Draft Excom Minutes

ESIP Federation Executive Committee Minutes – March 11, 2010

Participants: Karl Benedict, James Frew, Marilyn Kaminski, Chris Lenhardt, Margaret Mooney, Rob Raskin, Annette Schloss, Steve Kempler (guest), Carol Meyer, Brian Rogan

Adoption of Minutes

The meeting was called to order by President Frew at 2:06 PM. Marilyn Kaminski moved to adopt the minutes from February, seconded by Chris Lenhardt. The minutes were approved by acclamation.

ESIP Federation Contributions to GEO's Decision Support Project, Steve Kempler

Steve Kempler gave an overview of the Decision Support projects that Lawrence Friedl is involved with in GEO. GEO is looking for advisors for projects from within the ESIP Federation community. It is possible that there could be funding for these efforts, if the GEO team is successful in finding a match between the proposers and funding agencies. The deadline for submitting full proposals is May 1.

Carol felt that since many people hadn’t read through these proposals, that it might be worth creating an inventory of needed skills. If this work was done up front, more people might become interested. Because of time constraints, it isn’t clear many people would read through all of these proposals. One suggestion was to ask the proposers for specific skills needed when full proposals are submitted in May.

The Executive Committee is supportive of this effort but a path forward is not clearly defined. One approach might be to work on this through some our existing groups. (e.g. Water, Air Quality, Decisions)

Another approach might be to utilize the nascent ESIP Federation skills database. The database structure and interface is in place - additional fields (beyond IT skills) will be added to reflect the broad range of skills within the ESIP Federation and those being sought for the GEO proposals. Several clusters can work on identifying the expertise topics.

It was noted that several ESIP Federation partners were involved with the GEO proposals and others had stepped forward earlier to volunteer their help. It was also noted that it is important to support this project. We should try and populate as many of these proposals as possible.

Carol will follow up with Lawrence and Steve and ask one to join the Products and Services telecon scheduled for next week. There was general agreement to continue the process and engage the ESIP Federation into this worthwhile program.

Constitution and Bylaws Committee Update

The Constitution and Bylaws and Partnership Committees have caucused and agreed that the Constitution and Bylaws Committee will put together a proposal to make changes to the ESIP Federation's governance documents that are impacting its ability to self-govern. One Bylaw provision has been flagged initially to be studied by the Committees and others likely will emerge from their review. The "Simpson provision" would be removed first and then determine what other changes would be needed to remove partners from the rolls.

There have been a number of partners identified who are no long active due to grants no longer being funded or lost interest on their part. The ESIP Federation has changed from it earlier roles and that one goal is to truly define what is a partner. This proposal needs to be ready for discussion at the summer meeting so that partners are aware of the changes. The changes need to be framed so they are not threatening to current membership. A discussion document will be pulled together for the summer meeting.

The Executive Committee noted that this discussion could raise a number of other related issues. It will be important to consult with the early ESIP Federation leaders to ensure that support for the changes can be in place.

Summer Meeting Update

There have been a number of tracks put together including: Water, Teacher Education, Decisions, Data Preservation and, Energy. Air Quality is likely to have a presence too.

There have been plenary speaker invitations issued, including one to Tom Karl. There have been no responses as of yet.

Creative Commons Policy Update

Brian gave a quick review of the work on the Copyright Policy. He made some edits to it and it is ready to go for final review. The Executive Committee is declared done with its review period. The next step is to put out the policy for review to the membership for 30 days.

Update on Education Budget

NOAA is doing a one day Climate Stewards Workshop on Tuesday, July 20. The budget will devote more monies towards teacher support but is dollar neutral from the original proposal. President Frew moved to adopt the revised Education Committee budge, Karl Benedict seconded. The revised budget was approved by acclamation.

Other Business

With no other business, Margaret Mooney moved to adjourn, Karl Benedict seconded. The meeting adjourned at 2:57 PM.