MINUTES OF FIRST ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

September 25, 2004

NRC Institute for Marine Biosciences

1411 Oxford St. Halifax, NS

The meeting was called to order at 2:10 pm.

1.      The Pro Tem Chair, Jim Frazee, welcomed everyone to this historic first Annual General Meeting of the newly constituted Nova Scotia Chemists’ Society (NSCS). The By-Laws of the NSCS were approved on March 9, 2004 by the NS Registry of Joint Stocks, after a 2 ½ year struggle by the pro tem Board to get the wording of the by-laws acceptable to Joint Stocks.

2.      Joyce Milley presented a brief history of the formation of the NSCS, which actually began in the summer of 1995 (see attached copy of Joyce’s notes).  The pro tem Board was officially constituted on June 15, 2002.

3.      Jim Frazee gave a presentation of the NSCS By-Laws as accepted by Joint Stocks. Sections highlighted included the Definitions; the constitution of the Board of Directors; the Committees of the Board; the election and duties/responsibilities of the Directors and Officers; the election process for Directors and Officers; the requirements for Meetings of Members; a description of the types of members – Professional Chemist, Chemical Technologist, Chemist-in-Training, and Chemical Technologist-in-Training; the concept of Certificate of Membership (Joint Stocks would not permit the use of the term “certified” in the by-laws); and our Code of Ethics.

4.      Two motions were presented with respect to operation of the NSCS

Motion 1: Moved by Jim Frazee and seconded by Susan Boyd:

“The annual fee for membership in the Society until the next Annual General Meeting, expected to be in June, 2005, is to be set at thirty-five dollars ($35.00).”

Passed unanimously

Motion 2: Moved by Jim Frazee and seconded by David Jamieson:

“Until such time that a Membership Committee is established, all applications for membership in the NSCS will be reviewed and either accepted or rejected by the Executive of the NSCS.”

Passed unanimously

Motion 2a: Moved by Clive Elson and seconded by Cheryl Croft:

“All applications for membership in the NSCS will be reviewed by the Executive of the NSCS and a recommendation for either acception or rejection of the application will be brought by the Executive to the Board of Directors for approval.”

Passed unanimously

5.      Election of Directors and Officers:  The following names were put forward to stand for election by the members as Directors and Officers of the NSCS:

Jim Frazee                      President

Joyce Milley              Vice-President

Bill Thorpe                      Secretary                  

Jocelyne Hellou            Treasurer

There were no further nominations.

Motion 3: Moved by John Courtneidge and seconded by Susan Boyd:

“Nominations for officers of the NSCS will now cease.”

Passed unanimously

These four members nominated are elected as Officers of the NSCS by acclimation.

6.      Election of Directors-at-Large: The Chair asked for nomination/volunteers for the remaining six positions available for the Board of Directors of NSCS.  The following names were put forward:

Gordon Boyce             John Courtneidge

Susan Boyd                           Clive Elson

Motion 4: Moved by Corey Pye and seconded by Ian Burton:

“Nominations for Directors-at-Large of the NSCS will now cease.”

Passed unanimously

After a discussion, it was decided to defer filling the final two seats on the Board until such time as the membership has increased, hopefully to include members from outside the Valley and HRM.

7.      Committees of the Board: It was decided to defer selection of Committees to a future Board of Directors meeting.

8.      Insurance: It was decided to defer this topic to a future Board of Directors meeting.

9.      Other Business:  Clive Elson asked about recruitment of new members – ideas advanced for consideration included personal contact, mail-outs and use of the CIC mailing lists.  Jim Frazee commented that this would be a major topic at the first meeting of the Board.  Clive Elson also asked whether the By-Laws require members of NSCS to be practising in Nova Scotia.  Jim Frazee replied that this would be investigated by the Board.

Ian Burton suggested that the NSCS needs a policy for the protection of privacy of information.  He volunteered to pass the information that he has on this topic to the Secretary.

10.  Next Meeting: The next annual meeting of the members of the NSCS (AGM) was tentatively set for Saturday, June 11, 2005.  The time and location of the AGM will be determined by the Board at a later date.  The meeting adjourned at 4:15 pm.