Proceedings of the Minnesota Ornithological

Records Committee

Kim R. Eckert, MORC Chairman

There was a meeting of the Commit-

tee on 7 December 1997, and among

the items on the agenda was the es-

tablishment of term limits for the Commit-

tee members. (Previously, the members

have been able to serve an unlimited num-

ber of one-year terms.) The following pro-

cedure was decided on:

• The Chairperson will continue to be

one of the seven regular members and will

have no term limit; he/ she serves subject

to the selection and approval of the MOU

Board of Directors in the same way as

other MOU committee chairpersons. The

Chairperson will continue to appoint all

regular and alternate Committee members.

• The other six regular members can

serve a maximum of two consecutive

three-year terms (since the meeting there

has been a proposal to change this to six

consecutive one-year terms). After this six-

year period, the member must be off the

Committee for at least one year before be-

ing eligible again for membership as either

a regular or alternate member.

• The terms of the three alternate

members will continue to be for one year,

with no limit to the number of years an

alternate member may serve.

• When a regular member's position is

vacated, either by expiration of his/ her

term or by resignation, the vacancy will be

filled either by one of the alternate mem-

bers or by a former regular member who

has been off the Committee for at least

one year. When there is a vacancy in an

alternate member's position, the vacancy

can be filled by someone who has either

never been on the Committee or not been

a member for at least one year.

• To initiate the rotation of these term

limits, the terms of those regular members

with the most seniority expire first. Ac-

cordingly, Bob Janssen's term expired at

the end of 1997, and he was replaced by

alternate member Karl Bardon, and Karl's

position as an alternate was filled by

Anthony Hertzel. After each calendar year,

another regular member's term will then

expire in the following order of seniority:

Bud Tordoff, Dick Ruhme, Bruce Fall, Ray

Glassel , Feder Svingen and Karl Bardon.

The meeting agenda also included

votes on the following: seven records

documented primarily by photographs,

one record with an inconclusive first-

round vote, and one previously accepted

record which was reconsidered at the re-

quest of a Committee member. Accord-

ingly, the following records were voted on

and found to be Acceptable:

• Western Tanager, mid-May 1997,

near Battle Lake, Otter Tail Co. (photo

record #97-71, vote 7-0, The Loon 70:67).

• Prairie Warbler, July 1997, near

Lanesboro , Fillmore Co. (photo record

#97-72) .

• Band-tailed Pigeon , 24 August 1997,

Duluth, St. Louis Co. (photo record #97-

73, vote 7-0).

• Scissor-tai led Flycatcher, 2 October

1997, Du luth, St. Louis Co. (photo record

#97-74, vote 7-0).

• Black-legged Kittiwake, 2-17 No-

vember 1997, Grand Marais, Cook Co.

(photo record #97-75, vote 7-0, The Loon

69:222-223).

• Great Black-backed Gull (2 individu-

als), 10-28 ovember 1997, Grand Marais,

Cook Co. (photo record #97-79, vote 7-0).

• Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, 4 June - 17

July 1997, near Elk River, Sherburne Co.

(photo record #97-80, vote 7-0, The Loon

69:183-185).

Spring 1998

43