Minutes: May 9, 2023

Attendance

Board Members:
Emina Darakjy, Sarah Gaskin, Mona Cummings, Nick Harvey, Nancy Sappington, Laura Burnett, Magen Shaw, Meha Senthil, Raquel Falco.

The Board members welcomed Raquel Falco as the new representative of the Inland Urban Forest Council to replace Nancy Sappington, who is now President-elect for the Board.

Staff:
Nancy Hughes, Dorothy Abetya, Deb Etheredge

Summary

12:10 PM – Call to Order – Emina

12:11 PM – Review and Approve Agenda – Emina
Discussion: Issues with Wells Fargo Bank services insisting that any signatory from the Board also open a personal Wells Fargo account. Emily Spillett-Brownlie is researching a bank that provides service that aligns more with CaUFC’s goals and needs. Mona suggests Beneficial State Bank.

12:16 PM – Approve Consent Calendar – Emina

12:17 PM – Old Business

CAL FIRE issues update – Nancy H.

  • After the meeting at the end of March, WCA collected data and sent it to CaUFC for final processing in the last week of April. Nancy processed 908 pages of invoices. Dorothy handles all of the technical data, and final progress reports, and coordinated with WCA to update the online reporting tools.
  • City Forest Renewal (the tree removal grant) was completed and sent to CalFIRE on Friday (5/5), followed by Cool Parks on Sunday at 8:20 PM.
  • CFR invoices totaled $175,000, of which approximately $30,000 will be paid to CaUFC. Cool Parks invoices totaled $645,000, of which CaUFC will receive approximately $100,000.
  • Nancy will now be able to update the budget.
    AMPlifying the Urban Forest invoices for Q1 2022 were paid by CalFIRE. Invoices for Q2 and Q3 for 2022 were submitted, but there is no word on payment yet.
  • Nancy and Dorothy will work on AMP Q4 2022.

Other Grants

  • CalFIRE receives a grant from USFS every year. Walter Passmore and Miranda Hutten decide which organizations receive funds and amounts. Usually, CaUFC, ReLeaf, and WCISA receive funds. Walter asked CaUFC to reduce the budget amount for the year. He is planning to fund the Society of Municipal Arborists to work with California cities on Management Plans and UF Policy. Each Council received information from Nancy on the balance of USFS remaining for this FY (ending June 30th).
  • CaUFC needs to carefully consider how to apply for the federal funds available through the IRA funding coming to California.

Board’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Statement Subcommittee –Emily, Meha & Sarah

  • It was decided to update the Strategic Plan before completing the “Equity” statement. Sarah reported that Strategy 1 has been drafted. We will wait for the completion of all before discussing.

Strategic Plan Review Comm – Sarah, Emily (See above)

Webinars/Workshop planning with Regional Councils – Deb
San Joaquin Council/Tree Fresno held an event on 4/27. A 3-person panel of Certified Arborists discussed Trees Post Storm. The event was both in-person and via Zoom and very well attended.

“After the Storms – Trees are Essential” outreach update – Deb
Trepepi Smith did outreach using the CaUFC materials which included “boosted” posts on Facebook that ultimately reached out to 44,000 people. LinkedIn was also used as a platform for outreach.

Public CEO is published daily by Trepepi Smith. It reached 233 City Council. The article was read by 4,000. CaUFC can add to our email outreach. CaUFC can also access paid posts. Nancy is looking into the cost.

“Mind the Divide” – Nancy
This project is part of a USFS grant that started with Davey Resource Group about four years ago. It is culminating in an all-day event in Riverside on June 26th. Deb will send out additional information to the Board.

Executive Director Transition Comm. – Gordon Mann (absent)
A meeting is to be scheduled for next week.

Conference at TreeTopia – August 4 – 6, Mare Island – Nancy, Dorothy

  • CaUFC will have its own tent for the event. Not sure if we will be there all three days.

The Bay Area Council will use USFS funds to bring Geoff Donovan for the event and is hoping to bring other Trees & Human health experts for presentations and panel discussion. Dick Jackson (pediatric specialist) is a consideration, and he has spoken at CaUFC events in the past. Other topics to be considered are Tree Equity and Urban Heat. Other Regional Councils are encouraged to participate. San Diego wants to put together speakers for the event.

Fundraising planning – Nancy H. On hold for now but be thinking about it.

1:01 PM – Meeting Adjourned – Emina

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