FEBRUARY 2008 MINUTES

14 February 2008
Tucson, Arizona

 BOARD MEETING

Board Members present: Anna Domitrovic, Virgil Lueth, Tony Kampf, Penny Williamson, Jeff Post, Jamie Newman, Terri Ottaway, Terry Huizing

The meeting was called to order at 2:00 –ish pm by president Virgil Lueth

Domitrovic presented the treasure’s report. According to the roster the membership is 147 however 66 are in arrears for 2 or more years. Rather than sending out a general notice about membership dues, it is better just to target those people in arrears. Also the list on the website may not be accurate. We now have PayPal and fees for this service have been waived as we are non profit (501C3). The membership should be aware that you don’t need to have a PayPal account in order to pay dues this way.

Lueth reported that he’s not aware of any problem areas on the collections front (none at risk).

Newman spoke about how the California Mining Museum is slated to be shut down because of state wide budget cuts. This museum has a great collection – what will happen?

Next year’s Tucson is to feature Mineral Oddities. The word about the SMMP case should go out earlier as many people also come to the AGTA show prior to the TGMS and may not have time to pull something from their collection if the notice goes out too late.

Denver 2008 show: theme is Colorado minerals. The SMMP case will feature a case for specimens from eastern Colorado mines.

Williamson has posted a draft under Best Practices (SMMP website) regarding “Moving Specimens”. There was discussion as to whether to include the author of incoming letters and it was decided they should get credited.

Williamson mentioned the SMMP will get together in Munich.

Huizing mentioned that we needed to meet with Bruce Geller (Museum Director) regarding the M&M6 meeting in Colorado. Should the SMMP sponsor something? A party or education event?

Post suggested a party during the poster session. Maybe we could get Coors to donate beer? The Colorado School of Mines cannot buy liquor. The party will cost a lot more than $500 with 120 attendees. We should ask Jim Hurlbut to put together a budget to give us an idea of how much it will cost. It’s probably going to run about $1,500 in order to be classy.

Post also went on the say that the SMMP Board meeting, the general meeting and the lecture consumed a huge chunk of time on TGMS opening day. Several suggestions were offered but each interfered with show set up or other events.

Newman suggested we push back general meeting to 3:30 and have a half hour board meeting from 3:00 - 3:30 pm on the Thursday.

Meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm.

Submitted by Terri L. Ottaway

GENERAL ANNUAL MEETING

The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm by president Virgil Lueth.

Members in attendance introduced themselves.

The minutes of the Denver Meeting were approved as presented on the website.

Treasurer’s Report – Anna Domitrovic presented the treasure’s report. We now have PayPal and fees for this service have been waived as we are non profit (501C3). The membership should be aware that you don’t need to have a PayPal account in order to pay dues this way.

Membership Report – According to the roster the membership is 147 however 66 are in arrears for 2 or more years. Rather than sending out a general notice about membership dues, it is better just to target those people in arrears. Also the list on the website may not be accurate.

Collections Committee - Lueth reported that he’s not aware of any problem areas on the collections front. He polled the membership about curators or collections at risk. Darcy Moore, at the California State Parks, reported on the financial crisis for the State of California and noted the collection was not in eminent danger. 

George Harlow and Jeff Post reported on the “Collections Preservation Report” to the MSA.

Education Committee - Next year’s Tucson is to feature mineral oddities. The word about the SMMP case should go out earlier as many people also come to the AGTA show prior to the TGMS and may not have time to pull something from their collection if the notice goes out too late.

Denver 2008 show: theme is Colorado minerals. The SMMP case will feature a case for specimens from eastern Colorado mines.

Best Practices Initiative - Williamson has posted a draft under Best Practices (SMMP website) regarding “Moving Specimens”. There was discussion as to whether to include the author of incoming letters and it was decided they should get credited. Current documents will be posted on the website with authors credited.

New Business

Lueth made an announcement about the SMMP Grant program.

A request was made to provide funds to sponsor the reception during the Monday night poster session at the M&M6 meeting in Denver. The membership voted to provide funds to sponsor the event.

Williamson mentioned that SMMP will get together in Munich under the auspices of SMMP Europe.

The membership was polled to determine if the meeting times scheduled at Tucson were satisfactory. No changes were presented.

Board of Directors Election – Three members were nominated and the nominations were closed.  Bruce Geller (CSM), Terri Ottaway (GIA), and Penny Williamson (U of Wollongong) were elected.

Board of Directors Meeting – The board elected officers after the general election: Virgil Lueth (President), Jamie Newman (VP), Anna Domitrovic (Treasurer), and Jean DeMouthe (Secretary).