The Meeting was called to order by the Chairman Tom Wolfe at 1:20 after a brief introduction by the past Chairman Betsy McCrory. The meeting was held at the Tampa Palms Country Club in Tampa. The Bromeliad Guild of Tampa Bay hosted the meeting. The Chairman asked all members present to roll call, with all ten societies being present at the roll call. The members are below listed.

Tom Wolfe, David A. Johnson, Kenneth Stokes, Calandra and Jay Thurrott, John and Janet Bankhead, Sudi Hipsley, Eve Krauth, Rick Ryals, Patty Gonzalez, Mike Mikulski, Lisa Robinette, Jose and Sara Donayre, Betsy and Bill McCrory, Howard Frank, Ron and Carolyn Shoenau, Steven Provost, Vicky Chirnside, Beverly Sisco.

October minutes reviewed, with no updates or revisions noted. Accepted as presented.

Motion Betsy McCrory 2^nd John Bankhead

Treasurer Report: Sudi Hipsley, Treasurer. Report filed for audit with no corrections

Webmaster Report: Submitted by Michael Andreas

The web site was renewed for another year with the hosting company, Network Solutions, for $169.49.

"On January 1, I posted the last chapter of Oscar Ribeiro’s ongoing gift to the Bromeliad world. Oscar writes about the lands from which Bromeliads come, with a keen eye towards preservation, the environment and the true cost of progress in our 21^st century world. His fantastic pictures explore no only the Bromeliad habitat but the human habitat as well. Not only will you regard the Eucalyptus industry with more educated eyes, you will also be amazed at the resourcefulness of people in lands with few resources and no government support either for people or for the conservation and preservation of the environmental treasures of these regions. This is the last chapter covering the Espinhaco Range in the State of Minas Gerais. Next chapters will cover Bahia, with emphasis to the magic Chapada Diamantina.

Chapter 6 – Parque Nacional das Sempre-Vivas

Part 1 – National Park Sempre-Vivas Flora

Part 2 – Eucalyptus vs Biodiversity

Part 3 – Fazenda Buritis

Two new sections were added to ‘Bromeliad Habitats’ page: Paraguay with photos by Ulf Dreschsel, and the other on Bolivia with photos by Thorsten Kroemer.

Lots of new photos added. Robert Spivey sent us a lot of nice photos from his collection. Lisa Vinzant sent us photos of her new hybrids."

News Letter Report: All Show dates and Societies special activities for 2011 must be sent to Newsletter Editor by January 21^st. Information submitted will be posted in the February Newsletter. Report by Betsy McCrory

Weevil Report: Fly releases were accomplished at both Oxbow Preserve, and Big Cypress Swamp, Dr. Cooper later collected a quantity of Weevils from selected habitat in the release areas, and found no sick or infected flies in those collected.

Dr. Cooper is currently away on a speaking assignment, report was presented by

Dr. Frank. He will go to Honduras to seek other weevil parasites in the near future.

BSI Report: Jay Thurrott President BSI meeting on May 21^st. in West Palm Beach. BSI recruiting a Conservation chair.

BSI members in Germany are persuing a clone preservation project on their own, and their efforts are well ahead of any other efforts on this subject.

Judges Report: Vicky Chirnside reports loss of two students, and a gain of two students. Vicky reported no class dates are scheduled at present.

Rotation Schedule: A new schedule for both officers and rotations was distributed to all reps.

Florida East Coast Extravaganza Report Jay Thurrott

Date November 4th, 5th and 6th^th. 2011 Prototype Brochure proof was shown.

Extravaganza report for 2012 by Betsy McCrory, Vote to cancel this Extravaganza

Voice vote passed, this event cancelled

Extravaganza report for 2013 John Bankhead for FWCBS

Board agrees to host the 2013 Extravaganza.

2012 World Conference report Betsy McCrory brought several options before the Council which were discussed at length. Motion made by Steve Provost to allow Betsy and Jay authority to negotiate a contract. This contract will then be reviewed for legal, physical, and financial aspects before being finalized and signed. Date for conference agreed at Sept 24-30 2012. Contest for Conference naming to all Societies, with prize to be one year BSI membership, or one year extension of membership.

Dr. Frank is offering a slide show about his trip to Honduras to be shown to Societies. Contact Dr. Frank to schedule a date for his visit. jhfrank@ufl.edu

New Business

Auditor of books to be done by Carolyn Schoenau who volunteered

Parliamentarian duties carry over to Karen Andreas by acclamation of membership.

Invoices to Society members: Sudi Hipsley Invoices sent to Societies

2010 membership total 690

2011 membership total 625

Replace newsletter with e-mail John Bankhead vote NO

Assign permanent vendor numbers Kenneth Stokes No vote was taken. Ken will email to reps a proposal to bring before their societies on this issue. Reps will report back to the council the results of their discussions with their societies.

Motion Betsy McCrory 2^nd, Carolyn Schoenau

Request to move next meeting date from April 9^th to March 26^th Sara Donayre

The change will allow the meeting to coincide with a show at the same location vote YES Motion Sara Donayre 2^nd Carolyn Schoenau

BIC Donations Sudi Hipsley Should BIC donations from Societies be held? The FCBS will continue to hold donations to the BIC until further notice. Societies are directed to send any donations to the BSI until an affiliation agreement is signed. There is currently no agreement in the works. Jay Thurrott reports that the BSI would like to develop affiliations with Botanical Gardens as well as Educational facilities. BSI has a fund for directing donations.

Society reps presented their society news. Reps were reminded to send their society news to Karen.

Meeting adjourned at 3:25 PN

Motion Betsy McCrory 2^nd Janet Bankhead