The July, 2005 meeting of the Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies was hosted by the Bromeliad Guild of Tampa Bay and held at the home of Carol and Tom Wolfe. The meeting was called to order at 1:10 p.m by Karen Andreas. This was the third meeting of 2005.

Acting Chairman – Karen Andreas

Vice-Chairman – Vicky Chirnside

Secretary – Jay Thurrott

Treasurer – Sudi Hipsley

Roll Call - 8 Societies were represented – Bromeliad Guild of Tampa Bay, Seminole Bromeliad Society, Florida East Coast Bromeliad Society, the Bromeliad Society of Central Fl., Gainesville Bromeliad Society, Florida West Coast Bromeliad Society, Sarasota Bromeliad Society and Caloosahatchee Bromeliad Society.

Societies not represented – Treasure Coast Bromeliad Society, Boca Raton Bromeliad Society, Bromeliad Society of Broward County, and Bromeliad Society of South Florida. It was noted that the approach of Hurricane Dennis prevented some representatives from parts of Florida from attending.

No guests or new members were present

A motion was made and unanimously passed to ratify Karen Andreas as Acting Chairman due to the resignation of Ed Hall at the last meeting.

Karen distributed an updated list of contacts for the club presidents.

Secretary’s report – accepted as corrected.

Treasurer’s report – Sudi Hipsley presented a financial statement showing a total balance of FCBS and Weevil account of $31,040.98 as of July 1, 2005. A question was asked concerning whether this meant that this represented two separate accounts. The response was that this is one account with funds separated by bookkeeping. The past financial records for the Council are no longer available; Sudi is working with records dating from 2004. The Council representatives discussed the financial statements that are available. A motion was made and passed unanimously to accept the current financial statement as the baseline for Sudi’s records. Members will provide copies of previous reports to Sudi so she can rebuild the records.

Webmaster’s report – Michael Andreas submitted a report documenting activity during the past quarter. He noted that he continues to receive a large number of photographs to post on the website as well as links to additional sites and articles of interest to the bromeliad community. Discussion took place at the previous meeting regarding unauthorized use of pictures from the website by individuals for use in sale of plants on eBay. The Chairman cautioned that any response to these activities by the Council proceed cautiously and with good documentation. She then noted that Rhonda Parker of Haines City has used photos from the Council website to sell bromeliads on several occasions continues to do so, despite being notified of the illegality of this practice. A motion was made and passed unanimously for a letter to be drafted on Council letterhead, advising that further legal actions may be taken if the individual continues to engage in this illegal activity. A question was raised concerning the legal ownership of photos on the website. It was stated that the photographer of each photo retained ownership, but that the Council served as "agent" for the owner.

Newsletter report - Karen Andreas reported that significant progress had been made toward re-establishing a quarterly newsletter. This first step toward this was publication and distribution of a newsletter this past month. Extra copies were made available to representatives and it was noted that extra copies will be sent to Australia and Japan to interested groups. The next newsletter will be going to print shortly and will contain the current roster of club members. The newsletter will be distributed in this mailing only and not posted on-line. This will be followed shortly by the third quarterly newsletter and at that point we should be back to a regular quarterly publication. It was also noted that a bulk mail permit had been obtained by Sudi Hipsley and Betsy McCrory to be used in Council mailings. This would include the Extravaganza mailing as well as the newsletter and other Council activities. Karen suggested a policy that the newsletter not be posted online since receiving the newsletter is a direct benefit of belonging to a Florida bromeliad society. Everyone concurred.

Weevil Research report – No formal report was presented. Jay Thurrott announced two items that the committee would like placed on the next agenda for consideration: 1. Approval for a non-FCBS member to solicit funds for weevil research and for these funds to subsequently be directed to Ron Cave for disbursement in the course of his research. 2. Approval of a statement stating the intent of the weevil committee to return remaining earmarked funds to FCBS at the conclusion of the weevil project, as determined by the committee.

Florida Judges report – A report submitted by Betty Ann Prevatt notes that there are currently 40 judges in the Eastern District, six of whom are either retired or semi-retired. A Judges Seminar is planned for August 20, during which time a make-up school will be offered to six students. Two students who have completed all Judges Schools will take their final exam at this time as well.

The Gainesville Society has a new slate of officers. They will be an active society and are looking forward to developing by-laws in the near future. The Seminole Society is also looking toward building membership and becoming more active. To this end, they have a new president who will be taking office this September. The Caloosahatchee Society had a successful trip recently to the Fakahatchee Strand and were thrilled to see the variegated form of Guzmania monostachia in its native habitat. They will be having both a show and sale this year. Alton Lee of the Florida West Coast Society wrote a memorial to commemorate several long term members who had passed away. The common problem of a small core of workers and larger group of non-participants in club activities was noted, resulting in a discussion of how other clubs addressed this problem. The Florida East Coast Society reported on a recent field trip to a bromeliad nursery that was a joint activity with two other societies. This was enjoyed by all and that future joint trips are suggested. Meetings are attracting new members and typically involve plant exchanges and lots of "show and tell" discussion. The Tampa Bay Guild has frequent workshops before meetings to help new members with basic growing techniques, nomenclature and other items. It was suggested that new member seminars at older members’ houses as a way to encourage interest. They had a very successful show and sale with a very high level of member participation (85%-90%). This was their first show in 4 years and there were 273 plants entered for judging. The sales area had essentially a "sell-out" of plants. The Sarasota Society reported that they have workshops at every meeting and garden walks most months. Attendance at the recent International Cryptanthus Show was very good. The Central Florida Society continues to build membership and signed up 6 new members at their last meeting. Good programs have generated much interest.

Old Business – It was announced that membership rosters and society payments are due in April each year. It is especially important that rosters be submitted in a timely manner if they are to be included in the annual roster published in the quarterly newsletter. It was also noted that additional names can be added to the roster without additional payments by societies after they have made submitted their annual payments. This will enable new members to receiver the newsletter soon after joining rather than waiting for the next assessment period. It was also noted that the income from the assessments does not come close to paying for newsletter publication costs.

Extravaganzas – An update was given on preparations for the 2005 Extravaganza in Sarasota. Len Dolatowsky is the chair of plant sales. He announced that they will accept credit cards for plant purchases and will be requiring red tags for sales prices and growers’ numbers. Food and drink sales will also take place in the sales area. The 2006 Extravaganza will be hosted by the Bromeliad Society of South Florida. The Broward County Society has expressed an interest in hosting the 2007 Extravaganza and the Tampa Bay Society would like to host the event in 2008.

New Business – The annual contribution by the Council to the Bromeliad Identification Center a Selby Gardens in Sarasota was discussed. This is currently $50/quarter since it had been stated that the emphasis should be on the number of donations rather than the dollar amount to show support for the BIC. A motion was made and passed unanimously to make an extra $200 contribution to BIC this year.

The Treasure Coast Society will be hosting the October 8 meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.