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New Orleans meeting agenda set

HoD to Consider Seven Bylaws Proposals

By STEPHEN A. SONNENBERG, Chairman, House of Delegates

The annual meeting of the AAPG House of Delegates (HoD) will be held on Sunday morning, April 11, at the start of the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in New Orleans.

Expected in attendance are around 250 people, including delegates, past presidents, past chairmen of the HoD, AAPG officer candidates and invited guests.

The HoD will be conducting important legislation and will hear a variety of Association reports. The meeting will be run using Robert’s Rules of Order; Mary Bahde (professional parliamentarian from Denver) will act as parliamentarian and advise the chairman about parliamentary issues.

The meeting’s agenda will include: VIP introductions; campaign speeches by the AAPG president-elect candidates (Ernie Mancini and Paul Weimer); reports from the Association (President John Lorenz; Executive Director Rick Fritz; Treasurer Kay Pitts; Publications, Gretchen Gillis) and AAPG Foundation (Bill Fisher); reports from the Division presidents (DPA, Paul Britt; EMD, Frank Walles; and DEG, Michael Jacobs); and HoD Committee reports and proposed legislation. I have reorganized the traditional agenda, which should “stream-line” the meeting.

The HoD committee reports include reports from all of our committees (Credentials, Minutes Approval, Honors and Awards, Rules and Procedures, Constitution and Bylaws, Nominations and Elections, Resolutions, and Newsletter).

• The Credentials Committee, chaired by Randy Ray, will check-in all delegates and have them seated in the voting section. Guests will be seated in a non-voting area. HoD officer candidates serve as members of the credentials committee.
• The Minutes Approval Committee is chaired by Laura Zahm, HoD secretary/editor. Laura will seek approval of the past-year meeting minutes, which already have been vetted and approved by the HoD officers.
• The 2010 Honors and Awards Committee, chaired by Mike Party, made the following recommendations for HoD Awards: Honorary Member of the House, Marty Hewitt; Distinguished Member of the House, Don Clarke and Bob Lindblom; and House Long Service Award, Paul Britt, Jeanne Harris and Susan Landon. These awardees were approved by the HoD officers. Congratulations to all the awardees.

In addition, certificates of service awards for nine and 15 years of HoD service were issued to 17 and 25 people, respectively. I want to thank all the awardees for their long service to the HoD.

• The 2010 Rules and Procedures Committee, chaired by Maurice Birdwell, reviewed the Rules and Procedures, considered some items but will not be recommending any changes.
• The HoD Constitution and Bylaws Committee had a busy year (as usual) and worked on several issues. Committee chair John Hogg will review the proposed legislation for the HoD meeting. Global corporate structure was discussed at length and the decision of the committee was that it was not necessary at this time. This is an issue that will be revisited in a few years.

All of the proposed bylaws changes have been vetted and approved by the HoD officers and AAPG legal counsel. The proposed bylaw changes have been published on the AAPG Web site and also submitted to the AAPG Executive Committee and Advisory Council for consideration and comments.

Proposed amendments to the AAPG Bylaws are:

1. Article II, Section 3, to eliminate a reference to a date that is no longer necessary.
2. Article II, Section 10, to eliminate a reference to a date that is no longer necessary.
3. Article II, Section 11, to eliminate a reference to a date that is no longer necessary.
4. Article IV, Section 3, to provide for appointment of delegates from U.S. Affiliated societies if such delegates are not elected prior to 60 days before the annual meeting of the House of Delegates.
5. Article V, Section 1 and Section 6, to provide for the Advisory Council to recommend recipients of honors and awards when directed to do so by the Executive Committee.
6. Article VIII, Section 1 and Section 2, to provide for standing committee co-chairmen and committee managers, and to limit the terms of committee vice chairmen.
7. Article VIII, to add a new Section 4 to the Bylaws to limit the terms of AAPG representatives to non-AAPG committees.

Several of the bylaw changes are in the category I call “house-keeping” (minor language changes, items 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6). We have received some feed back on the proposal for Article V, Section 1 and Section 6, which may result in minor modifications to the motion.

There also are some new bylaws proposed under above items 4 and 7. Under the section on selection of U.S. Society delegates (item 4), new language has been added that enables the Section presidents to appoint delegates to three-year terms when affiliated societies have not conducted elections. This change is being made to eliminate the chronic lack of delegate representation from delinquent Affiliated societies.

New language under the “Representatives to Non-Association Committees” (item 7) is being added that essentially limits how long someone can serve on an outside committee. This is being done to encourage more membership participation on these outside committees.

I encourage AAPG HoD members to review and be prepared to vote on the proposed changes. The HoD officers approved and are recommending all the proposed bylaw changes to the House.

• The HoD Nominations and Elections Committee will present recommendations for the new House officers. The committee, chaired by Larry Wickstrom, is recommending Peter Lloyd and Jeff Lund as candidates for HoD chairman-elect, and H.W. Peace and Patrick Gooding for the HoD secretary-editor position. Before nominations close, I also will see if there are additional nominations from the floor. The results of the election will be announced at the end of the HoD meeting.
• Two societies have petitioned AAPG for affiliation status: Balochistan Geoscientists Association (GGSA) and Atlantic Geoscience Society (AGS). The BGSA is from Pakistan and AGS is a Canadian organization. These applications have been reviewed by AAPG legal counsel and the AAPG Executive Committee. The Resolutions Committee, chaired by Sandi Barber, will recommend to the House affiliation with these groups.
• The Newsletter Committee (i.e., Delegates Voice) chaired by Laura Zahm initiated electronic distribution of the Delegates Voice and also increased the distribution by sending it to all AAPG Active members. I want to commend Laura for doing an outstanding job!

The agenda for the 2010 House meeting is comprehensive. I ask all HoD members to come prepared to discuss and vote on items. We also have an opportunity to bring up new business that may affect the House meeting that will be chaired by David Hawk in 2011 (Houston).

My duties this year as the HoD Chairman include being on the AAPG Executive Committee, attending Section and the International meetings. This year’s AAPG Executive Committee has been busy and worked on many issues (and we won’t be done until June 30). I want to commend John Lorenz, AAPG president, for his outstanding leadership and guidance.

I am looking forward to the House of Delegates meeting in New Orleans. The agenda is full, but I am hopeful that the meeting will conclude around noon!