December 2013

Official Newsletter for the Missoula Iris Society

December 2013

Christmas Party DATE & TIME: Sunday, December 8, 2013. Potluck Christmas supper begins at 4:00 pm. The Christmas party menu will include turkey prepared by Billie, mashed potatoes and gravy prepared by Betty Ann and dressing prepared by Carol. Members may bring any side dishes or desserts they would like.

PLACE: Home of Billie Gray at 1558 S. 6^th West. For directions call 543-3480

PROGRAM: Christmas gift exchange

"FYI" NEWS

MEMBERSHIP DUES –The $10.00 annual membership dues for 2014 can be paid anytime. Please pay your dues to Treasurer Swede Gustafson. Any new members who joined in July of this year or later are considered paid for 2014.

Officers Elected for 2014 –President Ed Verplancke, Vice Presidents Cindy Davis and Gary Clark, Secretary Carol Addeo, Treasurer Swede Gustafson. (Treasurer trainee is needed)

CHRISTMAS PARTY GIFT EXCHANGE:

Everyone brings a wrapped gift (up to $12-$15 value) and we put all the gifts in the center of the room and then pick numbers to see who goes first. The #1 person gets to pick any gift from the pile. The gift is opened for all to see. Then the #2 person in line can pick the gift that #1 picked or pick from the stack and the same goes for each one thereafter. If you pick one of the opened gifts, then that person now can pick someone else's gift or from the stack. The limit is 3 times for any one gift to own. There is a lot of heavy duty trading between everyone and the laughs just keep coming. It is a great end to a wonderful year with our friends and members.

Meeting Locations for 2014 – The meeting for January will be held at the home of Carol Addeo. Anyone who is able to host a meeting next year please contact Carol Addeo at 251-5833.

Good Sunshine News – Ann Violette has had surgery and is doing well. The Missoula Iris Society wishes her a speedy recovery.

On the 8th of November Swede was admitted to St Patrick's due to subdural hematoma (bleeding) on the left side of his brain which caused him some speech problems at its onset plus some numbness to most of his right arm and part of his face. He was discharged from St Patrick's on November 10 and is doing well. He has had three MRI scans done on the affected area and this week received the Good News the hematoma has disappeared.. It is Swede's hope this the last of the setbacks he suffers this fall. Signed Betty Ann

TREASURER'S REPORT for December 2013

SAVINGS ACCOUNT

October 22 reported Balance $10,395.67

Deposits – 9 memberships 90.00

Transfer to Checking – pay bills 200.00"

November 28 Balance $10,305.00

CHECKING ACCOUNT

October 22 reported Balance $ 260.46

Deposits from Savings 100.00

Expenses Paid 172.95

November 28, 2013 Balance $ 187.51

Expenses paid by checks:

Paul Ronaldo – winterize Ft Garden

water system $ 60.00

Garden City Floral – Sunshine for

Swede Gustafson 47.95

Gary Clark – iris banner reimbursement 65.00

Total expenses $172.95

*FRIENDLY REMINDER TO PLEASE PAY YOUR 2014 DUES + MAKES IT EASIER TO GET THE NEW MEMBERSHIP LIST COMPLETED

Minutes of the Missoula Iris Society Board for November 2, 2013

The board meeting was called to order by President Ed Verplancke at 5:00 p.m. The purpose of the board meeting was to set a tentative budget for 2014. In attendance at the meeting in addition to Ed, were officers Donna Dowell, Carolyn Addeo, Swede Gustafson, and members Anita Cervenak, Cindy Davis and Gary Clark.

Swede outlined the budget numbers from 2013, including some repairs to the sprinkler system and renovation such as new edging for the Fort Missoula garden. Some discussion of the website and fees. Website fees have been paid for one year through September 2014. Ed noted that all officers should have access to passwords to website, but it was not clear how this will be put into effect. Ed wants a website that can be managed by the club without having to learn HTML language to update it. He has created a website with the address: https://sites.google.com/site/missoula/. No decision or vote was taken on the website issue.

He also mentioned a need to save the original format from our historical booklet “Fifty years of iris growing, 25 years of iris showing” written and published by Pete and Carolyn Addeo in 2006. Carol will see if she can find the originals on Pete’s computer and put them on disk.

Cindy Davis and Gary Clark are in charge of the show for 2014 and they would like to have an outside national judge. The preliminary budget so far is $1,000 which will be published in the newsletter in December and January and voted on by the general membership at the January 2014 meeting. The board meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Carolyn Addeo, Secretary

Minutes of the November 2, 2013 Meeting

The November meeting was called to order by President Ed Verplancke at the Eagles Lodge at 7:02. Hosts were Ron and Donna Dowell.

The October minutes had one correction. There is no median show in 2014. The minutes were approved as corrected. Swede verbally added a few additions to his treasurer’s report: Paul Ronaldo was paid $60 to winterize the sprinkler system at Fort Missoula garden. Garden City Floral was paid $47.95 for the floral get well gift to Linda Sadler.

Treasurer’s report: The water system at the Fort Missoula garden was turned off on October 10. Paul Ronaldo’s son winterized the system the week of October 21-25. The bill was paid on October 31, 2013.

The 2014 budget meeting was held on November 2, 2013 prior to the regular meeting. The budget will be printed in the December and January newsletter and be approved at the regular meeting in January. This procedure is followed to allow the members who do not attend meetings regularly to comment on the budget.

Old Business:

Nominations for 2014 officers were presented as follows: Ed Verplancke, President, Cindy Davis/Gary Clark Vice Presidents, Carolyn Addeo, Secretary and Swede Gustafson, Treasurer. Nominations were left open and called for three times; there were no additional nominations. Therefore the voting took place and the 2014 slate of officers was approved by a motion from Jim Sadler, seconded by Judy Blunt and passed.

New Business

Committee Reports: Carol Barbian volunteered by email to be Program Chair for 2014. She would like to share the job with someone. Anyone else wishing to volunteer for a committee should contact President Ed.

Future poster printing: Discussion of obtaining layout format on previous posters. Carol Addeo will try to obtain the layouts from Pete’s computer.

Christmas Party: Discussion of raising gift limit to $15. It was decided to make the gift $12-$15. Christmas party will be Sunday December 8 at 4 pm at Billie’s home.

Banner: Gary Clark presented a banner he had made to be used at shows, sales and other events. Everyone was pleased with that because it had been in the budget for five years and Gary finally made it happen at a cost of $65. He used Scott’s computer and a Lolo printer.

Ken Baier: A get well card was passed around for messages to Ken Baier.

Paved walkway: Swede reported on a meeting with Christina from the historical museum staff regarding a proposed paved walkway from the north roadway into the garden. She was seeking information regarding the history of our garden in preparation for writing a grant to seek funds to support the walkway. She has a preliminary cost estimate of $4,500 for this walkway. Swede gathered information from our history booklet on the garden and wrote up a one page synopsis report for her. She also wondered how many members we have, how many gardens and plants we have in the garden and how much work our members supply each year to care for the iris and the gardens. She also inquired whether the Society had funds available for the installation of this walkway. Swede told her there were some memorial funds set aside for special needs but it would be the choice of the Society members where these funds could be used. The grant application was tendered on October 15, 2013 to the Missoula County Park System and Swede has no further information regarding its design or approval.

Discussion followed on the logistics of a paved handicap access walkway into the garden. Most prefer that pavement not go into the garden itself, grass was preferred between beds: Anita suggested that the walkway go up to the garden, but not in. Swede mentioned that the sprinkler system might need to be moved, discussion of parks requirements in the event the gardens were ever removed, who would be responsible for the expense of removal of the paved walkway. The general consensus was to notify Christina that funds are not available to move our sprinkler system nor do we wish to be responsible for maintenance or removal of the walkway.

A motion was made by Jim Sadler as follows: “We decline to participate (in the paved pathway) because we do not have funds to maintain the walkway or move the sprinkler system.” Motion seconded by Cindy Davis, passed by a majority of membership, with one dissent. It was noted that our funds are dedicated to our current projects.

Donna Dowell won the presidential Rhizome for November.

The meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm

Respectfully submitted ,

Carolyn Addeo

Secretary

Presidential Rhizome Winner Tally: August Betty Ann Gustafson, September Bob Symes., October Ed Verplancke November Donna Dowell

2014 Meeting locations: Jan Carol Addeo, July Symes