AZTWS Board Meeting
Meeting Minutes – Final
June 26, 2017
3:00–4:15 pm
Attendees: Kay Nicholson (President), Tiffany Sprague (President-Elect), Scott Sprague (Past President), Andrew Jones (Treasurer), Jon Hanna (Conservation Affairs), David E. Brown. Audrey Owens (Board Member), Holly Hicks (Board Member), Jessica Moreno (Corresponding Secretary)
Board Members Absent: Melanie Tluczek (Recording Secretary)
Action Items:
- Tiffany to create bylaw wording for board member removal
- Andrew to look into transferring Capitol One account to Chase account.
- Holly to write an article about the techniques workshop for summer newsletter
- Scott to review revised sections of JAM manual to determine what revisions are still needed; incorporate existing revisions into manual.
- Kay will talk to Jessica about sending out the Survey Monkey continuing education survey to chapter members.
- Jessica to send email to membership with link for the continuing education survey.
- Jessica will send password spreadsheet to Kay.
- Jonathan Hicks to arrange memorial in JAM program for the late founder Cory Gray of Coda Net Guns.
- Tiffany to coordinate TWS activities for public lands day.
- Melanie to send Jessica, Callie (AZTWS calendar) time and date of study skin class for announcements on the website and social media.
- Melanie to research the pros and cons of BISCUA being a project of the AZTWS chapter versus AZTWS being a fiscal sponsor.
- Kay will write up announcement about travel grant award availability for travel to national TWS conference and send to Holly for student chapters and to Jessica for the Facebook page.
- Kay will email Heather Bateman to let her know that the Board approved her request of $265 for the Quiz Bowl buzzers.
- Jon will send Kay a link about the national monuments review so that AZTWS membership can sign a group petition; Kay to send out to membership. Kay will check with Jessica about her availability to write a letter on public lands/national monuments.
- Jessica and Melanie will get more information on legalities and risk of AZTWS serving as fiscal sponsor of BISCUA.
Motions:
- Tiffany motioned to approve the revised May board meeting minutes, Andrew seconded. All voted in favor.
- Holly motioned to approve the request for $265 from each chapter for the new Quiz Bowl buzzers, Audrey seconded. All voted in favor.
- Andrew motioned to adjourn. Tiffany seconded. All voted in favor.
Proceedings:
Approval of May 22, 2017 Board Meeting Minutes
- Tiffany moved to approve the revised minutes, Andrew seconded. All voted in favor.
Housekeeping
- None
Old Business
- Corresponding secretary is in charge of email account.
- Study skin class will be September 15 from 8:30am – 5:00pm. The announcement should be sent out soon to make sure we generate interest.
- Fun Shoot is on hold.
Current Business
1. Treasurer’s Report (Andrew)
a. Paid $400 for student travel grant to Embry Riddle student group
b. Paid $500 for student travel grant to U of A student group
c. Paid $250 to National to support the National meeting
d. Paid $500 to National as part of the ‘support a student’ drive to fund travel grants for students to travel to the national meeting. $175 of this was donated through PayPal by AZTWS members, with the remaining covered by the chapter.
2. Newsletter Report (Tiffany)
a. Tiffany will start working on the summer newsletter this week.
3. Membership Report (Chris)
a. He will follow up with Dean regarding the outdated “new member” letter that is automatically sent when somebody new joins the chapter
4. Webmaster’s Report (Dean) (not present)
a. Nothing reported.
5. Opportunities Report (Callie) (not present)
a. Nothing reported.
6. Student Liaison Report (Holly)
a. Nothing reported
7. Conservation Affairs (Jon)
a. A few requests on specific conservation issues have come in for board review; it will be important for our chapter to stay active with these.
8. Continuing Education (Stan) (not present)
a. Andrew reported that Stan said a few students are interested in going to the national meeting and compete in the quiz bowl and would like the chapter to assist with funds through Continuing Education.
b. Discussion about deadline for grant application and sending out notification to students about award availability (before the JAM) and timelines for submission and application review. Kay will write up announcement about travel grant award availability for travel to national TWS conference and send to Holly for student chapters and to Jessica for the Facebook page. The deadline for submission would be July 10. Board will make decisions by end of July, and will be based on merit of application, and how many applications we receive.
c. Kay will talk to Jessica about sending out the Survey Monkey continuing education survey to chapter members.
9. JAM 2018 (Kay)
a. Start in August with full group of JAM planners, at which point we can decide whether we separate out JAM planning sessions and regular board meetings.
b. Location – Flagstaff
- Looking for an update from Carol when she gets back next week.
c. Plenary Ideas (Activist for Wildlife)
- Include discussion of State and Federal Employee dos and don’ts
- Suggested speakers/topics:
- Congressman Andy Biggs – he can’t commit till he sees the 2018 congressional calendar (January); Jon requested someone from his staff fill in in his stead (pending)
- Raul Grijalva – Jon just sent him official request this week
- Sharon Buccino land and Wildlife Program National Resource Defense Council – confirmed.
- Center for Western Priorities to discuss advocacy (pending)
- Discussion – Jon Hanna to moderate
- Quiz Bowl buzzers: We received a request to provide $265 from each chapter to support purchasing buzzers for Quiz Bowl. Holly motioned to approve the request, Audrey seconded. All were in favor.
10. Fun Shoot (Kay)
a. Postponed the event until late summer or early fall when there’s more time to get the word out to students before the event.
11. National Monument review (Tiffany)
a. Several of Arizona’s monuments will likely be reduced in size per Trump’s request that Sec. Zinke review specific monument designations.
b. How should Chapter be involved in this for the protection of contiguous wildlife habitat? Chapter letter, or request to members to respond to petition via a link sent out to emails. Scott: there is a substantial amount of weight in a letter from an organization like ours, which is not political, even if it’s brief. Jon: we should also send our letter to National and request that they also respond on a national level. The deadline is July 10. Jon will send a link to Kay who will send it out to membership. Kay will check with Jessica about her availability to write a letter.
12. Borderlands Institute Study and Conservation of Under Studied Animals (Melanie Tluczek – not present)
a. Discussion about whether or not AZTWS should be the fiscal sponsors for BISCUA (i.e. BISCUA would be a subgroup under our chapter, and would pay us to administer their money, etc). As a subgroup, they would have to adhere to our policies and statements, and we would have to report their income as our income for tax purposes. It would be a burden on our Treasurer, as that position would have to keep their books. Jon suggested that since could be a major change to our chapter, maybe it could be proposed at the JAM. Kay agreed, and said that Dave was interested in giving a presentation at the business meeting at the national meeting, or at the JAM. Kay said that this wouldn’t be finalized before the JAM, and there would be a discussion on it at the JAM. Maybe a university or nonprofit would be a better fit since we are a volunteer organization. Dave would like to discuss with the chapter board in August. Jessica and Melanie will get more information on legalities and risk. Conversation was tabled until next meeting when we have more details on how it would work, why they want to use us, and what the pros and cons are of doing this.
New Business
- None.
Good of the Order/Other
- None
Adjournment
- Andrew motioned to adjourn. Tiffany seconded. All were in favor.