BOARD MEETING MINUTES
July 7, 2003

Members present:
 Denise Teal • Joyce Norris • Beth Bartholomew • Michelle Olsen • Linda Koutsky • Laura Tomaszewski • Karen Herceg

Absent: Janet Lewis

Call to order:
 5:39 p.m. Pacific Time by Denise Teal

1.  Recording Secretary's Report: Michelle Olsen

1.1  Approval of minutes of May board meeting
 Minutes were approved previously via email, refer to Section 5 for details.

1.2  State of Club Records
 Michelle has been organizing the club records, which needed some work.

2.  Corresponding Secretary's Report: Linda Koutsky

  1. Letter dated May 12, 2003 from the AKC approving the Piedmont Border Collie Association to hold point shows.
  2. Letter dated May 14, 2003 from the AKC informing clubs that the AKC has proclaimed September 17th as "AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day". This letter also states that clubs who are interested joining this promotion, hold some type of event to "promote any aspect of responsible dog ownership" during the week of September 15th.
  3. May 22, 2003 Breed Standard Ballot Results. (Complete results posted to BCSA Announce and published in Borderlines.)
  4. May 27, 2003 letter from club president Denise Teal to Mr. James Crowley informing him of the results of the Breed Standard Revision Vote.
  5. Letter from Michelle Olsen to Sue McClure of the Pensacola DFA informing Ms. McClure that the BCSA will sponsor a supported entry for Border Collies at the March 2004 show.
  6. une 10, 2003 email from Traci Matthews (Judges Education Coordinator for the St. Jude Showcase of Dogs) asking that we be represented at their event by providing a Breed Club approved presenter for the seminars.
  7. June 19, 2003 letter from the AKC Canine Health Foundation asking for a contribution.
  8. June 27, 2003 letter from the AKC stating that the Border Collie Society of America National Specialty Show has been designated as an International Qualifier for CRUFTS. "Qualifying Award Cards" were included in the packet and will be awarded to the dogs who win Best of Breed, Best of Opposite, and Award of Merit winners. Dogs presented these cards will be eligible for entry into Crufts 2004.
  9. June 30, 2003 letter from James Crowley, AKC concerning results of standard revision vote. According to Mr. Crowley a second ballot is necessary to allow the membership to choose between the UK standard and the recently revised one.
  10. June 20, 2003 Letter from AKC notifying BCSA of the approval of our fall TDX event.

3.  Treasurer's Report: Beth Bartholomew

3.1  Interim Financial Report

3.2  Entry check handling for Specialty
 Denise suggested that we hold entry checks until after the closing date before cashing them. This will make it easier for the show/trial Secretaries to refund money by simply mailing checks back, rather than cutting them a refund check. This will not apply to things like t-shirts, banquet registrations, etc.-just entries. Linda Koutsky will contact the two Secretaries to let them know.

3.3  Profit From TDX Raffle
 Nancy Little reported they earned over $900 in raffle ticket sales, which were raised to fund the BCSA TDX Test in the fall. Nancy will send the money to Beth now to be deposited, and the club will cover the tracking test expenses. Nancy requested that if there was surplus money not used for this year's tracking test, that the money would be earmarked for another test (TD or TDX) next year in the Minnesota area.
Motion: BCSA shall allow money earned for the 2003 tracking event to to be carried over to following years for future tracking events in the Minnesota area.
Made by: Laura Tomaszewski
Second: Michelle Olsen
Affirmative Vote: unanimous

3.4  Borderlines Advertising Checks
 Beth is missing some checks for Borderlines Advertising fees. Lisa Ochoa has been contacted and feels she doesn't have them either. Denise will contact Lisa to get a list of people who have advertised recently, Beth will check her records of for which ones we have record of payment, and the rest will be contacted.

3.5  2002 Tax Return
 Beth sent the filled out form to the IRS.

4.  Interim Business Transacted by US Mail

4.1  New Members approved

5.  Interim Business Transacted by Email
 The following motion was voted on via email since the May Board meeting:

5.1  Motion 2003-11
 Motion: To approve the minutes of the May Board meeting as written.
Motion made by: Michelle Olsen
Second: Karen Herceg
In Favor: unanimous

6.  Committee Business

6.1  Border Recorder
 Nancy Keller has resigned as chair of this committee due to personal time constraints. She provided the board with a writeup of background information on the last Border Recorder, along with the research that has been done so far for a subsequent issue. There are several issues that need more research, such as copyright issues with registration/pedigree information from other registries, and comparing electronic to paper media. It was resolved to put this committee on the "back burner" and not seek a new chair immediately.

6.2  Breeder Referral Committee
 Committee is waiting for their new information to be posted on the website, the materials were submitted several months ago. They have had a good response from breeders in some areas, and are lacking any contacts in other regions, and may seek a club representative contact who is not a breeder, just for the purpose of information dissemination.

6.3  Herding Committee
 Claudia Frank and Denise Teal are working on a program for a Herding Invitational for the 2004 specialty, patterned after the Obedience Invitational that we're having this year. They have found so far that AKC does not track the top herding dogs like they do for other events. So, they are researching how to get this information, and thinking about how the invitational would be structured. A herding statistician would be welcome to help with this task (as well as for statistics for Borderlines!). Preliminary thoughts are that it would be open to BCSA members only, and would be a B course class open to all verifiable Herding Champions. Comments and suggestions welcome; send to Claudia Frank (jusdandy@bright.net).

6.4  Judges' Education Committee

6.4.1  Breed presentation for the American Dog Judges' Association
 Carolyn Herbel will be presenting the class, and is requesting volunteers to help with this presentation to bring dogs to use as examples for critique. The seminar will be held in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Monday morning, August 11. She would particularly like some examples of less common colors and also smooth coats.

6.4.2  Mason-Dixon Dog Judges Assn in Maryland
 This seminar date is pending; Carolyn is waiting until the new standard is finalized before scheduling this event. It will likely be held in October. She will need volunteers to help with this seminar as well.

6.4.3  Ringside mentors at the specialty
 Carolyn needs assistants for ringside mentoring at the specialty (for the Judges' Education Seminar). Knowledgeable and experienced helpers are needed. Carolyn will send out a request on ANNOUNCE and Borderlines.

6.5  Judges Selection Committee
 Carolyn Herbel had submitted two suggested methods for selecting future judges for the board to consider. For now, the board felt we weren't ready for a formal process that included official balloting, due to the expense and amount of work involved-this would be a long-term goal. For now, we will request suggestions from the membership via ANNOUNCE and Borderlines, to give the membership a chance to provide input. Suggested judges would be considered based upon the number of people suggesting them and their availability.

6.6  Standard Committee
 Susane Hoffman is working on the cover letter explaining why we have to hold a second ballot on the standard revision (to vote for the UK Standard versus the newly revised standard). The ballots should go out in the next week or two, and at least thirty days will be allowed for the return. So, results will be known sometime in August.

6.7  Rescue Committee
 The committee has come up with a program for local rescue organizations to apply for funding, which they sent to the board for approval. Denise had given feedback on some minor changes to the application and write-up, which Linda Baron (the committee chair) is incorporating.
Motion: approve the grant application
Made by: Joyce Norris
Second: Laura Tomaszewski
Affirmative vote: unanimous

Information should be published on ANNOUNCE and Borderlines. Laura will contact Linda Baron to ask her to forward the information.

6.8  Versatility Award Committee

6.8.1  V. Awards
 Denise noted that now is a good time to remind members to send in any V title applications, so that they can be processed before the specialty and awarded at the event. Linda will email Tracy Sengupta (Versatility Chair) to ask her to send a write-up to Borderlines and ANNOUNCE.

6.8.2 Janet Larson Memorial Trophy
 Linda suggested we add a reminder to the specialty announcements about the program to remind everyone to get their applications in for this competition, since it's a pre-register only event.

6.9  Membership Committee
 Board members discussed how the current (new) method for voting is working. Michelle suggested that we vote on them one time each month, to keep things less confusing. We'll ask Kay to send them to the board around the first of the month, and the board will consider the candidates for ten days, and then vote. This will allow the results to make the Borderlines editor deadline. Denise will contact Kay.

6.10  Website Committee
 Website updates are a little behind; the job is a big task for one person. We need to get the specialty information up on the website soon. Michelle agreed to serve as a backup person to help out and get the specialty information caught up. It was resolved that we need to have at least two people assigned to this task long-term, because it's such a big commitment and updates need to be done quickly. Denise will contact Lisa to work out how to share the workload.

7.  Old Business

7.1  2003 National Specialty: Linda Koutsky, Chair

7.2  2004 National Specialty: Lisa Pruka, Chair
 Lisa submitted a proposal for moving herding to DarnFar Ranch in Brownstown, Illinois, for the 2004 specialty. She offered two alternatives: either a large trial like we're doing now, or a smaller trial. There was a lot of discussion and several concerns were raised, and since the timeline is growing short, it was suggested that it may be better to consider such a proposal for years beyond 2004, when there is more time to research feasibility and address the many concerns identified.
Motion: to reject the proposal to move the herding trial from Purina for the 2004 specialty
Made By: Michelle Olsen
Second: Joyce Norris
Affirmative Vote: unanimous

7.3  Lifetime Achievement Awards
 Helen Phillips, our Obedience Achievement nominee, was selected as a finalist for the AKC Lifetime Achievement Awards. Ballots will be sent out to clubs where finalists will be voted upon.

8.  New Business

8.1  Borderlines Mailing Issues
 In the transition of editors, the mailing service didn't receive one of the membership list updates, so some members were not receiving their issues. The error was caught and corrected, and Lisa Ochoa (Editor) and Kay Rieff (Membership Chair) are now working on obtaining back issues to send to those members who are missing them. An email will be sent out on ANNOUNCE asking members to contact Lisa or Kay if they are still not getting their Borderlines, so any remaining issues can get corrected. Members are asked to spread the word to anyone they know (especially new members) who may not be receiving their issues, to please contact Lisa or Kay.

It was resolved to request that extra Borderlines issues be printed and sent to Kay Rieff, so that she can send them to new members when they join.

8.2  Inspectors of Election for Next Standard Ballot
 Denise reported that the same inspectors and alternates are willing to serve again.

Motion: To appoint Kim Green, Lois Rifner and Dan O'Keefe as Inspectors of Election for this ballot.
Made by: Beth Bartholomew
Second: Laura Tomaszewski
Affirmative Vote: unanimous

Motion: To appoint Nancy Little, Joanna Yund and Jackie Hoye as Alternate Inspectors of Election.
Made by: Laura
Second: Beth
Affirmative Vote: unanimous

8.3  Legislation Committee
 Claudia Frank inquired whether the club has someone designated as our legislative 'watch person." This person would help watch for proposed laws that are not in the best interest of responsible dog owners' rights, to help with the AKC's networking to strike down such laws. It was resolved to post a request to ANNOUNCE and in Borderlines soliciting volunteers for such a committee.

9.  Date of Next Meeting
 Monday September 8th, 2003, 5:30pm Pacific Time.

Adjournment motion:
 8:19 p.m. Pacific Time by Michelle Olsen, second: Laura Tomaszewski

Respectfully submitted by Michelle Olsen, Recording Secretary.

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Page Updated 08.02.2007