CGU-Geodesy Section General Meeting

Monday 17 May 2004

Room 516b, Palais des Congres de Montreal

 

List of Participants:

Spiros Pagiatakis (SP) – pagiatakis@yorku.ca

Calvin Klatt (CK) – cklatt@nrcan.gc.ca

Rod Blais (RB) – blais@ucalgary.ca

Marcelo Santos (MS) – msantos@unb.ca

Nico Sneeuw (NS) – sneeuw@ucalgary.ca

Herb Dragert (HD) – dragert@pgc.nrcan.gc.ca

Peter Dare (PD) – dare@unb.ca

Hugh Geiger – geiger@ucalgary.ca

Christian Malmquistcmalmaqui@ucalgary.ca

Raymond Tsoirtsoi@ugalgary.ca

Chen Xuxuc@ugalgary.ca

Weigelt Mathias – wlbweige@ucalgary.ca

Mazhar Rafiq – m87i1@unb.ca

Robert Kingdon – wtetp@unb.ca

Rodrigo Leandro – r.leandro@unb.ca

Mohamed El Habiby – mmelhabi@ucalgary.ca

 

Meeting starts at 9:00AM

 

Item 1: Acceptance of Agenda

1-     Acceptance of the agenda (S. Pagiatakis)

2-     Approval of minutes of 12 May 2003 General Meeting (S. Pagiatakis)

3-     Business arising (S. Pagiatakis)

4-     Bylaws change (C. Klatt)

5-     Call for nominations (C. Klatt)

6-     Elections (C. Klatt)

7-     Secretariat report (M. Santos)

8-     Treasurer’s report (R. Blais)

9-     CGU Newsletter

10- Workshops and projects (H. Dragert)

11- New Committees (S. Pagiatakis)

12- Future meetings (S. Pagiatakis)

13- Student paper awards (M. Santos)

14- Other business (S. Pagiatakis)

15- Adjourn

 

KC move seconded by RB. Minutes approved.

 

Item 2:  Approval of minutes of 12 May 2003 Executive Meeting

 

RB move seconded by KC. Minutes approved.

 

Item 3: Business arising

 

The following action items from the 2003 Executive Meeting were discussed:

 

Workshops:

 

8th Geoid Workshop took place yesterday. To be held again next CGU in 2005.

 

No SST Workshop was held this year. The idea is to have a SST Workshop during the CGU Meeting in 2005.

 

Other Workshops to be held depending on approval of GEOIDE funded projects. Idea is to have sessions before the Workshops. Use CGU Meetings as meeting opportunity or to have Workshop at UofC the day after the CGU meeting.

 

Short Courses:

 

None has been organized for this year. Course on GPR (ground penetrating radar) were held in past CGU meetings with success. A need for basic courses on GPS and how to integrate its output into maps seems to be a need for the petroleum industry. GSD has been working on a guide called “GPS Positioning in Canada”. A basic course on GPS would be dedicated to geoscientists and users in general, focusing on their applications and needs, and on how to integrate positions into GIS databases.

ACTION: RB to contact informally user groups linked to exploration geophysics and report to the executive; CK to contact Pierre Sauve (GSD).

 

Other short courses may be offered depending on the needs of the community in general.

ACTION: members of executive to suggest a list of possible short courses until September the 1st. The compiled list will be placed on the CGU web

 

Item 4: Bylaws change

 

A motion to amend the By-Laws has been proposed. It allows any member of the executive, including the president, to serve for a second term. The motion reads:

 

The current By-laws read:

2. Term of Office: A Term-of-Office shall be two years duration without honorarium.  All Executive officers shall be elected to one term-of-office.  The President is not eligible for re-election.  Any other officer shall be eligible for re-election for no more than two consecutive terms in the same office, except the Treasurer who may serve for one additional term.  If the Office of President becomes vacant, the Vice-President will assume that office.  If the Vice-President is unable to do so, the Executive can appoint an eligible member for the balance of the term.  If any other executive position becomes vacant, the remaining Executive can appoint an eligible member for the balance of the term.  If all executive positions become vacant the Union executive shall appoint an interim President, Secretary and Treasurer until the next scheduled election of Executive officers.

Suggested to change to:

2. Term of Office: A Term-of-Office shall be two years duration without honorarium.  All Executive officers shall be elected to one term-of-office.  Any officer shall be eligible for re-election for no more than two consecutive terms in the same office, except the Treasurer who may serve for one additional term.  If the Office of President becomes vacant, the Vice-President will assume that office.  If the Vice-President is unable to do so, the Executive can appoint an eligible member for the balance of the term.  If any other executive position becomes vacant, the remaining Executive can appoint an eligible member for the balance of the term.  If all executive positions become vacant the Union executive shall appoint an interim President, Secretary and Treasurer until the next scheduled election of Executive officers.

Motion moved by HD, seconded by KC. Motion approved.

 

Item 5: Call for nominations

 

The Bylaws state that a Nominating Committee shall be formed composed of the President and two past-Presidents. Since there is no past-President, the Nominating Committee was formed composed by the current Spiros Pagiatakis, Antony Lambert and Petr Vanicek. No formal nomination was made to the nomination committee.

 

Item 6: Election

 

The current members of the executive agree in serving for another term. They are all re-elected. The Executive for 2004/2006 is:

President:                     S. Pagiatakis (York University)

Vice President: C. Klatt (NRCan, Geodetic Survey)

Secretary:                     M. Santos (University of New Brunswick)

Treasurer:                     R. Blais (University of Calgary)

Members-at-Large:      H. Dragert (NRCan, Geological Survey)

                                                N. Sneeuw (University of Calgary)

 

Item 7: Secretariat report

 

GS homepage: update with report from IVS Meeting. Send current files to RB to add to CGU archives.

 

Membership: GS has currently 20 members. Compare current e-mail list with CGU membership. ACTION: increase membership by contacting possible members.

 

There has been a contact with the International Association of Geodesy to have a link from its homepage to the GS one.

 

Item 8: Treasurer’s report

 

CGU Executive has approved the transfer of 500$ to GS. There is a possibility to have more funds depending on report from CGU re-allocation committee.

 

Item 9: CGU Newsletter

 

CGU Newsletter prone to suffer changes, possible changes includes moving to electronic versions. Decision has not been made.

 

The GS must be made itself more visible, with reports showing in all Newsletters. Possible news include advertising future activities and meeting, reports from past activities and meetings,

ACTION: request news.

 

Item 10: Workshops and projects

 

SP says that the GS should promote not only Workshops but also projects. The GS can mirror the IAG in the sense of setting up terms of reference for projects. If projects involve other groups the GS can suggest it to the CGU.

HD asks is there is funding available for hosting a Workshop to discuss possible projects. RB says that the CGU could fund such an initiative, depending on a good proposal.

Possible projects the GS can promote are EarthScope and HPC High Performance Computer.

 

Item 11: New committees

 

The GS can form committees for various purposes, such as to study particular topics.

 

Item 12: Future meetings

 

Next CGU Meeting, in 2006, will take place in Banff.

 

For 2006, there is the possibility to have a Joint Meeting with CMOS. The decision will be made the next month. Other possibilities include have it in Banff, or in Fredericton.

 

Item 13: Other business

 

Student paper competition: an awarding Committee is composed of Calvin Klatt (chair) Herb Dragert, Peter Dare, Chris Kotsakis, Jianling Huang and Marc Veronneau.

 

Item 14: Other business

 

Item 15: Adjourn

 

Motion to adjourn presented by KC and seconded by NS. Motion approved.