Date: 11 November, 2007

TThe meeting was held on-line.  The attendees were:

Brent Baker               Chair, SC Council
John Montague         Vice Chair, SC Council
Steve Carroll             Past Chair, SC Council
Lee Stogner              Professional Activities, SC Council
Richard Baker           Treasurer, SC Council
Michael Rollins         Central Savannah River Section
Allen Thomas            Membership Development, SC Council

MEETING MINUTES

A.  Old Business

None

B.  New Business

1.  Officer Elections

• Unanimous approval for the following officers for 2008-2009:
• John Montague - Chair
• Richard Baker - Vice-Chair
• Michael Rollins - Secretary
• Steve Carroll - Treasurer

2.  Discussion on IEEE support for Section meeting speakers/presenters

• Given the current status of healthy Council funds, the Council is positioned assist.  The Council needs to take action to assist by counseling Sections on parameters on requesting assistance from the Council.

• Given previous mention from Sections of a continuing issue (for some Sections) of obtaining quality and high-draw presenters/speakers, the following was discussed:

• Need to know specific needs of Section(s)

• Need to determine if Sections will engage with Council on specific resolutions.
• Russ Hamilton, Government Relations for IEEE, could be available to discuss topics such as patents, immigration effects, impact of Government regulations on engineering, etc.
• Council needs to reach out to individual Section leadership to ascertain where Council might assist.

• A question was raised as to whether concentration banking has a CD option. 
• (Post meeting review of the Concentration Banking Program offers no options to diversify beyond the base checking account which currently offers a return rate (4.62%) slightly higher than that available for a conventional CD (2.42% for $3,000 and $.4% for $5,000 as of Nov 2007).

• The current policy on mileage reimbursement for participation at Council meetings was discussed.  The current policy is that mileage reimbursement is not typically provided but will be favorably considered if requested.
• Transition activity for 2008 including new officers, treasurer, etc., will be accomplished January/February 2008.

5.  Upcoming Meetings

• The Regional Activities Board (RAB) has undergone a minor reorganization with, probably, no impact to the SC Council and Sections.

• The next board meeting will be in Boston MA where membership concept models will be be on the agenda.

• SouthEastCon is scheduled 4-6 April in Huntsville AL.

• The IEEE Sections Congress is scheduled for 19-22 September in Quebec Canada.

• Region III will provide funds for Chair attendance.

• (passports required so plan ahead if attending.)

6.  Membership

• There is currently an on-going higher-grade membership drive with awards available for the highest achieving Sections.

• There is a membership kit forwarded to Sections twice a year to assist with recruiting, retaining, and working in the local community.  Replenishment of kit materials is available thru www.ieee.org/mdsupplies.

7.  Section reports

• As mentioned earlier, obtaining presenters for Section meetings is prevalent for many Sections.

• Coastal – Richard reported for the Coastal Section that both Spring and Fall seasons had a full slate of monthly meetings as well as other activities such as plant tours.

• Columbia – Brent reported the Columbia Section was similar to Coastal.

• Piedmont – Michael reported the piedmont Section also had a full calendar.  A local engineering cluster is being formed and the SC Council is a participant.  A topic of discussion on how a Section might leverage the unique economy of a geographic region such as leveraging business links or Chambers of Commerce initiatives.  In SC there are tourism and agriculture clusters and engineering is potential.  Lee presented “New Carolina” in December 2006.  See http://southcarolinaengineering.org/ to view a comprehensive business listing/directory of engineering discipline industry members.  This site is open to industry members.