Oct.

28, 2015 Farmers Club Board Meeting Minutes

Paul Osentoski called the meeting to order at 3:00pm. Present were Cyndy Stanford,
Barb Holmes, Dave Crespan, Bob Manne, and Diane Bartlett.

The meeting minutes for both the Sept. 30th Board meeting and the Oct. 1st Dinner
meeting were approved as written.

Financial Report
• Barb Marcato advised that she will begin the process for setting the budget for
2016 once she receives financial requests from each committee chairman for
2016. She will contact each chairman for that information.
• There will be no financial report handout at the November dinner meeting, but
Barb will send a 9-months financial report to Paul as soon as completed.

Constitution
• Barb Holmes reported that the online voting regarding our proposed revised Club
Constitution was 48 – 0 in favor of the revisions, so our new Constitution will be
adopted.
• Paul will send out an email to Members about the adoption of the new
Constitution.

Long Range Planning Committee Report

• Bob Manne presented a final report of his committee of 4 who worked for about
18 months on our long range Farm Club plans. His report is attached below these
minutes.
• The committee did a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis
by surveying the Membership and looking at the manpower needed, then
implementing changes to the Club Constitution, reviewing a 5-year financial
analysis, and providing regular reports of efforts and directions to the Board as
they went along.
• Key recommendations were made and implemented, as noted in the Committee’s
report below these minutes.
• The Club Rules & Regulations were modified for simplicity and clarity, a new
document called the Board Operating Guidelines was written, our website was
improved and now provides all information to Members, our Constitution was re-
written, and electronic voting was implemented to provide input from all Club
Members.
• Bob thanked his other committee members Dave Crespan, Chuck Mainenti, and
Dale Mathis.

Mowing and Equipment

• Dave Crespan reported that both mowers have had intermittent problems but are
functional at this time, and mower winter maintenance will be done in January.
Dinners
• Diane Bartlett reported that we had 75 Members attending the October dinner,
and 85 have signed up so far for the November 5th Shrimp Boil dinner.
• Diane reported that some Members are struggling with the RSVP button on our
website dinner invitations, so Dave suggested that we include helpful tips in our
next dinner e-invitation. The problem most likely involves software that is not
current enough for using ‘buttons’ on an invitation.

New Business
• Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, our next Board meeting will be on Wed., Dec.
2nd, which is the day before our December dinner on Thurs., Dec. 3rd.
• Cyndy reported that Glenn Stanford has gathered quite a few pecans from our
grove, and they will be included in the first fall Farm sale on Nov. 21st. Glenn
will recruit help at our Nov. 5th dinner for gathering pecans and preparing them
for Farm sales.

Meeting adjourned 4:10pm

Respectfully submitted,
Cyndy Stanford, Secretary

October 27, 2015

To: HHP Farmers Club Board
Subject: Final Report, Long Term Planning Committee, Farm Sustainability

The Committee, 4 members, plus management involvement

Formed in May 2014, finished November, 2015 18-month effort
Mission: Make changes that would help sustain Long-term operations

Key Checkpoints
• SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
• Surveyed each farm activity for manpower reqt
• Conducted Membership survey
• Implemented specific changes to the Constitution, implemented October 2014
• CPA review of 5-years of Financials
• Regular Board review of effort & direction; sought Board concurrence, every step

Key Recommendations
• Allow ALL members to vote on every decision
 • Reduce the Board size to between 7 and 9 members
• Develop a plan to provide educational classes on successful LowCountry farming
• Re-write Constitution to provide:
Identification of a Primary & Secondary Mission statement
Smaller Board with sub-committees (seven board members recommended)
New timetable for the Nominating Committee
New timetable for officer election and dues collection
Identify spending authority for President, V-P, and committee chairs
Outline appropriate relationship between the Board and the President
Create procedure for replacing a Board member when not able to fulfill
his/her term
Create a process for handling unruly members
Adhere to the R&R of the HH Plantation as well as our own and those of the
state
• Dinners need to be at least revenue neutral
• Identify key replacements for the following activities:
Blueberry production, Irrigation, Fence Maintenance, Plot Administration,
Citrus mgmt.,
Mowing, Jelly/Jam production, Sales Operations
• Implement a Reserve Fund (four months of expense)
• Hire outsourced labor as required
• Communicate to members REGULARLY
• Allow 2-3 years to validate all new endeavors for effectiveness

Key Implementation Accomplishments

• Rewrote Rules & Regulations (13 pgs) into RULES (2 pgs) and NEW FARMER GEN
INFO (2 pgs)
• NEW DOCUMENT: Board Operating Guidelines (11 pgs)
• Re-wrote Constitution (4 pgs); member approved unanimously October 2015
• Significant Website improvements
CLUB DOCUMENTS (enhanced)
New BOARD MEMBER specific area
Dinner signup form revised
Ballot forms revised
Creating a Master File parking area (Warehouse) (Board Member area)
• Electronic voting allows ALL Members to vote

Voting Statistics Participation Level

Election of Officers 51.9%

Constitution 30.8%
HHI Computer Club Member survey 2011 34.0%
HHI Computer Club Member survey 2015 16.7%
Sen. Pinckney election replacement 8.6%

Voting Messages
 Membership wants to be involved
Electronic voting works !!
Key to member involvement is REGULAR COMMUNICATION TO ALL MEMBERS
HHP Farmers Club Strategic Planning SWOT Analysis Summer 2014
STRENGTHS
Water Usage, availability of well
Fully developed underground water
infrastructure
Core of dedicated volunteers
Residents interested in farming
Sound financial position
Dinners = nice social affair
Good turn out for Sat spring sales
Membership position = strong
Inexpensive membership
OPPORTUNITIES
Constitution Issues
Board Size
Understanding our memberships’ viewpoint &
attitude
Everyone needs to help, not just the 20% that
do
Education of our members for farming
Water Usage
WEAKNESSES
Constitution Issues
Ageing of population
Board Size
Water Usage
Identification, backup personnel, for all key
people
Security (plots, vegetables, facilities)
Ident. of responsibilities, all mgmt. personnel
Little participation in farm activities
Too many non-essential functions
No rule enforcement
Lack of volunteers for key jobs; i.e., plot prep.,
citrus sales, orchard maint., irrigation,
mowing, etc
Little knowledge or concern for the
constitution or the R&R
Board meetings: slow decision making, need
sub-committees to deal with issues and bring
back options to the Board
Need better financial records & analysis for
the cost of activities; i.e., repairs, electric cost,
materials & chemicals, etc
Need for officers moving up into advanced
positions or training replacements to take over
positions
THREATS
Ageing of population
Board Size
Understanding our memberships’ viewpoint &
attitude
Education of our members for farming
Water Usage
Security (plots, vegetables, facilities)
Identi. of backup personnel for all key people
Security (plots, vegetables, facilitie s)
Ident. of responsibilities, all mgmt. personnel
Devel. Of FC plots, timetable for plant. vegs for
sale
Strengthening accountability among members
Host an Open House farm day event to
encourage more members
Better and more consistent communication
Misuse of equipment
Too many vacant plots
Salt water intrusion issue
Crops stolen from plots
New young farmers, some w/both parents
working and w/children are too busy to
maintain their plots or volunteer at the club