OCTOBER 25,2008
SUNDANCER ALPACAS, LOS
In
attendance:
Mark Hogan
Cynthia Daly Peggy Rustin Mary Black
Kathryn Ray
Bill Herman Bob Hazen Louise Hazen
Melinda Tossani Luca Tossani Mary
MacGyver Leslie Stoddard Roberto Ibarra Marilyn Knudsen Micky
Wright Linda Kahlich
Robert
Louie Cheryl Louie Tim Blackburn Diane
Sherry
Willis
Call to
Order: 12:15
Welcome to all and thank you Bob &
Cheryl Louie for hosting the meeting. Two new members, Peggy and Sherry, and
two guests, Denise & Randy Brooks were welcomed to the meeting
Vice-President’s
Report – Quarterly Newsletter (Cynthia Daly): Cynthia reported that there had not
been a lot of response from membership to a request for articles on nutrition.
There was a discussion on how to get more participation. Some ideas discussed
were to decide the next topic at the meeting before the NL comes out and to
send out the topic in survey form so that members can answer questions rather
than write a piece. We agreed to continue with the nutrition topic by sending
out a survey form for people to respond to and a sheet was passed around for
attendees to write down topics of interest.
Secretary’s
Report
The minutes
from the last meeting were posted on the website. Melinda Tossani
made a motion to accept these minutes, it was seconded by Bob Louie – motion
passed.
Treasurer’s
Report (Mark Hogan):
NMAB has an
available working balance of $12,995.58 in the checking account at First
Community Bank of
Bill Herman
motioned, seconded by Louise Hazen, to accept the report. Motion passed.
Membership
(Melinda Tossani)
Melinda
reported that we currently have 44 farm members and 9 associate members.
Printed membership list brochures were available at the meeting along with NMAB
brochures. Melinda reported that she talked to a lot of people at the state
fair show about our organization.
The
deadline for 09 membership is February 1, 2009, and this deadline will be
enforced this year.
OLD
BUSINESS
State
Fair 2008 (Roberto Ibarra)
The NMSF
Alpaca Show had 224 entries this year (8 less than 07), with 8 championships.
Having 2 rings this year went well, although there were a few glitches and
problems. Volunteers did an excellent job. If you have other input, send an
email to Roberto
Many of the
problems were due to constraints from the state fair, including:
Fewer people at the fair this year, possibly due to the
economy
The state fair contract does not cover the same things as
AOBA requires
The state fair pays $500.00 to judges rather than customary
$1000.00 and no expenses are paid which made it difficult to get our judges.
Our show is the largest livestock show at the fair. Although this issue was
worked out, it made getting judges in a timely fashion very difficult.
The registration system they use is a bad system, especially
online as the state fair cannot control it and it cannot be modified. Some
people were doubled billed (which has been rectified) and much of the info had
to be re-entered.
We had to work with a new state fair manager this year and
there were issues with volunteers and passes – mainly not enough passes for the
number of volunteers we need.
It was discovered that we had no barn security on Saturday
night, either at the gate or in the barn.
In light of
these many issues, Roberto proposed that we look at growing the show in a new
way by putting the halter show away for a year and doing a fleece show only
with a performance show on Saturday – something on the order of a fleece to
fashion show. This generated a lot of discussion with ideas such as moving the
show, checking our budget to see what revenues were generated from sponsors and
the dinner, to partnership with another state for a show. Cynthia Daly
suggested that we not make a decision today. Leslie suggested that we survey
the membership to see if they would rather have a halter show, a fleece show,
or nothing. It was decided to organize a steering committee, and a sign up
sheet was passed around for members to volunteer to serve on this committee.
Event
Coordinator’s Report (Mary MacGyver)
Mary
thanked everyone for their exceptional donations to the raffle and reported a
very successful dinner and raffle.
Rancho
de Las Golondrinas (Leslie Stoddare/Mary
MacGyver)
Leslie
& Mary have attended 2 events here this year and have developed a good
relationship with Amanda. Leslie will announce when another opportunity to
attend an event here is available.
NEW
BUSINESS
Change BOD’s terms (Leslie Stoddard)
Leslie
suggested that we change terms for the BOD as follows: The current vice
president and secretary serve for 1 year and then be elected for a 2 year term
at our next election in July. The current president, treasurer, and membership
chair remain (not be on the next ballot) and serve through the next term and
then continue on from there. The reason for this is to stagger elections so we
do not have the entire board exiting right when the state fair show is gearing
up.
Mickey
Wright motioned that we approve this change, seconded by Mary MacGyver, and
motion passed. Bob Hazen suggested we review the bylaws to see if we had, or
needed, a quorum to pass this change. This will be checked out.
Code of
Ethics (Leslie Stoddard)
Leslie
suggested we explore the possibility of developing a code of ethics for our
membership. She presented an example from a
December 6,
2008 was picked as the date for our holiday party, and Mary will talk to Susan Sasser about hosting the party at her home again this year.
Website
Management (Anne Stallcup/Leslie Stoddard)
Leslie
reported for Anne that the website traffic has stayed level at between 1600 and
1850 hits per month. Ann is investigating the cost of getting an outside source
to manage the website. She received one bid for $7500, and the hosting fee was
quite high. We discussed ways to increase traffic. This topic will continue to
be looked into.
Educational
Ideas (Leslie Stoddard)
We need to
begin collecting ideas for our yearly educational seminar. Leslie suggested
Gretchen Topel, who would present a holistic approach
to nutrition. Other topics mentioned were EPDs and
fecal analysis.
Next
meeting will be January 17, 2009, at Raymond and Barbara Roybal’s,
Rancho de los Suenos,