WA-BC – AFS Chapter

EXCOM Meeting Minutes (Little Creek Casino, Shelton)

November 6, 2008

Attending:  Larry Dominguez, Mark Pedersen, Eric Knudsen, Rachel Keeler,  Julie Henning, Jim Shannon, Geraldine Vander Haegen

Minutes: The minutes for Oct 16, 2008 meeting were approved.

President :  Jim Shannon will go to Sedona for WDAFS. Engaging with WDAFS is important as WDAFS has 2 votes on the National AFS Board, while the chapter has none. Further regional issues are handled at the WDAFS level. It is the role of the chapter VP (Mark) to coordinate any resolutions that need to be brought to the WDAFS.

Past President: Our involvement in, and contribution to, the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin conference includes sponsoring three sessions. Eric is also busy with fundraising for the 2009 AGM and is involved with the 2011 AFS Annual Meeting arrangements. Eric has worked hard on updating the website.

President Elect: Jim is heading to Arizona for the WDAFS (see above) and is working on the 2009 AGM planning.

Vice President: Mark is working with Bill Mavros to put together symposia for the PS/GB conference. They submitted one about sharks in the Salish Sea. Mark has also been recruiting new members, especially focusing on BC. He has been looking at lists of people who came to last year’s AGM but weren’t members. We can make posters for the 2009 AGM for students, telling how cheap membership is and its benefits. The price differential for members and nonmembers registering for the conference can be the same as buying a membership. Mark is also planning a telephone campaign to people who haven’t renewed their membership (about 800).

There was discussion of making it a goal to win the best chapter award from AFS, which led thinking about making annual goals for the chapter, in terms of activities, membership and finances. These issues would best be addressed in an all-day ExComm meeting.

Secretary/Treasurer: Julie presented some of the budget figures for the year. We discussed the appropriate amount of money to hold in reserve and settled on the amount required for one year’s operating budget, or about $25,000. We are currently holding $20,000 in a CD and $5,000 in the checking account for this.

We would like to begin an endowment fund to provide scholarships. We might be able to get enough money to start this fund following the 2011 meeting. Larry will begin to draft a program for the endowment fund.

We need further exploration about how the chapter’s money should be spent. Suggestions included providing free registration for the 2009 AGM.

Puget Sound Georgia Basin Conference -  Eric recommended donating $5000 to sponsor the meeting with the caveat that $2500 go to support students of our choice, but that we still get the benefits that come with a $5000 donation. If this can not be agreed to, we will donate $2500 to the conference, and use the other $2500 to sponsor students directly through the chapter. We need to advertise this student sponsorship (and for the 2009 AGM) on our website.

AGM 2009 – Following the ExComm meeting, we held a planning meeting for the 2009 AGM. Positions for organization chairs were mainly filled, but more help is needed…

Eric submitted a draft agreement to between the Washington – British Columbia Chapter of the American Fisheries Society (WA-BC) and the Sustainable Fisheries Foundation (SFF).  WA-BC desires to hold its 2009 annual general meeting (AGM) and requires assistance in fundraising and soliciting Trade Show participants for its 3-day AGM conference scheduled for April 20-23 in Shelton.  WA-BC recognizes that a professionally and financially successful meeting depends partly on strong fundraising and an exciting Trade Show. SFF desires to cooperate on AGM fundraising and Trade Show solicitations, having staff with broad experience in organizing successful fisheries conferences, so as to increase the likelihood of a successful AGM.

The agreement would have SFF  assist in AGM fundraising and Trade Show solicitations and then share in the proceeds from the fundraising. Through this cooperative effort, SFF will use proceeds obtained to support the publication of an American Fisheries Society book “Pacific Salmon Life-History Models”. SFF would be entitled to 20% of all cash and in-kind contributions that SFF is able to raise for the conference.

The ExComm was generally supportive of the agreement, but deferred a final decision until the next meeting, pending a few revisions to the agreement. The revisions included a clearer definition of “in-kind” and some typos.  This does not include items donated for the raffle. The ExComm proposed that the agreement should cover 20% of all the funds raised, not just new sources solicited by Eric as it is hard to distinguish between them, and in any case, Eric has been fundraising for the meeting for years, and is largely responsible for many of the donations that would come in.

The meeting wrapped up with training on how to edit the website.

Next Meeting – Nov 20, 7:30 am teleconference.