June 20, 2003
TO: Committee on Committees (COC)
FROM: Peter G. Gray
RE: Minutes of Annual
Meeting
Salt Lake City, Utah
May 12, 2003
The annual meeting of the Committee on Committees (COC) was held at the Grand America Hotel on Monday, May 12, 2003. Committee Chair Pete Gray called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.
Attending were 17 members, including George Bole, Dave Campbell, Brian Cardott, Ed Dolly, Pete Gray, Ed Heath, John Hogg, Don Lewis, Bob Lindblom, Clint Moore, Bill Morgan, Mike Party, Deborah Sacrey, Valary Schulz, Ray Thomasson, Art Van Tyne, and Mark Wilson. Also attending were President-Elect Steve Sonnenberg and Tom Chidsey, Chair of the AAPG Convention Coordination Committee. Following member introductions, the agenda subjects noted below were discussed.
Ten COC members (Campbell, Gray, Gries, Lewis, Lindblom, Moore, Pratt, Sacrey, Schulz, and Thomasson) were able to attend the conference, which was held February 21-23 at the Williams Learning Center in Tulsa. The opening seminar, which covered association management, and the five mini-summits were discussed briefly. The location site and its Sunday weather problems were also mentioned. The highlights of the conference can be found on the AAPG web page under Meetings.
The COC was brought up-to date by Gray on the organization of each Standing Committee for the upcoming year. Representatives from AAPG, who are liaisons to various organizations such as the American Geological Institute, were also discussed. The COC Chair had contacted all other Chairs and Representatives by E-mail during the month of April. Based on three-year terms that expire on June 30, 2003, three committee chairs will have to be replaced by incoming President Steve Sonnenberg. These are: (1) Computer Applications & Internet (Bret Fossum), (2) Membership (Bob Countryman), and (3) Visiting Geologists (Pat Gratton). In addition, three other chairs, whose terms were originally scheduled to expire in either 2004 or 2005, will also have to be replaced. These are: 1) AAPG/OTC Technology (Katrina Coterill), 2) Astrogeology (Jan Cannon), and 3) Grants-in-Aid (George Grover). As of the meeting date, several committee chairs had not responded to the E-mail so it is possible that there may be other changes. In addition, seven of the eight AAPG Representatives will have to be either replaced or re-appointed by the incoming President.
President Dan Smith has already replaced the representative to the AAPG/OTC Board of Directors, W. E. Schollnberger, whose term expired on May 8, 2003. The COC Chair will continue working on this project and will be in contact with COC liaison members if necessary.
In addition to the above comments, some of the other items discussed about committees were:
- Committee Chair Meeting: It has been suggested that the Leadership Conference might be the proper place for a meeting of all of the standing committee chairs and vice-chairs, as well as COC liaison members, who are attending the Conference. The purpose of the meeting would be to cover the committee guidelines, etc., so that all chairs, et al would be better informed about their duties. The COC Chair will coordinate with Rick Fritz and Steve Sonnenberg and determine if this can be arranged for the 2004 Conference.
- Continuing Improvements: These included a) rotation of members after three year terms; b) a request for a mid-year report; c) replacement of any chair who does not submit an annual report by June 30; d) update and send Guidelines to all chairs and vice-chairs (see below); e) add more members to all committees as required; f) have liaisons check to be sure each committee updates its web page.
- Committee Guidelines: It is now time to review and update the Guidelines. The last issue is dated July 31, 2000. Some of the possible changes are a) request that committee chairs either follow or revise their mission statement; b) committees cannot spend AAPG dollars and they do not have authority on AAPG matters; c) set a schedule to call committee chairs asking for their mid-year reports and incorporate all into the annual committee reports; d) include rules re outside associations roles on joint committees such as geophysical liaison; e) have AAPG include all vice-chairs when it sends updated guidelines to each committee chair.
There were questions raised about what our committee should be doing. Some of our newer members are not sure about their duties. There is a need for AAPG Headquarters to send data on each committee, including its mission statement, current member list, etc., to that committee’s COC liaison. Although our committee added five new members during the past year and now has at least one member from each section as well as from several of the international regions it was suggested that we might benefit by enlarging the committee. Other proposals were 1) our mission statement should be changed to include new responsibilities; 2) the COC make recommendations for the Leadership Conference format; and 3) possibly have a mid-year meeting.
As discussed under Committee Improvements, it is time to review and update the Committee Guidelines. Our former chair, George Bole, has volunteered to take on this project.
Tom Chidsey, Chair of the AAPG Convention Coordination Committee, joined the meeting. He brought the COC up-to-date on the current convention and made comments about a number of items concerning conventions. Several other committees were discussed briefly and available committee reports from liaison members were submitted to the COC Chair.
The meeting was adjourned by the Chair at 4:30 p.m.