Present for all agenda items: Rick Anthes, Jack Fellows, Tim Killeen,
Katy Schmoll, and Larry Winter
Present for Items 1 and 2: Dan Wilson and Michelle Travis
Present for Item 3: Maura Hagan, Roberta Johnson, Raj Pandya, and
Catherine Shea
Please view current and past summary notes at the following url:
https://www.ucar.edu/inside/internal/pc/.
1. Cash Management Update.
Dan Wilson gave an update on the cash management situation. He
presented updates on the COMET program multiple awards that have been
funded but which are being delayed from spending due to interagency
transfer issues through the NOAA COMET award. He also presented an
update of the current FAA award for RAL. NSF has funded UCAR $59M for
FY07 through the Cooperative Agreement.
2. Update on the UCAR General Fund.
The UCAR General Fund (GF) is UCAR’s "endowment" or reserve. Its
purpose is to protect the corporation against various risks, to cover
costs not allowable to government funds, and to provide modest support
for strategic initiatives in NCAR, UOP and EO.
Dan gave an extensive overview of the history of the GF. Major
sources of income include the UCAR management fee and appreciation on
UCAR's investments. Against these assets are various commitments and
liabilities. The GF is responsible for paying all UCAR-owned land
costs, post retirement medical liabilities, lobbying costs, STORM
funds, reserve for prespending/overspending, line of credit, and a
reserve for investment fluctuations since the fund is invested in
long-term assets.
Dan went over the major uses of the General Fund over the past decade.
These include purchase of indirect cost equipment at NCAR and UOP;
lobbying expenses; covering program deficits and bad debts; supporting
women and minority scientists at NCAR; purchase of the Child Care
Center; representation allowances (discretionary funds); the Science
Store; land acquisition associated with Foothills Lab and Center
Green; and program development in NCAR, EO, and UOP.
Dan showed the projected growth of the General Fund over the next 20
years under various assumptions of market performance, income from the
management fee and membership dues, and expenses. Under current asset
allocation assumptions, Dan recommended that UCAR should spend no more
than 4.5 percent of the balance of the General Fund per year on all
items; otherwise, the real value will decrease with time. The first
call on this spending is firm commitments on such items as land costs
and debt service. Second priority is to pay for necessary expenses
associated with items such as interest on loans to cover cash flow
problems and cover risks associated with prespending and bad debts
from NCAR, UOP and EO. Third priority is to support existing and new
scientific and educational programs and facilities in NCAR, UOP and EO.
3. Diversity Planning.
The discussion began with a follow up of the diversity discussion from
the 16 November UMC meeting. The discussion acknowledged the
significant momentum throughout the organization on diversity issues
and ways to build on that momentum, including creating a centralized
office or program for diversity.
The second part of the discussion focused on a proposal from
UCAR/NCAR/UOP staff for a set of pilot activities to launch the Africa
Initiative. The Council agreed to provide $200K to partially fund
three activities: radar upgrades in Mali and Burkina Faso, WRF
modeling in Africa, and an exploratory workshop in Burkina Faso.
We adjourned at 11:45 am.
For more information, contact Rick Anthes at ext. 1652, anthes@ucar.edu,
or see the Web page at UCAR President's Council.
Mon, Dec 11, 2006 to Tue, Dec 12, 2006
