Minutes

Minutes of St. John’s Advisory Council Meeting

July 10, 2001 in New Science Center Natural History Museum

Present: Bob Ellenbecker, John Geissler, Dorothy Johnson, Tom Kroll, Fr. John Kulas, O.S.B., Linda Marrin, Janette Monear, Scott May, Elizabeth Sim, Larry Schwietz, Linda Mock

Absent: Gordon Bailey, Larry Davis, David Hartwell, Br. Benedict Leuthner, O.S.B., Peter Olin, Bob Thomsen, Ron Weinhold,

Acting Director, John Geissler, called the meeting to order about 2:00 p.m.

John announced that Tom Kroll has accepted the position of Land Manager /Arboretum Director and will officially join the Arboretum staff August 2, 2001. Welcome Tom! We are glad you are aboard.

1. Update of Saint John’s Arboretum Activities

Green Certification

Tom Kroll explained "Green Certification." This is a forest management rating process that indicates that lumber has been sustainably harvested. As part of the certification, a third party audit of the forest is done. The audit of St. John’s forest has just been completed and the auditors were very positive about the condition of St. John’s woods. This audit will now be forwarded to a peer review committee, and then to Washington, DC. Once all the review groups have given their approval, they will issue a one-page summary and a news release. It is important that Saint John’s Arboretum receive a copy of the one page summary.

Summer Research

We have four student workers this summer. Sue Schulzetenberg is doing the Butterfly Survey. Luke Healy is doing the Bird Survey. Becky Guza is doing the Plant Survey. Frank Zeigler is doing the Reptile/Amphibian Survey, which is new this year. Frank has a strong interest in this area and is doing a great job.

Environmental Camp

John Geissler assisted St. John’s Prep School with an environmental camp of twelve seventh and eighth graders. They worked every day from 10 a.m. to 7 PM.

Savanna Planting

The next five acres have been cleared in the Oak Savanna. John plans to do a burn this fall, and planting will be done after the burn. This work will use up the balance of the Oak Savanna DNR Grant funds.

District Outreach Planning

John met with 17 teachers from the St. Cloud Public School District 742 to discuss K-6 educational possibilities available at the Arboretum. The teachers indicated they might have funding for training of teachers, traveling trunks, and possibly a video. They do have trouble finding funding to transport/bus students to sites. Options discussed were:

Arboretum doing fundraising to help cover transport costs.

Possibility of charging a per student fee.

Getting more specific about contracts with school districts.

The need to look at a more comprehensive approach to this project.

Developing both a student and adult volunteer tour guide program.

A suggestion was made to have someone from an area school district be a member of the Advisory Council.

Summer Newsletter Ideas

Elizabeth Sim reported the following newsletter ideas:

An article about Tom Kroll.

Including a copy of Paul Gruchow’s Dedication remarks—however, Paul has been ill and as yet has been unable to get those remarks to us.

An article from each of the summer students.

An article about John’s contact with the St. Cloud School District.

An article about the new boardwalk with pictures.  

The deadline to have Newsletter articles in is the end of July.

Trail Maps – New GPS Equipment

The Biology Department has a GPS unit and mapping program they have loaned to the Arboretum. John and the summer students have been working with it. The GPS unit will allow them to walk a trail, map it out, then link with the computer and print it out. This is a wonderful tool for making trail maps.

2. Budget Overview

John distributed copies of the 2000-01 Actual budgets for Income, Expense, and Boardwalk Installation. There was general discussion and John answered questions.

A question and concern was raised regarding the funding of John’s salary while he is filling the position of Acting Director. When John was originally hired, he was hired to fill the position of Education Coordinator. Gordon Bailey donated funds for this position for the specific purpose of Education Coordinator. The Advisory Council thinks the money should be held while John is in the Acting Director position. The funding for the Director/Acting Director position should be funded as it previously was funded when Fr. Paul was alive. The council also thinks this funding should be retroactive to May, 2000 when John stepped into the position.

It was suggested that when the budget is on the agenda for an Advisory Council meeting, it would be helpful to distribute the information to the council prior to the meeting.

Note: We need to send a Thank You to Bob Thomsen for graciously donating all of the potted plants that were at the Boardwalk Dedication. The plants were sold as part of the fundraising.

3. New Council Make-up

The Council members reviewed the handout titled Arboretum Council Committees – 2000, 2001. Some of the committee member’s terms will be ending in December. The new terms of office will be beginning January 1, 2002. There was discussion about redefining the function of the Advisory Council and about increasing the number of board members. What is the process of increasing the number of Advisory Council members? Perhaps it would be helpful to have another member from St. John’s Abbey on the Council. The council members made suggestions of people they thought would be good candidates to fill council Committee positions. Those suggestions were Carol Marrin for PR/Sales/Personnel/Marketing, Brian Kinghorn for Horticulturist, Amy Schwietz for Fundraising/Sales. There was discussion about the annual weekend retreat and dates the Advisory Council members had available. Mid-September is a possibility.

4. Donor Recognition Plaques

It has been suggested that plaque/markers be placed on sections of the boardwalk where individuals or companies donated a whole section of the boardwalk. There was discussion about leaf shape plaque with individuals or companies names on them. It was suggested the Fundraising Committee take care of this. Special recognition should be given to Fr. Fran Hoefgen, O.S.B. for all the work he put into making the Boardwalk Dedication Thank You cards. All three hundred had hand placed matted photographs on the front of them.

5. Marilyn Memorial Ideas

In the past some Advisory Council members have discussed developing/building a waterfall/water feature in the Conifers Walk area. Perhaps this would be a good area for a memorial to Marilyn. There was discussion about placing a statue Mary or St. Benedict or the Lord in this area. Larry Schwietz will talk with the Abbot about it. A suggestion was made to talk with the Abbey Design Committee and Brother Linus about the design of this feature. There is approximately $20,000.00 available.

Other

There was general discussion about reviewing the Strategic Plan to help keep us on track. There was discussion about the rolls and responsibilities of Advisory Council/Board members

A question was raised about a Logo for St. John’s Arboretum. A suggestion was made that John talk with the University President, Br. Diederich—Saint John’s prefers that we not have a completely separate logo, but retain the Saint John’s logo.

There was discussion about inviting the University of Minnesota, Extension Office, Master Gardeners to use some of their volunteer hours helping at St. John’s Arboretum. We would need to contact the person in charge of that program, to find out what would be involved.

Linda Marrin moved the meeting be adjourned. Janette Monear seconded the motion. Meeting was adjourned

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Mock

The next Advisory Council meeting is November 7, 2001 at 2 p.m. in the New Science Center, Natural Hisory Museum. Mark your calendars.