BOARD MEETING MINUTES September 21, 2000 - Conference call 5:30 pm PDT

President Joyce Herie called the meeting to order at 5:32 PDT. Present were Emily Czapek, Linda Baron, Terry Hammond, Marit Marino, Janet Lewis and Helen Phillips.

Secretary's Report: The minutes of the board meeting of 6/8/2000 were read. Janet Lewis made a motion to approve that was seconded by Helen Phillips. All approved.

New AKC obedience regulations have been approved as of October 1. Members are encouraged to go to the AKC website to view these changes. A motion was made by Janet and seconded by Emily that this announcement be put on BCSA_ANNOUNCE. All approved.

The United Airlines pet embargo was mentioned.

The AKC requested input regarding the AKC lifetime achievement award to one of three individuals the AKC had selected. After discussion, it was agreed by consensus to recommend the individuals designated by an asterisk (*) from the AKC's list as shown below:

Conformation: Melbourne T. L. Downing; Dorothy MacDonald; Dorothy Nickles*.
Obedience: Dorothy McCauley*; Nancy Pollack; John Ward.
Performance: Jacquelyn Mertens*; A. Nelson Sills; Arthur E. Slike.

Treasurers Report: Financial Summary: As of 9/6/00, the checking account balance was $7,160.33, and the Savings Account balance was $1,000.98. This includes approximately $4,000 in Restricted Rescue & Canine Health Funds. At this time both of these funds are tracked separately, but are physically in the checking account. They will be moved to individual bank accounts after January 1, 2001, when income from next year's dues is available. Technically, this leaves BCSA with $3,000 with which to operate. Since appointment of M. Marino as Treasurer in late April, total BCSA expenditures were $7,774.23 with income of $8,713.82.

Projected expenses through end of year include:

Emily Czapek stated the General Education brochures could wait to be printed until the next fiscal year. They are available on the web site. This reduces the projected expenses to $5,900. The membership list mailing will be deferred until after dues renewal is completed in February/March. This further reduces projected expenses to $5,650.

Projected income through end of year includes:

Given the above, fundraising must be a high priority. Fundraising projects underway include: 1) Janet Lewis seminar in conjunction with AGM activities - has raised $840 thus far - hope for $2,000; 2) T Shirts - Cathy Lester; 3) Border Collie Beanie Babies - Nancie Mages; 4) Herding Instinct Certification Day, Chicago area - Nancie Mages.

The issue of sales tax liability for an item shipped out of state was raised. Emily will check with her accounting firm as they specialize in not-for-profit accounting.

Financial Report for Borderlines: A detailed update of issues concerning the Treasury can be found on pg. 8 of the September/October issue of "Borderlines."

Financial Report for National Specialty 1999 : Expenses/income to date have been $75,983.81/$57,610.50. This yields a net loss of $18,373.31. The above figures were obtained by adding the income/expenses reported by Barbara Palmer at the end of 1999 to those received/paid 2000. As most treasury questions relate to the 1999 Specialty, Marit recommends standard reports be developed which analyze the annual Specialty in same way each year.

Financial Report for National Specialty 2001 : Marit developed a uniform budget form that Linda has distributed to Event Chairs to complete by 10/1/2000. Ongoing use of the form will allow comparison of budgeted figures against actual figures throughout the year as well as at completion of the Specialty. They should also serve as a basis for the following year's budget request. All Event Chairs have been notified via e-mail that the 1999 Specialty recorded loss was $18,373.31, and that BCSA cannot survive a similar loss next year. National Specialties should normally record a slight profit. It would help if the 2001 Specialty records more than a slight profit. To help with expense tracking, the Treasurer will receive a copy of all judges' contracts. The contract for the conformation judge has been received.

Treasury Items For Consideration For Bylaws Revision : Marit suggested modifications that would: 1) Define Treasury books as including bills, receipts, check registers, bank statements, deposit slips, general ledger & computerized records; 2) Require the "books" be open at all times to review by Board-appointed auditor and/or Finance Committee members (in addition to Board members); 3) Allow Treasurer to report on current fiscal year, not previous fiscal year, at the Annual General Meeting.

Check Review Process : All club checks are sent to the President along with a copy of pertinent bill and the Quicken summary report. After the President has reviewed all, she mails the check to the recipient. While this process slows down club business for a few days, Marit believes the process is working well and serves not only to assure that someone else knows how the Treasurer is spending money, but also guards against the temptation to spend club funds inappropriately.

Status of Financial Review/Audit : In spite of several requests, no 1999 Treasury receipts have been received from either Robyn Powley or Barbara Palmer. The Board therefore directed a certified letter, return receipt requested, be sent by Club Secretary Linda Baron to Ms Powley's attorney reminding her that the receipts are legally the property of BCSA, and asking they be sent to the current Treasurer, Marit Marino, within 10 days of receipt of the letter. Given BCSA could be held responsible for the missing receipts should the IRS decided to perform an audit, there was general agreement that should the receipts not be forthcoming, all reasonable means should be taken to procure them.

Nominating Committee (E. Czapek): Since the last meeting, the slate of candidates and candidate profiles were developed by the nominating committee and mailed to the membership in accordance with the directives of the 1999 by-laws. Kelly Whiteman subsequently informed Emily Czapek that the 1999 bylaws were not valid because of an irregularity in the voting procedure, and that the 1996 by-laws were the valid ones. The nominating committee thought the bylaws question was far beyond their charge and scope, and unanimously voted to pass the question of the by-laws to the BCSA board and the appropriate AKC official.

Affiliate Clubs/Events: Terry Hammond made a motion to combine both these committees and leave Barbara Palmer as chair. Emily seconded and all approved

By-Laws Revision Committee: The by laws committee is in the process of incorporating additions suggested by the Board and Membership. They will be reviewed by the Board again prior to being sent to the AKC and thereafter to the membership.

General Education Committee: Three educational pamphlets targeted for the public and produced by the General Education Committee are now available on the web under Committees, General Education. They are, "The Border Collie," "The Border Collie: Energy Machine," and "Activities for You and Your Border Collie." The latter two will be printed once funds become available. Emily has not found time to meet with Lisa Ochoa to brief her on the Committee, but hoped to do this soon.

Judges Education Committee: A member requested the Board discuss more assertive ways to make Judges aware of the Standard. A motion was made by Emily Czapek to table this discussion until a chair was appointed. Linda Baron seconded and all approved.

COMMITTEE CHAIR RESIGNATIONS (J. Herie)

Standard: Betty Belliveau
Breeder Referral: Becky Beckman
Fundraising: Jeanne Hagen-Santiago

COMMITTEE CHAIR APPOINTMENTS (J. Herie)

Standard: Susane Joura-Hoffman. Helen Phillips made a motion to approve and Janet Lewis seconded. All approved, except Terry Hammond who abstained.

Breeder Referral: Bonnie Harris. Emily Czapek made a motion to approve and Janet Lewis seconded. All approved.

Awards and Versatility: Upon the suggestion of Janet Lewis, the Board decided to add "Awards" to the title of this committee. The intent is to have a committee in place to develop and administer new awards in the future. Committee Chair appointment is Tracy Sengupta. Emily Czapek made a motion to approve and Terry Hammond seconded. All approved. Tracy will work on clarifying the Versatility Award requirements for review by the Board as soon as possible. She will also check that individuals qualifying for a versatility award prior to the moratorium pending clarification have, indeed, received their award. No awards will be given out that have been submitted since the June board meeting until the regulations have been clarified.

Fundraising Committee: Ann Marie Silverton has been asked to Chair this committee. To date no response has been received.

NEW COMMITTEES

Tracking: Suggested Chair was Lisa Pruka. Emily Czapek made a motion to approve, which was seconded by Helen Phillips. All approved.

B.C. Store: Emily Czapek made a motion to make the B.C. Store a committee. Terry Hammond seconded the motion and all approved. Terry will Chair the committee until the store is up and running.

Policy and Procedures: These responsibilities will be added to those of the bylaws committee.

BCSA Web Site - BorderCollieSociety.Com: Donations to cover Web Site establishment equaled $400, while expenses were $404, leaving only $4.00 to be picked up from general revenue. Helen Phillips arranged for domain name and site development. The site was constructed by a computer consultant using Java. Once it was up and running the following problems became apparent: 1) long time to load; 2) modifications to site could occur only every 1 ½ weeks; 3) documents on the site could not be printed; 4) having the Web designer in Colorado and the individual responsible for maintenance, namely Marit, in California became problematic. Solutions already applied included returned to using Richard Whorton's old HTML site because it was a) kinder and gentler to older web browsers, b) easier for club members to eventually take over web site if done in HTML and not Java, c) site documents could be printed off easily, and d) it was faster to start with an existing site rather than reinvent the wheel. At this point, Marit Marino, assisted by a colleague with much experience in web management, has taken over the job of Web Master. Documents to be up on web in the immediate future include the General Education Committee brochures and National Specialty information. Committee information will be updated. A Conformation page is being added. There was discussion as to what the web site should contain. Marit said she would like it to contain any documents of official and or historical nature. No decision was reached.

Annual Meeting Update: Plans are being finalized. Registration for Janet Lewis' seminar is going well.

Specialty 2001 Update: Judges contracts are being sent out. Hotel arrangements are being made. The schedule will be up on the web site. Terry Hammond is working on a low cost banquet. A preliminary budget is being prepared for Board review and is due Oct. 1, 2000. See also Treasurer's report. 

Minimum Age For Herding Instinct Test: A question was raised as to the minimum age requirement for a herding instinct test. The age is 9 months. No action needed.

AKC Website: The AKC website needs updating of club officers and committee chairs. AKC has been informed of corrections by Linda Baron, club Secretary.

By-laws Controversy: Joyce Herie read a letter from Mike Liosis, AKC club liaison. In brief, this stated the AKC recognizes the 1999 by-laws revisions as legal, and that we would cease to be a member club if we reverted to the 1996 by-laws (see attached). Janet Lewis then moved that the club operate under the 1999 bylaws and cite the AKC letter. This was seconded by Emily Czapek and was approved with Terry Hammond abstaining. According to the 1999 by-laws, nominations for the 2000 election will need 30 signatures. As suggested by Mr. Liosis, the nomination period will be extended to November 1, 2000 for those individuals nominated from the floor in order to allow them to obtain the required number of signatures. Accordingly, nominations with supporting signatures must be in the Secretary's hands by November 1, 2000. Ballots to the members must be sent out by November 15, 2000 with ballots due back to the Treasurer by December 15, 2000. Elected officers will take office on January 1, 2001, as per old by-laws.

Open Registration Letter Writing to AKC: A discussion was held regarding whom to ask to write letters to AKC to support keeping the stud book open. It is now scheduled to close December 31, 2001. A list of names was discussed and the secretary will write these people asking them to write a favorable letter to AKC.

Procedure at AGM: Richard Whorton has written a letter on procedures he feels would be beneficial to the AGM meeting. The board voted to table this discussion and pass on Richard's letter to the By-laws/Procedures Committee who can incorporate these features.

Border Collie Club of New England: This Club requested permission to hold a sanctioned event. According to April Quist, Membership Chairperson, they are not an official affiliate club. The decision was made to refer them to Barbara Palmer for clarification and assistance.

Advertising Policy: Tabled.

BCSA_ANNOUNCE Policy: Tabled.

A motion to adjourn was made by Emily Czapek and seconded by Terry Hammond with all approving. Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PDT.

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