Minutes of the Board Meeting of 6/11/25

The Garden Club of Windham

Minutes of a Board Meeting, June 11,  2025

Community Room, Windham Senior Center, 6-7:30 pm

Call to order – President Jay Osborne convened the meeting at 6:09 pm. .

Present – Jay Osborne (president), Faith Kenton (chair, High Street Hillside Garden), Debbie Stoloff (Board member at large). Carole Williamson (chair, Holiday Lights), Barbara Wright (secretary), Hannah McKay (guest), Patty St.Louis (guest), David Stoloff (guest).

Approval of Minutes of Previous Meetings – The minutes of the Annual Meeting on 4/16/25 and May Board meeting on 5/14/25 were reviewed. Debbie Stoloff moved approval of the minutes of the Annual Meeting, Faith seconded, and the minutes were approved unanimously.

Jay noted that the date of the previous Board meeting was May 14, not May 16.  Faith moved and Debbie seconded approval of the minutes of the May meeting as amended to correct the date. The minutes were approved unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report—Barbara had not prepared a treasurer's report.

Reports of Officers and Standing Committees –

Reporting for the Friends of the Garden on the Bridge, Jay described damage to the irrigation system during a recent planting session. He has patched multiple leaks, but damage to the main line must be done by Public Works. It is unclear when that will happen. The irrigation system is therefore not turned on a present, but fortunately there has been regular rain.

There were no other standing committee reports.

Reports of Special Committees

Reporting for Holiday Lights, Carole announced that she would like to start collecting water bottles soon, so the light display can be expanded. This will not require equipment purchases, only donations of more water bottles. Carole was encouraged to proceed.

Old Business –

1.       Strengthening accounting practices

Jay announced that Liberty Bank has provided a list of best practices. Online banking is more secure, and Angela Smart will be happy to train the Club’s signers. Taking the club’s banking online will not only be more secure and more convenient; it will also enable us to transfer revenue from the Friends’ art sale in 2023 out of the Garden Club’s Foursquare account and into the Friends’ account.

Hannah supported moving the club’s banking online. Carole observed that it is good practice to have double access to accounts. Jay said Angela recommends having four people involved: one to write checks and three to exercise oversight.

Hannah asked about the current arrangement. At present, Patty Spruance serves as treasurer and writes Garden Club checks; Barbara writes checks for the Friends and can also make deposits to both the Friends’ and Garden Club accounts. Jennifer serves as bookkeeper. No one person sees the whole picture or has oversight.

Jay recommended purchase of a subscription to Quickbooks, which he said is affordable, intuitive, generates reports instantly, and can identify who is logging in. Discussion turned to who would be able to use Quickbooks and play that key person with oversight. An intern from Eastern was suggested but might not be interested or stay in the area all year round.

Faith thought the bookkeeper at the Food Co-op might be interested and offered to contact her. Other suggestions for identifying this key person included putting announcements in the newsletter and on Facebook and checking the membership list for individuals with experience in finance and budgeting. Barbara agreed to ask Jennifer to take on a larger role, perhaps for a fee.

2.       New Signage – Jay stated that there had been no action on signage; too many other more important things had taken precedence. 

3.       Changing the Club’s Culture and Conduct –The discussion of “lack of respect and ‘common decency’”  quickly became heated. Barbara Wright left the meeting at 7:30. Jay, Hannah, and Carole remained.

New Business, Announcements, and Adjournment – not recorded.

Respectfully submitted, Barbara Wright, Secretary