TVMA Quarterly Board Meeting

December 7, 2004

Buchanan Dam – LCRA Training Facility

 

President David Wall called the quarterly TVMA Board Meeting to order at 9:00 am on 12/7/04 after determining that a quorum existed.  The following members were present:  David Wall, Steve White, Ray Erwin, Paul Northcutt, George Pylant, Rick Bennett, Jim Cruser, Howard Pierson, Steve Prather, Don Telge, Craig Johnson and Don Fields.

 

President Wall thanked LCRA and Craig Johnson for the use of their training facility and for furnishing a great meal to the group.

 

Paul Northcutt read the minutes of the meeting of October 13, 2004 in San Antonio.  A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED AND APPROVED THAT THE MINUTES BE APPROVED AS READ.

 

President Wall updated the Board on the letter sent by TVMA to the TDA regarding proposed decal rules.  That letter has been received and a response from Mr. Phil Tham, TDA, had been received saying they had received our letter and our input would be considered prior to final adoption.  It is possible, based on discussion  with TDA, that the requirements for decals on right-of-way situations might be removed from the rule.  It appears that decals may become a reality for the Turf and Ornamental categories.   David indicated that it was a valid responsibility of the TVMA board to comment on proposed rules or regulations which affect our industry.  David indicated that there were a couple of members who had contacted TVMA who did not agree with our letter to the TDA; David indicated that the letter had been approved by the Board and had been sent to the TDA.  David also read from the TVMA By-Laws and noted that Article V. indicates that the “Board of Directors shall consist of the Association Officers, and Immediate Past President and nine Directors . . .”  There are, with the past president, a total of 14 on the Board, making a quorum of 8, and not seven as has been used in the past.  David re-iterated that it takes 8 votes to pass any motions.  Paul was directed to include the Vice President on all future Board meeting agendas, and insure that the Immediate Past President was included and shown on our letterhead and on the web site. 

 

Ray Erwin provided the Vice President report.  Ray indicated that he and Paul would be traveling next Monday to South Padre Island to finalize a contract with a hotel property for the 2005 Annual conference.  Ray distributed a preliminary list of prospective speakers and possible topics for the 2005 conference. Each member should review this list and contact Ray with comments, suggestions, additions, etc. A suggestion was received from Jim Cruser that a presentation on research on tree-growth regulators might be beneficial to the conference.  Several members voiced support of this as a good topic for 2005.  Ray indicated that the ISA had expressed an interest in possibly partnering with TVMA on a future conference.  They would like to explore a joint meeting and splitting or sharing the convention costs.  Ray expects to conduct a fishing tournament and a golf tournament in South Padre Island.  We will address those items next week with the South Padre contacts.  He expects to have a Program Committee meeting on February 8, 2005, concurrent with the Board Meeting. Ray hopes to have speaker commitments in February.  Craig Johnson indicated that they had speakers available to speak on the issue of endangered species. Jim Cruser suggested that we might consider a presentation from two or three utilities on their vegetation management programs.

 

No Treasurer’s report was received at this meeting.  Paul will ask Myron to send the Treasurer’s report which will be emailed to all Board Members.

 

Paul Northcutt provided the Secretary-Editor report.  The December 2004 issue of the CLIP was posted to the Web on 11/30/04, and is currently at the printers.  The hard copies of the CLIP should be distributed within two weeks.  Paul indicated that he planned on distributing the CLIP to only those dues-paid members for 2004 which should keep the number of copies lower than in the past, plus lifetime members, past presidents, etc. Paul also distributed statistics on the web page usage and indicated that our usage has steadily climbed since we started and is currently running between 1,500 and 2000 visitors per month.  Paul also indicated that he would be sending out letters to those individuals who were members in 2003 but not in 2004 inviting them to remain as General Members.

 

David Wall provided the Nominating Committee report and re-iterated that the TVMA By-Laws state that the Vice President is to come from the Board of Directors, and welcomed any member of the Board to volunteer to serve as Vice President. Board members were encouraged to turn in names of personnel who are interested in serving as Board or Committee Members.

 

No Internal Audit Committee report was received, but President Wall indicated that our By-Laws require an internal audit every two years.  Our next audit is due by February 28, 2005.

 

Although Scott Dunham, Membership Committee Chair was not present, his recommendations for the 2004-2005 Membership Program was reviewed by the Board.  The Membership Committee recommends the following program:

1st Prize – Bass Fishing on Richland Chambers Lake for Two (donated by Ray Erwin, BASF)

2nd Prize - $100 Bass Pro Gift Certificate

3rd Prize – TVMA Jacket

 

TVMA will be soliciting donors for the 2nd and 3rd prizes.

 

Entries will be awarded as follows:

·        1 entry for each new member enrolled (sponsors must be shown on the membership form)

·        5 Bonus entries for 100% employee participation

·        4 Bonus entries for 80-99% employee participation

·        3 Bonus entries for 60-79% employee participation

·        2 Bonus entries for 40-59% employee participation

·        1 Bonus entry for 20-39% employee participation

·        2 Entries for New South Texas Agencies or Contractors located south of I-10 to San Antonio and south of US 90 to Del Rio

·        4 Bonus entries for each new agency or contractor recruited in the rest of Texas

·        6 Bonus entries for out of Texas new agencies or contractors. 

The TVMA Board will rule on any discrepancies.

 

The Board expressed concern that some system be created to help track the entries.  Paul was directed to create a form on the web site which tracks the sponsors and new agencies/contractors and send it out to the Board for review and comment.

 

A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD THAT THE ABOVE MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM BE ADOPTED FOR 2004-2005.  Paul was directed to place an article in the next CLIP about the membership program.

 

No Scholarship Report was received at this meeting.

 

No Historical Committee report was received at this meeting.

 

Rick Bennett Provided the Training Report and a recap of the 2004 recertification classes.  Rick indicated that 21 of 22 (95%) of the students passed the General exam, 92% passed the Laws & Regulations exam, and 59% passed the Right of Way exam.  Overall, Rick felt the 2004 exam prep class was outstanding and utilizing numerous speakers worked well.  Paul reported on the Spray School survey.  Of 147 invitations, 17 replied.  Of the 17, 80% said a spray school would be helpful, 20% said the school would not be helpful.  90% of the respondents were city/county/state/utility (non-commercial) respondents.  No consensus on a location was received, but Austin and central Texas was mentioned a lot.  Craig Johnson presented the Board with copies of the 2003 Annual Conference burned to CD.  This was a service provided by LCRA for use by TVMA as a recertification medium.  The Board discussed ways to utilize this as a possible CEU package.  Rick Bennett, Training Committee Chair was given the CD’s.  Rick Bennett and Paul Northcutt will contact TDA regarding getting TDA authorization for these videos.  Rick and Paul were directed to advise the membership that these CD’s are available.

 

The Legislative Report as prepared by Rich Hendler and Paul Northcutt was distributed and discussed.  The letter as prepared was acceptable to the Board.  Paul was directed to send this letter out to the Representatives and Senators on January 10, 2005, with an RSVP date of one week prior to the dinner on February 8, 2005. Steve is to send Paul a copy of the PowerPoint presentation and Paul and David will look at updating the PowerPoint presentation on TVMA for this meeting.  Steve White will contact the Texas Land & Cattle Company to confirm and finalize reservations for the function on 2/8/05.

 

The Advisory Committee report was given by President David Wall.  The committee is chaired by David Wall, with Rich Hendler, Don Telge, Stan Jones and Steve Prather as members.  The intent of the committee is to enhance communications with agencies who regulate vegetation management issues.  Randy Rivera, TDA was invited to serve, and has accepted.  Other agencies have not been established at this time.  David will hold an Advisory Committee meeting with TDA the afternoon of February 8, 2005.  Training, training quality, and category-specific training, definitions of right of way, overspray on draining areas, were issues recommended for discussion with TDA. David hopes that TDA will automatically contact TVMA on right-of-way vegetation management issues, and hopefully this Committee will achieve that goal.

 

Howard Pierson,  chair of the Research Committee provided the Research Committee Report.   This committee includes of Bruce More, Rich Hendler and Steve White.  Howard was directed to continue evaluating ways to establish an appropriate Research Fund, setting up mechanism to accept tax-deductible donations into the research fund and/or ways to raise funds.  The Committee is to develop procedures to evaluate current projects which are needed or need additional funding.  The Committee was also directed to develop process to review proposals and award funds once established.

 

David Wall, chair of the Awards Committee, asked all members to consider nominating, by letter, a worthy candidate for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Unfinished Business:

 

Paul was directed to request the latest status on the TVMA tax-exempt status.  Once received, Paul will distribute the update to the Board and the Committee Chairs. 

 

No other unfinished business was discussed.

 

New Business:

 

David will contact Randy Rivera regarding the February 8, 2005 meeting.  The May 2005 meeting was changed to College Station to facilitate communication between the Texas Cooperative Extension.  Rick Bennett will contact Dr. Don Renchie and Dr. Mary Ketchersid to see if we could utilize their facilities for the May, 2005 board meeting. 

 

Steve White suggested that the TVMA By-Laws be amended to stipulate that if a TVMA Officer or Board Member misses “x” meetings, or performs an unethical act, then the TVMA Board would have the power to automatically refill that position with someone who has expressed an interest in working.  Steve felt it was an honor to be a Board Member, and that if elected, it should be the individuals responsibility to attend the meetings and participate.  If an automatic mechanism which was non-partial was available to the board, it would help insure that all TVMA Board Members who want to participate could participate.  These positions are valuable, and should be coveted and taken care of.  There was general consensus among the Board Members that this was  appropriate.  Steve White will develop recommendations for presentation to the TVMA Board.

 

There being no further new business, it was MOVED, SECONDED AND APPROVED THAT THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED at 12:25 pm, 12/7/04.

 

Respectfully submitted:

Paul Northcutt
TVMA Secretary-Editor