Meeting called to order by Wayne Hofmann, Board President, at 11:05 a.m.

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1 SBLC September Board Meeting Minutes September 28 th, 11am Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy Headquarters 1008 N. Johnson Street, Bay City, MI Members Present: Wayne Hofmann, Brian Lechel, Mike Fassezke, Mary Kulis, Kendra Kempf, Carey Pauquette, Mike Stoner, Daryl Poprave Garrett Pohl and Ted Lind arrived late. Members Absent: Mike Grabowski, Jordan Goss, Pat Trahan Staff Present: Zachary Branigan, Trevor Edmonds, Erin Dodson Meeting called to order by Wayne Hofmann, Board President, at 11:05 a.m :05 Approval of agenda and disclosure of potential conflicts of interest Hofmann Motion to approve agenda made by Ms. Fitzpatrick, seconded by Mr. Fassezke :06 Hot Topic: SBLC Through the Years : 20 th Anniversary timeline project Branigan/Edmonds/Dodson Staff gave on overview of the history of the SBLC and highlighted several key moments and events in the history of the SBLC. Mr. Fassezke inquired about the accreditation process and what that means to the Land Conservancy. Mr. Hofmann inquired if staff uncovered any raving fans or big donors to the Conservancy that we should try to reestablish relationships with. Mr. Branigan and Mr. Edmonds noted that Mackinac Land and Cattle used to be one of the Conservancy s largest donors, and has since stopped giving. Mr. Branigan expressed his desire to reestablish a relationship with MLAC :15 Consent Agenda Hofmann

2 a. Minutes of July 27 th, 2016 meeting (Draft minutes provided, Item 3a) b. Minutes of Executive Committee actions in Board absentia (Minutes provided, Item 3b) Motion to approve minutes of both the July 27 th meeting and Executive Committee session minutes made by Mr. Stoner, seconded by Ms. Kulis :20 Treasurer s Report (Financials provided, Item 4) Lind Mr. Lind gave the Treasurer s report, noting that there were no significant changes from the last meeting. Ms. Dodson added that there is nearly a $2,000 deficit in the Discovery Preserve Fund as we are still waiting on $5,000 from Dow Corning for Discovery. Additionally, noted that individual giving is at nearly $15,000. The majority of individual giving will occur in the last two months of the year. Expenses are all within budget, and overall expenses will likely be under budget by the end of the year. Ms. Fitzpatrick inquired about BOD giving, noting that it appears to be quite a bit below target. Ms. Dodson responded that the majority of the Board gives at the end of the year. Motion to approve Treasurer s report made by Mr. Fassezke, seconded by Mr. Lechel :25 Marketing and Outreach Committee Report Trahan As Mr. Trahan was absent, Mr. Branigan gave the Marketing and Outreach Report. Mr. Branigan noted that in the last meeting, the committee discussed a fall fundraiser, and the benefits vs. costs of holding a fall fundraiser, versus placing all of our focus on the Osprey Awards as it will be our 5 th Annual Ospreys and 20 th Anniversary celebration of the Conservancy. Ultimately decided that it would be best to forego a fall fundraiser and focus on the Ospreys. Discussed the idea of expanding the event, increasing ticket prices and having a full dinner (i.e. making it a more formal event). Ms. Kempf inquired if the event was already scheduled. Ms. Dodson responded that the event is scheduled for Saturday, February 25 th. Ms. Fitzpatrick noted that at the last meeting we discussed the board calling donors over the first two weeks of October to thank them and promote the fall event; inquired if we are still planning on doing this. Mr. Branigan responded that we will most likely put this off closer to the Ospreys.

3 Finally, Mr. Branigan noted that the committee discussed funding for the rest of the year and making sure that we collect all of the money that we had planned for the remainder of the year :30 Fund Development Committee Report (Dashboard provided, Item 6a) Hofmann Mr. Branigan noted that we currently have two outstanding grants: one to Consumers Energy, and one to Coastal Zone Management. Overall, over the past year, we have applied for 29 grants, and have only been declined for 2: Strosacker and Anderson. We still exceeded our goal for OUR Saginaw. A few recent successes were the Saginaw Community Foundation, and the other smaller Saginaw foundations (Turner, Jury, Nickless, McNally, Wickson-Link). OUR Saginaw has raised a total of $309,120 for projects. $127,500 is exclusively reserved for the SASA project, with some of the other money likely to be added to the SASA project :35 Board Development Committee Report Poprave Mr. Poprave noted that the Board Development Committee interviewed four candidates. The Committee will then discuss via , and provide a recommendation to the Board for any additions to the Board :45 Informational Items a. O.U.R. Saginaw Update Branigan Mr. Branigan gave an update on the OUR Saginaw project: First, discussed the SASA project. Noted he sent out an extremely detailed to the project partners yesterday (Tuesday, Sept. 27 th ), with a timeline (all Board members are blind cc ed). Noted that he will present to the school board in October; Jeff Wood from Spicer will accompany Zak and answer any technical questions. The other OUR Projects are going well. The SBLC presented a check to SVSU for the trail project. The only hiccup in this project is that the trail that is being constructed is a 30-foot wide corridor. Other than one commenter on Facebook, we have had an overwhelmingly positive response to this project. Mr. Edmonds proceeded to give an update on the pollinator plantings- all seeds have been planted in the ten initial plots. New Ezekiel has been assisting us with contacting neighbors and community members and educating them about the

4 project and getting their feedback and testimonials. Everything planted will come up in the spring. b. Funder Update Letters Dodson Ms. Dodson brought attention to the OUR Saginaw Funder update letters and asked each of the Board members to sign them. These will be sent out to all OUR Saginaw project funders within the next week. c Midwest Birding Symposium Dodson/Branigan Ms. Dodson noted that she attended a meeting with Wendy Clark from Bird Watcher s Digest, and a representative from Michigan Audubon at the Double Tree in Bay City to begin planning for the 2017 MBS. Dates for MBS are Sept. 7-10, d. Iosco Sanctuary Update Edmonds Survey work on the property has been completed. The next step would be completing the appraisal. We ve received a contract from Tony Piazza for the appraisal. e. Bay City Rowing Club Thank You Ms. Fitzpatrick presented a thank you gift from the board of the Bay City Rowing Club to the SBLC BOD as a thank for the time, energy, and funds that we provided to the Bay City Rowing Club. Ms. Fitzpatrick read a thank you noted from the BCRC board :05 Discussion Items a Osprey Awards As the Osprey awards were already thoroughly discussed in the Marketing and Outreach and Fund Development Committee reports, agenda item was skipped :30 Decision Items a. Iosco Sanctuary Appraisal Contract Approval (Contract provided, Item 11a) Mr. Edmonds noted that we will need to use $2,650 from the Land Stewardship Fund to cover the remaining cost of the appraisal, after the remainder from the Iosco Santuary Project Fund is used. Mr. Branigan noted that inherent in the approval of the contract is authorizing staff to used $2,650 out of the Board Designated Land Stewardship Fund. Mr. Fassezke inquired about how many people are qualified to do this type of appraisal. Mr. Braningan noted that very, very few are. Tony Piazza is really the only one, let alone the only one we trust.

5 Mr. Stoner motioned to approve the contract, and Mr. Lechel seconded. b. Saginaw Community Foundation Grant Agreement Approval (Grant agreement provided, Item 11b) Mr. Branigan noted that he is not authorized to accept a grant agreement of this type, so the Board needs to; requires a signature of the Board president. Ms. Kempf noted that it is a standard community foundation grant agreement Mr. Lind motioned to approve the grant agreement, and Mr. Poprave seconded. Unanimously approved, with Ms. Kempf abstaining. c Osprey Awards Planning & 20 th Anniversary Committee Appointment Mr. Lind, Mr. Lechel, Mr. Kulis, Ms. Kempf, and Mr. Stoner volunteered to be on the committee. Motion to appoint ad hoc committee: Mr. Fassezke, seconded by Ms. Kulis; unanimously approved. d. Strategic Plan Committee Mr. Branigan noted that this will start in the winter (January), and continue through April. Will be a more time-intensive committee, but rewarding. Mr. Fassezke, Ms. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Hofmann, Mr. Stoner, and Mr. Poprave volunteered to be on the Strategic Plan Committee. Motion to appoint ad hoc committee: Mr. Lechel, seconded by Mr. Lind :40 Good of the Order All Lind: SVSU Fall Open House on Oct. 29 th Lechel: Save the Date- Sat. Oct. 15 at 10:00 a.m.: Great Lakes Bay Regional Trail ribbon cutting of Kochville Township trail. Additionally, $2M grant awarded to connect rail trail across Middlegrounds island Fassezke: Best wheat harvest in 25 years this summer; sugar beet harvests are also beginning, however there is low sugar quantities in the beets that have been harvested. Because of low commodity prices, farming income is very low this year Kulis: Movement on Consumers Grant as the Foundation is meeting next week Kempf: SCF Youth Advisory Group is meeting this week

6 Edmonds: Will be meeting with Marty Arford from SVSU to perform phragmites treatments on the campus. Also asked the board to start thinking about nominations for 2017 Osprey Awards Dodson: Zombie Run- Oct. 8 Branigan: LTA contacted the SBLC about featuring the Discovery Preserve Nature Playground and the Pollinator Plots project in one of their case study pieces about community conservation for Rally Also noted that he is considering a staff retreat at the end of the year in place of Rally. Pauquette: Discussed her new role with the Tribe Pohl: Shared anecdote about Discovery Playground Fitzpatrick: EMCOG is coordinating the Iron-Belle trail :50 Closed Session: Executive Director Review Discussion 13. 1:00 Adjourn Recording Secretary: Erin Dodson Jane Fitzpatrick, Secretary