The Southwestern Association of Naturalists
Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of
Governors and Officers
Denton, Texas
Thursday, 20 April 2000
Present:
John T. Baccus, William H. Baltosser, Troy L. Best, Charles C. Carpenter, Jerry
R. Choate, Brenda S. Clark, Bryon K. Clark, Robert C. Dowler, Anthony A.
Echelle, Jennifer K. Frey, Meredith J. Hamilton, Gary A. Heidt, Clark Hubbs,
Michael L. Kennedy, Edie Marsh-Matthews, William J. Matthews, Karen McBee,
Kelly J. McCoy, David L. McNeely, Dwight W. Moore, Gary D. Schnell, Bruce Stewart, Philip D. Sudman, O. W. Van Auken, Ron Van Den Bussche, Caryn C. Vaughn, Paula S.
Williamson, Earl G. Zimmerman.
President Best called the meeting to order at 1330 CDT with a quorum of Officers and Governors present.
Committee reports were taken first.
The BOG approved the Minutes of the Board of Governors and Officers and the
Minutes of the Business Meeting for the 46th
Annual Meeting at Monterrey as printed in The
Southwestern Naturalist 44(4) December 1999.
Treasurer Brenda Clark reported 1999 income of $77,795 (including $49,682 from dues, $6,293 from contributions and meeting proceeds, $15,093 from page charges, $143 from sale of back issues, $393 from royalties, and $6,191 from 1999 meeting registration fees). She reported expenses totaling $52,435 including $327 for returned checks; $189 for other bank fees; $2,856 for Treasurer's expenses (office help $1,750, office supplies $121, mailing $780, printing $205); editorial expenses of $2,246 ($2,000 for office help, $246 for mailing); printing of The Southwestern Naturalist 43(4)--44(3) costs of $39,320; subscription/back issue/page charge refunds of $74; printing of SWAN Brochures (by the membership committee) of $200; Wilks Award of $250; Student Poster Award of $150; plaques for award recipients of $408; tax preparation charges of $225; and meeting expenses (for 1999) of $6,190. The last item was a bookkeeping entry crediting meeting registration back to the host university, with no net loss or gain for the $6,190 expense and income. The checkbook balance at the year's beginning was $6,948, income exceeded expenses by $25,360, $6,896 was transferred to the Trustees for investment, and $583 was transferred from the past editor's account back into the general account. The checkbook balance ended the year at $25,995.
Treasurer Clark also reported that membership on 1 April 2000 was down slightly from membership in December 1999 (819 total non-institutional members vs. 861), that there were 354 institutional members on 1 April (vs. 363 in December 1999), and that there were 21 new Life, Patron, and Regular, 42 new student, 2 new family, 3 new gift, and 10 new institutional memberships paid so far for 2000. New members were listed in the Treasurer's Report and were to be submitted for members' approval at the Business Meeting. Clark further reported that the primary interests of 1999 members included 335--mammals, 259--amphibians and reptiles, 207--birds, 177--plants, 171--invertebrates, and 157--fishes. She pointed out that memberships typically are lower in April than in the previous December, and that members join throughout the year.
Clark presented projected 2000 income and expenses each at $55,800
as approved at the 1999 BOG meeting. Details of the 2000 budget and projected 2001 income and budget were
left for "New Business." The
BOG thanked Clark for her report and her work for SWAN.
Jerry Choate reported for the Trustees (Chair Choate, David Schmidly, Terry Yates) that: 1) despite the fact that 1999 was a complex and unusual year in the stock markets, SWAN assets increased in value by $45,800.26 to $285,020.34 from 31 December 1998 to 31 December 1999, or 19.1% including $6,896.49 in contributions; 2) market performance increased assets by 16.3%; 3) for the first 3.5 months of 2000 SWAN assets declined approximately 1%, which was consistent with general market performance. Details of the investment activity of the Trustees and results thereof are contained in the Trustees written report. The BOG thanked Choate and the Trustees for their work and success on behalf of the organization.
The BOG unanimously reappointed Schmidly, whose term was to expire, to the Board of Trustees.
William H. Baltosser reported for the Budget Oversight Committee (Chair Phyllis Kennedy, Baltosser, Robert Edwards, Beth Leuck) that the committee had examined the Trustees' records, the Treasurers' records, and the current and proposed budgets, and found all aspects of the fiscal operation of the association to be in good order. The committee did raise several minor points concerning reporting by the Treasurer that Treasurer Clark answered satisfactorily. These points concerned wording in a report, and did not represent irregularities in the Treasurer's records or actions. The committee also recommended that the BOG could lessen the paperwork time required for the annual internal audit.
Karen McBee, Managing Editor, reported that Volume 44 of The Southwestern Naturalist was successfully published with no delays, that 45(1) was published also, that 45(2) was at press, and 45(3) was being prepared. McBee also reported that her office was addressing and could use BOG guidance toward reducing the time lag for publication, and that format changes will allow a few more pages in the journal (which will reduce the time lag slightly).
McBee also reported that Mark Engstrom's and David Lemke's terms as Associate Editors have expired, and she thanked them and the other Associate Editor's for their service. She also thanked Susana Perea Fox and Meredith Hamilton for their editorial assistance. She then announced that Paul R. Krausman
will
continue as Associate Editor for Conservation by beginning a full term, and
that Loren Ammerman is beginning a term as Associate Editor for Mammals.
Anthony
A. Echelle reported for the Honors Committee (Chair Echelle, Alice F. Echelle, Gary A. Heidt, Michael L. Kennedy, William
J. Matthews, Gary D. Schnell) that nominations were received for the W. Frank
Blair Eminent Naturalist Award, the Robert L. Packard Outstanding Educator
Award, and the Meritorious Service Award, complete with c.v., nomination letters and support letters, and
he moved as committee chair that one nomination for each award be approved
without identification so that the award could be announced at the Business
Meeting as is traditional. The motion
was seconded and passed.
President Best reported for the Conservation Committee (Chair Jennifer K. Frey, David J. Hafner, Cheri Jones, Patricia Mehlhop, Steve R. Sheffield, Caryn C. Vaughn, Rocky Ward) that the committee reviewed The Southwestern Naturalist and selected a nominee for the George M. Sutton Award for Conservation Research for 1999. The committee chose, "Use of historic aerial photography to study vegetation change in the Negrito Creek watershed, southwestern New Mexico," published in The Southwestern Naturalist 44:121-137 (1999), authored by Mark E. Miller of The University of Colorado. The Board previously had approved this nomination by mail ballot, and Best had notified Miller of the award to be given at the banquet on Friday.
Paula
Williamson reported for the Wilks Award Committee (Chair Williamson, John
Baccus, Byron Clark, Robert J. Edwards, David L. McNeely, Dwight Moore, Bruce
Stewart, Bill Van Auken) that seven abstracts were received and reviewed, and
four were selected for presentation at the Plenary Session. The winner was to be announced and would
receive the award at the banquet on Friday.
Williamson also announced for the Student Poster Award Committee (Chair Robert Dowler, Edie Marsh-Matthews, Kelly McCoy, and Jim Ott) that 14 posters were entered in the Student Poster Competition, and the results from that competition were also to be announced and the award presented at the banquet.
Robert S. Sikes reported for the Public Relations and Publicity Committee (Chair Sikes, Stan Gehrt, Meredith J. Hamilton, Renn Tumlison and Kathryn Vaughn). The committee publicized the awards given last year by announcements to appropriate media outlets and planned to make similar announcements this year. The BOG discussed possible more detailed publication of award recipients' achievements, perhaps in The Southwestern Naturalist or via the web page.
Philip
Sudman reported for the Membership Committee (Chair Sudman, Bryon K. Clark, Joseph D. Maness, Dwight W. Moore, Miguel
A. Mora, and Christopher M. Taylor) that the committee developed and mailed
recruitment brochures; mailed recruitment letters to non-member authors; mailed
recruitment--reminder letters to lapsed members; and welcomed 21 new student
members who were given free memberships due to nominations by members in 1999.
Anthony Echelle reported for the Development Committee (Chair Echelle, Robert J. Baker, David Heins, Jerry D. Johnson, David Schmidly, Kathryn Vaughn, ex offico members Jerry R. Choate and Brenda S. Clark) that a solicitation brochure is now ready for mailing. Jerry Choate emphasized to the BOG that gifts can be made in the form of securities if they are securities that the Trustees can market or hold using the brokerages and funds that we already do business through.
The BOG took a 10 minute break at 1510 CDT and reconvened at 1520 CDT.
Historian
Meredith J. Hamilton reported that she needs materials for the archives,
particularly photographs and materials from past meetings.
Ronald A. Van Den Bussche, Chair, reported for the Program Committee (Van Den Bussche, George D. Baumgardner, Salvador Contreras-Balderas, Robert J. Edwards, Earl G. Zimmerman) that planning for the 2001 meeting in Hays, Kansas is underway and called on W. J. Matthews. Matthews stated that the 50th Anniversary Meeting in Norman, Oklahoma is also being planned and everything for the meeting looks promising. Van Den Bussche then called on Earl Zimmerman, Chair of the Local Committee for these meetings, who reported pre-registered attendance as 285 and predicted that total paid attendance would be about 350. There were 131 oral papers and 33 posters accepted for presentation.
Committee reports being completed, the BOG took up Old Business:
Bruce Stewart reported that the ad hoc
Committee for International Relations (Stewart and Salvador Contreras-Balderas
Co-Chairs, Tapiltzin Contreras-MacBeath, Robert J. Edwards, Stanley F. Fox,
Robert D. Owen) that the committee has been working to secure invitations from
Mexican institutions for future meetings (below) and asked for recommendations
from board members as to other activities to pursue.
O.W. Van Auken, Chair of the ad hoc Committee on Botanical Concerns (Van Auken, Paula S. Williamson, Ed Leuck), recommended for the committee that SWAN host additional symposia in the future, as previous ones at Little Rock and Albuquerque were successful. The committee's recommendation was general, and not restricted to botany.
Chair Robert C. Dowler reported that the ad hoc Committee on Disposal of Back Issues of The Southwestern Naturalist has been successful in its task of disposal, and that all back issues remaining are stored at Angelo State University at no cost to SWAN. Consequently, the committee is self-supporting.
Dwight
W. Moore, Chair of the ad hoc Web
Site Committee (Moore, Brenda S. Clark, O. W. Van Auken, Caryn Vaughn) reported
that the web site, now housed at Emporia State University, is very successful
and that most pages are now mounted in both English and Spanish. He is pursuing establishing a domain name
for SWAN, which will improve visibility and accessibility of the site.
Bryon
K. Clark reported that the ad hoc
Committee on the 50th Anniversary
(Chair Clark, Karen McBee, Dwight W. Moore) has produced commemorative pins for
sale, established a Student Research Fund, and has planning underway for the 50th Anniversary Meeting in Norman, Oklahoma
in 2003. The committee has already
begun and will continue calling on other SWAN members to assist in anniversary
celebration planning, especially in providing historical materials.
Michael
Kennedy provided a report from the Long-Range-Planning Committee (Chair
Kennedy, Jerry R. Choate, Bryon K.
Clark, Salvador Contreras-Balderas, Anthony A. Echelle, Robert J. Edwards,
Celia López-González, Edie Marsh-Matthews, Dwight W. Moore, O.W. Van Auken,
Caryn Vaughn). The committee is
charged to examine the existing structure and role of SWAN and to provide
direction for future growth and development. The committee has reviewed these, including SWAN's mission, state,
structure, constitution, awards, annual meetings and programs, membership,
budget, development, public relations, international relations, and
electronics. The committee had reported at the 1999 meetings that it would
carry out further discussion of these matters with recommendations to be made
at the 2000 meeting in Denton. The
recommendations were lengthy and substantial, and resulted in considerable
discussion. The Board took the
following actions as a result:
Gary Schnell moved and there was a second that the BOG recommend to the membership (for action at the 2001 meeting) a constitutional amendment that would replace the provision for an annual audit with a provision for a financial review either every five years, or when a new Treasurer takes office, or at the President's request. The motion was approved by majority vote and this constitutional amendment will be presented to the membership for consideration in 2001.
W.J. Matthews moved and after a second the BOG approved by majority vote to submit a constitutional amendment to the membership in 2001 providing that responsibility for selecting a banquet speaker for alternate years be that of the sitting President rather than of the immediate Past-President as presently provided in the constitution. Such an amendment will be submitted to the membership for consideration in 2001.
Dwight W. Moore moved that the proceeds from the sale of 50th Anniversary Commemorative Pins be applied to the Student Research Fund. The motion was seconded and approved.
Clark Hubbs moved that the BOG accept the committee's report, there was a second, followed by a motion by Gary Schnell to table the acceptance motion to allow further discussion of other parts of the report. The motion to table was seconded and approved, and discussion continued.
Gary Schnell moved that the BOG submit a constitutional amendment for consideration by the membership at the 2001 meeting providing for BOG creation of standing committees rather than have them listed in the constitution. The motion was seconded and approved by majority vote. Such an amendment will be submitted to the membership in 2001.
Gary Schnell moved, followed by a second, that the motion to accept the committee's report be brought back for consideration. Schnell clarified his intent and the BOG membership indicated understanding by stating that acceptance of the report implies neither approval nor disapproval of those parts not addressed by the motions listed above. The motion was approved, and the BOG then accepted the report.
Brenda S. Clark had provided a written report on the 2000 and proposed 2001 budgets. Dwight Moore moved approval, there was a second, and discussion followed. Clark answered several questions concerning specific items in the budget. Amendments were offered, seconded, and passed for the following adjustments to the 2001 budget proposal: the Wilks Award will be increased to $500; the Student Poster Award will be increased to $300; an amount of $35 was added to fund expenses of the SWAN web page; $1000 was added to the line item for accountant's fees to cover a financial review, bringing that item to $1300 (including $300 for tax filing). Proceeds from previous meetings and sale of back issues will be applied to the Student Research Fund, and that item was set at $1000.
After a discussion point being made that SWAN is in strong financial condition due to last year's membership dues increases, strong membership numerically, and financial success for meetings, and that therefore past subsidies from the Trustee's will not likely be needed in the near future, the BOG approved a balanced budget of $67,235 to be presented to the membership at the Annual Business Meeting.
W J. Matthews, asking privilege from the President and the BOG, moved and several seconded that the Student Poster Award be renamed the Clark Hubbs Student Poster Award and that the Student Research Award be renamed the Howard McCarley Student Research award in honor of two outstanding former presidents of SWAN who together have performed numerous notable services and through their work as scientists, academicians, and public servants have brought considerable recognition to SWAN. The motion was approved and that fact was to be announced at the Business Meeting.
David McNeely was reappointed to a term as Secretary, Brenda S. Clark was reappointed to a term as Treasurer, Karen McBee was reappointed to a term as Managing Editor, Ronald A. Van Den Bussche was reappointed to a term as Program Director through the 2001 Annual Meeting.
Jerry R. Choate was appointed to serve as Local Representative for the 2001 Annual Meeting in Hayes, Kansas. Choate reported to the BOG that the meeting will be held on 19, 20, 21 April and invited all to attend and enjoy.
Ronald
A. Van Den Bussche reported for the Program Committee that the Association has
received an invitation for the 2002 meeting from Universidad Autónoma del
Estado de Morelos, located in Cuernovaco, Morelos, México. On a motion and a second to do so, the BOG
voted to recommend that the membership accept the invitation.
The 1999 BOG meeting adjourned at 1815 CDT.
Respectfully submitted by David L. McNeely, Secretary.
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your suggestions and comments to swan03@ou.edu
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