Minutes of the Kentucky Speleological Survey
April 25, 2010
Meeting held at Mining & Minerals Building
University of Kentucky
504 Rose St.
Lexington, KY 40506
Officers & Board Members Present: Darrell Adkins, President; Howard Kalnitz, Vice-President; Kim Gentry, Secretary; John Cassidy, Treasurer; Don Conover, Membership at Large Representative. Absent: Jim Greer, Membership at Large Representative.
Organizational Representatives Present: Howard Kalnitz, Greater Cincinnati Grotto; Jim Currens, Kentucky Geological Survey; Preston Forsythe, Western Kentucky Speleological Survey; Steve Gentry, Louisville Grotto. Absent: Randy Paylor, Bluegrass Grotto; Jim Perkins, Dayton Underground Grotto; Jonathan Lewis, ESSO Grotto; Peggy Nims, Hart of Kentucky Grotto.
KSS Members and Cavers in Attendance:
Harry Goepel, Eric Weaver
Welcome and Introductions/ President’s Report (Adkins): The meeting began at 1:23 pm with a welcome and introductions/roll call of officers, board members, and grotto representatives present. It was noted that the annual report was filed and that the KSS needs to address notifications/publications to members/organizations who do not have electronic access.
Secretary’s Report (Gentry): Minutes from 1/24/10 meeting were not read, copies were available at this meeting, and had also been previously posted on the KSS web site as well as through the KSS Yahoo Group. Darrell Adkins noted his name was incorrectly spelled and advised of the correct spelling. Steve Gentry made a motion to approve the 1/24/10 minutes. Howard Kalnitz seconded the motion. The motion was carried.
Treasurer’s Report (Cassidy):
$493.00 in membership dues and $185.00 in organizational dues were collected since the last meeting. Current balance is $2,922.41. The annual filing for Federal and State has been completed. The KSS Tax Identification (EIN) is on file with Treasurer.
Data Access Committee Report (Currens): Jim Currens, Randy Paylor and Darrell Adkins are the current committee members. Jim Currens reported Fish & Wildlife has made general inquiry by email but nothing in writing. He advised them of the KSS meeting today but no representative was present at the meeting. They need to go through the formal process for consideration. Discussion ensued regarding WNS and protecting KSS data. Tabled until formal request is received. Jim received a couple of other minor requests from people with property interest in caves, but overall there was not much activity this quarter.
Data Administration Committee (database) Report (Kalnitz): Jim Currens, Howard Kalnitz, and Randy Paylor are the current committee members. They are working on getting each county correct data and then the next step will be determining how to compile into one major database.
Membership Committee (Cassidy): Chris Clark, Ben Miller, Amber Yuellig, Robert Yuellig, and James Stephens are new members. KSS now has 34 individual members, 8 organizational memberships, and 15 lifetime members.
County Coordinators (Kalnitz): The County Coordinator list was last updated on 4/20/10. The Coordinator manual was completed on 2/7/10. County data was sent to all Coordinators. The Sperka list has been scanned and distributed to the County Coordinators. Out of 84 Kentucky counties with Karst, 10% of counties are completed. Howard will update the list based on the work session prior to the meeting today. Don Conover is now Wolf County Coordinator.
The following Coordinators provided updated data:
Harry Goepel-corrected a bad cave location in Wayne County. He verified the location of another cave in Clinton County.
Howard Kalnitz-Rockcastle County, Jackson County, Lee County
Steve Gentry-Larue (needs corrections), Marion County, Taylor County
Darrell Adkins-McCreary County
The following Coordinators reported they are still working on data:
Horton Hobbs
Preston Forsyth-The old WKSS files and current files have some discrepancies. The paper files are in good shape and all locations are marked on the topos in the flat files. He will write up a summary for the next newsletter. He noted Randy did a good job putting the WKSS locations in a digital format. Preston has some leads he hopes to start in July with from some cave divers south of Nashville.
The following Coordinators have no report/update:
Jim Greer
Jim Currens
Lee Florea
Ben Miller
John Cassidy
Josh Brewer
Pat Kambesis
Eric Weaver, who helps Harry Goepel with his Coordinator work, had some questions as to the GPS data format and conversion, and discussion as to how to determine projection, etc., ensued. Eric suggested as data gets replaced, there should be a standard set so that it is a fairly accurate location. Eric also suggested a sheet for each GPS location that details what GPS was used, the method used to GPS, etc. Adding a couple of extra fields in the database would help capture that data. Eric was called on to present GPS field training at the October meeting.
Old Business
Status of Organizational Members (Cassidy):
Current organizations (8):
Bluegrass Grotto
Dayton Underground Grotto
ESSO Grotto
Greater Cincinnati Grotto
Kentucky Geological Survey
Western Kentucky Speleological Survey
Louisville Grotto
Hart of Kentucky Grotto
Active in the past but no longer current (6):
Cave Research Foundation
Dayton Area Speleological Society
Wittenberg University Speleological Society
Pickney Area Grotto
Central Ohio Grotto
Carter Underground Speleological Society
Dues are due a year from when the person joined. John sends out notice when due either email or snail mail. Some pay in advance for several years. There is not much administration to follow up on expired dues based on anniversary date at this time.
Annual Members Meeting (Adkins): To be held 10/24/10 at Kentucky Geological Survey Core and Sample Library. Jim Currens will re-confirm Library access. Howard Kalnitz will assist Darrell on putting together Coordinator presentations and Preston Forsythe volunteered Bill Walden to help as well. Eric Weaver will present on GPS training. Meeting time to be determined in July based on presenters and content. A brief board meeting will be held. Per email from Randy Paylor, he is working on getting the newsletter ready for the annual meeting.
Future Work Sessions (Adkins):
If someone notifies Jim Currens ahead of time, they could come during the week for research, he can unlock the door but would not be available to assist. The following dates were set as work sessions to be held at Mining & Minerals Building, University of Kentucky (times to be announced):
6/20/10
8/22/10
12/5/10 (Tentative) to be confirmed later
Board Meetings (Adkins):
7/25/10-at American Cave Conservation Association in Horse Cave, KY. Steve Gentry to re-confirm access with Chris Clark. There will be a database work session at 10:00 am Central (Local time), a break for lunch at Noon, and the meeting will begin at 1:00 pm.
10/24/10-at Kentucky Geological Survey Core and Sample Library. Jim Currens will re-confirm Library access. Meeting time to be determined.
1/22/11 at Mining & Minerals Building, University of Kentucky, with alternative bad weather date of 1/29/11. Meeting time to be determined.
Non Profit Status (Cassidy):
The KSS is registered as 501(c)(3) Corporation.
KSS Website (Adkins): Darrell has discussed website administration with Kevin Toepke, who is willing to continue or willing to share or pass on duties. Darrell suggested the duties be shared. Kevin has concerns about current host that has not been good to work with. Via email, Randy Paylor suggested Blue Host. Darrell recommended that a committee be formed to review current web site and discuss changes needed and possible host move. Different software may be needed, as Front Page is now non-existent. Jim Currens mentioned that John Hagee created a site for him for $195.00. Volunteers for the web committee were solicited. Kim Gentry, Preston Forsythe and Howard Kalnitz will help review web site for changes/updates. Eric Weaver volunteered to work with Kevin on design. Via email, Randy Paylor offered to also be on the committee.
Yahoo Group (Adkins): The group currently has 16 members. During the meeting, Howard Kalnitz updated all board members with moderator privileges. John Cassidy will add all members currently not in the group and will email them to let them know they have been added. There was discussion on group access and it was decided that membership will be open to anyone, and anyone can access messages but only members can post messages and all posts will be moderated. Attachments will be allowed.
Fireproof safe (Adkins): Jim Currens will check into prices and report back at a future meeting.
New Business
Committee Members (Adkins): Per Bylaws (Chapter XI), they need to be appointed annually and be approved by the Board.
Membership-Need 3 members to review organizational requests. Darrell appointed John Cassidy, Kim Gentry, and Steve Gentry. Jim Currens made a motion to approve. Howard Kalnitz seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Data Administration-Need 1 member. Darrell appointed Jim Currens. Steve Gentry made a motion to approve. Howard Kalnitz seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Data Access-Need 3 members. Darrell appointed Jim Currens, Howard Kalnitz and Don Conover. Steve Gentry motioned to approve. Preston Forsythe seconded the motion. The motion carried.
Dues Expiration notices (Adkins): John Cassidy reviews anniversary due dates the beginning of each month and sends email reminders when dues are due. If the person/organization has no email he sends letter that dues are due. Darrell recommended putting membership dues expiration date on publications sent out. John to give Kim Gentry copy of current membership list so that the minutes and future meeting agendas can be mailed out to those without electronic access. Darrell will send out the agenda two weeks in advance of future meetings.
Communications with Member Organizations (Adkins): After some discussion it was decided that the organizational representative is responsible for forwarding publications, agendas and meeting minutes to their organization. John Cassidy will send dues notices out to organizations 60 days in advance, and will ask that the organization review their information and representative name to verify everything is still correct.
Pay Pal (Adkins): Darrell asked Kim Gentry to review available options and bring the information to the next meeting.
New members packet (Adkins): After some discussion it was decided that a new member packet should be assembled that will contain the bylaws, KSS brochure, and a membership card that lists web site, yahoo group information and membership expiration date. A copy of the last publication and last meeting minutes could also be included. Kim Gentry and Steve Gentry volunteered to compile a sample membership packet and bring to the next meeting. The membership card could be sent out to board members via email for approval prior to the meeting.
Archive of meeting minutes and other non-cave information (Adkins): It was discussed and decided that all versions of the bylaws as well as prior meeting minutes should be kept in the archive. The secretary should give a copy of the previous meeting minutes to Jim Currens at each meeting to archive. Everyone was asked to bring their old copies of bylaw revisions to the next meeting, to also be placed in the archive.
Bylaws (Gentry): At Darrell Adkins request, Kim reviewed bylaw changes that had already been approved but not yet revised into a current bylaw document. These were done and sent out to everyone to review with no changes. The most recent copy is now on the KSS Website. (4/27/10 update-Jim Currens found a minor item that had been omitted, but it had already been voted on so it does not require a re-vote. Kim Gentry updated the bylaws to version 11.11.01a (revised 4/27/10) and sent the updated version to the board so that the Website could be updated.)
County Coordinators Business Card (Adkins): Discussion of the need for County Coordinators to have a business card. It was decided that a business card would be beneficial. Howard Kalnitz will create a business card template and each Coordinator would be responsible for customizing the card with their information and printing them out for use. There was also discussion of having each Coordinator have their own email with @... address. This can be addressed with the Website committee.
Tech Soup (Kalnitz): TechSoup.org offers nonprofits a one-stop resource for technology needs by providing free information, resources, and support. Nonprofits can access donated and discounted technology products, generously provided by corporate and nonprofit technology partners. Howard will obtain information required and submit form for approval. Once the KSS is eligible, the board will receive a password to make purchases, and will review and approve all purchases.
Open Discussion (Group):
The group discussed the latest WNS activity and news.
Darrell Adkins asked for clarification on what a quorum consists of in regarding to conducting business at meetings. The Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary are considered part of the quorum and have voting rights. The President is only allowed to vote in the quorum in case of a tie. Organizational Representatives also have voting rights. It was mentioned that it needs to be clearly stated in the minutes who is present at each meeting in case of any discrepancies when voting. At election time it should be verified that those voting have a current membership.
Eric Weaver asked about having meetings available live on video for those unable to attend meetings. He will look into the options available and bring to the next meeting.
Adjournment:
Jim Currens motioned that the meeting be adjourned. John Cassidy seconded the motion. The motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 4:02 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kim Gentry , Secretary
