PLANT WNY ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
6 pm
Buffalo Museum of Science
1020 Humboldt Parkway, Buffalo, NY 14211
Called to order at 6:10 pm by Phil Tripi, president. By a show of hands, it was determined we had a quorum.
Steve Sypniewski, secretary, welcomed out new members: Earthworks, Heavenly Ponds & Maintenance, Junior’s Lawn Service & Landscaping, LOE Trailer Sales of WNY LLC
Kristy Schmitt, treasurer, gave the financial report which was included in the agenda packet.
Committee Reports:
Botanical Gardens – The gardens are excited to be sponsoring the Children’s Garden again this year at Plantasia.
CNLP/Awareness & Promotion – 9 candidates are registered to take the CNLP exam taking place on March 5 at NCCC. 8 of which have attended review classes. Additionally, five current CNLP’s have attended review classes for credits. We have a very eager and hard-working group.
Ed Day/Trade Show – David Culp is the keynote speaker for 2021. CNLP day will take place Thursday, February 4 and the Trade Show & Education Conference will be Friday, February 5.
Foundation – The Foundation is in good shape. A suggestion was made to simplify the Foundation’s profit and loss statement as it is hard to understand. The Executive Board will look at what can be done and may possibly leave out the Wells Fargo account information on the report as it is confusing.
Harvest Dinner – A date and location for November will be announced soon.
Historian – Matt Dore along with Dave McIntyre and Bonnie Guckin are sorting through photos and organizing them. Matt is looking to have another work meeting and will be sorting through papers. Please let him know if you are interested in assisting.
Landscaper Awards – Start taking landscape photos early so that you can be ready to submit them in the fall – you will need before and after photos. Suggestion to hang them in the walkway on the way from the Event Center to Artisan Hall.
Leaf a Legacy – Jeanetta Hanlon reported that she will be reaching out to garden walks to see if PLANT WNY can support them in their ongoing/established project. The Leaf a Legacy needs to be a public location.
Nominating – The committee is not actively seeking nominations but they are always open to it.
Plantasia – Preview Night is sponsored by Entercom. Lucarelli’s will be providing the food. Lakeside Sod is the sponsor of the show. If there are specific plants that you want, please let Gardner Low know. Mulch will be there. New this year – landscapers have to send one person to help with cleanup on Monday so that everyone shares in the workload. Phil is working on garden signage and will need landscaper’s logo files in Adobe or Illustrator format. The logos will be printed on vinyl and put on plexiglass. We are doing a social media campaign and are looking for landscapers and vendors to email photos to post.
Media/Marketing – Kristy Schmitt is working on creating Facebook events. Please like us on Facebook.
State Reps – The State Board is looking at changing the NYSNLA management company. They are currently reviewing proposals from three companies. Currently, there is no money to market the CNLP program. This is going to have a rebuilding process. A great member benefit is that the NYSNLA is strong in knowing what legislation is coming and it gives us a voice.
New Business
Bonnie Guckin is now the Buffalo distributor for the Upstate Gardeners’ Journal. Let her know if you would like to get on the distribution schedule.
Julie Hughes and Dan Robillard brought along students from McKinley. The Foundation was thanked for supporting horticulture students at NCCC and presented with a card.
Mike Frank motioned to accept the minutes of February 6, 2020. Dave McIntyre seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Chris Zeisz motioned to adjourn the meeting. Kim Schichtel seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm.
Minutes submitted by: Joyce Janson