As is customary, the Austin Pond Society held their monthly meeting on the third Monday of the month at Zilker Gardens Clubhouse.  Altogether, about 40 people showed up and started off the evening by enjoying a delicious stew that Sonja, our official hospitality person had prepared followed by a cake that was absolutely covered in a thick creamy topping. I think Sonja called it her Goblin Stew in honor of Halloween. Whatever it was named, it was very good and was served along with a green salad.I should mention that our format regarding start times has changed a little. The meetings now start at 6:30 pm with 30 minutes allowed for meal enjoyment and conversation with the meeting itself starting at 7:00 pm. This gives the full two hours for the speakers and for the Society to get their business out-of-the-way as we have to clear the room by 9:00 pm. I took a video of the meeting while the meal session was ongoing but in the end, only include a couple of minutes as the noise from all of the conversation was quite unbelievable.

The Speaker for this meeting is one of our own members, Steve Blackson, who is also our representative on the Austin Area Garden Center (AAGC) of which is made up of 31 different gardening associations who between them assist with the management of the Zilker Botanical Gardens. This is a link to their website http://www.zilkergarden.org/aagc/clubs.html  His subject was an outline of what the different groups are working on especially in the area of fund-raising and the future design of the Botanical Gardens. Below is a video of his presentation.

AAGC Steve 10-21-2013 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Following Steve’s presentation, the business part of the meeting got underway. Members on the Board had long realized that our bye-laws were woefully out of date and needed to be brought into the 21st Century and spent considerable time in drafting a new set to be brought before the membership for general discussion and adoption. Copies had been made available on the website and via one of the missing items in the original set, e-mail, for members to review prior to the meeting.

John O’Sullivan acting in his official capacity as Parliamentarian chaired the meeting and I have to say, was extremely knowledgeable in Roberts Rules of Order and conducted the meeting in a very professional manner. The current Board had previously discussed the new bye laws prior to their publication and the current posting was the end result of their work. The membership quickly got into the swing of

things and began offering items for discussion and eventual adoption (or not). The item that had the most discussion referred to members of the Board serving a 2 year term instead of the current 1 year. This particular discussion went on for some time and eventually ended up with current 1 year of service remaining in place. No other item garnered as much interest as this one. The new bye laws were finally approved and written into the minutes. Below is a video of this part of the meeting.

APS Bye Laws Revisions Meeting 10-21-2013 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

Following the bye laws came a nomination session for membership to the Board for the upcoming year starting January 1. John again took charge of the proceedings and moved things smoothly along. The rules that applied were pretty clear for the evening. If there was a single nomination, then the vote to approve could happen there and then. If there was more than a single nomination OR if there were no nominations, then the vote to elect would happen at the next meeting in November.

John kept things moving along and we soon had a vote in place for all of the officers with the lone exception, the post of Librarian. As with most organizations like the Pond Society, some members remained in place, others changed places and a couple are no longer involved. We did have at least one new board member Nancy Reinhart who took over the position of Programs and yours truly is now the Editor. Many thanks to the retiring members for the work they have done this past year for the Pond Society. Without such volunteers, it would be very difficult to accomplish all of the things that we set out to do. Below is a video of the actual nomination and voting that went on.

APS Elections 10-21-2013 from Francis Allcorn on Vimeo.

The final act of a very busy evening was the fun drawing for the gifts provided and as usual was met with moans and groans, or cheers depending on who won.

The next meeting will be held on Monday, November 17, 2013 and will be the last of the year as we do not hold one in December. Same time and same place. Hope to see you there…

Below is a list of next years, 2014 Board Members and their positions.

President: Jeannie Ferrier — president@austinpondsociety.org
Treasurer: Rollie Sidla — treasurer@austinpondsociety.org
Secretary: Julienne Smith — secretary@austinpondsociety.org
Membership: Darren Bayhi —  membership@austinpondsociety.org
Special Events: Linda Tinsley —  specialevents@austinpondsociety.org
Pond Tour/Webmaster: Karl Tinsley — webmasteraustinpondsociety.org
Parliamentarian: John O’Sullivan — parliamentarian@austinpondsociety.org
Programs: Nancy Reinhart — programs@austinpondsociety.org
Newsletter Editor: Francis Allcorn — editor@austinpondsociety.org
Publicity: BJ Jenkins — bjenkinsus@yahoo.com
Hospitality: Sonja O’Sullivan— hospitality@austinpondsociety.org
Photographer: Glen Hubenthal — photographer@austinpondsociety.org
Historian: Glen Hubenthal— historian@austinpondsociety.org
Austin Area Garden Center Rep.:  SteveBlackson aagcrep@austinpondsociety.org
Librarian:  OPEN                      librarian@austinpondsociety.org

Current board members may perform the duties of any positions with no elected member.

Notice the last position as Librarian is OPEN just waiting for one of you to step up and fill it. Contact the current President, Linda Tinsley at president@austinpondsociety.org if you are interested.

Please Note: In order to see the video controls after the video has been started, RIGHT click on the picture and then on “video controls”.