Present: Ken Bodie, Mark Cawood, David Collins, Martha Dooley, Mary Lou Horner, Terry Faulkner, Scott Frith, Gary Loe, Susan Long, Sam Maynard, Cassandra McGee, Edythe McNabb, Page Pratt-Greene, Susan Rudell, Sarah Surak and Tim Wheeler

Absent: Keith Austin, Mark Brown, Harold Byrd, Tisha Calabrese-Benton, Johnnie Conner, Stevan Curtis, Neal Denton, Phyllis Fansler, Kim Hansard, Jan Hutchison, Janet McGaha, Jenny Raines, Goldie Simpkins, Garrett Wagley and Lori Tucker

Staff: Tom Salter

Guests: Paul Pinkston, Bob Santore and Caroline Johnson

Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Page Pratt-Greene at 12:10. There was a quorum for this meeting.

Approval of the Minutes
Page asked board members to review the minutes from the May 2005 board meeting. Mary Lou made a motion to approve and Tim Wheeler seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous.

Presidents Report – Page Pratt-Greene
Page asked our visitor, County Commissioner Paul Pinkston to present his idea to provide a financial incentive for youth groups to pick up roadside litter. He said he had donors lined up to give $4-5,000. Money would be given to groups for cleaning up 1 mile stretches of roads. He wants KKB to manage the program: choose the roads, recruit the groups, inspect the work, pay the groups, provide supplies, etc. A committee composed of Cassandra, Tim, Terry, Sam, Susan, Scott, Sarah, Page, Martha and any other board members will discuss how we will react to this proposal.

Page asked the board to approve the budget for the 2006 fiscal year. There was some discussion. Major changes in the budget are staffing pattern is now two people instead of three, the payroll includes a raise for Tom and the O&O budget is very ambitious. There was a discussion of board member lunch dues and the need for staff to make sure everyone gets an invoice next year. There was also a discussion that in the event we do not make everything we hope to make on O&O that we will do a mid-year budget correction after that event. Mary Lou made a motion to approve the budget. David Collins seconded the motion. Approval was unanimous.

Page reported on meetings with the Sheriff and the Attorney General. At this point we need to meet with Chief Owen of KPD. Mary Lou said she will set up a meeting with Chief Owen. Paul Pinkston suggested we provide an incentive for officers. David Collins said there are issues with the fines being too low for officers to think it is worth it to give a ticket.

Executive Director's report – Tom Salter
Tom presented the Financial Statement and Summary for May 2005. Relative to last year we are doing much better on income and expenses. A motion was made by Mary Lou Horner to accept it. Tim Wheeler seconded the motion. The May 2005 financial statement and summary were accepted.

• Tom and Emily staffed a KKB booth at the Chamber Partnership Business Showcase at the Convention Center. We made a number of good contacts and we received at least one $100 Clean Business Program membership.
• Emily made a Talking Tree presentation to about 50 kids in the Mother's Day Out program at Lions Creek Baptist Church. Tom accompanied the Talking Tree and spoke to the children briefly about littering.
• Tom was interviewed by Mary Lou on Be Pretty Proud with the winning poster contest images. Mary Lou also recorded three other shows.
• Tom met with Commissioner Paul Pinkston and Bob Santore to discuss a program to provide a financial incentive to youth groups to do litter cleanups. Additional discussions took place around this issue with board members, our insurance providers and our attorney. The News Sentinel interviewed KKB and Pinkston and an article appeared on May 28.
• Page and Tom met with Sheriff Hutchison and AG Randy Nichols to pitch the idea of writing more citations and prosecuting more violators. This is an ongoing process. Both meetings went very well.
• Tom, Emily and Laura Marzahl, a visitor from Keep Tennessee Beautiful conducted a preliminary count of uncovered vehicles entering the John Sevier Convenience Center in South Knoxville.
• Tom, Emily and Laura (from KTB) put the large Don't Throw Down labels on all the PBA trash cans at World's Fair Park and Volunteer Landing.
• Tom and Emily met with reps from West Towne and Knoxville Center malls to discuss getting the Don't Throw Down slogan in both malls, especially near the food courts and theatres. The meeting went well.
• Emily mailed out 32 I Spy letters.
• Website: 3,154 web site pageviews for May 2005. Last May there were 2,444.

Beautification

• Tom attended a meeting of a committee looking at improving the Knox County Junk Car removal ordinance. Bruce Wheithrich, Commissioner Larry Clark, Helen Harb of the Kidney Foundation, Grant Rosenberg and several members of the media were present.
• Tom gave a 1 hour speech to a Master Gardener's conference on the UT Ag Campus. The topic was funding community beautification projects. The Halls Tribute Trees, Bearden and South Knox projects were used as examples.

• Tom met with Rodney Rockett, John Homa and other organizers of the June U.S. Flag retirement ceremony to discuss plans for the annual event. Worn U.S. Flags are retired according to flag custom. KKB provides a web page to help promote the event.
• The Earthfest steering committee met for a debriefing on the 2005 event. While the event was cold and windy it had several successes including higher food sales for vendors than previous years. There was a discussion of how to improve waste handling. Individuals who attend Earthfest have generally poor knowledge of recycling - at least based on results of actual material recycled.

Awards & Recognition

• The Orchids & Onions Committee met and made a number of decisions including: changing the way the event is sponsored, moving time to the evening, slightly raising the ticket price, telling News Sentinel it is OK to expand their awards, and more.
• A number of individuals and groups were featured on the KKB website blog section.

Membership

• Emily mailed out 88 membership renewal appeal letters. Some were for individuals others for the Clean Business Program. $465 in memberships were received in May. $1,000 was received from Weigel’s for the pending youth challenge program. SP recycling paid their $500 GAC sponsorship.

• Several grant payments were received during May.
• The budget committee met and approved a budget to send to the full board in June.
• Tom and Emily went on a VIP tour of the Sevier County Solid Waste processing facility. The tour is documented on KKB's blog for May.

Orchids & Onions Committee – Gary Loe
Gary reported the committee met and made several decisions including: restructuring the sponsorships to make each award presented sponsored by a separate donor for $1,000. Also the event will be moved to the evening with a cash bar.

Unfinished Business
The model for the covered load awareness project is proceeding. The annual litter index (survey) will take place in July. We are also considering a survey of Chamber members to determine the bottom line impact of litter on their business. We will need volunteers for all of these projects. The litter index is mandatory with a short deadline and is the top priority. The other two projects are internal and more flexible on timing.

New Business
Tom and Emily reported a meeting with promotion directors for West Towne and Knoxville Center Malls to get the Don’t Throw Down on K-TOWN slogan up in both malls. At this time prospects are promising to get the slogan up near the theatres and food courts.

• Next regular board meeting, Thursday, July 7, 2005, Candy Factory, regular room
• Flag day event, Elks Lodge, 6000 Lonas Road, Saturday, June 11, 2005, 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
• Litter Index dates and times TBA
• Covered load initiative dates and times TBA

Adjournment – the meeting was adjourned at 1:05pm

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