January 2019 Board Meeting Minutes

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AZTWS Board Meeting

Conference Call Minutes

January 28, 2019

3:00–4:15 p.m

[Download the PDF]

Present: Tiffany Sprague (President), Jessica Moreno (President Elect), Valerie Horncastle (Recording Secretary), Holly Hicks (Corresponding Secretary), Melissa Merrick (Board Member), Clarissa Starbuck (Webmaster), Chris Carrillo (Membership Committee), Kay Nicholson (Past President)

Board members absent: Andrew Jones (Treasurer), Audrey Owens (Board Member)

Action items

  • Jessica will send out the JAM schedule
  • Jessica will send out a notice that there are still rooms available at the Marriot Pyramid Hotel for JAM
  • Jessica will send out a reminder to vote for board nominations
  • Holly will send Andrew a list and prices of merchandise we will be selling at the JAM
  • Tiffany will send out a signup sheet for manning the merchandise table at JAM
  • Contact Holly if you want to help with planning the techniques workshop
  • Contact Jessica if you know of any good candidates for the Treasurer position, Conservation Affairs Chair, Opportunities Chair, or the Webmaster position.

Motions

  • Approval of December 17, 2018 board meeting minutes – moved by Jessica, seconded by Melissa; passed.

Proceedings

Old Business/Previous Action Items

  • Tiffany will review the Google Drive list of potential future newsletter articles. Done
  • Jessica will send out the Ballot for board nominations this week. Done
  • Jessica will put together an announcement for a social media chair to help promote diversity. Done – posted in newsletter, will announce at JAM, and post in social media after JAM
  • Tiffany will coordinate with Ginny Seamster about putting together a survey for the students about the student mentor lunch. Done
  • Jessica will look into a Google survey that can be emailed out for the student mentor luncheon. Done
  • Jessica will ask the JAM planning committee about setting up a single website for JAM, rather than each chapter hosting its own. Ongoing
  • Tiffany will send out additional information on the Wildlife Corridors Conservation Act of 2018. Done
  • Tiffany will send Andrew the request for BFUPA membership payment. Done –paid at the beginning of the year to get everyone on the same pay cycle
  • Jessica will discuss website options with Andrew (e.g., pointing our domains to WordPress rather than using GoDaddy). Ongoing
  • Jessica will ensure that the template for the online membership and communication system was sent out for review. Ongoing –if anyone is interested in reviewing let Jessica know, otherwise she will just do a test launch. This will be completed before JAM.
  • Jessica and Chris will work to set up an online membership and communication system for our chapter. Ongoing – will be completed before JAM
  • Chris will contact the parent chapter for an updated list of current paid members. Ongoing – Maria Simmons might be the best person to contact.
  • After MemberPlanet is updated, Tiffany will ask Chris to download member names from the parent society monthly. Remove from list
  • Holly will work with Jessica on making an inventory of our promotional items (hats, t-shirts, etc.), pricing, and photos for the website. Ongoing – will be completed by JAM
  • Andrew will send out the quarterly report. Done
  • All position leads will send annual report items to Tiffany by Jan. 16, 2019. Done – Chris and Holly will send their sections by Wednesday
  • Scott to review revised sections of JAM manual to determine what revisions are still needed; incorporate existing revisions into manual. Remove
  • Tiffany will remind committee heads about reviewing revised sections of JAM manual. Remove
  • Tiffany to create bylaw wording for board member removal. Ongoing
  • Other Old Business? (All) None

Current Business

  • Treasurer’s Report (Andrew)
    • Andrew sent out the quarterly reports for Q3 and Q4. He sent checks to JAM and Borderlands Foundation for Understudied Plants and Animals.
    • The candidate running for next year’s treasurer position will no longer be able to take the position so we will need to do a special election to fill this position. Andrew has offered to fill in until we can get a new person. If you have any suggestions for treasurer please send names to Jessica.
  • Online Shopping (Jessica/Holly)
    • Holly came across a few items that were never listed in the inventory. These included some very nice totes (6 total) and 5 or 6 can koozies. Kay mentioned these were given to us as freebies from the TWS 50th t-shirts we had printed last year. We could give them away as prizes or potentially sell them
  • Newsletter Report (Brian)
    • The Winter 2019 newsletter was published. Brian sent out a Google Doc for upcoming and future submissions to the Wildlifer. The deadline to submit articles for the spring newsletter is March 15. We should starting thinking of article ideas and contacting folks now for potential submissions.
  • JAM 2019 planning (Jessica)
    • Tiffany will send out the final annual report on Friday. Representatives from the southwest and parent society will be at the JAM.
    • Selling merchandise at JAM: We are waiting for a confirmation from Bill, but we should have a table for selling merchandise. Andrew needs a list of merchandise we are planning to sell at JAM along with the prices so he can input them into PayPal. Holly can bring an iPad to use for purchasing. Tiffany will send out a schedule for people to sign up for time slots to man the table.
    • The New Mexico chapter is having beer glasses etched with their logo and will be selling them at JAM. They wanted to know if we were interested in having some made. They are $4.35 each and ordered by the case (12 glasses/case). Since we don’t know what they look like we are going to wait and see how well they sell and maybe do something similar next year.
    • Barbara Hawke has two people coming to accept the award. We would like to comp their dinners at the awards banquet. Jessica will talk to Andrew about the best way to do this. Holly Barton will be in the UK and will not be able to attend the awards banquet. Jessica is not sure whether the other awardees are attending. The Native American student sponsors selected 3 individuals to attend the conference.
    • Jessica is only aware of one potential need at JAM. They still need one monitor for one of the sessions. Let Jessica know if you are willing to help out.
    • Jessica is putting together the program today and will send it out to the printer. Artwork is still needed for the program. Jessica will send out the schedule. The new poster boards have been ordered.
    • The business meeting will be on the 7th, followed by the quiz bowl and then a social in Tiffany’s room.
    • There will be a lactation room at the conference this year. It is a suite located on the first floor by the gift store.
    • Jessica will send out a notice that there are still rooms available, but folks need to call the hotel to book at the government price.
    • In the future, we should remind the host that this is a joint meeting and should be planned together. We should start planning in the summer and coordinate better on workshops, etc. Revisions for the JAM manual could be made during the JAM process.
  • Board Nominations (Jessica)
    • Jessica sent out an online link to survey monkey for voting and is getting better responses. Last year 30 people voted and we have exceeded that this year. We should only be counting votes for current members. Jessica will send out reminders to those who voted but are not currently members. Daryl Ratajczak can send a list of those who registered for JAM and paid their chapter dues at the same time. We should find out if they are planning on sending us a check after the JAM for membership fees.
  • Award Nominations (Jessica)
    • Award nominations have been completed, awardees selected, and awards ordered. We did not have many nominations and Jessica suggested that we should start the nomination process sooner. This way people can start thinking about award nominations in advance.
    • The awards we order go through a third party (James) and we are not sure if he increases the price for this service. We currently pay $25/plaque. They are wooden plaques in the shape of Arizona with the AZTWS logo and plate with the awardees name. Although this seems like a reasonable price, we might look into more options for next year.
  • Diversity (Jessica)
    • Nothing new to report, but we should keep revisiting the topic and sharing ideas. The social media chair position will be announced at the annual business meeting. Erin McGee might be at the JAM and Jessica is going to try and meet up with her to discuss ways of improving diversity
  • Membership Report (Jessica)
    • Chris submitted the annual report. We had a 22% increase in membership from last year. The new online membership system will be mentioned at the business meeting and on display at the merchandise table.
  • Webmaster’s Report (Clarissa)
    • Clarissa will be leaving the webmaster position in May so we will need to start looking for a new webmaster soon.
  • Opportunities Report (Valerie/Callie)
    • Callie submitted the annual report. She is stepping down from this position and we will need to fill it. Valerie will fill in until then. Valerie has been having problems posting things recently so Jessica and she will work on solving this problem at the JAM.
  • BioBlitz (Scott not on call)
    • Nothing new to report
  • Conservation Affairs (Tiffany)
    • Jon will be stepping down from this role and we will need to fill this position. If anyone has any ideas on who would be good in this position, send names to Jessica.
  • Borderlands Foundation for Understudied Plants and Animals (Kay)
    • Kay sent a notice to sponsors and other involved groups for the annual dues.
  • Techniques workshop (Holly)
    • Holly is working on setting a date for one weekend in April. If anyone is interested in helping to plan the event, let Holly know.
  • Student Liaison Report (Holly)
    • Application for travel grants is due on January 31st Holly is working on getting annual reports from all of the student chapters.

4:15 p.m. adjournment