Attendees: Karen Cadorette, Joanna Fivelsdal, Evelyn Krueger, Jen Melitsky, Mark Meritt, Dave Seymour.

Open the Meeting:

The meeting was called to order by Mark Meritt at 7:14 p.m.

Minutes of Last Meeting:

The minutes from the September 30, 2003, meeting were accepted with no changes required.

Board Update

	Due to a conflict with another group, Village Green meetings will now be held on the third Tuesday of each month, not the last Tuesday.
	Dave Seymour announced new officer appointments for 2004 and informally effective immediately. Mark Meritt will replace Barbara Campo as officer. Barbara will remain a member of the Village Green. Brenda Cagle will replace Karen Cadorette as officer. Karen will remain a member of the Village Green. Christina Staubi will replace Mark Meritt as alternate officer.
	Dave announced that the board is instituting some organizational changes that should improve our efforts. Mark provided details. To provide clear and strong committee leadership, the three officers will now be one and the same as the committee chairs, responsible for coordinating and encouraging committee activity. It will be up to each chair’s discretion to decide whether to undertake separate, formal committee meetings and/or informal communication with members to get things done. With the guidance of the chairs, the committees are empowered to make decisions and take action within their respective areas. As necessary, the chairs can bring committee-specific issues to the rest of the board when higher-level agreement may be required. Brenda will be the officer chairing the Greens Committee. Evelyn Krueger will be the officer chairing the Fundraising Committee. This position will also serve as the group’s Treasurer, supervising all expenses and financial figures. Mark will be the officer chairing the new Communications Committee, which combines the previous Outreach and Media committees. The role of the alternate officer remains unspecified with respect to committees. The board will collectively decide whether or not to formalize any particular responsibilities for the alternate officer. To provide clear and strong leadership for the group as a whole, the board will take on the executive role indicated by the forestry ordinance. The monthly Village Green meetings will now also serve as board meetings. Meeting format will remain much the same as it has been. The question-and-answer session following each committee update will be reconceived as a more general dialogue in which all present Village Green members, regardless of committee affiliation, have the opportunity to not only ask questions of but also provide ideas and opinions for each committee. Having received full input, decisions about all group-wide issues will then be made by the board. Mark will send an email to the whole group informing them of the above changes and asking everyone to choose what committee(s) they want to participate in. The officers will use the resulting committee membership lists to proceed in coordinating committee activity.

Media Committee (Mark Meritt)

Mark submitted a press release about the October 25th planting to local media outlets. The release encouraged volunteers to attend.

Outreach Committee (Joanna Fivelsdal)

Nothing new was reported.

Fundraising Committee (Evelyn Krueger)

	$4,256.11 is available in the General Fund, i.e., the funds allocated by the village government.
	$4,463.40 is available in the Village Green account, i.e., the funds raised by the group independently of the village budget.
	Evelyn printed out information about a grant and will pursue the application.

Greens Committee (Karen Cadorette)

	The fall planting will start on Saturday, October 25th, and 9:00 a.m. at Memorial Park.
	There is some question about how many people will participate in the planting. We will plant as many trees as we can with whoever is present, and we will figure out contingency plans if not all trees can be planted on the 25th.

Old Business:

None.

New Business:

None.

Next Meeting:

Tuesday, November 18th, at 7pm in the Village Hall.

Motion to Close Meeting:

Evelyn made a motion to close. Karen seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.