ATTENDEES: Kirk Brown, Gary Johnson, Lorrie Stomme, Jim Hermann, Katherine Widin, Rich 
Hauer, Ken Holman, Robert Slater, Mark Schnobrich.

President Lorrie Stromme called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m.

A copy of the 2001 MnSTAC Award recipients was handed out, followed by a short discussion.

NEW EDITOR OF ADVOCATE – Gary Johnson
The money to hire the new Advocate editor, Ms. Judy Slater, is frozen. This problem is related to 
the statewide contract freeze and is likely a short-term problem. Mr. Holman will look into 
this. A brief discussion on how to deal with this in the interim followed. One idea was to 
post some of the Advocate articles on the MnSTAC web site. Another idea was to see if Jim 
Kiehne could serve as editor of the next edition of the Advocate, pending the contract freeze. 
Ken will look into whether Mr. Brian Loeffelholz could assist with the web site until Gary is 
able to hire another Research Assistant to replace Marie Jones. Ken will also check on 
whether the freeze pertains to federally funded contracts. 

WEB SITE
Tree Trust is submitting a NUCFAC Proposal about educating underserved populations about 
urban and community forestry issues. If the Proposal is funded, Tree Trust will produce a 
manual for other communities to use when interacting with underserved groups. The Board 
consensus was that the manual could be posted on either the MnSTAC web site or Tree 
Trust’s web site.

Bob will post a question on the Message Board asking for information about Arbor Day 
celebrations in communities around the state. (This is something that he forgot to do from 
two Board Meetings ago.)

MEMBERSHIP
People who have never attended a MnSTAC meeting are signing up online to become MnSTAC 
members, in response to the online membership census form. The Board discussed how to 
handle this ‘problem.’ A letter will be sent by U.S. mail to people signing up to inform them 
about MnSTAC’s constitutional requirements for membership; they will be kept on the email 
list. A box will be added to the member census to find the intent of “new members” and 
existing members.

CHANGE JOINT MSA/MnSTAC MEETING
MnSTAC and MSA will hold a joint meeting during MSA’s fall workshop at St. John’s 
University. The date for the meeting has changed from September 16 to September 13, 2002.
Moved by Mr. G. Johnson, seconded by Mr. K. Brown to change the meeting date. Approved.

SURVEY OF COMMUNITY TREE PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES – Rich Hauer
Rich Hauer requested that MnSTAC allow the use of its logo and support a survey to find the 
extent of community tree programs and activities throughout Minnesota. After discussion it 
was moved to support the survey and allow the logo to appear on the survey. Moved Mr. 
Slater, seconded Mr. Brown, approved.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Mr. Mark Schnobrich, Legislative Committee Chair, discussed the status and activities of the 
committee. Some of the points covered: It is relatively late in this session for most lobbying 
activities. We will keep in touch with the Legislators with a monthly fact sheet on a variety of 
topics to keep them to date on UCF issues. In the fall a 2002-03 Legislative Report will be 
completed and sent out before the start of the next session. Specific requests for money will 
wait until the 2003 session. The Board discussed the format of the “STAC FACTS” fact sheets 
and the need for flexibility on topics, due to changing summer conditions (i.e., storm season). 
Gary Johnson offered to be the point person for a fact sheet on storm damage, if needed. The 
STAC FACTS would be distributed to mayors and planners, also.

ADJOURNMENT
Move to adjourn by Mr. Johnson, Seconded by Mr. Brown, approved. The meeting was 
adjourned at 10:40 a.m.


Respectfully submitted,
Robert Slater

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