Glastonbury Partners in Planting, Inc.
Third Annual Meeting of Members
January 16, 2006
Minutes
Twenty members and 7 member guests met at High Street School, South Glastonbury, CT. President Della Winans brought the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. President Winans explained that she and Secretary Bonnie Maguire would be reading from a prepared script to conduct the election of directors and officers.
Meeting comes to order: President and Director Della Winans welcomed everyone to the third annual meeting of members. She stated that Bonnie Maguire, The Secretary of the Corporation, would act as secretary of this meeting. President Winans brought a motion, which was unanimously approved to dispense with reading the minutes of the October 17, 2005 Board of Directors meeting in order to save time. She noted that Stephen Shipman posted the 2005 minutes of member meetings on the web site so that members present or absent can review them.
The order of business for the meeting was as follows:
- The election of 5 directors to the Board of Directors for a term of 3 years (1/2006 to 1/2009)
- The election of officers for a term of two years (1/2006 to 1/2008)
- The transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting.
President Della Winans noted that following the completion of the formal business there would be an informal meeting and report to the members to review the GPIP’s activities to date and plans for this year.
Before proceeding with the formal part of the meeting, President Della Winans introduced the current officers and directors of the Corporation who were present at the meeting. She asked each officer to stand when his or her name was called:
Deborah Kent, Vice President
Roger Olson, Treasurer
Bonnie Maguire, Secretary
Directors: Betty Schmitt, Roger Winans, and Ann Pettengill
Absent were Roger Burr, Nancy Shipman and Robert Shipman
Elections: President Della Winans reviewed the voting process by stating action at this meeting requires the presence of a quorum of members. Those members actually present and who are entitled to vote will constitute a quorum. In the case of the directors nominated for office, each of them will be elected by a plurality of the votes cast by the members entitled to vote in the election, provided the total number of members who vote is not less than the number required for a quorum. Voting will be by written ballot. Dues-paying members were given ballots. There were no proxies for dues-paying member submitted.
Secretary Bonnie Maguire thanked President Della Winans and she stated she certified that a notice of this annual meeting was sent, by means of due and proper mailing or electronic e-mail transmission, to each dues-paying member of record. A list of the members of the Corporation as of today, January 16, 2006 indicates there are 225 such members, each of whom is entitled to one vote on all matters presented to this meeting. There is present at this meeting and available for inspection a complete list of all members.
She made a poll of the members present at this meeting in person, and entitled to vote 20 members present. Therefore there was a quorum for the transaction of business. President Winans thanked Secretary Maguire.
The first item on the agenda: The first item on the agenda was the election of directors to the Board of Directors. President Della Winans received the report of the Board of Directors with respect to nominations. They were as follows: (She asked each nominee to stand when his or her name was called.) For a term of three years, (until the 2009 annual meeting), Deborah Kent, Claude-Evelyne Odiaka, Stephen Shipman, Roger Winans, Della Winans.
The second item on the agenda: The second item on the agenda was the election of officers. President Della Winans stated that she received the report of the Board of Directors with respect to officer nominations. They were as follows: (She asked each nominee to stand when his or her name was called.) For a term of two years, (until the 2008 annual meeting), President: Deborah Kent, Vice President: Stephen Shipman, Secretary: Claude-Evelyne Odiaka, Treasurer: Roger Winans.
President Winans asked if there were any additional nominations. Hearing none, she closed the nominations and proceeded with the voting process. President Winans declared the polls closed and requested that Secretary Maguire canvass the results of the voting on each of the five directors and four officers.
Secretary Maguire reported: Each of the persons nominated as directors and officer received a plurality of the votes cast and the total number of members who voted was not less than the number required for a quorum.
President Winans thanked Secretary Maguire and stated that she was pleased to declare that all the persons nominated to serve as officers or directors of the corporation have been elected. There was no other business to come before the meeting; she declared the formal part of the meeting adjourned.
She invited all the members to remain for the reports on the Corporation’s activities and plans for the New Year. Also, to stay for the guest speaker Mr. Chris Lucey, Arborist. She thanked everyone for coming to the meeting and the baton was passed to President Deborah Kent.
President Deborah Kent stated going forward we plan to have guest speakers at each member meeting. President Kent presented the outgoing President Della Winans with a gift and complimented her on a job well done on her vision of community spirit.
Each outgoing officer passed on a symbolic 'golden shovel' to the new officer replacing him or her with a handshake saying, 'I pass to you this golden shovel. A symbol of our trust in you, Glastonbury Partners in Planting, Inc. Take care of it as you fulfill the duties of your office. Pass it on to the person who follows you in this important GPIP Office.'
Report of accomplishments for 2005 – President Winans’ report: Winan’s script inserted into minutes.
It hardly seems possible that almost three years have gone by since our first organizational meeting on May 20, 2003. The group of about 20 people who came to that first meeting were certainly a committed bunch of people. From that first meeting we have grown to 225 members with a bank balance of over $13,000 to begin our next planting season. I hope you all feel proud of the commitment we have made to our community. I know I do and I thank each of you for the part you have played in making our Partners in Planting a success.
Since we had detailed project reports at our last member meeting in October, The Board decided to forgo detailed reports. I will just quickly review our projects for those of you who missed that meeting. We are establishing a new policy of posting our minutes on our web site after each meeting. It will take about a week to do this, but it will give everyone an opportunity to keep up to date and sign up for work crews.
Our Finance/fundraising committee, led by Deb Kent has kept our name in the news. Ann Pettengill took over are Membership chair this summer and has done a terrific job of signing up new members and communicating with you all.
Nancy Shipman and Carol Newman headed up the Planter group. We now have 40 planters in the center of town and are getting requests for more from the north end of Main Street. We all saw the results of that committee’s work each time we drove through the center last summer. It was a hot, dry summer but they managed to keep our center green and colorful.
Bob Shipman watched over the tree nursery and we hope has been able to discourage the deer that moved in this fall. We have about 150 trees in the nursery with 18 more ordered for spring.
We have begun to harvest trees already. We planted 3 Valley Forge elms in South Glastonbury village this fall. The Board is considering more work in the village for the coming year.
A loyal group cared for the gardens at the Welles-Turner Library.
We partnered with Girl Scout Troop 813 to plant gardens at Center Village. Deb Kent led this group. The Scouts raised $2,000 and the girls and their families helped with the planting. The Exchange Club and local businesses donated another $2,000.
We partnered with South Glastonbury Public Library. We provided the expertise and labor and they provided the money for trees and shrubs. We will continue with this project this spring.
The Education Committee will again work with a sixth grade core at Gideon Welles School this spring. The topic is plant propagation.
And now we come to the Medians at Main and Button Ball Lane. Edie Kelley took on the Herculean task of heading up the committee to maintain the medians. I’m sure you all saw and enjoyed their continual bloom this past growing season. I have asked Edie to give a brief report.
I must admit that Partners in Planting has been a lot of work but it has been one of the most satisfying volunteer projects I have ever undertaken. It’s been great working with you all. So often I read about the loss of Community Spirit in our country. Well we have proven that we haven’t lost it here. Let’s keep up the good work.
Maintain RT 17 & Main Street Garden Medians - Report from Eddie Kelley: Eddie Kelley stated at the beginning the median garden project had a lot of safety and legal issues, mainly because it is state property and they had to follow a lot of procedures. She announced that the level of trust from the town and the police department is very gratifying. The GPIP members and volunteers can be trusted to follow safety standards and no longer need the supervision of the police officers. The orange safety vests that the members and volunteers wear while working in the median has been great for public relations (GPIP is painted in front of the vest). The beauty and color of the gardens throughout the flowering season in the median has given passerby’s pleasure and pride. This has inspired a lot of donations. The star of the median (Southern median) was the Rosa Knockout or Knockout rose. November 19, 2005 was the committee members last work session. 27 members/volunteers worked with Eddie not counting the two mowers. Let’s not forget the drought this summer. The perennial plants/flowers were very sturdy, since they were watered only twice for the season. Eddie noted that she kept track of the forecasts for rain and would fertilize before it rained.
Volunteers GPIP Committees and Projects: President Kent passed clipboards for volunteers to sign up for specific projects and/or committees:
Education Committee
Membership Committee
Fundraising and Public Relations Committee
Planters Committee
Member Suggestions for New GPIP Projects - President Kent: President Kent compiled ideas for this year from members including:
- South Glastonbury Village: Business owners would like to see planters, trees and possibly better sidewalks.
- South Main Street and Carini Road: About 15 feet area wide proposed by neighbors.
- Diamond at New London Turnpike and Chestnut Hill.
- Knox Lane Senior Housing Community – Would like a garden and they will maintain.
- Hebron Avenue (between Keeney Street and Manchester Road): A Portal to Glastonbury from the East. Proposal for wildflowers along sidewalk and fence lining road.
- Riverfront Community Center: Proposal for native plantings and benches near the river.
3-Mile Marker Garden Plan-Update: Brian Chiffer stated that the 3-mile marker is on private property on Hebron Avenue in front a Day Care Center. He met with the owner twice – showed him a blueprint of the plans of what it will look like. Brian met with Jim Bennett Historic Executive Director of Historical Society of Glastonbury. They are researching the 3-Mile Marker and believe it can be nominated as a State Historic Site.
Guest speaker: Mr. Chris Lucey, Arborist: Director Della Winans introduced Mr. Lucey.
President Deborah Kent announced the next member meeting will be April 10, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. It will most likely be held at the High Street School.
After question and answer session the meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Claude-Evelyne Odiaka, Secretary
