December 2002 Board Meeting Minutes - Preliminary Publication for Review

["Rick Rose" <rick-rose@attbi.com>]

Please review the attached and let me know of any additions or corrections that need to be made.

 

Thanks,

 

Rick

 

 

 

Title: Greater

Greater

Seattle

Aquarium

Society Board Meeting Minutes: December 19, 2002

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Board Members

Present

Clay Hess

Bob Holmes

Rick Rose

Dave Sanford

Absent

Erika Barcott (*)

Paul Carey (1)

Erik Olson (1)

 

(*) In Absentia

 

 

Membership Observers

Steev Ward

 

Executive Committee Reports

 

• The Minutes of the previous Board meeting (November 21^st 2002) were accepted and approved.

 

• The Treasurer’s Report:

1. Current Balance: $4543.51
2. No Outstanding Bills
3. 3 Outstanding (non-cashed) checks: Dave Sanford, GPAS, Summer Quinn

 

 

Meeting & Program Schedule

Month Topic / Activity Fish-o-the-Month

SEP 10^th Introduce yourself and your fish, solicit ideas Bob and Dave

OCT 8^th Takashi Amano Video – Plant Tank Setup (Paul) Clay, Bob, Rick & Dave

NOV 12^th Tank Lighting Workshop (Clay, Rick) June, AH Supply

DEC 10^th Christmas Party (None)

JAN 14^th Seattle Aquarium Behind-the-Scenes Tour (Rick) (None)

FEB 11^th Plant Auction (Erik) (None)

MAR 11^th Live Food Workshop (Dave, Bob) (Steev Ward, Dave)

APR 8^th General Auction (None)

*MAY 6^th Ad Koning – Lake Tanganyikans (Kathy O.)

*JUN 10^th Paul Loiselle – on West African Dwarf Cichlids (Kathy O.)

 

(*) – Tentative, Special Dates

(**) – Mike Schadle is a possibility, but he has typically cancelled in the past due to work responsibilities.

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We received notice from Rusty Wessel on Friday, November 22^nd, that he had a scheduling conflict and would not be able to speak at our January meeting. The board discussed options for the January General Meeting via the email list during the week prior to this evening’s meeting. That email strand is included for reference at the end of this section. Based on options discussed, the board developed the following plans for the upcoming January and March meetings.

 

The January General Meeting will be a "Behind-the-Scenes" Tour of the Seattle Aquarium facility hosted by GSAS and given by a Seattle Aquarium Staff/Volunteer. As Paul is busy with other family responsibilities, Rick will coordinate this meeting with Becky Quimby at the Aquarium. We can get a better price for the tour and rental of the main facility by renting under Rick’s name since he and his family are members of the Seattle Aquarium. In addition to touring the labs, food-kitchen, water treatment facility, and grow-out tanks, we will also watch the mammal feeding and then have free-run of the primary facility to view the exhibits. The cost will be $8.50 per attendee (age 2 and up) plus $50/hour which covers 2 staff members to open the facility and be available during our visit, and $25 for the tour. To put the cost into perspective, if we have 30 attendees and take the maximum time of 2 ½ hours (7:30 – 10pm) the charges would be as follows:

$255.00 (8.50 * 30 attendees)

$125.00 (50.00/hour * 2.5 hours)

$ 25.00 (25.00 Administrative fee for the tour)

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$405.00

The "Life on the Edge" exhibit will be open for us, but there will not be interpretive speakers available. We will actually hold our meeting in the primary facility instead of renting the conference room, so the regular monthly charge of $75 will be credited (or applied towards) the costs listed above. Our cart will be brought down on the elevator. The agenda is as follows:

7:00 - 7:30pm Arrive early and meet in primary facility

7:30 - 7:45pm Welcome, Announcements, quick business

7:45 - 8:30pm Behind-the-Scenes Tour

8:30 - ~9:00pm Watch the feeding of the mammals

9:00 – 10:00pm Self-Tour the exhibits

The above agenda is to be included in the promotional email announcements and in the January newsletter.

 

The March General Meeting will be a Live Food Workshop coordinated by Dave and Bob. Steev Ward will also contribute. Rick will order ~ 30 copies of "Food Cultures for Dummies", a pamphlet put out by The Bug Farm (Jim Atchison) to be available for all who attend. Topics discussed will be (but not limited to…) Brine Shrimp, Vinegar Eels, Micro worms, White worms, Paramecium, Daphnia, etc. Dave will bring a micro video-cam to project slides via a TV. We will have cultures of Infusoria, Protozoa, Daphnia, and white worms up for auction. Steev will produce a kids’ coloring page related to the subject. More detailed plans will be established at the next board meeting.

Previously mentioned email strand for reference:

Email from Rusty Wessel

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 11:12:42 -0500

Subject: Re: Jan

Kathy, Joe and Julie:

I have just been informed here at work that I have a scheduling conflict with the dates for the Jan lecture. I have a sales meeting with my business that I can't get out of - they actually moved the weekend up because of a conflict on their end. So, I will be unable to fulfill my commitment to you guys on that date. If we can set up another weekend (like June or later) I will pay the charge for the change in the ticket and assume any additional charges.

Just get back with me with some alternative dates and we will try to work it out. I am sorry for all the problems.

Cheers,

Rusty

Email from Kathy

… Also, someone/Paul will need to call the aquarium and see if we can get the old meeting date back ASAP.

Email Strand of Board Discussion

… BTW,i'd be up for live foods for the Jan meeting if we haven't picked a topic yet.

- dave

 

Erik,

Great breakdown of the options!!

Board,

I think any of them would be great and the members would certainly enjoy them. At the last meeting I had someone ask for a live food presentation. I know there are some saltwater folks out there, but, am unsure what all they do with the saltwater clubs that are out there. A behind the scenes tour of the aquarium and the rest of the aquarium too, I think would be a fun night. Considering what we have paid for guest speakers in the past, paying $10/person, if we had 30 people show it would be similar to some of our past speaker costs. But, I am unsure what it costs to get in the aquarium in this format, it may be more than $10/person. Does anyone know the exact cost? I have had many folks ask about plant presentations too.....so, that is always a desired talk. We did show the video on planting tanks not too long ago though. Just my thoughts, how about the rest of you?

Clay

 

-----Original Message-----

From: Erik Olson [mailto:erik@thekrib.com]

Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2002 10:52 AM

To: GSAS Board

Subject: Re: January 2003 Meeting Topic Suggestions

 

On Sat, 14 Dec 2002, Rick Rose wrote:

> Per Erik's request that we begin discussion on alternative January 2003

> meeting topics, I have come up with the following possibilities...

>

> 1.. saltwater presentation

> 2.. roundtable live food

> 3.. Aquarium tour

> 4.. Erik's recycled talk on plant photography

These are all great ideas Rick! (no comment on #4 though).

Given that Paul's out of coverage right now, I am assuming he isn't going to be able to do any of this legwork, right?

The BEST, in my opinion, is #3, but it requires the most prepwork with the Aquarium folks. I think our relationship with them has gotten kinda sour over the last few years, probably starting when we stopped donating a portion of our proceeds from our auction. Clay could probably tell you about the time when GSAS used to actually hold the Christmas party IN the aquarium (before it was reserved for groups who would pay $10 per person for that privelege). The last time we got to use the aquarium was in 1995 when I ran a photography workshop -- the 1st half was a talk and the 2^nd half we went down into the exhibits with a bunch of different cameras. And we DID have to pay admission for every member present that night. The aquarium night watchman guy (Wieman -- a great guy) undercounted the few that did show up, so we actually didn't pay too much.

#1 is interesting. Tell us more about the "saltwater group"? Is that the Puget Sound Aquarium Society (that keeps coming and going), or someone else?

#2 is easy, requires the least work on all our parts. We've done live food roundtables or workshops every few years, and they're always well-received. Perhaps if #3 or #1 cannot be arranged in time for January (but perhaps for March? I keep forgetting what March's meeting topic is), we could opt for #2.

#4 is what we have called a "trump card" presentation, which is to be used when all other ideas fail and we have no topic and it's one week before the meeting. Dave had a killifish talk that we used as a trump card a few times (I still have the sucker loaded up on my laptop!). But I'm thinking that we have already played my Amano Video trump card. It would seem a bit premature to use another, so similar in subject matter (aquascaping and such). I talked on the subject (AGA, aquascaping, photography) back in early 2001.

Don't forget the Portland connection. There are several folks down there we could probably get up on reasonably short notice.

- Erik

 

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gsas-board@thekrib.com [mailto:owner-gsas-board@thekrib.com]On Behalf Of Rick Rose
Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2002 9:06 AM
To: GSAS Board
Subject: January 2003 Meeting Topic Suggestions

Per Erik's request that we begin discussion on alternative January 2003 meeting topics, I have come up with the following possibilities...

As previously suggested to Paul, we could try to get someone from the Saltwater Group (discussed after the meeting at Kevin's house) to give a presentation.

Round-Table/Workshop on raising live food for your fish. My wife bought a 14-page pamphlet at the Portland Aquarium Show called "Food Cultures for Dummies", written/published by The Bug Farm, Jim Atchison. The pamphlet cost $1.00 so we could easily order more copies. The bug farm has a website and sells live cultures and provides a lot of advice: www.livefoodcultures.com .

My family and I are also members of the Seattle Aquarium Society (No "Greater") which offers "Behind-the-Scenes"-Tours one Saturday each month to members. We have taken the tour once and want to do it again; it is very interesting. Since many of our GSAS membership may not be members of the Seattle Aquarium Society and therefore would not have access to this tour, maybe we could arrange with the Seattle Aquarium to give our membership a special tour during our meeting time. I'm sure we'd have to pay for their employee's time (given by their Scientists, for the most part) but it would probably be similar to the expenses and honorarium that we pay to out-of-town speakers.

We could invite the President of the Aquatic Gardeners Association (a.k.a. Erik) to come give us his presentation on Aquarium Photography. I'll bet he has a cool slide show all prepared since he gave the presentation at their Conference in Houston this past November.

- Rick

 

Old Business

• Newsletter Update

1. January Newsletter Status

Email update from Erika:

Since there's no actual meeting in December, and since I will have a lot of holiday commitments (including a week's vacation in Seattle for Christmas! Yay!) the next newsletter will be sent out to arrive the first week of January. (This isn't JUST a selfish move on my part - I know all the correspondents that I rely on will also be suffering from the holiday time crunch.)

2. Every year, Bob’s Mediterranean Pasta Salad is a huge hit and has become a tradition. Because many people like it and ask for the recipe, the Board decided to publish it in the January newsletter. Bob will send it to Erika via email.
3. The January Meeting agenda (as outlined above) is to be included in the newsletter.
4. A reminder for the kids to bring with them to the January meeting their color pages from the December coloring "contest" is to be included in the newsletter.
5. Spring Article Contest (needs to be promoted in the January newsletter)

• Theme: "Most Impressive Tank" or "My Favorite Fish"
• Deadline for submission: April 30, 2003
• Erik will promote the contest via GSAS-Announce.
• Clay will promote the contest at the upcoming meetings.

1. New Members’ Names are to be published in the newsletter

The Greater Seattle Aquarium Society would like to welcome the following new members!

Rohm Gustavson

Brian Gregory

James Joyce

Preston Cheung

Chad Oftedal

Kate Breimeyer

Cary Wheeler

Ben and Andrea Browning

Meredith Crichton

 

• Clay will talk to Diane Elliot and ask her to see how Rich (a lawyer) would advise us to proceed with regard to Liability Insurance – Outstanding.

 

• Recap of December General Membership Meeting
• The food was excellent, but we could have used more meat. Note for next year to get a bigger ham and ask Don to bring more chicken.
• The gift exchange went well and was enjoyed by all.
• Rick will include a reminder in the January Promotion for the kids to bring their finished coloring pages to the next meeting.
• The Fish-O game is one of our favorites and as always, was a success. Because there were several parents helping their young children as well as marking their own card, it was sometimes difficult to "keep up". The board felt it would be good to slow down the pace of the game next year. Someone (sorry, I don’t remember who?) thought that Erik might have mentioned plans to re-do the cards next year – using the common names rather than the scientific names. The down-side of this is that it takes away from the "educational" aspect of the game; the up-side is that it would make it easier for the younger members (as well their parents) to recognize the name and keep up. Also, we need to plan more medium-level prizes so that there can be more "Fish-O’s!" before the eventual "Black-Out!".
• Bob will ask Kevin for the names and addresses of those to whom we need to send Thank-You cards for having donated prizes. Bob will assemble and mail the cards A.S.A.P.

 

 New Business

 

• New Members since last meeting.
• (None)

 

• Rick will create a standard GSAS Thank You card and produce a supply to have on hand for such occasions as mentioned above. They will not, however, be ready for the mailing that Bob will be doing for last month’s prize donors, so Bob will use generic Thank You cards this time.
• Aquatic Eco-Systems

----------Forwarded message ----------

HI Erika-

My name is Suzy Bevan and I work for Aquatic Eco-Systems in Apopka, Florida.

I would like to find out your rates and publication schedule if we were to

place an Ad in your newsletter. Please contact me or Chip if you have any

questions at 407-886-3939.

Thanks,

Suzy Bevan

Erika has or will follow up on this inquiry. Rather than offering paid-advertising, the Board decided that interested companies such as this could support our club with auction item donations. Our standard reply should be to explain that Club-Auctions are the primary means used to finance the club and any donations that they feel would be appropriate would be greatly appreciated. In return, we would acknowledge such donors in our newsletter and on our website using business card style ads. Interested companies should provide several business cards and permission to use their logo/information for advertisement purposes.

 

• Board Meeting Meal (Pizza!) Expenses will routinely be paid by the board member host unless he/she chooses to ask for contributions. It is the preference of the Board not to make "passing the hat" a standing practice. However, on occasion, the board will hold meetings hosted by non-board-members. In that case, the non-member host will be asked to make arrangements for ordering and delivery of pizza and the non-member host will be reimbursed for such expenses out of club funds. (This is only expected to be about three times per year.) Rick expressed concern about his situation, being such a distance from the central Seattle area, he and other future board members with similar circumstances would not be sharing equally in such expenses. A very simple solution was suggested and received unanimous support, that, on a voluntary bases, of course, board members who live in outlying areas could host a special, Saturday board meeting BBQ-Style in the Fall or Spring months when weather permits.

 

• Bob will look into getting a locking bank-bag (or cash box) in which to store blank, signed membership cards and petty cash. This bag/box will be locked in the cart stored at the Seattle Aquarium. This will be better than having to write a check to provide change for membership payments and will allow Bob to provide an immediate membership card and New Member Letter when time & schedule allows.

 

• The supply of membership cards does not seem to be as available as previously thought; Rick will design new membership cards that reflect our current logo.

 

 

 

Announcements for the next General Meeting

• Promote the Spring Article Contest
• Finalize the December Coloring "Contest"
• Promote the February Plant Auction

 

 

Low-Priority and On-going Issues

(The following issues which may or may not have been addressed above will continue to be listed here until they are completely resolved.)

 

• Official Bylaws - Rick

1. Dave has obtained a copy of GPAS bylaws and passed them on to Rick
2. Erik has obtained a copy of AKA bylaws and passed them on to Rick
3. Rick has no progress to report

 

• Promotional Materials for GSAS – Rick
• Poster Boards (for Fish Stores) and GSAS fliers are still outstanding.
• Business cards – on hold
• GSAS Fliers
• GSAS Thank You Cards & Envelopes
• Redesigned Membership Cards
• Committee Chair – "Job Descriptions" – Rick has no progress to report.

 

• Kathy will provide a Task List (Job Description) based on her experience as Program Coordinator (or, Speaker Wrangler, as she likes to refer to it). This list will be of immediate help to Paul (as the new Program Coordinator), Clay (as President), and Rick (as part of the project to document the responsibilities of all Committee Chairs.)

 

• Library issues discussed by the Board.

 

• Spring Article Contest

• Theme: "Most Impressive Tank" or "My Favorite Fish"
• Deadline for submission: April 30, 2003
• Erik will promote the contest via GSAS-Announce.
• Clay will promote the contest at the upcoming meetings.

 

• Meeting Activities for younger kids – Dave, Bob, and Rick

1. Dave - coloring book update
2. Rick - pages for the coloring book that promote GSAS
3. Rick – Aquarium-related word searches, puzzles, mazes

• Bob rough draft of his philanthropy article emailed to Erika

 

• Membership Letters - Bob
• New Member Letter – example final version for records
• Renewal Letter – sample for the Board to review

 

 

 

Next Board Meeting Location

Possibly at another member’s home TBD (or at Clay’s), Thursday, January 23^rd 2003, starting promptly at 7:30pm (depending on final location).

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