SOUTHEAST ARIZONA BUTTERFLY ASSOCIATION
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Lutheran Church of the Foothills
The Executive Committee (ExCom) meeting was called to order by President Larry Fellows at 5:30 pm.
Members in attendance: Larry Fellows, President; Gerry Wolfe, Vice President/ Webmaster/Hospitality; Sharon Overstreet, Executive at Large, Fred Heath, Education Chair; Cindy Bethard, Membership Chair; and Vicki Wolfe, Publicity Chair. Appointed Member at Large: Joanne Sears. Partial attendance: Priscilla Brodkin, Treasurer.
Minutes: Minutes of the 11/28/17 ExCom meeting were reviewed and unanimously approved.
Posting Minutes on Website: Motion to put minutes on website was agreed upon by all. Reason: transparency to membership and potential future officers for our organization; e.g. we need more people to understand the committee and potentially volunteer for the Executive Committee. Caveat: monetary amounts will not be posted on the website and, per usual, personal information is not included in minutes.
ExCom Membership: Yvonne Bourgeois, Executive at Large and Web Designer for the SEABA Website, has officially resigned from the ExCom. We wish her well. The Committee again discussed the continuing need for additional ExCom members. The ExCom noted that the Secretary, and several Executive at Large positions are currently vacant. There is also a need to recruit members to fill positions for the coming year, including the President, the Vice President and the Publicity Chair since they do not choose to run for new terms in May.
Action Item: Vice President Gerry Wolfe and Membership Chair Cindy Bethard will serve as the Nominating Committee for the solicitation of persons to fill ExCom vacancies.
Budget: Budget review was led by Larry. Amendments were discussed and approved.
Website: SEABA website hosting expenses to Bluehost are due in March. All website posts are up-to-date.
Action Item: Gerry will continue to work on the transition from our resigned Web Designer’s account to one that SEABA can access and maintain in perpetuity.
SEABA Presentations: Larry is optimistic that the projection problems at meetings have been resolved. The Church purchased a new cable that connects the laptop to the projector; the old one apparently was the culprit. Fred and Larry met at the Church with Jim Brock on January 10 and did a successful trial run. March speaker Ken Kertell met with Fred and Larry on January 22 and did a successful run using his Mac laptop. Cindy reports that Jillian Cowles, the February speaker, will be using PowerPoint made on a PC, so that should be no problem.
SEABA Monthly Meetings: Speakers for general meetings this spring are set. Members Forum in May: Larry and Gerry volunteered to do presentations; three more presenters are needed to round out the program. Larry will solicit speakers at tonight’s meeting.
Publicity: Vicki Wolfe has put out publicity for the January and February general programs and the February 23 field trip. Brock’s and Cowle’s programs are advertised in print via the Desert Leaf and Tubac Villager. Both are posted online via the AZ Daily Star and the Explorer. At present, the February 23 field trip is being advertised online via the AZ Daily Star and the Star is also considering it for print. It has also been submitted to the Tubac Villager.
Field Trips: To maintain SEABA’s healthy budget, it would be beneficial for SEABA to offer approximately 20 field trips this coming year. Several members from ExCom volunteered to lead field trips and it was shared that Mary Klinkel plans to be an active leader again this year. As usual, announcements will be posted on the website and distributed to membership via email when trips become finalized.
Action Item: Field trip proposals will be submitted by leaders to Website Editor and Membership Chair.
Speakers Bureau Resource on Website Proposed: Larry Fellows and Fred Heath have proposed posting a Speakers Bureau on the website that would include topics of butterfly presentations that organizations could request from SEABA. Larry Fellows has two presentations: “Common Butterflies of Southern Arizona” and “Three Special Butterflies: Red Admiral, Texan Crescent, Black Swallowtail.” Fred Heath’s presentations include, “Food Vs. Nectar” and “Life Histories of Butterflies.”
Action Item: Fred and Larry will coordinate the effort and provide information for the website. Larry will seek other participants at tonight’s meeting.
SEABA Post Office Box: The question arose as to whether or not SEABA should keep the Hereford P.O. Box, or to save the fee and only use the SEABA Treasurer’s personal mailing address. For privacy reasons, the ExCom decided to keep the publicly listed P.O. Box.
Opening / Closing Monthly Meeting Venue: At present, only Larry Fellows is able to open / close the church.
Action Item: Fred Heath will be trained and equipped to be back up.
Tubac Nature Center Request: A nature center is being established in Tubac, Arizona and assistance has been requested for a butterfly exhibit.
Action Item: Gerry and Vicki will explore the specifics on behalf of SEABA.
Pima County Naturalists Partnership: For PIMA County Naturalists to be certified, they need to do volunteer work. It was agreed that SEABA will become partners with them; therefore, they can get volunteer credit for assisting with NABA butterfly surveys.
Action Item: Sharon Overstreet will coordinate.
Note: Gerry Wolfe, Vice President/ Webmaster/Hospitality; Cindy Bethard, Membership Chair; and Vicki Wolfe, Publicity Chair will not be present at the March general meeting.
Parking Lot:
-Having back up capability to deal with necessary email notifications to membership if Membership Chair cannot do it for some reason. Same also for SEABA website postings if Webmaster is not available.
-Date of this fall’s UA Insect Festival? Education Chair Fred Heath, coordinator of SEABA’s participation, will follow up.
The next ExCom Meeting will be February 27, 2018 at 5:30PM at the Lutheran Church of the Foothills.
Meeting was adjourned at 6:35 PM
Respectfully submitted by
Vicki Wolfe, Publicity Chair