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Minutes
- January 11, 2002
Utah Geological Survey Board Meeting BOARD OF THE UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY MEETING MINUTES AttendanceBoard Members:
Staff:
Guests:
Chair Robert Robison called the meeting of the Board of the Utah Geological Survey to order at 8:30 a.m. INTRODUCTION OF NEW STAFF Director Rick Allis introduced new staff members to the Board. They are: Don DeBlieux, paleontologist/preparator, Environmental Sciences Program; Matt Butler, GIS Analyst, ESP; Becky Wilford, secretary/receptionist; and Jason Kneedy, temporary geologist, ESP. Director Allis also introduced Jo Lynn Campbell who was recently selected at the UGS Employee of the Year. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Charles Semborski made the motion to approve the minutes of the August 10, 2001, meeting of the Board of the Utah Geological Survey as amended. Deedee O'Brien seconded the motion, and the motion carried unanimously. ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR Ms. O'Brien made the motion that Robert Robison be re-elected as chair, Ronald Bruhn seconded, and the motion carried unanimously. Ms. O'Brien made the motion that Charles Semborski be re-elected as vice-chair, Craig Nelson seconded, and the motion carried unanimously. DIRECTOR'S REPORT Director Allis informed the Board that Robert Morgan has been appointed to fill Kathleen Clarke's position as executive director. He will join the meeting later to meet the Board members. Financial Position Director Allis reported that mineral-lease revenues were extremely high last fiscal year. We were able to spend some of it on much-needed equipment. However, most of the excess mineral-lease funds were put into the carry-forward balance. As of July, it was already evident that state revenues were down and the first round of budget hold backs were identified by the governor's office. We immediately tightened our spending and identified budget hold backs of 2.5 percent. In November, the second round of budget cuts was identified (another 2.5 percent). The legislature has recommended that UGS hold back $125,000, which is about $25,000 greater than the governor's budget request. The UGS is already managing towards that level of cutbacks. Associate Director John Kingsley distributed a copy of the budget figures through December which shows the current UGS operating budget with the two rounds of budget cuts built in. To date, our spending is approximately 15 percent under budget. Although we have tightened our spending, we will more than likely cut into our carry-forward funds to balance the budget and bring the carry-forward down to approximately $400,000. The program managers have been asked to closely monitor project expenses and to ensure that staff are billing appropriately to grants and contracts. We are making a big effort to secure federal grants to help off-set loss of grants from other sources. Director Allis feels we have a handle on the budget and will continue to monitor the UGS financial position carefully and keep the Board members informed. Because of a lawsuit against the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, a federal judge has shutdown the Department of Interior's Internet sites until some internal security problems can be fixed. Because of this, mineral-lease revenues have not been distributed since October. Robert Morgan, newly appointed DNR Executive Director, joined the meeting briefly and was introduced to the UGS Board members. Mr. Morgan has worked for state for approximately 32 years, and was most recently the state engineer/director of the Division of Water Rights. Director Allis reported that the Survey has an approximately 80-90 percent success rate in securing grants. The Environmental Sciences Program is very dependant on contracts and grants, and has been very successful in securing grants for its program. STATEMAP is the biggest grant the Survey secures. Director Allis was on the review panel for the recent STATEMAP proposal review. Based on the information he learned during that process, the Survey has begun a review of how we develop our STATEMAP proposal. There is a possibility of utilizing other Survey staff beyond the mapping program for STATEMAP projects. Director Allis wants to look towards securing $300,000 in STATEMAP funds, which requires a 50-50 match, for a total of a $600,000 proposal. Staffing Issues Director Allis informed the Board that because of the budget hold backs the recruitment for the remote sensing geologist has been halted. There were also problems in getting well-qualified candidates to apply mainly based on the low salary. The governor's office has not instituted a hiring freeze. State agencies can hire who they need as long as there is funding available. Legislative Update Deputy Director Kimm Harty distributed copies of the new geologist licensure bill (HB 96) to the Board members. Survey staff have reviewed it and have a couple of concerns that we will address. The main concern is requiring that any geologic publication or report needs to be stamped with the licensed geologist's seal. That would mean that any article a geologist submits to a journal would need to be stamped. Representative Ralph Becker is sponsoring the bill. Representative LaMont Tyler is co-sponsoring the bill. Senator Leonard Blackham will be filing another boxcar mineral lease bill. Ms. Harty has discussed the bill with Mark Walsh, from the Utah Association of Counties, and he told her that it doesn't negatively affect the Survey. UGS Publications A list of UGS publications for the 2001 was included in the packet. Mr. Church requested a list of upcoming items that will be published be given at each Board meeting. ACTION ITEMS Review and Approval of 2002 Membership and Licensure Plan Director Allis briefed the Board about the 2002 membership and licensure plan. It was presented to the Board for their approval. Mr. Nelson made the motion to accept the plan, Dr. Bruhn seconded, and the motion carried unanimously. Preproposal $10,000 Cost Share Limit Director Allis reminded the Board that they approved the policy to review all proposals being submitted for a UGS cost-share of $10,000 or more. He feels that the $10,000 amount is too low and feels that it should be higher. After a discussion, Mr. Nelson made the motion to modify the Board policy to increase the amount of Board-required review to $20,000 UGS cost-share on projects and to receive e-mail notifications for all preproposals. Mr. Semborski seconded, and the motion carried unanimously. DISCUSSION ITEMS UGS Work for SITLA Bryce Tripp, senior scientist, Energy and Mineral Resources program, described to the Board the mineral resource (metallic and non-metallic) evaluation that the E&M program is working on for the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. The project is in the second year of a three-year project evaluating 8,086 SITLA tracts state-wide. The evaluation has been completed for 11 counties in the state. The evaluation process consists of a geologist collecting all of the available data, including maps and reports, and completing an evaluation form that identifies the resources on the tract. The data are entered into a spreadsheet program, reviewed, and then sent to SITLA for their review. Some field work is being done as part of the project. This data will be used by SITLA staff to produce mineral potential maps. Mr. Faddies commented that SITLA is very happy with the work UGS is doing on the project. The data are already being used by SITLA. Mr. Faddies indicated that another subject that needs to be evaluated on state lands is paleontology. Mr. Faddies commended Bryce Tripp and Bob Gloyn for their work on this project. Staff Awards Director Allis reported that we have proceeded with incentive awards and employee of the year award. Although the incentive awards selection committee has met and made their recommendations, DNR administration has put a freeze on incentive awards. However, there is a provision in state human resource rules that allows a director to give a non-documented incentive award for less than $100. Director Allis, with concurrence from the DNR Human Resource Director, has given his approval to award $99 to those employees who were selected to receive an incentive award. After the freeze on incentive awards has been lifted, the UGS intends to award the remaining amount of each incentive award. The DNR executive director gave his approval to award the employee of the year award. Jo Lynn Campbell was selected to receive the award in recognition of her dedicated, above and beyond service to the UGS during this past year; including her flexibility, ethics, competency, and her genuine enthusiasm for her work. She was given the full monetary amount of the award. Director Allis asked the Board for the approval to proceed with the Crawford Award. The Board concurred and nominations will be given to the Board for their review and selection at their April meeting. 2002 BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE Mr. Nelson made the motion to approve the schedule of Board meeting dates [April 12, June 21, September 27-29 (field trip), 2002, and January 10, 2003], Dr. Bruhn seconded. Motion carried unanimously. ANNOUNCEMENTS/MISCELLANEOUS Director Allis informed the Board that there is an open house for Kathleen Clarke on January 18, from 1-3 p.m. ADJOURNMENT Dr. Bruhn made the motion to adjourn the meeting of the Board of the Utah Geological Survey. Stephen Church seconded, and the motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 11:25 a.m. |