Minutes April 21, 2011

Geologic Society of Minnesota

Board Meeting Minutes

 

April 21, 2011

 

Meeting called to order

 

Dick Bottenberg (President), Janine Atchison (Vice President), Allan Bowles (Secretary), Darryl Mytty (Membership Chairman), Sherry Keesey (Treasurer), Theresa Tweet (Board Member), Harvey Thorliefson (Board Member), Doug Zbikowski, Ed Steffner, Alan Smith (Board Member) were present.

 

Old Business

 

Responding To Web Site Questions

 

Theresa is the person from the GSM who coordinates a response to the questions received from the general public via the GSM website.  In general she thinks things are going OK.  She noted that schools are looking for an outreach person, someone to work with a group of students.  Doug has done this in the past.  He said to contact him and he provide contacts for questions about agates, opals, fossils.  It was suggested that any lapidary questions be sent to the mineral club.

 

Research Report

 

At the last meeting, Doug Zbikowski had requested putting his report on seismic activity on the web site.  Doug thinks his work is unique and would like to post it on the GSM web site. There was a question about legal concerns which Janine checked into.  She had checked with a couple of lawyers who responded that there should not be an issue with the GSM posting papers. Janine made the point that we should set up our own guide lines for accepting papers and that we may want to limit the number of papers we accept.  There was also discussion about reviewing papers before we put them on the GSM web site.  Harvey suggested that Doug post the paper on the internet with a link from the GSM web site.  The end result of the discussion was that Doug and Alan would work out the mechanics of placing the paper on the GSM web site and that Sherry will develop a tentative set of guidelines for posting papers on the web site by the next meeting June 16^th.

 

Discussion and reports

 

Treasurer’s report

 

Dick helped Sherry with the EXCEL spread sheet and report.  Sherry reviewed the balance sheet and income statement.  There was the following discussion: on the income side $364 was made on the fundraiser, the interest income was estimated, and total net income for the first six months of the GSM year (since 30 Sep 2010) is

($238).  Harvey moved that we accept the report and Alan seconded the motion. 

The report was approved.

 

Internet Committee

 

Alan and Harvey reported that the process to upload legacy newsletters is in good shape and he is getting close to posting on the GSM website.  Ly is working to post the missing board meeting minutes.

 

Recognition Committee

 

Theresa brought up two questions: 1. Do we want the recognition banquet every other

year and 2. Are people happy with holding the banquet in January? Ed said there are many things going on in January and maybe a different month would be better.  Janine is for every other year.  Teresa will come up with recommendations for the next meeting.  Dick agreed to remain on the committee.

 

Field Trips

 

Janine had attended the field trip meeting and reported on the meeting as Janet was not at

the board meeting.   Randy is working on a field trip to theKeewatinPeninsula in

Michiganfor one week Aug.6-12.  The trip will include a mineral show at the end of the

trip.  Randy also proposed a one day field trip to Cannon Falls and a trip to Crystal Cave. 

There was no discussion about the trip being planned to visit theSan Andreas Faultin the spring of 2012.

 

Program Lectures and Lab

 

Steve Erickson was not at the meeting, howeverHarveycommented that some of the

plans for co-sponsoring a lecture during the Geological Society of America’s conference inMinneapolisnext fall are still up in the air, but they are making progress on them.

 

Newsletter

 

Harveystated that the newsletter will come out May 15^th.  He needs articles by next

week.  There was a question about posting the newsletter on the web site.  Janine wants

the newsletter to be mailed as an incentive for membership.   It was suggested that we

take a look at making a digital newsletter, PDF format and e-mailing it to all members.

The next newsletter will be will be printed and mailed.

 

 

 

 

Membership

 

Darrel reported that the enrollment membership keeps trickling in.  He sent out about 60

postcards and has received 15 to 20 returns with money.  Membership for new members

runs to Sept. 30th 2012.  Current member’s membership runs Oct 1, 2011 through

Sept. 30, 2012.

 

Public Service

 

Doug has been explaining to Janine what his public service duties are and she will come

up with job write up. Doug gaveHarveythe jobs manual with the duties of each chair

person/officer.  He has some outreach programs going on with the Boy Scouts.  In addition he needs some GSM flyers to hand out.  We need these for the state fair.  They should be updated by June in order to be ready for the state fair.

 

Shows & Exhibits

 

Tom has been handling the organization and scheduling for the State Fair for many years and has now handed over the responsibility to Joan Furlong.  Tom and she will line up the people for the booth. There was discussion regarding upgrading the booth, but no specific actions.

 

 

History & Archives

 

The State Historical Society has requested all of GSM’s newsletters.  Harvey will request

a proposal from the State Library Services Division to scan all of the back issue

newsletters and make a hardcopy to provide to MN Historical Society.   Harvey moved

that we request support to scan the newsletters by the State Library Services division,

Alan seconded the motion and it was approved.

 

Marker committee

 

Doug stated that nothing is happening on Minnehaha Creek project.  Doug wants to be

relieved of the marker responsibilities.   Ed is questioning whether he wants to continue

to work on the marker committee.  Theresa had talked toDian Loeffler,NEMinneapolis

state representative to try to seek support for the marker project.   Diane Loeffler was pivotal to the GSM getting the Sesquicentennial funding to build 7 markers.  On the last attempt, the GSM had applied for Legacy funding from the Minnesota Historical Society.  We didn't get it.

 

 

 

 

 

New Business

 

Spring banquet

 

Dick will conduct a survey of the attendees to determine if the GSM membership is interested in receiving the newsletters via e-mail instead of via the US Post Office.  Janine will have new job descriptions to bring up.

 

Nominating committee

 

Dick pointed out that we have many positions that need to be filled:  publicity committee chairman, editor for the newsletter, public service committee chairman and 3 new board members. He suggested expanding the nominating committee by getting all of the board and officers involved. 

 

Other Discussion

 

Teresa had questions about adding links to the web site. Alan thought it was OK to add

links. A suggestion was made demonstrate the GSM website at the first fall meeting. 

It was suggested that Dick open our scheduled lectures before Steve introduces the speaker.  Dick could talk about upcoming events.  This would give other people such as Randy talk about field trips, things that people attending the lecture have some interest in.

 

 

 

Respectfully Submitted

Allan Bowles

GSM Board Secretary