Those Present: Tom Anderson, Dawne Howard, Claude Eans, Dave Barrow, Keith Schoonover, Lori Schoonover, Dave Hunter, Vince Perrotta, Bethany Dell'agnello, Sonya Demiray, Mike Kay

1. Call to order: Keith called the meeting to order.

2. Sonia Demiray introduced herself to the Board. Sonia is originally from Europe and she has been living in the Jefferson Area for over 20 years. Sonia is very concerned about environmental matters such as deforestation, and global climate change. Sonia’s son Alex attended NRCC Camp last summer. Sonia was invited to attend our meeting by Dave Barrow and she knows Dave from the Sierra Club. Sonia is interested in learning more about the Frederick Board and their activities. Sonia is a professional Marketing and Media expert and mentioned that she would be happy to work with the Board to help get their message out and increase their name recognition and influence in the community. Sonya provided some examples on how the Board can accomplish this by using media outlets like radio, television, internet, and printed outlets. Sonya said she would be happy to attend more meetings to get better acquainted with Board members and what they do; and, work with interested parties.

3. Treasurer’s Report: Claude mentioned that he received a $144 check from Dave returning the funds that Dave requested for the website. (Dave can do what he needs to do with little or no charge.) We also received a $379.63 check from the Washington County Forestry Board for our share of the Tick Workshop proceeds. Claude also mentioned that the Demiray family cashed their $125 check which was reimbursement for the NRCC Activity Free. In a separate email Claude mentioned that we received $.20 interest. Tom and Claude also have plans to meet with Budget Director, Kelly Weaver at her office on Tuesday (1-21-20) at 3:00 pm to discuss the Forestry Boards budget allocation.

4. Logging site exams: 1 plan was submitted Mike will coordinate visiting these sites via email.

5. Communications: Sonia went into more detail on how the Board could utilize media outlets to spread the word. One of the primary goals should be to create name recognition. Some ideas included looking into conducting a weekly radio program where we field questions from the public or develop radio spots to discuss various environmental topics. The same could be done on the internet. Another idea is to post articles or announcements in the weekly local print media outlets such as Frederick News Post, Frederick’s Child magazine, Recreater Magazine. Another idea would be to participate in various environmental gatherings and public tree planting events. (Board members mentioned that they have participated in events like public tree plantings in the Thurmont City Parks, and Green events at Thurmont, Baker Park, Emmitsburg. Dave Barrow mentioned that the Board has signed up for 3 different events this spring: Thurmont Green Fest April 4, 2020. Middletown Green Fest April 25, 2020. Emmitsburg Green Fest May 2, 2020. Dave mentioned that Thurmont is asking each participating group to supply a person who can speak about how what they do enhances water quality. Board members thought that talking about how trees enhance water quality would be ideal. Bethany volunteered to be the speaker for this program.

6. Downtown Tree Walk: Bethany has ordered and paid for the tree tags. The cost was about $60 more than the Board’s funding for the Project but she made up the difference with her own money. (Board members said that that was not necessary and she should be reimbursed through the Treasury. Bethany will figure out the difference and send a memo to Claude.) Bethany said that she asked for a sample tag to make sure that it was acceptable and was told that one would be sent, but nothing has been received for the meeting. Bethany mentioned that the Tree Walk comprises 30 trees and she would like to conduct an organized tree walk. Everybody thought that would be a good idea.

7. Nature Notes: Lori mentioned that we now have a nice backlog . Dave mentioned that the Newspaper thought they have run enough successive articles about trees in the Tree Walk series and decided to mix up the articles for awhile returning to the Tree Walk later in the spring.

8. Web site: Dave mentioned that he routinely changes the photo on the front page and throughout the website to add diversity.

9. New Business:

• Dave mentioned that both Thurmont and Middletown will be holding Green Fest this year and would like us to participate. Bethany volunteered to do a presentation on how tree affect water quality. The board voted to participate at both green fest and to pass out seedlings.

• Mike wondered if the Friends Meeting Place might be available for the next couple months since bad weather would make travelling to Gambrill a tricky proposition during February, March, April. Dave Hunter said he will check and get back to Mike.