Attendees: Mark Crawford, Holly Hannum, Doug Hill, Joe Janusz, Larry Klevans, Dan Schneckenburger, Barbara Snyder, Dan Speakman, Rick Waterhouse

Dan Schneckenburger called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M.

The minutes from the October Board meeting were approved.

Spring Fest: Barb Snyder
Barb attended the last meeting of the Cecil Land Trust and investigated the possibility of their partnering with us for Spring Fest. She said they were very receptive. Candy Davis wants to be the representative for their organization to do planning. The Fair Hill Training Center is willing to make a donation if we can get the school buses to slow down going past the horse barns. The bus companies have been contacted and asked to have buses enter by 273 instead of 213.

Cecil Land Trust had a lot of ideas for other activities to add to the Spring Fest. Barb feels that the added help would be good to have, but splitting money would be a definite drawback. Dan feels that CLT has been getting some bad press recently and this could be bad for us. Dan suggests that we have a Spring Fest meeting in January to see how much of last year’s event we can do comfortably.

Eileen Milburn is willing to help with crafters again. We have some of the same support and people from last year. We can have the plants from UD again but need a chair. The Board feels we should go ahead, so Barb will contact Candy Davis and tell her we will plan to go ahead.

Barb will contact Dan Sp. so that he can begin fund-raising activity before the proposed January meeting.

May 1, 2004 is our date.

President’s Report: Dan Schneckenburger
The Waterfowl Festival is this weekend. Dan Sc. will attend to represent us. Jerry Newman will also go for FHNEC.

Doug Fallon and Phillip Harjung were both honored at an Eagle Scout ceremony, which Dan Sc. attended. They have both completed projects, which benefited the Nature Center.

Finance Committee: Larry KIevans
Financial Report as of Oct. 31, 2003
Nov. 6, 2003
1. The Fox Trot Ball produced $900.17 of income. Coupled with the $1000 donation from Conectiv, the evenings profit was $1900.17
2. In Oct. 2003 expenses ($18,304) exceeded income ($8413) by $9,891. This is the second month in a row where we have had major losses.
3. The majority of income items were $3624 from CCPS, $1900 from the Fox Trot Ball, a $1000 grant from the Arts Council $885 from United Way of MD, $230 in membership dues. $595 nonpublic schools. A $4,500 grant fro the Soil Conservation District is expected in Nov.
4. Major expenses for Oct. 2003 were $12,230 for staff wages, $3171 for liability insurance, $1012 for payroll taxes, $1042 for office expenses, and $100 as startup money for the 2004 SpringFest. The liability insurance is always paid in Oct. Staff wages were high because there were 3 paydays and a high level of activity.
5. As of October 31, 2003 our Year to date Income (YTD) totals
$ 86,463 vs a budget of $91,422 while YTD expenses total $90,848 vs a budget of $91,422. Thus, our YTD net income is -$4385.
6. The Fund Balance as of October 31, 2003 was only $11,672. This decrease (from $20,342 on Sept. 30) is a result of the negative cash flow in October.
7. We are behind in our donations. We need to have a big year-end push to get donations. 2004 budget discussions will take place at the next Board meeting
Larry Klevans, Treasurer

Discussion:
Fox Trot was less work for the money this year. There was discussion about a new band, in addition to the food changes mentioned at last month’s meeting.

Larry feels that we are not getting enough funding to cover school visits from CCPS. We are on their agenda for a presentation at their next meeting. We have also not gotten funds from Patsy duPont, which was a regular contribution before this year. We are also not receiving the previously donated $10,000 from the Bar Association. The combined “loss” from these two sources is $15,000.

Dan Sc. believes we have not done enough as a board to present the video to organizations and corporations. We are also not receiving the previously donated $10,000 from the Bar Association.

A budget proposal for 2004 was made by Larry, and accepted by the Board.

Program Committee: Barb Snyder
Coming programs:

Personnel Committee: Hinda Smith
No report.

Nomination Committee: Dennis Clower
No report.

Nature School Report: Holly Hannum
There are nine more days of school classes this fall. We will complete grade one classes on Friday, November 14. There are only six days of grade four classes. We will complete these on Monday, November 24.
We invoiced Cecil County Public Schools for grade two on October 17. This amount, which represents _ of the grade two students, is $3624.We will invoice CCPS for grade one on the 14th. This will be approximately $5124. This represents 2/3 of grade one. The remainder of these grades will attend programs in the spring according to the rotation of their science units. We will also be invoicing the Cecil Soil Conservation District for $4500. Which represents _ of their commitment for grade 4 programs. Staff will attend the Cecil Soil Conservation Cooperator’s Banquet at Sandy Cove on November 20.
The Waterfowl Festival will be this weekend November 14-16. I will set up on Friday, Jerry Newman will attend on Saturday and Dan Scheckenburger will clean up on Sunday. I received notice that they are changing the grant process for next year. No details were given. The date has been extended for grant writing until February 15 instead of December 31. New grant applications will be sent out after this year’s Festival. I am unsure what this will mean to us. Perhaps I can learn something at the Festival. This grant helps to fund the fifth grade program.
I will attend the MD State Dept. of Education update for Environmental Education on Tuesday November 25.
A letter has been sent to Dr. Robert’s office requesting to speak at the December meeting of the Board of Education to review funding for this year and to request continued funding for next year. I don’t have a date on this yet. It is usually the first part of the month on a Monday..
We have 17 schools registered for the outreach program for January and February including two Delaware Public Schools, Keen Elementary and Maclary Elem. Ralph has confirmed funding for Cecilton Elementary outreach programs.($200.) Jerry Newman and I will be speaking to the Rising Sun Lions Club on December 4 to acquire funding for outreach at Rising Sun Elementary.($500.)
Janet and I have completed a rough draft of an evaluation model required by the IMLS grant. It is under review and a final draft is due by the end of this month. I purchased a TV/ VCR/DVD combination unit with funds from this grant to use this weekend at the Waterfowl Festival.

Discussion:
Holly mentioned the need for a new copier that will do large quantities of two–sided copies. There was a discussion about using a commercial copy company or contacting the CCPS Board about copying for us. Mark Crawford will speak to Carl Roberts about this possibility.

Special Appeal : Mario Gangemi
Dan Sc. reported that Mario will be asked to stay on schedule for the mailing of his second letter.

Public Relations: Doug Hill
Doug would like to expand the mailing of “The Buzz”. He wants to get it out to some businesses such as Gore. He was given approval to do this.

Membership: Dennis Clower
No report.

New Business:
Mark Crawford’s e-mail address is m.crawford@sandycove.org rather than what was put in the last minutes.
Rick Waterhouse will contact four people, on a list from Barb, as to their desire to be on a FHNEC honorary board.
Dan Sc. would like to take a look at our meeting night when we meet in January, because several people have conflicts with Tuesdays.
Dan Sc. requested a reporting in the minutes of attendance at Board meetings by board members in 2003. The number after a name indicates meetings attended (updated to include tonight's meeting):

Next Meeting: December 9, 6:30 P.M., at the Nature Center. We will have a short business meeting before a party. Barb will contact people about what to bring.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Rick Waterhouse

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