Minutes of the 2002 Board of Directors Meetings
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| BOARD MEETING MINUTES TULSA AUDUBON SOCIETY June 4, 2002
1. Meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. at Tomye Mainer’s home by incoming President John Kennington. Attendees: John Kennington, Tomye Mainer, Phil Teter, Paul Moser, Patty Moser, Bob Germany, Donna Germany, Aline Romero, Jo Loyd, Carol Eames, Amy Lambert, Janie Cheek, Bill Foster, Suzie Tramel, and Bob Harwood. John Kennington thanked Tomye Mainer for handing over things to him in good order. All attendees agreed Tomye had done a great job as her tenure as President. 2. Minor changes to minutes of Board Meeting of April 2, 2002 were provided by Tomye Mainer and Bob Gard (not present). Unanimous acceptance of previous Board Meeting Minutes as amended. 3. Treasurer’s Report presented by Phil Teter. Bank statement not yet available. $25,000 CD will soon mature, and Treasurer assumes that TAS will want to reinvest. No disagreement from board. As soon as he gets the bank statement, he will publish the Treasurer’s Report on email. Afterwards, it will be submitted to Audit Committee. The May 31st deadline was not met as it was not feasible, but efforts toward audit are now underway. Phil also reported receiving a thank-you letter from Friends of Deep Fork. John Kennington provided to Phil Teter the now-due insurance bill for payment. 4. John announced some changes in committees and distributed Director/Committee List. Carolyn Mathews’ efforts will now be called “Education/Speakers Bureau”. She will continue to give speeches to schools, retirement homes, and groups. This somewhat overlaps Dody Nesbit’s duties in Outreach. Tomye Mainer agreed to separately chair Audubon Adventures, and she and Carol will have responsibility for that effort. Further discussion later in meeting. 5. Donna Germany announced that she would be taking over as Historian to replace Laurel Upshaw, but will be giving up chairmanship of Sales Committee. Aline Romero volunteered to resume responsibility for Sales Committee and will be assisted by Mary Jackson and Lynn Dickerson. Elaine Renning will continue as special project manager of the photograph sales. The Sales Committee Inventory of January 2002 will need to be updated. Discussion ensued regarding Sales. Various suggestions were made to reduce inventory including giving items away as door prizes, have a “super sale” in September, lower price of T-shirts and other items. We have an inventory of 900+ Date Guide to Birds of Tulsa County, which will not be updated again for 10 years, so it was determined that a drastic reduction of this inventory was not needed at this time. But the earlier edition 1988 was discussed (of which we have 94 ). John Kennington suggested we make sure TAS has archived adequate copies and the surplus should be donated to local universities, naturalists and ornithology students. Board agreed. The Tulsa Birding Map Guide needs updating as well. No specific plans as yet for update. Jo Loyd offered to donate manila folders to Donna Germany’s efforts to include some of these high-inventory items in the new-member packets, including current Date Guide, Birding Map of Tulsa County and the other Audubon materials. Further discussion of Sales. Phil Teter reported Elaine Renning had remitted proceeds from the photo print sales and the photographer had been paid. Scrapbook. Jo Loyd has information on how to archive and will provide that. Tomye Mainer offered to have an “archiving party” at her husband’s office where things could be left on tables afterwards awaiting further disposal. Volunteers for the archiving effort include Tomye Mainer, Donna Germany, Carol Eames, John Kennington. It was reported that TU archives are now being more carefully controlled and archives are not as easily accessed as in the past. Least Terns Bob Harwood announced that this will be his last year as Least Tern Chairman and a new leader will need to be appointed. He has a replacement in mind and will speak to that person privately and see if he is willing. So far this year, reports show that the Terns are late, behind schedule, not doing very well. Kevin Stubbs of Corps of Engineers has been on Zink island last week, and the greenery has been treated again with a stronger herbicide, a metal shield has been put on the island to inhibit snakes, but the Canada Goose problem has not yet been addressed. Bob Germany reported that Kevin Stubbs agreed to let us know when meetings regarding water flow are taking place, perhaps one per year, but so far he has not heard of any scheduled meeting. Bill Foster announced that he will be available to head up the Eagle program again next year. He asked if we should continue Eagle Days, and received a unanimous “yes” from Board. We will plan for two consecutive weekends in January ‘03, one Saturday and one Sunday and publish in the Schedule of Events Guide, as well as newspaper coverage. Bill reported that the structure on the Eagle property is still in good shape, and suggested that we continue to monitor the Eagles. Board Approved. Suzie Tramel reported on Field Trips for 2002-3. She has only two definite dates for the 2002-3 schedule, but plans to have a meeting soon with committee to finalize. She was reminded of the July 15th deadline for printing the Event Guide and said the deadline would be met. Amy Lambert asked to present something to the Board to consider. She received an email regarding a goose with a fishline around its leg. She wondered if we wanted to sponsor volunteers to go out and rescue animals. Bob Germany said some of the rehabbers in Tulsa could take care of it and that it probably would not be an activity TAS should undertake. Board agreed . Tomye asked how to direct a phone call she had received regarding shooting of songbirds. Donna Germany provided name of Fish & Wildlife head of Enforcement of Migratory Bird Regulations, in Oklahoma City. Old Business • Audit Committee will resume audit right away. • Garden Center Training - John Kennington will go to training on Garden Center equipment. • Action item for Janie Cheek to put library flyers monthly is included in Annual Plan, but it was suggested that we remove as an action item and have Janie simply continue doing it as time allows, not on a monthly schedule. • A Guide to Birding in Oklahoma – John Kennington has already put some information online from this guide and suggested that we eventually have all this information online at the TAS website. Jo Loyd and John to discuss what needs to be done. Jo will put together list of original contributors, such as Elizabeth Hayes, Joe Grzybowski, and others. • Philbrook Grounds Renovation update. 18-22 months, no admittance. Hardhat area only. • Dirt Mining hearing in Osage County postponed pending investigation of a legal challenge by an adjacent property owner. Will continue to monitor. Cross Timbers, Nature Conservancy people will likely attend the meeting. New Business • Event Guide deadline July 15-22, 2002. • Fund Raising by sale of Birdseed. John suggested re-introducing the seed sales. Discussion regarding whether or not TAS volunteers can physically handle the seed bags. John reported that some Boy Scout troops could provide the manpower. He suggested that we ask the Scouts to distribute flyers in neighborhoods and businesses as well. We will need to find someone who will donate warehouse space for the birdseed sale. John said he still has the database of birdseed customers from the past and we could do a separate mailing of flyers, and/or include flyers with the Scissortail issue. We will still need TAS volunteers for the day of the sale. John will put the order form online at TAS website. It was agreed that careful accounting of this program should be followed to determine its profitability. Tomye made motion that we proceed. Aline seconded. Motion carried. • John proposed that TAS sponsor more Audubon Adventures with proceeds from the birdseed sales. He proposed a target of 25 Audubon Adventure classes in our next fiscal year. We would change our approach by first finding the appropariate teacher and follow thru to make sure it’s used, not just send the kits to a school as in the past. This would cost $1025. Motion to spend a maximum of $1100 on Audubon Adventures next year was made by T Mainer, seconded by Patty Moser. Motion carried. • Membership Promotion. John Kennington said his name could be used as contact. He said the recipients of Audubon Adventures are automatically members. He will determine the dues split for those members. He commented that reinstating the birdseed sales will generate new membership. • Chapter-only dues. Action item. Cost per newsletter will be determined by Phil and Janie as a basis for determining what these dues should be. Volunteers to host next two meetings: Carol Eames August Patty Moser October Having no further business to be brought before the Board, meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m. Thanks to Tomye & Jim Mainer for opening their home and providing refreshments. TULSA AUDUBON SOCIETY Minutes of Board Meeting August 6, 2002 John Kennington, President, called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. in the home of Carol Eames. The following members were present: Janie Cheek, Carol Eames, Bob Gard, John Kennington, Amy Lambert, Peter Lowen, Jo Loyd, Tomye Mainer, Patty and Paul Moser, Aline Romero, Janet Slater, and Suzie Tramel. Paul moved to accept the minutes of the previous meeting, and they were unanimously approved. Phil Teter reported there were no unordinary items in the treasurer’s report. Tomye moved to accept, and approval was again unanimous. John Kennington presented Phil with the bill from Tulsa Garden Center for $315 to cover a $35 rental for our third Tuesday society meetings between September and May. President’s Announcements: Bryant College in Rhode Island is putting together a national database on women in environmental education. John has received forms for our group to nominate candidates. Janet Slater suggested we could nominate our education chairman, Carolyn Mathews, who has previously received awards in this field. The Yellowstone Association is looking for a permanent executive director. Carol Eames took the application blank for personal consideration. John has a letter from Bob Walshaw urging that we not sell bird seed mixes containing millet, as they only encourage House Sparrows, one of our Eastern Bluebird’s worst enemies. Committee Reports: Audubon Adventures: Tomye’s daughter, Valerie, will get her a list of teachers who are prospective users of the Audubon Adventures curriculum. Currently, four teachers are signed up. John also has a teacher list. National Audubon has a new policy of awarding a year’s membership to teachers who sign up to use Audubon Adventures. Also, there is a supply of gifts from National Audubon, which can be used as door prizes, to encourage new memberships, or to show teacher appreciation. These are stored at Jim Mainer’s office. Donna Germany has agreed to replace Laurel Upshaw as TAS Historian, and has met with Nyla Woody concerning keeping these records. Laurel is reorganizing all materials preparing to pass them along to Donna. Tomye reminded us that the TAS slide collection is stored in Jim Mainer’s office. Suzie Tramel has all the field trips for the coming year planned and will submit her report to Jo Loyd tomorrow for inclusion in our 2002-2003 Event Guide. Janie Cheek needs the President’s letter and the Recorder’s report for the next edition of our newsletter, The Scissortail. Deadline is next Friday Peter Lowen, our new hospitality chair, needs the list of any volunteers already signed up to provide refreshments at our monthly society meetings. Janet Slater volunteered to help with the first meeting in September. Tomye will bring door prizes. Lynda Fritts will bring a new sign-up sheet to the September meeting to supplement John’s list. Tickets to give away the door prizes are in a closet at the Garden Center. Paper plates, cups, and napkins will probably have to be restocked. Least Tern chair Bob Harwood wants to be replaced and new prospects are being approached. Several recent observers reported terns still lighting and feeding in their two nesting areas monitored this summer, although most have already departed. We will hold our funding raising garage sale again this year, though we may not receive as many donations, since there is no intervening year as in the past. All are urged to collect saleable used items other than clothing to help us make this event a success. John proposed we might also be able to sell items on E-Bay. There was a suggestion that we might want to sell shade grown coffee, which can be produced without destruction of neo-tropical bird wintering habitat. Janet Slater knows of a source for such information, and will obtain it. Lynda Fritts reported by telephone that the program slate for next year is completed and ready for Jo to publish in the Event Guide. Old Business: Janet reported for the audit committee, composed of herself, Bill Foster, and Amy Lambert, that they found no discrepancies in the records of the previous year’s business. John reported that he is contacting various suppliers for the birdseed sale, and may not be able to send out a price list/order form until he can obtain a firm commitment from one of them. Therefore, a firm date for this event, planned for the month of October, cannot yet be set. Janie Cheek suggested that we include the order blank with the next Scissortail edition if John can set the date by August 15 or 16. John is also looking for warehouse space and has two possible locations. The use of the Philbrook grounds to study the many birds living there, especially the spring neo-tropical migrants, is lost for the next two years due to landscaping renovation. Bob Gard reported that proposed dirt mining in the Lake Keystone area adjoining our eagle property is on hold and not likely to happen. Another neighbor has hired an attorney to convince the appropriate Osage County board that such mining is illegal. Also, the Osage Tribal Council is now aware of the mining prospect and holds ownership rights to any minerals removed from the County. Per the improvement of the highway right of way in front of our eagle property, Jim Benson has replaced our prior contact person, Joe Ben Mashunkashay. The February board meeting minutes regarding this matter were furnished to our new president after being reviewed by the group. The group discussed how the “Chapter Only” member category (dues of $10), should be designated in our literature. Phil said that we have a $2.64 cost per member per year to mail 6-page editions of the Scissortail. Through next year, our chapter will still be receiving $5 per old member kick-back from National Audubon, so for the present, we can afford to keep the $10 local membership rate. Bob Gard suggested that we refer to this as “Newsletter Subscription” and in parentheses say (“includes local chapter membership.”) In this way, we can continue the $10 membership category for the present. Paul Moser so moved and Peter Lowen seconded. Motion carried. New Business: Jo Loyd has contacted Dan Niven regarding the “Important Bird Areas of Oklahoma” project. He wants to talk to us about this, but has failed to recontact her in a timely manner. Apparently, we will have to talk with him before we can contribute to the project, but Jo feels all we will need to do is fill out forms describing these areas and why they are important to bird populations. Carol Eames announced that she is leading a trip to Costa Rica from February 16 to 25, 2003, at a Tulsa-to-Tulsa cost of $3,298 per person. Participants need a passport, but no immunization shots. If anyone from TAS makes the trip with her, she will make an appropriate contribution to our chapter. Volunteers for future board meetings were: October, Mosers; December, Janet Slater; and February, Bob Gard. Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Janet S. Slater TULSA AUDUBON SOCIETY Minutes of Board Meeting October 1, 2002 John Kennington, President, called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm in the home of Paul and Patty Moser. In addition to those three, the following were present: Tomye Mainer, Phil Teter, Bob Germany, Donna Germany, Bill Foster, Peter Lowen, Amy Lambert, Aline Romero, and Suzie Tramel. A motion was brought by Suzie that minutes of previous meeting be accepted as submitted, seconded by Paul Moser, unanimously approved. Phil Teter gave Treasurer’s Report and requested replenishment of our post office fund. Unanimous approval. Announcements included items of interest such as birding sites, book deals and upcoming meetings or presentations by other organizations. Janie Cheek sent word that next Scissortail deadline for articles is October 10, 2002. Suzie Tramel will arrange to get a write-up of upcoming field trips and recently past trip to Winganon. Tomye Mainer reported she has orders for 25 Audubon Adventures kits from local schools. She will provide a list of the schools to John and to Carol Eames. Bob Germany informed the Board that Federal Fish & Wildlife budget is better this year than it has been in some time. However, Oklahoma state agencies are suffering because of recent budget cuts. Bill Foster advised that monitoring of the eagles will be done at the Keystone Lake property November 1 through March 2003. Carolyn Mathews sent John a trip list of her upcoming meetings/seminars, incuding Norman OK, Hutchinson KS, and Maryland. The list included a meeting with the Weyerhauser group October 17th regarding Deep Fork. She will communicate with Gail Storey the results of that meeting. Suzie Tramel reported that the TAS Schedule of Events has been printed and is being distributed to the appropriate places around the city. The brochures will be placed at Oxley Nature Center by this weekend. Donna Germany, Historian, said a meeting of volunteers will be held at Jim Mainer’s office to go through materials, determine relevance, and whether or not archiving guidelines will be needed. Peter Lowen requested Board approval to use $50 from budgeted Hospitality fund to purchase gift certificates for door prizes. He also asked that some of the Scissortail T-shirts be taken out of Sales inventory for door prizes. Paul Moser made a motion that some T-shirts be given to Hospitality Committee. Bill seconded. Motion carried. John Kennington announced that TAS’ website has been updated to include Bird Seed Sale and Recorder’s report. OLD BUSINESSBoard members encouraged to take Bird Seed Sale flyers to place in additional locations. Seed orders are coming in very well. John asked for loan of wagons, two-wheelers and carts for use in loading the seed on the day of the sale. John also requested reimbursement of printing costs of the flyers in the amount of $600. Motion approved. John introduced Shade Grown Coffee materials for attendees’ information to approve its sale in conjunction with the Bird Seed Sale and other sales. He requested expenditure of $166 to launch this program. Peter made a motion to authorize the check, seconded by Amy, motion carried. Regarding right-of-way issue for road at Eagle sanctuary, John is awaiting further word on details. NEW BUSINESSSuzie Tramel volunteered to fill in as Secretary for Janet Slater on a temporary basis. Eagle Prints – Jack Miller Jr. called John Kennington expressing an interest in donating his father’s entire print collection to Tulsa Audubon Society. In return, TAS would need to provide a receipt for tax purposes. Miller’s accountant is presently determining the value. Paul Moser moved that we accept all the eagle and scissortail prints they will give us, as long as we have a place to store them. Motion seconded by Donna Germany. Motion carried. Certificates of Recognition – John received a list of names from Laurel Upshaw. Tomye suggested John handle this himself, and he agreed. Tomye Mainer will host the next board meeting December 3rd, in lieu of Janet Slater. February meeting is set for Bob Gard’s residence. Having no further business to be brought before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. for informal discussion and refreshments provided by the Mosers. Submitted by Suzie Tramel Temporarily acting on behalf of Janet Slater-Secretary TULSA AUDUBON SOCIETY President John Kennington called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. at the home of Tomye Mainer. Present were: JK, TM, Jo Loyd, Bob Gard, Marcie Goad, Peter Lowen, Patty Moser, Donna Germany, Phil Teter, and Cyndie Browning. John Kennington announced that Ms. Browning has taken over the duties of Secretary following the resignation of Janet Slater. A motion to accept the minutes of the October meeting as written was made and passed unanimously. Phil Teter gave a brief Treasurer’s Report, including that the Bird Sales have taken in about $600, so far. Old Business Tomye Mainer reported that she has received 3 more orders for Audubon Adventures (from the boxes checked on the Bird Seed Sale order form). John Kennington moved for approval that Mr. Bauman, who provided the space for the Bird Seed Sale orders to be picked up, be given a membership to the National Audubon Society in appreciation for his participation. Approval was unanimously granted. John also reported that coffee sales continue to be good, and asked for approval to spend up to $100 for inventory to fill the orders he’s already received. Bob Gard so moved, and Tomye Mainer seconded the motion. Unanimously approved. Regarding the right-of-way for a road at the Eagle Sanctuary, John Kennington reported that he now has the easement agreement and will forward it to the city after he receives the city’s check for $385. The members discussed the moving of fences and improving of culverts contained within the easement. As an aside, Phil Teter reported that TAS spent $225 for brush-hogging in the sanctuary area during the past 3 years, paid for through the eagle fund. Regarding Jack Miller’s eagle prints, Mr. Miller reported to John Kennington that he has had the prints appraised and that his lawyer is now working on an agreement. John Kennington delivered a check of $1.00 to Phil Teter. The check was received from the Unclaimed Property Department of the State of Oklahoma, and represents a dividend on General Dynamic Stock. Apparently, at some time in the past, someone donated the stock to TAS. John Kennington said he would follow up on trying to determining where (who) the stock came from. New Business Emily Byrum of the National Audubon Society will be visiting Oklahoma during the week of December 9th and would like to meet with TAS Board Members, if possible. There was some discussion of when would be a good time, whether enough members would be available to have dinner with her during that week or whether they should take her to dinner before the Dec 17th general meeting. John Kennington said he would contact Ms. Byrum to find out when she might be available. Apparently, plans for two developments within Mohawk Park are currently pending in Tulsa County, one a recreational water park and the other a Native American theme park. It was suggested that the members contact their city and county commissioners, and/or write letters to the Editors of Tulsa World to protest the decision. Marcie Goad asked, what is the TAS position on these plans? The general consensus was that TAS opposes the development of one of the last open and “wild” areas in Tulsa, that all too soon there won’t be anymore open areas left in the city. Since most of the members had not seen the newspaper article about the Native American theme park, John Kennington said he would scan and e-mail it to the members. John Kennington also reported that the comment period on the environmental impact studies on further development at Grand Lake is still open. A lengthy discussion followed about updating the “Guide to Birding in Oklahoma,” last published in 1986. Jo Loyd reported that some years ago, she and others had worked on updating various sections of the booklet but there’s been no recent activity on the project. When the question arose about where the original maps from the booklet might be, Donna Germany reported that they were in the TAS Archives at the McFarland Library at TU. The members then discussed the pros and cons of publishing the booklet on the TAS website: should the entire text (and maps?) be published on the internet, to be freely downloaded by anyone who browsed the website, or should excerpts (or “teasers”) from the text be published on the website, with encouragement to “buy the book” if anyone wants a copy of it? Donna argued strongly against offering the material for free via the internet and several members agreed with her. Others said they didn’t think offering the material on the internet would substantially cut into sales of the booklet to such a degree that it would result in a financial loss to TAS for undertaking to publish and sell the book for profit. Matter tabled for further discussion. The late Nan Jankowski left TAS the sum of $5,000 in her will, to be used in any way deemed appropriate by the members. Although she herself was not a member of TAS, apparently she loved birds and always had bird feeders in her yard. John Kennington opened the meeting to discussion of possible ways to spend the money. Donna Germany and John Kennington suggested using it to develop resources to enhance and support the Audubon Adventures. Jo Loyd suggested possibly developing a project in Tulsa that would interest the community, such as buying land? building a nature trail somewhere? providing an exhibit at Oxley Nature Center? The Deep Fork Wildlife Refuge in Okmulgee and Cross Timbers out in Sand Springs were named as two possible recipients of the funds. Another possibility was the Creek Turnpike wetlands. No one was certain who manages the property, DOT or Turnpike Authority? Jo Loyd said she would find out who owns/manages the property so that TAS can investigate the possibility of taking over those wetlands and opening them up for access to birders. John Kennington announced that Pathways to Conservation grants offer matching funds for building boardwalks, observation towers, etc., which we might pursue if/when TAS decides how to spend the Jankowski bequest. Donna Germany is presently reviewing the TAS materials in the archives at TU, in an effort to decide what should be archived, what should be stored or displayed elsewhere, and what should be discarded. She has several TAS scrapbooks and wondered if they should go into the archives; the trouble with that is, once they’re in the archives, no one will get to see them unless they specifically request them. Apparently, access to the archives is so limited that unless you know exactly what you’re looking for, you will not be permitted to browse freely until you find it. She also asked us to consider whether or not we need to maintain a scrapbook. Peter Lowen asked, on behalf of the Hospitality Committee, for anyone who has them to bring Christmas decorations (tablecloths, centerpieces, etc., to decorate the “goodie” table) to the December 17th general meeting and several members offered to bring various items. There being no further business to be brought before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. The February meeting will be on Feb. 4, 2003, at the home of Bob Gard.
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