Board Meeting Minutes - December 3, 2007

SCACAA Board Meeting
December 3, 2007
PSA Conference - Clemson SC

Present:
Russell Duncan, Tim Davis, Bruce Johnson, Brian Callahan, Mark Talbert, Bob Franklin, Jonathan Croft, Bob Bett

Call to Order:
Brian Callahan called the meeting to order at 10:30 am and thanked everyone for coming.

Secretary’s Report: Minutes were e-mailed prior to board meeting and without any corrections, Mark Talbert made the motion to accept the minutes. Tim Davis seconded the motion, motion carried.

Treasures Report:
Russell Duncan reported that a glitch in the new check system prevented a complete budget from being produced. This situation should be corrected by the next Board meeting. Mark Talbert made the motion to accept the report. Bruce Johnson seconded the motion, motion carried.

Membership Discussion:
Board members were assigned and volunteered to contact previous members and potential members for membership dues.

John Andrea made the motion to e-mail membership forms on September 1 and then a mail a hard copy and an invoice on October 1 to start membership recruitment. The motion was seconded by Brian Callahan, motion carried.

Life Member Report: Elwyn Deal was unable to attend this meeting – he relayed to Brian that he was in the process of collecting email addresses for as many Life Members as possible to improve communication.

Annual Meeting Update: Mark Arena emailed the following Annual Meeting update to Brian for review by the Board:

The meeting dates are June 10 - 13. Participants will be asked to check in the on the evening of June 10th. The following two days will consist of tours and transportation will be provided by S and S charters. Friday, will be the traditional 1/2 day meetings and Dr. Kelly has been invited to provide an update.

Lodging has been booked with Country Inn and Suites, Summerville, SC.

Rooms will cost $79.00 and include breakfast. The also have provide a complementary meeting room for us to conduct our meeting.

The hotel is located right off of exit 199 and has plenty of shopping, fast food chains, and restaurants within walking distance. Also, it is 30 minute car ride to downtown Charleston.

Educational tours being proposed are:

  • Brookgreen Gardens, Myrtle Beach
  • Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Georgetown (confirmed)
  • Brosnan Forest , forestry, wildlife, endangered species mitigation and outdoor recreation, Dorchester
  • Kiawah Island, The Ocean Golf Course, turf and golf, Charleston
  • Coastal Research and Educational Center, vegetables and others, Charleston
  • Boone Hall, Agro-tourism , horticulture, and farmers market, Charleston

Membership Drive Report: Jonathan provided the group with a spreadsheet that showed, of the paying SCACAA members from the previous year, who had paid again for the current year and who had not paid. A special effort will be made to approach these ‘unpaid’ 2007 members about joining again. The current membership of the SCACAA consists of 64 agents, 9 specialists, 6 supervisors, 78 life members, and 2 complimentary members.

Golf Outing before SCACAA meeting

Brian Callahan will work with Mark Arena on possibly scheduling a SCACAA golf outing for the Tuesday afternoon before the 08 AMPIC in Summerville.

Redefining Rules of Committee Chairs
Brian brought up SCACAA Committee Chairs, and discussed the reality that many of these people are unclear of their responsibilities. After discussion, the group decided that the these Committee Chair responsibilities should be addressed at the first SCACAA Board meeting of the fiscal year. An email will be sent to each chair, informing them of this meeting – also they will be encouraged to visit the website to review documented duties.

New Agent Training
Russell is still working on creating an evaluation to be distributed to all new and young agents – more information will be available at the next Board meeting.

National Board Meeting
The National Board meeting will take place on April 3 - 5 at the Crown Reef Resort at Myrtle Beach. Due to proximity, Bruce Johnson was willing to serve as the SCACAA lead representative for the coordinating of this meeting as far as the SCACAA’s involvement is concerned. Bruce mentioned proposing the following scenarios to the National Board:

  1. Backdoor tour of a golf course and lowcountry boil (this is feed for all tours).
  2. Brookgreen Gardens.
  3. Baruch REC.
  4. Freewood Farms a turn of the century farm.

Bruce will continue communicating with the National Board on this event – he will need some assistance for the actual event however. More details will be available at the March Board meeting.

2008 NACAA AMPIC Update
The Board will provide NC with the requested $1200 for ‘States Night In’. The Board agreed that this was a very good deal for us. Brian reminded the board of the significance of the NACAA AMPIC taking place in Greensboro and how a large attendance from SC would be needed. First-timers will have their registration fee, as well as those who win awards on the national level. More information will be forthcoming via email regarding the Annual Meeting. One other item of discussion was a review of a decision made that it will be imperative for our AA and DSA winners to stay for the entire duration of the conference with the penalty of travel reimbursement forfeiture.

Hall of Fame Award
The Hall of Fame Award was discussed – it was the consensus of the group to submit Billy Witherspoon one more time for the award. There was some question as to whether or not the application was being completed in the most detailed and effective manner – Tim, Russell, and Bruce agreed to meet and review the application before submitting the award. If Billy Witherspoon is not selected as a winner this year, the group will look at submitting a new name next time.

Other Items
Bob Franklin informed the group about ANREP and encouraged members to think about joining.

Next Board Meeting
The next SCACAA Board meeting is scheduled for March 19th at Sandhills.

Adjourn
With no further discussion, Russell made a motion to adjourn, and a second was made by Bruce Johnson. Meeting adjourned at 11:10 am.