MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
ASAE Annual International Meeting
Sacramento, CA - July 29 & August 2, 2001

Minutes

James L. Steele, presiding

July 29, 2001

James Steele, Chair Present
Nolan Clark, Vice Chair Present
Ken Lomax, District 1 Rep. Present
David Beasley, District 2 Rep Present
John Reid, District 3 Rep. Present
Dennis Larson, District 4 Rep. Present
Gary Anderson, District 5 Rep. Present
John Cundiff, Awards Committee Rep. Present
Dennis Buffington, Education Rep. Absent
Michael Delwiche, BE Rep. Absent
Saied Mostaghimi, SW Rep Present
Conley Hansen, FPEI Rep. Absent
Steven Hoff, SE Rep. Absent
Robert Graves, PEI Rep. Absent
Scott Shearer, PM Rep. Absent
Jeremiah Davis, Preprofessional Rep. Present
Ted Tyson, Section Steering Committee Rep. Absent
Michael Ngadi, CSAE/SCGR Rep. Present
Wayne Coates, International Commission Rep. Absent
Marilyn Dumolien, BOT Liaison Present
Abdel Ghaly, BOT Liaison Absent
Lori Marsh, BOT Liaison Absent
Mark Crossley, Secretary Present

Guests: Harmon Towne, Wayne Skaggs, Kelly Detra, Neil Detra, Billy Lawson, Russell Persyn, David Palmer, Vance Morey, Gary Bubenzer, Tina Schultz, Dolores Landeck & Mark Zielke

The meeting was called to order at 1:35 p.m. and introductions of the attendees were made.

Seat New MDC Members
P-120 Student Organizations Committee chaired by Russell Persyn is in the process of revising their bylaws and has requested a seat on the MDC. In consideration of this request, it was decided that P-120 needs to first approve their bylaws and them the MDC would grant the Committee representation on the Council. The following motion was offered:

Motion: To seat the chair of P-120 Student Organizations Committee pending approval of there revised bylaws. Seconded and passed.

Confirmation of Quorum Present
MDC bylaws state that there must be a quorum of no less that 40% of Council members present in order to conduct MDC business. There was a quorum present.

Review of Agenda
The agendas for both MDC meetings were then reviewed. After review, the following motion was offered:

Motion: To accept the agenda as written. Seconded and passed.

Report from ASAE President & Executive Vice-President
This item will be deferred until later in the agenda.

Minutes of the July 9 & 13, 2000 and April 13, 2001 Meetings
After review of the minutes (Attachment A) from the July 9 & 13, 2000 meetings in Milwaukee and the April 13, 2001 conference call, the following motion was offered:

Motion: To approve the minutes as written. Seconded and passed.

Results of E-Mail Ballots for the Period 7/14/00 - 7/28/01
Two e-mail ballots were put before the MDC during this period. One to conceptually approve and support the Grass Roots funding proposal as an opportunity to provide incentive funding for all ASAE sections. And the other to approve the addition of career services as offered by BrassRing as a member benefit. Both were approved.

University of Missouri Student Branch Naming Issue
This item was deferred until the meeting on 8/2.

Industry Outreach Program Update
Wayne Maley and Russ Hahn gave an overview of the progress on this program to date. The main purpose of the outreach program is to strengthen industry involvement in ASAE. Wayne and Russ recently met with 14 agricultural-related industries in the greater Sacramento area including agricultural equipment manufacturers, engineering firms and food processors. Overall, the feedback was good and they found that many firms were standards users. I was agreed that these visits are excellent for awareness of ASAE. They will work with sections to identify future firms they should be visiting.

Grass Roots Section Funding Update
David Palmer overviewed the status of the program to date. The program, in its current form, would enable sections to obtain a grant from the ASAE Foundation to assist with local section activities such as bringing in a section speaking or supporting administrative costs associated with a fundraiser. If the section makes a profit on the event, they would be expected to pay the money back to the Foundation. If not, the monies would be forgiven. The Membership Development Council (MDC) approved the concept of the program in December of 2000 as long as the wording was changed to reflect that the grant would not have to be repaid by the section. The revised program proposal was sent to the Foundation in December 2000. The Foundation rejected the MDC's revisions and the program proposal currently remains with the Foundation. Once agreement can be reached on the wording of the proposal, the Foundation will be ready to accept proposals from sections.

Student Scholarship Fund Update
The ASAE Foundation requested the establishment of an undergraduate scholarship fund, which when endowed at $20,000 would allow for disbursements of $1,000 per year for 20 years. There is approximately $13,300 in the fund to date and it is hoped that proceeds from the ASAE Foundation silent auction will make up the balance and endow the scholarship fund. Everyone was urged to stop by the silent auction and make a bid.

Visit From Harmon Towne & Wayne Skaggs
Harmon Towne began by thanking the MDC and headquarters staff for the great accomplishments this past year in the areas of recruitment and retention. He stressed the need for increased industry participation and applauded the efforts of Russ Hahn and Wayne Maley on the Industry Outreach Program.

Harmon also discussed the impending dues increase. He urged everyone to attend the business meeting and hear the recommendations of the Dues Committee on a dues increase for 2002. He thanked everyone for their input in this important process.

Wayne Skaggs also echoed Harmon's thoughts and thanked the MDC for their work in the past and said he looks forward to working with them over the next year. He then brought up ASAE's most important strategic goal for 2002 - growth of the Society. This is directly related to the addition and improvement of member benefits. With the advent of the technical library and other Web-related benefits, the potential for growth is strong.

He then discussed the Legacy Fund available through the Foundation. This fund has been established to raise money so that historical technical materials may be scanned and put on the ASAE technical library. $200,000 would enable ASAE to put the last 20 years worth of technical materials online. The University of Illinois alone has raised $6,000 - enough to put all 2000 technical publications online. Wayne plans to challenge all members to raise monies for this important cause at the awards luncheon.

ASAE Budget & The MDC Budget
Nolan Clark began the discussion by introducing Treasurer Gary Bubenzer. Gary gave an overview of the Society budget and stressed the fact that we are currently facing another year of deficit budgets. If the dues increase is implemented for 2002, this will help, but there is still work to be done. He thanked the MDC for working with the Finance Committee to streamline the budget as much as possible.

Nolan then gave an overview of the MDC portion of the budget (Attachment B). He stated that the MDC is responsible for budgeting in three areas: Membership Development, Member Services & Professional Development. These areas represent roughly $200,000 of the overall 1.2 million budget. He then outlined key expense items in each of the three areas and pointed out that there are quite a few areas where the MDC has little control over expenses. For those items that can be controlled, the MDC must be careful where they make cuts as there is a ripple effect, which could conceivably effect member benefits and programs. He further remarked that the budget process is a yearlong one and the MDC budget, which is approved in Sacramento, is not necessarily final.
P-161 Student Environmental Design Competition Budget Addition
Russell Persyn, chair of P-161 put forth a request that the MDC provide baseline funding of $3,500 to ensure the continuation of the Student Environmental Design Competition (Attachment C). He stated that there is approximately $9,000 remaining from their original Initiative Fund proposal and funds left from a Foundation award last year. He questioned whether or not that would carry over for next year's competition. He felt that if these funds did indeed carry over, then they would not need funding in the MDC budget. Nolan will check with the Foundation and report back at Thursday's meeting. Because this is a preprofessional/student competition, it was suggested that it needs to be funded through the Foundation like the other preprofessional/student competitions.

P-126 Quarter Scale Competition Budget
See Attachment D . Please note that the budget for the 2002 competition is predicted to make a profit for the first time since the event started.

P-204 Engineering & Technology Accreditation Budget Request
Vance Morey from P-204 overviewed the request before the MDC (Attachment E). They are asking for funding this year and most likely years following to fund visits for ABET and EAC training to cover travel and meal expenses. It was suggested that PEI might be interested in funding this project and they may be willing to fund such a project. With that, the following motion was presented:

Motion: Fund three visits for ABET and one for EAC training per year for travel and meal expenses to be included in the MDC budget for 2002 with the understanding that the MDC will request funds from PEI to cover these expenses. Seconded and passed.

Proposed Dues Increase/Dues Committee Report
Fred Payne, chair of the Dues Committee gave an overview of the composition of the Committee and the purpose for its creation. After much research, the Committee came to the conclusion in their June report to the Board of Trustees (Attachment F), that a dues increase was needed for 2002. The reasons behind the proposed dues increase included adjustments for inflation; lack of income due to the severe decline in history book sales; recent reductions in the restricted reserve due to stock market fluctuations; and a dramatic increase in member benefits due to electronic initiatives. After further discussion, the following motion was presented:

Motion: The MDC endorses the recommendation of the Dues Committee for a dues increase for 2002. Seconded and passed.

Life Membership Promotion
It was reported that life membership was being promoted at membership booth in the registration area of the Sacramento Convention Center. An e-mail blast was sent to all eligible meeting attendees a week prior to the start of the meeting urging them to stop by the membership booth so their life member dues could be calculated for them.

Meeting adjourned 4:00 p.m.

Membership Development Council Meeting
August 2, 2001

James Steele, Chair Present
Nolan Clark, Vice Chair Present
Ken Lomax, District 1 Rep. Present
David Beasley, District 2 Rep Present
John Reid, District 3 Rep. Present
Dennis Larson, District 4 Rep. Absent
Gary Anderson, District 5 Rep. Present
John Cundiff, Awards Committee Rep. Present
Dennis Buffington, Education Rep. Absent
Michael Delwiche, BE Rep. Absent
Saied Mostaghimi, SW Rep Present
Conley Hansen, FPEI Rep. Present
Steven Hoff, SE Rep. Absent
Robert Graves, PEI Rep. Absent
Scott Shearer, PM Rep. Absent
Jeremiah Davis, Preprofessional Rep. Present
Ted Tyson, Section Steering Committee Rep. Absent
Michael Ngadi, CSAE/SCGR Rep. Absent
Wayne Coates, International Commission Rep. Absent
Marilyn Dumolien, BOT Liaison Present
Abdel Ghaly, BOT Liaison Absent
Lori Marsh, BOT Liaison Absent
Mark Crossley, Secretary Present

Guests: Kelly Detra, Neil Detra, Russell Persyn, Chad Yagow, John Miles, Curt Weller, Lyle Stephens, Dolores Landeck & Mark Zielke

The meeting was called to order at 8:05 a.m. and introductions of the attendees were made.

University of Missouri Student Branch Naming Issue
John Reid reported that the University of Missouri's academic program has changed names from an agricultural engineering to a biosystems focus and the student branch would like to change the name of their student branch to reflect this change. It was decided that ASAE needs to stay out of this and let them deal with it on their own. Melissa Moore will be visiting with them to further assess the situation. The recommendation of the MDC was to table this issue at this time.

P-161 Student Environmental Design Competition Budget Request Update
As an update from Sunday's meeting, it was determined that $7,000 in funding for the Competition is earmarked from the Foundation for 2001. There is also $9,000 remaining from the Initiative Fund to be used for the 2002 Competition. Since the Competition was sufficiently funded for 2001 and there is enough funding for 2002, the original $3,500 request from P-161 from the MDC is not needed. It was also suggested that the Competition may wish to seek avenues for long-term funding via the ASAE Foundation or the Quarter Scale budget model.

Electronic Dues Collection
The plan is for there to be a vehicle by which members may pay their dues electronically through the ASAE Web site for dues year 2002. A version of this is in development and looks promising to date. At this point ASAE is on track for electronic dues collection available beginning October 2001 for dues year 2002. The MDC will be kept abreast of developments in the online dues invoice.

Life Member Dues Update
Since the beginning of the meeting, 22 people paid their life member dues. The plan is to market to everyone else who is eligible for life membership after the meeting in late August. Members may calculate their own life member dues on the ASAE Web site.

PE Licensure Fund Creation
Jim Steele reported that the Foundation has been approached by a member who would like to establish a fund to contribute to licensure expenses through P-414 Engineering Registration Committee. Jim has drafted a proposal after having met with the prospective donor. The proposal is currently in the draft stage and needs additional work. Apparently, there is a commitment to raise the fund balance to $20,000 within the next couple of years. The Foundation would endow it at this point - $1,000 per year for 20 years. Jim is working with PEI on this. The Foundation made a motion at their meeting yesterday to establish this fund.

The question was then raised by P-414 chair Curt Weller as to exactly where P-414 can go for funding. PEI has expressed that they are not interested in supporting accreditation issues in the past and initiative funding can be difficult to obtain. This issue needs further investigation.

Quarter Scale Initiative Fund Proposal
P-126 Quarter Scale Tractor Student Design Competition presented a proposal to acquire funding for the purchase of display and promotional materials to outfit a walk-through trailer to take to farm shows, schools and other related events. See Attachment F for further details. They are looking for funding for two display booths and graphics for the outside of the trailer for a total request of $20,189. This would not only benefit the Quarter Scale Competition, but would create awareness for ASAE in general. With no further discussion, the following motion was made:

Motion: To lend support of the Quarter Scale proposal and send it to the Foundation. Seconded and passed.

Teaching Learning Network Initiative Fund Proposal
ASAE was recently approached by the Teaching Learning Network (TLN) and is being considered for the subject of one installment of a public television series currently in production. (Attachment G) The new series "Bridge to One World" will focus on various organizations that make substantial contributions to our quality of life. They would like to devote one half-hour segment to ASAE and agricultural engineering. While to overall budget to produce this segment is over $400,000, TLN is asking that we front a total of $63,500. Once produced, ASAE would have unlimited rights to show the segment via videotape. This would be a great tool for recruitment and marketing of ASAE and agricultural engineering in general. All agreed that this is a tremendous opportunity and it was decided that Dolores Landeck should seek additional funding sources as well. The following motion was made:

Motion: To endorse the TLN proposal and send it along to the Foundation for funding consideration.

Preprofessional Council Bylaws Revision
The Preprofessional Council has revised their bylaws (Attachment H) and is seeking the approval of the MDC. Earlier this week, the Council approved the bylaws changes. Once approved by the MDC, they will go to the student branches for approval. The following motion was made:

Motion: To approve and accept the revisions to the Preprofessional Council bylaws.

Discussion followed with objection raised to the word "international" used throughout the document. It was pointed out that we need to be careful when using "international" when we really don't mean it.

Amendment to the Motion: Drop the word "international" throughout the document. Seconded. Motion defeated.

With that, the original motion was brought forth:

Motion: To approve and accept the revisions to the Preprofessional Council bylaws. Seconded and passed.

P-122 Graduate Student Research Award Committee
The bylaws and rules for a new Graduate Student Research Award (Committee P-122) were presented for consideration and approval. They have been approved by M-102 Awards Coordinating Committee and are now being brought before the MDC. Due to time constraints, the MDC did not have a chance to review these documents and therefore, could not vote on their approval. A motion was made to approve the creation of this competition, but it was tabled until further review of the bylaws and rules could be conducted by the MDC.

International Membership Promotion Update
The International Membership Promotion is going well with approximately 32 members taking advantage of reduced dues for e-mail-only memberships. For a breakdown of where the members are from, please see Attachment I.

CAST Request to Add Membership Application to ASAE Invoice
CAST has made a request that they include their membership application with the ASAE invoice set to go out this October. It was the firm decision of the MDC that we not do this. The dues invoice needs to stand on it's own with nothing detracting from it. The following motion was made:

Motion: The MDC will not add the membership application from CAST to the ASAE invoice. Seconded and passed.

Bylaws Revision Recommendation for M-112 Massey-Ferguson Gold Medal Committee
It was quickly decided that the MDC meeting was not the appropriate venue to discuss this matter. It will be further discussed with the chair of M-102 Awards Coordinating Committee.

Reports
Dues to time constraints, reports will be distributed with the minutes.

-Headquarters Attachment J
-Awards Attachment K
-District #1 Attachment L
-District #2 No report
-District #3 No report
-District #4 No report
-District #5 No report
-Education No report
-International Attachment M
-Section Steering Attachment N
-Preprofessionals No Report
-BOT Liaisions No report

MDC Leadership Citation Presentation
Jim Steele announced that Stan Weeks is being present with a Leadership Citation for all of his hard work with the MDC, the budget and other issues over the year. Stan could not be at the meeting, so Jim will send him his award.

Recognition of Outgoing Council Members
Jim also gave thanks to those members who were leaving the Council. They were presented with token gifts for their efforts.

Nolan Clark also recognized Jim Steele for his efforts as chair of the MDC over the past two years with a gift as well.

Organization of the MDC for 2001-2002 and Schedule for Council Meetings
Nolan Clark, as new chair of the MDC for 2001-2003, handed out two sheets: one outlining standing committee assignments and a schedule of MDC meetings for 2001-2002 (Attachment O); and the other a list of his goals for the upcoming year (Attachment P).

With no further business before the MDC, the meeting adjourned at 10:10 a.m.