MINUTES Northeast Section - AIPG
Executive Committee Meeting
Monday, January 16, 2001
Malcolm
Pirnie, Inc.
White Plains, New York
I. Call to Order
1615 hours · Attendees: Len Rexrode, Dennis
McGrath, Curt Kraemer, Arnie Schiffman, W. Thomas West, Dan St. Germain,
and Dick Young.
II. Secretary's Report
A motion was
produced by Curt Kraemer and seconded by Dennis McGrath to accept the
minutes of the December 6, 1999 meeting as written.
III.
Treasure's Report
Arnie Schiffman indicated that he would in the
near future be transferring available funds from the Section's checking
account to the Janus money market account. The transfer is aimed at
maximizing the profit on the Section's money by selecting a higher-yield
interest account. According to Arnie, he has been paying closer attention
to transferring funds within the Angelo Scholarship Trust Fund. Arnie
pointed out that if the Janus Money Market account continues to perform at
a rate consistent with past perspectives, then the goal of perpetual
funding for the Angelo Trust Fund would be achieved by the end of the
year. · A motion was produced by Curt Kraemer and seconded by Dan St.
Germain to accept both the January 10, 2000 Section and Angelo Trust Fund
Treasure's Reports as written.
IV. Correspondence
Len Rexrode received an e-mail, forwarded from Bill Soik, which he
received from Jim Zeppaeri (CPG 7292). Mr. Zeppaeri was seeking to secure
a letter from either Bill or the AIPG- Northeast Section as a reference
for the State Geologist position in New Hampshire Department of
Environmental Services. After careful consideration, the Section concluded
that we did not have sufficient information to offer a personal reference.
Len agreed to respond to Mr. Zeppaeri's request.
· The Section
received a letter from the New Hampshire Council for Professional
Geologists (NHCPG) thanking them for their leadership and financial
support. The letter included a request for the Section to reaffirm
sponsorship of the licensing efforts. No action is required.
·
The Section also received a letter from the New York State Council for
Professional Geologists. The letter acknowledged that some corporations
have met the AIPG Northeast Section matching grant, and the letter
provided documentation of the donations. No action is required.
·
Dan St. Germain received a letter from the Maine Soil Scientists and
Geologists. The letter indicated that the State of Maine Soil Scientists
was considering several options to lower the Board's overhead. The options
being considered include: 1) increased licencing fees to $130 annually, 2)
combining the boards to lower administrative costs, or 3) moving the Soil
Scientist board outside of professional and financial regulations to gain
administrative cost relief. Dan St. Germain indicated that he would
draft a letter encouraging Soil Scientists and Geologists to
strive to maintain independence.
· Len Rexrode drafted a letter
to National presenting the results of Northeast Section's 2000 officer
selection.
V. Old Business
Newsletter - Robert Stewart has
graciously agreed to assume the Newsletter Editor position. The vacancy in
the Editor's position occurred when Shane McDonald announced that he would
be stepping down at the end of January 2000 as a result of a recent job
relocation.
· An update on recent NHCPG activities was provided
by Dorothy Richter via telephone. According to Dorothy, the licencing bill
is in front of the full Senate this month with a decision from the Senate
anticipated before January 27, 2000. The council is eager to work toward a
spring-time push for acceptance of the licencing bill by the House, and
hopes to continue to secure financial support from individuals,
corporations and groups such as AIPG-NE.
· NE Section Webpage -
Dan St. Germain provided an update on the Sections' webpage. In the past
quarter, we have had 462 visits to the Section's homepage and 7212
accesses, with the average visitor browsing between 8 and 9 pages. Dan
acknowledged that he needed to update the site with the 2000 Section
officers and the most recent Section meeting minutes. In addition, the
link to the advertisers page was still under construction. Dan indicated
that he was waiting to hear from Dick Young concerning advertiser
responses. Dan is interested in what the Section wants to do with the web
site, any ideas are welcomed.
· Scholarship - John Rhyner
announced that he has received 12 responses to the Angelo Scholarship
announcement. Within the coming weeks John will be forwarding the
scholarship applications to the scholarship screening committee for
review.
VI, New Business:
Officers Nominations - The
ballot for NE Section officers for 2000 will be placed in the Newsletter
by the nominating committee and in accordance with our By-laws will be
scheduled to be included in the Newsletter by July 2000. · Spring
2000 Meeting - The Spring meeting is scheduled for May 17, 2000, although
the specifics of the meeting have yet to be secured. Len Rexrode followed
up with Dean Herrick about quarries in the Albany, New York area. Robert
Stewart is also willing to assist in firming up the meeting location.
According to Dick Young, the final date for announcing the meeting in the
Newsletter will be March 24,2000, although a second newsletter which can
contain spring meeting information will printed and delivered in early May
2000.
· Membership Development - Len Rexrode brought up the
issue of membership. Several ideas were discussed including tying in the
Angelo scholarship process with student membership, offering technical
workshops to increase AIPG visibility in the professional arena,
development of a specific sub-membership committee to develop potential
ideas, an open letter challenging members to increase membership with
potential incentives, and development of a brochure or link to the Section
Website that expands on "what does AIPG offer...."
VII.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 1855 hours.