Work Day Garden Meeting Minutes: October 18, 2008
New Secretary: Pamela Mooney voted in by a unanimous voteOld Business
Proposed changes to By-LawsEach proposed change was read to the garden members for vote.
Part A Section 3: only active members shall be eligible to vote and hold office;
Proposed Change: only active members in good standing shall be eligible to ….Discussion:
- what is good standing, as defined in by lawshow do you know who is in good standing and how do you stop someone who is not in good standing from voting?
- don’t have the time to enforce at each meeting to check to make sure that only members in good standing vote.
Members voted by a raise of hands to pass the proposed change to Part A Section 3.
Part A Section 5: Payment of Dues and Assessment: Active members shall be required to pay dues and assessments as set by the Board of Directors. Dues shall be payable by the first day of May each year and assessments shall be payable as indicated by the Board of Directors.
Proposed Change: Payment of Dues and Assessment: To maintain good standing, Active members shall be required to pay dues …….Discussion:
- a few people cannot pay due to unemployment or economic hardship. It was recognized that the garden would need to help these members and be flexible where needed with payment plans.Penalty for missing workdays is in the by laws, if you miss 4 work day meetings you are out.
- the amount of money a member can be assessed was briefly discussed then tabled to be discussed during New Business.
Members voted by a raise of hands to pass the proposed change to Part A Section 5.
Part A Section 5: Members shall not allow or feed animals in the garden.
Proposed Change: Members shall not allow animals nor feed animals within the
garden.Members voted by a raise of hands to pass the proposed change to Part A Section 5.
Article IV Section 2: Elections: Officers shall be elected by written ballot by the…
Proposed Change: Elections: Officers and Directors shall be elected by …..Members voted by a raise of hands to pass the proposed change to Article IV Section 2
Article V Section 4: Unless otherwise ordered by the Directors, regular meetings of the Board of Directors shall be held once each month upon timely written notice to all ….
Proposed Change: Unless otherwise ordered by the Directors, regular meetings of the
Board of Directors shall be held no less than once each quarter upon timely written…Members voted by a raise of hands to pass the proposed change to Article V Section 4.
Article VI Section 2: The regular meeting in March shall be known as the Annual Meeting and shall be for the purpose of electing officers, receiving annual reports…..
Proposed Change: The regular meeting in March shall be known as the Annual Meeting and shall be for the purpose of electing officers and directors, receiving …Members voted by a raise of hands to pass the proposed change to Article VI Section 2.
Article VI Section 3: Special meetings can be called by the President or by the Board of Directors and shall be called upon the written request of at least ten (10) members. The purpose of the meeting shall be stated in the call.
Proposed Change: Special meetings can be called by the President or by the Board of Directors and shall be called upon the written request of no less than one third (1/3) of the voting Membership in good standing of the Corporation. The purpose of the meeting shall be stated in the call.Discussion
The following points were made by garden members:
- this change is to address an inconsistency in the by laws. When garden by laws were written the garden was smaller so 10 members back then represented a larger percentage of the garden members. Jim asked was it reasonable to have the amount of members needed to elect someone be the same as the amount of members needed to make a petition? Since these are two separate and different things it does not necessarily follow that both should require 1/3 of the voting membership.There is no issue of frivolousness; only twice to date has a special meeting been called by 10 members.the number of people it takes to petition should grow as the number of members in the garden growsSome associations only require 5% of their membership to make a petition. This could constitute less than 10 members in our garden.10 people minimum allows all members to be heard by the board.Perhaps instead of a 10 member minimum, we should have a percentage of the garden membership as a minimum.You can get 10 members to sign any petition. If we require more people that will mean it is less likely that issues will be brought forward.10 people is not reflective of the garden members.10 people can override decisions made by the board.The purpose of a special meeting is because there is discontent among some members about a decision by the board. A petition is a request for a discussion and vote of the garden members. It encourages involvement of the garden members.The current wording is not inconsistent with the by laws just because the percent to petition is not the same as the percent to vote in board members.
- Perhaps we should change it to 25 members. This would need to be done during new business.
Vote by hands: all in favor in changing to 1/3 of membership
Yes: (change)
No: (keep at 10)Count of hands: 23 yes
31 no
Members voted by a raise of hands to not pass, by a vote of 23 yes and 31 no.
Retaining Wal
lThe retaining wall on the north east hill was put on hold pending further review. A motion was made and passed to formulate a retaining wall committee. On this committee are the following people: Dwight Ashdown, Marlene Bauer, and Victoria Colella. This committee will be responsible for submitting several garden approved plans to the park service who in turn will decide which plan is best.
Native Garden
good work continues by Vicki and her group on our native garden on the northeast hill.
New Business
Dale presented an overview of composting and it’s affect on water management.A Master Plan Committee was proposed to the garden members. This committee would look at what we have in our garden and how we can improve the garden. For example, the committee will look at retaining walls and height restrictions.|
Master Plan
A motion was made and passed to establish a master plan for the garden. Liz Nolan will head the master plan committee. A sign up paper was passed around to the members for all who would like to be part of the Master Plan Committee.
Treasurer’s Report
10/18/08We have received $3,577.82 in income and have spent $7,007.31 since the last Work Day August 9. We have a total of $19,688.68 in our accounts as of 10/16/08.
Income
All current members have paid their annual dues.
Expenses
Our biggest expenses during this period have been for the Garden Gala ($2,045.57), the new T shirts ($1,901.21), and water ($1,804.92 for May 11 thru August 7), That puts us close to $3,000 for the year on water (which should keep us within the $5,500 allocated in the budget).
Greenhouse
You can find plants that thrive in the winter. Remember to take no more than 6 per person.
Membership
All plots have been assigned except one. We would like to give this plot to a community organization.
Motion: Ban Styrofoam from all garden events.
Amend motion to have Fort Mason Community Garden use only bio-degradable materials at all garden events.
Members voted by a raise of hands to pass amended motion.
Motion to adjourn
Seconded
End of garden work day meetinG
