ESAA Board of Directors Meeting

Olympia Resort & Conference Center

Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

October 24-25, 2011

 

 

Monday, October 24, 2011

 

In attendance:  Janet Gray, Mary Coldiron, Jack Johnson, Bob Stevens, Jan Carlson, Lanore Matter, Julie Quirk, Dave Mates, John Nielsen, Tony Disiena, Judi Hunter, Denise Gilley, Lynda Chase, BJ Parsons, Anna Quigley, Kathy Cunningham-Roy, Sandy Miller

 

The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm by President, Janet Gray.  She opened the board meeting by welcoming everyone, including the new board members.  She stated that the board meeting conference calls that we held every few months throughout the past year were very helpful and productive and she would like to continue to hold them, on an every other month basis, through 2012.

 

Districting Report – John Nielsen’s numbers indicate that our membership is down.  Janet clarified that we will actually be up six members by the end of the year and explained that John’s report ended in July, where as Membership Chair, Coleen Raber’s numbers were thru the end of the year.  John thought we should consider organizing a committee to evaluate ways to increase membership.  Janet said that we do have several current committees who are addressing this and it will be discussed further into the meeting.  We need “new blood” – pull in younger folks.  Janet is encouraging committees to recruit younger talent to volunteer.  The Education Committee will be addressing this and bringing new ideas into tomorrow’s board meeting.  Jack Johnson spoke about how he attended a Meet the Breed and the agility dog brought the most spectators.  We should encourage having an agility dog and/or therapy dogs at Meet the Breed events, such as Eukanuba & Javits.  The question came up, “how can we attract the field people?”.  Kathy Rodriguez now writes a monthly field report for the ESAA Newsletter, we have ESAA membership applications at the National Field Trial and we also ask that NFT entrants donate to support English Setter rescue.  Our clubs need to embrace other “cultures” – learn from the field folks – broaden the membership base.  John suggested putting an ad in a national field magazine.  We should also encourage breeders to provide their puppy buyers with a year’s membership in ESAA.  Bob Stevens made a motion that we accept the Districting Report.  Lanore Matter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

AKC Gazette – In Jill Warren’s report to the board, she asked if ESAA would like to reprint her Gazette articles in the ESAA Newsletter.  They would have to appear after they’ve already been published by the Gazette and we would have to give credit to the Gazette.  Denise Gilley made a motion that we accept Jill’s report and that we do publish her articles in the ESAA Newsletter.  Anna Quigley seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Annual Awards – Janet has had a couple people come forward who have offered a bust and/or painting that ESAA can use as an award or auction item.  Janet thought we should consider a Meadowlands Specialty Association (formerly known as the Combined and/or Garden Specialty) trophy.  Larry & Mary Coldiron would like to sponsor the owner-handler annual award.  The board discussed some type of “trinity award”, for a dog who’s titled in conformation, performance & field.  This would recognize the versatility of the dog and the time/effort that the owner has put into the training of the dog.  The award would be in the form of a certificate or some type of medallion. Janet asked BJ Parsons to write up a proposal on this and if anyone has any suggestions, please contact BJ.  Judi Hunter made a motion that we accept the Annual Awards Report.  Anna Quigley seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

2010 Annual – Kathy Cunningham-Roy reported that we’ve made a profit of $2,000 as of today, before any onsite purchases of the annual are made this Friday.  This is a remarkable recovery from what we were hearing several months ago.  At that time, ads were down and there was real concern that we were going to suffer a huge loss.  But Cathy Hill, recognizing the impending problem, immediately jumped into action.  She found another printer, who was about 50% cheaper than we’ve ever used before.  Janet felt she went above and beyond what would be expected from a vendor.  Janet asked that we get a committee together to review the annual, as it exists today, investigate new/other possibilities and/or determine if it’s something we want to continue, going forward, i.e. publish every year, every other year, can we afford it, etc.  They will also do a cursory review of all types of publications to see if it would make sense to merge some or all of them into one.  It used to be that when looking for a dog, a breeder used the annual.  Nowadays, with current technology, websites, etc are being used to fulfill that purpose.  She asked that the committee come up with options for us to consider.  Dave Mates stated that with 850 memberships and only 250 of them purchasing annuals, that’s only about a third of our members that use this publication.  Lanore Matter will chair the committee, and Kathy and Janet will also be on the committee.  Jack Johnson also recommended that Carl Sillman be consulted on the historical impact.  Bob Stevens made a motion that we put a committee in place to look at all our options and prepare a proposal to the board.  Tony Disiena seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Kathy wanted to publically state what a great job Lourdes Fernandez did this year.  She has the knowledge of the breed and really spent a lot of time and effort in this venture.  Kathy also stated that Kathy Gaut also did a great job assisting Lourdes and collecting the money.  Thanks to both of them for all their hard work this past year.

 

Health & Genetics – Michelle Raisor’s report was reviewed, but she did not have any recommendations yet because the CHF (Canine Health Foundation) grant list hadn’t come out yet.  It’s due to come out later this month or next.  The H&G committee will write up their recommendation and will send to the board to review soon.  Janet stated that a small group of ESAA members will be approaching us on funding research on epilepsy.  Tony questioned if there’s a real need.  BJ said that it is a problem but breeders aren’t openly talking about it, so many people aren’t even aware there’s a problem. 

 

Janet would like to give the committee credit for the articles they’ve been putting in the Newsletters.  They’re doing a great job.  We currently have about $15,000 in H&G and $20,000 in CHF.  Mary wanted everyone to understand that we don’t have to fund only CHF grants with our H&G funds.  It can be used elsewhere, so don’t think our options are limited. 

 

H&G used to hold a separate raffle at the ESAA national, but now we have just one “super” raffle.  Jack Johnson had spoken with Michelle and she had implied that they had sufficient money in their account and don’t really need the raffle money.  She had been told that in the past we never gave them money other than what was in the CHF fund.  This past year we used what was in the fund, plus extra.  Janet will speak with the H&G committee and come up with a proposal for next year. 

 

We are making money on our BAER clinic (our previous profit was about $1,200) and our rules state that the profits must be used for future BAER research.  The problem is there’s currently no research being conducted.  If CHF comes up with a deafness study, we will support it.  Janet also plans to speak with the H&G committee about setting up our own research on this subject.  Lanore said that she has heard that there is a new study this year.  Jack wondered if we could use the money towards the socialization, communication and placement of deaf dogs?

 

Julie enquired about the results of the thyroid testing that was done in Minnesota.  Janet stated that it is no longer a viable grant.  They aren’t studying it any longer, but she will follow up with Michelle to get with Minnesota on the results.  Jack felt this type of thing really needs to get reported back to the membership since they took the time to bring their dogs for testing, etc.

 

Denise Gilley made a motion that we accept the Health & Genetics report.  Lanore Matter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Historian’s Report – The board reviewed Carl Sillman’s report.  Several people had read his article in Showsight Magazine and thought he wrote a wonderful article.  Last year, the suggestion had come up that Carl should be interviewing, tapping into the thoughts of some of our “old time” breeders.  Janet spoke with Carl recently about that and learned that he does in fact have an interview already conducted with Joyce Rosen. 

 

Sandy received a scrapbook of historical articles and pictures that a woman (Gwen Farnsworth) had been collecting for the past 40 years.  She mailed it to Sandy as a donation and said we could do whatever we like with it.  The board decided to give the scrapbook to Carl Sillman due to its historical nature.  Julie Quirk volunteered to take the book to Carl.  Janet also asked Julie to pass along the message that if he needs anything or would like some money in his budget to spend on something, he just needs to let the board know.  Lynda Chase made a motion that we accept the Historian’s report.  Judi Hunter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Hunt Test – At the request of hunt test chairs, Elizabeth Buege & Karen Lishinski, Bob Stevens made a motion that an AKC senior hunter pass may be used as one of the passes for the ESAA hunting dog excellent title.  Judi Hunter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.  But note that this change becomes effective today, Oct. 24th going forward and is not retroactive.  Mary Coldiron commented that she had created a budget line this year, but no budget requirements were received from the committee.  They need to contact Mary if there will be any expenses for 2012.

 

Judges Education – In order to save money at one time, Joan Savage had eliminated the bottled water and show catalog that we used to provide to each judge attending the judges’ education seminar.  Janet felt that our balance sheet is healthy enough and we do have money in the education fund, so we should go back to providing water & a catalog to each judge.  Judi Hunter made a motion that we provide bottled water and a catalog to each judge attending the education seminar.  Tony Disiena seconded the motion and the motion was passed.  Denise said that she will amend the National specialty guidelines to reflect this change. 

 

The board discussed judge mentors.  We need to continue to add mentors and get them trained.  We discussed holding a mentors meeting at each national, or at least consider having them attend the judges’ seminar so they can hear what is being said and they can hear some of the questions that judges are asking.

 

Juniors – Judi Hunter told the board about all the Juniors’ activites for this week and stated that Purina donated gifts for the juniors.  Janet thought we should try to get a variety of juniors to write articles for the monthly newsletters.  We would include a photo of the junior so the membership can see them.  Bob Stevens made a motion that we accept the Juniors report.  Lanore Matter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Standing Rules – Julie Quirk said, per standing rule #15, the secretary needs to publish a record of the BOD votes that were submitted via email during the past year.  Sandy made a note of that and will do so effective immediately. 

 

There were a few pending items that, one of which was that Mary Coldiron was to report back on the source of funding for the $50,000 in the endowment fund.  Mary said that it was originally in the general fund.  It was general income, accumulation of money from dues, profits from annual shows, etc.

 

Every committee should have guidelines.  Janet announced this will be the year of guidelines.  Every committee needs to get theirs written up and send to the ESAA secretary for filing.  Jan Carlson stated that she wrote the guidelines for the hunt test and will send them to Sandy.  If any help was needed on the futurity/maturity guidelines, Denise Gilley offered to help write them.

 

Mary Coldiron questioned the by-laws on financial reporting.  She received a complaint from the previous treasurer who said the entire financials need to be published.   Mary doesn’t see that the entire report has to be in the newsletter, just need to report income and expenses.   Dave Mates said that years ago the board insisted that the financials be published.    Mary thought it should be published after the board meeting – once the board approves it.  All of 2010 and any items not previously recorded – thru Oct. 3rd of 2011.  Jack Johnson made a motion that the Treasurer’s report, published in the newsletter, will consist of the narrative report and the balance sheet.  The profit and loss detail and the financial review by Ed Sledzik will be available in the Members Only section of the website or in hard copy by request to the Secretary.  The 2011 report will be published with the board minutes.  Future reports will be published in May or June, after the taxes are filed.  Lynda Chase seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Lanore Matter made a motion that we accept the Standing Rules report.  Bob Stevens seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Legislative Liaison – There is a lot of activity going on with the Humane Society of US (HSUS).  Diane is doing a remarkable job staying on top of this activity and notifying areas of concern.  Tony Disiena made a motion that we accept the legislative liaison report.  Bob Stevens seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Medallions & Revere Bowls – There was talk last year about possibly adding medallions for therapy dogs and CGC dogs, Janet will follow up with Mary Nowak, because this will require more work for Mary – how to verify, the engraving of medallions, etc.   Anna noted that Mary was able to save some money on postage this year because Mary hand delivered seven bowls personally. 

 

Normally medallions are only given on AKC awards, but Mary Nowak asked that we approve giving a medallion to those that earn either their HD or HDX.  Bob Stevens made a motion that, effective today going forward (not retroactively), medallions will be offered to those dogs that earn their HD or HDX title – only one medallion per dog.  Judi Hunter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Lynda Chase made a motion that we accept Mary’s report.  Bob Stevens seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Membership – Coleen Raber has done a phenomenal job as membership chair.  She sends emails, she is encouraging, and has gotten creative with renewals.  The new membership application has been redesigned and includes a line about skill set/volunteer opportunities.  Whenever she gets feedback from new members, she forwards to Janet right away.  Jan wondered if we could move our renewal period to a different time of year, since December is just a bad time for so many people.  Janet said Coleen also stated a similar thought, based on comments she received from people.  But a change would require a change to our By-Laws.  Tony Disiena made a motion that we accept the Membership report.  Judi Hunter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Newsletter – Kudos to Kathy Cunningham-Roy and Lisa Moreau and all our writers.  The changes to the newsletter have been wonderful.  We have gotten many positive and complimentary comments on the revamped newsletter. 

 

Bob Stevens made a motion that the board meeting be adjourned for the day.  Tony Disiena seconded the motion and the motion was passed.  The meeting adjourned at 5:58 pm.

 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

 

The Board meeting was called to order at 8:03 am.

 

Secretary – Sandy reminded the board members to check their e-mail on a regular basis.  There are times when urgent things come up which requires a board member response or vote.  Ask your regional clubs to notify the secretary when they know of their specialty and supported entry show dates & judges.  She will get them added to the calendar, which will also get added to the ESAA website.

 

Treasurer

 

Mary provided all the books of record and income tax filings.  She said that the books are open at all times for anyone to review.  She’ll have them with her all week if anyone’s interested in reviewing.  She had a review with Ed Sledzik in July and his report was provided to all board members. 

 

Mary stated that we have $15,000 in rescue that we need to decide what to do with. 

 

Mary has chosen to use Wells Fargo as our “thru account” to get funds back to PNC.  Wells Fargo is convenient for her both while here in Oconomowoc and also next year in Albuquerque. 

 

Mary also stated that PayPal has been used for trophy donations and appears to be working well.

 

She is finalizing the budget and has included the budgets provided from various committee chairs.  For those that have not provided anything to her, if you think you’ll need money in 2012, be sure to get your estimated budget to Mary soon.

 

One of Mary’s goals is to strengthen our internal controls – a second set of eyes on the books.  Right now, we really have no checks and balances on the treasurer.  She will have a written proposal put together by our December board meeting call.  John Nielsen asked if we have a “two sign” requirement for the writing of checks?  The answer is no, but we could look into.  John stated that AKC strongly suggests that clubs do.

 

Jack asked Mary to explain more about the endowment fund.  She stated that it was set up as a “safety net”, in case the club was ever in dire straights, or needed extra money for a rainy day type of project, etc.

 

We have $15,000 in education and only spent $300.  Ed Sledzik was concerned that we’re getting close to having too much money to maintain our non-profit status.

 

Mary also spoke with Ed about the ESAA policy that no members can benefit from ESAA.  The fact that you’re a member should not bar you from bidding on proposed ESAA contracts.  Even if we want to hire a member to make trophies, Ed doesn’t see why not.  Dave said that policy is in our standing rules.  We could reimburse for materials, but not for their time.  Janet said that most clubs have the same rules, but AKC is looking at this and saying that if member can make a competitive bid, they should not be excluded because they’re a member.  Kathy is concerned about “throwing the door wide open”.  We don’t want to have our volunteers start to expect to get compensated for their assistance within the club.  Denise said we just need to make people aware when they are “volunteering”.  Good news is that we can use members with their talents.  Julie will write something up and get to the board to review.  Our standing rule will need to be changed. 

 

Scholarships, on the other hand, are a more difficult issue to define.  A scholarship would need to be open to members as well as non-members.  We can’t be too specific and exclude certain people.  Regarding a scholarship to a junior attending Crufts and/or the Garden, it gets dicey when making rules too specific.  He recommended that we don’t make a requirement that they must be a member.

 

President’s Report

 

Janet opened her remarks by stating what a good job the ESAA treasurer and secretary are doing, along with the wonderful committee chairs we have in place.  She feels the organization is rolling right along.  People are making suggestions and things are changing due to the input of members, etc.  She would like to see more (new) people involved on committees – maybe we should consider rotating committees, etc.  We also need to have qualified people available and who can step in and take over a committee at a moment’s notice, if needed.  She again stated that this is the year of guidelines.  It is protection for the organization – we need to know what is going on within the committees.

 

She attended numerous regional club meetings this year.  She found it incredibly valuable to hear what the clubs are doing and to see them in action.  She spoke with several clubs (Michigamme, National Capital and Willamette Valley) about considering the possibility of hosting an ESAA supported entry.  At National Capital’s meeting, she was approached by member, Donna Richardson, who offered the National Capital/ESAA co-sponsorship of an all-breed agility trial.   As a result, ESAA will have its first stand-alone agility trial in partnership with National Capital.  Janet will try to attend more club specialties this coming year.

 

John Nielsen wondered if we’d consider an open forum “meet the board” type of event at a national.  Julie thinks that a three day national is just so full already, there’s no where to add it.  She asked what it would take to get our national extended to 4-days.  John said we ask AKC and if they say no, we go to our AKC delegate and see if he can provide us with assistance.  An option to help with our scheduling problems would be to hire a second judge or to  run dogs & bitches at the same time. The Board was definitely opposed to having dogs and bitches at the same time.  Julie, Janet & Donna will look at options offline and bring back to the board.

 

Regional VPs

 

Mid-Atlantic Region – Jack Johnson & Julie Quirk reported that Brandywine will hold their specialties in State College, PA (in the central part of the state) in July.  The site offers free electric, easy parking by the ring and a park-like setting for four days of all breed shows – the specialties are held on that Saturday and Sunday.    National Capital will be holding their specialties on April 21-22, as part of the Old Dominion and Baltimore KC all breed shows.  They also have several supported entries lined up – Mar. 3-4, May 19-20 and Sept. 22-23.

 

New England Region – Bob Stevens stated that their back-to-back specialties were held two weeks ago.  The entries were down a little bit from last year.  The club also has supported entries in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts.  Kathy Cunningham-Roy and Gail Ryan attended the Meet the Breed at Javits Center.  It’s a huge undertaking and a lot of effort and their efforts are very much appreciated.  Kudos to all the folks that do these for us.  Bob also mentioned that the New England region is only one of two regions that had an increase in membership this past year.

 

South Central Region – Jan Carlson reported that she’s not sure how the newly formed Blue Bonnet English Setter Club is progressing.  The members haven’t met since the first of the year and appear to be struggling along.   The Lone Star club has one specialty in Houston in July and then has a supported entry at the two following days.  Their spring specialty will be held in March in Houston.  The Greater Denver English Setter Club had a successful back-to-back specialty this past August.  Jan said that all the clubs are struggling with finding hunting grounds.

 

South Pacific Region – Lanore Matter invited everyone to attend the back-to-back specialties in Palm Springs in early January.  The California ES Club will be holding their specialty on Thursday, Jan. 5 and the Inland Empire ES Club will hold their specialty on Friday, Jan. 6.  They’re being held on beautiful polo fields.  The Phoenix club will be holding their specialty on Thurs, March 1.  Due to their hosting of the national, they will only support the entry on that Friday, March 2, as part of the Fiesta Club shows weekend.   Phoenix held an independent obedience & rally trial in October.  They are planning a double hunt test in Dec, but having a hard time getting judges.  All clubs are struggling to maintain their memberships.  Their members are spread out, so they don’t meet often – just try to conduct meetings by telephone. 

 

South East Region – BJ Parsons stated that the Central Florida club will be doing the Meet the Breed at the Eukanuba show in December.  Central Florida also has wonderful specialties in Florida in January.  There are two weeks of shows at a great site.  The Atlanta club moved their specialty to Aug. – Four days of all breed shows.  Central Carolina will hold their specialties at a new location – in Concord, NC (indoor).  They are supporting the entry on Friday and then back-to-back specialties on Saturday & Sunday.  They also participated in the National RDO Day in Raleigh in September.  This region also has a new ES club in the works.  The Smokey Mountain club is working towards getting recognized by the AKC.  John Nielsen reminded the regional VPs that any new clubs should get in contact with him.  As the AKC delegate, he will help them work thru the AKC path. 

 

East Central Region – Tony Disiena suggested that members consider membership in other clubs in the nearby area.  Several board members commented that they belong to more than one regional club.  The Buckeye club will be holding their specialties over Memorial weekend in Cincinnati, then a new site & date in 2013.  The Ohio ES Club will hold their specialties in conjunction with the Cleveland Classic, Dec. 15-18.  Its four days of shows – normally majors all four days.  They will support the entry on Thursday and Friday and then the specialties are on Saturday and Sunday.  Michigamme will hold their specialties the weekend after Labor Day, Sept. 8-9.  They have a beautiful show site and there is always lots of fun and activities.

 

West Central Region – Anna Quigley let everyone know that the Western club will participate in a Meet the Breed as well as support the entries (and sweeps) on Feb. 25-26 at the International KC shows.  Western will hold a Sanction B match in May, a fun match and their back-to-back specialties will be held on June 19-20.  The club holds educational programs for their members and they continually try to gain new members.  Their membership is currently stable and their breeder referral is Jennifer Youssi.

 

North Central Region – Judi Hunter commented on the Kettle Moraine club’s hunt test, which was held this past Sunday.    It was extremely successful.  Their junior braces were full and they had five braces in master and nine braces senior.  Kettle Moraine’s shows will be held June 23-24, 2012 and their judges are Dana Kline & BJ Parsons.  Minnesota’s specialties will be held Aug 23-24, followed by all breed shows on the 25-26th.

 

North Pacific Region – Denise reported that the Monterey Bay club has seen an increase in its membership.  Their specialty will be held next July in Carmel, CA, along with supported entries.  They too are having trouble with holding field trials.  Field trial grounds are becoming very hard to find.  

 

The Gold Country club held a very successful two-day hunt test in February, with 62 entries.  In May, they held back-to-back specialties, as well as an obedience trial and rally.  In June, they supported Woofstock (an all-breed rescue/adoption  event).  They held an obedience workshop in Aug.  They supported the entries at two other all breed shows - May & Oct.  They held a Meet the Breeds booth at the Sacramento Dog Council event.  Their back-to-back specialties will be held on May 11 and their judges are James Covey and Paula Dempsey.  Additionally, they’re considering a third specialty event next December 2012. 

 

The Puget Sound club held a very successful specialty this past September.

 

Willamette Valley members are very involved & active.  They held a Meet the Breed booth at the Rose City Classic in January, a grooming clinic in March, a field fun day in May, their specialty was held in June, as well as another Meet the Breeds booth in Canby.  Lastly, this past August they held an obedience show ‘n go match followed by a sanctioned B match.

 

Lynda Chase said a few words about her new position as VP-at-large and what her personal expectations are for herself.  She feels she can help ESAA with promotion.  Promotion of the breed and promotion of the organization and what it has to offer its members and possible future members.  She was successful with helping the Michigamme club, which was on the brink of falling apart, and it is now thriving, with over 50 members.  The club now has members in every area of participation – field, agility, obedience and conformation.  She will be glad to help any person or club that would like to speak with her about ideas on increasing their membership and level of activity within their club.  She does feel it’s important for clubs to share with other clubs who their specialty judges are.  Michigamme and a neighboring club ended up getting the same judges in the same year – and only a few months apart between the shows.  Communication is important as this may help to ensure that the regional clubs do not contract with the same judges.

 

Public Education – Julie Brimble is the new chair of this committee and she attended the meeting to talk about the new group of people working on this committee.  She chose the committee members to include a variety of dog people – conformation, agility, etc.  In addition to herself, Carlotta Cooper a writer and Kate Simon a graphic artist make up this committee.  One of their first goals is to re-evaluate the breed mentors program.  They want to encourage new folks and improve communications to get the needs met.  If you see needs/gaps, please let the committee know and they will try to help.  As was stated earlier in the meeting (before Julie arrived), the suggestion came up again about the mentors gathering to meet and talk at the national.  Tony also stated that we should have a list of who all the mentors are and where they’re located.  The ESAA website lists the names of the mentors, but does not indicate what city/state they’re located in.  Julie also stated that the regional clubs should be aware of these mentors and utilize them wherever needed – let judges know that we have them available.  Tony mentioned that he and Penny attended a two-day sporting dog seminar for judges that was held in Metamora, MI.  The event had wonderful field demonstrations.  This particular sporting dog club hopes to be able to hold a show in a year or two.  There were judges from all over.  Several Michigamme club members brought their dogs to be used during the class.  It was a hands on program – they went over the standard, discussed the color varieties, etc.  It was a 90 min session.   Tony thought it would have been great to have other mentors there or possibly use different mentors at next year’s event.

 

John Nielsen would recommend that mentors watch Joan Savage give the judges education seminar.  Denise suggested that the presentation get videotaped so mentors/people can see it.  They will reach out to current mentors, make sure they still want to do it, make sure they have whatever they need to do it, etc.  The latest version of the presentation was given in Long Beach in ’08.  It’s available on DVD and you can get it from Joan Savage.  Julie was asked to be sure that current mentors see the latest version of the presentation.  Jack suggested that each club have a copy of the presentation and consider showing it at a club meeting.  It would qualify as education for one of AKC’s club compliance requirements.

 

We have money in the education fund.  Julie would like their committee to develop some new materials, some type of handout brochure, display materials for Meet the Breeds and other educational opportunities that clubs might have a need for.

 

Sandy mentioned that the ESAA booklet, which is given to all new club members, is in need of updating.  Denise & Julie said they will work to redesign/update the booklet.

 

John will check with AKC to see if there’s some way that ESAA can get notified whenever an English Setter is registered.  We could send out some type of welcome packet, which would include one of the new brochures that’s being developed, as well as an ESAA application.

 

2011 Annual – Kathy Cunningham-Roy & Janet Gray spent countless hours working on the bids for next year’s annual.  They looked at many factors - why members don’t buy, why they don’t advertise – not done by volunteer, not done by ESAA person.  They did determine that when the annual is done by a professional graphics company/person, our costs are less.  Printers build in “labor time’ when dealing with layman versus a professional graphics company.  Printer doesn’t have to build in costs to fix things, etc.  We pay graphics company based on per page/basis. 

 

We requested competitive bids and Kathy gave the exact same guidelines/specs to the companies that bid on the job.  The quotes were based on the number of text pages, graphics pages and we requested it be bid on exactly how it’s been done in the past, so we’d have an apple to apple comparison.  The bidding company had to have a tax ID, in order to bid, and she requested examples of work for the board to review.  Kathy received three bids – one was much higher priced (way out of the ballpark).  So this narrowed down the decision between two companies – Evergraphics, who we’ve used the last couple of years and S.G. Bennett Marketing Services, which is owned by a member of ESAA.

 

Regarding Evergraphics, Kathy stated that every annual has had errors, but the first annual that this company produced for us was extremely hard hit because we went outside of ESAA for the production of the annual.  Cathy Hill has worked diligently to help keep our costs down.  When she realized we were down $6000-$7000, she jumped into action over a weekend and found a printer that would come in and help us lower our costs.  Janet said this has been her first experience with working with Cathy and is totally impressed with her.  Kathy said that we‘ve had “the Cadillac” model and that by allowing Cathy to look at “the Chevy” model, they were still able to produce a very nice annual.  The working relationship with Evergraphics has been wonderful.  Communication is never a problem – she’s great. 

 

Kathy said that, in all fairness, this other company could be a great company to work with also.  The bid was well done and presented many new options to consider.  Kathy passed around samples of S.G. Bennett’s work for everyone to review. 

 

Kathy wanted to be sure that everyone understood that she did not want to give the perception that she has a favorite.  She is just stating the facts on what she knows.  For that reason, Kathy said that she would abstain from voting.  Janet agreed that Kathy had remained totally neutral on this; however, while understanding why she doesn’t want to vote, Janet still asked her to give her recommendation to the board.  Since we have a committee in place to look at our Annual process and how we may want to proceed in the future, our entire process could change in the next year.  It was Kathy’s opinion that we stay with a known commodity for this year.  She thought we should go with the known as opposed to the unknown and then consider all this again.  Jack said with any new person or company, there’s always a learning curve.  Denise interjected that the learning curve can come very steeply and quickly.  

 

Lanore suggested we stay with Evergraphics, our current provider, but then consider using S.G. Bennett when we’re ready to produce the new ESAA booklet.  Denise offered to work with him on the booklet, if that’s how ESAA decides to go forward. 

 

A motion was made by Bob Stevens to hire Evergraphics to produce our 2011 Annual.  Tony Disiena seconded the motion and eight other board members were in agreement.  Five chose to go with S.G. Bennett Marketing Services and one abstained from voting.

 

Janet would like to say that the amount of work that S.G. Bennett put into his bid, was very appreciated.  He had great ideas on how to help make money.  We will make a concerted effort to get him involved in other publications that we may have as well as be sure to get his bid on whatever format we decide to pursue for future Annuals..

 

Newsletter – The introduction of themes really seems to be catching on.  The theme schedule was rerun in the newsletter to keep it out in front of people.  A number of ads have already come in for the “specialty wins” November publication. Janet would like to submit our newsletter to compete for a publication award.  Kathy said that Lisa still wants to play with the cover a bit – she thinks it’s boring, etc.  Janet said they should feel free to change it up.  Janet is thrilled that so many folks are willing to write articles.  She even got a call from someone who asked if they could submit a therapy dog article and has continued to write on this subject.  Kathy and Janet also talked about the potential frequency of the newsletter publication.  They will work out the proposal a little further and then get back to the board.   Tony Disiena made a motion that we accept the Newsletter Report.  Lanore Matter seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Judges’ Selection – The way the process worked was that nominations were sent to their regional person.  Then the nominated judge’s name needed to appear in the top five of every region’s list for that judge to qualify.  So, if a judge was in the top five of only one region (no matter how many votes he/she had), their name would never appear on the ballot.  The board members were surprised and not aware that this is the way it’s been handled in the past.  BJ said that takes it out of the membership’s hands and allows the selection committee to choose the judges.  The Committee needs to support the members’ decisions on the top vote getters.  Janet felt that it should work simply based on nominations – combine the total number of votes per judge regardless of which designated person receives them.  Julie questioned why we have a committee then.  They should work together, talk about it, to narrow down the list based on do they know the breed, etc.  Tony said if we do that, then we’re not working strictly on the numbers.  Lynda thinks it’s wrong that our votes are not be used based solely on the number of nominations. Janet said she will put together a flow chart for the Board which will define the process based on total nominations received no matter in which region.  We can then define the function of the Judge’s selection committee as to a process once the votes are received.

 

Since Buckeye is all set to host the national in 2013, we can move forward with getting the judges selected soon.  Judi thinks if the judge is not available for the voting year, then they should automatically get added to the next year.  This past year as an example, three judges were not able to judge because of conflicts.  Those judges will be automatically place on the ballot for the 2013 National.

 

Tony said we shouldn’t have to wait to confirm an exact date and location before contacting the top vote getting judge.  He said judges love judging at a national.  Even if we don’t have exact dates/locations, many judges will try to hold the three months if we get back to them ASAP.

 

AKC Delegate – John just offered a couple of comments.  He said that we need to remember that “we” are AKC.  It’s not a case of “we” versus “them”.  While the AKC delegates don’t have a lot of power, they do have some.  They elect the AKC board.

 

We need to encourage breeders of merit.  Any member, who has a litter, should register that litter.  Tony asked that with the extensive info that AKC has, why don’t they just award the breeders of merit?  Why do breeders have to apply?  Bob Stevens made a motion that we accept the AKC Delegate’s Report.  Anna Quigley seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Finance

Dave Mates again thanked Lynda chase for the past three years that she spent on the finance committee.  Lynn Neff of Washington, will replace Lynda.  Lynn did a great job on the 2011 National Field Trial and is a CPA.

 

Dave stated that we are in very good financial condition.  For that reason, we need to start looking at how to wisely spend our money.  Because once our total assets get to and start to exceed $200,000, the IRS will begin to start taking a closer look at our status.  It’s taken us 80 years to get to this level, but we need to spend money, make charitable contributions, etc. 

 

Dave also alerted the board that some of the memorial funds are getting below the $500 threshold.

 

Dave said that there is no need for the ESAA store to have a separate checking account.  We will need to keep the separate line item, but no need for checking account.  Both Mary and Dave agree that it’s redundant.  They had no idea that the store would get to the amount of balance that we’re at.  Dave wanted to give good kudos to Cheryl and Brenda for their work in selling off store items and bringing in money. 

 

Janet told Dave that she’s very pleased with the activities that the Finance Committee is doing now.  Kathy did ask for help from the committee, when it comes to the production and sale of Annuals.  Once bids are received for production & printing of the annual, she’d like the committee’s help with determining the cost of the pages, estimating the number of annuals to be sold, etc.  In other words, help create the income side of the annual.  Lanore Matter made a motion that we accept the Finance Committee Report.  Tony Disiena seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

National Field Trial – Melissa Newman stated that the 2011 NFT was very successful.  They had beautiful grounds, 30 dogs entered, a live auction and a catered meal.  They grossed around $3,000.  She would like to continue having field trials at this level and is trying to get a club to step forward for 2012.  Melissa will speak with Mary Kay Iverson about Kettle Moraine possibly holding it in 2012.  It is too late to pull one together for a spring trial, so they will have to look at fall, at this point.  Melissa would really like see this event around the country.

 

Purina was the sponsor.  They gave $1,000 plus a pallet of dog food that was given out to all the dogs who were entered. 

Melissa went on to say that dogs have to be microchipped and DNA’d to run at a NFT.  ESAA approved the purchase of a new ISO scanner, which she has purchased and is using.  But, she ran into a problem that the newer scanner won’t scan the old chips.  BJ will check with her local rep to see about either a deal or possibly get a donated Home Again scanner. 

The guidelines will need to be updated with the DNA issue.  The money split is 60/40, for raffle and catalog sales/ads and superintendent.  They’re allowed certain amount of money for flowers & favors and if the host club goes over, they pay the overage.  Melissa said the host club is not currently getting anything.  Can they get a 60/40 split for the auction?  Janet asked that she put together a proposal and send to the board.  Remind us how much the raffle makes, etc.

 

John asked Melissa how we could encourage non-ESAA hunt test folks to join ESAA.  She felt we need to get them more involved – she thinks the newsletter feature will help.  These folks need to understand that if they’re a member of ESAA, they could have more input into how the field trial is run and could actually be on the planning committee - have some control.  Melissa said that a lot of the field people are already doing a lot of work for us.  We could consider adding a field section in the annual – of course they have to be ESAA members.  Janet said if there’s something they feel we need to do more for them, we’d like to encourage them to provide us with a list, etc.  Tony Disiena made a motion that we accept the NFT Report.  BJ Parsons seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

2012 National – Lanore said that everything is running smoothly with one exception.  They have not been able to find a location for the hunt test.  Lanore Matter and Jan & Dave Carlson are still working on it at this time.  The date of the ESAA board meeting is not on the schedule, but since Monday is open, it may be placed on that day.  Bob Stevens made a motion that we accept the 2012 National Report.  Jan Carlson seconded the motion and the motion was passed

 

Meadowlands Specialty Association – Kathy said that the plans are coming along well.  MSA picked up some additional breed clubs and a dog food company will be sponsoring the bus this year.  AKC is doing a great job with communications and voting within the MSA.  Kathy is planning to have a big raffle again this year.  She would appreciate each board member supporting this by taking 25 tickets and selling them in their region, etc.  Dick Fox has graciously donated an award for our specialty – the Gilroy Challenge Trophy (big trophy on a pedestal with setter figurines).    Bob Mellis has taken responsibility to get it cleaned up with new pedestal. 

 

The board does need to get the sweepstakes judge hired.  Each board member should give 3 nominations to Sandy Miller before the end of the week.  Sandy will get the ballot out, so that we can get it back and judge hired by Nov. 10th – due to deadline for premium list.  Bob Stevens made a motion that we accept the MSA Report.  Jan Carlson seconded the motion and the motion was passed

 

National Specialty Guidelines – Jack said that the guidelines help the host club work thru the national journey.  Credit was given to Harvey Wooding who got the initial guidelines going.  This is a continual process.  Julie asked about attaching the budget templates to the guidelines.  Donna said she just sends the previous year’s national budget.

Donna said that it’s imperative that the host club work as a team.  Initially, they should determine what each person/group will be responsible for and how they should all work together.  Budget guidelines are pretty accurate – have been tracked for the past 30+ years.  Have a good idea how to help when determining the budget based on locale, etc.  We’ve made significant progress on this.  ESAA can help with choosing the superintendent, based on past experience.  Hotel contract negotiations have improved extensively over the years.  Contracts reviewed by Donna, Janet, Mary and finance committee.

 

The National Specialty Coordinator is the host club’s sounding board, advisor and guide.  She is not to do the work for the club.  Other breed clubs actually have the National club act in the capacity of show chair, etc no matter the location, etc.  Just one possible process to think about in the future.

 

Rose Miller and Sandy Hudson will assist with national obedience committee.  Donna Richardson will assist with the national agility committee.

 

National Specialty Guidelines – Below are the revisions that need to be made to the guidelines:

 

Tony Disiena made a motion to accept these changes to the National Specialty Guidelines.  BJ Parsons seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

How much will be spent on the trophies?  Dave said they’ve determined the budget based on the previous three years income.  If the trophy expense is a little under budget, the extra money goes into the general fund and if it’s a little over the money is taken from the general fund.

 

Donna had heard that the AKC is considering adding a reserve Best in Show.  If that happens, we will have to add an additional award to the trophy list.

 

Janet will send the board a proposal on how to use the hotel comp. rooms.

 

Melissa Newman will put a committee together for hunting test.

 

Donna needs to find an assistant to help her with national specialties.

 

Donna would like to add a hotel liaison that would work with the National Specialty Coordinator specifically on all the hotel aspects of the national – food allowances, banquet rooms, conference rooms, sleeping rooms, etc.  This would require a special skill and the person wouldn’t necessarily be on the committee, but at act as a sounding board to the national committee.

 

Is it time to put the second judge back on the schedule for 2013?  We would have more freedom and flexibility with the schedule if we have two judges.  Janet and Donna will take it offline and make a recommendation to the board later.

 

Futurity/Maturity – By February of 2012, Jane Wooding and Janet will provide the board with a proposal on assessing late fees for allowing futurity/maturity to buy back into the program, if they were late or missed a payment.

 

Jane had two action items in her report:  1)  Jane would like to have the futurity/maturity information on the front page of the ESAA website.  This request was originally requested last year, but until we have a webmaster, this change cannot be made.  It will be corrected as soon as we’re back up and running with a new webmaster.  2)  We have built up a balance in futurity/maturity, even after paying out prize money, judges’ fees, trophies, etc.  What can we do with the $5,000-6,000 that has built up?  Dave Mates and Janet both felt that adjusting the income ratio to 80/20, rather than the current 70/30 split would be a prudent change.  They felt we can re-evaluate this in 3-5 years to see if we are successfully reducing the balance in the account.  Judi Hunter made a motion that the money ratio be adjusted to 80/20.  Jack Johnson seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Bob Stevens made a motion to accept the Futurity/Maturity report.  Tony Disiena seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

ESAA Store – Cheryl made a recommendation that the trophy chair not put dates on any of the class prizes.  That way, if we have any leftover trophies, they will be easier to sell through the ESAA store.  The board discussed buying an inventory of some type of English Setter item that ESAA members, especially pet owners, might like to buy.  Jack said that ESAA used to sell sterling silver pins and thought that might be a good idea.  Janet said we’d like to get a few items – start small and see how they sell.  She will discuss further with Cheryl.  Mary said that the store money is temporarily restricted.  She recommends that we leave the money in the account for now, assuming that Cheryl will need the money to buy some inventory.  Bob Stevens made a motion that we leave the money in the store account so that it can be used to purchase store inventory, when the item(s) have been determined.  Jan Carlson seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

Website

Larry Coldiron took over after a disastrous problem with the previous webmaster.  Mary had Larry save as much as possible to recreate a lot of the web.  The previous webmaster had used a database software rather than off-the-shelf software, so while certain parts of the website can be managed, updated and changed, other parts of the website are not able to be changed and/or updated without a lot more effort.  The previous webmaster did give back the password and other available software to recreate a membership only and the breeders listing and the BAER and National Field Trial parts of the website.  

 

There were a whole lot of items that we wanted to do, but everything came to a halt.  We advertised to find a webmaster & designer, but had no one stepped forward.  After several months, Janet came to the board to go out and get someone.  However, professionals don’t want to do a piece-meal fix.  The expert was able to create a new membership page and Carlotta Cooper created a welcome/membership page.  But no PayPal and every little thing was extra.  It appeared it was going to come to a lot more money than Janet originally had brought forward to us.

 

One thing we’ve learned through all this is that we must have safeguards in place and no one person will have exclusive control.  Larry Coldiron, Janet Gray and Dave Mates all have copies of the password.  Mary did state that we had a recent copyright violation that shut down the website for a day.  There was a graphic that the previous webmaster had used which was in violation of copyright laws.  It has now been taken care of.

 

The national website is linked to ESAA’s home page.  There is a button on the home page that will take visitors directly to the national website with one click of the mouse.  Janet reported that the most heavily used spots on our website are the ESAA National and the breeder listing.

 

We do have controls on the Facebook page.  Lisa Leavelle maintains the ESAA site and posts whatever the national specialty coordinator, committee chairpersons or Janet Gray ask her to.

 

We’ve had complaints from some people who do not want to get all the various ESAA emails.  Janet recommends that we develop a communications committee.  Where the newsletter, Facebook and website chairs can discuss the where, how, best way to get the information out to everyone.

 

Janet is very appreciative of all the efforts of the website committee.   They’ve done a remarkable job in keeping us up and running under all the extreme circumstances, but now Janet would like to redesign the website committee to include more applications-driven people.

 

Janet explained blog-sight technology to the board.  She said it’s a fast way to set up the screen with information that you can change rapidly, for a constantly changing website.  Once it’s set up, a layperson (committee person) can make changes to the blog.  The new front page that has been designed for us but not yet deployed, uses blog-sight technology.  You can add pictures, videos, etc.  What can’t be done is attach files to it.  This is why Janet recommends that our website be a combination of both types of technology.  She has checked with other national breed clubs and has found out that they too are using these combination technologies.  Our website could be set up with the home page using blog technology and then the hot buttons would take you to the other technology where we can attach and store other files.

 

Janet would like to request $5,000, one time development costs to create this website technology.  This is just an estimate that gives Janet a bucket of money that she can use to work with.  If more money would be needed, she’ll come back to the Board.  Larry currently maintains all the databases, but he wants to get out of it.  He is estimating that $100/month would be used to pay someone to maintain or host the databases, unless Janet has a webperson step forward and volunteer to do it for us.  The person who developed and created the blog spot does not want to be the webmaster.

 

The risk is not big, because we have the ability to go back to the old website within hours.  Janet would like to give it a chance.  Some of the top, award winning dog clubs use this technology.  See objectives of technology (Janet’s report).  She recognizes that this is a paradigm shift.  The original website was set up like a kennel website.  But this new technology will be constantly changing, allowing us to post fast-breaking news, making people want to keep coming back.

 

Kathy stated that the concern was not with the website committee, but rather the way we relied on one person.

 

Larry Coldiron, based on his past year’s experience, feels this is the way to go.  Carl’s historian page could be done beautifully using this new technology.

 

Julie – The Facebook page originally started as a vehicle for the National, but has now morphed into a mix of National and club site.  We need to coordinate this communication.  If it’s our responsibility to communicate with our members, we need to be sure the information gets out to all members.

 

Janet will write another article for the NL explaining the communication vehicles that members now have available for them.  She will continue to read all posts and be extremely careful that not everyone has the ability to make changes, etc.

 

Kathy asked for clarification on the make up of the web committee.  Kathy feels that the background that Julie and Dave have is invaluable.  Janet will put together a proposed web committee – may be all new, may be some old and some new members.  Janet will also forward the new website prototype to all board members to view.

 

Judi Hunter made a motion to approve Janet Gray's request for a $5,000 budget for 2012, independent of what technology we decide to use.  Additionally, any change to the website using blog-sight technology would be presented to the board for approval before the change is made.  Lynda Chase seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

 

New Business – It was brought to the secretary’s attention that AKC has suspended an ESAA member.  This information was pulled from the October issue of the AKC Gazette – “The AKC’s Management Disciplinary Committee has suspended Ms. Susan Lybrand (Allen, TX) from AKC registration privileges for six months and imposed a $500 fine, effective August 15, 2011, for submission of registration applications containing the false certification as to the signature of the co-owners of the dam.  (Multiple Breeds)  Susan Lybrand suspended for registration falsification but refuses to resign as President of the Bearded Collie Club of America.  The ESAA By-Laws clearly state in Article VI, Section 1 that any member who is suspended from the privileges of the American Kennel Club shall be suspended from the privileges of this association for a like period.  Therefore, Ms. Lybrand has been suspended from ESAA until February 15, 2012.

 

One of our Juniors, Miss Maddie McCue, submitted a proposal to the board for us to consider a Top Twenty Competition.  A lot of thought and preparation went into this proposal from several of our juniors.  They are excited about this prospect and they approached Janet on this.  Sabrina Rundle, a former junior, would like to work with Maddie and Denise Gilley also offered to help develop a proposal.  We will wait to see the more formal proposal.

 

Tony Disiena also has an idea for a class at the national – a Generations Class.  He will write up a proposal and present at a future board meeting.

 

Jan Carlson made a motion that the board meeting be adjourned.  Anna Quigley seconded the motion and the motion was passed.  The meeting was adjourned at 5:39 pm

 

Respectfully submitted,

Sandy Miller

ESAA Secretary