Southeastern Fishes Council
SFC Meeting Minutes
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Business Meeting
30th Annual Meeting (2004)
Southeastern Fishes Council
The 2004 meeting of the Southeastern Fishes Council was called to order by chairperson Hank Bart at 5:05 p.m. on 28 May 2004. The meeting was held at the National Center for Employee Development (NCED) in Norman, Oklahoma in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH). Twenty-five people attended the meeting, including four members of the Executive Committee (Hank Bart-Chair-Elect, Kyle Piller-Treasurer, Frank Pezold-managing editor, and Brett Albanese-Secretary).
Chairperson Bart noted that SFC will meet with ASIH during 2005 (Tampa) and 2006 (New Orleans). This bodes very well for the SFC because of the potential for increased attendance.
Chairperson Bart announced that Business Meeting minutes will be posted and approved electronically from this day forward. Members will have one month from the date of posting to notify the secretary of any corrections. If no one comments on the minutes during that time period, then the minutes will be considered approved as written.
SECRETARY'S REPORT
Minutes from the 2003 SFC Meeting were distributed by Brett Albanese for review and were then approved by the membership.
Brett thanked all members who participated in the electronic adoption of the Key Cave Resolution. However, he noted that only 20 people participated (out of approximately 90 active members), which is the minimum number necessary to conduct society business. Thus, he encouraged all members to participate in the future and promised to give members as much time as possible to consider resolutions.
Brett also asked for electronic copies of past resolutions that are not currently posted on the website.
TREASURER'S REPORT
The treasurer's report was distributed for review and officially accepted by the membership.
Kyle Piller reported that the SFC's Paine Weber investment was recently closed due to inactivity, which prevented us from losing $75.00 in fees. The remaining balance from the account was deposited into the SFC checking account. Kyle reported that we currently have 93 members that are paid through 2004. Finally, Kyle indicated that our total checking account balance exceeds $10,000, which is far more than needed for SFC's regular operating expenses.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Nominating Committee
No report.
Editorial Committee
Frank Pezold reported that the number of submissions to the Proceedings is still disappointingly low. Despite this, one manuscript is currently in review and another one has just been submitted. Frank expects that 2 issues of the Proceedings will be published this year.
In an effort to increase recognition of the Proceedings and to archive important information that is poorly represented in our nations' libraries, Mel Warren suggested that all issues of the Proceedings be posted on the website as searchable PDF documents. The membership agreed with this idea and approved a motion to post all future and past issues electronically. It was agreed that the editorial committee would be tasked with this project. Carol Johnston noted that someone at Auburn might be able to scan the SFC issues for free.
Technical Advisory Committee
No report.
Resolutions Committee
Bernie Kuhadja thanked members who voted for the recent resolution opposing the construction of an industrial park near Key Cave, Alabama. The resolution was officially adopted by the membership in April. Copies were mailed out to organizations/agencies with a direct interest/responsibility for conservation of the cave's aquatic biota.
Mollie Cashner agreed to serve as the new chair of the Resolutions Committee. The role of the chair is to draft resolutions in the accepted form and grammar and present them to the membership for discussion and vote. The membership at large is responsible for selecting resolution topics and for supplying all of the factually accurate information needed to construct the resolution.
OLD BUSINESS
Hank requested that any important files or other official SFC correspondence be sent to him for archival.
Hank Bart expressed appreciation for all of the web-site assistance we have been receiving from the Florida Museum of Natural History. Cathy Bester and Sean Morey deserve special recognition for their efforts.
NEW BUSINESS
Hank suggested that we consider using some of our surplus funds to support student travel to meetings. Mel Warren made an official motion that the Executive Committee decide how much funding the council can provide annually for student travel and that proposals be presented to the membership for an official vote. The motion was approved.
As part of an effort to increase the conservation effectiveness of the SFC, Hank Bart discussed an initiative to train educators about rare aquatic species. Hank's concept is to send a group of SFC members to a Naturalist Center in Virginia. The SFC members would work with Virginia school teachers to develop curricula on rare aquatic species. The teachers would be responsible for disseminating the information to their students and other teachers. SFC would ultimately post these and other curricula (customized for different parts of the southeast) on the SFC website, so that teachers could access the information easily.
Hank has written a proposal to fund the initiative and plans to submit it to several funding agencies. If the proposal is funded, Hank has already received a commitment to host the workshop from the director of the Naturalist Center. Hank is also counting on several SFC members to participate in the workshop. Hank's idea spurred a whole lot of discussion among the membership and many members expressed their support for the initiative. Keep us posted Hank!
Respectfully submitted, Brett Albanese, Secretary
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