Attendees: Mario Gangemi, Holly Hannum, Doug Hill, Joe Janusz, Ilene Milburn, Bill Pannill, Ron Perkins, Dan Schneckenburger, Barbara Snyder, Dan Speakman

Mario Gangemi called the meeting to order at 6:30 P.M.

The minutes from the June Board meeting were approved, with the revision that Larry Klevans had not attended the June Board meeting. Dan Sch. made the motion to approve the minutes

President’s Report: Mario Gangemi
No report was made.

Program Committee: Barb Snyder
Coming programs:

-Family Campover: Rescheduled for October 15, 2004. Ron Perkins offered to attend

-Roadside Cleanup: Scheduled for 8:00am to 10:30am Saturday, July 31

-Foxtrot Ball:

• Scheduled for September 25, 2004, although there was some question as to when the Ed Walls Center had been reserved.
• Jerry and the Juveniles had been secured for the September 25th date.
• Board members on the Foxtrot planning committee are asking for entrees and hors de ourvers as donations from local restaurants.
• Conectiv shall donate $1,500, as secured by Dan Sch.
• The Board agreed to limit the sales to 200 participants.
• Planning for the event should begin soon.

-Fall Fest
The FHNC will be providing 8 children’s activities at this event. Profits shall benefit the FHNC. We will need volunteers for this event. The Board should encourage members and students to volunteer.

Treasurer's Report/Finance Committee: Mark Crawford: (not present due to conflict in schedule) Dan Sch. presented

Financial Report as of June 30, 2004

The month of June is following along with the predicted trends of the organization. This month the income fell short of the expenses. We have said at several previous meetings that we need to have additional fund raising opportunities. It is the hope of many of us, with the new director, will be able to realize more income soon.

Income for the month totaled $9,386.50. The majority came from three sources. The first source was from the school programs for a total of $4,412.00. Another principle source was the summer camp program that received $3,210.00 in income. Membership fees totaled $ 1,395.00 for the same period.

The majority of our expense is incurred by salaries. $7,622.18 was spent on the payroll and matching employer tax liability. Miscellaneous expenses that are detailed on the income statement accounted for another $1,904.49. Cost of goods sold was $508.80.

Next month we will transfer $10,000 from the Springfest account to our main account and record this income. I did not have the ability to transfer the funds due to our need to change the signatures on our various accounts. Hopefully this task can be accomplished in the near future...

Respectfully submitted,

Mark Crawford, Treasurer

Also see the email dated 7/15/04 from Mark Crawford. They contain other attachments pertaining to FHNC’s finances.

Line of Credit from County Bank (Dan Sch.)

• Dan Sch., Bill Pannill, et. al. met at County Bank to discuss opening a line of credit for paying the Executive Director.
• County Bank will offer a $15,000-30,000 equity line of credit to pay for the position.
• After a set period of time, the bank will negotiate a payment schedule and a rate (for example prime + 1.5%)
• FHNC may borrow as much (30G max) or as little as needed to pay the position.
• Barb Snyder made a motion to pursue the line of credit. Doug Hill 2nd the motion. Vote to approve was unanimous.
• Dan Sch. said that we have enough in our fund balance to pay the Executive Director position without using the line of credit until at least Jan 1, 2005.

Nature School Report: Holly Hannum

• 274 registered campers this summer. Holly thinks this is a FHNC record.
• Carol Krawczyk will visit the camps and make observations on children’s response to environmental education next week.
• Post and rail fence has been installed near the picnic area by the Boy Scouts as an Eagle project.
• A weather station has been installed by Dr. Del Levia. A phone line will be installed to provide communications for the station.
• Holly will invoice the IMLS grant this week.
• Holly will purchase a digital camera with funds from the IMLS grant.
• The long term lease agreement was approved by DNR for the Nature Center to the foundation.
• An application to the United Way shall be completed.
• $4,000 from the Water Festival to be held on July 27, 2004 will be donated to support the education of Grade 5.
• A problem exists with the payroll software. FHNC employees have not received their paychecks. This problem must be resolved immediately. (Mark shall acquire new software, there was a problem with CCPS providing the software but Barb Snyder was working to resolve it.)

Personnel Committee: Hinda Smith (not in attendance, presented by Mario)

• Have interviewed 3 potential Executive Directors.
• One candidate has been selected by the Personnel Committee.
• The committee recommends hiring Cynthia Miller.
  o A probationary period of 6 months was recommended.
  o The contract will be for 1 year, but will leave the term open-ended
  o The personnel committee shall come up with guidelines for evaluating the success of the Executive Director.
  o Motion made by Dan Sch. and 2nd by Barb Snyder to hire Cynthia Miller as Executive Director. The motion was approved unanimously by the attending Board.
• The candidate shall begin Aug 8.

Community Relations: Doug Hill

• Buzz is ready to mail. It has been held so that the name of the band could be published to advertise Foxtrot.
• The Honorary Board Member list shall be stricken from the Buzz until the list has been reviewed and is complete.
• Dan Sch. discussed selection criteria. Board decided that we can add candidates as appropriate to the Honorary Board.

Membership: Joe Janusz

• We should start a referral program, offering free memberships to those who refer another family.
• We need to build a larger base for the Buzz. A task force should be assigned to this. This can be accomplished in a 3-stage approach:
  o Flyering
  o Telemarketing: Volunteers call and ask “would you like to receive the Buzz?” Joe’s business has been very successful using this method
  o Community Newsletters
• We need to expand our Newark, DE mailing list. Perhaps setting up a booth for Newark Night would help.
• Membership applications were distributed to new Board members.
• 53% retained membership 3 years after free memberships were given out.
• Recommended that free memberships be given out with tickets to the Foxtrot Ball.
• Buzz does not need to be limited to the membership.
  o Can include with other newsletters
  o Cost of printing is low
  o Can use volunteers to distribute
  o If we use telemarketing method, Joe will assist.

Weather Station: Dr. Del Levia

• Professor at UD with a Ph.D in Forest Hydrology
• Installed a weather station at the FHNC, near the horse trail by the pond
• Weather station cost $13,000, monitors many aspects of weather.
• He is currently programming the machine for data collection. The machine is capable of realtime data collection and reporting
• Mario asked if a stream gauge could be added to the machine
• Dan Sch. said that this fits in our mission statement; Holly is following up with integrating this into our 4th grade curriculum.

Old Business: none

New Business:

• Board meetings rescheduled for third Wednesday of each month due to scheduling conflicts with several Board members.
• Dr. Del Levia indicated interest in becoming a Board member and explained what he could offer to the Nature Center. A motion to add Dr. Levia to the Board was made by Dan Sp. The motion was 2nd by Ron Perkins. The Board voted unanimously to invite Dr. Levia to the Board of Directors.
• Barb Snyder asked for DOL accelerator for the internet connection at the Nature Center. She indicated that it greatly improved the speed of the internet for a very low additional cost. Dan Sp. made a motion to approve, the Board voted unanimously to get DOL accelerator.
  

Next Meeting: 6:30 P.M., Wednesday Aug 18th, at the Nature Center

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Daniel Speakman

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