Founding Board Meeting
August 21, 2000

Minutes Taken By: Lisa Smith

Attendees: Kerrie Kyde, Faith Campbell, Betsy Lyman, Carol Jelich, Larry Hurley, Jil Swearingen (last ½ of the mtg.), Lisa Smith.

I. Old Business

A. Minutes of the 7/13/00 meeting of the Founding Board approved.

1. Recommendation made to follow the following procedure for meeting minutes: This will be Lisa's homework following this meeting.

a. send minutes out for FB review
b. receive comments and revise minutes
c. post revised minutes to website
d. approve minutes at next FB meeting.

B.Organizational

1. Time table for FB actions proposed by Betsy approved.

2. Draft Articles of Incorporation

a. Kerrie presented the A of I for final approval. The boiler plate language was taken from the Maryland Corporate Application Webpage.

b. The FB approved the A of I with a move from Kerrie, a 2^nd from Betsy and an approval by vote of 6 in favor, 0 opposed.

c. Time Table and funds for submission.

-a checking account was established (with contributions from Faith and Kerrie). The account currently has Faith's name on it (out of necessity since MA-EPPC not an official entity). The board decided that this was appropriate until the organization became incorporated at which time the name MA-EPPC could be added to the checks.

d. Kerrie will submit our application for incorporation with the EIN or a letter that states that we are applying for it, around mid September (homework).

3.501(c)3 tax exemption update (Betsy and Kerrie)

a. We are still in the data gathering phases of the application. Betsy has been seeking examples of applications from other groups and has succeeded in getting Cal-EPPC's app., as well as possibly Florida-EPPC's app. Carol will also try to round up an app. example (homework).

b. Betsy contacted John Randall re: the application process and he recommended a Nolo Press publication that walks individuals through the process. Betsy will look into this (homework).

C. Weedbusters Handbook Update (Jil). This item was postponed until the next meeting of the full organization.

D. SE-EPPC Weed Odyssey 2001 (Jil)

1. Jil reported that, per her discussion with Brian Bowen, the conference is still in the early stages of organization and SE-EPPC is still open to any suggestions for speakers, panel discussions, etc. MA-EPPC's role has not been clearly defined at this point.

E.National ISC Draft Management Plan update (Faith)

1. Faith reported that both written and oral comments were received during the informal comment period, and are available on the ISAC Website. Based on these comments, Faith believes that the draft management plan will be significantly revised and a second draft published for public comment after Labor Day.

2. FB agreed that if the ISC management plan is available prior to the September 25 full MA-EPPC meeting, we may want to comment on it.  We agreed to put this item on the agenda for the September meeting.

F. MA-EPPC Brochure Discussion (Carol, Lisa)

1. Carol led the group through an analysis of comments from the general membership to the final draft of the brochure. Points of discussion included:

2. Adding both porcelainberry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) and Asiatic bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) to the list. If space becomes limited, we will eliminate bull thistle. We will not add Phragmites to the list given that there continues to be disagreement on whether or not the plant is actually exotic. Lesser celandine will be left off.

3. Membership categories were discussed. It was agreed that the Symposium Sponsorship category be eliminated. Category prices were also discussed and changed.

4. Carol offered to keep her contact information on the brochure until a committee of the board was formed. Carol will design a membership database and will forward membership checks to Faith.

5. It was discussed that this next edition of the brochure would probably be useful for about one year at which time a new membership contact person would be identified, 501(C)3 status is obtained (and could be identified on the brochure), etc..

6. Kerrie has a friend, Annie, who is a graphic artist who has offered, at no cost, to create camera - ready artwork based on what Carol and Lisa are able to provide. In addition, Kerrie is going to contact Peggy Duke who has offered her botanical illustrations (homework).

7. A decision was made, upon reviewing cost estimates for publishing brochures, to stick with b/w Xerox copies of "camera-ready" artwork for the first batch of brochures given that information was certain to change within about one year. Xeroxing would be done on heavy stock colored paper with a high content of recycled, post-consumer waste. Lisa, Betsy and Faith offered to check with local copying companies to get prices for xeroxing (homework).

8. In terms of covering costs, Betsy suggested that we might be able to include the cost for brochures that might be included in the Swarthmore conference mailings (app. 600 or more) in the overall budget for the conference. In this case, we could possibly recover those costs. Betsy will check into this (homework) Otherwise, it was agreed, that we could cover the cost for Xeroxed brochures with money from the checking account (which is expected to grow in the near future with contributions from a few additional board members.).

9. Lisa will make edits to the brochure and will forward to Carol who will forward to Annie (homework).

G. Swarthmore Conference 2001 (Betsy)

1. Used budget template from Bob Gutowski for the Swarthmore Conference as basis for discussion (1999 vs. 2001 projected). Highlights of the discussion included:

2. Given budget projections, MA-EPPC stands to make $3,000.00 (could be more, could be less) from the August 2001 conference.

3. FB approved the idea of seeking sponsorships (including corporate).

4. Minutes from the last meeting of the conference committee can be made available upon request by contacting Betsy.

5. The title for the conference is "Invasive Plants Conference: Taking Action on all Fronts."

II. New Business

A. Budget Discussion

1. Used page from 501c3 application as basis for discussion. MA-EPPC needs to provide budgets for 3 years with the application.

Budget items for consideration for year 1, 2,3,:

Expenses

Income

Faith's Wish List (Potential Projects for Year 2 and beyond)

Discussion regarding Calendar Year vs. Fiscal Year

Decision: Fiscal Year = July 13, 2000 - March 31, 2001
Fiscal Year 1 = April 1, 2001 - March 31, 2002 (Year 1)

Betsy and Lisa (homework) will get together to discuss refine the budget items and associated costs provided above and will draft a three year budget for FB review before the September meeting.

B. September Meeting Arrangements

1. A full MA-EPPC and Founding Board Mtg. will happen on the same day - September 25, 2000 at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania.

2. General itinerary: Begin at 9:30 am, bring your own lunch, breakout committees, finish by 3:30 and then go hawk watching.

3. Tentative Agenda (homework for Faith):

1. Update on organizational stuff (A of I and tax exemption status) (Kerrie).

2. Solicit comments on the National ISC Draft Mgt. Plan from members for a formal comment from the organization (Faith).

3. Update of state ISC's.

4. Swarthmore Conference 2001 Update (Betsy).

5. Update of USDA - CSREES Grant

6. Present vision of budget categories (Faith or Kerrie)

7. Jil's update of the WeedBuster's Handbook.

8. Discussion of need to develop committee to address "naysayer" comments.

9. Break-Out of Founding Board and List Committee.

C. Housekeeping

1. Do we want to put Founding Board Mtg. announcements on the main list serve? YES.

D. NFWF Pulling Together Initiative (Kerrie)

1. Is MA-EPPC ready to take advantage of this grant with a November submission date? MA-EPPC is not ready to submit an application for PTI this year.

2. Betsy discussed her upcoming meeting with NPS at the Delaware Water Gap and the potential for partnering on a PTI project.  MA-EPPC could be involved in such an initiative as a partner.  The FB granted our approval for Betsy to offer us as a partner if such a collaborative effort were to be pursued.

Next Meeting: September 25, 2000 at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania.