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I. Quorum:
a. We needed a 20% quorum required by bylaws to hold an annual meeting. There were only 25 members in attendance so a quorum was not reached. Therefore, the meeting was conducted “town hall” style, where no official business or votes could be conducted.
II. For the Good of the Order: thank you to all who have contributed to making the 2007 National Specialty a success!!!
III. Introductions to 2007-2008 Board of Directors
a. President: Michelle Olsen (not in attendance)
b. Vice President: Lisa Pruka—presiding over the meeting
c. Corresponding Secretary: Terri Clingerman
d. Recording Secretary: Jo Roach
e. Treasurer: Wayne Koutsky
f. Board Member at Large: Kelly Hagstrand (not in attendance)
g. Board Member at Large: Sally Davis
h. Past President: Denise Teal
i. AKC Delegate: Claudia Frank
IV. Corresponding Secretary’s Report: Terri reported that her correspondence is listed in the monthly board meeting minutes.
V. Recording Secretary’s Report: Jo reported that the monthly board meeting minutes are posted on the club’s website. The minutes are posted once they approved in the next month’s meeting.
VI. Treasurer’s Report: Wayne reported that for a young club, we are doing well financially. He also commented on the healthy finances for this year’s specialty and that Paige’s agility raffle has paid for this year’s prizes with money left over to go towards next year’s prizes.
VII. President’s Report: Highlights from the Past Year
a. Health Foundation: The group has a board of directors and is putting the finishing touches on their application for 501(c)3 non-profit charitable status. They are starting to advertise for volunteers.
Emily spoke about her involvement in the foundation and gave an overview of its origins, emphasizing that it was developed in the interest of ALL border collies, with the hope of bridging the gap between registries.
b. AKC Delegate: Claudia Frank is now our approved AKC Delegate and served on the Herding, Earthdog and Lure Coursing Committee (HEC) as an expert on herding in 2007. She did not get re-elected to the HEC for 2008, but will still attend the meetings all year as an advisor.
Claudia spoke about her experience as a delegate and how she has found the political aspect interesting and educational.
c. Borderlines: continuing to transition the magazine to a more sustainable model for our volunteers; however, the cost to have it done professionally is quite high. We continue to look at options to cut costs and increase revenue to sustain the publication. We now offer color advertisements!
Denise spoke about transferring the proofreading duties to a new volunteer. She also requested that members contact her if they are interested in writing a one time article or recurring column for Borderlines.
d. Open Field Herding: Continued financial support for B course trials and Kentucky Bluegrass ISDS trial. We have a more clearly worded B course grant application policy on our website.
e. Stock Dog of Distinction Award: New award rolled out in 2007 which recognizes dogs who compete successfully in at least three herding venues (AKC, Open ISDS type field trials, and either ASCA or AHBA). Prize is a $100 gift card and a BCSA certificate, plus a feature article in Borderlines. Requirements are an AKC herding champion, either an ASCA WTCH or AHBA HTCH, plus 5 points earned from winning/placements in the Open class at ISDS type field trials. So far, three dogs have achieved the honor.
It was noted during the meeting that a fourth dog has now achieved this award.
f. Website continues to be an information clearinghouse for our breed, with thousands of hits per month.
g. Judges Education: the new PowerPoint presentation has been in use for a full year, and is getting good feedback. We now have a list of judge mentors on our website, and an expanded list of JE program presenters. We’ve been increasing the number of seminars we give. We are soon to be mailing a letter, a “judging concerns” summary and the JE PowerPoint to ALL approved Border Collie judges, to further reach our audience. We also wrote a multi-part article for our column in the AKC Gazette to reach more judges and potential judges.
Linn reported that she has 8 judges signed up for JE at the specialty. She has received feedback that judges are using the JE section on the club’s website. The judges packets will be sent out after the specialty. Linn will be presenting at two big JE events in February 2008 – Westminster and Chicago.
h. Rescue funding: have approved several grant requests for help for rescue groups, but we still have more money that is allocated for this purpose. Reminder that any rescue group can apply for funds, please refer to our website for application information.
i. Color committee published an information section on our website explaining color terms and genetics, and how they relate to the categories on the registration form & to class sub-divisions that may be offered at shows (they are not required to be offered at any show, it’s always the show-giving club’s option). This committee has been retired, as it has achieved all of its goals!
j. Judge Selection committee: we have an approved process now, but had to use an abbreviated version of it for the 2008 specialty because the timeline was too short to complete the full process. Starting in 2009, and when we get a 2009 specialty chair, we’ll follow the full process; which takes member suggestions for judges, polls for the most popular ones, surveys the judges for their background/experience, and allows the membership to vote on the selections.
Terri explained the process for 2008 where members have the option of voting online, mailing their ballot or handing their ballot to Terri at the specialty. A lengthy discussion ensued about the judges selection process. The questionnaire sent to the judges was thought to be an insult by some. Others thought that expecting judges to hold the date until after the vote could put the judges in a difficult position if they had saved the date and then were not selected (turning down other opportunities in the meantime). Some felt they had shared their concerns about this new process but were not listened to. Input from members in other breed clubs suggested that we request bios from the judges instead of using the questionnaire. If judges did not submit their bios they could still be voted. The timing of the judges selection process is thought to be too late and puts the club at a disadvantage for hiring good judges. The general consensus was that the membership would like to see the judges selection process re-visited.
k. All breed agility trials: these are a great money-maker for us, this year we had of them, one in Michigan and one in Pennsylvania. Both are slated for being held again next year.
l. Juniors program: Mary Beth Overmyer and Linda Follis are still soliciting suggestions for ways BCSA can encourage and honor junior handlers. We are interested in developing a scholarship program, and need a volunteer who could research this and propose a program. This year, we did a mailing to a list of all juniors who had earned titles on a Border Collie and invited them to join, but did not garner any response from that effort.
Please send your ideas on how to get juniors involved to the Suggestion Box online.
m. National herding trial lottery: last year, we moved to a lottery system for processing entries, to make access fairer to those who live in rural areas and can’t use overnight mail delivery. We also added incentives for worker volunteers. This had a very positive impact; we got many more volunteers than usual both last year and this year, so we’ll likely stick with this model in the future. There has been a lot of confusion over this system however: rest assured that all exhibitors have an equal chance of getting in (your chances aren’t greater or lesser if you’re from a particular area), that the drawing is done fairly (by Derek Pattison with no involvement from club members), and that YES, it benefits you to volunteer to work!
n. 2007 National: Please give Julie Bosier and Megan Harrison a round of applause for all their hard work!
o. 2008 National: Chairs Denise Teal & Linda Koutsky, to be held at Purina again. Please offer your support as they ramp up to host this event!
p. 2009 National: still need chairs to host this event; we will consider hosting bids from any region or group.
q. Meet the Breeds booths: hosted three in the past year, one at the AKC Invitational, and two at other all-breed club events.
r. Affiliate Clubs: we’ve gained a few more this year, but are still very keen on building a larger network of local clubs. They are important for reaching and supporting local Border Collie owners and breeders, and for enabling a future of having a roving specialty.
s. ILP Approval Process: we’d been getting a lot of feedback that AKC was rejecting dogs that probably were purebred Border Collies. So, we’ve worked with this department at AKC, and they send us any which they aren’t sure about. They also refer owners of rejected dogs to us for a second opinion, and honor our votes on them. Though we OK only about half of those brought to us, we have helped several owners who have gone on to successfully show their dogs in companion events. This is a PR issue for us and for AKC, that owners of dogs that legitimately look purebred aren’t rejected, as it causes these owners to be upset with the organization and complain to other exhibitors about it at non-AKC events. So, we want to monitor it closely.
t. New BCSA Merchandise WebStore: We have set up with an online clothing vendor to carry some BCSA logo wear. This is a good arrangement for us because it’s trouble-free, we don’t have to buy and store inventory, etc. So, we’re going to try it out and see how it goes. Find a link to the store on our website.
u. Health Survey: Casey Carney has developed a brief survey that can be completed right here at the national. We need as wide of participation as possible, and are raffling a prize to all who fill out surveys during the week. This short survey will be used to guide us in future steps, and perhaps the development of a second, targeted survey.
Casey reported that as of this meeting she had 170 dogs included in the survey (with more sure to come)! She has breeder demographic cards available for breeders who are interested in supplying more information. The survey will also be put on the website. Once the surveys have been evaluated, we can move towards more involvement with CHIC.
VIII. Committee Reports
a. We have 29 committees, only 6 of which still need volunteers to chair. So, we are doing well on filling the important jobs to keep the club running.
b. Each committee chair may stand and summarize their accomplishments this year, if they are in attendance:
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(Club)-Volunteer Needed Affiliate Clubs: Emily Fish AKC Gazette Columnist-Gerianne Darnell Agility Trial: PA-Karen Herceg Agility Trial: OH-Denise Teal BCSA Announce & BCSA Suggestion Box-Nancy Little, Moderator BCSA Store Inventory & Orders-Nancie Mages BCSA Merchandise Marketing & Sales Chair-Craig Rogers Border Recorder-Volunteer needed Borderlines-Paper & Ink (Barbara Forsyth) Breeder Referral Committee-Karen (Yobbagy) Herceg Color Committee-Casey Carney (now retired) Finance Committee-Beth Bartholomew General Education Committee-Donna Mallory Futurity Committee-Volunteer Needed Health Committee-Lisa Pruka (For Now) |
Health Foundation-Dawn
Antoniak-Mitchell Herding Committee-Claudia Frank Historian- Juniors Program-Mary Beth Overmyer, Linda Follis Judges Education Committee-Linn Klingel Judges' Selection Procedure Committee-Sonja Donaldson Legislative Liaison-Linda Baron Membership Chair-Kathy Sours National Specialty – 2007-Megan Harrison & Julie Bosier National Specialty – 2008-Denise Teal & Linda Koutsky 2008 Nominating Com- Volunteer Needed Recruitment- Volunteer Needed Breeding Excellence Recognition Committee-Kim Sykes Rescue-Megan Harrison Versatility/Awards-Tashia Lund Website- Ann Shaw |
IX. Old Business: none from previous Annual Meeting
X. New Business: no topics were formally submitted by the 10/1 deadline.
a. Blue Comment Cards: these are for members to write any and all suggestions, praise, complaints, comments etc which they would like the board to consider. Comments can be anonymous, except for judge suggestions, which must be accompanied by the member’s name. Fill out as many cards as you’d like.
Page Updated 11.07.2007