AFS Mid-Year Governing Board Meeting

March 12, 2011

Bethesda Marriott Hotel Conference Center

Voting

Felipe Amezcua  Kenneth Beal John Boreman Ted Castro-Santos Steve Chipps Gavin Christie Bob Curry Robin DeBruyne Phil Downey Syma Ebbin

Diane Elliott   Erich Emery Bill Fisher Mark Hartl Troy Hartley Jeff Hill Bob Hughes Don Jackson Jeff Kopaska Steve Lochmann

Joe Margraf   Lori Martin Dirk Miller Brain Murphy Randy Schultz Randy Smith Sue Sogard Jesse Trushenski Dave Ward Gwen White

Non Voting

Ira Adelman

Jesse Fischer

Jessica Mistak

Gus Rassam

Call to Order – AFS President Hubert called the meeting to order at 8:08 a.m. He welcomed the Governing Board and guests. The meeting would operate by Robert’s Rules of Order. He noted that each member can speak twice on a particular issue, and only members whose Sections have more than 50 members can vote but everyone on the Governing board is free to participate in the discussion.

Declaration of Proxies — Syma Ebbin will serve as proxy for Fred Genthner, President, Estuaries Section.

Determination of Quorum — Constitutional Consultant, Ira Adelman, declared that a quorum was present.

Introductions – Hubert requested that everyone introduce themselves and share why they became members of AFS. Executive Director Gus Rassam, introduced staff present at the meeting: Office Administrator Denise Spencer; Events Coordinator Shawn Johnson; and Managing Editor for Fisheries, Sarah Fox. Hubert introduced the following guests: Thomas E. Bigford, the Chair of the Resource Policy Committee; Arnie Gonzalez; Brian Bellgraph, AFS mentee; Jade Sign, AFS member with the Mexican Chapter.

Approval of the Agenda –

Motion to approve the agenda was made by Beal. Seconded by Elliott.

Motion passed.

Approval of Minutes of Governing Board meeting of September 11, 2010 –

Boreman moved that the minutes from the Governing Board meeting in Pittsburgh on September 11, 2010 be approved. Seconded by Brian Murphy.

Brian Bellgraph noted that he was listed as a voting member, although he cannot vote. Kopaska mentioned a motion he made last year where it states he is to be in charge. In fact, Andrew Loftus will be the Chair of the Electronic Services Advisory Board which will recommend how to allocate the website money of $25K. These changes in the minutes were duly noted.

Minutes were approved as amended.

Approval of Minutes of the Annual Business meeting of September 14, 2011 – It was noted that minutes of the Annual Business meeting do not need to be approved by the Governing Board. The minutes have been prepared and are in an addendum to the briefing book.

Approval of Minutes of the Incoming Governing Board meeting of September 16, 2010 – It was noted that minutes of the Incoming Governing Board meeting do not need to be approved by the Governing Board. The minutes have been prepared and are in an addendum to the briefing book.

President’s Report – Hubert reported that the AFS is making progress in a lot of different areas. He expressed his personal gratitude. What a society! I can’t tell you how pleasant it is, that everyone says yes, yes, yes, to help with everything in this society. Except for a few who say they’ve already overcommitted to doing things for AFS! Four highlights were mentioned: 1.) Regarding the upcoming 141st Annual Meeting in Seattle, symposia submissions would have taken up 160% of the capacity of the meeting site, so the Program Committee had to reduce the length of papers from 20 minutes to 15 minutes in order to accommodate everyone. 2.) The Coalition of the National Resources Societies (made up of the Society of American Foresters, the Society for Range Management, the Wildlife Society, and the AFS) has developed an educational conference on training fisheries professionals; there will be a structured meeting in September in Denver to come up with a document to provide strategies and ideas. 3.) After hearing and seeing the stories of the Japanese tsunami, the session on catastrophic events that the 6th World Fisheries Congress committed to do becomes more important. Bob Hughes is co-chairing that session for AFS. 4.) All of the AFS committees are functioning extremely well, progressing and focused on doing what’s expected. He thanks everyone for what they are doing.

Executive Director’s Report – Gus Rassam said that AFS needs to look for new ways to bring in revenue, as the AFS has broken even after two years of deficits. Investments picked up from recession, taking AFS back to the point where the investment portfolio started in 2007. By 2008 we had lost 40% of our portfolio, but we’ve recovered from that and are now a little on the positive side. He explained that the transition of journals to Taylor and Francis is being worked out. Symposium proceedings may in the future be published in an electronic format only and print on demand. The membership database has been modified and upgraded.

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2011 budget revision: Rassam continued: The 2011 budget was approved in Pittsburgh by the Governing Board. Now it is time to approve the changes that allow us to make a more realistic budget. The good news is that we are increasing young professional and student memberships significantly.

Kopaska moved to approve the revised budget for 2011 as presented by Gus Rassam. Seconded by Curry.

Hubert stated that the Management Committee passed a motion recommending that the Governing Board approve the revised 2011 budget as presented by Rassam.

Motion passed.

Hubert asked Rassam to explain the increase in price of the library journal subscriptions for 2012.

Rassam: This year we are asking an increase of approximately 5% for the library journal packages. Before we finalize the number, we need to consult with Taylor and Francis, although it is our decision finally.

Jackson moved to approve a 5% increase to library journal subscriptions. Seconded by Steven Lochmann.

Hubert: The Management Committee passed a motion recommending approval of the 5% increase by the Governing Board.

Motion passed

Presentation of President-Elect Plan of Work

President-Elect Fisher: The theme of 2012 will be building ecological and professional relationships. Networks are pervasive and professional. There are more sophisticated ways now to study ecological networks, and social networks, particularly in relation to conflict. Fisher emphasized a continuation of what Wayne Hubert and Don Jackson started: 1.) Fisheries Global Leadership,1; 2.) Continuing Education, and 3.) Membership,

Miller moved to approve the proposed work plan of President-Elect Bill Fisher. Seconded by Chipps.

Motion passed.

Constitutional Consultant’s Report.

Adelman, Constitutional Consultant: The Constitutional Amendment will require a 3/4th vote by this Governing Board, and if it is approved, it will be made available to the membership electronically. Then the membership will have a 30 day period to approve, which will need a 2/3rd vote. We will need to start with a motion report to have a one month earlier approval of future incoming presidents.

Curry moved for approval of the Constitutional Amendment as presented.

Constitutional Amendment

PROPOSED additions are in bold underlined type with deletions shown with strikethrough

Article III OFFICERS, STAFF AND ELECTIONS

3. The nomination and election of officers shall be conducted as follows.

A. On or about April 1 but at least 90 60 days before an annual Society meeting, the Executive Director shall provide all Active Members a printed or electronic ballot bearing nominations for President-elect, First Vice-president, and Second Vice-president. There must be at least two nominees for Second Vice-president. Members will be allowed at least 30 days from the distribution date to return their printed or electronic ballots and/or electronic results to the Vote Auditor.

B. Nominations for elective Society offices may be received and processed in two ways.

i. The Nominating Committee is obliged to present an annual slate of candidates. This slate must be announced to the membership at least 60 days before ballots are distributed. (see Article III. 3. A. and Rules and Procedures)

ii. Eligible candidates may be nominated in a written petition signed by at least 100 Active Members and presented to the Executive Director at least 30 days before ballots are distributed. (see Article III. 3. A. and Rules and Procedures)

Amendment to Procedures Manual

PROPOSED additions are in bold underlined type with deletions shown with strikethrough

NOMINATING COMMITTEE (page 58)

Duties:

The Chair of the Nominating Committee shall direct the nomination and voting procedure and tally the votes as outlined in the following steps. In order to comply with the specific and rigid timelines detailed in these procedures, the chair must contact the committee immediately after the AFS Annual Meeting and hold committee members to the timetable.

1. All ten members of the Committee, including the Chair, may nominate one or two candidates for Second Vice-President. Accordingly, the number of candidates in any given year may be as many as twenty.

2. Each Committee member shall vote on five of the candidates by assigning five points to the first preference, four points for second choice, etc.–one point for fifth choice. The Chair may vote only if her/his signed ballot is mailed to the AFS President at the same time as ballots are mailed to the other Nominating Committee members.

3. Votes will be evaluated by the Chair who determines the top two candidates on the basis of the highest point total.

4. Total point ties for first and second, or second and third positions, go to the candidate with the greatest number of first place votes (5’s). If a tie cannot be resolved by this procedure, then a second vote will be required. In this case only the tied candidates are voted upon. If a tie still remains after the second vote, the AFS President will cast the tie-breaking vote.

5. Written results of the nomination and vote, including the ballots, shall be forwarded to the Executive Director or the AFS President for audit as soon as the two candidates for Second Vice-President have been determined by vote. The Executive Director and the AFS President shall review the results before they are announced.

6. The candidate in third place following the vote of the Committee and the candidate in second place after the general membership vote for Second Vice-President, shall automatically be considered as possible nominees by the Nominating Committee for the following year. This last stipulation mandates forwarding the names and biographical information of those individuals to the Unit Services Coordinator at Headquarters for transmission to the Committee Chair for the following year.

7. This is a confidential process; Committee members may not discuss the individuals on the list or the rankings with anyone other than other Committee members.

Hubert stated that the Managing Committee passed a motion recommending to the Governing Board that the amendment be approved.

Margraf: What if we decide now that the February issue of Fisheries is coming out too late. We’re going to bind the Fisheries issue up in the constitution instead of putting it in procedures where we can be flexible. Once it is in a constitution, we’re stuck with it. I question putting it in the constitution as opposed to having it as a procedure. I would like to offer an amendment that we relegate it back to the way it was as a procedure in past.

Joe Margraf, moved to amend the Constitutional Amendment as proposed.

The amendment is to strike the items that are in bold, under i and ii.

The motion to amend passed.

Motion passed as amended.

Adelman: Operational Guidelines in the Procedural Guidelines. Encouragement for all communications should be done electronically, if at all possible. Most changes are strike-through and substitutions for strike-through and bolds. Everything is moved up approximately a month so that the final decision should be made in time to get the announcement and the materials needed to go to Sarah Fox in time to get the information into the February edition of Fisheries magazine. These procedures hinge on the approval of the electronic vote.

Operational Guidelines:

The duties are to be implemented as follows. With the consent of all committee members, all written materials including ballots may be exchanged among committee members electronically.

1. A biographical sketch (background), some comments on the state of the Society (AFS involvement), and some steps that might be undertaken as AFS President to address major issues (Vision Statement) should be prepared by each candidate and forwarded by December November15 to the member of the Committee advancing the candidate’s name for consideration. The statement should be no more than two type-written pages. Each Committee member shall inform his/her candidate(s) that the Committee does not encourage or appreciate receiving any additional vote solicitation contact or information.

2. Each Committee member should submit the name(s) of his/her candidate(s), the biographical sketches, and comments to the Chair by December November 20.

3. The biographical sketches and comments by nominating committee members for all candidates will be forwarded with a ballot to all members of the Committee by January December 1.

4. Ballots should be returned to the Chair by January 25 December 15. The Committee Chair will communicate the results to the President and Executive Director immediately.

5. The AFS President and/or Executive Director The Committee Chair shall notify the first- and second-ranked candidates as soon as he/she has been informed by the AFS President or Executive Director that they have audited the Committee Chair’s tally of the votes and have approved. The Committee Chair and/or the AFS President shall let the remaining candidates know who placed first, second, and third and will forward the third-ranked candidate’s file to the Unit Services Coordinator at Headquarters for transmission to the next year’s Committee Chair.

6. When notifying the winning candidates the Chair will request that they update or revise, if they wish, their biographical sketches and vision statements for AFS and send them to the Chair with a photograph by January 5. so that the nominees for office can be announced at the annual mid-term meeting of the Governing Board, and in the

7. The Chair will forward these materials to the editor of Fisheries by an absolute deadline of January 10 so that the nominees will be announced in the February March/April issue of Fisheries. The deadline for receipt of the Nominees’ biographical sketches, and comments and a photograph for Fisheries is February 1. The slate must be announced at least 60 days before election ballots are mailed to the AFS membership. This will allow sufficient time for possible nominations by petition.

6. Following the election, the Committee Chair will forward the unsuccessful candidate’s file to the Unit Services Coordinator at Headquarters for transmission to the next year’s Committee Chair.

Hughes moved to accept the procedural change as outlined by Ira.

Hubert: The Managing Committee passed a motion recommending the Governing Board pass the procedural change as written.

Motion passed.

Adelman stated that there are four Chapter bylaws changes. He requests a motion to approve the bylaws for the Alaska Chapter.

Hill moved to approve the bylaws for the Alaska Chapter.

Motion passed.

Adelman requested a motion to approve the bylaws of Colorado-Wyoming Chapter dealing with procedures for removal of officers.

Miller moved to approve the bylaws of Colorado-Wyoming Chapter .

Motion passed.

Adelman requested a motion regarding the Oregon Chapter bylaws for electronic voting and removing officials from office for cause be moved.

Curry moved to approve the bylaws of the Oregon Chapter.

Motion passed.

Adelman requested a motion regarding the Dakota Chapter bylaws, establishing and offering a lifetime membership to the chapter.

Margraf moved to approve the bylaws of the Dakota Chapter.

Motion passed.

Distinguished Service Award – Fisher, Chair, Distinguished Services Award Committee presented nominations for: Jesse Trushenski for her work on sedatives policy; Colleen Caldwell for her work on the Climate Change Policy Statement; and the Tennessee Chapter for their work hosting three division events, numerous Southern Division events, and national events.

Hubert: Tennessee has worked to further the parent society, not just Tennessee Chapter.

Castro-Santos moved that all three nominees be moved forward for a vote by the Governing Board. Seconded by Lochmann.

Miller: Is this is the right format for that?

Lochmann: One of the reasons for the nomination was that the Nashville annual meeting was going to lose substantial amounts because of unmet hotel commitments. The Tennessee Chapter helped reduce that loss substantially.

Hughes: I speak in favor of Tennessee Chapter. It does fit the criteria.

White: I’d like to speak against it. We have an outstanding chapter award that it can be nominated for.

Hubert: The original motion as I understand it is to allow for the nomination of the three different names to go on the ballot. We’ll have the paper ballot, and those will be collected after lunch.

Motion passed. Trushenski abstained.

14 and 15:12:00 p.m. – 12:35 p.m. – Lunch

In Camera session convened at 12:35 p.m., and open session re-convened at 1:30 p.m.

Hubert announced that the Governing Board had approved continued negotiation with Executive Director Gus Rassam of a 2-year contract from September 2011 to September 2013 following the proposal made by Rassam to the Governing Board through President Hubert.

Distinguished Service Nomination Ballot Results – Hubert announced that the Governing Board had voted approval of Distinguished Service Awards for Jesse Trushenski, Colleen Caldwell, and the Tennessee Chapter to be presented at the Annual Meeting in Seattle in September 2011.

Consideration of Unit and Committee reports containing motions

Christie moved that:

In the spirit of its role as the North American Fisheries Society, the Society will explore and secure a method of providing insurance to its chapters and sections acting in Canada that is equivalent in its coverage and its costs to the insurance provided by chapters and sections acting in the United States

Curry made a motion to amend the motion by striking ‘and secure’ part. Seconded by Joe Margraf.

Motion to amend the motion passed.

Castro-Santos: How many units are participating now? Rassam: Several in the US; two in Canada

Margraf: What’s this insurance for? What’s it covering? Rassam: This is liability insurance

Jeff Kopaska moved to make an amendment to insert a liability clause into AFS international insurance. Dirk Miller seconded.

Hubert: As I understand it, the ED will be focusing on Canada and Mexico at this time.

Motion to amend the motion passed.

The amended motion: The Society will explore a method of providing liability insurance to Chapters and Sections acting outside of the United States that is equivalent in its coverage and its costs to insurance provided to Chapters and Sections acting in the United States.

Motion passed.

Hubert: Last year a motion was put forth, requesting that all student members in the sub-section are automatically charged sub-section dues. That motion failed. It was felt that an increase in dues to students was too much. Now the new motion taking place is very similar, but involves no dues at all.

Chipps moved the AFS makes all student members automatic members of the Student Subsection of the Education Section. Miller seconded.

Chipps: What can we do to help students integrate into Society activities. There’s been a small disconnect. Students are confused about what the sub-section does. This puts the onus on the sub-section to try to communicate with all AFS student members. By offering free membership for student members to the sub-section, it increases membership in the sub-section.

Fischer: Students don’t have strong ties to the sub-section. AFS recognizes and offers them reduced dues and registration dues for the annual meeting. This motion has several benefits. It will provide all AFS students access to sub-sections information and benefits. We’ll reduce the confusion that not all students are included in the sub-section. All student members will have this identity or ownership of their sub-section, and this encourages all students to become more involved.

Hubert: The Managing Committee deliberated this point and, on a split vote, did not recommend sending this to the Governing Board for approval.

Jackson: As members of AFS, we’re free to join any section. And if you’re not a student you’re still able to join the student sub-section. What happens if they do? Fischer: That happens occasionally. When the student moves, they aren’t a student anymore.

Curry: There are 80 dues paying students right now in the sub-section. So it’ll become a money loser.

Trushenski asked whether or not it is right to force people in the sub-section alignment. By giving students a proper home and letting them know they have a place, it is going to become beneficial to AFS in the long run. Speaking personally, I didn’t know the sub-section even existed until I was at the end of my student career.

Castro-Santos: Fundamentally, I think this is a great idea. A default way for students to jump right into networking. However, in order to be a voting member of a Governing Board… the student sub-section does not vote, right?

Chipps: That’s correct.

Castro-Santos: If you have this default joining of a sub-section, it has a way of inflating a sub-section. If they are counted toward membership, it’s an issue.

Arway: A poll was taken. Why did students not agree with this? Fischer: The question in the survey had to do with forcing students into any sort of section.

Miller: I’d like to speak in favor of this. By nature of where you live, you’re automatically put into a division. Students have relatively a short time. We give them a good deal to motivate them to stay. All this is, is another motivation factor.

Fisher: One concern is that the student sub-section had is that they weren’t able to communicate with members. For them to be able to communicate throughout the society… it helps them to do this.

Kopaska: It’s important and official for communication to take place. I’m in favor of this.

Murphy: I want to speak in favor of the motion. Jessie covered this very well. There was some discussion that students already have a voice buried within state chapters. But those have a very local focus. Many are not even national members for AFS. This is a direct involvement. 10-15% opposed the idea, but don’t forget the 70-80% who were in favor of it.

Margraf: I’m in 100% in agreement of this motion. There is some discomfort about doing it this way, but I would rather do it this way than not do it at all. Student sub-section isn’t even mentioned in the constitution. Is there another way we aren’t exploring. Less than 10% chose to be in the sub-section. What domain had we sampled? There might be a better procedural way.

DeBruyne: I didn’t know about the sub-section until maybe two years ago. I was lucky that my mentor brought me in early to be in a unit. As a student, I think it can only help

Hill: I agree with the issue at hand and speak generally for it. One alternative is to allow a student to opt out.

Castro-Santos: For several years I opted not to be a member of the society. When you cause people to join by default… it won’t be advantageous. It strikes me as paternalistic. They need commitment. Automatically causing someone to join an association will mean they aren’t committed to it.

Fischer: Part of this is to give them the representation.

Motion passed.

Miller moved that the Governing Board approve up to $ 5, 000 to conduct a pilot distance education offering of Leadership at All Levels of AFS at the Annual Meeting in Seattle. Lochmann seconded.

Miller: It should be relatively easy to make a one-time successful project pilot.

Hubert: The Management Committee recommended it be passed by the Governing Board.

Curry: I think we need to speak in support, but I have to point out that there is a fiscal responsibility that isn’t appointed in the budget. Rassam: It will mean that the budget will have to be readdressed and amended.

Lochmann: I speak in favor of the motion, but not in favor of the AFS taking on the funding for good. Just this one time. I consider it an experiment. I’d like to see us spend the money this way as an experiment.

Kopaska spoke in support of the motion: This allows us to move forward to do an experiment and do what we can to find out the who/where/what in this environment. It has my full support. If it comes down to a dollar issue, I think my section will step up to the plate and provide funding, if needed.

Motion passed.

Hubert: Our second motion from the Continuing Education Committee stems from their interest in gathering more info to provide background for the future. They want 1K to do a survey. It will be hosted at Virginia Tech to address questions that have not yet been identified.

Chipps moved that the Governing Board provide funding in the amount of $1,000 to support the Continuing Education survey.

Hubert: The Management Committee didn’t make a recommendation, because they didn’t know what the survey would do.

Motion passed.

Boreman moved that the procedures prepared by the Membership Committee for application and selection of mentees in the AFS Mentor Program be approved by the Governing Board.

Bellgraph: Applicants will only be considered if there is enough travel funding by the parent society. There shouldn’t be only AFS funding, but also those who might be able to have their company pay for it.

Boreman: It doesn’t say in this where the funding comes from. As long as money is available, we’ll go down the list.

Hartl: How and why do they qualify? Boreman: The only reason we are ranking is because last year all them were qualified.

Murphy: Who is in charge of finding the funding? Boreman: Anyone on the Governing Board. We represent sections, committees, divisions. The Governing Board can make recommendations. It could probably be worded a little cleaner there. Don’t assume that someone else is going to raise funds. We should all try to raise funds to support young professionals. As a Governing Board member, you should try to find funds to support a mentee.

Motion passed.

Hubert: Resolutions Committee deals with a resolution focusing on a connection between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River drainage and has been moved forward by the North Central Division that felt it had enough national and international consequence to take it under consideration.

Boreman moved that the resolution be passed by the Governing Board.

Boreman: It’s an invasive species issue dealing with the Chicago areas waterways. Some of the Mississippi species have been allowed to go into the Chicago waterways. The resolution essentially wants everything done to stop the invasion, but the way that it is worded… I’m going to make a resolution to change it to therefore be it resolved all the way to and storm water conveyance.

Boreman moved to amend the resolution to state “and storm water conveyance” and to say the AFS, not the North Central Division.

Motion to amend passed.

Arway: The word ”active” could mean many things. What is the definition for a call to action?

Hubert: As far as I know, there are no specifics.

Hill: Ours is a very broad and diverse section, with no opportunity to meet face to face, and a lot of section members aren’t aware of this issue in other regions of the country. There have been some arguments in our discussions of this. At this time, the introduced fisheries section would not support this as it is written. If the North Central Division is making this, I won’t vote against it. If it gets changed to AFS, I would vote against it.

Kopaska added: Considering what was just said, I would argue that this is at least National and International in scope, because the hydrology that we’re talking about is connected to the southern, northeastern and western divisions. It’s important locally to the North Central Division yes, but the scope is as broad as the Society.

Trushenski: I share some of the concerns, but this hasn’t prevented AFS from approving resolutions in the past.

Hill: This is a procedural issue. I do view this as a Society-wide issue. Immediate for the division, and international as well as for the other divisions. There’s a lot of concern from members of my section. Better communication — more interaction with other divisions – is needed.

Jackson: We have sections for a purpose – to provide guidance.

White: I would speak in favor of the Board forwarding to the membership to ask for review and revision so other sections could focus on this.

Hubert: The motion is to move it forward for a vote.

Adelman: If passed by this group, it will be published in Fisheries magazine, then there will be 30 days for comment. Hubert: We need to move this forward for publication in Fisheries and posted on the website for the entire membership. This is the stage where we are now.

Motion passed as amended with two abstentions.

Hubert: The next item is the Executive Director’s Succession Planning Committee.

Boreman moved that the Governing Board approve up to $10,000 to cover the cost of hiring a contractor to conduct surveys related to the Executive Director Succession Plan.

Boreman: Our committee was given terms of reference by President Hubert. We need to survey stakeholders, staff members, the board, etc., need to ask about the direction in the future of AFS. What kind of charge will we give our new Executive director. We need a Sustainability Audit Survey

Motion passed.

Break 3:00 – 3:15 p.m.

Hubert: Next item is Tom Bigford’s report from the Resource Policy Committee.

Tom Bigford: The Resource Policy Committee is working very hard. Lead, sedatives, and we’ve just finished climate, and we have another six existing policies that we’re reviewing. We can use some more help. Get in touch with me or my co-chair in the committee.

Hughes moved that the Governing Board accept the report of the special committee on Lead in Sport Fishing Tackle and take steps to develop a motion regarding the policy statement for consideration by the Governing Board in Seattle, based on that report, and the RPC’s earlier report, draft policy, and the additional scientific literature.

Hubert: Following the meeting in Pittsburgh, I appointed a committee in Pittsburgh to draft a policy on lead and sport fishing, to decide if the comments were pertinent and would lead to changes in the policy statement. Second task was to recommend appropriate changes in order to address those concerns. The special committee did that and did a substantial rewrite and submitted their report. They came up with what they considered their new policy statement. The RPC didn’t have time to consider what that meant, though. So they want to know, what do we do now. This motion is saying: Give us some time to decide what to do with the policy written from the special committee.

Curry: I support this.

Hubert: Part of the RPC report in Seattle is going to contain an action item, and that action item will contain that draft. With a recommendation… It can be moved forward by the Governing Board and then be given to members to vote.

Bigford: Membership will definitely see our plan a month before the meeting in Seattle. The Governing Board will see it.

Miller: We’ll bring it to a business meeting or bring it to the Governing Board? Hubert: An electronic vote by all members.

Arway: Understanding the EPA has taken a regulatory position on this. AFS is doing this to highlight their decision?

Hubert: I don’t believe there is an action to influence the EPA on their decision or past decision. The AFS is just taking a stance.

Motion passed.

Reports of Divisions.

Northeastern Division, President Arway: Report as written

North Central Division, President Schultz: My report stands as is.

Southern Division, President Lochmann: My report stands as is and please look at our podcast.

Western Division, President Martin: My report stands as written, and I highlighted several major activities and action items occurring within the Western Division. President-Elect Dave Ward discussed some topics regarding the Seattle Meeting: the talks have been cut from 20 minutes to 15 minutes. 1/3rd were asked to combine their talks. Many combinations were seamless, many far from seamless. 1/3rd stood alone and were asked to whack back. Less than a 1/3rd stayed as were before. There are 1800 symposia talks; 600 poster talks; well over 2,000 presentations, projected attendance of 3,000 plus.

Reports of Sections

Reports as presented in the Governing Board briefing book.

Committee reports

Hubert asked if there are any committee chairs who have something to call that hasn’t been addressed in the briefing book.

Curry: I will be sending out to all the Governing Board soon, a little info calling for award nomination. Deadline is May 20.

Hartl: We are seeking nominations for Award of Excellence.

Old Business

No old business was considered.

New Business

Hughes moved that the Executive Director or President contact the Japanese AFS Members to determine how we can help them after the tsunami. Seconded by Castro-Santos.

Hughes: The Katrina mess, well, it took us a long time to try to respond to that. Trying to get some direction from the Governing Board to say we care.

Jackson: I appreciate the move. It’s appropriate. Our hearts poured out to Haiti, but we had no way to really do anything there since there were no members. But my intention is not to get in the way of the President or the Executive Director. We need to reach out to the Japanese. Make sure that they don’t feel alone. Like we did during Katrina. We need to provide to the extent we can, resources. Give them membership benefits without charges for a while, until they can get their feet back on the ground. In Katrina, the gesture was as powerful as the content. We need to stay connected. With your permission, that’s the gist of my communication. I’d specifically like to work with the International Section. I’m willing to accept responsibility.

Hubert: A motion to express concern and how to help has been requested.

White: When looking at our procedures, we need to talk about chapters everywhere in our disaster discussion. We need someone to look at us not making this just about sections.

Curry: I can’t speak any better than Don considering disaster relief. Let’s check to make sure nothing is going on in Hawaii.

Motion passed.

Adjourn

Hughes moved to adjourn.

Meeting adjourned 4:15 p.m.