Minutes of the Open General Meeting of the BCTCS

The meeting was recognised as quorate there being present the President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the BCTCS; Tom Kelsey the Local Organiser for BCTCS 14, and at least of ten other members of the BCTCS.

The minutes of the Open General Meeting held at BCTCS 13 were approved.

Matters arising

• The modifications to the wording of the Constitution, as proposed at BCTCS 13 and subsequently incorporated, were approved.
• The President (Alan Gibbons, Liverpool) reviewed the reasons for seeking Charitable Status, presenting a report prepared describing the implications of this, of which the most significant was the incorporation of additional clauses in the BCTCS Constitution in order for this to comply with the criteria set by the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales. The additional clauses that formally prevent members of the Organising Committee benefiting from their status (proposed as Section 4, Clause 5), and establish a procedure in the event of the BCTCS ceasing (proposed as Section 8, Clause 1) were both approved nem. con. by the meeting.
• The President and Secretary (Paul Dunne, Liverpool) presented their report and recommendations concerning options for producing a published collection of papers presented at BCTCS. The Scretary reported that a very positive response to this idea had been received from the editor of a Springer-Verlag electronic journal: The Journal of Universal Computer Science. After some discussion, the President formally proposed (seconded by the Secretary) that the option of producing a `Special Issue in association with the BCTCS' be adopted for a trial period of 2 years, commencing with BCTCS 15 in 1999. This proposal was passed by 12 votes to 6. It was further agreed that an acting `Publication Editor' be appointed (by the President) to deal with the implementation of this decision.

Elections to Organising Committee Posts

The Treasurer (Chris Tofts, Leeds) supervised the elections to posts due for renewal.

• Alan Gibbons stated that he was not seeking re-election as President. Iain Stewart (Leicester) (proposer: Alan Gibbons; seconder: Paul Dunne) was the only candidate and was adopted with the unanimous approval of the meeting.
• Paul Dunne stated that he would prefer to stand down as Secretary, however, no alternative candidate was prepared to take on this post in 1998. Paul Dunne agreed to continue in the post, if this was acceptable to the meeting, with the intention of allowing an election to be held in 1999, when other candidates had expressed their willingness to stand. Mike Paterson (Warwick) proposed this procedure be adopted (seconded: Rick Thomas, Leicester). This proposal was accepted nem. con
• Simon Thompson (UKC) (proposer: Iain Stewart; seconder: Rick Thomas) and Achim Jung (Birmingham) (proposer: Rick Thomas; seconder: Chris Tofts) were the only candidates for the two additional posts. Both were accepted nem. con.
• Richard Gault (Leicester) (proposer: Martyn Amos, Liverpool; seconder: Rick Thomas) was the only nominee for the position of Postgraduate Representative and was appointed nem. con.

• The Treasurer reported a surplus of 2682 pounds in the BCTCS Account following a contribution to this of 400 pounds following BCTCS 13 at Sheffield.
• Choice of host for BCTCS 16
• Martyn Amos presented a bid from Liverpool University to host BCTCS 16 in 2000. This offer was accepted nem. con.
• It was noted that agreement had been reached at BCTCS 13 that mechanisms be put in place to allow individuals to `contract out' of the EATCS subscription when registering for future Colloquia.