February 24, 1999
Attendees
Mr. William Bush, Arkansas Geological Commission
Ms. Susan Cromwell, Office of Information Technology
Mr. Randy Jones, First Electric Corporation
Ms. Suzanne Wiley, U of A at Monticello
Mr. Cecil Davis, Alternate, Dept. of Arkansas Heritage
Unable to Attend
Ms. Shirley Sandlin, Benton County Assessor
Dr. Robert Bennett, Arkansas State University
Mr. Phil Schoettlin, Chamber of Commerce, Fayetteville
Mr. Robert Wallis, Acxiom Corporation
Mr. Jim Wells, Wellsco Graphics Solution Center
Guests
Shelby Johnson, State Land Information Coordinator
Phyllis Smith, UALR GIS Applications Lab, Chair of GIS
Users Forum
Brian Culpepper, CAST
The meeting was called to order.
Bill Bush invited Shelby Johnson to report to the Board. Shelby talked about House Bill 1732 and pointed out that it is an attachment to Soil and Water that will complete the state soils data and it will allow the water resources center to do research (Source Water Assessment Project). He pointed out that the LIB must give approval to this bill because it is a publicly funded regional mapping project. Shelby explained that Representative Madison asked him to ask the Board for offical approval. Due to the lack of a quorum, it was decided to wait and see if a formal vote was needed, and if so, the Board would arrange to meet in person or by conference call and vote on this at a later date.
The members next discussed the need to locate some nominees to replace some members who have resigned and left three vacancies on the Board.
Shelby Johnson informed the Board that a bill was being drafted regarding a Spatial Technology initiative and is sponsored by Representative Kevin Smith. Sections of the bill include a GIS audit of state agencies and assessment of duplication; the framework development for digital ortho photographs and elevation models; and the Arkansas Spatial Data Infrastructure (data warehouse). Shelby also mentioned that other legislative initiatives relating to spatial technologies are the state backbone completion, the creation of the College of Information Science & Systems Engineering for UALR, more support for CAST at Fayetteville, the EAST project for high schools, the GIS program at UA Monticello, and the Soil and Water initiative.
Next was a brief discussion of the need for a GIS technical advisory board with representatives from state and federal agencies in order to coordinate efforts going into the next legislative session. The Board needs to keep members of all agencies who are involved in GIS issues informed about Board activities, particularly in regards to legislative initiatives. The importance of emphasizing available matching federal funds and of sharing agency resources was discussed.
Prior to leaving, Susan Cromwell announced the planned Arkansas Technology Summit in Little Rock on July 1 and 2 and explained that the entire conference will focus on technology projects in the state.
Further discussion ensued regarding legislative issues, filing deadlines, and the need to communicate with the ACIT committee regarding ongoing GIS efforts. It was recommended also that core agency members of the old Land Information Board be contacted and invited to participate in long-term support GIS planning for the state, as well as for the legislative session. Shelby Johnson gave a report on his activities on legislative issues.
The Board then discussed member participation. It was noted that there is a need to find some names for nomination to the Board to replace members who have resigned. Bill Bush commented that he thought it might take a while for the Governor to fill the empty positions, even once nominations are made.
Bill Bush next recommended that Shelby Johnson compile a list of all GIS-related legislation to hand out to any legislators or interested parties that would provide a concise, easy-to-understand description of each initiative. He also recommended that the Board send the annual report along with Shelby's legislation summary to the budget committee.
The next item on the agenda was the election of new officers, but as a quorum wasn't present, this business was tabled for later. Bill Bush will arrange for a conference call (after Shelby checks on some legislative items) to discuss outstanding issues and possibly to vote on issues of the Board supporting legislative issues, if a quorum can participate.
The next meeting date was set for March 11, 1999.
The meeting was adjourned.
