Source attachment: 2015_01_16 MSBA Board Minutes.doc
Minutes of the Executive Board meeting held on January 16, 2015
at the University of Maryland/College Park, Plant Sciences Bldg.
Recorded by Allen Hayes, VP.
Call to order: Toni Burnham, President, called the meeting to order at 7:05PM.
Officers present at the meeting: Toni Burnham, Pres.; Allen Hayes, 1st VP; Robert Crouse, Treas.; Wayne Esaias, Past President; Paul Dill, Past President and 2nd VP; Barry Thompson, Dir.; Maggie Mills, Dir.; Tim McMahon, EAS Dir.; Izzy Hill, 2nd VP; Jody King, 2nd VP; Jim Fraser, 2nd VP; Linda Thompson, 2nd VP; Cliff Darby for Brenda Klaunberg, 2nd VP
Secretary’s Report (completed by the President): Minutes of the Executive Board meeting of October, 17, 2014, and of the 2014 Annual Meeting and Elections of November 15, were discussed.
Bob Crouse noted several changes to the attendee list et al. A markup copy was created. Linda Thompson made a motion, Wayne Esaias seconded, to accept the Secretary’s report as amended. Motion passed unanimously by show of hands.
Old Business
Treasurer’s Report: Robert Crouse presented copies of the Treasurer’s Report for review. The report stated that MSBA ended 2014 about $600.00 to the good. Bob also advised that he has upgraded our check depositing activity with Bank of America. By doing so, he has been given the use of a check deposit machine, allowing him to deposit checks from home. There is a cost saving to MSBA for doing this upgrade. For this to keep saving us money he needs to deposit a minimum of one check every month. So he has advised the board that if no checks are available for deposit in a particular month, he will write his own personal check for a nominal amount and deposit it to the club’s account. Later he will ask for these funds to be reimbursed.
For purposes of continuity, Allen Hayes has been added to the official signatures on the MSBA checking account.
Bob has begun working with an accountant on the audit required in the bylaws, and is in receipt of a couple of pages of questions necessary to complete this process. Bob will also go to the Agricultural fair board meeting to ask for the $850.00 needed for the MSBA honey show.
Vice Presidents Report:
Winter Meeting: Allen Hayes reported That Dr Reed Johnson of the OARDC in Wooster Ohio will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming MSBA general meeting on February 14. The Father and Son team of Fred and Daniel Smith will present The Honey Regions of MD: Cumberland Valley Region. Billy Davis will present a talk about his short course program currently in widespread use in the Northern Virginia area. Vendor table space is limited at this event. The Mann Lake beekeeping supply company will be attending as vendors.
Summer Meeting: The June meeting will take place June 13, 2015 in the auditorium of the Plant Sciences Building. Keynote will be Dr. Juliana Rangel of Texas A&M University.
The University of Maryland has become increasingly difficult to work with on booking meeting space with adequate advance timing to schedule good keynote speakers. It was suggested we move the Spring/Summer meeting to other venues around the region as was done in the past. Two suggestions are UMBC and a location in Keedysville, Washington County.
Fall Meeting: The Annual Meeting and Fall Membership Meeting will be on November 14, 2015 at the MDA headquarters building in Annapolis MD. Michelle Flenniken of Montana State University will be the keynote speaker.
Apiary Inspector Report: The Apiary Inspector was unable to attend this board meeting.
President’s Report: Toni Burnham attended Maryland Farm Bureau and reported that MSBA was missed in past years when a representative did not attend. This year is their 75th anniversary and Toni Burnham has offered to do a bee presentation at their meeting, possibly jointly with Linda Thompson. While MSBA is concerned about pesticides, we do not want to do battle with the Farm Bureau, but there are opportunities to collaborate more effectively. MSBA is concerned that we lost funding in the Apiary Inspection area, with the retirement of Jerry Fischer, existing inspectors were given additional inspection areas, and no one was hired to replace the lost person. MSBA wants more money for this program. The Bee Informed Partnership wants a Best Management Practice for Maryland pesticide application. Izzy Hill reported that other states have a pesticide BMP in place so we can avoid bee kills. She wants this to be on the agenda.
Honey Harvest Festival: The Patuxent facility, where this event has been held since 2009, has lost funding needed to support it. Lindsay Barranco has been tasked with finding a new location. She was not able to attend this meeting and file a report. Before the meeting, she had shared research into several promising locations. Decisions can be made in a BOD side meeting at the February 14 general meeting.
Amendments to the Honey Show rules: A committee has been formed with David Morris as chair and George Wilson is participating also. Jim Frasier and Maggie Mills volunteered to sit on the committee. This committee consult and come up with a recommendation of rule changes then present those to the BOD. It was stated that honey show judges and superintendents need to have the flexibility to make rule adjustments “on the fly” to any situation that may arise.
MSBA Honey Show and Training of Honey Judges: Maryland Agriculture Fair Board gives us $850.00 to be used as prize money for our honey show. Toni Burnham noted the difficulty of recruiting Maryland judges, and the relatively short list of candidates who had completed training when it was previously offered. It was noted that the University of Georgia has a training program for honey show judges. This is a multi-stage process and takes about two years for a candidate to complete. The question was asked If Jerry Fischer’s program for training judges is written down and filed somewhere? Allen Hayes will contact Jim Thompson of Ohio, a well-known judge and investigate the possibility of having him conduct a training program in Maryland.
ETO Chamber: We are waiting until the new Maryland Secretary of Agriculture is in place before moving forward. Documentation from MDA must be completed requesting a use exception for beekeeping which has already been cleared by the EPA. This is expected to happen very soon, but Toni agreed to follow up by letter with both the applicable MDA Department and the new Secretary of Agriculture.
Toni Burnham mentioned that there are several hundred of the MSBA tri fold handouts available for county clubs to have for their short courses. Updating is needed before we can print any more of these.
Linda Thompson announced that she has a ½ page flyer that encourages beekeepers to join MSBA. Two can be printed per page and then cut apart. She will send the PDF version to Toni to be put on the MSBA website for others to access. Toni agreed to include it in the next BeeLine newsletter.
MSBA T-Shirts: Toni Burnham reported that there are a few left in very small and very large sizes and she has no plans to reorder more at this time. Members at the upcoming meeting will be polled regarding demand. Robert Crouse notes that proceeds from the t-shirt sales put MSBA in the black for 2014.
New Business:
Pesticide concerns: Barry Thompson stated that Montgomery County is considering banning all non-essential residential pesticide use. An example of essential would be to treat for termites. Agriculture pesticides would be exempt. At the present time, this does not seem to directly impact beekeepers.
Tim McMahon counseled caution on an MSBA position on the matter, since our membership is divided and the language of the bill, and its possible interpretation, is not clear to the local or state association.
Wayne Esaias requested that a letter be written to Maryland Department of Agriculture asking if suspected pesticide bee kills are reported.
Adjournment:
Wayne Esaias made a motion to adjourn, Linda Thompson seconded. The meeting adjourned at 8:47 PM
MSBA Secretary, Richard Lord was unable to attend the meeting. These minutes were prepared by Allen Hayes who would like to apologize for the seemingly excessive use of the surname Thompson in this report.
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Maryland State Beekeepers Assoc, Inc.
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