COFE 2014 Business Meeting Minutes

Council on Forest Engineering Business Meeting Minutes, June 25, 2014  —  Moline, IL

  • Minutes from the 2013 Business Meeting were approved with no modifications
  • Future meetings

    • July 19 – 22, 2015, hosted by the University of Kentucky (Marco Contreras) in Lexington. The proposed theme is “Engineering solutions for non-industrial private forest operations”
    • 2016

      • Option 1 — In conjunction with the Canadian Woodlands Forum’s DEMO International 2016. We will explore opportunities to partner with the DEMO meeting. FPInnovations may be willing to help COFE with the joint meeting.
      • Option 2 — The University of Maine is willing to host the meeting if partnering with DEMO International 2016 doesn’t appear to be promising.

  • COFE administration and website (from the report submitted by Ben Spong)

  • It was a transition year moving the office from Corvallis, OR to Morgantown, WV.  The official change to West Virginia will occur on July 1, 2014.  Funds are still in the process of being moved to West Virginia.
  • The only income that was received came from dues.  There are approximately 235 members.
  • Expenses were incurred for plaques, OR state corporation fees, internet/website hosting, a salary for Sylvia Aulerich, WV state registration fees, shipping, check printing, and website template expenses.
  • The COFE website has been moved to a free (for now) hosting provider
  • Current account balance is $10,127.73 which is an increase of $2,370.35 from July 1, 2013.
  • A Federal tax return will be filed in July 2014 as well as a state tax return for Oregon.
  • MailChimp is being used to send out messages to the membership.
  • It would be nice to have a digital image of the COFE logo.  John Deere offered to create a few images which will be sent to the membership to select the preferred image.
  • Various comments offered during the Executive Committee Meeting (i.e., maintain an updated membership list online, make sure that renewal notices get sent out more than once a year, the format for some of the online graphics are incorrect, the image for the 25th anniversary could be shrunk, some of the links don’t work) will be forwarded to Ben Spong.
  • Regional reports

    • New England (report submitted by Ray Berthiaume, Chair)

      • Annual workshop was held March 10-11, 2014 at the University of Maine in Orono

        • There were 330 registrants for the two ½ days of workshop
        • There were 21 participants for an optional afternoon workshop held on the second day.
      • A planning meeting for the 2015 annual workshop is scheduled for August 10, 2014.
      • NERCOFE currently supports/helps fund two scholarships.
      • NERCOFE will work on a back-up COFE meeting plan for 2016 should a joint venture with the Canadian Woodlands Forum (CWF) and Demo International 2016 not work out.  In the event that things do work out with CWF and the meeting is held in conjunction with DEMO International 2016, NERCOFE will plan on hosting the COFE meeting in 2017.
    • South (report submitted by Tom Gallagher, Chair)

      • They did not have a regional meeting in 2014.  Their 2015 SRCOFE regional meeting will take place at the Arkansas In-woods demo taking place near Hot Springs on June 18-20, 2015 – more details to follow.
      • The current bank account balance is $3,833.87
    • West (report submitted by Rene Zamora)

      • A one-day conference was held on January 16, 2014 in Eugene, OR.  The theme was “Improving Forest Harvesting Operations.”  A record high total of 250 attendees participated.   They may need to raise the cost of the meeting in the future to cover shortfalls in down years.
      • Jeff Wimer will be developing an online registration for the 2015 conference.
      • $2,000 was expended to support scholarship awards for students to attend meetings.
      • The account balance is $9,023.20
  • New business — None
  • Meeting adjourned at 7:50 AM