ARBA TELECONFERENCE BOARD MEETING
April 2, 2005

The meeting was called to order by President Sue Barker at 8:33 am Pacific Standard time. Those present were Larry Bullock, Lois Aylestock, Maria Rooney, Sue Barker, Jean Kamenicky, Steve Shafer, Ed Julian, David Day, Margaret Walters, Cindy Cieciwa, Carla Hellander and Kelly Ward.

MINUTES: Jean gave a “re-cap” of the new board meeting that was held in Detroit, MI on August 21, 2004.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Jean gave the treasurers report. At the end of the 2nd quarter (12/31/04) the YTD income was $14,368.50 and the YTD expenses were $14,784.73. As of February 28, 2005, with the help of a December savings withdrawal, the figures show that ARBA is now “in the black”. The checking account at the end of March 2005 was $791.93 and the Junior account was $1900.37.

OLD BUSINESS: ByLaws -- Sue reported that, when we recently worked and voted on the bylaws, we had overlooked Article XII (Transfer Authority) where actual fees are mentioned. Larry moved that we remove the fee amount and restate that “fees for transfers will be determined by the board”. Steve seconded and the motion was carried.

Promotion -- Lois and Maria reported on many ideas for ARBA promotion……….shirts, a picture of a Romney, coffee mugs, barn signs, pens, notebook, etc. The consensus was for a pleather notebook and Lois will research further and send the board informational letters concerning the imprint/Logo. In order to fund the purchase, we will take pre-orders and deliver to the National Show.

2005 National Show & Sale – Carla reported that the plans are progressing nicely for the show and sale. The sheep will come in to the Big E on September 22nd and release day is September 28th. Sale sheep may leave right after the sale. There are plans to have a welcome party with “eats” at 6:00 pm on arrival day, September 22nd. The “Old ARBA Board” will have its meeting Thursday evening, September 22rd, on the fairgrounds (actual meeting room & time yet to be decided). Friday night, September23rd, we will have our Annual ARBA Banquet and meeting at the Storrowton Tavern……….. which is on the fairgrounds. Saturday, September 24th is the Show and Sale day.. White Romneys will begin at 8:30 am; noon is the “lead line” and Natural Colored Romneys begin at 2:30 pm. Carla has already chosen the awards for the shows and all awards have sponsors. The Romney National Sale will begin at 7:00 pm and will be managed by Banner Sale Management Service. Sunday morning, September 25th, there will be a “New ARBA board” meeting on the fairgrounds (time and meeting room to be announced later). Carla will check to see if ARBA will realize a percentage from the National Sale. The “floor prices” at the sale will be: $225.00 for lambs and $300.00 for yearlings. There will be no limit on rams and ewes in the sale. All board members are asked to bring a gift of significant value to the ARBA “silent auction”…………….plus two (2) door prizes for the banquet.

National Junior Show -- Ed reported that he has sponsors for all the awards for the Junior National Show at the Big E. He has received the awards already and gave the board a description of them. There is no separate Junior shows……….Juniors will show with the Open and at the end of each class Juniors will step forward from the line-up to receive their placings and awards.

NSIP – Steve reported that we have done a run of Romney data and have useful results from that. We need more people to join up.

AI -- Maria reported for the AI committee. The committee would like the AI fee schedule to be on the website. The filing fee and late fee were discussed and it was decided that the previously decided filing fee would remain……..$25.00 if within 60 days of importation or within 60 days of domestic collection. The there will be a $50.00 late fee if it is after 60 days. Steve suggested a closer examination of lines 4 and 7…………….so the committee will re-examine and clarify those lines.

Junior NAILE -- The question came up about the Juniors showing white Romneys and natural colored Romneys (as was voted to do for the 2004 show.) NAILE ARBA superintendent, Ed, reported that we still don’t have enough exhibitors for 2 separate shows. He doesn’t see it changing in the near future. In 2004, our first year back in following suspension with

ARBA financially supporting the show, there were 47 sheep. NAILE requires 25 sheep per show. Kelly moved to combine natural colored and white Romneys in the 2005 NAILE Junior show. Steve seconded it and the motion was carried.

Quicken Program – President Sue read a letter from the CPA who has reviewed Jean’s accounting methods, Ken Behymer. He found that her method is convenient for her to use and that records and reports were made adequately, with charts and graphs when requested, from the “Excel” computer program. It was decided that Jean will continue with the current bookkeeping system.

NEW BUSINESS: Youth Committee -- Ed reported on the activity of the Youth Committee that had been formed at the last board meeting. Junior member Stuart Watson’s letter, containing various suggestions and requests of Junior interest in ARBA, had previously been read by all board members and there was much discussion about Junior participation and activities within ARBA. At this time the board wishes to encourage young people to continue with their enthusiasm and recommends that they be contacting their District Directors with their ideas. David moved that, due to the importance of this issue, we table it for now and continue on at the September meetings. It was seconded by Kelly and the motion was carried. A committee of David and Maria plus perhaps Charlene or Jaime Carlisle was formed to gather ideas for youth activities.

Junior Ramblings reporter -- Alisse will be retiring from her position as Junior reporter for the Ramblings this coming summer. The board decided to open this available position to all youth and we will put a notice in the July Ramblings and on the website requesting any Juniors that are interested in the job contact President Sue or Jean with their resume. We will ask Alisse if she can report one more time (the July issue) and we’ll be thanking her for her job well done.

Nominating Committees -- Margaret, Steve and Lois are the nominating committee for the President, Vice-President and Director at Large. District Directors for 1,3 and 5 were reminded to select their nominating committees and get the candidates with resumes to Jean by June 1st.

Budget -- The proposed budget was previously sent to the board members. It was mentioned that the budget was presented at this meeting so that the budget would be in place before the ARBA fiscal year begins. David moved to accept the budget; Carla seconded and the motion was carried.

National Agricultural Library -- Lois reported that she had visited this library in Maryland where the old files of copies of ARBA certificates of registry had been sent years ago for safe keeping. She reported that there was more than just the above mentioned certificate copies. Following her report, there was much discussion. More facts and research needs to be done about the sending of the ARBA materials to the Agricultural Library. Lois will be presenting a display of copies of some of the items that she found at the library for all of us to see at the Big E get-together.

Color Ramblings Ads -- There has become a need for structure in the advertising rate for color ads in the Ramblings. There was discussion and Steve moved that we charge double the regular established rate for an ad in color and that the Ramblings inside front and inside back pages be in color. If an ad is on the back page (which is already in color), there will be a $10.00 additional charge. Kelly seconded and the motion was carried.

ARBA Fund Raiser -- Suggestions were made and discussed for fund raisers for ARBA’s general fund or a combination general fund/specific fund. Maria will be contacting folks about plans/ideas, etc.

Carla requested that everybody bring their camera to Nationals and take many, many pictures. We might have a special guest at our happenings at the Big E…………..Massachusetts Governor Romney!

David moved to adjourn; Kelly seconded and the meeting was adjourned at 12:14 pm Pacific standard time.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Kamenicky

THESE MINUTES ARE APPROVED