Sonoma County Beekeepers Association
Board Member Meeting
July 11, 2016
Held at Ettamarie’s home. Delicious lasagna and salad dinner.
Present: Cheryl Veretto, Chris Conrad, Ann Jereb, Lew Spengler, Rita Maloney,
Ettamarie Peterson, Christine Kurtz, Chris Dicker, Becky Jackson, Patsy Young
President, Cheryl brought the meeting to order at 6:31 pm. Chris D moved to approve the
June minutes, Chris C seconded and all approved (9 ayes).
Treasurer’s Report—Lew reported a hive and used equipment was donated to the East
Cluster and was advised to send a letter showing an itemized list of the items, but with no
value attached. The donator can evaluate for their taxes. Thea has the equipment and can
divide it up as she sees fit.
Lew received a letter from a fellow offering a hive swap for equipment; Becky will write
back to him advising him to use Craig’s List or the Yahoo list.
Lew also asked about comparing 2012’s inventory list with what we now have. Some
items are no longer there, especially the Educational materials. Patsy will be asked to
round up the educational items and get them to the shed. Help is always needed and
welcomed.
The June Profit & Loss report showed income of $622 and expenses of $4,218.56. Large
expenses were the building rental, and printing the gardening brochures. We have
overspent in some budget areas, and it will be a useful tool for re-evaluating next year’s
budget. Lew plans to look for a better rate on an insurance policy when it’s near renewal.
100 Save the Bee signs are ordered and will be sold at meetings, Cheryl volunteered to
handle it. Christine made a motion that 2 signs will be given to each Cluster and Special
Interest group, and 2 to the Regional Coordinator to help identify locations of their
events. Rita seconded, all approved (9 ayes). Lew further moved to sell the signs with
stakes for $10 total (includes tax). Chris D seconded and all approved (9 ayes).
The safety buckets have been handed out to each cluster with a pail, first aid kit and fire
extinguisher. They should be added to the inventory.
Some of the 3 sets of laminated posters are missing, hopefully they can be located.
Lew’s report done at 7:29 and we took a break for dinner.
1st VP/Membership Report—Ann reports 443 members, includes 14 new and 37 business
memberships. Cheryl confirmed that each member should only have 1 email address or it
throws the numbers off. Ann will convene a special membership meeting to discuss and
define membership perks, fees and rules. They will also discuss the hotly debated swarm
protocol and bee extraction recommendations. She’ll try for August or September to
meet.
Volunteer Coordinator is still vacant, but may have some interest.
2nd VP report—Rita confirmed January 2017 speaker, Julie Cridland on Population
Genomics of Honeybees, and February speaker Rachelle Vanette on Microbial
Communities. And Justin Schmidt speaking on stings in March, April or May. Here’s
the line-up:
August is Movie Night viewing “Vanishing of the Bees”. September is Christine Kurtz
on Bee Diseases. October is Kate Frey on Gardening for Bees. November is Robbin
Thorpe on Native Bees. December is our annual Potluck.
Events upcoming are the Gravenstein Apple Fair and they wanted us to do honey tasting.
But we won’t pay the fee so that our members can have tasting. Furthermore, Chris
Conrad made a motion that we will use up our existing honey stix and not purchase more.
And we will not encourage selling honey of any kind at future educational or events.
Rita seconded (8 ayes, 1 nay). Approved.
Christine made a motion that we allow Rita to purchase large plastic Ziploc bags for the
purpose of storing each bee-themed tablecloth in. Ettamarie seconded and all approved
(9 ayes).
Secretary, Becky had no report, but did point out errors on the listing of Board and
Helpful Staff on the last page of the newsletter. Ettamarie will correct them!
At Large, Ettamarie had no report, except to praise Bill McElroy’s talents. She leaves to
Ireland on the 23rd so wants newsletter items early (20th at the latest).
At Large, Chris Conrad reported continuing problems with listing bee extractions on our
swarm list. We agreed that it won’t be offered on the list next year. He also referred to
the Best Management Practices that Cheryl is drawing up; he likes it, and it should go on
the website.
Website Report—Chris Dicker reports that Bill McElroy is the Webmaster now. Chris
will report to the board for him and is still working with him. But he will now get the
mailbox of [email protected]. To reach Chris Dicker use the
[email protected]. He doesn’t do the MailChimp and EventBrite for the
association, Chris still does that.
Regional Coordinator Report—Christine says the picnics are occurring now. North had
their, South is next Saturday. East cancelled. Maybe revisit the picnic idea and whether
it is useful next year. The Gardening group is super organized and met recently to match
people with a task.
OLD BUSINESS/ Update
 Volunteer Orientation—went well at the Children’s Museum.
 2016 SCBA Business Plan—they will meet soon and draft a skeleton.
 SCBA PR Video—Cheryl saw a draft of it and was impressed with Christine’s
performance and the 2 children who were there. It’s coming along.
 SCBA BMP (Best Management Practices)—Cathy Kopshever is editing and
proofing it now. Chris D will get it next for publishing on the website.
Education Coordinator Report—Patsy Young said she’s set a meeting on July 28th at her
house for the educators. Ettamarie has a book she says would be good to put in the Ed
boxes. Patsy will divide materials for Primary, Middle school, and High school. They
will have another meeting in September. A videographer has offered to take videos of
the presentations with no kids in the pics. They can even stage them without kids. She
asked for help creating and learning to use a spreadsheet to track presentations. Chris D
will help her.
Meeting adjourned at 9:25 pm.
Next meeting is August 1st at Rita’s (or Cheryl or Ann). Cheryl reminded VP Ann that
she will be “in charge” at the next membership meeting on August 8th—Movie Night.
Rita will help her. The MailChimp meeting reminder will invite everyone to bring their
own movie snacks and comfy chair if they wish. Just regular cookies and tea provided by
SCBA volunteers.
Respectfully submitted,
Becky Jackson, secretary