WA-BC – AFS Chapter
EXCOM Teleconference Meeting
November 9, 2010 9:00 am
Attendees: Mark Pedersen, Lisa Harlan, Orlay Johnson, Jim Shannon, Mark Celedonia, Nicole Casper, Yvonne Muirhead
Minutes: Approved minutes for ExComm Retreat on September 25th and Excom teleconference on October 12th, 2010.
Officer Reports
President – Mark Pedersen: Mark is busy preparing for the Pacific Marine Expo; doing 2011 fund raising; conducting outreach for international exchange/ support for potential 2011 participants; getting ready for AFS Western Division retreat in Grand Junction CO; and being Chair of the Policy Review Committee. He has been looking at the Chapter website and developing Chapter Committee Terms of Reference (TORs). Mark has been working on setting up the Webex account for hosting the standing Excom teleconferences .
Past President – Jim Shannon: Jim has started working with Eric Knudsen regarding sponsorship at the 2011 Conference. As Chair of the 2011 Spawning Run he is contacting a local club to help with organizing. He will start recruiting for next year’s Excom positions.
President Elect – Mark Celedonia: Mark is keeping up with the 2011 Master Scheduling, which includes tracking progress on all planning activities and scheduling rooms for all non-Program events and functions. He has been working with Eric on fund-raising contacting small local consulting firms. He is working on different scenarios for 2010-2011 operating budgets for the chapter. He went to the Salmon in the City workshop sponsored by ORAFS, and used the opportunity to talk with an ORAFS member regarding organizing workshops. He would like comments back from everyone regarding the budget.
Vice President – Yvonne Muirhead: Yvonne is working on location and possible co-convening partners for the 2012 meeting. She is talking with several other groups regarding co-convening. Other groups have had their meetings at universities in the past – is this something we want to look into? Excom is in agreement that we should look at it; we need to stay in the March/April timeframe. Yvonne will look at UBC (University of British Columbia) as a possible location. She would like to see a typical MOU for co-convening. She is looking at possible themes – invasive species, conservation of native species ecology, “natives, invasives, ecologists – oh my!”, climate change, – send any other suggestions to Yvonne.
Treasurer – Erin Lowry: No report.
Secretary – Lisa Harlan: Lisa has been participating in the 2011 Social Responsibility Committee. She has been in contact with Bryan Bougher regarding archiving and possibly switching to DreamHost. Erin sent non-profit documentation to Bryan as a first step to determining if we can switch to DreamHost.
Communications Officer– Orlay Johnson: Orlay is working on the Fall Newsletter. The format is in Word with lists of news items. He has been working on getting an updated listserve. He will aim to get the newsletter out by the end of the week.
Student Sub-Unit Representative – Nicole Casper: Nicole has been gathering names and contact info for current student members. We have 245 student members, only 60 of which checked the Chapter membership box when joining. 117 student members in WA, and 68 student members in BC did not check the Chapter membership box when joining. She is going to send an email to student members introducing herself, asking about research, and asking if they are interested in chapter involvement. UW subunit folks will be having elections and will let her know the results.
Topics
Old Business:
Pacific Marine Expo staffing – Mark P will be there Wed Nov 17 to set up and on Thursday Nov 18 until 3pm. Jim Shannon and Caroline Mercado will be available Friday, Lisa Harlan will be there on Saturday, and Mark will do break down on Monday Nov 22.
Election timing – We need to have an election before the 2011 meeting. The decision was made to still hold elections in March/April, do it electronically, which will give incoming Excom members the opportunity to sit in on teleconferences prior to taking office in Sep 2011.
Budget projection for the next 17 months – There was a discussion regarding the operating budget and considering which items will be affected by hosting in 2011. We will still provide support for student travel/student involvement.
Comments on 5-yr strategic plan. – Mark P needs comments by next meeting.
ExCom position procedures add ins – Provide comments to Mark P.
Standards for Canadian Applied Biologists compared to the AFS Professional Fisheries Biologist standards – Yvonne will work to get a draft ready for the next meeting.
Archiving – Decisions need to be made regarding access protocol before we can proceed with online archiving of chapter documents. Send comments to Lisa regarding who should have access to view archived docs, who can edit docs, and who can add docs.
New Business:
Website Update: Delegation of assignments – Tabled until the next meeting.
Position paper on Washington shoreline master program – There is a major update occurring on the Washington Shoreline Master Program which will be updating policies – not done since 20-30 years ago. It may be appropriate to form an ad hoc committee to develop a position paper. Mark C. will look into available guidelines from the Parent Society, and Mark P will take this to the WDAFS retreat in a couple weeks.
Action Items for next meeting:
- Jim Shannon will begin recruiting candidates for 2011-2012 Excom positions.
- Excom will provide comments to Mark C on operating budget scenarios.
- Excom should send ideas for the 2012 AGM theme to Yvonne.
- Excom should provide comments on the 5-yr strategic plan to Mark P prior to the next meeting on Nov 23.
- Excom should provide comments on ExCom Procedures Add-ins to Mark P.
- Yvonne will draft a comparison of the standards for Canadian Applied Biologists and the AFS Professional Fisheries Certification for the next meeting.
- Lisa will send out an email requesting comments on access protocol for online archives.
Next Teleconference: November 23, 2010, 9:00am – 10:00am