization. We will assess how to assure continued payment for Domain name currently paid for by Rebecca Barria’s husband.
8. A request was made by Bettina Smalley to borrow garden tools for her school garden preparation activities. It was agreed that this was ok. Don will coordinate.
9. Interest expressed by anonymous donor to support digging a well for the Garden with a $500.00 contribution was discussed. This was tabled for further discussion at a later time. At present the City Master Park Plan includes this activity.
10. Current “quid pro quo” activities of the garden for the city for use of land were reviewed. At present these include: growing plants for the city.
11. Don has been approached by the Citizens for Dunwoody to make a presentation to the Board on the Bond Referendum. More information to follow.
12. Development of a Grant Writing Team was discussed and will be addressed as part of the development of a Plan for the Garden
Status of the above action items will be reviewed at the next Board Meeting.
The Board meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. by Don Converse. Next meeting will be October 12, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at Rod Pittman’s house:
4343 Village Oak Lane
Dunwoody, Ga 30338
Dunwoody Community Garden at Brook Run 