Meeting Minutes
ASMR NEC Conference Call 22 October 2015 8:00 am
Attendees: Executive Secretary, Bob Darmody; President, Brenda Schladweiler:
President Elect, Pete Stahl; NEC: Jim Gusek, Gwen Geidel, Cally Hudlow, Jennifer
Franklin, Chris Blake, Chris Johnston; Guests: Jerry Schuman, Kim Vories, Dustin
Wasley, Barry Stewart
Item 1) Call to Order
Brenda called the meeting to order at 8:04 am and asked if anyone had additions to
the agenda. No additions were made.
Brenda asked for someone to approve the minutes of the 27 August, NEC Meeting.
Gwen made a motion to approve the minutes of the 27 August NEC Meeting. Pete
seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously without discussion. On 26
October, 2015 Dick Barnhisel sent an email to Brenda and Pete listing a few changes
to the minutes of the 27 August meeting in regard to a report that Dick had
submitted for that meeting. Pete agreed to make the changes Dick requested and
send a new, revised version of the 27 August minutes to Brenda, Bob, and Dick.
Item 2) Guest Topics
a) Update on 2016 Meeting in Spokane, WA was presented by Dustin Wasley.
Dustin reported that the first call for papers for the 2016 meeting was sent out by
Bob Darmody during the previous week but that all of the membership may not
have received the message because he did not. Bob thought he knew what the
problem was and announced that he would fix the problem and resend the call for
papers to the entire membership. Dustin also said the he was finalizing the call for
sponsors and exhibitors and would be sending that message out later in the week.
Dustin informed the group that he was adjusting (slightly increasing) the
sponsorship costs for the 2016 meeting and was making arrangements for two
tours during the meeting. Options being explored are: a tour of the Rainer Seed
Facility, an Abandoned Mine Tour and a Tour of the Coeur d’Alene Basin. A Meeting
Planning call was planned within the next two weeks. Dustin also announced that
the Planning Committee was working to draw 250 attendees and be able to use a
smart phone app for meeting registration. The Plenary Speaker the Planning
Committee was hoping to book is a U.S. House Representative from Washington
Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Pete Stahl commented that ASMR has not had good luck in
the past bringing politicians in for Plenary Talks and that he would rather invite
speaker that could address a topic of interest to the Society.
Dustin told the group that the Registration Fee for the meeting would be $50 more
that last years fee. There will be a $50 refund for members presenting a paper that
is submitted before the deadline and a $50 discount on the cost of membership for
attendees who join ASMR at the 2016 Meeting. Dustin announced that he is a bit
worried about paper submission and attracting enough papers.
Jim Gusek suggested finding a speaker to address Good Samaritan Legislation in
Washington and Dustin explained what Good Samaritan Legislation is.
Kim Vories told the group that Dennis Neuman, Dick Barnhisel and he were hoping
to make a Living Legend presentation at the Spokane Meeting. Kim then gave a
description of what the Living legends presentation which is basically telling the
story of an inspirational reclamationist to motivate membership of ASMR. The
person they are going to base this presentation on has not been found yet but they
are still looking for the right person.
Will there be a Retiree Breakfast at the Spokane Meeting?
b) Update on 2017 Meeting (Brenda reading update from Jeff Skousen)
The 2017 Annual ASMR Meeting is scheduled to be held 16-20 April in Morgantown,
WV chaired by Jeff Skousen and Lewis McDonald. The Conference Center in
Morgantown is reserved for this Meeting. Appalachian Regional Reforestation
Initiative (ARRI) has committed to sponsoring the meeting and organizing a field
tour.
c) Update on 2018 Meeting in St. Louis (Kim Vories)
A team has been assembled to organize the 2018 Meeting in St. Louis and OSM
wants to help. Kim is confident that OSM is committed to supporting this meeting.
The Planning Team is discussing ideas for Tours associated with the meeting. The
Planning Team is currently putting together a bid for the meeting to be submitted to
the NEC and they are also putting together a Hotel Bid for that meeting.
d) JASMR Update (Bob Darmody)
Progress in obtaining a DOI number for JASMR has occurred. There are ongoing
issues with the journal website and a new website is under construction. The JASMR
Editor will have full access to the new website when it is ready. The new website
will have sections that are available to non-members and members as well as
sections that are available only to members.
e) Finance Subcommittee
No Report Provided.
f) Other Reports
Jerry Schuman reported for the Awards Committee that no nominations for any
society awards have yet been received by the committee.
3) Executive Secretary Report (Bob Darmody)
Bob began his report by informing the NEC that Jody Daniels has stepped aside from
her efforts to aid in website improvement/development. Kevin from FASS is now
working on updating the old website and developing a new website for the society.
Bob also reported registration number from the last two society annual meeting in
Oklahoma City, 2014 (205) and Lexington, 2015 (240). Bob and Dustin Wasley are
targeting 250 registrants for the 2016 meeting in Spokane.
a) 2016 Meeting in Spokane
For the 2016 meeting, FASS will be helping with online registration and Dustin has
volunteers for desk registration at the hotel in Spokane. No “swag bags” will be
given away at Registration at this meeting. The question of who will be printing the
Conference Proceeding for this meeting was asked and Bob pointed out that FASS
can do it pretty cheaply at $4 a copy.
In regard to abstract submission for the 2016 ASMR Annual Meeting, Bob
announced that submission would be made through the ASMR website through
FASS. Bob will be the point of contact with FASS in regard to submitted abstracts.
Gwen Geidel asked about who accepts or rejects abstracts. Bob answered that he
will get the abstracts and then send them to the appropriate Technical Division
Chairs who may also reject them if necessary. Bob pointed out that last minute
submissions are always a problem and will probably continue to be. Jennifer
Franklin asked if TD Chairs will be helping to find technical session moderators.
Brenda suggested that TD Chairs submit a list of potential session moderators to
Dustin Wasley. Bob suggested that moderators could also be selected from the
speakers in a given session. Bob reminded the NEC that appropriate cables are
needed to connect the ASMR audio system to the hotel sound system and that he
will have Dustin check with the hotel to be sure those cables are available. Brenda
brought up the issue of continuing problems with the Camtasia presentation
software and how that needs to be addressed
4) September Survey Summary
The recent survey of ASMR Membership indicates that 80% of members wants talks
from annual society meeting s to be available online. The current system used for
this by ASMR is problematic. FASS told Bob that they have a better system.
Bob suggested that the NEC should go through the survey point by point to identify
issues that should be addressed.
Bob brought up another point from the survey: that mid meeting Field trips are an
issue. Some members love them and others hate them.
Brenda asked if NEC should formed a subcommittee to work with Bob on going
through the survey and identifying issues that could be addressed to make changes.
Brenda strongly suggested that this group strive to identify three achievable
changes. Pete Stahl and Chris Johnston volunteered to form this subcommittee to
work with Bob. They agreed to work to identify 3 potential achievable changes by
the January NEC Conference call. Bob will set up a teleconference call with this
subcommittee by the end of November.
5) Updates (Bob)
a) New CPA/audit
Bob reported that a new CPA firm has been hired by the society. They have gone
through the ASMR books (not an audit) and given Bob a preliminary report that
ASMR finances are generally being well run but they did not approve of the fact that
Dick Barnhisel is the only person with access to some of the society’s accounts. Bob
indicated that he was not completely satisfied with this preliminary report in that it
was too general. This new CPA firm told Bob that the ASMR books need a more
thorough review but not an audit. Brenda asked where the information on who has
access to various ASMR accounts is kept? Answer????
b) Bookkeeper
Bob informed the NEC that the society’s new bookkeeper in Alan Penwell. He has
switched the ASMR books from Quicken software to QuickBook software. He will be
charging the society $15 an hour which Bob thought would work out to about
$3,000 a year. Bob has paid Alan $3,000 recently for services already provided.
Bob also informed the NEC that ASMR is currently about $600,000 in the black
($594,000 plus liabilities and assets). He also told the group that ONE DRIVE
software for access to the ASMR books is not working out for the Financial
Subcommittee as they are having problems accessing the ASMR books.
c) New Website
Bob informed the NEC that the new website is not unfolding as hoped. As mentioned
earlier, Jody Daniels is no longer involved and Kevin at FASS is now helping to keep
the current website operational. All of the material on the old website has been
backed up on the Cloud. FASS is being paid for their services on an hourly basis but
Bob thought that total costs of their website services would not be too high. Bob will
be communicating with FASS next week. Brenda told the group that we should give
FASS a deadline to complete their work. Bob said that he is hoping not to put too
much more work into the old ASMR website.
6) Memorial Scholarship Criteria
Bob told the group that there were problems with the description of the Memorial
Scholarship on the society website including typographical errors. Bob wrote up a
new description of the Memorial Scholarship and it out to the Awards Committee.
He increased the award amount by HOW MUCH?? Bob told us that records were not
kept of how many other benefits (other than the cash award) were given with the
Memorial Scholarship (i.e. tickets for meeting events). He suggested better records
of these award amounts should be kept. Bob also informed that there are two
distinct categories of awards made: those given to students and those given to
professionals.
7) Draft Budget
The last PNL report and Balance sheet is dated 30 September 2015.
Bob does not have a document informing him how much the society can spend in
preparation for 2016 Meeting in Spokane. The meeting budget and bid for hotel are
not yet complete. Brenda suggested that we have the Meeting Planning team submit
the meeting budget by 1 November. Brenda suggested that the NEC work to approve
the society Budget but not the Meeting Budget. Bob will work on putting together
the budget for the 2016 Meeting.
8) Election and Bylaw Changes Not Addressed
9) Revised Draft National Meeting Guidelines (Brenda)
Brenda asked a former national society meeting organizers to review and comment
on the new Meeting Guidelines but has not yet heard back from all of them.
Bob expressed a concern for the way the bills are paid after National Meetings. He is
going to discuss this point in regard to the 2016 Meeting in Spokane with Dustin
Wasley during their next phone call.
10) NEC Draft Policy Write-ups
A number of the new policy write-ups have been received by Brenda but a number
of others have not. Some are still being worked on .
Bob announced that the Society does now have insurance.
Brenda suggested that the society develop a book of policies which includes
information regarding needed future policy changes. She also requested that all
policy changes be submitted soon, by 20 November to Bob and Brenda, so they can
be voted on during the 21 January NEC Teleconference call. Brenda will send out all
Policy changes, including the Memorial Scholarship Announcement, to the NEC so
they can be reviewed before the 21 January Meeting.
11) Google Earth place marks for ASMR study locations
Jim Gusek is working on a proposal to include and add Google Earth place marks to
all JASMR publications.
12) Items for NEC review – deadlines
Drafts of Policy changes should be submitted to Brenda by 20 November or early
January????
Comments on new National Meeting Guidelines should be returned to Brenda as
soon as possible.
Jim Gusek will send Google Earth Proposal to Brenda and Pete as soon as he has
completed it.
See Action Items on next page
22 Oct 2015 ASMR NEC Meeting
ACTION ITEMS
1) Answer the question: Will there be a Retiree Breakfast at the Spokane Meeting?
2) Get a commitment from FASS to spring the 2016 ASMR Conference Proceedings.
3) Have Dustin Check to see if all cables needed to connect ASMR audio system to
the hotel sound system are available for the meeting.
4) Address problems with Camtasia presentation Software.
5) NEC should go through recent survey point by point to identify issues that should
be addressed (form a subcommittee to do this?)
6) Chris Johnson, Pete Stahl and Bob Darmody will identify three achievable changes
to make to Annual Meeting based on results of recent survey.
7) Thorough review of ASMR Books by new CPA firm recently hired?
8) Give FASS a deadline on when to have completed work on the ASMR website.
9) Determine how much the Memorial Scholarship has been increased
10) Have 2016 Meeting Planning Team submit 2016 Meeting budget
11) Suggested NEC Policy changes must be submitted to Brenda and Bob by 20
November.
12) Brenda will send out list of suggested policy changes to NEC before the January
meeting so they can be reviewed in advance.
Next ASMR NEC Teleconference will be held on 21 January 2014.