Susan Koenig (SK)

Catherine Levy (MCL)

Michael Schwartz (MS)

Peter Vogel (PV) sent apologies for his absence due to being in the field for the Jamaican Iguana breeding season.

The meeting was called to order at 1605 with three directors present (NB: a quorum requires two directors).

1. Start on time: It was decided that every effort would be made to start meetings on time, so as to avoid time-wasting and to set the tone for WRC's future aspirations
2. Chairman: the Directors elected MS to be chairman for this meeting.
   A permanent Chairman is not needed at this time and external representation of WRC will be by SK.
3. WRC location: WRC is an idea, a database, a movement, rather than a physical place. Though based in Windsor District, Sherwood Content P.O., Trelawny, WRC does not presently own any real estate, and though WRC meets at Windsor House, the house remains the private property of MS.
4. BoD: The Board of Directors is a supervisory board; day-to-day activities and decisions will be coordinated by the two directors living on-site in Windsor.
5. Director of Research: SK was nominated as Director of Research. All communications relating to research will be signed by her or on her authority.
6. Manager: MS was nominated as Manager for WRC.
7. Secretary: MS was nominated as Secretary.
8. Auditor: The nomination of Auditors was deferred pending obtaining estimates from at least two auditors. Action MS
9. Bankers: It was decided to open a US$ savings account and a J$ chequeing account; both to be at the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Falmouth; withdrawals to be signed by any two directors.
10. Attorneys-at-law: It was decided to continue using Mitchell, Hanson and Co as lawyers since they had been adequate in forming the Company.
11. BoD meetings: It was decided that the Board of Directors should meet every three months, preferably in "virtual" setting, and that a quarterly newsletter would be published and circulated to directors and members. The directors would also receive a quarterly report of income and expenditure, together with photocopies of bank statements. Action: MS
12. Research contracts: It was decided that future contracts with Dr Koenig by virtue of her association with WRC would need to be passed to WRC, which would then subcontract to SK. This is in the developmental interests of WRC.
13. Membership: Membership criteria include having a direct link with research, as well as supporting WRC's Mission Statement.
14. Benefits: Members will have voting privileges and will receive a quarterly newsletter detailing activities. They eventually will receive preferential access and tariffs on use of laboratory and equipment.
15. Membership Fees: It was decided that ordinary membership fees should initially be US$20 or J$1,000. This will be reviewed as facilities improve.
16. Institutional members: It was noted that institutional members can be valuable because a) they pay higher fees and b) there may be opportunities for a mutually beneficial sharing of information and publications.
17. Sponsoring members: The idea of sponsoring members should be investigated. Their contributions might be able to help create a Trust Fund to assist WRC sustainability.

1. a Bird-banding Workshop held in association with BirdLife Jamaica (BLJ) and BirdStudies Canada (BSC) from 1st to 17th May, 2002. This was deemed a success See Workshop Report
2. Ongoing participation by SK in the Parks-in-Peril project and in particular with a "virtual" biological systems workshop which will inform Cockpit Country Site Conservation Planning (SCP). See the virtual workshop website.
3. An initial exploration of the possibilities of encouraging coffee farmers to be more bird-friendly under the auspices of a BLJ/BSC project. See report of progress to date.
4. A bird monitoring proposal has been submitted and accepted by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and a contract with WRC is presently being drafted.
5. MS gave a half-day presentation for Forestry Dept covering Cockpit Country biodiversity and the SCP process on 20th May
6. A full-day SCP workshop was held at WRC on 5th June to work with Forestry Dept in order to refine their inputs to the SCP Biological Systems workshop.
7. SK spent a week in Hawai'i (20th to 24th May, 2002) attending an "Island Efroymson" Workshop to assist in developing the SCP process.
8. SK is presently implementing a PiP activity to develop a Cave Monitoring programme for Cockpit Country and Dr "Geo" Graining with a team of three, including our own member, Stefan Stewart, will be in the field until the 20th June (see calendar).
9. If flood waters permit, we shall carry out our monthly bat survey of Windsor Great Cave sometime between 9th and 16th June..
10. WRC will participate in an SCP Stakeholders Workshop to be held by TNC at Albert Town from 18th to 20th June. The outcome of this workshop will hopefully be strategies to mitigate the most serious threats to biodiversity coming out of the SCP Biological Systems workshop.
11. It was noted that MS is preparing a Calendar of Events that is accessible directly from the WRC home page.

1. WRC should consolidate its links with BLJ. Action: SK, PV.
2. WRC should pursue its development by being formally integrated into the PiP Project. Action: SK
3. A proposal for Laboratory Equipment was written for USAID last November but was deferred pending legal formation of WRC. This proposal should now be followed up. Action: SK
4. The URL "cockpitcountry.org" should be purchased and used for the administration of WRC. In the interim, a sub-domain, "wrc.cockpitcountry.com" will be created for this purpose.
5. It was noted that it may be simpler if payments for accommodation be made directly to MS in order to avoid any implication of profit-motive for WRC, for which non-profit status is being sought. MS agreed that 20% of accommodation revenue (but not catering revenue) relating to WRC activity would be donated to WRC and it was agreed that this might be placed in a WRC trust fund. This sum, however, would need to be tax-deductible for MS: Action: MS
6. A proposal was made to Dr Geo Graining to exchange a year's free membership against a logo design (Dr Graining has an artistic background!)
7. It was agreed that these Minutes be sent for comments to those Directors who were not present (as per Articles of Association #54 "A resolution in writing, signed by all the directors for the time being entitled to receive notice of a meeting of the directors, shall be as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a meeting of the directors duly convened and held.")