Board Blurb: October 2025

10/15/25

Prepared by Laurel Watt (2025 RCMG Secretary)

Summary for the September RCMG Board of Directors Meeting

The RCMG Board of Directors Meeting was held on October 14, 2025 on Zoom. The next Board Meeting will be on Tuesday, November 11, 2025 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom. All volunteers are welcome to attend.

Notes that the RCMG 2026-2027 Board Candidates are listed on the blog. See this post for more information.

Committee Updates

Communications Committee Update – Nanette Boudreau

In preparation for rebranding, the committee has solicited estimates from a printer for new signage. Also, there will be some personnel changes that may affect the committee’s ability to respond to some requests. Stacy Sola is going on emeritus status, Amanda Swanson is running for the new MarCom co-chair position, and Web lead Mandy Montain is switching to the Hennepin County MG program due to relocation.

Education Committee Update – Gene Ranieri & Susan Mason

The speakers for the October program are Cameran Bailey, Urban Agriculture Coordinator for Ramsey County, Chris Stevens, Co-Director of Frogtown Green, and Skyler Hawkins, Urban Roots Farm Director. Together they will discuss “Urban Agriculture and Community Gardening in Ramsey County.” The team also has programs set for the first three meetings of 2026 and is happy to announce that Jo Sullivan will join Susan as the new co-chair.

Finance Committee Update – Laura Savin

Laura shared a draft of the committee’s new Financial Aid Policy for the Board’s review. The committee proposes that the amount allocated for financial aid each year be 30% of a rolling three-year-average of Plant Sale net profits. The Board will vote on the final version of this policy at the November meeting.

Membership Committee Update – Tiffa Foster & Susie DeShon

36 mentors and interns attended the Intern/Mentor Celebration on September 28th, and Susie and Tiffa received several suggestions for supporting interns next year.

There are 115 people who have signed up to be interns for 2026, so we will need a lot of mentors!

Eight interns graduated last month bringing the total to 23 out of 72 interns who have now finished their requirements. Unfortunately, there are 18 interns at substantial risk of not completing.

Leadership Updates

Secretary Update – Laurel Watt

The September Board Minutes were approved.

Treasurer Update– Kathy Passe (Interim Treasurer)

The September Treasurer Report was approved.

Program Coordinator Update – Darren Lochner

Darren provided several important updates:

• Name Change

  • Be sure to take a look at the Name Change FAQ site. If you have questions that do not appear in this document, you can submit your question to the email given at the bottom of the page. Note that this is a different site than the one you may have submitted questions to back in June. See the Chair’s report for more information.

  • A work group has been formed and tasked with providing input on potential names, developing an implementation plan, and collaborating with Extension and Ramsey County leaders and staff in implementing the change. The following Ramsey County volunteers have been participating with the work group: Beth Fritcher, Brianna Gohde, Elisa Iha, Karen Randall, and Kay Wimer.

  • An online webinar is scheduled for Monday Oct. 27, 2025 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. with representatives from Ramsey County, Extension, and the Master Gardener Volunteer Program. The webinar will provide additional context about the name change as well as an update from the workgroup about its progress.

• Applicants for 2026

  • As noted earlier, there is increased interest in the program for the upcoming year. 115 applications have been received. Interviews will begin on Friday, October 17th. Please consider volunteering with the informational interviews this fall.

• 2025 Project Report

  • RCMG Project Leaders are being asked to submit project reports by November 9th (click here).

Chair and Vice-Chair Report

Vice-Chair Report – Beth Fritcher

Beth announced that there will be seven candidates for Board positions for 2026. See RCMG 2026-2027 Board Candidates blog post for more information. Voting will commence after the October meeting, and all MG’s plus interns who have fully completed their requirements are eligible and encouraged to vote.

Chair Report – Kay Wimer

Board Retreat

Kay announced that the December Board Retreat will take place on either December 6th or 13th depending on results of the Doodle poll.

Name Change

Kay noted that there are two FAQ’s in existence regarding the name change of our program. As noted in Darren’s report above, there is the one that Extension has created to address MG questions, and there is also this one created by our leadership in June.

If you posted a question in the document referenced immediately above, and if you don’t see that question anywhere in the Extension FAQ’s cited in Darren’s report above, please consider copying your question into the Extension FAQ’s. Again, the Extension FAQ’s are found here.

New Business

No New Business.

Old Business

No Old Business.

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).