TIME AND PLACE OF MEETING

WAVE met June 9, 2004, at Wesselman Nature Preserve at 1 p.m. Bonnie Bittner, Norma Duckworth, Dave Elgin (RC&D), Monica Freeman, Steve Harp, Susan Harp, Lisa Hoffman, Brenda Jeffers, Holly McCutchan, Fred Padget, Pam Pelaski, and Mike Wathen were present.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Nonprofit Status. Four Rivers RC&D Area, Inc. has agreed to sponsor WAVE as a nonprofit organization. Dave Elgin from RC&D was present to help WAVE work through the first round of its mission statement, objectives, committee structure, and constitution and bylaws. Dave said that RC&D’s role is to facilitate and administrate whatever help WAVE needs. Furthermore, Dave stated that RC&D will serve as financial administrator for all financial activities of WAVE.

Mission Statement. The group discussed and agreed on the following mission statement:

Purpose – WAVE is a not-for-profit community organization whose mission is dedicated to promoting a better quality of life by bringing environmental water awareness to the residents of Vanderburgh County.

Objectives. Five organizational objectives (Constitution and Bylaws, Article II, Section 2) were discussed. The following WAVE committees encompass these objectives:

Education Committee

Objectives 1, 2, and 3:

Provide residents and students with educational information and resources in order to improve and enjoy their environment
Encourage educators and youth group leaders to incorporate water awareness into curricula and program activities
Work with the business community to communicate and practice water quality awareness

Finance Committee

Objectives 4 and 5:

Inspire the business community to support and promote WAVE’s water quality awareness programs (or “endeavors”?)

Fund projects, activities, resources, and administrative costs through membership dues, fundraising activities, charitable contributions, and grants

Public Relations Committee

Objective 6:

§ Serve as a main communication channel for water awareness issues and membership promotion (Should “membership promotion” be a separate objective?)

Officers. The group agreed to wait until the next meeting to elect officers—President, Vice-President, and Secretary

NEW BUSINESS

Grant Committee. The people in attendance also talked about a Grant Committee and a chairperson to head that committee. Since this is such an important issue, the group decided to describe it at a later date.

Operations Manual. Under the new constitution and bylaws, WAVE is required to develop and maintain an operations manual outlining the duties of employees, project managers, and committees. The document will spell out WAVE’s purpose and objectives. This manual will comply with the constitution and bylaws and be approved by WAVE.

NEXT MEETING

The next meeting will be Wednesday, July 7, 2004, 9-10 a.m., at the 4-H Center Conference Room.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 4 p.m.

Brenda Jeffers

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