MCMGA Board Minutes for May 26th, 2026

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6:00pm via zoom

Attendees:
Carole Hardy, Cynthia Chase, Rich Becker, Linda Goldser, Kim Butchereit, Jen Hazen, Jack Lazareck, Winnie Mauch, Lisa Martins, John Jordan, Heidi Nichols, Hannah Hudson

Discussions:

  1. Acceptance of Board minutes from April 28th, 2026

    • Motion to Approve: Linda Goldser

    • Seconded: Lisa Martins

  2. Carole Hardy moved to remove Christine Semeniuk from MCMG Board and from being a designated signer on Chapter bank accounts.

    Motion Carried by Board

  3. IE Sale Financial Report: Jen reported $24k net income from this years’ sale, noting that though some costs had increased, overall it was a significant increase from last year. Jen also reviewed the Budget to Actual report noting the budgeted amount was $56k and the actual was $63k. The expenses totaled $3k higher than prior year, which was attributed to AV equipment and printing costs.

    Carole shared that the leftover plants went to Oregon Food Bank, some of our Seed to Supper partners and Growing Gardens, VetREST, Black Futures Farm and Learning Gardens Lab.

  4. June Social Events: Lisa shared that the first event will be at the demo garden on June 7th for the 2026 interns. The event aims to share relevant information and provide teaching demonstrations. Lisa noted that garden tours were the primary request on the survey responses, so she’s excited by the quick turnaround time for this event.

    For VetREST, Jacob will provide a garden tour and a soil demo at the Victory Garden. He’s also trying to enlist other non-profits to get involved for this event.

  5. PPS Classes Proposal: Carole shared a proposal to add four to five new course curriculums that would create a series called Rewild your Lawn. Carole has been seeking partners to make it into community events and planting more natives. There are opportunities to partner with Solar Punks, LGL and PSU. The potential courses are:

    • Site Assessment: mapping what to keep or get rid of

    • Invasive Species Identification - OSU is hoping for more folks to identify such plants

    • What to plant - native plant species to install to reclaim as habitat

    • How to maintain the garden

    • How to propagate

  6. Scholarships: Carole shared that we have budgeted for two scholarships for the Joy of Gardening conference: one for $100 and one for $250. It is recommended that we offer a scholarship to someone who will serve as the OMGA Rep. Note that we haven’t promoted this yet and we don’t currently have an application review process in the event that multiple people apply. Action items to move this forward: Rich will share a job description with Lisa; Lisa will create a google survey; Carole will send to the email lists. If more than one person applies, we will implement an interview process.

  7. OSU Extension MG program report: Kim shared that the 2026 Level Up Series is now live, scheduled and is included as continuing education credits.

    Kim shared that all MG volunteers who interact with youth under 18 must comply with the Youth Protection Requirements To make the process and expectation clear, it was agreed that when there is a student class held in the Demo Garden it is closed to MG volunteers who have not completed the Youth Registry Requirements.


    Kim also shared that the OSU merch website is live and open to the public for shopping. Carole and Kim will work together to understand and report back where the proceeds are going, whether to OSU Extension or the Master Gardener program.

  8. Budget: Jen shared that there’s been over $18k of gross profit and $3k of net profit so far this year. She also noted that fewer membership dues have been collected but we’re otherwise on track for spending. A remaining balance of $2,700 is available and can be used for programs such as PPS and education projects. Lastly, the canopy collapse was the only thing not planned for so far, but this could be covered with funds donated specific to the Demo Garden.

  9. Demo Garden: Linda shared that the demo garden has generated 210lbs of produce that’s donated to local food pantries. 34 people have visited the garden since January and 37 new interns are there as well, though noting we still need help with getting people into the garden. Planning for the August 8th garden event will start in earnest this upcoming week and 3 workshops are being held in June.

  10. Awards discussion: John shared that county-wide awards are up to our MCMG discretion while state-wide awards are decided by OSU Extension. Kim mentioned that OSU Extension would appreciate MCMGA announcing to our members that anyone can nominate someone for the statewide awards. The deadline for these is the 31st and the announcements take place at the end of the year for state award winners.

    John asked if the Chapter wants to do county awards this year. After some discussion a majority of the Board members voted to not do formal county awards this year, but to do some sort of recognition for all members at the Harvest Fest instead.

  11. Membership: Heidi shared that membership total is down but actuals per person is $35.06 per person, which is up from last year. She noted that 45 people from the 2025 cohort did not renew. The membership directory is in progress, Lisa will work on it after John, in conjunction with Heidi who will send a list of eligible members to Lisa by the end of June.

Next meeting June 23rd at 6pm

Meeting led by: Carole Hardy
Adjourned at: Carole Hardy
Notes taken by: Hannah Hudson
Minutes approved on: 6/23/2026