Michigan Maple Syrup Association
General Membership Meeting
September 23, 2006
St. Paul’s United Methodist Church - Ludington, Michigan

The first day of fall brought many sugarmakers to Ludington. The meeting comprised of 116 attendees and was called to order by President Tom Cook at 1:00 pm. Thanks were given to the members of the church who prepared the meal.

Introductions of guests that opened their Maple operations to us were recognized:
Bates Maple Syrup – Fred & Cathi Bates, Kistlercrest Farms – Ron & Sue also Dan & Amy Kistler, The Maple Haus – Terry & Heather Coleman, Shafer Farms – Gerald & Bernice Shafer and Aiken Sugar Bush – Bernard Aiken.
The current Board Members were introduced.

President Cook asked for a motion to approve the May 13, 2006 Secretary’s Report submitted from Tim Boonstra, which was printed in the fall 2006 issue of the Newsletter. Lou Nemeth made the motion to approve the minutes which was seconded by Larry Haigh. The minutes stood approved as written.

A copy of the Treasurer’s Report was handed out to all present and an overview of the report was given by Treasurer, Arnold Hammel. Ron Thomas made a motion to approve the report and Jean Maday seconded. The report was approved as presented.

President Cook noted that the Board decided not to have a Lifetime Honorary member this year. He explained that it was felt that only honoring the very finest in the association would preserve the honorable title.

Nominations chairperson Mark Battel mentioned that three (3) board seats were coming due in January and he needed names of any members interested in running for the positions.

NAMSC Delegate Ron Thomas mentioned that the board will need to decide on which research studies we should give the go ahead for the NAMSC to focus their money on.

IMSI Delegate Jean Maday spoke on the topics that will be discussed at the Wisconsin Meeting this year, such as Air Injection, etc.

2011 NAMSC/IMSI Meeting Organizer – Debbi Thomas reminded us that we are hosting the meeting in 2011. We are looking at the Frankenmuth area and will have an organizational meeting after the last stop on the tour today.

The winter meeting date was announced of January 20, 2007 at the Doherty Hotel, Clare, MI. President Cook talked about the reason for having it annually at Clare was primarily the central location and cost effectiveness. He has looked into several other locations but the cost would be considerably higher. He also mentioned that he was working with the Doherty staff on changing the menu items for this years meeting.

Larry Haigh made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Fred Bates seconded the motion

Respectfully Submitted,
Tom Cook