ARBA Old Board Meeting 9-22-2011

The Old Board Annual Meeting took place in West Springfield, MA on September 22, 2011 in conjunction with the ARBA National show and Sale at the Big E. Outgoing President, Cindy Cieciwa, called the meeting to order at 10:25 EST. In attendance were: President Cindy Cieciwa, as well as Directors Ron Andress, Christine Bazant, Scott Culver, Carol Pasheilich and Randy Thompson. Secretary/Treasurer Christiane Payton was present and took the meeting minutes. Board member Anne McIntyre Lahner joined the group a few minutes after the start of the meeting.

The first order of business was the approval of the meeting minutes from the conference call dated 4/9/2011. All Board members had a hard copy of the minutes and had been asked to review them prior to the meeting. C. Bazant asked that 2 typos be changed and all present agreed that the changes be made. S. Culver then moved that the minutes be approved, C. Bazant seconded the motion and the Board voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

C. Payton then gave the Board an overview of ARBA’s financial situation, including data on increases in membership as well as registrations and transfers that were helping to raise revenues for fiscal year ending 6/2011. R. Andress asked for the CD balance which C. Payton said she would have to send to the Board members later as she did not have the information with her at the meeting. S. Culver moved that the Board accept the Treasurer’s report. R. Andress seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

In her Budget and Fiscal report, President C. Cieciwa spoke of the positive trends for ARBA’s revenue stream. She also mentioned special expenses such as the revamping of the association’s website as well as the quality of the Ramblings and the funding of the archive project. She reported that budget items were easier to track by category as a result of the computerization of the associations’ monthly income statements.

Audit Report: R.Andress and C. Bazant found the association’s financials to be in good order and that the information provided by the secretary/treasurer was easy to understand and track. R. Andress recommended that future internal audit reports be written and signed by the Board members doing the auditing, so that they could be included in the association’s records.

Committee Reports:

I. Advertising – Carol Pasheilich
C. Pasheilich told the Board about how funds set aside for advertising had been used in Shepherd Magazine, Maryland Sheep & Wool, Wisconsin Sheep & Wool and Banner magazine during fiscal year 2010-11. Ideas going forward included advertising in a fiber magazine as well as creating a promotional video in conjunction with ARBA’s 100 year anniversary. President C. Cieciwa stressed the need to examine possibilities for smaller ads in various geographic locations.

II. Bylaws – Ron Andress
R. Andress said there was nothing for the Bylaw committee to report as the last changes that took place were in April 2011. President C. Cieciwa remarked that she felt it important that the association stop adjusting its bylaws to compensate for the activity of a few individuals.

III. Website – Cindy Cieciwa
President C. Cieciwa told the Board that the website redesign was moving forward and was being done by current webmaster, Doug Meyer.

IV. Youth – Ron Andress
R. Andress reported that the 2011 All American Jr. show in DE was a great success with 17 ARBA junior members showing between 60 and 70 sheep. It was almost completely paid for by a quilt raffle organized by Charlene Carlisle. (Note: additional funds came in from the raffle, thereby completely funding ARBA’s portion of the 2011 All American Jr. Show and creating a small balance to be carried forward.) Future sponsorship of the event by ARBA will be determined by a Board vote during the January conference call meeting. The Morris Culver Memorial Scholarship had 4 applicants in 2010-2011 and was awarded to Sydney McBride of WA based on a scored vote of a panel made up of Ron Andress, Charlene Carlisle and Dan Pence. Going forward, monies for the Scholarship fund were coming from 50% of the proceeds from the 2011 silent auction held at the Annual Membership dinner as well as from the proceeds of 2 donated lambs that were auctioned at the 2011 National Sale.

V. National Show & Sale – Anne McIntyre-Lahner
A.McIntyre-Lahner discussed awards (participation and junior), the number of people signed up for the dinner as well as the Focus on Fiber program being held in conjunction with the National Show and Sale. 31 animals were slated to be sold through the sale managed by Greg Deakin of Banner Magazine. E-mails, mailings and advertisements in the Banner promoted the sale.

VI. Policies & Procedures – Scott Culver
S. Culver presented the Board with an updated membership application form that had been developed by the Policies & Procedures committee. A. McIntyre-Lahner moved that the Board accept the committee’s recommendation to include all 11 items and the wording presented (please see attachment A.) Following a clarification by S. Culver that ARBA require the applicant’s physical address, R. Thompson seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. S. Culver moved that the new membership application be used as the renewal form as well, with a few changes in the wording (see attachment B.) A. McIntyre Lahner seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

Following a discussion of nominating procedural issues, A. McIntyre Lahner moved that the Policy & Procedures Committee write up a procedure memorandum regarding the nominating committee guidelines, which include the tightening of dates and definitions, prior to the appointment of the next nominating committees. S. Culver seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

No Director reports were given.

C. Bazant moved that ARBA continue to hold conference calls via Premier teleconferencing and purchase hard copies of recordings of the calls for $25/hard copy. S. Culver seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

New Business:

The 2012 ARBA Annual Meeting is scheduled to take place at the Oregon State Fair in August of 2012 and will also feature the association’s centennial celebration. A.McIntyre Lahner recommended that the Board create a standing committee led by the appropriate District Director that would handle the organization of District and National shows. Guidelines regarding a budget breakdown, exhibitors, awards, sales, silent auction and participant awards are to be set forth by the Policies & Procedures committee.

Following a Board discussion, it was decided that the New Board was to make a decision regarding (1) the dissemination of the breed standard to judges and (2) the topic of judging standards.

C. Bazant moved that ASR deposit money for all services rendered. R. Andress seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.

R. Andress moved that ASR process ARBA’s membership applications and renewals. C. Bazant seconded the motion. A discussion ensued. The vote was 3 in favor and 2 against, with C. Cieciwa then voting in favor to make it 4 in favor and 2 against. The motion passed.

The Ramblings were briefly discussed. JoAnn Mast has tendered her resignation as editor after working on 2 more issues of the publication.

S. Culver moved to adjourn the meeting at 1:43 pm. C. Bazant seconded the motion and the meeting was adjourned at 1:43 EST.

Submitted by C. Payton on 10/2/2011