January 10, 2017 Operations Committee Minutes

CoNPS Board Meeting Draft Minutes of the Operations Committee
January 10, 2017 Time 7 – 8:20 PM
Via Phone Conference, call Jessica @ 303-960-4196

Mo Ewing, Jessica Smith, Renee Galeano Popp, Denise Wilson, David Julie, Amy Yarger

Assigned the duty of taking minutes at this meeting: Denise Wilson
1. Reviewed the timing of when minutes go out to entire board, and we agreed to allow for whatever time is necessary for everyone to respond. Secretary will check to make sure all have reviewed the minutes before sending them out.
2. Secretary will assist Renee by accepting tracked changes and naming the file, FINAL.
Updates on past assignments:
1. eNews announcing resignation of Jan and Charlie was sent Dec 30, 2016
  1. Jessica did not see this come out over email. Some have not received it. Membership Works may have some problems, which need to be worked out.
2. Payroll service status
  1. Have received all documents from Linda Smith & Jennifer Bousselot.
  2. Have not received them from Ronda Koski, so Denise will follow-up.
  3. Denise will follow-up with TLC Payroll Services to get contracts in place.
3. Status of calling for officer and board member nominations out to membership
  1. Renee will draft something for the next eNews.
  2. We will check with Jenny Neale (Mo will talk to her) and Steve Olson (Renee will confirm that Steve will stay on if needed), whose terms expire in Sept. 2017 to make sure they want to stay on.
    1. Alternate view – calling for competition and new blood.
    2. Bylaws call for 6-8 Members at Large
    3. Decided: we will ask Jenny & Steve first
4. Status of legal clinic?
  1. Jessica has completed application with some help from Mo, Linda & Denise. She will attend the CO Association for Non-Profits Legal Clinic on February 15.
5. Round-table update by committee members – none given
Annual meeting
1. Decided on timing of the West Slope meeting (July) and the format of the meeting: Banquet or BBQ and field trips with possibly a morning of talks followed by an afternoon of field trips
  1. Discussed West Slope chapter president feedback: they both suggested two meetings – East & West, a field trip meeting in the height of summer with a banquet the night before, and a possible second meeting in the fall on the east slope for networking professionals.
  2. The two Chapters feel they don’t have volunteers, and would prefer a simple summer event – a fieldtrip festival
  3. Again, we discussed one meeting versus two (we decided one meeting at the last OC meeting).
  4. Connection with rare plant symposium and fall meeting timing
  5. Decided: Eastern slope in Colorado Springs in the fall run by Jen
  6. Perhaps a simpler event with a morning of talks and afternoon of field trips
  7. Mo will ask Charlie Turner if he could help with the western slope and keep Gunnison as the venue. Changes decided:
    1. Simplified to a BBQ or banquet the night before
    2. Location of Gunnison is agreeable to all
    3. July date
  8. Status of volunteer availability – Jessica contacted all of last year’s committee, and of those who responded, only Lenore Mitchell said she would help on a limited basis. Others agreed to help on the day of the event.
Budget Decisions
1. Assumptions:
  1. One annual conference with 40 attendees
  2. Projected conservatively with a net profit of $1800, but Jen projected she would need $3600 in hours
  3. Included is the $400 for Jen to support The Conference on Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants on Feb 11^th.
  4. How many Native Plant Landscaping Guides should be printed?
  5. Available digitally at no cost
  6. Decided: Help to offset the printing with a $2 charge
  7. Free tri-folds
  8. Native Landscaping Conference booklets printing sponsored by Audubon of the Rockies. They are printing booklets to apply to their region and distributing these for free to the paid attendees. Amy will find out how many will be printed.
  9. Mission Grant Fund – we have a procedure for rewarding these grants, and could use some of this money for the printing of the Regional Native Plant Guides
Prepare for Full Board Meeting in February
1. Draft Agenda
  1. Denise will draft agenda to review our decisions and progress so far
  2. One date – 9 people responded with consensus: Sat, Feb 4 at 9:30am at Regis Library. Denise will not be able to attend. Renee will send out separate announcement email.
  3. Each of us will be responsible for covering a topic. Agenda Topics:
    1. Employees – Mo will cover Linda; David covers Ronda, and Renee covers Jennifer
    2. Payroll – Denise (will call in to attend, but may not be able to stay on for all)
    3. Board & Officer Vacancies covered by Renee
    4. Budget covered by Mo including assumptions which drive some of the figures
    5. Western Slope Festival – Mo Ewing
    6. Eastern Slope Annual Conference – Mo Ewing
    7. Legal – Jessica
    8. Employee Handbook – Amy
Governance:
1. Creating an executive committee to support the president – TABLED THIS
2. Combining Field Studies, Conservation and Restoration committees into one group, with subcommittees. Mo says this will not work because Steve P cannot be involved in advocacy. Conservation will do advocacy. Restoration will do on-the-ground restoration projects. Field Studies will do Bio Blitzes and on-the-ground research projects.
3. Term limits for board members and officers? Continued discussion TABLED THIS
4. Discuss job duties spreadsheet (spreading work-load) TABLED THIS
5. Status of employee manual? TABLED THIS
6. Status of board handbook? TABLED THIS

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