The spring Board Meeting of the Connecticut Chapter was hosted by the Woodbridge Land Trust at the Center Building in Woodbridge. Special gratitude goes out to Dr. Robert Gregg of the Land Trust for making the arrangements and providing refreshments. Special thanks also to all Directors for their hard work but in this case especially to Pat van de Kamp for her fabulous meeting minutes.
We had ten of eleven members present, a quorum and almost a full turnout. In attendance were: Rod Longley, Pat Van de Kamp, Bill Adamsen, Gayle Kida, Charles Dobos, David Bingham, Robert Gregg, Philip Arnold, Jim Gage and Garret Smith. Special guests included Sara Fitzsimmons, the Midwestern Regional Science Coordinator, and Leila Pinchot, recently hired New England Regional Science Coordinator. In addition, several members of the Woodbridge Land Trust attended, including Robert Fries, whose bucket truck (and son) helped with the pollinations of the Calistro Tree last summer. Also in attendance were: Michael Raymond, Lawrence Grotheer, Joe Calistro, Dr. Jim Sabshin, Mr. Robert Fries.
The full draft minutes are located in the documents repository and will be considered for approval at the next fall meeting. There were some significant reports and votes that should interest State Chapter members. I will gloss over them here, since they are available in detail in the previously described draft minutes. All votes were unanimous.
- Adoption of Draft Strategic Plan
- Four Committee appointments were confirmed
- Confirmation of Orchard Agreement with Great Mountain Forest Corporation
- Adoption of a Privacy Policy
- Confirmation of the Intern Agreement
- Acceptance of the 2005 Financial Report and audit letter.
- Approval of the Draft 2006 Budget
- Acceptance of the Reports of the Tree Breeding Committee, the Education Commitee, the Membership Committee, the Communications Committee, and the Orchard Manager Reports.
I thought it was a friendly and collegial meeting, yet we accomplished a phenomenol amount of work. I extend my deepest thanks to all the Directors for attending, and for the hard work put into accomplishing what we've accomplished to date, and setting of the vision for tommorrow.
Bill Adamsen, President
