International Congresses of Dipterology

The following Council members attended the meeting: Thomas Pape (Chair), Rudolf Meier (Vice-Chair), Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs (Secretary/Treasurer), Daniel Bickel, Stephen D. Gaimari, Valery Korneyev, Erica McAlister, James E. O'Hara, Marc Pollet (late arrival) and Shaun Winterton.

Adrian Plant, Carlos José Einicker Lamas and Maria Ángeles Marcos-Garcia sent apologies. Manuel A. Zumbado is not attending ICD9 and Kazuhiro Masunaga did not arrive in time to attend the meeting.

1. Adoption of the Agenda and any additions
   The Agenda was duly adopted and Shaun Winterton noted that establishment of an International Society of Dipterology should be added as a discussion item at the end of the meeting.

2. Acceptance of previous minutes and register of attendance
   Thomas Pape proposed that the minutes be accepted as a true reflection of the meeting and this was seconded by Daniel Bickel and Erica McAlister. An attendance register was distributed and completed (except by Marc Pollet, who arrived late).

   Thomas Pape wanted to make a clarification to the minutes. Under paragraph 7 on "Members of the Council for International Congresses of Dipterology", it is stated that "the positions of Chair and Vice-Chair come up for election in 2018. Both Thomas and Rudolf have indicated that they are prepared to stand for re-election if nominated". This is at odds with our Constitution, where Article 4.1 rules that "The Chair and Vice-Chair shall not serve for more than two consecutive Congresses", so the Chair and Vice-chair are not eligible for re-election.

3. Chair’s report
   Thomas Pape gave the following report:

   First of all, I should like to thank the Secretary/Treasurer for outstanding efficiency in all Council matters.

   Thanks also to Jim O'Hara for maintenance of the ICD webpages under the NADS website.

   Communication between the ICD9 organising Committee and the Council has been working smoothly. In some matters, I have made decisions without consulting the entire Council, for example where urgency was needed, or formalities relating to voting at the Business meetings, or where I made the assessment that the matters brought up were falling under the powers or authority of the Congress organizers, but where an official acceptance from the Council was considered the correct procedure. The mandatory mid-term meeting was held as a five days virtual meeting by e-mail. The overall aim of our Council is to ensure the continuity of the ICDs. The mid-term meeting may then be seen as primarily a check if everything is on track for the upcoming Congress. However, continuity of the ICDs depends on having a strong Council, where strength in my opinion not only means an ability to assess the current state of the organisation, but also looking ahead beyond the upcoming Congress and to make decisions on new Councillors, on new Honorary members, and other issues of relevance to ICD matters. We can only do that by giving input to ongoing and future activities, and by sharing ideas and opinions. The communication at the mid-term meeting appeared to be inert, and a few Councillors were practically silent. This is not satisfactory and I urge all Councillors to take their responsibility seriously.

   At the mid-term meeting we voted on the establishment of an International Society of Dipterology, and a small majority voted against.

   This negative vote was not because an International Society of Dipterology is seen as a negative activity, but more because of a lack of clear goals and lack of people willing to do the administrative work that inevitably is associated with a society, which includes things like maintaining a website, keeping a membership register, doing the economy and initiating and overseeing work for specific Society activities.

   One may argue that we already have a de-facto society through the Congresses. That is a valid argument, but with a society we could do much more. A Society could be the owner of the Diptera database - Systema Dipterorum - which by the way has now been released by Chris Thompson with Neal Evenhuis and myself in charge. With a society we could go beyond the Congresses and raise funding for targeted field trips, or large-scale or long-term inventories, and many other activities. We can do these things without being formally under a society, but we may stand stronger with a backing from a formalised society.

   My remarks here are not because I want to revive the discussions, only to report that these are my thoughts and to stress that I see a Dipterological Society as a way of providing further support to the continuity of our dipterological Congresses.

4. Secretary/Treasurer's report
   The Secretary/Treasurer gave the following report:

   As part of my duties as Secretary/Treasurer I made all preparation for the ICD midterm meeting, handled correspondence and prepared the final minutes. I also informed the international Diptera community of the deaths of dipterists if these were brought to my attention.

   There was a very disappointing response from members of Council during the midterm meeting (which was conducted via e-mail) and it should be stressed that Council members are expected to actively participate and contribute to such meetings in the future.

   I prepared the agendas for these two meetings, circulated the minutes, contacted potential members of Council and Honorary members, solicited applications and prepared elections for new Council and ICD Honorary Members.

   Since the tasks involved no expenses, and since the Organizers of the ICD9 were unable to access these funds for start-up funding, the assets of Council stand unchanged at 3237.55 € 4336.67 US$), which originated from the ICD6 surplus. These funds were passed to me by the previous Secretary/Treasurer in Euros cash and cannot be deposited in a bank account.

5. Presentation of bid for ICD10 (Sacramento, USA)
   Shaun Winterton gave a comprehensive presentation which outlined the proposed Organizing Committee (all of whom were dipterists based Sacramento and other institutions in California); attractions of Sacramento as a Congress destination; infrastructure and flight routes, visa requirements, local transportation; weather and temperature; the proposed venue, local amenities, conference centre facilities, the proposed logo, the congress organizing firm to be used, date options and the proposed registration fees; room rates and an itemised list of what was included in the registration fee; collecting permits and sites; insect collections facilities in the area; post-Congress tours.

6. Discussion and voting on bid
   Shaun outlined the problems in the USA with liability and the transfer of funds, hence the need for the establishment of a formal Society. Thomas Pape expressed concerns that room rates were extremely high and that this would deter many delegates for attending. Shaun Winterton noted that at this stage they were still exploring other options for venues to try and reduce costs. Several suggestions were made by Committee members regarding alternative venues, such as university campuses and the option of using a Conference centre, but accommodating delegates in other hotels. Steve Gaimari noted that universities were not acceptable due to the rules and regulations in the USA related to smoking and consumption of alcohol on campus. Mexico was suggested as a possible option, as well as Las Vegas and other cities in California.

   Shaun Winterton and Stephen Gaimari were asked to leave the meeting while the bid was discussed. A vote was taken and it was voted unanimously for the bid to be accepted.

7. Amendments to the Constitution
   Thomas proposed some slight amendments to the Constitution that were distributed to Council members ahead of the meeting. These were mainly related to the changes from postal voting to remote e-voting by e-mail. A vote was conducted by a show of hands and it was unanimously voted to adopt the changes.

8. Maintenance of ICD website
   Jim O'Hara was thanked for so ably maintaining the ICD website and as his term of office comes to an end was asked if he was prepared to carry on with this task. Jim noted that this did not entail much work and that he was prepared to continue. Thomas Pape noted that Council members should check the website regularly for corrections.

9. Election of new Council members
   Three members of Council, Marc Pollet, Manuel Zumbado and Jim O'Hara, are ending their second term during this congress, which more formally means at the end of the closing session. One member of Council is at the end of her first term, Maria Ángeles Marcos-Garcia, and she has decided not to stand for re-election. Three members of Council, Daniel Bickel, Stephen Gaimari and Ashley Kirk-Spriggs, are at the end of their first term and are willing to stand for re-election.

   Four nominees have been proposed to fill the vacancies: Netta Dorchin (proposed by Thomas Pape, seconded by Stephen Gaimari and Valery Korneyev), Xiaolin Chen (proposed by Daniel Bickel, seconded by Adrian Plant), Jeffrey Skevington (proposed by Jim O'Hara, seconded by Steve Gaimari) and Dalton Amorim (proposed by Thomas Pape, seconded by Ashley Kirk-Spriggs), and four vacancies are present. CVs of all new nominees were distributed well in advance of this meeting.

   A ballot paper was distributed to all members of Council in attendance. Votes were unanimously in favour of Netta Dorchin, Jeffrey Skevington, Dalton Amorim, Ashley Kirk-Spriggs, Daniel Bickel and Stephen Gaimari, and Xiaolin Chen was voted as nine in favour and one against.

10. Election of officers
    At every Congress we have to elect or re-elect officers, and the officers are the Chair, the Vice-Chair and the Secretary/Treasurer.

    The Chair and Vice-Chair shall not serve for more than two consecutive Congresses. As both the Chair and Vice-chair has done so, they are not eligible for re-election.

    There is no limit on the number of terms for the Secretary/Treasurer.

    The Chair opened the floor for nominations and began by nominating Rudolf Meier as Chair, Dan Bickel as Vice-chair and Ashley Kirk-Spriggs as Secretary/Treasurer. The nominees confirmed their intent to take the nomination. All three nominations were seconded by several Councillors.

    No other nominations were made and the Chair declared the candidates to be unopposed and therefore as elected in agreement with the Constitution.

11. Election of Honorary Members of ICD
    Stephen A. Marshall has been nominated as Honorary Member of the ICD. The nomination was proposed by Ashley Kirk-Spriggs and seconded by Thomas Pape.

    A separate anonymous ballot paper was distributed and the voting was unanimously in favour of the election of Stephen Marshall.

12. Establishment of an International Society of Dipterology
    There was some further discussion at the end of the meeting and it was decided that is was necessary to establish an International Society of Dipterology if in name only at this stage, to get over any indemnity issues and Shaun Winterton and Steve Gaimari were tasked to further investigate the practicalities in the next 12 months.

    One of the Council members also suggested to involve Facebook to increase general awareness of the (C) ICD, and e.g., attract potential funders. There were mixed feelings about this and some suggested that this might be best put on-line by the Organising Committee of the Congress.

    Ashley H. Kirk-Spriggs
    25 November 2018

Adrian Plant and Carlos José Einicker Lamas sent apologies. Manuel A. Zumbado is not attending ICD9 and Kazuhiro Masunaga did not attend the meeting.