Minutes: October 29, 2011 Board of Directors Meeting Called to order: 9:05am Members present: Lynda Moriarty, Joe Longo, Jamie Harshfield, Doug Toomey, Jean Highlands, Tom Sandenaw, Cindy Harwin, Jane Treiber, Paul Hardiman, Nancy Ridgeway, Dave Miller, Dale Tarbox, Jane Chopson, Neil O Sullivan Guests: Dianne Powers, Putt Richards, Glenn Matherly Motion: Excuse the absence of Chuck Crawford and Terri Holle Moved: Joe Longo Second: Neil O Sullivan Motion Passed The board went into Executive Session. Correspondence Nancy Ridgeway A friend of Mrs. Pratt has requested GDCA ask AKC to retire the "Meistersinger" kennel name, however, the request must come direct from the owner of that kennel name to the parent club. If and when the request comes to the GDCA from Mrs. Pratt, we will forward the request to the AKC. Electronic communications The GDCA will again begin the quest to communicate electronically to our membership. In order to do this, each member must sign a waiver, until the bylaws are changed. This quest will begin at the 2011 National. A waiver statement will be added to the Membership application. Treasurers report Jean Highlands Motion: Accept the Treasurer s Report as presented. Moved: Neil O Sullivan Second: Joe Longo Motion Passed Affiliate Club Report Dale Tarbox Affiliate Clubs are not happy that the Charitable Trust will not fund heath related projects via the Trust Club Grants. Discussion Motion: After input from the Affiliate Clubs, the GDCA will recommend to the Charitable Trust reimbursements up to $500 for heath screening grants. If the request exceeds the available amount from the Charitable Trust the GDCA will fund the project up to $500 for each application. Moved: Joe Longo Second: Neil O Sullivan Motion Passed Request for education $852.62 for GDCA of Lehigh Valley Moved: Nancy Ridgway Second: Neil O Sullivan Motion Passed
Website Glenn Matherly Many changes have already been made that 1) cleans up the site and 2) makes the site load faster. GDCA main site and Charitable Trusts site will move after to Glenn s full control after the national. AKC Delegate Tom Sandenaw Report of September Delegate s Meeting. 1) AKC revenues are way down. They are looking at ways to cut costs and raise revenues. 2) Group realignment we need to be proactive to be put into another group. Working Utility. It is felt the Great Dane should not be in the Molosser Group. 3) Reserve winners at a National specialty will be awarded a 3pt major if the number of dogs defeated are double that for a 5pt major. GDCA will not support this proposal. 4) New program called Parent Club of Excellence. The program seems to be very complex and does not provide much benefit. Will wait to see how the program develops. Awards Dianne Powers Everything is in place for the Awards Banquet at the 2011 National. AKC is discontinuing the Awards CD. The last one will be created on 10/31/11. They are making Custom reports available. However they appear to be very expensive. Get cost report from Dianne. GDCA will need to decide how to make the new custom reports work for us. Futurity Dianne Powers 2011 final entry 123 Dogs 141 Bitches 40 puppies qualify for the CHIC challenge trophy in 2011 2012 58 litters 91 puppies Last year at this time we had 35 litters and 35 puppies. Health & Research Neil O Sullivan Great Dane Genome Project Dr. Leanne Clark final stages of samples. Some normal some affected. Same protocol for HOD. Mega-esophagus Dr. Leanne Clark - $5k will be for collecting samples. She needs samples from normals dogs with barium contrast from liters with affected dogs. Dr. Clark feels megaesophagus in Great Danes will mimic the disease in German Shepherd Dogs. Meaning there are two genes involved. Wobblers developing more reliable and lower cost option of diagnosis. Judges Ed Jane Treiber There is potentially a big change coming to the judges application and approval process. Committee is headed by Smith. This process could be effective as soon as 1/1/2012. Issues are: Parent Clubs can suggest 3 people to judge our breed.
We can invite members to judge a National Specialty, even if the person is not an AKC licensed judge. Will have to modify our judges selection process. Mentoring can only be done at National or regional specialties. No more mentoring at major entries. Bill Stebbins will do Judges Ed @ AKC/Eukanuba in Orlando. Junior Showmanship Jessie Gersewski Jessie would like to have a replacement for her committee. Jamie Harshfield is willing to take this over. Need to change the scholarship application. Motion: Recommend the Charitable Trust fund a $2250 scholarship for Emma Holland. Moved: Jane Chopson Second: Joe Longo Motion Passed 2 nd longo National Specialty Coordinator Lynda Moriarty 2011 Putt Richards Division Chair All is going well! Have been some concerns regarding the Crating area. Putt will work to remedy this situation. Contract had a guarantee of 1824 room nights. There are now over 2000 room nights booked. Contract had a $40,000 food & beverage guarantee. Right now they are at approximately $58,000 for food and beverage. 2012 All is on track. Promotional packet will be handed out at the end of this week. Website will be operational after the 2011 National. 2013 Site will be the Lancaster Host. Dates blocked are: October 17 th October 27 th. 2014 Joe Longo Division is looking at two sites: Saw Mill Creek on Lake Erie. Bouvier National will be there in 2012. Early negotiations appear to be favorable to the Division and GDCA. Roberts Center (Eukanuba Hall) Wilmington OH (Cincinnati area). Large convention space. Not a lot of rooms connected to the show site. Joe Longo and Lynda Moriarty will work to secure a site in the next few months and plan to have the July/August 2012 Board Meeting at the site chosen. Rescue Kathie Shea Motion: To accept the Rescue Report as submitted and recommend the Charitable Trust fund the Rescue Grants. All grants were for $500.00: Great Dane Angel Network 2 GD Rescue of Northern CA 2 GD Club of North Central FL 1 Ohio GD Rescue 1 Rocky Mountian GD Rescue 1
GD Rescue, Inc. Indiana 1 GD Club of Western PA 1 - insurance grant Moved: Nancy Ridgeway Second: Paul Hardiman Motion Passed Bulletin Cindy Harwin Purina wants to put information in the bulletin regarding the weight circle program. It has generally been the GDCA policy to not accept commercial advertising in the Bulletin. Discussion. The weight circle program has a direct impact on the amount of money the GDCA Trust receives via our Parent Club Partnership. Motion: To allow information from Purina highlighting the weight circle program information to put in the bulletin. Moved: Doug Toomey Second: Nancy Ridgeway Motion Passed Breeders Ed Bill Stebbins (for 2011) All is good and in place for 2011. Judges Ed Bill Stebbins (for 2011) All is good and in place for 2011. Judges Guide A sample document was passed out. There were many comments and suggestions. This will be an agenda item for January 2012 in order to finalize this document. Breeder Referral No report. Championship Awards See Awards above. Charitable Trust Paul Hardiman As of 9/20/11 total income is: $37804.69. As of 9/20/11 total expenses are: $60704.00. Received a check for $5000 from Great Dane Trailer. This may be an ongoing donation thanks to the hard work of Jay Miller. Approach Great Dane Brew Pub for future donations. Charitable Trust Booth is completed and on display at the 2011 National. The booth is a standard corporate booth that can be easily shipped to each location where it is needed. Many thanks to Grady Harp and Paul Hardiman for their hard work in bringing this project to reality. Corporate sponsors Joe Longo For 2011 there is a totally of $25000 between Corporate and Bronze Sponsors. Banners are up, sponsor list will be on the big screen and will be featured on the streaming video Joe encourage all Board members to personally thank the Corporate Sponsors during the week. We need to pass along the names of bronze from year to year. Lynda Moriarty will take this task. Need corporate sponsor chair for 2012 due to the fact that Joe is judging the Futurity. Andy & Lynda Moriarty have volunteered for this task.
Membership Lynda Moriarty Will be deferred to the 2 nd Board Meeing Trophies Debbie Sandenaw The 2005 Top 20 trophy is being donated back to the GDCA. We will have to see what condition it is in to determine if it can be reused. Motion: To have the GDCA make donation of $100 to the Charitable Trust in honor of Anne Toomey. Moved: Paul Hardiman Second: Jane Chopson Motion Passed Yearbook Glenn Matherly The 2011 yearbook will be done shortly. The 2012 yearbook will be on-time next year. Yearbook deadline and information needs to be better presented to the membership. Doug raised a concern with regards to the posters of the previous Top 20 Winners. The Western Division will be displaying both the posters and running a slide show of the photos. Since there have now been 25 winners, the size and weight of the posters is becoming an issue with regards to storage, shipping etc. We need to think of ideas on how to properly honor the past winners, but keep the amount of photos that need to move to each division to a manageable level. We will work to think of ideas and discuss this topic at the January Meeting. Doug also raised an issue with the Top 20 Rules. The rules currently state: After the winner of the Top 20 is announced, an aggregate score of all 3 judges will be given to the owner of a Top 20 contender upon their request. The score will be written on the back of the dog s armband. The accountant will give them out to the owners. Those not picked up would go back with the accountant to be destroyed along with the score sheets. The issue is with the fact that the accountant is said to give out the envelopes containing the composite score. The problem is the accountant is not familiar with the owners of the Top 20 dogs and a score could be given to the wrong person. Motion to recess until Wednesday November 2, 2011. Moved: Doug Toomey Second: Jean Highlands Motion Passed November 2, 2011 Board of Directors Meeting Called to order 2:05pm Members present: Dianne Powers, Jamie Harshfield, Doug Toomey, Joe Longo, Dale Tarbox, Jean Highlands, Dave Miller, Nancy Ridgeway, Paul Hardiman, Jane Chopson, and Tom Sandenaw
Guests: Putt Richards and Denise Matulich Motion: Cast vote for 2012 slate of officers Moved: Nancy Ridgeway Motion Passed Membership Lynda Moriarty The following will be published in the 4 th Quarter Bulletin: Peter Janetatos Jackie Fulkerson Megan Hundley & Michael Wilcoxen Vikki Egan Tim Karau Karin Roseman Steven & Kimberly Holcombe Greg & Sheila Sammons Jason Hoke Jennifer Carpenter Jay Berkowitz The following have been voted into Membership: Courtney Johnson Moved: Dianne Powers Second: Paul Hardiman Dr. Luigi & Pam Tozzi Moved: Joe Longo Michael & Laurie Maulucci Moved: Jane Chopson Second: Dianne Powers Second: Joe Longo Lynne Mullen Moved: Dale Tarbox Second: Dianne Powers One abstention Toni Hunt Moved: Dianne Powers Melissa Pevy Moved: Jane Chopson Elizabeth Schneider Moved: Nancy Ridgeway Second: Paul Hardiman Second: Paul Hardiman Second: Dianne Powers
Charles Smith Moved: Paul Hardiman Stephen Leblanc Moved: Dianne Powers George Schneider Moved: Paul Hardiman Julie Rock Moved: Nancy Ridgeway Second: Dianne Powers Second: Paul Hardiman Second: Joe Longo Second: Dale Tarbox 2012 Board Meeting dates and Locations Motion to set the following schedule: January 28, 2012 Atlanta, GA April 21, 2012 Dallas, TX August 4, 2012 Location for 2014 National October, 2012 - Topeka, KS Moved: Joe Longo Second: Dianne Powers Motion Passed 2013 meeting dates were discussed. Dianne Powers will research weekends with no Affiliate Club Specialties currently scheduled. We will set dates to that schedule. No clubs can move into those dates. Dale will communicate to all clubs. Locations will be: 1 st meeting Los Angeles, CA 2 nd meeting Orlando, FL 3 rd meeting 2015 site or other hub city 4 th Lancaster, PA 2012 proposed budget Jean Highlands Discussion Motion: In a necessary attempt to reduce costs, the Bulletin will be sent electronically starting with the 1 st Quarter 2012. Moved: Neil O Sullivan Second: Paul Hardiman Motion Passed It was decided to make use of Ebay for selling old yearbooks and cd s.
Ammend motion from July, 2011 Meeting: Motion: To establish a Means-and-Ways committee with the target of raising $15,000 of new income for GDCA in the next 12 months. Moved: Paul Hardiman. Second: Neil O'Sullivan Motion Passed Ammendment: This task will begin with the start of the fiscal year 11/1/11. Moved: Paul Hardiman Second: Neil O Sullivan Motion Passed Group Realignment: We will write form letter for members to use to send to AKC. This letter will be posted on the GDCA Homepage. We will also have a petition at the National. Motion: To recess the meeting until January, 2012. Moved: Joe Longo Second: Jamie Harshfield Motion Passed Respectively submitted, Lynda Moriarty Recording Secretary