Broad River Watershed Association Board Meeting
September 19, 2009 Annual Meeting
Board members present at meeting: Sam Linhart, Jean Smith, Paul Webb, Victor Johnson, Bud Freeman, Pat Kelly, Mary Freeman, Dudley Hartel, Debbie Lester, Robbie Griffith
27 people attended the 2009 Annual Meeting
Victor presented the Treasurers report. He explained how equipment purchased with grant money shows as fixed assets. The depreciation on those assets shows up as an expense debit. Transfers from money market to checking account show up as expenses debits also. Victor stated the need to have some fund raising activities because right now almost all of our income is coming from membership dues.
Victor said that Jeff Pentz has now enabled Pay Pal on the website to accept donations, and will be able to take memberships and sell T-shirts.
Mary welcomed everyone. She introduced the board members present. She said this board is as active and contributing as any she has seen. Mary also stated the need for fund raising.
Mary thanked Jean for keeping up with all of the notification mailings as well as membership roles.
She noted the ecoli and fecal coliform monitoring project that Pat K., Sam and Jean, Dudley and Paul had completed with GA EPD through Northeast Georgia Regional Commission. She said that Mary Gazaway with GA EPD will be at the Oct. 14 board meeting at 6:30PM to explain the next phase of the project.
Mary thanked Sam for his efforts as chair of the watershed committee. He has shouldered the load of the monitoring projects for the past seven years.
Robbie Griffith reported that BRWA monitors the 111 acre Odum tract and the 48 acre Freeman tract on the Broad River. BRWA also owns and monitors the 137 acre Purvis Woods tract in Banks County and the 21 acre Ruff Rd. wetland tract in Oglethorpe County.
Robbie said that the Fall Float on Oct. 10 will meet at the outdoor pavilion at Camp Kiwanis. A map to Camp Kiwanis will be posted on the website.
Victor explained the changes to the by laws. The board wanted to reduce the size of the board to 9-13, reduce the nominating committee to 5, and clarify that a board member must sit out only one year before coming back on to the board. Jim Renner moved to accept the changes to the bylaws. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Victor introduced Rebecca Haynie as the nominee for the vacant board seat. Rebecca is a graduate of Clemson who received her PhD from Clemson in environmental toxicology and is now working for the UGA School of Forestry. Current board members Michael Moody and Paul Webb have agreed to continue to serve on the board. Jeff Pentz moved to elect Rebecca Haynie, Michael Moody, and Paul Webb to the Board of Directors. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Mary said the Melissa Tufts is now the editor of the newsletter. She has produced a very high quality newsletter and BRWA is very appreciative of her contribution.
Mary introduced April Ingle, from GA River Network. April spoke about Paddle Georgia is going to be paddling the Broad River/Savannah Rivers in June 19-26, 2010. She described that this will be the sixth year of Paddle Georgia. It is 7 days of paddling with camping at local schools, there will be educational and entertainment experiences for all ages. Mary Freeman was the naturalist for the Flint River Paddle GA trip. The local economy receives some boost from the numbers of people brought into the area. The local watershed group will receive funds from Paddle GA which will be used to address any issues encountered by the group in their trip down the river. April said they will need support volunteers as well as participants in the actual float.
Mary Freeman said that before she went on the Flint River Paddle GA, she was a little afraid of the sheer numbers of people on the float. When she went on the float though, she found the floaters spread out and it was a very relaxing and enjoyable experience. She highly recommends it to everyone.
Mary asked for volunteers from the members for the nominating committee. Jeff Pentz and Sara Schatz volunteered. Victor motioned to appoint Jeff and Sara to the nominating committee. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.Jeff Pentz has been working with Eric Waggoner to continue to expand the website capabilities. Together he and Eric have the website functioning very well. Their latest addition to the website is Pay Pal. This allows folks to contribute money directly to BRWA from the website. Jeff asked for input from the members for what more is needed to make the website function best for the group. Victor said we needed a Facebook page, Sam asked if we could have articles and or/links to statewide water issues. He volunteered to keep up with that project. Jeff agreed to work on those requests and asked for other future requests to be emailed to board members. He will not post anything that has not been approved by the board.
Meeting was adjourned.
Mary called a special called meeting of the board members immediately after the adjourned meeting. She requested that BRWA link Pay Pal to the BB&T checking account. Dudley moved to have BRWA link the website Pay Pal directly to the BRWA BB&T checking account. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Special called meeting was adjourned.