| Minutes - September Membership Meeting The meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m. by President Lin Diacont with the following people attending: Cary Gouldin, Rick Baker, Tom Tracy, Paul Hartzell, Bill Bonwell, Sylvia Wright, Greg Eaton and Jeff Miller. Presidents Comments – Lin discussed the possibility of moving some of the VGIC meetings around the state to make it easier for different partners to participate. He is working on establishing a meeting calendar for 2006. The next VGIC meeting is scheduled for Monday November 14, 2005 at the State Fair Office. He urged committee chairs to provide written reports before meetings to expedite meetings. Executive Directors Report - Jeff reported on the clipping service results from news releases sent to 105+ non-daily newspapers. There were 122,560 contacts with the Christmas ’04 news releases, 91,665 for the spring news releases and 61,018 for the summer releases. Copies of the last 12 months of web activity on VirginiaGreen.org and VirginiaGardening.com were presented and he noted that 90% of the people go directly to the site vs. going through a search engine. Treasurers Report – Jeff presented the year-to-date balance sheet and income/expenses (see attached reports). Rick Baker reported that the FSMIP grant has been extended to 12/31/05 when all projects under this grant should be completed. Committee Reports Communications - Public Relations: The use of Green Industry Newsletter to market VGIC was discussed and it was agreed that Sylvia Wright should complete the first 4-page Newsletter and have it ready by October 30 to include information on the FSMIP grant, a President’s Message, website info, and upcoming events. Membership, Mary Williams (absent) Jeff reported on the current membership status (total dues up slightly over last year but sponsorships are down some. Lin is still working on several groups to encourage them to join the VGIC. Green Industry Day update - Rick Baker reported that he and Bill Bonwell had visited several sites in the Richmond metro area and felt that Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond would the best location and had tentatively reserved September 9, 2006 for the first Green Industry Field Day which would be an consumer oriented interactive, educational and fun event. Legislative – Lin announced the Gubernatorial Candidates meeting at 12:30 pm Friday, September. 23rd and had tickets available to enter the fair grounds for the event VAC Food Festival – Lin reported that the VGIC’s “Ask the Expert” booth was very successful and had good participation on professionals to answer questions. Maymont Flower Show 2005 was discussed. Since there was only $300 in the budget to sponsor a speaker at Maymont-speaker and their sponsorship has gone to $500, it was decided that we could only offer a $300 sponsorship for this year. Other Old Business New Business Adjourn - The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 pm. To re-group at the State Fair to hear Gubernatorial Candidates address industry at 12:30 pm. |
