Minutes October 2009

DGS EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING

MINUTES

October 6, 2009

The board of directors for the Dallas Geological Society for the term 2009-2010 met at Desperado’s. 

ATTENDANCE

DGS BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

J. Sirman Hollabaugh, President

Patty Abney, First Vice President

Matthew Wilson, Treasurer

Ta Li, Second Vice President

Patrick Lowry, President-Elect

Vince Smith, Secretary

Mark Wilson, Past President

CALL TO ORDER

Sirman called the meeting to order at 5:34 P.M.

CONSIDERATION OF LAST MEETING’S MINUTES

The meeting minutes from the July 28^th and August 24^th board meeting were considered. Ta motioned for acceptance while Patty accepted a second motion.   

CONSIDERATION OF MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS

For review were 9 new membership applications. Ta made a motion to accept the applications and Mark seconded the motion. All members voted in favor. 

TREASURER’S REPORT

The first business item reported by Matt was the reconciliation of the annual golf tournament. Income exceeded expenses by $3,770.36. The excess from the golf tournament will go into the scholarship fund. 

The status of the account balances are in good standing. Total funds in the bank accounts sit at $68,652.72. The total from the cash accounts or CD’s was $50,437.43. Matt noted that an $11,566.64 CD matured June 22^nd. The funds now remain at Prestige earning zero interest. Matt was going to check on current rates for CD’s or other options to rest these funds and then coordinate with Vince and Mike if these were the best available options. 

The September luncheon had 78 in attendance. This total included 59 who RSVP’d, 19 walk-ups. Three students attended. Matt reported the luncheon income exceeded expenses for by $1,014.97. 

Vince motioned to accept the treasurer’s report and Mike seconded the motion. 

UPDATE ON LUNCHEON SPEAKERS

Patty updated the board for luncheon speakers. The November luncheon speaker will be Jerry Lucia from the Bureau of Economic Geology. Mr. Lucia will present his topic on “Locating Remaining Oil in Carbonate Reservoirs: The Reservoir Characterization Problem.” The luncheon will run in conjunction with a core workshop at EMGI. There will be no luncheon in December, but in January, the DGS will pick up with a topic on climate change. The president of Pioneer will speak on climate change. February is a joint meeting with the Geophysical Society. The featured speaker will be David Paddock. 

UPPDATE ON SOUTWEST SECTION

Patty served as the representative of the DGS to speak on the progress of the SWS Convention to be held in May. The keynote speaker will be Dick Stoneburner of Petrohawk. Other speakers at the convention will include Lee Higgins, Creties Jenkies, and Bo Henk. As discussed previously, in lieu of not jointly hosting the annual prospect EXPO, the DGS will share with the Geophysical Society an equal share that they would have received from the EXPO.

UPDATE ON INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS

Mark Larsen informed the board that Greg O’Donnell will present on Pioneer’s Tunisia experience. In November, the international committee will have Alton Brown speak on the Tarim Basin Lower Paleozoic Sequence Stratigraphy. 

UPDATE WEBSITE RELATED ISSUES

The board discussed at length the importance of all the members to have their contact information current.  The only way to contact the DGS members is what is currently on file. In order to reach our members, the board would stress to the members to visit the website and check their contact information. 

Sirman stressed his desire to have more involvement with the local area college student. The local levels of higher learning have student chapters, yet do not know how the DGS would like to help them or how they can help the DGS. Sirman wishes the students have a more active involvement within the society by contributing to the website. They would have their own section and could reach out to the other local geology students. 

Sirman also mentioned that Pat Gratton will write a column periodically that will be posted on the website. His column will include a bipartisan look at the politics within the energy industry. Patty expressed concern that his view must not be favor one side or the other as it will not be the voice of the DGS as a whole.

The other website issue Sirman discussed was sponsorship. He wanted to designate a certain section of the website to promote patrons. Ta has a database of company logos that could be loaded onto the website once patron donations were received. The donation is for the advancement of the society.

NEW BUSINESS

Charlotte Klenk is the DGS representative who is responsible for the scholarships. The DGS board was advised that the scholarships from the DGS are not well publicized. The only mention of the scholarship is on the website and it was considered to be “hidden” within the site. The board agreed to vocally inform members of the scholarships available to inform the local area geology students. 

The last item of new business was to add an event on the DGS website for the ALS Walk-a-thon. This is to honor a longtime contributor to the society and especially the International Committee, David McDonald. 

Patty made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:46 PM and Mark Larsen seconded the motion.