Minutes of UFOP Annual Meeting, May 2 - 4 2008

A field trip to collect trilobites started the meeting on Friday, May 2, let by the Gunthers of Brigham City. Participants reported a fun (if somewhat chilly) day. The field trip was followed by a welcome BBQ at the home of Elaine and Ron Jones in Salt Lake City.

Officers' Meeting and General Business Meeting Saturday May 3:

Dale Gray discussed the state of affairs at Dinosaur National Monument and the lack of progress in fixing the visitors' center. It was agreed that UFOP should get involved in a letter writing campaign to members of congress to help voice the public's displeasure with this continued closure. Dale presented this topic again in the general membership meeting; it was agreed that Dale would create a suggested form letter that would be made available to UFOP members as a template for writing their own letters.

Several UFOP chapters have contacted their local museums to see if the UFOP membership card can be accepted for free entry into the museums. The St. George Dinosaur Discovery Center, Eccles Dinosaur Park, and the Utah Museum of Natural History have all agreed to honor UFOP membership cards. Chapters will keep working on other museums and will let us know when they have achieved success.

The 2009 meeting will be held in St. George in conjunction with the Grand Staircase Cretaceous Symposium, which will be held at the Dixie Center immediately after the 8th Conference on Fossil Resources. UFOP will provide volunteer services for both of these conferences and will probably assist in pre and psot meeting field trips in the area.

The State Treasurer reported a balance of $1,953.14 in the state bank account.

Following the business meeting, papers were presented by Bucky Gates, Don Deblieux, Cliff Green, Dale Gray, Jim Kirkland, Scott Foss, and Jerry Harris.

The meeting concluded with a banquet at Lamb's Grill Cafe, with UMNH graduate student Mark Loewen as keynote speaker.

Minutes of UFOP Annual Meeting, May 17 - 18 2007

Officers' Meeting:

A discussion was held on the disposition of the UFOP bank account. Access to the account became nearly impossible when the account was moved last year. Phil Policelli (GBC) noted that post 9-11 security rules are making transfers of bank accounts such as ours problematic. Phil suggested that the bank account remain in Salt Lake City, with the main signers of the account remaining in Salt Lake City. To obtain payment for any state-related expense, the current state officers would simply issue a request via e-mail or telephone to the main signer(s).

A motion was made to move the UFOP bank account permanently to Salt Lake City; the motion passed unanimously. We will notify chapter officers as appropriate how to access state UFOP funds.

The current balance in the state UFOP account is $3,081.54.

Phil reminded officers that 25% of dues that are collected during the year by chapters are required to be sent to the state bank account per our by-laws.

The officers next held a discussion on the upcoming September 2007 meeting in Drumheller, Canada on horned dinosaurs. It was moved that UFOP fund our state Adviser, Jim Kirkland, and his associate Don DeBlieux for travel expenses related to research surrounding the meeting dates. The motion passed unanimously.

Another expense that was approved by all was $250 in financial assistance for Sarah Spears, a student and member of the Southwest Chapter who will be attending SVP and needs some help.

Martha Hayden noted that certification records throughout the state organization remain a mess and urged the chapters to submit reports on members who have passed Level 1 and Level 2 certification courses/exams. Certificates are available for members who have passed courses.

Reports were made by each chapter on activities during the past two years.

A discussion was held on the existing by-laws of UFOP, which made it impossible to appoint or elect a vice president to assist Cliff Green during the past year. The prior by-laws required that all elections take place at the annual meeting, but since an annual meeting was not held in 2006, Cliff ended up running the organization alone and there was no vice president to succeed him as president for 2007-08. The following by-laws changes were approved by the chapter officers and were then accepted unanimously by the general membership at the following evening's banquet:

By-laws change #1:

In the event that a vacancy occurs in the state officers slate, the existing state officers will have the authority to appoint an interim person for the vacant office until the next annual meeting, at which point new officers will be elected for the coming year.

By-laws change #2:

In the event that an annual meeting does not occur, the chapters that are slated to provide state officers will provide a slate of nominees that will be voted on by individual chapters during the next regular meetings of those chapters. Results will be tallied and returned to the state adviser's office.

Cliff Green was recognized for his intense efforts in putting together the 2007 annual meeting, then the business meeting was adjourned.

At the general meeting which was held in conjunction with the banquet on Saturday night, nominations were held for state president and vice president. Elaine Jones volunteered for the office of state president; Linda Baldazzi of the Southwest chapter was nominated for vice president. Both were elected by unanimous vote (Linda Baldazzi was not present at the meeting but accepted the post the following week).

It was noted that although the normal rotation of annual meetings should have placed the 2009 meeting in Vernal with the Uinta Basin chapter, UFOP has a unique opportunity to pair up with the 2009 Conference on Fossil Resources that will be held in St. George in April 2009. It was unanimously decided that the 2009 meeting will be operated by the Southwest chapter, and the 2010 meeting will be run by the Uinta Basin chapter.

Submitted by: Elaine Jones, UFOP statewide president 2007-08