BOARD MEETING MINUTES November 8, 2004

Members present:
Denise Teal  • Beth Bartholomew  • Michelle Olsen  • Linda Koutsky  • Karen Herceg  • Laura Tomaszewski  • Janet Lewis  • Joyce Norris (called in at 6:28pm)

Call to order:
5:32pm. Pacific Time by Denise Teal

1. Recording Secretary's Report: Michelle Olsen

1.1 Approval of minutes of the last board meeting
Minutes of last board meeting approved unanimously in Motion 2004-10 (below).

2. Corresponding Secretary's Report: Linda Koutsky

• 10/22/04 letter from Richelle Marsico, attorney for Border Collie Rescue Inc, and Nick Carter, notifying us of a forthcoming subpoena for club documents.
• 10/28/04 e-mail from David Frei soliciting a donation for "Take the Lead". Take the Lead is an organization that supports people in need in the sport of purebred dogs. Financial support is given to individuals and families facing life-threatening and financially devastating illnesses.
• 10/29/04: Thank you letter from Katie Gammil for inviting her to judge at our National.
• 11/1/04 letter to Richelle Marsico informing her that we have no documents to produce.
• 11/1/04: Request from AKC for the incoming 2005 officers & committee chair positions of interest to them.
• 10/27/04: Letters from AKC closing out specialty & Sunday show and agility trials (turnaround letters). Linda will gather next year's info and send them back in for next year's event.
• 11/8/04: Email to Linda from BCCGLA requesting permission to hold their specialty.
• 10/04: Beth received a statement from the veterinarian in CA acknowledging our donation to the rescue effort.
• 10/04: Beth received a thank you letter for our $1,000 donation to the epilepsy study.
• 10/04: Letter to Beth from Purina updating us on our Parent Club Partnership program status.

3. Treasurer's Report: Beth Bartholomew

3.1 Interim Financial Report

Checking balance:	$23,345.58
Savings balance:	$51,247.90
Health balance:	$1,586.16	(included in savings balance)
Rescue balance:	$10,340.90	(included in savings balance)

3.2 Recent operating expenses

• $10,000 from savings went to Wayne Koutsky to establish the new bank account for his Treasurer term (rest of funds will be transferred after the first of the year when Beth's term expires).
• $1,000 from Health Fund went to the Epilepsy Study.
• $1,000 from Rescue fund went to the Southern California puppy mill rescue effort's veterinary bills.

3.3 2004 Specialty Income/Expenses
Laura brought up the issue of sending Dr. Stoltz a small stipend for being the on-call vet during the weekdays of the specialty. She would get a check from Beth for $75 (we had paid him $100 previously for the entire week, including weekend).

Totals so far on Specialty income/expenses:
$48,241.5 Income*
$34,650.84 Expenses*
*These are preliminary figures. Not all expense receipts have been processed yet and some additional income may be pending. Some portion of the income figures may belong to rescue, exact breakdowns are still being processed.

3.4 Borderlines
Michelle attended the Parent Club Conference in October. There was a "resource room" that contained examples of club newsletters from most of the clubs. Many clubs are now issuing full-color glossy magazines from professional publishers and reported satisfaction with this method and the cost, and also a high rate of advertising and income (due to the higher quality of photos & print). The Board considered this possibility, and was interested from the standpoint of removing yet another of our more burdensome jobs on members. Now that we are hiring professional secretaries and paying the catalog compiler for the national specialty, delegating Borderlines to a third party may be a good step to take sometime in the future. Michelle will email the Parent Club Conference discussion list asking for suggested names of professional publishers and find out what other clubs are paying for this service, for further research.

4. Interim Business Transacted by US Mail
No mail exchanged in the preceding two months.

5. Interim Business Transacted by Email
The following motions were voted on via email since the last Board meeting:

5.1 Motion 2004-10
Motion: to accept the minutes from the September Board Meeting.
Motion made by: Michelle Olsen
Second: Laura Tomaszewski
In Favor: Unanimous.

5.2 Motion 2004-11
Motion: To donate $1,000 from our restricted Health Fund savings account to the Canine Epilepsy Research Project (Dr. Ned Patterson, DVM-- University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine; and Dr. Gary Johnson, DVM PhD-- University of Missouri, College of Veterinary Medicine), to presented to Dr. Patterson after his lecture at the 2004 BCSA National.
Motion made by: Michelle Olsen
Second: Karen Herceg
In favor: unanimous

5.3 Motion 2004-12
Motion: To donate $1,000 from our restricted Rescue Fund savings account to the rescue effort in Southern California. The money will be sent to Dr. Steven Wagner of County Animal Care "on account" to Border Collie Rescue for medical needs of the border collies rescued from the California puppy mill closure.
Motion Made By: Laura Tomaszewski
Second: Michelle Olsen
In Favor: Unanimous

5.4 Motion 2004-13
Motion: To approve KTBCC's request to hold a March 18, 2005 conformation and obedience specialty. This event will again be held in conjunction with the Kentuckiana Cluster of Dog Shows in Louisville, Kentucky.
Motion Made By: Linda Koutsky
Second: Michelle Olsen
In Favor: Unanimous

5.5 Motion 2004-14
Motion: To donate $200 towards B Course trophies for the Border Collie Club of Greater Los Angeles' herding trial in February, 2005.
Motion Made by: Michelle Olsen
Second: Laura Tomaszewski
In Favor: Unanimous

5.6 New Members approved
Motion to approve all below listed members: Karen, Laura second; unanimous approval.

6. Committee Business

6.1 Affiliate Club Committee (Ruth Deming, Chair)
Ruth Deming suggested that we dissolve this committee since it's inactive. The board agreed. We may, in the future, appoint a new recruitment committee that would focus on promoting new club formation, and helping them through the process. This would likely require an organized person who was good at follow-through, and perhaps was experienced with the club approval process from past experience. It was agreed to keep an eye out for a good candidate to recruit for this job.

6.2 Registration Committee (Richard Whorton, Chair)
The board agreed that we should make a goal of finishing the proposal by December. Denise and Michelle will continue to follow up with Richard on this project. Emily Czapek expressed interest in contributing to the effort as well.

6.3 Health Committee

6.3.1 Health Survey
Yvonne Anderson reported to Michelle that she is nearly finished with a proposal for a health survey. Michelle will follow up to see if she has been in contact with Lisa Pruka, and will also pass along info from a seminar she attended at the PCC on health surveys.
6.3.2 Donation to Epilepsy Study
We have $10,000 in the Canine Health Foundation (CHF) that is waiting in a donor advised fund to be allotted to a study (originally donated Dr. Robert Tainsh). Laura Tomaszewski moved to give $5,000 of that money to the Canine Epilepsy study (Active Grant #266), Joyce Norris seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously.
6.3.3 Epilepsy Project Logo
Michelle created a logo to be used for the epilepsy research support project. This will be used in Borderlines and on the website, heading up the tracking of our progress towards this goal. We may also sell t-shirts with the logo as a fundraiser, and also give them out as a reward to people who contribute to the study, either via blood sample submission or financial contributions.

6.4 Breeder Referral Committee
Karen brought up the issue of how to maintain the list of Breeder Referral advertisers. In the past, we had trouble keeping the main list and the website in synch with the main membership list-address changes, dropped members, etc. We also found that email and website addresses listed on our website often became stale, so they need to be verified periodically, so that puppy shoppers don't get discouraged from too many dead end leads. We considered having the membership chair maintain all of this information, but decided this task would remain with the Breeder Referral Chair for now, rather than adding to the burden of the Membership Chair who is already busy. Kathy Sours and Karen have worked out a system to try to improve upon how well we keep the data correct and will proceed with that.

6.5 Rescue Committee
Item that was tabled from last meeting, pending further clarification: Request from Mid Atlantic Border Collie Rescue (Sarah Ruckelshaus-Nicholson) for a $470 grant in rescue funds to purchase Microsoft Publisher/Editor to be used to publish their newsletter. Cost for each is $145 and $145 (two copies-one for each of the two people who regularly edit the documents, so they can send them back & forth). They are also asking for $180 to cover the cost of printing the newsletter. This newsletter is used to educate new and potential adopters.

Laura Tomaszewski moved to approve this request, Karen Herceg seconded. The motion was passed unanimously.

6.6 Versatility Program
Tracy Sengupta emailed the board reporting that she was updating the program description to include new classes such as Preferred Agility. She will send proposal when it's finished.

6.7 Juniors Committee
A general discussion was held on the excellent ideas coming from Mary Beth Overmyer and Linda Follis-they are considering a scholarship program proposal, and some recognition activities at the national specialty. The Board is thrilled to see them taking off on this project, as it is a priority to us to achieve a well-developed Juniors program.

6.8 Historian (Karen Herceg)
Karen is still working with the AKC Librarian to try to get our cub records shipped to her so she can review what we have there. They are still experiencing confusion over whether we even have materials there, though WE know we have some in there. Karen will also start working on compiling lists of past specialty winners and past Versatility award winners. This info will be kept on our website as well as printed in future specialty catalogs.

7. Old Business

7.1 2004 National Specialty: Lisa Pruka, Chair
Hotel issues: hotel didn't credit enough comp rooms/nights to us. Apparently most of the hotel staff is new, so they had a lot of confusion about how to handle our contract. Beth had called several times, and finally got a chance to talk to a manager, who verified a reimbursement check should be on the way.

7.2 2005 National Specialty
Chair: Denise Teal and Linda Koutsky have volunteered to co-chair the 2005 specialty.

Event chairs:

• Secretary: Derek Pattison of "Laughing Coyote Productions" (Hodgenville, Kentucky) will be the secretary for all events. He accepts online entries and credit card payments.
• Herding: Joyce Norris & Margie Clutter. Joyce is working on judges, has already procured some.
• Obedience: Juli Cepulis -judges are all under contract.
• Agility: Laura Wright-working on judge selection now.
• Conformation: Nancie Mages-most judges confirmed.
• Tracking: Lisa Pruka & Kari Wahlquist.
• Premium Lists/Catalog: Nancie Mages
• Red Raffle: Megan Hood. Megan suggested that we devote the proceeds towards health funds, to encourage people to donate items. The board agreed.
• Emergency Chair: Laura Tomaszewski
• Hotels: Denise is calling hotels in the area to try to find a better room rate for our exhibitors. Things we face are finding big enough conference rooms, hotels that allow pets, have enough rooms, and are close to Purina. We have found that having the host hotel far from Purina affects attendance at seminars, banquets, etc. Yet, we are hoping to find better rates or to negotiate an improved rate with Best Western.
• Photographer: Kathleen Shaffer of PupArt is coming back this year.
• Website & 2005 email list: Michelle followed up with Nancy Little and Ann Shaw to make sure the new committee list is getting compiled.

7.3 2006 Specialty
We are working on hiring judges now.
Chair still needed. It was decided that we would be trying to move to a co-chair model for future specialties to help break up the job into more manageable pieces. Lisa Pruka has offered to chair it. It was agreed to see if she can find a co-chair.

7.4 BCSA Sponsored Agility Trial
Denise will be following up on MACH bars and ribbons. We will be using left over "New Title" ribbons from the national specialty. Everything else is on track for the trial.

8. New Business

8.1 Complaint Letter from Puppy Buyer
The board received an inquiry via the website from a non-member who had a negative experience with a Border Collie breeder regarding breeding ethics as it relates to genetic disease. The inquirer wondered about disciplinary action that could be taken to correct this person's breeding practices, and if it could be done in a confidential manner. This subject was discussed at length. Since the inquirer did not provide the name of the breeder, there was no way the board could take any action at this time or even verify that the breeder in question was a member. Normally, if both parties were members, one could prefer charges against the other via the bylaws process. Since the complainant is not a member, she was informed that if she provided the name of the breeder, and the breeder was a member, the board would make contact with that person, inform them that there had been a complaint, and hear their rebuttal. Further actions would have to be considered from that point, depending on the information gathered.

General discussion ensued about our Code of Ethics and how this could be enforced. Unfortunately, the COE does not contain specifics about breeding practices, so sometimes it's hard to use that document as a basis for charges. These kinds of scenarios are certainly of concern to the Board, but the path to corrective action is not always clear, especially in cases where the charges cannot be proven (he-said, she-said situation). And, in the case of a breeder who is simply dishonest, any corrective action from the club, including expulsion, probably would not result in them improving their breeding practices. But, it is hoped that putting most breeders "on notice" that a complaint had been received would be enough to encourage them to "do the right thing" in the future. For this particular incident, the board would wait for a response from the complainant before discussing further action.

8.2 BCSA Goal statement on website
Claudia Frank requested the board consider changing the wording of the goal statement on the club's website from, "Support the rights of Border Collie owners to pursue any activity they wish." to "Support the rights of Border Collie owners to pursue any activity they wish as long as it is not detrimental to the original purpose and reason for the Border Collie's existence." Although the sentiment is agreeable and we all hope that people are not doing things detrimental to our breed, it was resolved to not change it at this time, mostly due to the subjective nature of the definition of what is or is not detrimental, and the question of how to enforce such an edict.

8.3 BCCGLA Specialty Show Approval
The Border Collie Club of Greater Los Angeles has requested approval for their May, 2005 specialty show. Karen Herceg made a motion to approve, seconded by Laura Tomaszewski. The motion was unanimously approved.

8.4 Breeders Symposium
Emily Czapek requested consideration that we send a member, at BCSA's expense, to the AKC Breeders' Symposium. It was resolved that this seminar is intended more to benefit individuals interested in breeding issues; and was not necessarily set up for clubs to send delegates like other conferences. In the future, we may consider sponsoring a member to attend if they would provide their notes from all seminars to be shared via Borderlines. But, we will not be pursuing this for this year's conference, because we'd rather direct our funds on more specific, focused efforts to help our breed.

9. Date of Next Meeting
Next regular board meeting (will be the first meeting of the class of 2005-2006): Monday January 10th, 2005, 5:30pm Pacific Time.

Adjournment motion:
8:26 p.m. Pacific Time by Motion to adjourn by Linda Koutsky, second Karen Herceg.

Respectfully submitted by Michelle Olsen, Recording Secretary

 

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