| SWS SOUTH CENTRAL CHAPTER
Spring Business Meeting Minutes
June 7, 2005 – Charleston, South Carolina
President Jeff Raasch called the Business Meeting of the Society
of Wetland Scientists (SWS) South Central Chapter to order
at 5:02 PM. Jeff welcomed all attendees.
President Raasch thanked and introduced all past and present
board members and officers for recognition by the Chapter
membership. President Raasch recognized guests and visitors
to this year’s meeting and then proceeded with the meeting
business.
President Raasch noted that an Executive Board Meeting had
been held on June 6, 2005. He briefly shared a few highlights
from the meeting:
- Board agreed to put $4,000 in a CD for 2 years.
- Board wants to do more wetland education workshops all
across the Chapter. Folks need to step forward and get with
Mike Souliere, workshop chair. We should try to make more
money on them if possible. Also, Chapter should do a big
money workshop (i.e. wetland delineation) to pay for student
and President’s travel to Australia. The workshops
provide a great recruitment tool for new members.
- Board discussed recommending that the Chapter pay for
the President to attend the annual meeting every year.
- Matt Stahman, Secretary/Treasurer, is going to develop
a draft budget for the chapter and present some ideas for
maintaining adequate dollars in our chapter bank account
to meet the Chapter’s annual goals and objectives.
All of these issues we’re further discussed throughout
the course of the Chapter Business Meeting.
Quorum: President Raasch asked for a determination of a quorum,
which was declared by Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman. A
total of 17 members was present; meeting business commenced.
Guests and Visitors: President Raasch requested recognition
of new members at this year’s meeting. Two new members
attended the meeting.
Minutes: Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman distributed copies
of the minutes from the March 2005 Chapter Business Meeting
at Pensacola, Florida to meeting attendees for review. Matt
pointed out that the draft minutes had not been posted to
the website for review prior to this business meeting due
to the short timeframe between March and July. Matt noted
that this should be done before the next business meeting
in San Marcos, along with draft minutes for this Business
Meeting. The issue to accept the July 2004 draft minutes was
tabled pending the San Marcos meeting.
Treasurer Report: Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman distributed
a 2005 chapter mid-year financial report to attendees (Attachment
A). The report summarized deposits and withdrawals to the
Chapter account that have occurred from since the last report
given at the Pensacola Meeting on March 31 through June 7,
2005. The Chapter started this period with $15,133.36 in the
bank. Total chapter assets as of December 31, 2004 were $12,417.68.
Matt also handed out breakdowns of the proceeds from each
of the three Chapter workshops (Attachment B). Net proceeds
from the workshops totaled $373.93.
In addition, Matt provided a 5-year financial comparison
of the Chapter’s assets (Attachment C). Based on the
comparison of how much money comes in versus how much is spent
annually by the Chapter, Matt made the following recommendations:
1. Keep $8,000 in Checking Account for operating costs, scholarships,
travel awards, etc.;
2. Make an annual operations & donations budget;
3. Maximize return from upcoming Fall Meetings;
4. Hold Workshops to pay for big-ticket items that weren't
budgeted (i.e. travel awards to Australia, etc.);
5. Cut operations costs by enlisting more volunteers (i.e.
web services cost $1,300 to date in 2005); and
6. Invest $4,000 in one 2-Yr CD ($223 interest).
Standing Committees:
1. Membership – Chair Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman
showed that Burk and Associates currently reported 2005 membership
at 434, down from 462 reported at the Chapter Business Meeting
in Pensacola in March 2005. Overall, the Society continues
to decrease in size from 4,278 in 2002 to 3,803 in 2003 to
3,722 in 2004. Thus there has been a total membership decrease
of 13% over the last 3 years. Matt encouraged all members
present to work toward getting more professors, students and
colleagues involved in the Society. Matt pointed to the ongoing
workshop initiative as an excellent tool for new member recruitment.
The first three workshops gleaned 19 new members.
2. Program – President Raasch talked about the next
upcoming South Central Chapter fall meeting in San Marcos,
Texas this October 5 through 8 at Texas State Campus. Plans
for the fall meeting include focusing on water related issues
such as planning, aquifers, riparian areas, etc. and checking
out various springs, seeps and other unique wetland types
located in the Texas Hill Country. This year’s conference
will include a special session on Tubing 101 so that attendees
will have the chance to enjoy the Texas Hill Country as wetland
scientists truly should, in the water. Plenary Speakers are
needed for the conference as well as volunteers to help with
workshops.
President Raasch also pointed out that this year’s student
presentation competition winner in San Marcos would receive
a plane ticket to Australia for the 2006 SWS International
Conference!
3. Nominations – Committee Chair and Past President
Scott Jecker was not in attendance. President Raasch announced
the results of the chapter election held immediately following
the Pensacola meeting. The election was held entirely on-line
at the Chapter website. The election filled slots for President-elect
and two Board members. Secretary-Treasurer (serves a two-year
term) will be up for election in 2006.
President Raasch announced the winners:
Andy Nyman (LSU) - new President Elect,
Ken Krauss (USGS) – new Board Member (2 year term)
Lisa Gandy (Whitenton Group) – new Board Member (2 year
term)
President Raasch thanked the two previous Board Members:
Dr. Carol Thompson (Tarleton State Univ.) – Board Member
since 2003
Dr. Robert Nairn (Univ. of Oklahoma) – Board Member
since 2003, host of 2003 Chapter Meeting at Lake Texoma, Oklahoma
The following officers will continue their terms through 2006:
Jeff Raasch (TPWD) – current President,
Scott Jecker (Whitenton Group) – Past President
Matt Stahman (SWCA) – Secretary/Treasurer
Gary Ervin (Miss. State Univ.) – current Board Member
Dr. Ed Buckner (Univ. of Arkansas) – current Board Member
1. Affiliations/Special Issues – No chairs exist for
these committees. No items were discussed.
2. Archives – Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman reminded
members that the archives are maintained in a file box at
the National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, LA. The
archives document past meetings, national board meetings,
registration forms, etc. The archives were started around
1999.
3. Bylaws & Standing Rules – Matt Stahman informed
the chapter that no new revisions had been proposed to the
Bylaws & Standing Rules since the Executive Board met
at the 2003 Fall Chapter Board Meeting and approved a proposed
revision of Standing Rules Section 8, ‘Dues and Fees’
to reflect current Society protocol for collection of Chapter
dues. Matt informed the membership that the current Bylaws
& Standing Rules were available for viewing on the Chapter
website.
4. Issues Committee – No chair exists for this committee.
5. Special Committees –
a. 2005 Pensacola Joint-Society Meeting - Darrin Dantin, Coordinator
for the Pensacola Joint-Society Meeting (SWS SCC, SWS SAC,
and GERS) was not in attendance. However, Secretary/Treasurer
Matt Stahman noted that financially it appears the meeting
will come out in the black. The societies probably won’t
make a lot of money, but everyone agreed the meeting had been
a huge success. Darrin will submit a financial report for
the meeting to Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman as soon as
possible.
b. Chapter Website Committee - Darrin Dantin, former Chair
of the Chapter Website, has stepped down. President Raasch
informed the membership that the website had been professionally
revamped and was currently being professionally maintained.
Secretary/Treasurer Stahman noted that this does cost the
chapter money ($75/hour), with $1,300 having been spent so
far in 2005. President Raasch called for volunteers to take
over maintenance of the Chapter Website.
c. Workshop Committee – Mike Souliere, Chair of the
Workshop Committee special committee, was not in attendance.
Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman informed the membership of
the committees’ goals of 1) sharing our expertise with
a wider audience of professionals throughout our Chapter and
2) increasing our membership. Past President Jecker initiated
the workshop initiative following the 2004 Spring Meeting
in Seattle. Matt discussed the three workshops held so far:
Wetland Plant ID in Houston, Hydric Soils in Houston, and
Wetland Plant ID in San Marcos. The workshops had a total
attendance of 44, with 19 new members recruited. Matt handed
out a financial breakdown of the workshops costs and revenue,
showing that a total of $373.93 had been made so far. Matt
noted that Mike plans to offer workshops in other Chapter
states such as Arkansas and Alabama in particular and called
for volunteers in other Chapter states to contact Mike with
suggestions.
d. Communications Committee – Gary Pritts was appointed
Communications Liaison for the Chapter at the 2004 Spring
Meeting in Seattle. Gary has been collecting information and
articles from members on special wetland habitats, regional
wetland differences, recent legal/regulatory issues, etc.
for the new electronic chapter bulletin. The committee’s
goal is to increase communications and cohesiveness throughout
the Chapter. Gary is especially interested in increasing interest
from members in Alabama. Gary has been working hard to issue
quarterly newsletters, but has run into some technical difficulty
getting the newsletter emailed to the entire membership.
Gary has issued three bulletins of The Wetland Messenger so
far; Fall 2004, Fall/Winter 2004-2005, and Spring 2005. Everyone
appreciated Gary’s efforts putting together these wonderful
bulletins. Gary pointed out that he needs a constant feed
of wetland related articles to fill the newsletter. President
Raasch suggested a “Call for Papers” prior to
publishing each newsletter.
Old Business
Fall 2005 Meeting – Jeff Raasch, newly elected President-Elect
announced that the 2005 Fall Meeting will be held in San Marcos,
Texas. Look to the website for more details and a mass email
calling for abstracts and registrations later this summer.
Future Meetings – Dr. DuBowy noted that the SWS International
Spring Meeting would be held in Carnes, Australia in 2006
and in Sacramento, California in 2007. President Elect Andy
Nyman noted that the 2006 Fall Chapter Meeting might be held
in Lafayette as a joint meeting with GERS or another meeting
in Arkansas or Tennessee. Given the success of the Pensacola
Meeting, we may have a joint meeting with GERS every other
year. We’ll have better plans at the 2005 Fall Meeting
in San Marcos.
Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman pointed out that as of 2008,
Spring Meetings would be administered and setup by Burke and
Associates. This would take the burden of meeting coordination
off the individual chapters, a job that has become ever more
involved and time consuming in the past 5 years. However,
this would mean that the typical revenue (25% of net proceeds)
the host chapter received from the meeting (South Central
Chapter made nearly $8,000 from hosting the 2003 New Orleans
Meeting) will no longer go completely to the host chapter.
A portion of that revenue will have to be used to pay Burke
and Associates. The host chapter will still get some portion,
probably based on the amount of effort they put into the meeting,
but it will be less than 25%. New Orleans was probably the
last chance we’ll have to make that kind of money from
a Spring Meeting. We’ll have to focus our efforts on
alternative sources of fund raising.
Chapter Funds: President Raasch noted that the Chapter currently
has a surplus of funds, but spending is up. We’re spending
more money on website administration, travel, etc., especially
with the upcoming student travel award and President travel
assistance to Australia.
Secretary/Treasurer Matt Stahman recommended keeping at least
$8,000 in the checking account for travel awards, grants,
sponsorships, etc. and putting $4,000 in a 2 year CD (see
notes on Executive Board Meeting above). Matt is developing
a detailed budget and savings plan that he will submit to
the board by the 2005 Fall Meeting in San Marcos, Texas.
Chapter President’s Travel to Australia: The Executive
Board decided to fund at least a plane ticket to Australia
for the current President, a cost of approximately $3,500.
The Board also decided to pay for President Raasch’s
meeting registration, unless it gets waived by the Australian
Chapter or picked up by Jeff’s employer (Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department). President Raasch again suggested
funding the travel with proceeds from one of the Chapter’s
future workshops, perhaps one on Wetland Delineation that
could handle charging higher prices than previous workshops.
More discussion on the funding mechanism to follow in San
Marcos.
Future Travel for President: Dr. Paul Dubowy suggested the
Chapter consider formalizing travel support for by future
President’s to Annual Spring Meetings by changing the
Chapter Bylaws. This was generally not well received. Rebecca
Howard, SWS International Treasurer, did not recommend doing
this every year, only in exceptional circumstances like Australia.
The costs could get too high for the Chapter to support, especially
is the Chapter became formally committed to funding the President’s
travel every year. Currently, the Chapter already funds the
President’s travel to the Annual SWS International Board
Meeting. No other chapter we know of consistently supports
the President’s travel to the Annual Spring Meeting.
Diana Stanley commented that the Bylaws should be left for
basic Chapter functions only.
Student Travel Award for Australia: President Raasch revisited
this issue, heavily discussed at the last Chapter Business
Meeting in Pensacola and at the Executive Board Meeting. More
money will be needed to send a student to Australia than the
normal $600 award. After much discussion and debate about
how much the award should be, whether or not to pay student
expenses, etc., Dr. Carol Thompson made the motion to limit
the student award to a plane ticket to Australia. The motion
was seconded and passed by a unanimous vote of all members
in attendance. The Chapter will also pay for the student’s
meeting registration, unless it gets waived by the Australian
Chapter. Sammy King commented that the Chapter should designate
a workshop to help fund this particular Student Travel Award.
Member Cathy Mayhew suggested that we issue future student
travel awards in memory of those wetland scientists who recently
passed away and calling the awards memorial travel awards.
New Business
President Raasch called for any new business that needed to
be discussed. No new business was brought forward.
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded
and passed.
President Raasch adjourned the meeting at 6:12 PM.
Prepared By:
Matt Stahman, Secretary/Treasurer
August 10, 2005
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