[board] Looking forward to the Zoom Board Meeting.

[Robert MacKimmie]

Gary - You get a gold star for your efforts. Thanks for submitting a
remarkable assessment of the annual Treasurer duties.
            Your contribution goes a long way towards restoring the
structure from which we can function, noe sanf into the future.


On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 6:48 PM 'GARY DENISON' via President <
president at marinbees.org> wrote:

> Per Robert's request here are my initial thoughts as Treasurer
>
> *Primary Tasks required of Treasurer*
>
>    - Provide accurate financial reporting to the board regarding the
>    association's revenue and expenses and account balances.
>    - File required annual reports to the Federal and State authorities to
>    ensure we maintain our status as a nonprofit
>    - Obtain documentation necessary for board approval to ensure that
>    bills are paid in a timely manner.
>    - Maintain transparent financial records that can be easily reviewed
>    and audited.
>    - Help ensure members are welcomed and engaged at monthly meetings
>    - Help represent the club at community and outreach activities
>    - Share knowledge and experience with membership
>
> *Treasurer’s Goals and Objectives:*
>
>    - Work with Membership/Jim to better understand the interface of when
>    dues are collected and subsequently deposited into our bank account.
>    - Resolve the ownership issue of our Association’s accounts. Currently
>    Jennifer Berry remains the “owner” of accounts.  Banks are required to have
>    an “owner” of accounts.  While having Jennifer was probably expeditious in
>    the initial opening of the accounts, we need to address this issue going
>    forward (i.e. who should own the accounts?)
>    - Currently Jennifer and I are the only signatories on the accounts.
>    We need to have Jennifer removed and we likely need a backup signatory who
>    can act in my absence.  This is going to entail Jennifer and that other
>    person physically going to the bank* together* to get this done.  Who?
>    - Discuss with the Board our banking relationship and investment
>    accounts
>    - Directors and officers errors and omission policy.  We have one but
>    do we really need one?  $857 yearly expense.
>
>
>
> On 06/17/2026 2:37 AM PDT Robert MacKimmie <president at marinbees.org>
> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks to all of you for stepping up, and allowing our modest organization
> to continue on its journey. I have been attending the Marin Bee group for
> twenty years, and have witnessed its many iterations. Twenty years ago,
> beekeeping everywhere was experiencing new and surprising growth, mostly
> due to bees being in the news with Colony Collapse Disorder, CCD. The great
> unwashed public somehow decided that they should help bees by keeping a
> hive in their backyard. The deceptive myth was that beekeeping was easy,
> and as we all found out, it's SO EASY.
>
> For twenty years, we have been trying to figure out how to keep bees
> alive, and while we have learned much, we have also had many more
> bee ailments that globalization has foisted upon us. Hive beetle,
> Africanized bee, EFB, Deformed Wing Virus-B existed twenty years ago, but
> now they impact us daily.
>
> Twenty years ago, I was told that there was no bee disease in Marin, that
> there was no need of treatments. It took a decade before we could actually
> talk about diseases openly in the group. There was little education about
> how to keep bees alive, beyond the research offered by our many remarkable
> speakers.
>
> From the first time I sat in an all day workshop with Randy Oliver in
> 1998, scientific method and accurate delivery of highly tested, proven
> methods has been primary how I share information about beekeeping. What is
> taught regarding what I know about bees is much more important than what I
> think about bees or beekeeping. My method is to learn beekeeping methods
> through lecture, discussion, YouTube, or reading, then test the methods on
> a number of my hives, while comparing results against control hives. Only
> then will I speak about and share those proven methods.
>
> For all these reasons, I am looking forward to the opportunity we
> currently share, where we have a strong population of recent beekeepers. It
> is much easier to share accurate information about effective beekeeping
> methods, even to a total greenhorn, rather than to 'unteach' incorrect
> information. Through monthly meetings, Hive Dives, Zoom Classes, and in
> person trainings, I expect that we will be able to bring a comprehensive
> understanding of solid beekeeping basics to all those who attend, and apply
> themselves. I have many times expressed that within a year's time, we can
> train complete newbees to be comprehensive early beekeepers who know how to
> keep their hives alive, healthy and productive. Beyond that core
> comprehensive level of knowledge, we will also provide methods and special
> interest projects that intermediate and advanced beekeepers need for
> growth.
>
> The Marin Bee group is a big tent, and it can provide a myriad of
> initiatives. If Board members have ambitions for the group, I expect that
> those interested people will talk about those projects, plan them, and then
> deliver the efforts to make those agenda come to fruition. We have all
> stood up to help the organization to survive, function, and prosper, for
> the membership, and for the people who attend the meetings. At the same
> time, like all information academies, we also need to project what people
> need to know next, to provide the next steps for people as they evolve into
> the more advanced understandings that comprehensive beekeeping requires. As
> a group, we also have the opportunity provided by our unique moment in
> beekeeping's evolving time, where we can undertake simple initiatives which
> will move the current reality of beekeeping forward, making marked progress
> in the state of beekeeping, where making genetic improvements to the stocks
> we run a huge advantage to the average beekeeper. As a finite bee
> community, we can make a vast difference. Truthfully, it takes a community
> to make change.
>
> All that is my understanding, and my ambition in standing to assume the
> President's role. There is a vast amount of work to be accomplished, and we
> are gifted to have the opportunity. I look forward to working with each of
> you to accomplish great things, and I appreciate that each of you have been
> willing to participate.
>
>
> If I can ask a favor. If each of you would take five minutes to write down
> a very brief recap, listing 3-5 bullet points about what you understand to
> be the most primary tasks required of your position right now, and also 3-5
> bullet points defining your understanding of the primary goals and
> objectives that your position faces for the year. Be brief. No responses
> are incorrect. We just need a common vision of where we are, and where we
> are going, and I am curious about what you see.
>
> Many thanks,
> robert
>
> --
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> board at marinbeekeepers.org
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>
>
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