Minutes of WFGA Business Meeting, held at Whistler, BC, July 29, 2003
Meeting called to order at 4:33 by Glenn Howe (16 persons present)
Glenn thanked Sally Aitken and the organizing
committee for the fine job they had done.
Motion to accept 2002 minutes:
Sally Aitken reported on the finances of the
2003 meeting. It looked like there may
be Can$2,000 surplus. Genome BC paid for
all of Monday’s expenses, except the field trip, which was paid for by the BC
MOF. The organizing committee had
planned for around 70 participants, but >90 were present.
Financial Report:
WFGA has three accounts: One is an account that can be used as a start
up cash source for our meetings (Bank of America account, BOA). All surpluses
from previous meetings are deposited in this account. The other two accounts
are trust funds administered by the OSU Foundation. The purpose of these two
accounts is to pay the Critchfield award for the best
student presentation. One account is an Expendable Account and the other is an
Endowment account. Monies in excess of
the historical gift amount are placed in the expendable account and can be used
to distribute money. Traditionally, the student awards are paid out of the
Expendable account. However, due to continued economic downturn, the Expendable
account still has a balance of US$0.00, so we are still without funds for the Critchfield award from these accounts. Tom Adams pointed out that we can draw from
the principal (historical gift amount) if we write a letter to the foundation.
Closing Balances as of May 31 for the OSU accounts and June 30, 2003
for the BOA account:
Bank of America Account: US$3,601.72
OSU Expendable Account: US$0.00
OSU Endowment Account: US$15,460.82
Tom Adams explained that the Critchfield
monies were moved to OSU in order to have a stable home, rather than trying to
earn more interest. It was also pointed
out that the BOA account should not exceed $5,000 because we are a non-profit
and do not want to draw attention to ourselves.
However, there is a minimum target of at least $3,000 to ensure that
meeting start-up funds are always available.
Alvin Yanchuk moved that we raise the Critchfield award from $500 to $700 for the 2004
meeting. Seconded: Jean Brouard. It was
noted that the Critchfield account could not sustain
that amount, but sufficient surplus from previous meetings and this year’s
meeting would allow for the increase for next year. This increase was only for 2004 and each year
we will decide an appropriate amount based on the total financial
situation. – Motion carried.
Sally Aitken motioned that any surplus from
the 2003 meeting be deposited in the BOA account and that we pay this year’s
winner from the BOA account…. All business would be carried out through the BOA
account the following year. Seconded:
Jack Woods – Carried.
Brad St.Clair described his role as WFGA
historian. A box of “historic” documents
had moved from president to president and he decided that it would be wise to
have a home for our records. It’s now
all in a file cabinet in his office. The
information includes minutes, financial reports, programs and abstracts from
meetings dating back to 1955. He is
missing the 2002 programs and abstracts from the 2 meeting sites. Sally John and Marilyn Cherry would help him
get the Edmonton information.
Location of future meetings:
2004 Meeting – Randy Johnson proposed that we join the 29th
CTIA meeting.
26-29 July 2004, Grand Okanagan,
Kelowna BC.
Theme: Climate Change and Forest
Genetics. The meeting will also have the
Seed Orchard groups and possibly the North American Quantitative Forest
Genetics Group. Sally Aitken passed out the meeting brochure.
Moved: Glenn Howe – Seconded: Jean Brouard – Carried:
Michael Stoehr will be the official WFGA
representative on the organizing committee.
We discussed which students will be eligible for the Critchfield award.
It was decided that any student would be eligible and that a single
committee should decide both the CTIA and Critchfield
award winners. It was suggested that students be scheduled such that a single
committee could judge all eligible presentations and that the students be
scheduled for early in the meeting. This
way we could announce the winners at the banquet and the students would not
have to worry all meeting long about giving their presentations.
2005 Meeting – Glenn Howe proposed we meet in Corvallis OR and it would
be sponsored by OSU and the PNW, with the possible co-chairs being Randy
Johnson and Steve Strauss.
Moved: Brad St.Clair
– Seconded: Sally Aitken – Carried
Glenn Howe discussed ways to restructure the WFGA officers in order to
have the treasurer always be a US participant.
Michael Stoehr explained that Canadians have
had difficulties dealing with the US bank.
Three options were proposed:
(1) No change
(2)U.S. Treasurer (2-year term) with promotion to V.P. V.P. is Secretary
(3)U.S. Treasurer (2-year
term) without promotion to V.P. V.P. is
Secretary
Brad St.Clair
suggestion we may only need 2 officers.
Discussion followed.
Tom Adams moved that we only
consider 3 officer options, Seconded: Jean Brouard –
Carried.
Laura DeWald
moved by that we change to option 3, Seconded: Brad St.Clair
– Carried.
Elections:
Laura DeWald and Richard Sniezko
nominated for treasurer. Laura DeWald won the election and will be treasurer for the next
2 years. Michael Stoehr
will be president in the upcoming year and Randy Johnson will be vice
president/secretary.
Respectfully submitted by:
Randy Johnson
2002/03 WFGA Secretary/Treasurer