HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019.1.10 Community Garden MinutesCCG MINUTES
Thursday, Jan 10, 2019, 10:00 am
First Meeting of City Community Garden Committee
City Hall Executive Conference Room
Attendees
Rich Hendler, Uma Lal, Linda Newton, Amy Putnam Amanda Novak, Natalie Genco, Mayor Newton
and city staff.
Call to Order
Natalie Genco called the meeting to order at 10:07am
Introduction by Mayor Newton
Mayor Newton gave a summary of what is expected for the community garden and what the duties of
the community garden committee will be.
It was clarified that the city will pay to have a water line brought to the community garden and pay for
water usage. The community garden committee will pay for materials to build the garden and will find
volunteers to help with garden installation.
Mayor Newton will check with the city attorney, Whitt, to see if community garden members need to go
through training.
The community garden committee will report to Lisa, Parks and Rec Director. Lisa reports directly to
city council.
Open Meetings Act
It was discussed as to whether the community garden committee would be required to follow the open
meetings act. The mayor asked the city attorney If the committee would be able to meet outside of official
city meetings and it was determined that they would be able to meet and/or work and/or have discussions
outside of official meetings. All actions would have to be voted on in official meetings, however.
Committee members should send agenda items to Lisa one week in advance of our meeting.
501c3 and Nonprofit status
It was discussed whether we need to form a 501c3 for fundraising. Natalie reported that we already have
a non profit in place (but this is not a 501c3) can be used for fundraising. People can also donate directly
to the city on behalf of the community garden and get a tax deduction for this. This will restrict how the
money can be spent, however. The community garden committee in N.Richland Hills let their 501c3 go
and they advise that it is not needed for fundraising. Natalie suggested we wait to see if our sponsors
need us to form a 501c3.
History of Community Garden
Natalie gave a brief history of work that has done under the Colleyville Community Garden non profit
to organize for the community garden. She will send everyone the Power Point presentation she gave to
city council to explain why the community garden would be a benefit to Colleyville.
Natalie mentioned that there is an old dairy barn with the back portion vacant that we can use as a storage
for tools and garden equipment. Rich Hendler said we need to get approval from the city for this.
Natalie also stated there is large cistern set up for rain water collection that only needs a bladder and we
can use it to water our garden. This water is healthier for plants than city water and using it will save
money.
She also stated that the city chips tree limbs and makes mulch at the other side of the McPherson
property. This is ideal as we can use this mulch in our garden.
Big Dig Day
It was decided that we would try to schedule our garden installation day, known as the “Big Dig Day”
for late October or early November.
Bylaws
We will look over the generic committee bylaws the city suggests and discuss them at our next meeting.
We can approve them at the next meeting but change them in the future if we need to.
Next Meeting
A day and time for future meetings was discussed and the consensus was that the second Thursday of
each month at 8:00am would be best.
Organization
It was decided that for our next meeting, we need to establish a timeline and make a list of tasks.
McPherson Park Descendants
Linda will reach out to descendants of McPherson Park to see if they want to be involved in the
community garden as the garden will be on the property they donated to the city for McPherson Park.
Sponsorship
It was decided that we need to put together literature to give to those who may want to sponsor the
community garden.
Publicity
The city can help publicize the garden
Historical Preservation Committee
It was suggested we work with this committee as McPherson is an historical Colleyville site and once
was a dairy farm. The Historical Preservation Committee could help us promote the community garden
project and find volunteers. Mr. Fitzgerald is part of the Historical Preservation Committee has a
collection of farm equipment and perhaps some of his pieces could be displayed at the community
garden.
Adjourned