BOD members present: Odell Anderson, Dan Bohlin, Russ Moody(outgoing), Jason Sable(new), Matt Singer,
Jim Widder(new), John Ouellette, Larry Severeid(new)
BOD members absent: Ron Jervis(outgoing)
Advisers present: Bob Weiland

Agenda (on file) were passed out by President Odell Anderson.

1) Odell called meeting to order 9:30 am (Matt was late)

2) Introduction of newly elected board members: Jason Sable, Larry Severeid, Jim Widder

3) Minutes of Oct. 23rd, 2004 fall membership meeting read. Those minutes on file. Correction to amend membership number from 152 to 162 as of last fall.

4) Treasurer’s report from Russ Moody on file. Net worth is $4,541.88. ($1,343.32 in checking)
Received payment for 148 members in 2004. Membership list shows 162. Need to resolve this discrepancy somehow.

5) Membership update from Russ Moody. 162 members for 2004, a mix of $5 and $10 WI dues paid because of lag time between the switch from the dues increase for 2004. Approximately 30-40 people have renewed for year 2005 so far. From 2003 to 2004 WWC lost 16 members. Discussion ensued: keep this data base confidential. For BOD’s only. Do not share with public or other WWC members.

6) Election of new officers: President: Odell Anderson, Vice president: Dan Bohlin, secretary: Jason Sable and co-secretary Matt Singer, Treasurer: John Oullette. Advisor Russ Moody has agreed to be the keeper of the membership data base and to be the contact with National Secretary Liz Jackson regarding membership.

7) Duty of president stays with Odell Anderson.

8) Committee Reports:

Improvement of trees and nuts: On file from Larry Severeid. Acrobasis study and the fall walnut collection were highlighted in the report.

Website and PC/Email technology: Ron Jervis absent. Bob W. said WWC member Wayne Zimmerman is taking over the site maintenance/updating from Ron. As information becomes available the board needs to relay the info to Wayne already edited and ready-to-post word-for-word. Advisor Bob Weiland will act as “editor” for all info that is to be posted on the website. So send information to Bob, who will then forward the information on to Wayne Zimmerman. Also, Bob then needs to forward this info to Liz Jackson for posting on the National Site. (or maybe she could just refer to our website as she needs to?)

Membership Program: Dan Bohlin sent WWC applications to all new Managed Forest Law applicants in Grant county. No response that he knows of. Discussion ensued on how to do outreach to get new members. Discussion followed on what do new members get when they sign up? Some states send out quite a package.
We are changing the WWC application to reflect some changes: we will no longer have people send their application and dues to the Wisconsin Treasurer. The application and dues will be sent to National. The new and improved organization done by National Secretary Liz Jackson makes this possible. The local contact on WWC application will now be Dan Bohlin, not Ron Jervis. Matt Singer will make these changes and e-mail a copy to all BOD and 100 hard copies to Dan Bohlin. All previous revisions of the application are to thrown away.

Public Relations: nothing new

WWC exhibits: display is coordinated out of advisor’s John Nielsen DNR office in Dodgeville. Will be on display at the Madison Area Woodland Owners Conference 1-26-05 and Sinsinawa Conference in March ’05 and at other conferences as appropriate.

Marketing of tree farm products: Nothing new. Need chairman. John Oullette agreed to head this up for this year.

Chapter revenue generation: BOD agreed to eliminate this committee.

9a) February 2005 Membership Meeting/Woodland Owner’s Conference: Will be held Saturday, February 26th. Location is the American Family Insurance Complex on the north side of Madison. WWC membership meeting will be held from 8-9 am. Conference to follow. Matt Singer will make a mailing for this to WWC membership database as soon as he obtains the conference flyer from UW Dane Co. Extension.

9) Spring 2005 field day: John Oullette and Larry Severeid will be chairmen of this. Date of Friday May 6th OR Friday May 13th, 2005. Field day portion is to a mill/exporter located in Trempealeau County, lunch at a local restaurant with dining hall, then a few indoor presentations as a wrap-up. Details to follow.

10) Fall 2005 field day: John Oullette is chairman. Field day Saturday, October 8th at John’s property in Richland County. Details to come.

11) Old Business: Insurance: The following is from an e-mail dated 1-4-05 from Liz Jackson at National:

Hi Odell-
Hope this message reaches you in time for your meeting. I have received 3 quotes for liability insurance including all state chapters. Two quotes are in the thousands of dollars and not realistic for our organization. The third is not much more than what we pay now and will cover all state chapters and their events. It is also a higher liability policy, with an umbrella of $2 million or $4 million (I forget which), double what we had. I am fairly confident that it will cover any losses that we might have.

It may sound silly, but I am having that agent double check the policy to make sure that it in fact covers everything he says. I was in doubt because it is so cheap. I should hear back from him any day and will put the policy in effect asap. My goal would be to have it in place by next week if he responds quickly.

We are going to pass on D & O at this time due to the high cost and the perceived limited risk. What this means is that the board members will not be covered for lawsuits due to decisions it makes, misrepresentation, libel, fraud, misappropriation of funds, etc. It was suggested that we use caution when putting information on the website or distributing it to help limit our exposure. Obvious other duties include proper votes, minutes, regular audits and review of the books, etc.

I'm pleased with the coverage in this policy and believe that it solves the problems at the state chapter level with little fuss or expense on the part of you or us. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to call.

Liz Jackson

The board discussed options if National does not cover the BOD personally. No conclusions reached.
Larry Severeid is going to attend the national meeting in Springfield IL March 10-11 and will check for further updates on this matter.

Respectfully Submitted,

Matt Singer, WI-Walnut Council Secretary