LIA MINUTES, BOARD MEETING
OCTOBER 4, 2011, 6:00 P.M.
RALPH AND KACOO’S RESTAURANT
BATON ROUGE, LA
The meeting began at 6:13 P.M. with President, Wayne Orton welcoming everyone and asking them to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Voting members present were: Mike Goree, John R. Kavanaugh, Wayne Orton, Julie Mouch Broussard, Jack Hopper and Marianne Joye. Severn C. Doughty, Sr., non-voting Board Member was present as well. Four voting Board Members present represented a quorum and six were present.
Wayne asked the Board to review the Minutes of the last Meeting and if acceptable, move that they be accepted. Mike Goree moved, seconded by Jack Hopper, to accept the minutes. Motion carried.
Wayne asked Severn to give the financial report. Severn indicated that revenues for the 3rd quarter were $9,136.61 and expenses were $9,769.51 leaving $632.90 in expenses over revenues. The savings account balance was $6,076.68 and the ending checking account balance for the 3rd quarter was $15,479.34. The PayPal account balance was $1,230.85 and deposits made on October 3, 2011 – mostly recertification registrations and some dues - were $5,700.00 for a checking account balance as of October 3, 2011 of $21,179.34. Total assets were $21,179.34 + $1,230.85 + $6,076.68 = $28,486.87. There were some questions and Mike Goree asked if we could add a year-to-date column to the right of the budget column so everyone would know how much of each line item budget category was spent or received so far into the year. Severn indicated that that was easy to do. Finally, Julie Mouch Broussard moved, seconded by John R. Kavanaugh, to accept the financial statement as presented. Motion carried.
Wayne asked Severn to give the Membership report. Severn indicated that as of September 27, 2011 we had 112 Members and 17, 2 year Memberships. He passed the mailing label list around and indicated that he was considering purging the names of individuals with 2008 only behind their names. He has sent Membership renewal notices since 2009 and had no response. He felt that it was wasting postage and time to continue to mail renewal notices with no positive response. He asked the Board how they felt about dropping the 2008 individuals. There was not much response one way or the other. Severn felt that after the October 5th recertification training that LIA would realize more Memberships. Severn mentioned, also, that as requested at the last Board Meeting, he included three IA Officers to the mailing label list so they would receive the Newsletters.
Wayne asked Severn to report on the website. Severn started out by stating that the statistics on the site for the past quarter were improving by September. Total page views for July were 1,394, August, 1,704 and September, 2,456 and visits (a person visiting the site on one or multiple pages) were the highest in September, 1,962, than any other month this year.
Time of day most page views occurred were 7:00 P.M. (1,567), 8:00 P.M. (1,502) and 9:00 P.M. (1,197). Days of the week most visited were Thursdays (3,259), Wednesdays (3,205) and Tuesdays (3,003) and areas of the website most frequently visited were certification /training (792), membership/board minutes (639) and news (581). Time of day, days of the week and areas of the website totals from above were from January 1 to September 30, 2011.
Next, Severn passed around a proposal by our webmaster, Sophie Tolliver, on a redesign of the website. Severn asked each Board Member to review the proposal. The proposed cost included the following: Home Page called ‘skin’, $45.99; proposed hours to implement, 30 hrs. @ $16.00/hr. = $480.00; Orbit image and Banner slider module for ads, $13.00; and the total was $538.99 plus tax. There was considerable discussion and it was finally decided that we needed an upgrade. Consequently, Mike Goree moved, seconded by Jack Hopper, to accept the website redesign proposal and move forward with it. Motion passed.
Wayne moved on to Old Business and asked Severn to present the Irrigation Basics, September 7, 8, 2011, Profit & Loss statement. Total revenues were $6,236.00 and total expenses were $2,802.32 which left $3,433.68 in revenues over expenses.
Wayne asked Severn to present the evaluations from the above class. Severn stated that he left the class with only five of 26 evaluations but of those five the responses were very favorable except that one respondent stated about the class that there was a “lot of information an irrigation contractor would not use” but the respondent realized that the class was intended to prepare individuals to take the license exam. All respondents rated Mike Goree, instructor, with good to great ratings as the instructor.
Wayne asked Severn to present the newly updated Publication Order Form. Severn indicated that we now were advertising the sale of 8 books and most of the cost of books have increased and so was reflected in the new list. The list will appear on the LIA website as well as Severn handing them out at training meetings and at trade shows.
Wayne asked Severn to present the Chronological Order of Educational Training that was requested of him at the last Board Meeting. Severn handed each board member a copy and the intent of it was to have a historical record of LIA training and so that a rotational system of training could be developed so that an individual would not receive the same training he/she had the last time they recertified.
Wayne moved on to New Business and discussed the nominating committee’s recommended slate of Officers and Board of Directors for the upcoming term. The recommended slate of Officers and Board of Directors included:
- President, Wayne Orton
- Vice-President, Julie Mouch Broussard
- Past President, Danny Mobley
- Director 2012, Marianne Joye
- Director 2012, John R. Kavanaugh
- Director 2012, 2013, Jack Hopper
- Director 2012, 2013, Curt Bowman
There being little discussion John R. Kavanaugh, moved, seconded by Jack Hopper, to accept the slate of Officers and Board of Directors by acclimation. Motion passed.
Wayne asked Severn to discuss the letter sent to Landscape Architects inviting them to attend the October 5, 2011 recertification training in order to get 8 hours of CEU credits to meet their yearly LDAF recertification training requirement. Severn indicated that he sent 300 letters to all instate licensed Landscape Architects around the middle of September at a cost of $156.00 for copying and postage. As it turned out no Landscape Architect attended the October 5, 2011 recertification training. Severn indicated that Craig Roussel had sent him the forms in order to recertify Landscape Architects in the event they attended LIA training courses but so far none have attended.
Wayne asked Severn to discuss the Irrigation Basics class as a Certification Class for Agriculture Teachers. Severn stated that he had the occasion to speak with one of the Louisiana Department of Education district supervisors and offered a suggestion that perhaps LIA could create an Irrigation Certification Program for Agriculture Teachers to teach their students a curriculum in Principles of Irrigation or Irrigation Basics for Irrigation Professionals. LIA would administer an exam which if passed by the Ag teachers and/or students, it would qualify them to be a Certified Irrigation Professional.
LIA would have to determine a curriculum, create an exam, create a certificate, create a Certified Irrigation Professional logo and decal and advertise as it would only be available through LIA. Much discussion ensued and the Board asked Severn to contact Chad Aucoin, State Supervisor over all Agriculture Teachers. Severn further stated that all of the Ag teachers meet at the LDAF Woodworth facility for training each July and that this would be a perfect time to teach the curriculum. Severn stated that we could discuss it at the next Board Meeting and everyone agreed.
Wayne asked Severn to discuss the Rainbird Academy’s offer to provide LIA members training. Jeremy Mansell with the academy emailed Severn and offered to allow LIA members a 15% discount on training if LIA would give them LIA’s Membership list. Severn asked them to become a member of LIA and they indicated that with just over 100 members that would not justify membership. Consequently, the Board asked Severn to respond to Mr. Mansell and politely tell him ‘No Thanks’.
Severn asked for an add-on agenda item by stating that he really needed help. The work load from 2007 to 2011 has expanded tremendously. As an example there were three Irrigation Basics classes held in 2010 and two recertification classes held. This year four Irrigation Basics classes have been scheduled and two recertification classes. The class sizes have also increased as had the membership over the past two years. It is increasingly more difficult for him to keep up with the work load. Consequently, Severn requested that perhaps LIA could hire an Administrative Assistant much like LNLA had that could assist in the weekly operation of the Association. Severn felt that Sophie Tolliver would be the ideal choice. The board asked what would be the job description and Severn stated that he would write one and it could be discussed at the next Board Meeting. In the mean time Mike Goree moved, seconded by Jack Hopper to allow Severn to spend $750.00 (46 hours) at his discretion and to ask Sophie if she would be willing to perform the duties. Motion carried.
There being no more business, John R. Kavanaugh moved, seconded by Julie Mouch Broussard to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried and the meeting concluded at 9:55 P.M.