The meeting was held during a lunch time gathering at Gwen’s Hometown Café in Hill City, KS, and began at Noon.  Fifteen current and new members were able to attend, with 3 first time attendees: Jerry Killingsworth and Pat Burke from Goodland, and David Lawrence of the Hastings office.  After nourishment from a delicious meal, we held our meeting.  We suspended our meeting at one point, to allow time for counting ballots of the officer elections.  During this break, our featured speaker Mary Knapp gave an enlightening and entertaining presentation on climate in Kansas and Nebraska.  Mary is the State Climatologist for Kansas, from Kansas State University.  After the regular meeting reconvened, the new officers were installed and introduced, and the meeting adjourned shortly afterwards.

OPENING

President Mike Moritz called the meeting to order at 12:40 pm.  Secretary Tim Burke read the minutes from the Oct. 9th meeting; the minutes were accepted as read.  Tim agreed to record the minutes of this meeting, then distribute them to members, our webmaster and the national organizations.

REPORT OF THE TREASURY

President Mike Moritz gave the treasurer’s report, in lieu of Treasurer Aaron Johnson/GID who was currently working Mid-shifts and unable to attend.  The chapter started with a balance on 10/09/03 of $1302.13.  Total Deposits/Additions through 01/20/04 were $3277.06, and total Expenses/Withdrawals were $2225.10, for a balance of $2354.09.  The main financial activity came from the 7th High Plains conference, which ended with a $75.87 surplus.  This came about through the planning of the budget-conscience Hastings WFO staff, as well as some generosity of one or more of our speakers who did not use all of their travel allowance.  The treasurer’s report was accepted as read.

OLD BUSINESS

The Goodland crew gave a report on the upcoming 8th High Plains Conference.  Bruce Entwistle gave the report of what has been planned thus far.  The conference location will be in Goodland, KS, at the Murray Center of the Northwest Kansas Technical College.  The conference is being planned for Wednesday and Thursday, October 13th and 14th.  Keynote speakers are being lined up, and suggestions for key speakers are still being accepted.  Also, Randy Coleman of the GLD staff is spearheading an effort to design and promote a conference T-shirt.  Anyone with design ideas/talents is encouraged to contact Randy.

Vice President Jared Guyer has volunteered to continue as our chapter’s webmaster, even though he is now working at the SPC in Norman, OK.  A big “THANKS” goes out to Jared for volunteering for this duty.  Ray Burgert/DDC and Brad Schick/GLD will serve as assistant webmasters, as needed.

Past President John Stoppkotte/LBF stated he would work on getting the AMS Minority Scholarship letters completed, and distribute them to the office focal points.  February 20th is the deadline for application.

At 1:00 pm, the meeting broke to allow ballots to be counted for the election of officers.  Ballots were emailed to all current members; members printed out the ballots and voted; sealed the ballots in an envelope; then signed the outside of the envelope.

During this break in the meeting, our guest speaker Mary Knapp gave her presentation.  Her presentation centered around the comparison of 30-year averages of precipitation across Kansas, noting that the latest 30-year “normal” from 1971-2000 was the wettest normal on record.  So, when we compare events to “normal”, we are comparing to the wettest period on record.  Another interesting point made by Mary was from a report on No-Till farming.  That report showed No-Till farming practices have resulted in decreased stream flows, basically due to decreased runoff.  Mary was thanked for her presentation, as well as for all the hard work she does supplying customers with Kansas climatological data.

NEW BUSINESS

After the presentation, the meeting reconvened and the results of the election were announced.  Our officers for 2004 will be: Bruce Entwistle/GLD, President; Tim Burke/DDC, Vice-President;
David Lawrence/GID, Treasurer; Julia Berg/GID, Secretary; and Mike Moritz/GID, Past President.  Congratulations to all new officers.

No other new business was introduced.  However, it was noted the deadline for the AMS Chapter of the Year application, May 1st, was approaching fast, and we need to start gathering data on chapter activities for an impressive application.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 2 pm, followed by a short period of socializing.  The next meeting will likely be held in April, with the time, place and speaker TBD.  Note: Gwen’s Hometown Café is moving, and we will have to check out the new location to see if it can be used as a meeting place in the future.

Respectfully submitted,
Tim Burke