ABS Board Minutes

Minutes of the American Bamboo Society Board Meeting 22.August 2021
 
Call to order: 11:08 AM PDT [via Zoom]
 
Quorum (6 Directors Minimum, 7 Present): Boeraeve, King, Meckes, Comstock, Banks, Simmons, Lewis
Directors absent: Edwards, McCormick, Connor, Saporito, Pierce
Others present: Dan Fox (Mid-States Chapter)
Absent: Hollenback (PNWC, Treasurer)
 
(1) ABS Annual Meeting/Conference update (Kristen Comstock, Daphne Lewis) –
(a) The online registration system and the Stripe payment system are working well after a couple of fixes. About 17 registrations have been received.
(b) There has been little general publicity to date, but the meeting will be posted to the public in 1 – 2 weeks on social media.
(c) Kristen asked about how the auctions (live and silent) normally are set up. King and Meckes will send her bid and auction forms from past auctions as examples.
(d) There are so far only a few local volunteers, partly due to the spread out nature of the Chapter requiring distance travel. Last-minute help will probably appear as we have seen in prior events.
(e) There has not been significant pushback against the policy that COVID-19 vaccination will be required to attend.
(f) Boeraeve plans to send a reminder email to the Chapters about their annual reports for the AGM, suggesting a due date of 18.September. Any report, however brief, will be welcome.
 
(2) Insurance — King moved that the ABS Director and Officer’s policy be renewed, passed unanimously. As for General Liability insurance, normally the host chapter provides it if required — King suggested checking with the Georgia state garden club to see if a group policy is available at a reasonable cost.
 
(3) Nominations for upcoming At-Large and International Director vacancies – Harry Simmons has received only one nomination for each position: Boeraeve for International, and Hollenback for At-Large. Nominations have closed, meaning an election is not required and these two may take those positions at the annual meeting.
 
(4) Membership (Carole Meckes) – The total and chapter membership numbers were presented. The Mid-States chapter, by virtue of “adopting” many of the Northeast Chapter members, now has enough to qualify for a Chapter Director on the ABS Board.
 
(5) BAMBOO Magazine (Meckes) – the Summer issue is late, likely due to lack of submissions. King suggested having more pictures to fill out the magazine in the absence of enough text and also make it more attractive.
 
(6) Hosting the 2022 and 2023 ABS AGMs and Conferences – In the absence of Shanti Pierce and Judge Edwards, this discussion was tabled.
 
(7) Next Meetings –
Board: 12.September 21, 11am PDT, 2pm EDT.
 
Adjournment: 12:45PM PDT.