Board Room - K.C. Irving Environmental Centre, Acadia University - 7:30 pm

Present: John  Harwood, Helen Archibald, Darrell Slauenwhite, Larry Bogan, Jean Gibson Collins, Jean Timpa, John Belbin,  Murray Colbo, Patrick Kelly, Ed Sulis (later)

Regrets: Rick Whitman, Barry Yoell,

John Harwood presided because Rick Whitman was called to his father’s hospital bed.
1. Minutes of Previous Meeting - Helen moved they be adopted. Daryl seconded. Passed.
2. Business Arising
        Nominating Committee-- John Belbin

At the AGM John Belbin stepped down because we had more Directors than our bylaws allow. This allowed nominations from the floor, and John himself and Murray Colvo were nominated and elected.  John Harwood suggested that we leave things alone. Last year we named one director as Second VP. This was discussed and we unanimously agreed to do nothing.

        Archives-- Jean Timpa, Ed Sulis, John Belbin

John asked Jean for an update. Ed was going to go to Brenda & Bill’s with his truck & take the material to Acadia to Pat Townsend. Someone needs to save a copy of each newsletter for the archives. Acadia could be put on the mailing list.  Anything in the Advertiser relevant to BNS has been saved in the past. The minutes and financial statements should also be printed & added once a year.  Larry has maintained a directory of all newsletter articles. Daryl asked what use was made of the archives. Articles in the newspaper are archived at the newspaper. Murray suggested that field notes from outings are a valuable record. Jean likes the natural history notes at the beginning of each meeting. Helen agreed to print out all the minutes since she took over & get them to the library. At the next meeting we should have an archivist. A message should go out at the next monthly meeting. They should also be asked for any material that should be in the archives. The suggestion book could also be added to the archives. Then Ed arrived. He had taken things from Thextons a year ago. It is in his attic. He had offered to pick the things up, but he hadn’t done it.  He has newsletters since he became Treasurer. Pat Townsend is waiting for Ed to arrive with them. Ed will find out what material we should collect.

        Tribute to Thextons-- Barry Yoell

John Harwood worked with Barry on this. Wolfville is not organized to deal with trees. It would be extremely expensive to donate a tree to the Irving Centre. Thextons don’t really want any tribute to them beyond the note in the newsletter.   John suggests that we drop the idea. It was suggested that we rename one of the awards that we give out, like the Young Naturalists Award. Murray moved that we rename the Science Fair Awards to the Bill & Brenda Thexton Science Fair Awards. John Belbin seconded. Both levels would have the new name. Passed. Rick should tell the Thextons about this. It should be announced at the next monthly meeting. Jean Timpa will call Diane & see if she can get them there.

        Sewage Ponds-- John Harwood had a report from Richard Stern on the New Minas Sewage Ponds. After a change in administration in New Minas the gates were closed to birders. Richard attempted to get this overturned. He had no success. Judy Tufts was spokeswoman who asked that we try. She should be notified that all efforts have failed. John H. will phone her.

3. Finance & Membership-- Ed Sulis

Year-end report for 2008 and budget 2009 were distributed. We are looking for a surplus of  $1400. Corporate donations for the calendar are up this year as are private donations. Roy Bishop is very good at getting these. Calendar costs have decreased. Membership is running ahead of last year. Revenue from Craft Fair was around $1450. Green Dragon have some plans for fundraising. We have given about $10,000 over the last three years. We have budgeted $2000 for 2009. Ed moved that we approve the budget for 2009. Seconded Darrell. Passed.

Audit is done by mid-January. The report for CRA will be prepared from the financial report.

4. Programme-- Patrick Kelly

Speakers are lined up until June. June Swift is still pending. Jeff Ogden may have to be switched with February. We don’t know whether we can use the Irving Centre or if we will be in BAC.*It has since been determined that we will meet in the Irving Centre for the winter semester.  2009 is Year of Astronomy.

5. Newsletter-- Jean Timpa

Deadline Dec 7th. Ed Sulis presented a review of the costs of printing & distributing the newsletter. If we request 250 instead of 300 we will still have the 230 or so that we mail out. 56 pages is the most that is efficient for mailing – 64 puts us into the next cost bracket. Darrell moved that we direct the production editor make every effort to keep the newsletter under 100 grams (56 pages). Seconded Jean Gibson Collins.

6. Youth Programme  - Ed Sulis

John Harwood moved that there be a member of the Board on the Green Dragon committee. Seconded by Ed Sulis. Darrell volunteered to do that. Darrell should contact Harold about when they meet. They met recently.

7. New Business

Appointment of a VP. Ed moved we have two VPs. Darrell seconded.

John Harwood asked John Belbin if he would be VP again. John will be away for at least two meetings but he agreed to be VP. Patrick Kelly volunteered to be another VP.

Books & Paraphernalia: These should be available at each meeting. Mary Ann Sulis will make a presentation each month to try to sell them. They should also be available at Eagle Watch. John volunteered Avril for this.

Honourary Member

Do we have any suggestions for nominations. There are 16 altogether & 5 were named during John’s tenure as President.

 Larry Bogan: Web page – Larry is re-building the website. He is moving it to a different server. He has hired a new web host with more facilities. It will be dynamic site. This means that users can add pages. Community Management Software. www.nature1st.net/bns 

blomidonnaturalists.ca will still take you to the BNS site.
- We will be able to have email addresses at that address, too. Individuals will be able to put content on with Larry’s permission.
- Larry needs our permission to do this.
- Harold will arrange to have the email list for announcements there, too.
- A blog would be possible, too.
- There is a nature forum there for reports of  sightings.

All were in favour.

Allison is doing the Christmas bird count – a problem is to collect the $5.00 afterwards. When Judy Tufts did it, we gave her a grant. We will give Allison a grant. It is in the budget.

8. Next Meeting Date & Location

Thursday March 5th at 7:30 PM location to be confirmed.

9. Adjourned. Moved John Belbin 21:37.