ABS Board Minutes

Minutes of the Meeting of the American Bamboo Society Board 26.June.2022
 
Call to order: 11:00 AM PDT [via Zoom]
 
Quorum (7 Directors Minimum, 8 Present): Meckes, King, Lewis, Comstock, Boeraeve, Connor, Pierce, Simmons
Directors absent: Edwards, Saporito, Banks, Hollenback
Others present: Alain Flexer (Guest, LGCC)
 
(1) Fiscal Sponsorship of SEC for Art Installation Project at the Georgia Coastal Gardens – 
(a) Total cost of the project $50,000, $40,000 to be funded by grants, $10,000 by Coastal Gardens.
(b) Construction to begin in March 2023 and take 2 – 3 weeks to complete.
(c) Draft agreement between the ABS and the SEC presented. Will be reviewed pro bono by Alain Flexer, who is an attorney. Board approval will follow, likely at the 31.July meeting.
(d) Termination of the agreement to be set for 31.Dec.2023 to allow for delays.
(e) Connor stressed that periodic reports on the project be submitted by the SEC to ABS media.
(f) A motion (Comstock, second: Boeraeve) to provide fiscal sponsorship to the Southeast Chapter for this project CARRIED unanimously. The SEC may write the letter of intention required by the grantors using the ABS tax-exempt credentials at any time, but the actual grant application must be under the terms of the sponsorship agreement to be approved at the next meeting of the ABS Board.
 
(2) Bamboo affliction involving running species in the Southeast –
(a) Alain Flexer, referring to his previously sent email, presented his recommendations that the ABS Board notify and survey members regarding the disease and request volunteers among the Directors to coordinate the ABS response.
(b) Lewis has already begun the process by sending a questionnaire to all ABS members. She has received 7 responses in the first 24 hours.
(c) Lewis and Pierce described their experience and observations in their bamboos showing the signs of the disease.
(c) An ad hoc committee will direct the investigation into this potentially contagious disease, as yet unnamed. Members of this committee are Daphne Lewis, Shanti Pierce, and Ian Connor. They will provide progress reports periodically to the Board. 
(d) A top priority is to contact the USDA at Byron, the USDA importation station in Beltsville, MD and State agricultural agencies to begin testing and provide control recommendations.
 
(13) Next Board Meeting –
31.July 2022, 11:00 AM PDT via Zoom.
 
Adjournment: 11:50 AM PDT.