Fair Hill Nature and Environmental Center

Minutes from the Board of Director's Meeting

August 9, 2006

Attendees: Cline, Karen

xGangemi, Mario (President)

xJentzch, Tracy

xLevia, Del

xHannum, Holly

Milburn, Ilene

xPerkins, Ron

Pannill, Bill

xSchneckenburger, Dan (Past President)
xSpeakman, Dan (Secretary)

White, Cindy

xZanes, Jeff (Treasurer)

Mario Gangemi called the meeting to order at 6:10 P.M.

The minutes from the June Board meeting were not approved due to a lack of quorum.

President’s Report: Mario Gangemi

• Hinda Smith has resigned from the Board

Springfest Report:

• Problem with the Eagles tickets that were raffled. The winner of two tickets was on vacation and was unable to claim or use them because they were issued too late by the Eagles. The “family fun night” tickets were not included this year with the tickets, so we will have to refund the winning bids for both the two tickets and the family fun night bid.
• No firm numbers on Springfest due to quicken problems
• Questions were raised about whether we received all of the corporate checks from our corporate sponsors.
• Springfest is scheduled for May 12, 2007
• We need a compiled ledger for the last Springfest event so that we can analyze its success.
• It was reminded that advertising is crucial and was the weakest part of the event.
• Despite the lack of advertising, we made more at Springfest this year than last.

Financial Report: Jeff Zanes

• See included financial ledger
• Credit line was paid down $6,000 to a balance of $10,000
• Currently have a fund balance of approx. $14,000
• Bill Pannill set up a payment plan of $455/mo for 2yrs (fixed rate)
• There is concern that we cannot make the $455/mo, need to come up with a budget to guarantee that we are able.
• Will be a long time before we are back to positive.
• Mario, Jeff, Lisa will meet to establish a budget to finish the year.
• Ron suggested that we need to pursue Corporate sponsorship
• Ron suggested that we could name the rooms in the Nature Center for sponsorships
• Mario proposed to create a capital budget because we have political support
• They will not pay salaries, but will pay for capital improvements
• Have to have a formal capital budget for requests to the State.
• Would like to have Larry Klevins meet with Jeff Zanes to familiarize him with past budgets.
• Need to get Jeff Zanes and Lisa Perkins onto the signature card so that he can sign checks (Mario will do)

New Board Members/Recruiting

• We need to be actively recruiting new board members. We must also express the 3-year, hands-on commitment.
• Del Levia brought Shreeren Inamdar. He just moved here in Feb, works at U of D in the Biological Resources Engineering. He is interested in becoming a Board member. He will observe and let us know for the next Board meeting.
• Mario Gangemi nominated Jim Sopa. Ron Perkins made a motion, Dan Schneckenburger seconded, vote was unanimous. Motion passes.
• Dan Speakman nominated Lisa Perkins. Tracy Jentzch made a motion, Del seconded, vote was unanimous. Motion passes.

Election of Officers

• Ron Perkins was nominated for the office of Vice President by Del Levia. A motion was made by Tracy, the motion was seconded by Dan Sch. The vote was unanimous.

Committees

• Fundraising (currently most important committee)
• Del Levia
• Every Board member must play a part
• Personnel
• Building and Grounds
• Jerry Newman
• Dan Speakman
• Dan Schneckenburger

Foxtrot Ball/Casino Night November 11, 2006

• Ron Perkins showed us rental tables for Foxtrot. It would cost $400 to rent, need to be picked up on Friday, returned Monday
• We need each Board member to bring 5 items for the raffle for the Casino. This is supremely important. Need to have it done by the end of September.
• Tracy offered that we could have an art show at the event. Can be accomplished with minimal effort.
• Outdoor Living did the landscaping
• Would like to have a continuous loop of the Nature Center video somewhere.

Nature School Report: Holly Hannum

Outdoor School Report - August 06

We have completed another successful year of summer camp. We hosted 211 campers in 5 weeks of camp. While Craft Camp and Wilderness Adventure Camp were not completely full, we had waiting lists for several camps. Evaluations showed support for the extension of the camp hours to noon. The water rockets that we built in Hike and Build Camp and the fountains in Waterworks were especially popular. We had one written parent complaint (a first for us) during the second week of camp when we had a lot of heavy rain. He was unhappy that his child’s feet got muddy and suggested that we should have stayed indoors. He requested a refund for the following week of camp. We complied with his request because we had a waiting list for the for Little Waterworks Camp. I sent a written reply to his concerns.

We have been approved for a four thousand dollar grant from the Waterfowl Festival in support of the fifth grade program for the coming school year. That will cover about one half of the program fees.

We have not heard from the Cecil County Arts Council about the kindergarten grant yet.

I have sent a letter to ATK requesting a donation for the upcoming school year. In talking with past Board member Bill Lucas, I learned that ATK has new guidelines for giving. They can only give to organizations that can offer a benefit to their employees. I have offered them a “field day” experience where employees could attend a Nature Center program just for them such as a wildflower walk or a stream hunt. We will agree on a date for this later. This event will cost the Center for staff time to plan and carry out this event but it could also be a terrific PR opportunity for the Center especially if a Board member or two could attend. It could be an opportunity to recruit new Board members. The donation would be undesignated funds. In the past we have used ATK funding to upgrade our electrical system inside the house. In my letter I mentioned the increasing cost of fuel oil.

Our annual allocation request is due to the United Way of Cecil County on August 18^th. I recently attended a seminar explaining changes in the way their allocations will be made. We will need to select programs for sponsorship and develop goals and measurable outcomes in order to qualify. We can do this by reworking the evaluations that we already have in place. We will also need all the same budget information that we have had to supply in the past.

On August 7^th I met with Rose Greer, acting instructional supervisor for science for CCPS. We went over funding and scheduling for the upcoming school year. I discussed transportation issues which we encountered this past year. I will begin a fall schedule as soon as she gives me the science kit rotation schedule and I can confirm class numbers for each school.

We continue to have computer issues. In talking with our neighbors, the Carpenters, it appears that they have similar problems and that they may be related to the electric and phone lines outside the house. I am hopeful that the new lines that the state is supposed to be running will help.

Jerry Newman has told me that he will no longer cut out bluebird houses for us. He will continue to teach the program if we can find a volunteer to cut out the boxes. We also need to find volunteers to mow around the Center next year.

Gerry Hendricks has scheduled a SWAT Clean-Up for August 19^th. Volunteers should meet at Wesley’s parking lot at 8am.

We have tentatively scheduled our Fall Trail Day for September 16^th from 9 to 12 with lunch to follow. Donations of time and homebaked treats would be welcomed.

Teaching staff will return on September 5^th to begin fall classes around the 15^th.

Personnel:

• Ron brought up the fact that we need to assess our staffing needs.
• Holly has a candidate as a teacher, would like to hire her at least as a substitute. The Board was warm to the idea.
• Ron advised her to hire her and the Board agreed.

Building and Grounds:

• We need to schedule lawn mowing at the Nature Center. Need written directions for it.
• Need someone to cut bluebird boxes.
• August 19, 2006 scheduled a SWAT cleanup
• Trail Days is scheduled September 16, 2006
• We need a monthly publication to advertise our programs (ie the Buzz)

Next Meeting: August 30, 2006 @ 6 P.M., at the Nature Center.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:51 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Daniel Speakman