TVMA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES

OCTOBER 13, 2004

HOLIDAY INN RIVERWALK, SAN ANTONIO, TX

After determining that a quorum was present, President David Wall called the meeting to order at Noon, 10/13/04. The following members were present: David Wall, Steve White, Don Telge, George Pylant, Rick Bennett, Ray Erwin, Jim Cruser, Howard Pierson, Craig Johnson, Mike Meador, Scott Dunham, Steve Prather, Bruce Moore, Rob Brooks, Stan Jones, Rich Hendler, Myron Rabalais and Paul Northcutt.

President Wall thanked Immediate Past President Steve White for his leadership and guidance during the past year and thanked outgoing Board Member Mike Meador for his efforts and leadership and invited both to any future Board Meetings.

President Wall gave a summary of the conference thanked everyone who helped make it such a success. Rick Bennett, Don Telge and Paul Northcutt were also thanked for developing and conducting the training program for the conference.

Paul Northcutt read the minutes of the previous meeting. A motion was made and SECONDED to accept the minutes as read. Paul stated that the complete and verbatim minutes are maintained on the TVMA web site.

David stated we had a great conference, and felt we would come close within our conference budget.

Myron Rabalais provided the Treasurer’s report. Although many items are still in flux and a final accounting cannot be made, an overview of the financial status indicates that collections from the conference was in excess of $32,000 in gross revenues. Preliminary total expenses are approximately $19,000, but several bills are still unpaid. Preliminary figures show we should clear approximately $7,000, making this a successful and profitable conference for the TVMA. Myron will provide a detailed accounting at the next board meeting. It was noted that LCRA provided the complete funding for the Skeet Tournament and LCRA was extended a sincere thank you from the Board. It was also noted that Dow AgroSciences provided the shells for the event. Myron also indicated that the “on-line” credit-card registration process seemed to work very well.

Paul Northcutt indicated that our final number at the conference was approximately 210 personnel, including spouses. Our numbers were up from Arlington, but not significantly. Paul requested any ideas or articles for the upcoming CLIP.

David addressed the new board meeting schedules as follows:

1. December 7, 2004, 10:00 am, LCRA facility on Lake Buchanan. The facility, lunch and sleeping rooms for board members are being furnished by LCRA at no charge to the Association.

2. February, 2005 will be in Austin in conjunction with the Legislative Dinner. A date will be established later.

3. May, 2005 in Austin, date to be established.

4. August, 2005 in South Padre Island, prior to school starting

5. October, 2005 at the contract hotel.

David went back to Committee Chair Responsibilities and received a report from the Legislative Committee.

Legislative Committee – Rich Hendler reported that he has been in contact with Representative Hardcastle and is in the process of establishing an acceptable date for our upcoming February, 2005 Legislative dinner. Rich will relay the established week to the Board as soon as possible. The function will be held again at the Texas Land and Cattle restaurant on South Mopac in Austin. Paul Northcutt will assist in distributing letters to invitees.

David Wall stated some of his goals for the Association during his 2004-2005 term. One of his goals is to expand the TVMA web site. A historical section should be added , an awards section, possible training materials available through the web site, and a calendar of events that would be of interest to our members. The Board of Directors agreed to authorized Paul to expand the web site as directed. Steve White re-iterated that each Board Member should feed notices of upcoming events to Paul and not leave the whole responsibility to Paul. Paul advised that no additional costs would be to the Association for this expansion.

Bruce Moore will head the Historical Committee during this year. Bruce will coordinate with Paul on saving the historical information in a secure location. Bruce will keep the archives and provide information to Paul for the web.

David went through other committees and talked about the responsibilities of committees and committee chairs:

Nominating – current president (David Wall) chairs. That committee’s responsibility is to find acceptable candidates to fill board and officer vacancies. The by-laws state that Vice president comes from the Board of Directors.

Internal Audit – Ron Held will chair this coming year. We will have an internal audit every two years. The next audit is planned to be completed prior to the 2005 Annual Conference. Ron and Myron have already been coordinating on this issue. A motion was made that the internal audit be completed by February 28, 2005. The motion was seconded and approved by the Board.

Membership – Ray Erwin recommended Scott Dunham to serve as chair of the Membership Committee. Scott agreed to chair that committee for the 2004-2005 year and the Board appointed him as Membership Committee chair.

David talked about “New Business A”, regarding possibilities for a membership drive for the coming year. Scott was directed to put that program together so that we could publish it in the CLIP. Deadline to get the recommended program assembled is by the end of November, 2004. Whether the Board is to fund prizes or whether we should solicit donations would be recommended in the program to be developed by the Membership Committee. Ray Erwin talked about notifying those members who attended the 2003 conference, but did not attend the 2004 conference. A motion was made authorizing Scott and Paul to spend necessary funds to send letters to request past members to re-join TVMA. Motion carries. Paul will bring a list to the next board meeting of the list of members who did not join again in 2004 so that the Board members can call them individually if necessary.

2005 Conference: The Board Congratulated Ray Erwin on being elected as Vice President. Ray and Paul will schedule a date in early January to make site inspections and lock in a conference hotel and contract. Paul indicated that we have received several preliminary bids and several bids seem good. Ray has already contact several other Vegetation Management organizations to get their recommendations on good speakers to talk about at our next meeting. Chano Falcon was suggested as a good local arrangements contact for South Padre Island. Don Telge will research his TDA / SPCB list to see the number of applicators in that area. At this point, Steve Prather indicates that TxDOT will not need a room to hold their meeting during the 2005 annual conference – they will hold their meeting at the TxDOT maintenance conferences. Steve doesn’t think that will reduce the numbers attending. Rob Brooks advised that several members in that areas had offered the use of their boats for the fishing tournament. However there is a concern about the possible liability issues. Paul stated that the 8/10/04 Board Meeting minutes stated that . . .”the directors agreed to look at possible annual conference sites in South Padre.” There was no vote. A motion was made to host the 2005 annual conference in South Padre Island. The motion was seconded and approved by the Board.

Agenda Item VI. D and F were addressed:

David proposed that the TVMA develop a research grant program to provide financial assistance to universities or other groups to help solve vegetation management issues in the state. This relates to an “unfinished business” item of what to do with an increasing bank account. David questioned that should we develop a program where organizations could apply to TVMA for grants to look into a problem which, when researched, might yield results which would help the Association. Our by-laws say that we can create Special Committees. A motion was made and seconded that TVMA create a Research Committee for TVMA. The motion was approved by the Board. Howard Pierson volunteered to chair the committee and was appointed as Chair of the Research Committee. David provided guidance on how to get the word out to possible organizations that we will accept proposals for grants, and create program guidelines on how to submit proposals. No deadline was given for the development of this program and guidelines. We could even solicit donations for the Research Program. We might also provide grant funds to research that is already in progress. The results could be made available via the web site.

David discussed establishing an Advisory Committee and stated that the By-Laws permitted the committee. David felt the intent of an Advisory Committee would be to develop a closer relationship with those regulatory agencies who affect our industry. He suggest that we develop “key contacts” within the Agencies who now becomes our “point person.” The Board would choose those Agencies we want to develop direct contact with. David suggested that he be the Chair of that Committee. A motion was made, seconded and approved by the Board that TVMA to create an Advisory Committee. A motion was made, seconded and approved by the Board that David Wall chair the Advisory Committee. David will get in touch with TDA and begin the discussions. Several members volunteered to serve with David on this Committee.

Editorial Committee – no report was received.

Scholarship Committee – the new Scholarship winners will be added to the TVMA web page and our TVMA database. Rob Brooks will furnish the names and addresses and Paul will prepare certificates for the winners. We raised approximately $2,600 in the various fund-raising activities at the conference.

Awards – David discussed the lifetime achievement award and stated that we would award that again during the coming year and solicited nominations, a letter of nomination and a bio.

Unfinished business: Steve White updated the Board on the status of the final tax-exempt status. Apparently the government is the delay in issuing the final tax-exempt number. We should have the ability to ask for a refund of taxes from the date that we applied for the number. Steve will mail all official IRS documents to Myron.

A motion was made, seconded and approved by the Board to add David Wall to the TVMA checking account signature cards.

The Board Addressed refunds. . A written request for refund was received by Steve White on October 5, 2004, on behalf of Mr. Larry Koop, Jackson Electric Cooperative, Inc., Edna, TX. Mr. Koop had a death in the family and a request for registration refund was made by the CFO of the company. A motion was made, seconded and approved by the Board to authorize a registration refund of $100 be made to Larry Koop, Jackson Electric Cooperative, Inc., Edna, TX due to a death in the family. Paul Northcutt will advise Myron to make the refund. Paul also advised that if any other requests for refunds were received, we would electronically mail it out to the board and ask for a yes or no vote.

Rick Bennett provided an update on the Training Committee. Rick stated that the presentation prepared by TNT Training was “second to none” and provided excellent training to the attendees. Rick will continue to assess the presentation and look for ways to help applicants prepare better for the examination. For 2005, we probably should have a separate room for the TDA inspector to grade exams so as not to disturb the training. It was recommended that we distribute to the membership the CEU’s available in the Training Program and the Annual Conference program early to insure that anyone who needs CEU’s and wants them early can get them. The feedback on the training program is all positive from the attendees. Rick suggested that we should incorporate a system to get the study materials to the applicants. It was discussed to purchase the TDA Right-of-Way book and provide it to the applicants. We need to emphasize that it is imperative that you study the Right of Way manual prior to taking the test; the training alone will probably not suffice. However, it was recognized that many attendees are told that they are going to attend the training only a few days prior to the conference. Paul suggested that we could purchase the Right of Way manuals and adjust our registration rates to account for the cost of the books. We could also provide them to the attendees for a cost when they get to the training. Rick could high-light the pertinent sections of the Manuals to help the individual study for the exam. Rick will develop recommendations and present to the Board on whether we should purchase Manuals, etc.

It was discussed that the CEU training programs sponsored by TDA should be coordinated through Rick Bennett as the Chair of the Training Committee. We will insure advertisement in the web and CLIP.

Honorary Members were discussed. Jim Thrash, Bill Held, Don Renchie and Mary Ketchersid were elected as such. Paul will prepare a letter and certificate to each member. Those names will be posted on the new “history” section of the web site.

New Business Item C was discussed.

Applicator Spray School or workshop being conducted by TVMA was discussed by David Wall. This would be an outdoor session with a spray truck, etc., to provide more “hands-on” experience. This would not be associated with the Conference, perhaps in late winter, prior to the spray season, designed to help the person “behind the spray gun.” Comments were received on this idea. It was discussed that CEU’s could be awarded but we would not “certify” anyone. LCRA offered the use of the Buchanan facility with facilities for overnight spraying for the use of this school if necessary. There was considerable discussion as to how much interest in such a program there would be. Several board members felt that private contractors and custom applicators would not be interested in this program at all; due to their own liability issues, they would want to train their own employees in their own techniques as they are financially responsible for the applicator’s actions. It might be more beneficial to governmental entities rather than private contractors. It was suggested that we send out a survey to see if there was any interest in this program. The idea was tabled for the time being, but Paul was directed to send out an electronic survey to the membership to see if any interest is out there and to see which segments the responses come from.

A motion was made, seconded and approved by the Board to Adjourn.

Submitted by:

Paul Northcutt

TVMA Secretary-Editor