July 2018 Board Meeting Minutes

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AZTWS Board Meeting

Conference Call Notes

July 23, 2018

3:00–4:15 p.m.

[Download the PDF]

Attendees: Tiffany Sprague (President), Jessica Moreno (President Elect), Andrew Jones (Treasurer), Valerie Horncastle (Recording Secretary), Melissa Merrick (Board Member), Audrey Owens (Board Member), Kay Nicholson (Past President), Clarissa Starbuck (Webmaster), Chris Carrillo (Membership Committee)

Board members absent: Holly Hicks (Corresponding Secretary)

Action Items

  • Jessica will send out a google doc of a list of actionable items to help increase diversity.
  • Jessica will send out the template for our online membership and communication system for people to review.
  • Andrew will work on finishing the audit.
  • Andrew will check on whether funds to send students to the national conference needs to be in increments of $250.
  • Tiffany will touch base with Jeremy on how long he will be editor of the newsletter.
  • Tiffany will contact Holly about holding off on the call for continuing education until we set caps on max amounts.
  • Melissa will contact Nicole about bat feeding/monitoring for the day in the field with a biologist.
  • Clarissa will follow up with Katie McColgin on the list of opportunities for a field day with a biologist.
  • Tiffany will explore setting up a Google Drive list of potential future newsletter articles and reserve of articles to use when needed.
  • Audrey, Kay, and Melissa will coordinate a fall gathering for members.
  • Scott to review revised sections of JAM manual to determine what revisions are still needed; incorporate existing revisions into manual.
  • Tiffany will remind committee heads about reviewing revised sections of JAM manual.
  • Tiffany to create bylaw wording for board member removal.

Motions

  • April 23, 2018 board meetings approved. Andrew motioned. Jessica seconded. Passed unanimously.
  • May 21, 2018 board meetings approved. Jessica motioned. Andrew seconded. Passed unanimously.
  • June 25, 2018 board meetings approved. Melissa motioned. Jessica seconded. Passed unanimously.
  • Andrew motioned to adjourn the meeting at 4:14 p.m. Jessica seconded. Passed

Proceedings

3:04 p.m. Tiffany called the meeting to order

BioBlitz Discussion – Andy Bridges from Petrified National Forest on call

  • Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) – The goal is to have 25 SMEs and we are almost there. We still need a SME for birds. Tiffany has contacted several people and different groups. Ryan O’Donnell might be interested.
  • We need to advertise for Blitzers. We are hoping for 50 and already have about 20.
  • The Operators Center will have an iNaturalist table and registration and information tables and we need folks to sign up for time slots to work the tables.
  • Scott mentioned that 30-40 folks are interested in coming out to help. We should send out the announcement to a smaller list serve of really motivated people and students.
  • Scott mentioned that it might be a good idea to set up a dedicated email account for blitzers. Andy and Scott will discuss this further
  • We are restricted to 75 people in the camping area. We can set up a waitlist if we get more people.
  • Valerie, Clarissa, Kay, and Scott are all planning on attending the BioBlitz.
  • There are 18 potential excursions being planned. Andy is trying to finalize times for these.
  • Andy has a spreadsheet with schedule times available for working some of the tables and will share this once the excursions are finalized so people can start signing up for time slots.

Old business

  • Tiffany will have Samantha Vaughan get a quote for AZTWS buffs (neck/head kerchiefs). Done – Andrew paid, but we are still working on the design.
  • Tiffany will discuss possibility of a shopping area on our website with Andrew, Jessica, and Clarissa. Jessica will send around some ideas/options. Ongoing
    Jessica sent out an email with options for us to review and we will discuss further at the next meeting. The two main options are:
    1) We set up an online store page on our website and sell our own swag. We will need someone to maintain our own inventory, purchase orders, shipping, and returns. This will be linked to PayPal and the only cost would be the usual PayPal fees. Andrew suggested that if we go this route, Holly should be added to the bank account so she doesn’t have to get reimbursed for shipping costs all the time.
    2) We use a company like Café Press or Zazzle. We would upload our logo and choose a variety of products. They handle everything and send us a monthly check with profits minus their fee. Products are simple screen print (no embroidery), but more variety of products are available.
  • Jessica to send info to Tiffany and Clarissa about online submission form options for Continuing Education grant. Ongoing
    Jessica needs to know if we want to make any updates or changes to the application form. Andrew suggested adding a question on whether they were a chapter member and for how long. It might be a good idea to add a link to the membership page.
  • Tiffany will explore setting up a Google Drive list of potential future newsletter articles and reserve of articles to use when needed. Ongoing
  • Holly to periodically send reminders to our email list about our Continuing Education grant. Ongoing, but temporarily put on hold.
  • Audrey, Kay, and Melissa will coordinate a fall gathering for members. Ongoing
  • Scott to review revised sections of JAM manual to determine what revisions are still needed; incorporate existing revisions into manual. Ongoing
  • Tiffany will remind committee heads about reviewing revised sections of JAM manual. Ongoing
  • Tiffany to create bylaw wording for board member removal. Ongoing
  • Jessica and Chris will work to set up an online membership and communication system for our chapter. Ongoing – need to update roster. Jessica is finishing up the template and will send out to others to review.
  • Other Old Business? None

Current business

  • Treasurer’s report (Andrew)
    • Andrew sent out quarterly reports for quarter 1 (Jan 1 – Mar 31) and quarter 2 (April 1 – June 30)
    • Checking fund is at $8,320.13
    • Savings fund is at $31,194.15
    • Continuing Education fund is at $6,257.00
    • Memorial Garden is at $734.82
    • WildHare is at $3,862.97
    • We have received $320 for the scholarship fund for students to attend the national conference. Do we want to match dollar to dollar up to $500 total like we did last year? It’s $250 to send a student. Andrew will ask Chuck Shively if they need to be in increments of $250.
    • Mailed check to New Mexico TWS for printing of the program
    • We are currently behind on completing the audit.
  • Continuing Education report
    • We had 5 applications and we funded 4 of these for a total of $3,468.69.
    • This leaves us with $2788.31 in the account.
    • There is some confusion on the cap for individual award amounts and yearly amounts. In the past there was a cap of $2000 for the yearly amount and we exceeded it this year. Do we want to raise the cap to $3500 in the future and cap the amount at $500 per person per request with a max of $1000/year? We will discuss max amounts and yearly caps at the next meeting.
    • Do we want to spend some of the general savings account funds on continuing education? Carol Chambers suggested this at the JAM meeting.
    • There might be a possibility of a $500 donation from WOW to get started. We should follow up on this.
    • We will wait to put out any more calls for continuing education until we decide what we want to cap the money amount at.
    • Stan Cunningham has reservations about Continuing Education funds going to grad students too much. We decided to make an effort to announce the grant more broadly and make it clearer that undergrads and professionals are encouraged to apply, as well.
  • Newsletter report (Tiffany)
    • Clarissa put the latest newsletter report on the website, but it still needs to be sent out to members.
    • Tiffany will touch base with Jeremy on his potential end date for being editor.
    • Jon Hanna was wondering whether we wanted to change the format of the newsletter. Tiffany and Jessica believe it is good the way it is and no one objected.
  • Membership report (Jessica)
    • AZTWS members are receiving emails regarding auto renewal, but dates aren’t aligning well.
    • Our new system should track individuals separately.
    • We can update the new system with members that go through the national system.
  • Webmaster report (Clarissa)
    • Nothing new to report.
  • Opportunities report (Callie – not on call)
    • Nothing new to report
  • Conservation Affairs (Jon)
    • Not on call.
  • Borderlands Foundation for Understudied Plants and Animals (Kay)
    • Nothing new to report
  • Student Liasion report (Holly)
    • Nothing new to report
  • Outreach, engagement, and diversity
    • Fall mixer (Audrey) – Audrey and Melissa will continue to work on this.
    • Diversity (Jessica) – Jessica started a word file in google docs for potential actionable items. These items came from the TWS working group, Conservation Biology, and other various groups. Some actionable items include a code of conduct, an Instagram account, and ways to represent underrepresented groups. We will keep this as a working document and will discuss more at the next meeting.
    • Youth Engagement (Andrew) – question on whether we ever got back in touch with Katie McColgin (who won a day in the field with a biologist at the 2018 SASSEF) – Melissa was under the impression that she was sent a list of opportunities, but we were still looking at more options. Melissa will get in touch with Nicole on bat monitoring. Clarissa will follow up with Katie on the list.

4:14 Meeting adjourned