Southern California URISA
Chapter Board Meeting
March 27, 2002

Lisa Lubeley gave an update on the 2002 California GIS Conference.

She reported on the success of the 2002 California GIS Conference.  It was well attended (~500 professionals) by both public & private folks.  The 2003 Conference Committee members from San Diego were there to help out with any last minute details.  The keynote speakers were good, especially Assemblywoman Debra Bowen who gave an enlightened speech on the importance of access to good GIS data.  The Executive Director of URISA National gave an update on the GIS Certification Proposal.

Dan Henderson is the new 2003 California GIS Conference Chair and he gave an update on the Committee's progress.

Conclusion

He introduced himself and listed his Conference Committee Chairpersons for 2003.  The date is set for Feb. 26-28 at the Palm Springs Convention Center at the Wyndham Hotel.  The Conference committee has met once at the City of Escondido to begin planning for the event.  They prepared a flyer that was included in the 2002 Conference final program....so the word is out.  They will hold their next planning meeting on April 5th at the City of Escondido.

Mike Calandra gave a Treasury Report.

He reported that we the Chapter had received their 2002 Conference Seed Money back from the event.  They also received their share of the Conference funds raised from registrations and vendor exhibits.

Eric Baumann gave an update on the IRS process.

He indicated that we had filed for an inappropriate tax status of 501(c6) and that we need to reapply for 501(c3) status.  The IRS will apply our original tax status application fee to the reapplication at no additional cost.  He informed us that we will reapply in April of this year.  He also needs some information regarding the scholarship program and the original chapter charter.

Ingrid Bruce and Lisa Lubeley reported on the URISA Certified Workshops.

Ingrid informed the group about the Certified Workshop Program and that the Chapter would like to sponsor a free workshop the each section of the Chapter.  Lisa shared that the San Diego workshop on Internet GIS was a great success with over 60 attendees.  The workshop was taught by a professor from Wisconsin University and a GIS Database Specialist from MIT.  The overall feedback was good.  Ingrid suggested that Kern, LA and Orange sections should figure out which workshops they would like and work with her to schedule them.  

Ingrid Bruce reported on the Proposed Chapter Scholarships.

Ingrid Bruce discussed New Board Nominations.

Ingrid Bruce and Tony De La Sota discussed a few New Business issues.

Tony expressed that the LA Section was starting to experience some pressure from other competing interest groups for members and attendance.  It was noted that a similar situation happened in the Inland Empire Section ultimately resulting in a folding of the section.  It was agreed that the Board did not want that to happen again.  t was also mentioned that we may need to centralize those sectional activities to the Chapter level such as registration, web pages, others.  Tony & Laszlo agrred to come back to the next meeting with some ideas on how to jump start the LA Section.  The Board agreed to discuss this further at our next meeting.

Lisa brought up the 2005 Conference in Kern for discussion.

She expressed the issues relating to the last state conference in Kern and the way the proceeds were split between BAAMA, So Cal URISA and Kern Section.  She noted that the agreement was made in light of Kern getting Chapter status.  Since that did not occur, the Board wants to know what the Kern Section intentions are related to the proceeds for the proposed 2005 conference to be held in Kern.

Next Meeting is set for May 22, 2002, at OCTA in Orange County.