When an AAPG annual meeting is held in
June one year and in March the next, the intervening business year
is obviously shortened by three months. This was one of those years.
Thanks to the rapid response of the volunteers serving
on our House of Delegates' committees, however, we have completed
the business at hand and are prepared to address those issues at
the upcoming HoD meeting in Houston.
Over the past several years, the HoD has made decisions
on a large number of legislative and internal issues. The fact that
the number of issues before us today is somewhat less than at any
recent meeting indicates to me that the organization is at present
settling into the changes made as a result of those aforementioned
decisions.
Of course, this does not mean that the AAPG is now
a static entity. On the contrary, the AAPG is a vibrant, ever-changing
professional association responsive to the needs of its members.
This may well be the last meeting in which we hear or
use the acronym "COCBAP."
As you will no doubt recall, the Executive Committee
created an Ad Hoc Committee on Constitution and Bylaw Amendment
Process (COCBAP) on March 1, 1998. At first the issues were very
divisive and many heated discussions ensued concerning the merits
of each.
You'll recall that last year in Denver, the House
defeated the COCBAP3 Resolution and then approved the Constitution
and Bylaws Committee's COCBAP2 Resolution to formalize a mechanism
through which to obtain comments from each of the three governing
bodies on amendments affecting any one of them.
This mechanism already had been implemented in spirit
during the prior two years in deliberations among the Advisory Council
and HoD, and it has worked beautifully. Communication and cooperation
are alive and well.
As previously noted, AAPG is a vibrant, ever-changing
organization, and the HoD plays an active role in ensuring its responsiveness
to the membership.
Communication is the key to that responsiveness.
Your officers, committee chairs and committee members
have communicated with all of you this year through Delegates' Breakfasts,
The Delegates' Voice and via the HoD Forum on the AAPG Web site.
The breakfasts provide opportunity for face-to-face meetings, but
are too brief to get to the heart of legislation and issues. The
DV is today's most effective means of communication.
In addition, both last year and this, your officers
and committee chairs have posted articles on the Forum as another
means of addressing the issues and putting information before you,
the Delegates, in a faster, more timely manner.
Please note — AAPG is moving at an ever increasing
and expanding pace into the electronic future. The Web
site changes daily, and in the very near future will contain
a one-stop online shopping center for digital geo-scientific data
with key word and GIS search capabilities.
With that in mind, I urge you to become more familiar
with the Web site — and with the Forum in particular, with its
interactive design for delegate input on matters of concern.
Most matters before the House will be concluded at
the meeting on March 10. There are, however, several ongoing issues
that have not come to fruition this year, which deserve future consideration.
➤
The Resolutions Committee was asked to review affiliated
society delegate representation. It was found that there were 15
affiliated societies with no elected delegates, and seven affiliated
societies were under-represented in their delegate count.
In other words, AAPG members assigned to those societies
were not being fully represented in any legislative process.
The Resolutions Committee sent letters to each of
those affiliated societies notifying them of their respective delegate
deficiencies. A few societies responded and have since corrected
the situation. Other affiliated societies have an opportunity to
add delegates through the current year's election process.
The HoD and the Resolutions Committee should continue
to work with those societies in the effort to reach a full complement
of delegates.
➤
The review of new membership applications is one of the most
important duties required of delegates — but it has become a focus
of some concern.
A delegate from the affiliated society where a new
applicant resides is the logical choice to check out the applicant's
qualifications for AAPG membership. Based on past experience, the
review process for many applicants is unduly long because the delegate
doing the review doesn't act quickly in either the review process
and/or in reporting back to the AAPG staff with a recommendation.
If we are to continue to grow the organization, all
delegates should take this responsibility very seriously and move
the application process along as swiftly as possible in order to
maintain the interest of the applicant.
➤
Although recruiting new members is not an official delegate
duty, who is in a better position to do so than we delegates? Members
of the HoD are leaders of their respective local societies and know
most of the local geologists and earth scientists.
As leaders in both AAPG and in our profession, we
need to approach our fellow geologists and earth scientists and
invite them to apply for AAPG membership.
HoD
Headliners
Delegates will cast their ballots during their meeting
in Houston for new HoD officers. The candidates are:
Chairman-Elect
- George Eynon, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Calgary,
Canada.
- J. Michael Party, Wagner & Brown, Midland, Texas.
Secretary/Treasurer
- Katharine Lee Avary, West Virginia Geological and Economic
Survey, Morgantown,W. Va.
- Ronald L. Grubbs, Garb Grubbs Harris & Associates, Dallas.
Also during the annual meeting, five
members will receive HoD honors and awards . Those to be honored
are:
Honorary Membership Award
- Willard R. Green, Green Energy Resources, Midland, Texas.
Distinguished Member Award
- Jean R. Lemmon, consultant, Tulsa.
- Tom Mairs, consulting geologist, Tulsa.
Long Service Award
- Patrick Daugherty, consultant, Wichita Falls, Texas.
House Certificate of Merit
- Edward D. Dolly, Anschutz Exploration, Denver