January 2023

 Eagle Heights Garden Committee Minutes

January 11, 2023  7 PM

Remote Meeting

7:00 Present: Lily, Ric, Jessica, Ann, Ron, Ninja, Megan, Jolene, Barb L, Barb A and Karen.

Minutes  Motion by Ron and seconded by Barb A to approve the December 2022 minutes. The minutes were approved. 

Registrar Update

Lily says we have 175 renewals and thirty new gardeners. Many gardeners at University Houses plots in the A and F rows want to move their plots due to shade. We should also redesign the 500 rows at Eagle Heights so all the back corner posts meet. This should be done at the end of the season.

Joe at UW Housing will service our two mowers at no charge and will pick them up.  UW Housing gives us 8-10 hours of labor every year.  We will have to wait because they are in the back of the sheds.

Nou, from the Gardens Network will come to the February meeting to discuss the 2023 Garden Summit and their proposal for EHG involvement.

Lily contacted Scott from Gardens to Be about the plant sales.  Blue Moon could be a backup if he is not available.

Monthly Calendar

The mowers will be serviced in March.  The irrigation sub-committee will be formed in February.

Leaf Pile Removal by July 1

Purple Cow will take the leaves for a $625 tipping fee.  1-800-got-junk could do the transportation for a fee.  We could ask Shorewood if they could transport it and perhaps they already have paid the yearly tipping fee.  We believe this is where Shorewood takes our weeds.

Garden Worker Report

Megan said the garden tool order will be ready next week and the tools will come by February.  

Garden Worker Hiring

Jolene reports there are 8 applicants and the posting closes on Monday night.  She says the applicants do not have a lot of gardening experience, but one is an Arborist.  We will probably have enough applicants. The plan is for the garden workers to mow the paths this year.  

Budget and Fee Increase

In the December meeting we discussed the budget. Since 2021 we have been using our considerable savings for operating costs.  We have enough money to get through 2023.  Salaries and operating costs have gone up.  We have had a separate mower employee who did a wonderful job but we had to pay overtime and benefits which we can no longer afford.  

Plot fees have stayed the same since 2012.  In order to have money to operate in 2024, the fees will need to be increased. We cannot raise the fee for the 2023 gardening season and we do not need to.

Discussion ensued. Jolene said that wage increases have had a large effect on the budget.  The porta potty cost will probably go up.  Row cover has gone up.  For the gardens to break even, we should sell 20 foot pieces for $5.  Before we sold 24 foot pieces for $5. 

Previous records show that FH King was to pay a share of the water costs based on their area of gardening space.  This has not happened for some years.  Lily will contact them to see about resuming payments.  We probably want to wait about subsidizing compost sales.

Motion by Karen and seconded by Megan to increase the fees for the 2024 gardening year to balance the budget.

UW Apartment Resident -                 $47 full plot     $35 half plot

Staff, Alumni, Community member- $67 full plot     $50 half plot

No workday fee-                         $40

Passed unanimously.

The new fees could be presented to the GOC in July.

Jolene suggested it would be useful to do a town hall meeting at the community center about the fee increase so all gardeners understand the need for the increase. 

There is an Eagle Heights Garden UW Foundation account that has a good balance.  In previous years people have donated to the account.  There was discussion about using the foundation account to upgrade the plumbing system.  We sometimes also get donations when people overpay on their application and they do not request a refund. 

Ric knows of a potential garden worker that does not use computers very much.  Ninja and Jessica will tell him about the job opening.  Jolene said some computer use is required for the position.  

The maintenance request site worked well at the beginning and then tapered off. Lily will add the request link to the weekly email.  

Adjourned about 8pm

Submitted by Karen, subject to correction by the Garden Committee