After eight years as President of AGC, Gretchen Bravacos told the AGC members that she did not want to run for another year.

She appointed a Nominating Committee whose mission was to identify one or two members who would be willing to assume the role of President in time for elections to be held at the Annual Meeting. Unfortunately, or as it turns out, fortunately, the Nominating committee found that while many members were committed to helping with various aspects of the President’s role, no one person wanted to assume the role of President.

As a result of input from various Garden Club members and her many years in leadership roles in the Master Gardener’s organization, Chris Gatti, chairman of the AGC Nominating Committee, brainstormed with the Committee members with the goal of developing a more collaborative model of leadership for AGC.

Over the past six months, the Nominating Committee has continued to gather information through direct conversations with AGC members and the results of several versions of a survey. Although the new collaborative model of leadership is not yet finalized, the work that Chris Gatti and her Committee have energized the AGC members who look forward to serving as a member of the newly defined Leadership Team, or the rotating Meeting Facilitator, or the Garden Oversight committee, etc.

Then again, maybe this new model of leadership will function best as a fluid concept that evolves as the members work together to accomplish the goal of beautifying the Town and educating the public about all aspects of gardening.

The Ashland Garden Club meets on the second Saturday of each month, September through June, at the Ashland Library in the lower-level meeting room, 10 - 11 a.m. Meetings are open to the public. Recently, we welcomed two new AGC members: Donna Huckaby and John Cahill. Our meetings are structured so that there is time for members to ask questions and/or advice from each other. We offer several educational opportunities free to the public.