Master Gardener Foundation of Washington State
Executive Board Meeting
October 1, 2025
Held on Zoom
ATTENDANCE
Present were: President Tana Hasart, President Elect Cathi Lamoreux, Vice President Elect Judie Stanton, Treasurer Gilbert Plascencia, Secretary John Strong, Debbie Benbow, State Program Leader Jennifer Marquis.
OPENING
President Tana opened the meeting and asked Jennifer to discuss the MOA template work.
MOA
Jennifer said that there is little to report. The work to revise the template is complete, and one county (Spokane) has submitted their draft. Thurston County’s MOA will require special editing since their foundation is dual purpose. They support not only the local Extension Master Gardener Program, but also a Master Recycling Program that is not related to WSU.
Discussions continue about how best to deal with MOAs for dependent chapters.
FINANCIAL
Gilbert was asked to discuss the new state tax law that may have significant effect on us and on local foundations. Taking effect today, this law will require us to collect and remit state sales tax on several activities for which we charge a fee or admission.
It is important for us to learn details from Dept. of Revenue (DOR), and pass the knowledge along to local chapters. We asked Gilbert to contact DOR to arrange for their representative to meet with us for clarification and Q & A. Suggested dates for such a meeting are January 6, 7, 13, or 14, 2026. Tana suggested we ask Patty Proctor, who has recently volunteered to take on special projects, to lead our efforts on this topic.
AEC
Cathi reported that 458 AEC registrations were sold, and, with instructors and sponsor tickets, total registrations were 540. During the AEC weekend there were 335 unique logins. Registration re-opens 10/3 for those who missed the initial conference.
The survey sent to SLE participants is very important. It will inform future plans significantly.
By the end of October, all the recordings will be sent to us for posting on our YouTube channel.
COMMUNICATION TEAM
Debbie said that the Communication team will meet tomorrow. The focus will be on priorities, the DOR/tax issue, and getting the awards information on our socials.
NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION
Cathi noted that incoming VP Judie will have responsibility for this, as well as being a new member of the board herself! Implementing new member orientation is Cathi’s #1 goal for 2026, and she will work with Judie to accomplish it. Documents are already in place. An ad hoc committee will be formed and in place by the November full board meeting. Jennifer asked that she be part of that committee.
PROGRAM REPORT
Jennifer announced that 1,006 people have signed up for Green School. Of those, 559 are new Master Gardener trainees. There are likely a couple more to add to these totals. Webinars are ready.
Annual re-certification forms are ready, with a few minor changes.
The Master Gardener Handbook update is a priority for Jennifer in early 2026.
Tana told of meeting the new assistant Dean of CAHNRS recently, and that she gained a positive impression of him. He expressed is appreciation of the value of Extension, and especially the Master Gardener Program, calling it an example of Extension excellence.
PHYSICAL STORAGE
Tana reported that Kitty has collected most of our historical documents, and sorted and organized them. She is working with Craig to find a place to store them online. Gilbert suggested we finalize our official retention policies, and hire a professional agency to digitize them. After some discussion, we determined that the Puyallup Research Station is a very likely spot to store physical items that we will use from time to time, such as at expos, fairs, in-person conferences, etc.
OTHER
Gilbert reminded us that we need to decide at our next meeting the amount that we want to donate to the Program’s Endowment.
He also pointed out that we have a CD with a balance of $20,908 that matures on 10/6/26. We agreed that he should roll it into a new 7-month CD at 3.6% interest.
Meeting adjourned at 5:50 pm