Minutes of the High Plains AMS/NWA Chapter Meeting

August 4, 2011

The AMS/NWA High Plains Chapter held a short meeting at the end of the Thursday events of the High Plains Conference, beginning at 4:55 PM and ending at 5:40 PM.  There were 12 Chapter members present, as well as 4 members from the Wichita Chapter attending.

Call to order.  The meeting began with President Chris Foltz/GLD opening the meeting and complimenting the Wichita Chapter on doing such a fine job hosting the Conference. 

Treasurer’s report.  Treasurer Corey King/GID updated us on the Chapter bank accounts.  As of Aug 3rd, we had a ledger balance of $6949.36, with the Jim Johnson Scholarship balance at $2415.00.  That left $4534.36 in our checking account. 

Old Business.  The Not-For-Profit status for our Chapter was updated.  Mike Umscheid/DDC is very near passing the filing process to a local attorney, and when filed with the IRS, there will be a $400 charge. 

The HP15 Conference was held in Wichita at the Marriot Hotel, August 4-6th and was a huge success.  There were about 59 in attendance, and all enjoyed the informational and educational presentations, presented by 4 keynote speakers and 28 other speakers.  Our Friday night banquet was treated to “A Photographer’s Journey: 20 Years of Storm Chasing”, presented by Jim Reed from Wichita.  Good job, Wichita Chapter!
 
New Business.  Our Chapter currently has 39 members.  President Chris Foltz encouraged each member to consider new methods to recruit more members into our Chapter.  Each Forecast office is asked to recruit more of their respective staff – ask them to join and come to our meetings!  Pass on any recruiting ideas to Chris Foltz via email Christopher.Foltz@noaa.gov.  It was noted the way our Chapter’s bank account is set up limits the Chapter Treasurer to be from Nebraska.  Treasurer Corey King was going to research the banking communities in our region, to try to find one that would service all four CWA’s, or at least both states of Nebraska and Kansas.  Our next conference will be held in Hastings, NE, hosted by the Hastings NWS service office.  At this year’s conference, we had NO students enter our Presentation contest.  Anyone with suggestions on how to recruit more college students to participate in our Conference presentations is encouraged to send your ideas to Christopher.Foltz@noaa.gov. Three of our Chapter members, Rick Ewald, Corey King and Scott Bryant, all from GID, provided Incident Decision Support Services (IDSS) to the State of Nebraska Emergency Operations Center in Lincoln, NE during mid-June, in support of the flooding along the Platte River.

The meeting adjourned at 5:40 PM.  The next meeting is planned for Wed, October 12, at 11:30 AM, most likely in Norton, KS.  A teleconference meeting is tentatively set for Wed, Dec 14th.

Chris Foltz, President
Tim Burke, Secretary