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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - MGG - 01-20-2011Milton Promsgrevei MILTON GROWS GREEN COMMITTEE JANUARY 20, 2011 MINUTES [APPROVED] 02,11;9V►�L Date: January 20, 2011, 6:00 pm - 7:20 pm Place: Fire Station #43, 750 Hickory Flat Road, Milton, GA 30004 Attendees: Jack Lindon, Francia Lindon, Cindy Eade and Tom Gilliam. Agenda: The Agenda was distributed and was posted on the City's web site prior to the meeting. The meeting date had to be postponed twice due to snow. I. Approval of Minutes: No minutes were approved. II. Updates and Announcements: Bring One for the Chipper - Jack announced that Marc Arrington had sent him an e-mail saying that due to family responsibilities, he felt this was the last time he would be leading an MGG event. The e-mail focused on tips and methods he used to run the Chipper event. As an example, each leader of a group collecting trees as a fundraiser will have a firm count on trees they are delivering making it unnecessary to count them as they are being unloaded. Francia commented that it was important for all volunteers to keep the person heading the event appraised of any related actions, decisions or discussions concerning the event. Maintaining a continuous stream of communication by the MGG team is crucial in giving the person in charge the control they will need to stay on top of their project, especially since ours is a volunteer group without any formal hierarchy. Earth Day Festival - Last year's Earth Day Festival was the first for the Committee, and due to a late start, we experienced organizational and communication problems. Cindy Eade asked how it was going to be handled this year. Since "Special Events" comes under the auspices of the Parks and Recreation Department, Jack was under the impression that Cyndee Bonacci was going to be running the event this year. City Hall has also just hired a second person for the department. Jack anticipated being the key person on the MGG Committee's side but that 60 - 80% of the logistics Jack did last year, Cyndee Bonacci will be doing this year. MGG maintained a list of vendors and a budget from last year and can use this information going forward. There was discussion on a few of the problems that occurred with the first event, such as a few food vendors not showing up at the last minute, not being able to collect money for the T-shirts, and the instructions on handling money not filtering down to the appropriate people. With the City being the official sponsor, the procedure for collecting money will be clearer. The financial success of the festival depends on sponsorship money for two reasons; 1. the City doesn't fully fund the event and 2. MGG got very positive responses from local businesses that were interested contributing. Jack was also hoping that Jon would file for a 501(c) 3 by the time of the event. This would help with people or businesses wanting to donate money who were concerned about MGG not having official IRS recognition as a charitable organization. Cindy Eade talked about the filing process taking much longer then we were anticipating based on her experience at Johns Creek. Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, January 20, 2011 [APPROVED] ALL MILTON GROWS GREEN DOCUMENTS ARE PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER WITH AT LEAST 35% POST - CONSUMER CONTENT. The Earth Day Festival is our biggest opportunity to recruit volunteers. We need to take full advantage of this. (About 50 minutes into the meeting Tom Gilliam, Parks and Recreation Department, came in to discuss Earth Day planning.) Tom clarified that the event was MGG's to conduct, but because the City is affiliated and has allocated $2,300 for the event, we would have to abide by municipal accounting requirements. We need to get three quotes for anything we buy over $500. We need to document what we are doing, who we talk to for bids, and compile a "needs list." Tom passed out copies of the vendor/sponsor forms used for the Milton Roundup. Vendors/Sponsors need to know what they get for their participation, such as their logos on banners and links/publicity thru the City's web page. Sponsors just make a donation but don't necessarily want booth space. Cindy Eade said that usually vendors want to be at an event such as ours and are willing to pay for space. This could be one approach MGG could use to raise money. If you go through a formal process of having vendors pay up front, the money will be there whether or not they show up. Cyndee Bonacci also wants copies of any planning documents with our goals in terms of number of vendors and number of citizens expected to attend. She also wants to be notified of all of our meetings. There was a question as to whether or not we were going to have T-shirts and whether or not to sell them. Tom pointed out, if money is taken, someone from the finance department has to be there. There has to be an audit trail. Tom said his department could supply the names of businesses who provide the types of services our event would need such as tents vendors, porta- potties, etc. Insurance for the event would be covered under the City's policy. Any excess funds we raise will go back to the Parks and Rec Dept. because "Special Events" comes under that department. Parks & Rec will also handle advertising/publicity, purchasing supplies and also give help with logistics. Jack asked for a meeting with Cyndee Bonacci to discuss specifics on the Vendor/ Sponsor application forms. Once they are revised, Cindy Eade offered to distribute the forms at a Chamber of Commerce meeting she was going to attend soon. MGG will come up with a list of people who will handle specific activities or aspects of the festival. There was a discussion on the kinds of activities we wanted to include. The Antique Wagon Rides and the Kids Activity Tent were two mentioned we wanted to repeat. April 16th was selected for the date of the event. The meeting adjourned at 7:20 pm. i ATTEST: Jon B. McPhail, Co Chair Francia Lindon, Secretary Milton Grows Green Committee Meeting Minutes, January 20, 2011 [APPROVED]