ARBA TELECONFERENCE BOARD MEETING
April 21, 2007

The meeting was called to order by President Sue Barker at 8:40 AM Pacific time. Present were Sue Barker, Jean Kamenicky, Margaret Walters, Joanne Smith, John Shelton, Maria Rooney, Toni Scholder, David Day, Mary Pratt, Ron Andress, Cindy Cieciwa. Absent was Jane Caulfield.

MINUTES: Jean gave a re-cap of the already approved minutes from the Old and New board meetings that were held in Puyallup, WA in September 2006.

TREASURERS REPORT: Everybody had been previously sent the 3rd quarter report which includes details. At the end of March 2007 our total income was $17,371.82 and expenses were $19,454.97. Our small savings account at U.S. Bank is $2,002.74. The checking account at the end of March was $1,547.15 and the Junior checking account was $2,564.07.

Joanne asked a few questions concerning the quarterly report. They were discussed and answered to her satisfaction.

ARBA will be filing a Federal 990 form by November 2007.

OLD BUSINESS:

Ratification: David moved and Margaret seconded to ratify the board’s unanimous action taken via email vote concerning the upcoming GPS/NAILE raffle. Motion carried.

2007 National Sale Committee: John reported that 38 sheep are entered…….24 white and 14 natural colored. The entry deadline has been extended to April 23rd. The sale is Saturday June 23rd and no sheep are to arrive before the 21st. The showtime is unknown at this time. John expects the show/sale to move quickly and the Romneys will be last or next-to-last. It may be split/alternated with another breed which the committee feels would be a good idea because it may hold over more buyers. There are 12 consigners……….spread from the West to the East coasts. Transportation for the sale promises to be good for both buyers and sellers. A get-together with refreshments is planned to be held on show day for the Romney folks. Maria added that the West is shy in numbers probably due to costs and a bad winter for lambing. She apologized for not being able to attend. Cindy volunteered to assist John.

2007 National Show: Sue reported from emails received from ARBA NAILE Superintendent Ed Julian. The open show begins at 8:00 AM on Thursday, November 15th. Ed accomplished with NAILE two additional classes within the ARBA natural colored show…………..”pair of ram lambs” and “flock”. Also there will be offered a Natural Colored Premier Exhibitor Banner. The Junior show will be Sunday November 11th. The time is not yet known. The banquet will be Wednesday evening,

November 14th at the Holiday Inn SW, Louisville, KY The reception will begin at 6:00 PM with a cash bar being offered. The dinner will begin at 7:00 PM. Cost per person is $22.50. The meal for the Juniors will be free.

The old board meeting will be Wednesday morning, November 14th at 11:00 AM. The new board meeting will be held Thursday afternoon, November 15th at 2:00 PM. It is currently planned that both meetings will be held in a conference room at the Holiday Inn SW. Board members will be notified as to which room.

Youth Committee: The committee‘s report for ARBA Junior Show Rules and Guidelines had been previously sent to the board for review. Committee member Ron read the report. Cindy moved to approve the Rules and Guidelines; Mary seconded and the motion was carried.

District Director Duties Addition: Since Jane was unable to attend the meeting, Sue read Jane’s
report which described procedures showing white and natural colored Romneys. Sue had added a clarifying sentence to Jane’s report which was pre-approved by Jane. Board members had previously been sent this report. Toni moved to accept; Mary seconded and the motion was carried.

Director at Large Duties: David’s report had previously been sent to the board and he reviewed the four duties listed. John moved to accept the Director at Large Duties document; Maria seconded and the motion was carried.

Youth Brochure/Leaflet: The finished brochure had previously been sent to the board. Joanne reported she had a very supportive, cooperative committee work on it and that Kelly Corbett, who has experience with computer layout, etc., had done the actual computer work putting it together. The content covers youth from the west coast to the east coast with various youth activities/possibilities described. There was a committee of board members that worked with Joanne and they approved the brochure. It is in transit at this time going to the print shop via Sue.

Mary had sent to all board members a document on April 19, 2007 regarding the new youth brochure. She asked that three errors in wording be changed and suggested rewrites. There was much discussion…….both pro and con to Mary’s comments……… however the brochure is on its way to the printer. At this time Mary moved that the entire board receive any new promotional material (Ramblings not included) for review limited to 7 days before printing. Cindy seconded. An individual vote was counted by President Sue. Cindy – yes; Ron – yes; David – no; Margaret – yes; Joanne – no; Maria – yes; Mary – yes; Toni – no. The motion was carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

Nominating committees: Sue advised that Toni and Sue are part of the nominating committee for President, Vice-President and Director at Large. She is looking for the third person to serve. District 1, 3 and 5 will be open for election. All three of those current directors may run for another term if they’d like. They need to find their nominating committee. There was much discussion concerning nominating committees with reference to the bylaws. It was decided to leave all “as is”. Nominations and resumes are due by June 1st to the ARBA office. Referring to the Director at Large Duties and District Director Duties, the nominating committees should explain the duties, ARBA financial reimbursement policies and board attendance policies to the nominees.

2006-07 Budget: Sue had emailed the budget document for review prior to the meeting and she briefly went over the items presented. Maria moved to accept the budget presented. Discussion followed. Ideas were suggested to encourage and maybe obtain more ads in the Ramblings to help off-set the cost. Margaret and Mary volunteered to work with/ assist JoAnn towards that goal. Cindy seconded the motion and it was carried.

NAIS website statement: Sue announced that since the NAIS program has been reported in many sheep periodicals that it’s a “dead deal”, the NAIS statement is no longer on the ARBA website.

Ramblings: Cindy reported on suggestions that had been received from Editor JoAnn Mast concerning the Ramblings. Included are new issue dates suggested: Mid January; Mid June and Mid October with corresponding new deadline dates. Toni moved to accept the new dates; Maria seconded and the motion was carried. The number of pages for the each issue of the Ramblings was discussed………10 to 14…........depending on the content. It was decided to leave it as is with the number of pages depending on the articles to be printed and the ads received. The Rambling report deadline was discussed due to the fact that reporting folks have not been punctual. It was decided that the editor be strict about it to avoid assembly problems and be able to meet the printing deadline. It was suggested that perhaps the editor could send out one email to those that are tardy. Editor JoAnn also proposed that she travel and personally deliver the Ramblings disk to the printshop and wait for the printout so that she would then proof it on the spot. The cost for this service would be $75.00 per issue. Maria moved that we pay JoAnn the $75.00 for the service; Cindy seconded and the motion was carried.

Mary sent a letter by email to the Board on April 17, 2007 with suggestions and examples designed to make the Ramblings more readable. These included changes in the appearance and more thorough copy editing.

Very lengthy discussion followed the review of Mary’s comments. No change of the Ramblings was voted upon. The consensus was that each reporter had their particular style of writing and the editor should be given the freedom of choice in the layout and font.

District 1 Survey: Joanne reported that a survey was sent out to 88 members in District 1 with 20% returning. The number one priority/interest was selling breeding stock; fleece and yarn was
second. There was a comment section where having mentors was suggested (not a substitute for veterinary) and regional workshops on fitting and showing was suggested.

Rhinebeck 2008: Mary reported that Steve Shafer is the chairman for the overall event with Romneys being featured. Anne McIntyre Lahner is in charge of the wool show. Mary is the chair of the sheep show committee, which has selected Bill Guardhouse of Ontario for the judge. The Romney artwork has been selected from the many entries solicited and will be featured on Rhinebeck T-shirts, caps, calendars, etc.

Election date: John moved that 2007 ballots are to be mailed by August 30th ….then amended his motion to 2007 ballots are to be mailed by August 15th. They are to be returned to the ARBA office by September 15th. Margaret seconded and the motion carried.

Complaint letter: Sue informed the board that there has been a letter of complaint sent to the office involving the failure of an ARBA seller to provide the proper transfer papers to the buyer. ARBA has sent out a written certified mail request to the seller to please complete the transfer paperwork & have it to the ARBA office by April 25, 2007. The bylaws were reviewed & it was decided that if the paperwork is not received by the above date, then a telephone call will be made to the seller. The purpose of the telephone call would be to encourage compliance with the bylaws & explain that with failure to do so results in suspension. David moved that the board approve of suspension if the member in question does not comply by the phone call deadline issued. Margaret seconded and the motion was carried. The board requested that it be informed of the outcome of this issue and who is suspended if the situation happens.

John moved that the meeting be adjourned. Mary seconded & the meeting was adjourned at 12:05 PM Pacific time.

Respectfully submitted,

Jean Kamenicky, Secretary/Treasurer

THESE MINUTES ARE APPROVED