Minutes, Coordinating Committee, 2000

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Minutes of meetings of the coordinating committee, June 4th and June 6th, 2000, held in Oslo during the 26th annual Alcohol Epidemiology Symposium

Present:
Moira Plant (President)
Harald Klingemann (Vice President)
Trygve Ugland (Treasurer)
Alan Ogborne (Secretary)
Alaman Allamani
Martin Plant
Thomas Greenfield
Robin Room
Sturla Norlund
Marja Homila
Kim Bloomfield
Andr?e Demers
Regrets: Kaye Fillmore
1. Approval of Agenda
Approved
2. Report from the secretary
Alan secretary reported that he had been working with the treasurer to ensure that a complete database of new and previous members is available and which can be used to generate labels for mailings.
3. Report from treasurer
Trygve reported that he will work with Alan to ensure that all those who have every joined the Society are reminded of their membership status. Those who note paid their fees for sometime will then be invited to do so. Trygve also indicated that he will ask all conference participants to check their membership status and, if necessary, to pay their past dues.
After some discussion it was decided that members who have not paid for several years will be invited to pay for the years 1999 and 2000 and that all members will be encouraged to also pay in advance for 2001 and 2003. Those who, by the end of this year have not paid fees since 1998 will no longer be considered members and will not be included on email or hard copy mailings.
A new account has been established in Norway under SIFA and the account held by Essa will be reduced to zero through withdrawals in connection with the Society's business. This account will then be closed.
Future payments by Visa and MasterCard in foreign (non-Norwegian) currency will be at the exchange rate on the day of settlement. The alternative of having these payments settled at the exchange rate on the day of signature is too complex. The difference in the actual cost to member is expected to be minimal and may, in some cases, be to a members advantage.
4. Report on Web page
The secretary reported that the Webmaster (Ron Roisen) had concerns about the costs of the KBS Website. Sturla indicated that it would be possible for the site to be hosted, at no cost at SIFA and Alan indicated that he will ask Ron to contact Sturla to work out the details.
Committee members expressed their appreciation for the work that Ron has done on and hoped that he will continue to act as webmaster.
Ron had some suggestions for changes to the Website and Alan indicated that he will ask members to pass on suggestions to Ron or to participate in a virtual discussion group that he (Alan) would be willing to coordinate.
5. Report from local organizers
Sturla reported on the preparations for the Oslo conference. He said that members of the local coordinating committee had worked well together and that he expected everything to run smoothly.
Only one mail-out to participants was necessary and all other communications were via email, fax or the internet. Sturla saw this as the way of the future and proposed to ask participants for their views on electronic communications at the end of the conference.
Sturla indicated that the workload of the local planning committee was increased because some participants did not meet the deadlines for registration, abstracts or papers. It was agreed that this was unfortunate and that members will be reminded of the need to respect deadlines for future conferences. The use of incentives such as lower fees for early registrants was generally seen as a good idea. Members considering presenting a paper at a conference could also be encouraged to submit a provisional title to avoid missing the deadline for submissions.
Some funds for the conference were provided by the Norwegian Directorate for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems. This is acknowledged in the program but had no influence over the program design or content. This is consistent with KBS policies respecting financial support for meetings.
$12,000 had been used to provided assistance to members for travel to Oslo but not for hotels or meals. About 20 people had received some such assistance. The maximum for any one person was $650.
There was a discussion of issues concerning requests for financial and other assistance particularly from members in some developing countries. It was agreed that conference announcements and other documents should be very clear about the kinds of assistance that KBS can and cannot provide to members. Andr?e indicated that this is addressed in a guide for conference organizers that was developed after the Montreal conference. This will be shared with members of the committee and those involved in planning future conferences.
6. Report on plans for future meetings
Reports on the prospects for future meetings were heard from Giora Rava (Israel), Marie Choquet (France), Fredrik Spak (Sweden) and Jussi Simpura (Finland). It was also know that Jacek Moskalewicz had expressed an interest in having a meeting in Poland and that Barbara Leigh had expressed interest in having a meeting in Seattle. Andr?e also reported that Louis Gliksman has indicated a willingness to hold the 20001 meeting in Toronto if needs be.
After much discussion the committee decided that the preferred venue for the next meeting would be Toronto. Louis would therefore be asked to give a firm commitment to such a meeting as soon as possible. Possible dates are May 28th - June 1st and June 4th - June 8th. The alternative wil be have the meeting in Sweden. If Louis is willing to have the 2001 conference in Toronto then Toronto will not also be expected to host the proposed thematic meeting on Community Response.
It was agreed that Paris will be an ideal site for the 2002 meeting and Marie agreed to go ahead with plans for such a meeting.
In 2003 or 2004 meetings could be held in Poland or Helsinki while Seattle, Sweden or Israel may be able to host meetings in 2005 and beyond.
7. Nominating Committee
Several names were suggested. In the event the following members agreed to serve on this committee:
Robin Room (Sweden)
Gerhard Gmel (Switzerland)
Pia Rosenquist (Finland)

8. Other Business
Listserv
Alan raised Ron Roisen's concerns about the value of the Listserv and also asked if the Listserv membership should be limited to paid up KBS members. Robin said that the idea has always been that the Listserv will be open. Non members will, however, be encouraged to join the Society and Alan will send a message to this effect once these, and the minutes of the general meeting are posted on the KBS Website
The committee did not have any concerns about the Listserv and several indicated that they found it very useful and interesting. It was agreed that members will be reminded about the Listserv and encouraged to participate in Listserv discussions.
Thematic meetings
Robin circulated a call for papers for a thematic meeting on youth culture and subcultures and this will also be presented at the annual meeting. It was agreed that there should be more thematic meetings and this will be raised at the annual meeting.
Treasurer and secretary positions and voting rights
According to the bylaws it is necessary for members to vote on the proposal to split the secretary/treasurer role and to give voting rights on the coordinating committee to the new treasurer and secretary. Tom Greenfield agree to note this at the annual meeting and to ensure that these issues are on the voting papers next year.

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