Board Blurb: August 2025

8/13/25

Prepared by Laurel Watt (2025 RCMG Secretary)

Summary for the August RCMG Board of Directors Retreat

The RCMG Board of Directors Retreat was held on August 12, 2025, at the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District Building. The next Board Meeting will be on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom.

Special Topics

RCMG Program Leadership Team

Because our 501 (c) (3) (the Corporation) is by law separate from the RCMG Program even though its focus is on raising money to support the RCMG Program, each now requires its own leadership.

U of MN Extension provides support for the RCMG Program such as liability and data protection, but we have been advised that it cannot do so for a separate entity such as our 501 (c) (3). Therefore, we find ourselves at the point in time where we must determine separate advisory structures for the Program and the Corporation.

Also, support for the Program Coordinator, Darren Lochner, has been provided by Brianna Gohde for many years. Looking ahead, we must develop a broader leadership team that works with the Program Coordinator to support MG volunteers. This will likely involve both a shuffling of roles and responsibilities and reimagining how volunteer leaders can best support volunteers in a new structure.

After reviewing the current structure, the Board and invited guests (former Board members) formed small groups to consider what makes sense about separate leadership structures and what concerns they have. Going forward, Darren will work with committee leads and other Program volunteers to develop a charter for the new Program Leadership Team.

2026 Plant Sale Goals

The Plant Sale leadership team is proposing an increase in the budget for the 2026 Plant Sale as well as projecting an increase in profits. Part of the rationale for the increased budget is the fact that we ran out of many plants well before noon. In light of this, the Board agreed that the proposed budget increase is warranted and approved the requested 25% increase.

Other decisions that must be made include the specifics of a net profit goal, whether to continue renting tables or begin purchasing them, and the development of a plant pricing strategy-to lower, maintain, or increase prices.

After a healthy discussion, it was determined that all three of these issues are premature and were tabled. In short, there are still many unknowns facing us in the months to come, i.e., the economy and inflation, name change financial concerns, and plant wholesale costs.

2025 Board Leadership: Kay Wimer (Chair), Beth Fritcher (Vice-Chair), Laurel Watt (Secretary), Kathy Passe (Treasurer), Gene Ranieri (Education Chair), Susan Mason (Education Co-Chair), Tiffa Foster (Membership Chair), Susie DeShon (Membership Co-Chair), Nanette Boudreau (Communication Chair), Stacy Sola (Communication Co-Chair), Laura Savin (Finance Chair), Darren Lochner (Program Coordinator).