Meeting Notice

To the Members of the Missouri Turf and Ornamental Council:

Over the past five months, the Board of Directors for our association have been participating in a process to explore the merits of transitioning in to a broader organization that would result in a merger of our association and the Missouri Landscape and Nursery Association (MLNA). Our two groups have a common mission in our industry to promote the positive contributions we make to our customers, the environment and the general public and to increase the awareness of our industry’s value to the state of Missouri. As the leaders for our Association, the board members in attendance at the meetings made it very clear that we will wanted to continue to be a significant association in our industry and to make sure that our goals and objectives were met throughout the discussions between the two groups.

Our discussions at the joint meetings focused on creating the fundamental principles any association must establish including our mission, vision, goals and objectives for a potential green industry association. The new association would focus on six key action items that would clearly define what we do as new association:

1. We Educate professionals and students through on-going professional development opportunities.
2. We Promote the Green Industry’s value to the public, the citizens of Missouri at-large.
3. We Advocate for the Green Industry, providing our Members an awareness of the legislative process, affording them the opportunity to be engaged, and communicating the results of our actions.
4. We Support Research, and share pure and applied findings.
5. We Collaborate between and among Green Industry professionals, and with alliance organizations and institutions.
6. We Encourage Environmental Stewardship, fostering responsible awareness of and engagement in practices that support.

At the end of our joint meetings, the leadership of our two associations agreed that combining our two associations would allow us to improve our ability to serve our membership, increase our impact in the industry in Missouri and create a unified voice for Missouri’s Green Industry.

On November 11, 2015, the board members of the Missouri Turf and Ornamental Council passed a motion to adopt the recommendations of the group representatives to transition the group memberships of MLNA and MOTOC to the Missouri Green Industry Alliance, an all-encompassing “Green Industry” Professional organization.

The decision to proceed with the merger of our two associations allows for specific strategic priorities for the leadership of the new association. These new priorities will fuel our future success and provide us with key objectives to work toward as we make the transition. The priorities include:

Define the Return on Membership for those who become members.
Be financially sustainable
Employ an executive director/executive secretary
Attract a diverse, professional membership
Communicate the value of the organization to the Industry
Sustain an energized and engaged leadership Board and associated committees

Our industry provides quality plant material and professional personnel with specialized expertise for growing, installing, constructing, maintaining, and managing the landscape and turf in the state of Missouri. We want to continue to support the members of our industry and feel that this merger of our two associations will allow us to improve on all facets of our offerings to each of you.

The next step in the process to create the Missouri Green Industry Alliance is to put the motion approved by the board of directors to a vote by the membership of the Missouri Turf and Ornamental Council. We will ask each of you to vote at the annual meeting this year on Wednesday, December 9 at the Missouri Green Industry Conference in St. Charles.

Members of the MoTOC board of directors will be in attendance at the conference and will be available to answer any questions you may have concerning the potential change to our association. You can also send an email to [email protected] and we will be happy to answer your questions.

Thank you for your time,
Gabe Huffington
President
Missouri Turf and Ornamental Council