Minutes for meeting of the Iowa County Information Technology (ICIT) group (proposed new ISAC Affiliate Group) on Friday, September 21st, in Des Moines.
In attendance:
Robert Canney, MIS Director (Black Hawk)
Wayne Chizek, GIS Director (Marshall)
Micah Cutler, GIS Administrator (Harrison)
Ken Agey, GIS Coordinator (Polk)
Jim Rice, MIS Director (Cerro Gordo)
Jason Siebrecht, GIS Coordinator (Linn)
Scott Williams, IS Director (Marshall)
Ray Willis, Mapping Specialist (Polk)
Wayne reported that the “introduction” letter had been sent to 95 counties, of those, 38 counties had more than one contact. Scott said that there had been several new people sign up on the IGIC mailing list and that there had been several people updating their accounts. We discussed the issue of mailings that the group might send out to County Supervisors and possibly others about the IGIC group and Ray volunteered to handle the first few rounds of mailings. Wayne agreed to forward the original “introduction” to the existing board so that they could forward it easily through e-mail.
Most of the meeting was spent “fleshing out” and revising the proposed by-laws. We all agreed that the intent of Article V, “Membership” is to include county employees from any county office including the assessor’s office that are involved in technology or GIS. We also agreed that we don’t want to offer membership to technology vendors. Further discussion centered on the issue of defining what constitutes an “active member”. Membership dues, attending the general meeting, and renewing e-mail subscription were all brought up as possible indicators of “active member”. We did agree that only “active” members should be able to vote at the general meetings. The issue of “absentee” ballots came up, but we dismissed that as too difficult to administer.
The discussion of Article VI, “Officers” quickly came down to three key positions, President, Vice-President, and Secretary/Treasurer. The position of “Past President” had considerable discussion about the duties and voting rights on the executive board. The consensus was that the Past President” would have the most experience on several fronts and would be the best suited for chair of a nominating committee, possibly the best candidate for appointment to the ISAC board, and could act as an advisor to the executive board. The concern over requiring a three-year commitment to the board was also discussed, with the problem of the past president and possibly the secretary/treasurer being spread too thin at multiple meetings. The idea of “impeachment” proceedings for board members who don’t remain active was brought up but not resolved.
Wayne suggested that the executive board should have either 7 or 9 members, made up of the 4 officers and either 3 or 5 additional elected members. We discussed the issue of equitable representation across the state and talked about the idea of dividing the state into districts with the executive board having at least one member from each district. Ken suggested following the legislative district boundaries. Wayne wanted to take time to examine the existing districts from the other ISAC affiliates. We all agreed that we like the concept of having one board member represent those counties who have no existing IT/GIS personnel.
Article VII, “Duties of Officers” continued the discussion about the Past President position and brought up the issue of the Secretary/Treasurer possibly being an appointed position. Wayne suggested that David Vestal might have some suggestions about the pro’s and con’s of incorporating. The issue of dues might be resolved if the ICIT group receives ISAC Affiliate status.
We returned to the issue of “membership” and agreed that we do want to include some groups that are not paid by the county board. Along with the assessor’s employees, we want to include county emergency management personnel and members of the county conservation commission and their staff. Jim said that “membership” would be one of the points for discussion at the round-table session.
Wayne suggested that we should consider sending out “teaser” mailings to let county board members and other county officials know about the ICIT program schedule for the ISAC School of Instruction.