Call to Order by President Wes Briggs at the Prusch Park Meeting Hall at 11:17 A.M.

LAST MONTH’S MINUTES for the Board of Directors Meeting on November 2, 2003 (actually, two months ago) were approved.

TREASURER: The balance as of January 4, 2004, is $6,501.69.

MEMBERSHIP: The CSSSJ has 60 paid members as of 1/4/04. Many members have not yet renewed for 2004. We will put a note in the upcoming Courier reminding members to renew. Also, a note will be added to the Courier that vendors who do not renew will receive a 50-50 sales split, rather than the usual 70-30 split.

HOSPITALITY: Nothing new to report. Bill Kurtz will remain the interim hospitality director as we try to find a volunteer to take over the position. The group agreed that the club needs to more aggressively find someone to take over this position.

PROGRAM: Larry Grammer from southern California will be demonstrating and discussing staging plants for a show at the January meeting. The February and March programs are to-be-determined. A program on getting plants ready for the show is a possibility for the February meeting. The CSSSJ annual Show and Sale is in April.

LIBRARY: Nothing new to report. We need to sort through the books in our library collection and decide which to keep and not keep. This will be done at two future meetings. For those meetings, the board will meet at 10:00, at which time we will decide which books we want to keep, which we want to sell at our show and sale, and which to offer at a special auction.

AFFILIATE: Nothing new to report.

MINI SHOW: Nothing new to report.

ANNUAL SHOW: The 2004 Show and Sale will be April 3^rd and 4^th, 2004. The board had a discussion regarding what to do about vendors who do not follow the rules. Suggestions included giving such vendors a 50-50 sales split rather than the usual 70-30 split, and taking away a table. Larry Grammer, one-time chairperson of the Intercity show, cautioned about using such tactics, as they can cause vendors to not want to participate in the club's sale any more. We also discussed having an extra table in the show area for Q & A and membership signups. People who sign up as first-time members at that table will be given two free plants. Bill G will add this new position (Q&A/Membership position) to the volunteer list.

OLD BUSINESS: A suggestion was made that the CSSSJ merge with the Oakland club, rather than have the Oakland club simply fall apart altogether. One suggestion was that the CSSSJ invite the Oakland club's membership to our holiday banquet. Someone also suggested that since their president, Julie Rose, is a lawyer, that perhaps she could get the CSSSJ started on the legal aspects of such a maneuver. The suggestion was made that Wes call Julie to pursue the matter further.

NEW BUSINESS: None.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:15 P.M.

The next Board meeting will be on February 8th, 2004, at the Prusch Park Meeting Hall at 10:30 A.M., unless decided otherwise.

Submitted by the Club Secretary, Bill Gingras