The following Directors were present:
Cheryl Jones
David Jagnow
Linda Baker Devine
Doug Medville
Martha Hendrix
Gary Moss
Bill Liebman
Bill Tozer
Hazel Barton
Philip Moss
Dave Taylor.
The following Proxies were present:
Don Conover for Colin Gatland
Dave Irving for Paul Stevens.
The following Officers were present:
Scott Fee, President
Don Paquette, Executive Vice President
Tom Lera, Administrative Vice President.
Jagnow moves: The minutes of the March 15, 2003, Board of Governors Meeting be approved as published.
Second: Liebman
For: Unanimous
Motion passes.
2. Officer’s Reports:
President (PRES) Updates included Fund Raising report for Great Ex purchase, including Dick Blenz' challenge grant of $5,000 if a matching $5,000 can be raised during the convention. Also, the Library Development Commission has presented a report and proposal, as directed by the Board. Information is available to make plans for the Fall 2003 meeting in Gainesville, Florida. The details of the Spring 2004 meeting were distributed to the Board.
B. Executive Vice President (EVP) Updates include successful printing and distribution of American Caving Accidents, and the Members Manual. Under Special Publications, the CD with the PDF version of the Exley book has been sent to the authors for final review. It will likely go to the printer by the end of August. The Cave Conservation Manual and On Camera are also progressing. Dave McClurg has announced his intention to step down as head of the Special Publications Committee. A detailed job description is being reviewed, and there has been some expression of interest, even before the announcement of the position vacancy. The Cave Diving Section will be asked to complete the details of the award process for the Gomez Fund.
C. Administrative Vice President (AVP) Updates include the Potter land donation, details of issues concerning the Barton Hill Karst Preserve, the expectation that the Mammoth Cave Restoration Grant will be renewed, and the announcement that new leaders are being sought for this project, with the resignation of the current co-chairs. Jim Werker provided a brief update on the Oregon Cave project, and Carol Tiderman reported that there is a possible site for a bail out Convention for 2005 if needed, but only tentative interest in 2006 and 2007. Size and cost containment seem to be issues. This may be a topic of interest for the open BOG Breakfast on Thursday morning. Pat Kambesis has replaced David Brace as a member of the Cave and Karst Acquisition Committee.
D. Operations Vice President (OVP) Updates include an interim IT chair, a new part time staff person in the office, planned repairs of a leak in the roof of the Smith house, and plans for the NSS Bookstore online, and with a 4 page insert in a future issue of the News.
E. Secretary-Treasurer (S-T) There was no paper report, since most of the information from the Secretary-Treasurer is posted on the NSS Web site. The books have been closed for the Operating fund for fiscal year 2002/2003, with final reports needed from the other funds. Bookstore sales were disappointing, but there does appear to be a surplus, due to committee expenses coming in below budget. Although there is now insurance coverage, it is not as complete as desired. There is still no insurance for NCRC, and the Convention insurance does not cover athletic competition. There is a potential problem with automatic deposits of grants from the Federal government, as there is no warning and very little detail with the deposit.
A. Nominating Committee
Vote count was as follows:
Hazel Barton 1068
Jay Clark 707
John LaMar Cole 668
John Evans 439
Martha Hendrix 890
Jay Kennedy 607
Joe Levinson 329
Doug Medville 1068
Philip Moss 877
Garry Petrie 600
Cady Soukup 322
Bern Szukalski 373All candidates have been notified; notification of the membership will be via an article submitted for publication in the September NSS News.
B. 2003 NSS National Convention (California)
Attendance was at 903 as of 8:30 this morning.
C. 2004 NSS National Convention (Michigan)
Jean DeVries reported good progress with plans at the University; registration forms are available at the NSS bookstore and the Web site and on-line registration should be up and running by September 1.
D. Oregon Caves Project
Jim Werker reported on progress in rerouting some of the trails.
Lera moves: Roberta K. Serface NSS #36757 PO Box 807, Clarkdale, AZ 86324, 928-634-7295 (home), 928-649-4276 (work) ozrob22@hotmail.com (email) is confirmed as Chairman of the TV/Video Production Committee, Education Division, in the Department of the Administrative Vice President.
Second: Paquette
For: Rest
Against: P. Moss
Abstain: Liebman, Taylor
Motion passes
Fee moves: Mike Hood, (NSS #24166) 4668 Airway Rd, Riverside, OH 45431-1368, 937-252-2978 (home), mhood@caves.org (email) is confirmed as Chairman of the Board Arrangements Committee in the Department of the President.
Second: Baker
For: All
Motion passes.
Lera moves: Paula Grgich (NSS#48366) 41 R Boundary St. Pittsburgh, PA 15213, 412-621-1936 (home), pagrgich@stargate.net (email) is confirmed as Chairman of the Education Grants and Scholarships Committee, Education Division, in the Department of the Administrative Vice President.
Second: Liebman
For: Rest
Against: none
Abstain: Taylor
Motion passes
Fee moves: Dave Luckins, (NSS #14010) 3683 Oakleaf Drive, West Bloomfield, MI 48324-2454, deluckins@aol.com (email) is confirmed as Chairman of the Planning Committee in the Department of the President.
Second: P. Moss
For: All
Motion passes
Gatland moves: Debra Young, (NSS #44886) 551 Homestead Ave NE Palm Bay, FL 32907 e-mail: suzyoung@bellsouth.net Phone: 321-984-0228 is confirmed as Chairman of the Market Analysis Committee in the Department of the Operations Vice President.
Second: Tozer
For: All
Motion passes
Stevens moves: The Web Site Restricted Fund is established to pay expenses associated with the operation, maintenance and improvement of the NSS Web Site. Income generated by the Web Site, not attributable to any other committee, shall accrue directly to the Web Site account. At the end of the fiscal year, any unexpended Web Site income shall be transferred to this fund. The chairman of the Information Technology Committee, with the approval of the NSS Operations Vice President, may spend these funds.
Second: Jones
For: Rest
Against: Lera
Abstain: P. Moss, Hendrix
Motion passes
6a) NSS Operating Budget (03/04)
Stevens moves to amend the FY03/04 NSS Operating Budget as follows:
(Taylor seconded, and then asked that the motion be split to three separate votes.)
1) Increase the budget for the NSS General Liability Policy from $16,000 to <$25,450> <<$27,100>> which includes $5,000 for convention liability insurance, <<$1,580 for convention liability insurance>> and $5,000 for NSS office fire insurance.<<Increase the income from convention for insurance from $1,500 to $3,000.>>
Irving moves to amend, substituting $27,100 for $25,450 and inserting "$1,580 for convention medical insurance" after "convention liability insurance."
Jones seconds
motion to amend passes unanimously.
Irving moves to amend, adding a new last sentence: "Increase the income from Convention for insurance from $1,500 to $3,000."
P. Moss seconds
motion to amend passes unanimously.
The amended motion 6a) 1 passes unanimously.
2) Reduce the Awards Committee budget by $1,200 to reflect the Honorary and Outstanding Life award recipients.
Motion 6a) 2 passes unanimously
3) Reduce the transfer to the Endowment Fund from $3,000 to $0.
For: Jones, Medville, Conover, Irving, Paquette, Klimack
Against: Jagnow, Devine, Hendrix, G. Moss, Lera, Liebman, Tozer,
Barton, P. Moss, Taylor
Motion 6a) 3 fails
6b) NSS Operating Budget (03/04): NRO Insurance
Stevens moves: The NSS shall pay $800 of the $1,000 total which was paid to provide liability insurance for the Spring 2003 Northeastern Region meeting.
Second: Barton
For: All
Motion passes
Stevens moves: The NSS IT Committee FY03/04 operating budget is increased from $1,000 to $1,500 to establish a separate NT Windows-based "NSSpub" server for the NSS On-Line Library.
Second: Barton
For: All
Motion passes
Jones moves: Board Act 43-380 (Fellowships) is amended to read:
The Board of Governors shall annually select Fellows of the Society. << Selection should be made from the list of nominees submitted by the Awards Committee.>> Recipients will be those members who, over a number of years, have exemplified by their actions their dedication to the goals of the Society or the Society itself. Recipients must have been members in good standing of the Society for at least two years immediately prior to being awarded fellowships. The Awards Committee shall solicit nominations for fellowships from the membership through the NSS News, NSS Web site, and other reasonable electronic avenues. The Awards Committee shall provide a list of these candidates to the Board of Governors <in December> <<by January>>, and again a month prior to the Spring Board meeting indicating those the Committee recommends receive fellowships. The names of the current year's Fellows shall be announced at the annual convention, and they will be given an appropriate certificate, signed by the President and the Chairman of the Awards Committee. The processes established by the Awards Committee to solicit candidates and determine their list of suggested fellowship recipients shall be included in the Appendix of the Board of Governors Manual.
Second: Irving
Tozer moves to amend, inserting "from the list of nominees submitted by the Awards Committee" at the end of the first sentence, and "Section 6 - Awards" in place of "the Appendix" in the last sentence. P. Moss seconds, and Irving askes to have the motion split to consider the two changes separately.
7a - Devine moves to amend, ending the first sentence at "Fellows of the Society" and inserting "Selection should be made" before Tozer's language. Medville seconds.
For: rest
Against: Conover, Paquette, Lera, Liebman, Tozer, P. Moss.
Devine's motion to amend 7a passes.
Vote on amended 7a:
For: rest
Against: Tozer, Irving, Conover
Amendment 7a passes, as amended.
7b ("Section 6- Awards" instead of "The Appendix") P. Moss seconds;
Vote on amendment 7b:
For: Jagnow, Conover, Paquette, Lera, Liebman, Tozer.
Against: rest
Amendment 7b fails.
Irving moves to amend by changing "in December" to
"by January"
Jones seconds
motion to amend passes unanimously.
Vote on original motion, as amended:
For: All
Motion passes, as amended
Lera moves: The NSS grant $5,000 from the Cave Acquisition Fund to the Cave Conservancy of Hawaii for the purchase of Kula Kai Estates Subdivision, LOT #63 overlying Kipuka Kanohina Cave.
Second: Jagnow
For: All
Motion passes
Fee moves: The Membership Committee is established in the office of the President. The Membership Committee will create and implement effective membership recruitment and renewal strategies and programs that will include, but are not limited to the following: developing programs to effectively reach out to non-member cavers; monitoring and evaluating membership figures; following up on requests by non-members for more information about the Society and caving; following up with members who do not to renew to develop strategies for increasing the renewal rate; developing audiovisual programs for grottos on the NSS and the benefits of membership; maintaining an informative NSS web page for prospective members; and ensuring the quality and content of NSS membership brochures, applications, renewal forms, and new member information packets.
Second: Klimack
For: All
Motion passes
At 12:33 P.M. President Fee declared a recess for lunch and the closed meetings of the Board and the Directorate.
The continuation of the 194th regular meeting of the NSS Board of Governors was called to order by President Fee at 9:05 A.M. on August 8, 2003, at Porterville, California. Kathy Welling was present as Acting Recording Secretary.
The following Directors were present:
Cheryl Jones
David Jagnow
Linda Baker Devine
Doug Medville
Martha Hendrix
Gary Moss
Bill Liebman
Bill Tozer
Philip Moss
Dave Taylor.
The following Proxies were present:
Tom Rea for Colin Gatland
Dave Irving for Paul Stevens.
The following Officers were present:
Scott Fee, President
Don Paquette, Executive Vice President
Tom Lera, Administrative Vice President.
The Board had no actions to report
The Agenda was suspended for a report from the 2003 Convention
Committee:
The Convention '03 Committee reported an estimated attendance of
904.
The Directorate elected Bill Tozer as Chairman of the Directorate, Don Paquette as Executive Vice President, Tom Lera as Administrative Vice President, and Colin Gatland as Operations Vice President.
Items 15 (Congress of Grottos) and 16 (Friends of the Library) on the agenda were presented in reverse order.
(Barton arrived at the beginning of this presentation)
Pat Kambesis presented a petition with approximately 350 names, requesting that the NSS Library remain in Huntsville.
Bill Jackson presented the report of the Congress of Grottos. Two motions were passed by the Congress. The first requires no action by the NSS Board, being a motion to clean up internal rules of the Congress. The second was a motion by the Ohio Valley Region, seconded by Hawaii, "that the primary collection of the NSS Library should remain in Huntsville, under the direct control of the NSS. Duplicate copies of bound books and NSS publications may be loaned to the National Cave and Karst Research Institute but remain the property of the Society." This motion passed by an overwhelming majority. Bill Jackson was re-elected Chairman, and Don Shofstall was re-elected Vice Chairman of the Congress.
Stevens moves: An "earth friendly" fire suppressant system (similar to halon) be installed in the NSS office and library building. The OVP is authorized to spend up to $55,000 from the Headquarters Fund for this purpose.
Second: P. Moss
Tozer moves to refer to the President for further study, overall assessment, and long range planning.
Liebman seconds.
(Taylor left the meeting)
For: All
Motion to refer passes.
(Taylor returned to the meeting)
Fee moves: The NSS shall bid to host the 2009 International Congress of Speleology. The President shall establish the necessary ad hoc committee to prepare the bid and plan for the event.
Second: Medville
For: All
Motion passes
Paquette moves: The first sentence of Act 43-378 (Research Grants) is amended as follows:
Pursuant to the agreement with the National Speleological Foundation, an annual grant, known as the Ralph W. Stone Research Grant, consisting of <<an amount specified in the budget each year,>> <$1,700.00> will be given to a graduate student preparing a thesis on a speleological subject. [No changes to subsequent sentences.]
Second: Jagnow
For: All
Motion passes.
(G. Moss and Barton left the meeting)
Lera moves: Appendix L (Cave and Karst Acquisition and Grant Policy) is amended to read:
See Attachment One
Second: P. Moss
For: All
Motion passes.
Fee moves: The Awards Committee is established in the Department of the President and is responsible for administering the NSS award programs as provided in other Acts and Bylaws.
Second: Paquette
For: Rest
Against: Irving
Motion passes
Items 22 (Recess) and 23 (Report of the Closed Session of the Board) were suspended
24) Policy for Conduct of NSS Elections
P. Moss moves: Appendix X (Policy for Conduct of NSS Elections), Paragraph 11 is amended as follows:
11. Final election results shall be announced first to the candidates, then to the Board of Governors, and subsequently to the Society membership. << The candidates and the Board of Governors will be informed of the election results no less than 40 days preceding the current year NSS National Convention.>>
Second: Taylor
For: All
Motion passes
25) Fall 2005 NSS Board Meeting Proposal
Fee moves: Helderberg-Hudson Grotto's bid to host the Fall 2005 Board of Governors meeting in Albany, NY, is accepted. The meeting will be held on the weekend following the National Cave and Karst Management Symposium.
Contact Information: Ed Lucas, Helderberg Hudson Grotto, 12 Ray Street, Niskayuna, NY 12309, edlucas@juno.com, 518-377-6359 (home), 518-457-4590 (desk)
Second: Liebman
For: All
Motion passes
Lera moves: The following individuals are appointed to the NCRC Board of Regional Coordinators:
Central Region Coordinator (2003-2006):
Anmar Mirza, (NSS 45765 RE)
3430 Huron-Williams Road
Williams IN 47470-9697
812-388-6917
email sseg@kiva.net
(incumbent)
Eastern Region Coordinator (2003-2006):
Doug Moore, (NSS 33064 RL)
PO Box 555
Shinnston WV 26431-0555
304-592-2610
email dmoore@arches.ega.edu
(new)
Pacific Northwest Region Coordinator (2003-2006):
John Punches, (NSS 39211 RE)
633 W Hazel St
Roseburg OR 97470-2416
541-957-5461
email John.Punches@oregonstate.edu
(incumbent)
Cave Diving Officer (2003-2005):
Ken Hill, (NSS 44262 RE)
2826 Shoal Creek Dr
Lakeland FL 33803
941-686-8285
email kenhill@tampabay.rr.com
(new)
(Medville left the meeting)
Second: P. Moss
For: All
Motion passes
Lera moves: Anmar Mirza, (NSS 45765 RE) 3430 Huron-Williams Road, Williams IN 47470-9697, 812-388-6917, email sseg@kiva.net, is confirmed as Chairman of the Safety and Techniques Committee, Education Division, Department of the Administrative Vice President.
(Medville returned to the meeting, P. Moss left the meeting)
Second: Rea
For: All
Motion passes
Paquettte moves: to change the print quantity of The Taming of the Slough from 3,000 to 2,000 copies.
Second: Irving
(P. Moss returned to the meeting)
For: none
Against: Rest
Abstain: Rea, Taylor
Motion fails
Fee moves: An open discussion is held for a period of time not to exceed 45 minutes.
Second: P. Moss
For: All
Motion passes.
The Open Discussion period began at 10:30.
Topics discussed included:
Sentiment was expressed that the International Congress should not be a part of the annual Convention.
The need to protect the rare books in the NSS Library was stressed, and the lack of action to date in this area noted.
The Nominating Committee should be given further instructions as to the need for timing the elections to allow for adequate notice to new directors to arrange for transportation and time off if they were not planning to attend the Convention.
There was discussion of the Oregon cave issues.
There was a discussion of the language regarding "right of first refusal" in the Appendix L checklist.
The Cave Diving Section welcomes the Board of Governors to the Fall meeting in Florida.
There was further discussion of the issues surrounding the NSS Library
The Open Discussion period was ended at 11:10.
29A) Building Integrity
Lera moves: The Operations Vice President is authorized to spend up to $2,500 from the Headquarters Fund to study the integrity of the office and library building, which includes fire and safety needs, electrical, mechanical, and structural integrity issues.
Second: G. Moss
For: All
Motion passes.
(The agenda then returned to Item 22 - Recess, and closed session of the Board)
President Fee declared a recess at 11:15 A.M. for the closed meeting of the Board.
President Fee reconvened the meeting at 1:20 P.M.
The Board had no actions to report.
Fee moves: The Board of Governors expresses its appreciation to the 2003 NSS National Convention Staff for hosting our meeting and providing excellent meeting arrangements.
Second: Klimack
For: All
Motion passes
29) Adjournment:
Barton moves: The meeting is adjourned.
Second: Taylor
For: All
Motion passes
The meeting was adjourned at 1:25 P.M.