Minutes of the Open General Meeting of the BCTCS

The meeting opened at 17:40.

Quorum: The meeting was recognised as quorate, there being present the President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the BCTCS, the Local Organiser for BCTCS 17, and at least ten other members of the BCTCS.

Previous minutes: The minutes of the Open General Meeting held at BCTCS 16 were approved.

Matters arising: Stephan Reiff-Marganiec asked about the state of EATCS subscriptions: attenders at BCTCS 16 had not yet had their subscriptions extended. Paul Dunne apologized on behalf of the organizers for the delay, and said that this would be corrected by the end of April. He noted that subscriptions from Keele had been forwarded. Alan Gibbons asked whether money had been lost, and what had happened with St Andrews' subscriptions. He felt that a proper report was needed. Paul Dunne agreed.

President's statement: Paul Dunne announced that he was not able to continue to serve as President. There were no other matters requiring report.

Treasurer's report: The Colloquium currently had a balance of £2684. There would be a payment out of £1500 to Liverpool who had lost money on BCTCS 16; £600 was currently held as a float by Glasgow; and any profit or loss from this meeting would be added.

Elections to Organising Committee Posts: Whereas the Treasurer was a candidate for the Presidency, the meeting agreed that the retiring President would oversee the elections.

• President. Chris Tofts, proposed by David Manlove and seconded by Mark Jerrum, was elected unopposed. This creating a vacancy for the Treasurership, an election was held:
• Treasurer. Faron Moller, proposed by Chris Tofts and seconded by Alan Gibbons, was elected unopposed.
• Additional members. Stephan Reiff-Marganiec, proposed by Chris Tofts and seconded by Paul Dunne, and Carron Shankland, proposed by Chris Tofts and seconded by Stephan Reiff-Marganiec, were elected unopposed.
• Postgraduate Student Representative. Paul Sant, proposed by David Manlove and seconded by Rick Thomas, was elected unopposed.

Report on arrangements for BCTCS 18, Bristol 2002: Chris Tofts reported on the state of BCTCS 18. There were some logistical awkwardnesses, which would mean it would be necessary to bus people from the accommodation site to the lecture site. However, there would be significant support from HP, including travel grants for students. Estimated costs were of the order of £90 for students and £160 for staff. Currently proposed speakers included Neil Davies. Further suggestions were welcome.

Choice of host for BCTCS 19: Rick Thomas said that Leicester were willing to investigate possibilities, but stressed that this was tentative. There were no other offers.

Any other business:

• Alan Gibbons asked what had happened to the JUCS special issues. Paul Dunne replied that there was no issue for Liverpool, as there had been only one submission. There were no plans for this meeting. The meeting agreed that the experiment of journal special issues had been tried, and was now firmly over.
• Stephan Reiff-Marganiec raised the question of whether BCTCS should be referred to by number or by year. It was agreed that the year might be used in acronyms, but the full title should continue to include the number.
• Stephan Reiff-Marganiec raised the perennial issue of co-location with BMC. Mark Jerrum encouraged cooperation over invited speakers. No conclusion was reached.
• Chris Tofts asked whether we should buy a suitable domain name. Paul Dunne said he would continue to maintain the archive. The meeting approved the purchase of a domain name, and expressed a preference for "org" rather than "ac.uk".
• Alan Gibbons proposed a vote of thanks to Paul Dunne for his eleven years of service on the committee, which was carried by acclaim.

Closure:The meeting closed at 18:25.

Julian Bradfield.
Secretary: BCTCS Organising Committee