TVMA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
August 2, 2005, Radisson Resort
South Padre Island, TX
There being
a quorum present, President David Wall called the August 2, 2005, TVMA Board
Meeting to order at 9:00 am on May 10, 2005.
The following members were present:
David Wall, Ray Erwin, Myron Rabalais, Steve
White, Paul Northcutt, George Pylant,
Jim Cruser, Howard Pierson, Steve Prather, Stan Jones, Rick Bennett and Scott Dunham.
Paul Northcutt read the minutes of the May 10,
2005, TVMA Board of Directors meeting. A motion was made, seconded and approved
to accept the minutes as read.
Officer
Reports were received as follows:
President: David Wall
thanked everyone for attending the meeting and reviewed the schedule. David
reported that he had emailed the Alabama VMS regarding forming a new regional
vegetation management association, but has not received a reply. David indicated that he had done a little
work in looking for a site in 2006. The Nacogdoches visitors bureau does not have a facility with sufficient
space. He contacted the Marriott at Horseshoe Bay and indicated that we would receive
a report during this meeting. David
hopes to pick a town soon so that we can advise our membership during our
upcoming annual conference where the 2006 annual meeting will be. Kerrville
was suggested as a possible site as a conference.
Vice-President: Ray Erwin provided an update on the 2005
Conference. Ray passed out the tentative
conference agenda. The golf course is on
510 West, and Ray reported it was an excellent
course. The fishing trip will be through
the “Osprey” company which is immediately on your right once you cross the
causeway. Exhibitor presentations will
be given again this year at the beginning of the conference. Speakers and times and possible speaker costs
were discussed. Ray discussed the
possibility of having a “past-presidents” keynote speaker, but after
discussion, the Board felt that perhaps a military speaker would be more
appropriate. Paul will check with the National Guard and Coast Guard to see if a
speaker for the keynote luncheon could be furnished. Ray solicited silent auction items, and
plans on placing silent auction items on the exhibitor tables to help bring
visitors into the exhibit area. Paul is to coordinate poster and graphics
with the SPI convention and visitors bureau.
Treasurer: Myron Rabalais distributed the Treasurer’s
report. Myron indicated that the
Association’s total assets at the date of this report was
$33,756.73. Myron indicated that the Acteva registration system continued to be an excellent
choice for our Association. Myron indicated that the state tax-exemption status
had been completed by our accountant/lawyer.
The consultant advised that filing an annual tax return was not legally
required. A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED
AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD TO ACCEPT THE TREASURER’S REPORT.
Secretary-Editor: Paul Northcutt reported the Secretary-Editor report
and indicated that the web site has been receiving approximately 8,000 hits per
month, and receiving approximately 1,970 visitors per month. The upcoming CLIP will be
conference-related.
Past-President: Steve White advises that he has not been able to
secure a good vegetation management association to visit, but most conferences
will be coming up in the fall. David
reiterated that the Board has authorized the Past President to visit another
state’s vegetation management association on behalf of TVMA. David
will get with Paul who will advise the Board and secure the board approval once
Steve decides on an association to visit.
The Board toured the Radisson Resort and made final
arrangements on meeting rooms.
Committee
Reports were given as follows:
Nominating: David
Wall reminded everyone that we have a VP plus three Board members to elect. David solicited any interest in the Board for
VP. David asked all Board members to
encourage members send nominations for potential board members. Two individuals
have made it known that they would be eligible candidates for the TVMA Board
(Rob Brooks and Scott Dunham).
Internal Audit: No
internal audit report was received.
Myron indicated that our last internal audit was performed in February
of 2005, and Myron plans to conduct an internal audit each year.
Membership: Scott Dunham reported on efforts to increase
membership. Paul was directed to emphasize the membership campaign on the web
page. Paul will contact the contact person of the adjacent vegetation
management associations to help discuss conferences, etc. Scott will furnish his list of vegetation
management contacts to Paul. David and Paul
will also invite the President or one of their Board members of the adjacent
associations and offer them free-registration.
Steve White will furnish his
list of contacts to Paul.
2005 Program – No additional comments were given.
Scholarship: No
scholarship report was received.
Training: Rick Bennett advised that the July 13, 2005 CEU
training function was cancelled due to lack of participants. Rick has contacted the “Knowledge Envelope” and Rick is
trying to coordinate schedules so that we could begin discussions on the
possibility of using on-line CEU training.
Rick has indicated to the Knowledge Envelope that if any event could be
arranged, it would be subsequent to the 2005 annual conference. Rick indicated that the 2005 training
itinerary was being developed and would be focused toward the TDA manuals this
year. Rick discussed the upcoming Lubbock
CEU meeting. Rick has asked TNT Training
for a proposal to put on the training. A
MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED, AND APPROVED BY THE BOARD THAT TVMA HOLD A CEU
TRAINING SESSION THIS FALL IN LUBBOCK, AND THAT RICK BENNETT IS AUTHORIZED TO
ORGANIZE THE EVENT, AND SPEND NECESSARY FUNDS TO PUT THIS CEU TRAINING EVENT
ON.
Legislative: No
report was received.
Advisory: No report
was received.
Research: Howard
Pierson has received a proposal from A&M regarding having them administer a
research proposal for TVMA. They would
charge approximately 45% toward overhead.
Howard recapped the items discussed within the recent TVMA research
proposal. One of the identified needs
would be to have someone do a literature search and find appropriate vegetation
management research that is now available.
It was discussed to try to find someone, perhaps one of our past
scholarship winners who was working in industry, and see if they would be
willing to perform this work for TVMA, given a strict set of parameters and a
clear set of deliverables needed. Howard and Paul will work together to help
write a proposal to accomplish this work.
Awards: One
nomination has been received for the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award and
another board member indicated that they would be submitting a nomination for
another deserving individual.
Unfinished
Business
Steve White discussed how TVMA should handle
the issue of when an elected Board member or officer does not participate in the meetings
or other official functions of the Association.
Steve recommended that a new duty of the Immediate Past-President in
conjunction with the current President to discuss verbally and/or in writing,
with the individuals their lack of participation in the hope that if the
individual was not going to be able to participate, that the individual could
resign in order to allow someone who was able to participate serve on the
board. There was considerable discussion
among the Board regarding this issue to insure that this could not be used
because of “personality conflicts, etc.”, but only because that individual
would not (or could not) participate in the official functions of the
Association. It was also recommended
that the decision to remove an existing board member or officer required
something greater than a simple majority, probably a 2/3 vote. Paul
was directed to add wordage to the TVMA by-laws that gives the TVMA board of
directors the specific ability to remove any officer or board of director for
cause. Paul will send the proposed wordage out to the entire board for comment
and approval, then submit to the membership for approval at the upcoming annual
conference.
No other unfinished business was discussed.
New
Business:
Steve White and Paul Northcutt updated the
board on their visit to the Horseshoe Bay Marriott property for a potential
site for our 2006 annual conference. The
site is beautiful and very adequate for our needs. The proposed conference date for this facility would
be the first week in November of 2006.
It was discussed that this date would be in conflict with the Louisiana meeting. Paul also updated the Board on his visit to
the Red Lion in Austin,
and the Doubletree. The Board also
discussed the existing proposal from the College Station Hilton. Rick
Bennett and Scott Dunham will visit
the College Station
Hilton to refine their proposal. Paul
Northcutt and Steve Prather will visit the Y O Ranch conference center in Kerrville to see if they
might be a good fit for TVMA. All
parties will report back to the Board. David Wall wants to decide prior to the
conference which city the conference will be and be able to announce it at the
conference. Paul was directed to update the board on all proposals so that a city
decision could be made prior to the conference by the Board.
There being
no further new business, A MOTION WAS MADE, SECONDED AND APPROVED BY THE
BOARD TO ADJOURN AT 12:10 PM, 8/2/05.
Respectfully
submitted:
Paul Northcutt, TVMA Secretary-Editor