Blue: Motion
Red: Responsibilities 

1. Members Present: Lloyd Owens, President; Jennifer Fish, President-Elect; Norm Fausey, Past-President; Jim Bennett, Treasurer; Brent Sohngen, Secretary; Dennis DeWeese, At-Large Council Member; Dave Libben, At-Large Council Member; Sean Browning, Newsletter Editor; John Clark, Counselor to the Executive Council; Doug Zehner, member-at-large elect (starting March 2003); Mark Wilson, President-Elect (starting March 2003)

2. Call to Order and Minutes: President Owens called the meeting to order. 

• The Executive Council Meeting minutes from January 8, 2003 were reviewed. Norm Fausey moved to accept the corrected January minutes, seconded by Jim Bennett. Motion carried.

3. Treasurers Report: A written treasurer’s report was provided by Jim Bennett (see attached): 

·         Operating: $3,654.20; Scholarship: $13,621.24; Envirothon: $5,300.94.

·         Jim recently received a list of recent membership renewals from Ankeny and a check for annual dues.  The payment from Ankeny comes about twice per year.  Doug Zehner mentioned that his payment is deducted from his check, but it’s not clear that he is on the list.   Norm looked on our Ohio list and did not find Doug’s name anywhere?

o        Norm asks if we need to discuss how to clarify our membership and the payments that we are receiving from Ankeny.  Doug Zehner volunteered to contact Dot Riley to clarify that individuals on payroll deduction are on Ankeny’s list of Ohio members, and that the AOC gets the funds from Ankeny for members who use payroll deduction.

·         Jim Bennett mentioned that we seem to have about the same amount of money in the operating fund as last year at this time.

·         Norm Fausey moved to accept the treasurer’s report.  Dennis Deweese seconds.  Motion carried.

4. The 2003 Winter (Annual) Meeting:   Jennifer Fish reports.

• Dates for meeting are March 4-5, 2003 in Columbus.
• Registration deadline February 15.
• Draft agenda for entire meeting provided (passed around)
• Draft Agenda for awards luncheon and business meeting on March 4^th provided.
  • Norm Fausey volunteers to be Master of Ceremonies and will call on others from awards committee to present the awards.
• SWCS Year in Review: Possible new idea for the annual meeting this year.  Need to come up with a good idea for how to introduce the organization and talk about what things have been done this past year.  Dan Ross as a possible person to do this.  Others to consider: Doug Deardorff, John Crumrine, Ted Napier, etc. Things to highlight: Summer meeting, annual meeting, international meeting, publications. 
• Norm Fausey will work with Dan Kush to obtain photos of award winners etc. for the presentation of awards.  Will coordinate it with Jennifer putting the year in review session together.
• Dennis Deweese will contact Rebecca Fletcher (North Central Region Director) to see if she plans to attend the annual meeting to do the installation.
• What to do with copies of important items?  Have copies at the SWCS-AOC table (75 copies each person)
• Treasurer’s report/budget (Jim provides)
• Summer meeting minutes (Brent provides)
• Updated membership list (Norm provides)
• Paper winner?
• Jennifer Fish will get the introduction for Jym Ganahl for Norm to make the introduction.
• Who will help?  Dave Libben will help organize the assistance with the meeting display.
• Business meeting agenda: Lloyd passed around a tentative agenda.
• During her time to comment, Jennifer will provide some discussion of the membership survey and the implementation of the strategic plan.
• Setting summer meeting dates? Dave Libben moves for September 11^th, Norm Fausey seconds.  Motion carries.
• Discussion about finances:  Norms suggests that there should be a planning committee meeting immediately after the meeting to discuss finances and the financial outcomes of the meeting.  We still don’t have resolution on last years finances, so need to make sure that a meeting occurs this year to get information as soon as possible..
• Jim proposes that he meets with Jennifer, Alicia, and the All Employees treasurer to figure out how to address the financial issues before the meeting.
• According to Dennis Deweese, the original agreement was 25% of the profits for each group, regardless of the people who attended.
• Dennis has drafted a letter asking for clarification of last year’s budget for the annual meeting.  Dennis Deweese moves that we send the letter to Tom Reininger, Seconded by Dave Libben. 
• Discussion: Norm suggests that we include in the letter a statement that there be a shared responsibility for developing a policy for accounting for and reporting on future meetings.
• No further discussion.  Motion carries.

5. Newsletter: Sean Browning reported –

·         Newsletter is not complete.  Hopefully finished by Friday and to the printer.

·         Sean has followed up on the billing questions from before and is working with the printer to straighten out the issues discussed at the last meeting.

·         Do we want additional space for voluntary contributions to the organization.  Last year there was over $200 in voluntary contributions.  Will keep this separate from the registration form, although the voluntary contribution form will be right next to the registration form.

6. GIS conference: Sean Browning reported for Nathan Watermeier.

• Have the keynote speakers set up, they are still gathering other speakers, have advertisements out, have website up and running, etc.

7. Chapter Awards Committee: Norm Fausey provided a committee report in the form of minutes from their meeting on December 20, 2002 (see attached).

• Norm does not have a revision to the document on the outstanding young conservationist award.
• Lloyd suggests as part of the award that the individual gets a one year membership to AOC?

8. Membership Committee: 

• Jennifer talked with Dot Riley to get a report.  She has nothing new to report.  Has not moved forward on the display.  She has developed a letter welcoming new members and is sending a letter out to individuals who need to get re-newed.
• Dot is having some trouble getting a recent report on membership from Ankeny.  This seems to be a consistent concern among different individuals who have contacted Ankeny to get information.
• Dot expressed some concerns about her ability to remain on board as the membership committee chair-person.  Not a lot of other people on board to help with that committee.
• John Clark suggests that we get representatives from each of the NRCS regions in the state to be part of the membership committee. 

9. Fundraising Initiative

• Brent Sohngen has nothing to report at this point.

10. By-Law Revision Update

• Lloyd has copies of the revised by-laws and has put those on the web.

11. Additional Items:

• Raffle?  Will do it after the last speaker at the conference.  Jim Bennett is working on getting a print to give as a prize.  If money left over will buy an additional prize or two.
• John Clark reminds us that Article VI, Section 3 of the Bylaws authorizes an Assistant to the Executive Council.. He said the position description expects so much that no one has volunteered for the task.  In the spirit of this provision he has provided counsel for the past 3 years to Executive Councils at their request.
• The Executive Council extends their thanks to John for his service to the council the last few years, particularly for keeping us straight.
• The Executive Council extends their thanks to Dennis Deweese for his service to council as Member-at-Large the last two years.
• The Executive Council extends their thanks to Norm Fausey as he leaves the council as Immediate Past President and for his service the last three years.

Next Meeting Time and Place: Meeting will be in Grove City, Tuesday, April 8^th, 9:30 am.  Jennifer will provide directions.

Norm Fausey moves that we adjourn, Dennis Deweese seconds.  Motion passes.

Meeting adjourned 11:55 am.