· Dan Schwartz – 6/9/04

Original Message from Mike Prince – 5/25/04

Dear Council members,

Attached is a starting document for drafting changes to the UNOLS charter in preparation for it's re-adoption this fall.

I have cleaned up some things and have made some edits. I also inserted comments regarding the issue of who designates a UNOLS vessel.

Track changes is turned on. If you all will send in your initial comments or suggested changes, I will then start a working document where you can consider each other's suggestions.

Regards, Mike

PS: Committee Chairs, please forward this to your committees as appropriate to review your particular annex.

Bob Knox – 5/26/04

Mike - Since I think the general membership tends to be rather disengaged, my hunch is to stick with designation of UNOLS vessels by Council, and scrub the notion of membership approval/voting, but I'll mull this aspect a bit more. This matter connects to a degree with handling situations like the recent KoK one. In that case we ended up with an ad hoc method of correlating our formal designation with what the feds would countenance/support, and that was good - better than the Vickers situation where designation and fed actions were at cross purposes. I'm not sure any of that needs to be incorporated in the charter, but will ponder.

Meanwhile, small item - uncorrect the correction in by the same rules for decision and quorum as applies at meetings. It was correct with "apply" since the noun modified is "rules" which is plural.

Bob

Wilf Gardner – 5/27/04

Mike,

I agree with the changes you have made to revert to voting on designating a vessel a UNOLS vessel by vote of the UNOLS members upon recommendation by the UNOLS council (3b) and the encouragement in Annexes IV 3 and VI 3 of having ex-officio representation on FIC and AICC by RVOC and RVTEC representatives. The other small changes also look fine.

Wilf

Patty Fryer – 6/1/04

Dear Mike,

Just a couple of leetle things regarding your review of the Charter. In the Introduction, where you change "do" to "does," you also need to change "which use and operate" to "which uses and operates..." And, in fact, we should change "which" to "that."

OK, you're gonna hate this, and I know it sounds forced to put a lot of "shalls" into the document, but there is a rule for this. If the actions indicated are requirements we need to use "shall." In some instances it is not appropriate to use "shall." For instance, I didn't change "will" to "shall" in the last paragraph of section 4 because the Charter cannot dictate to the Federal Funding agencies how they will fund the UNOLS Office. If things are required actions we should use "shall" if they are generally expected actions that might have to vary from time to time we should use "will." You'll note I left a few "wills" in.

I couldn't get into your highlighted second to last line under "3.b. Operating Institutions" but you should also change "will be voted on..." to "shall be voted on..."

Are the terms of reference for DESSC not part of the Charter? Just wondering because in section 4.e. the Charter refers to the Chair of DESSC along with others as ex-officio, fully participating members of the Council and parenthetically indicates the annexes. This sort of suggests that DESSC terms are to be part of the annexes. I highlighted the section in hot pink.

Because the DESSC Chair is an "ex-officio" member of the Council I had always thought that I was not supposed to vote on Council matters. But before the last meeting in Miami Annette told me that the DESSC Chair does have voting rights. That's where I've been confused in the past. Do all chairs of the UNOLS committees get a vote even though they are only ex-officio members of the Council?

Thanks heaps,

Rose Dufour – 6/8/04

Hi Mike,

the scheduling annex hasn't changed much. I've added two comments in red that might be considered.

Thanks

Rose

ANNEX I

TO THE UNOLS CHARTER

Ship Scheduling Committee (SSC)

1. An important facet of the UNOLS' activities is the provision of a mechanism to coordinate the use of available facilities. The coordination of ship schedules is the most obvious area where immediate benefits might be gained. An underlying principle of UNOLS is that control of facility operations and scheduling remain the responsibility of the operating institution, with the understanding that UNOLS and UNOLS operating institutions will make serious efforts to assure that ships and facilities are fully available to all federally-funded users. To assure that ships and facilities are broadly available and that their use is effectively scheduled and coordinated, it is critically important that records of ship-time requests, ships and facilities available, the funding status of proposed ship use and tentative schedules be broadly disseminated in a timely fashion. It will be a responsibility of the UNOLS Council to assess and report on the effectiveness of facility utilization. The Ship Scheduling Committee will serve as the focal point for this coordinating role of UNOLS.

2. The UNOLS Chair shall appoint a Ship Scheduling Committee Chair and Vice Chair from among UNOLS operator institutions, and usually in accordance with nominations from within the Committee. Normally the Chair and Vice Chair will be from opposite coasts (Atlantic/Gulf and Pacific). Terms of office will be for two years. The purpose of the Committee is to serve as a mechanism for the development and coordination of ship schedules in order to assure the most effective, efficient and economic utilization of ships and associated facilities. The Ship Scheduling Committee has its own terms of reference. Membership consists of representatives from each UNOLS operator institution. Representatives of NSF, ONR, NOAA and other sponsoring agencies shall be included.

The Ship Scheduling Committee may establish subcommittees to meet and function on a regional basis, reporting then to the main committee.

3. The Ship Scheduling Committee, supported by the UNOLS Office shall pursue an annual process of schedule development. The process is executed so as to assure effective ship and facility support to federally-funded investigators, efficient and economic operating schedules for individual ships and the UNOLS fleet and to provide timely information for fleet management to funding agencies, UNOLS ship operators and the research vessel user community. Procedures for schedule development include:

ß Collection of ship-time requests both at the operating institutions and at the UNOLS Office,

ß Exchange of ship-time requests and summaries among all UNOLS institutions and the UNOLS Office,

ß Development of tentative ship schedules by operating institutions and dissemination among all institutions and the UNOLS Office and the sponsoring agencies,

ß Meetings to consolidate knowledge of science project, funding status, to compile institution estimates of operating costs, to coordinate ship and equipment schedules and to assure all funded science programs are scheduled.

4. Ship-time requests should be submitted electronically using the form available on the UNOLS homepage < http://www.unols.org >. This permits automatic distribution to the appropriate operator(s), funding agency and the UNOLS Office. An e-mail copy will be returned to the PI submitting the request. This form can be printed from the Web and appended to research proposals requesting ship time. The NSF 831 Ship Time Request form is being phased out [Mike, is this process of phasing out have an end date?]. Ship-time requests must be completed for all science requiring ship time and submitted as a part of their Research Proposals to NSF or to notify ONR, NOAA or other sponsoring agencies of their ship time requirements. Whenever practical, requests are filled using the ship requested by the investigator. Institutions encourage submission of ship-time requests as early as practical, hopefully in January or February, prior to the operating year. Electronic filing of the ship-time request form will automatically post the request on a Web chart accessed through the UNOLS homepage. The request will be located in the geographical area requested for the cruise. Multiple year cruises will be located on the appropriate year's chart. The chart display helps to facilitate scheduling and permits investigators to collaborate with other programs that might be compatible. A separate inventory is also maintained on the UNOLS homepage for access to all interested scientists. The central file of ship-time requests will be the principal mechanism for the exchange of ship-time information.

5. Tentative schedules are generated by each UNOLS institution for their ships. Tentative schedules are generated as soon as operators have a basis in credible ship-time requests (routinely in the spring). These schedules are posted on the UNOLS homepage to permit coordination with other ship operators and to prompt negotiations for eliminating double bookings, assure accommodation of all funded science, enhance effectiveness of facility support and to improve the efficiency and economy of the overall fleet schedule. These negotiations are a critical part of the UNOLS scheduling process.

6. Meetings of the Ship Scheduling Committee are held as necessary, at least annually. The number and dates for meetings may be influenced by institutions' efficiency in developing and exchanging ship-time requests and tentative schedules. Practically, the timing for meetings is dictated by the flow of ship-time requests and of their science funding decisions and by the submission date for Ship Operations Proposals. Operators must coordinate their schedules through electronic means. Regional meetings may be necessary to refine schedules and to eliminate double bookings. Schedules should be as firm as possible in late spring to permit the Schedule Review Group an opportunity to examine all schedules for most efficient operations. [Should we re word this to reflect reality?? Schedules should be as firm as possible by early summer, after agency funding decisions have been made]The Schedule Review Group consists of the Ship Scheduling Committee Chair, Vice Chair, UNOLS Executive Secretary and funding agency representatives. An early fall meeting of the full Ship Scheduling Committee is necessary to finalize ship operating schedules and to accommodate fleet operating costs to the total funding available and to the needs of sponsored science projects. Additional scheduling meetings may be necessary among regional groups and consortia of operators in preparation for the fall general scheduling meeting.

Dan Schwartz – 6/9/04

I noticed that Mike inserted the following text into Annex IV, related to the FIC:

"Ex-officio representation on FIC by RVOC and RVTEC representatives is encouraged."

Similar language was inserted into Annex VI, relating to AICC, i.e. representation by RVOC and RVTEC on AICC. (I currently serve in that role on behalf of RVOC--before me it was Joe Coburn.)

At the last RVOC meeting, Bill Martin attended as the RVTEC liaison to RVOC and, if I recall correctly, we all decided that continuing such representation was a very good idea. So, I'd suggest we add a sentence in Annex III that says:

"Ex-officio representation on the RVOC by a RVTEC representative is encouraged."

Tim Askew – 6/10/04

Mike, I just saw Dan Schwartz's comments on Annex III and I agree we should probably add language regarding RVTEC representation on the RVOC. Overall I think all the proposed changes are appropriate and I support them. The one thing I would like to change is the format in Annex III to be like Annex IV and V with the Heading in bold ie: 1.INTRODUCTION, 2.PURPOSE, 3.ORGANIZATION 4. REPRESENTATION, 5. OFFICIERS, ETC. Some Annex's have letters instead of numbers and some don't have anything like Annex III RVOC. I realize that all of these came into being over 30+ years but now is a good time to make it a uniform document. One other suggested change would be to add the term of office for chair and vice chair (3 years) similar to Annex V RVTEC. Annex I and II need the format change as well. Regards, Tim Askew

Dale Chayes – 06/21/04

Greetings,

With regard to the charter revision, I propose that we be more explicit about representation from the other UNOLS Committees in the coordination section.

Perhaps something like:

In order to facilitate improved capabilities in the arctic research fleet, AICC membership will include one representative from each of the following UNOLS committees: the Fleet Improvement Committee; the Research Technical Enhancement Committee and the UNOLS Research Vessel Operators' Council.

-Dale