2002 PINES Annual Membership Meeting
Thursday, May 30, 2002
Old State Capitol Building, Milledgeville, Georgia
Meeting Minutes (original)
MINUTES -- APPROVED
Chairman, Alan Kaye, called the annual meeting of Georgia Library PINES membership to order at 1 PM.
Present were all members of the PINES Executive Committee, Dr. Lamar Veatch, State Librarian, several members of the PINES staff and a quorum of voting delegates from PINES member library systems (see Appendix B – PINES Annual Membership Meeting Attendance.) The group was welcomed to the site by Old State Capitol Museum Director, Rick Mayfield and by Archivist /Librarian, Virgil Lawrence, and was invited to a tour following the meeting.
Dr. Lamar Veatch, State Librarian, was introduced and welcomed by PINES Project Director, David Singleton. In Dr.Veatch’s opening address to the membership, he announced that David Singleton has been appointed Assistant Director of Georgia Public Library Service. Dr. Veatch expressed appreciation for the efforts of PINES members for the noteworthy achievements of Georgia Library PINES. PINES is no longer a project but a program, he said. There will be a new program manager, replacing David Singleton. A public relations director for GPLS will also be hired. Dr. Veatch said that the annualization of PINES funding by the legislature is an important goal. He recounted his experience in the recently completed session of the Georgia Assembly and cited remarks by legislators who have recognized the value of PINES as a resource for Georgia’s citizens.
Minutes of 2001 annual membership meeting were approved with amendment as proposed by Barbara Hutsell. Motion to approve, Dugan, second, Bullock; 0 opposed.
In recognition of the objection that had been raised about the validity of the election of new members to the Executive Committee, the order of the agenda was changed and a discussion of how we should proceed with the election followed.
Attendance having been taken, it was determined that a quorum of the PINES membership was present. (23 systems is a simple majority and 34 PINES systems have a voting member present.)
Alan Kaye gave an explanation of the concerns raised about the election. The objections are: 1) that the decision to conduct the election in advance did not follow the PINES by-laws; and 2) that giving an option for write-in candidates is not the same as asking for nominations from the members which will then be included on the printed ballot.
David Singleton stated that mailing the ballot in advance had given all members an opportunity to vote. He said that the decision had been taken so that a final result of the election could be announced at the meeting avoiding a repeat of last year’s postponement of the election due to the questioning of a quorum at the 2001 annual meeting.
Alan Kaye outlined the options. 1) We could accept the election that had already been conducted and announce the results today. 2) We could open the floor for nominations; accept nominations today, vote today and announce the results at today’s meeting. 3) We could accept nominations today and send out ballots again, giving all members an opportunity to re-vote and announce the results later.
Jim Cooper made the motion to accept the election that had already been conducted; seconded by Mike Dugan; on a show of hands, a clear majority voted in favor.
Diana Tope then announced the results of the election. The three new candidates elected are: Alan Kay, Susan Cooley and Teresa Haymore. Full roster of the PINES Executive Committee for FY 2003 will be: Walter Murphy and Susan Cooley representing large libraries, Diana Tope and Charles Gee representing medium libraries, Alan Kay and Barbara Hutsell representing small libraries and Debbie Manget representing future participants. At-large members are Greg Heid and Teresa Haymore.
Judy Golden expressed the hope that next year’s election will be conducted in a manner that will give all PINES members an opportunity to make nominations and have nominations included on the official ballot. It was also recommended that the By-laws task force review procedures for election of members to the Executive Committee.
(Staff reports followed …See Appendix A.)
Under old business, the matter of guidelines for proxy voting was considered. The decision made at the Executive Committee meeting to include a review of voting procedures in a comprehensive reworking of the PINES by-laws was announced.
Jim Cooper made the motion that proxy voting by Executive Committee members should not be allowed, seconded by Emory Smith. Several members spoke in favor of the motion, pointing out that proxy voting is not allowed in other important deliberations. It was also pointed out that the matter of proxy voting had already been referred to the Task Force for By-laws Review. As it was clear that the membership was sharply divided, the Chair called for the vote by show of hands to be recorded; the vote was 16 in favor of the motion; 12 against the motion; 5 members abstained.
There was no new business.
Debbie Manget, Executive Committee member representing future participants, made a statement in which she called for an open and flexible attitude towards the kinds of arrangements that will be needed to incorporate the large metropolitan library systems into the PINES network. She said it would be a “different kind of PINES membership.” Susan Stewart endorsed the idea of new kinds of arrangements with the “major metros” in the future.
The annual meeting ended with spontaneous testimonials from several PINES members who spoke of the benefits their communities were receiving through participation in PINES. Greg Heid and Jim Cooper made supportive remarks, giving PINES a “pat on the back.” Dusty Gres spoke of the thirty thousand local history/genealogical records that will soon be added to the PINES database making these materials available in libraries throughout the state.
The next annual meeting of the PINES membership will be in May of 2003. Alan Kaye turned the chairmanship over to Diana Tope; Diana thanked Alan for his service.
Members rotating off the executive committee, Steve Schaefer and Mike Dugan were recognized and also thanked for their service.
The meeting adjourned at 3 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Hutsell
