Minutes of 2010 Executive and General Board Meetings
2010
Executive Board (no quorum)
“Minutes” – Executive board, attended by Paul Konshak, Christopher Smith, Warren Jones, Anne Camper (not a quorum), discussion started at 1500 (7:00 pm)
Old Business: Voting tally from members of EB was distributed for review.
New Business:
Agility teams beginning to show lots of interest. It is probably better for AWMA to go to all breed agility than to risk loss of channel to FMBB. Waiver of BH requirement will likely only be for this one year.
USA politics and implications for AWMA – Impact unclear, but meeting is next weekend (Nov. 3)
Rush charges for scorebooks and membership card: Should define NORMAL so that we can define “faster than normal” before instituting fees… 30 days? Will propose to GBM for both scorebook and for membership card (single membership - $50 expedition fee).
Judges’ Program – still need to work on recruiting new judges. AWMA can establish its own identity with a good stable of judges.
Increasing new member clubs – impediments include insurance requirements for clubs . D&O insurance covers officers of organization if a club does something actionable. The organization itself doesn’t have much in the way of assets (a few thousand in the bank). Therefore, we should consider removing the requirement that individual clubs have insurance, since the purpose of that requirement was to protect the executive board and organization as a whole. Clubs themselves should obviously want to have insurance, particularly those clubs that train on private property.
Becoming an all – Belgian club? Discussion on how this might be beneficial, but there are limitations in our ability to do too much at one time. Will consider moving this direction but not immediately.
End of discussion at 8:00 pm (can’t adjourn, there was no quorum!).
General Board Meeting, 2015 hr
Roll Call:
Chris Kutelis, Three Mountain
Pat Carpenter, Blue Water
Glenn Stephenson, Director of Judges
Christopher Smith , VP
Anne Camper, Pres
Warren Jones, Yellowstone River Dog Club
David Thomsen, Spirit arr. 2100 hr (no quorum prior to 2100)
Paul Konshak, S Regional Director
Guests: Bill Dotson, Dana Miller, David Greene
Minutes acceptance – Glenn Stephenson, David Thomsen 2nd, unanimous 2110 hr
President’s report (read by president), Attachment #1
VP report – no written report; Kiewel threatened to sue over posting on AWMA forum. Our atty has rebuffed the “attack” on behalf of the club, although apparently threats to individuals still linger.
Secretary report – Attachment #2
Treasurer’s report – Attachment #3.
Membership chair – Attachment #4
WC/NE committee --- Shari Lipski. report via email, read by president, shown below:
Dear AWMA Board and Membership,
In 2010 the AWMA sent five IPO teams to the FMBB World Championships in Cottbus, Germany and one team for the Agility Competition. Everyone had a great time and a lot of fun networking with other teams from over 20 countries. This is truly a fantastic event that showcases the talent, drive, and competitiveness of the Belgian Malinois.
Earlier this summer, the AWMA Board approved a change to the 2011 FMBB Agility Qualifications to include the other three Belgian breeds. I have received emails from all over the United States of agility teams looking forward to be able to vie for a spot on next year’s team.
The FMBB has not received a bid from a country for dates or location for the 2011 World Championship. Since the USA is one of only a few countries that have to make travel plans across the pond this is something that I am constantly monitoring as everyone’s budget is a definite concern in these hard times. I will be actively working on the collective efforts of the WC/NE Committee and the Sponsorship Committee during the coming months to try and develop and enhance our sponsorship dollars for the AWMA.
I will also be working with the Venezuelan Malinois Club to develop a new event in 2011. The event is called the America’s Championship. As details become available during the coming months I will let everyone know the details and how you can help.
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for all their help in making AWMA the success it is. Without our membership’s valuable time and dedication to the breed we love, the AWMA would not be able to do the things we do.
Dogspeed to all and good luck at the 2010 AWMA Championship!
Shari Lipski
Judges’ – DOJ report read as follows:
We have one new apprentice and one apprentice applicant who have joined the judges program this year.
Christopher Smith has walked one trial with me and is scheduled to walk the stadium portion of our nationals with Mike Hamilton this weekend. Christopher has an excellent understanding of the basics for becoming a judge and I’m confident he will be able to jump right into his apprentice assignments. I look forward to completion of his apprenticeship near the end of 2011.
Cynthia Zimmerman, can start walk alongs at any time and should be clear to start her apprentice assignments early 2011. I expect her to complete this process rapidly.
All Regional Directors should be actively soliciting qualified people in their regions to get into our apprentice program. The judges program has proven to be the backbone of the more successful dog clubs in America and should be of the highest priority with AWMA. Now is the time for all of us to push our membership to higher involvement within our organization. It is very exciting to have Christopher and Cynthia as apprentice judges, they are both very qualified, driven individuals who will make excellent judges. There are many more in our membership who are qualified and should enter into the program.
Alarmingly, there have been a couple of instances where clubs have denied our apprentice to walk with the judge. This should not be acceptable with any AWMA clubs. From this point on, any club who denies permission for our apprentice judges will have the trial authorization revoked.
Glenn Stephenson
AWMA DOJ
Web committee - From Dana Williams, read as follows:
The website received a complete makeover at the end of 2009. The coding and re-design was graciously donated by Justin Adams of JustWhat.net. We also received additional help from Anne Camper’s son-in-law, Colter Lease, who really helped fine tune some things with the website. The website was designed inside and out so that anyone would be able to make updates to it within minutes. This has helped keep the content up to date and given us the chance to really use the website for some cool new things. We added the page for the IPO3 Club which currently features 15 Handler Owner Trained Malinois. We also added a page for Stud Dog Advertising which is free for members and a small fee for non-members. We currently have two Sponsors who do banner advertising on our website and we encourage anyone out there with a business to sign up for banner advertising. For just $100, you would get full time exposure on the AWMA Website. Dana Huckstein travel has received over 82,000 impressions and Kustom Krates has received over 38,000 impressions. An impression is the number of times someone clicks on a page, and their banner is on the side. The new website allows us to put banners on a rotation so they are seen on every page of the website.
In addition to changes to the website, the website committee also started a Facebook Page to keep members up to date on AWMA happenings. To date we have over 1600 Friends on our Facebook page.
Finally the AWMA Forum went through so changes due to spam posting earlier this year. Each registration is done by a forum moderator, versus allowing people to sign up by themselves. Paul Konschnak has agreed to help people become members of the AWMA Forum which has been a huge help so far!
Sponsorship – no report
Bylaws – One amendment for this year, will begin work for next year on amendment dealing with club insurance pending discussion by executive board.
Board of Inquiry -- Dana Miller, BOI – Jill Makstaller case. Behavior prejudicial to best interests of AWMA. End result is 10 yr suspension with conditions before eligible to rejoin. Decision upheld by vote of executive board.
Bylaws amendment on general Board Meeting delegate appointments, read Motion to accept Glenn Stephenson, 2nd by Christopher Smith, passed unanimously.
Elections: Officers retained by acclimation, Motion by Glenn Stephenson, 2nd by Christopher Smith, passed unanimously
Director at Large – 4 DAL’s that could be retained, plus Donna McGinnis, but no response received from Dre’ Hastings or Ivan Balabanov as to whether they were interested. Thus, Bob Miller, Donna McGinnis & Warren Jones are viable candidates
Paul Konshak nominated Warren Jones, Glenn Stephenson 2nded; Warren Jones nominated Donna McGinnis, Glenn Stephenson 2nd. Warren Jones withdrew as candidate for election by General Board, with the understanding he remain eligible for election by the Executive Board (email balloting required), Donna McGinnis elected by acclimation.
Director of Judges – Glenn Stephenson nominated by Anne Camper, 2nd by David Thomsen, passed unanimously.
Auditing committee, currently Marina Shukh, Warren Jones. Tim Evans nominateded by Dana Miller, Christopher Smith nominated Chris Kutelis, Michele Kutelis. Move to accept all three by acclimation by Warren Jones, Christopher Smith 2nd, passed unanimous (pending agreement by Michele and Tim, not currently present).
WC/NE committees (combined). As per by-laws, must elect two members each year. For even years, Paul Konshak nominated David Thomsen and Shari Lipski. Second by Pat Carpenter, passes unanimously.
Judges’ Committee: Christopher Smith and Warren Jones nominated by Chris Kutelis, 2nd by Paul Konshak, passes unanimously.
BOI – Pat Carpenter was nominated to fill Donna McGinnis’ spot (cannot be on Executive Board and BOI). Tim Evans & Pat Carpenter nominated by Glenn Stephenson, 2nd by Paul Konshak, passes unanimously
Updates given on AWDF business: Anne gave update of ABMC relationships, ABMC National Specialty is considering a IPO trial with at least BHs at their specialty. Need to find a club to host the event.
New Business:
(1) No comments on EB actions from last year ( Attachment #5)
(2) FMBB Championship of the Americas, Shari Lipski trying to make us a viable partner.
(3) Membership dues & related issues
(4) Rush fees discussion -- $50 & 30 days for each membership & scorebook as proposed by EB. David Thomsen suggested $75 fee for any turnaround requiring less than 2 weeks. Suggestion that rush REQUIRES paypal be used (avoids problem of waiting for checks to clear. Move that rush fees be imposed for less than or equal to 14 days advance delivery by $50 for membership and scorebooks. Motion Glenn Stephenson, second by Pat Carpenter, passes unanimously.
(5) Insurance issues – Removing the requirement that clubs buy insurance to remain viable will require a bylaws amendment. Difficult to “police” as is, as clubs can get short term coverage and cancel, etc. New company found that covers for $350 as opposed to Sportsmen’s current $700 a year. Pat said new company will insure for $350 and while they don’t like “Schutzhund” in the club name, they’ll still do it.
(6) New programs – IPO 3 club not generating a ton of action but some.
(7) Demonstration of new electronic trial reporting form that will be filled out by clubs hosting trials that will generate a trial form. The trial form will be sent to the secretary and can then be included in a database.
Meeting Adjourns at 2200 hr.
Attachment 1: President’s Report
This past year has been a productive and busy one for the executive board, with several new initiatives that have been enacted. Many of these have been ongoing for at least a year and one has been a work in progress for at least three years. More detail on some issues will be covered in other reports, but I will provide a general overview.
Last year we had the first formal elections for regional directors to fulfill the obligations of our by-laws. This year we have prepared and approved a list of responsibilities for our regional directors which can be found on our website. I am hoping that we can have increased activity within our regions under the guidance of our regional directors.
Another outcome of a considerable amount of work is our new, updated website. This includes the new FAQs section for scorebooks, the stud dog directory, and the ability to use Paypal. Each of these will be covered in more detail in the Website Committee and Treasurer’s reports.
Related to the website is the creation of our IPO 3 Club. The majority of this work was done by Dana Williams and she has purchased some very nice medallions to honor AWMA member’s dogs that have attained this distinction. I encourage all of you to have your dogs listed and please contact anyone you know about this so we can document and honor this accomplishment.
The World Championship/National Events Committee worked to establish a contract for host clubs for the AWMA Nationals. Since the parent club now provides financial resources as “seed money” for the event, it was important to ensure that a contract was in place that outlined milestones that would result in partial payment for completion. The contract is available on the website.
A major accomplishment has been revisions in our scorebook policies. After the vote in AWDF to limit scorebooks listing the dog’s breed to individual breed clubs within the AWDF, the board investigated ways to open up the listing to non-FCI registered malinois. A subcommittee of Terry Miller, Donna McGuiness, Mike Baker and Bob Miller were given the task of researching mechanisms for issuing scorebooks to these dogs. The outcome was a recommendation made to the board to have a Working Privilege Listing for dogs with either other registrations, an AKC ILP listing, or a dog that could be identified via photographs as a malinois. The scorebook forms for the WPL are posted on the website.
An outcome of the above action was a motion to allow all dogs that have ‘malinois’ in their scorebook to be part of the AWMA AWDF team. This year we had at least one dog participate under this allowance.
With a recommendation from Shari Lipski of the WC/NE Committee, the board entertained the concept of allowing all Belgian breeds (Malinois, Tervs, Sheepdogs, Laekenois) to declare for the AWMA FMBB agility team. This was proposed as a motion and passed. Also related to the FMBB was a vote to endorse the concept of an “Americas Belgian Shepherd Championship” that is slated to occur in South America.
On a more local level, we are pleased that we have recently voted to accept two new clubs, Blue Water in Michigan and Three Mountains in Pennsylvania. We are also happy to have two new apprentice judges, Christopher Smith and Cynthia Zimmerman. Growth in the number of local clubs and trials as well as our judges’ program is critical for the AWMA to be able to offer training and titles to our members.
We have continued to work with the American Belgian Malinois Club on several fronts. The first is to send malinois to the FMBB Agility competition. The second is a now-established partnership to list IPO titles on AKC pedigrees. As per the restriction from AKC, these titles must be earned at an AWMA event. This emphasizes how critical it is for clubs to be timely and correct with submitting their trial paperwork to the AWMA secretary.
Another point is the successful resolution of the AWMA’s first BOI case. I should note that we are extremely fortunate in that our club has been in existence for 10 years without having to deal with BOI hearings, and I commend the membership for their sportsmanship and camaraderie. On a related note, it appears that we have averted a lawsuit from someone who believed that they were treated unfairly with postings on the discussion forum.
There are also a few things that have not gone as well as we would have liked. First off is the potential loss of two or three local clubs. There are some lingering issues with insurance that are causing us problems that are worthy of discussion. We have also had difficulty in retaining sponsors and our fundraising efforts have stalled. This is likely due to financial aspects, but it is also partially because of an inability to have a focused effort on fundraising. An active committee would greatly facilitate this effort. We have also not been able to sell t-shirts this year because our main champions, John Wiitanen and Paula Daigle moved from Michigan where they had a connection with a local embroiderer. Another volunteer to take over this effort would be greatly appreciated. We have continued to have difficulties with releasing the newsletter on time. Putting out the newsletter requires a great deal of effort and we would sincerely appreciate the membership stepping forward to provide articles and suggestions for materials to be included.
I would like to personally thank everyone who has worked so hard to make this a positive, constructive, and forward-moving organization. We have some great board members, committees, regional directors, local clubs, and individual members. Could we do better? Of course we could, but in comparison to the trials and tribulations in other organizations we are doing exceedingly well.
And finally I extend my sincere thanks to Jim Honda and FreeDog!! for hosting the AWMA National Championships this year. He and his team have put in a tremendous amount of work to ensure that the competitors have the best possible venue to showcase their dogs.
Anne Camper
AWMA President
Attachment #2: Secretary’s Report
2010 AWMA Executive Board Meeting
Secretary’s Report by Terry Miller
I. AWMA Member Clubs
A. Club Names, Trials, and Delegates
1. Atlanta Working Dog Club, GA
Contact: Mike Morgan [email protected]
Joey Leigh [email protected]
• No trials reported
• No Delegate
2. Midwest Working Dog Association
Contact: Waine Singleton [email protected]
• Club Trial September 3, 2010
• No Delegate
3. High Mesa Malinois, NM
Contact: Terry Miller [email protected]
• No trials planned but wants to remain as affiliate
• No Delegate
4. Podium Belgian Shepherd Working Dog Club, WV
Contact: Sabine Ernsting [email protected]
• Club Trials scheduled for November 2010
• DELGATE: April Albert
• ALTERNATE: Andrew Albert or Hardy Ernsting
5. Motor City Working Dogs, MI
Contact: John Wiitanen [email protected]
• Club Trial September 5, 2009 with Judge #001
• DELGATE: James Downey
6. Spirit Working Dog Club, FL
Contact: Ivan Balabanov [email protected]
[email protected]
• AWMA Nationals December 2009
• DELEGATE: David Thomsen
• ALTERNATE: Viki Keller
7. TCT Working Dog Association, KY
Contact: Cynthia Zimmermann [email protected] [email protected] used January 2009
Gerry Zimmermann [email protected]
• Club Trial May 16, 2010 with Judge Hechler DHV
• No Delegate
8. Yellowstone River Dog Club, MT
Contact: Bruce Westerhoff [email protected]
• Club Trial September 26, 2009 with Hartmut Beckmann
• DELEGATE: Warren Jones
9. Southern Arizona Malinois Association
Contact: JJ Belcher [email protected]
• Club Trial planned early 2011
• No Delegate
10. Florida Working Dog Association
Contact: Michael Rivers [email protected]
• Club Trial January 2010 with Lisa Little
• No Delegate
11. Sacramento Valley Working Dog Association
Contact: Kelley Graham [email protected]
• Club Trial planned December 2010
• No Delegate
12. Phoenix AWMA Club (provisional member club)
Contact: Tim Evans [email protected]
• Club Trial planned early 2011
There have been 2 full member club applications, one has been accepted by board vote, the other is pending. I am in contact with 3 other clubs who may apply. One is waiting until they can afford insurance and another is only doing Mondio, so is not sure of any advantage to become AWMA though most their dogs are Belgian Malinois.
13. Three Mountains Working Dog Club
Contact: Carol Karchnak [email protected]
• No Delegate
Blue Water Working Dogs (pending vote)
Contact: Pat Carpenter [email protected]
• No Delegate
One club is resigning full member status.
Cascade Belgian Shepherd Working Dog Club, WA
Have not received club dues and insurance, they are resigning as full member club.
Contact: Les Flores [email protected]
• Club Trial October 17, 2009 with Judge Warren Jones
B. Delegates to the 2009 AWMA Nationals
These are the club delegates and responses as of the required deadline.
1) Spirit
David Thomsen club delegate, Vicki Keller alternate
2) Yellowstone
Mr. Warren Jones from Bozeman will be the delegate for YRDC
3) Motor City
James Downey Will represent Motor City Working Dogs
4) Podium
The delegate for Podium is April Albert Member# 552-10, alternates are Andrew Albert # 553-10 or Hardy Ernsting
New member clubs may declare up until 2 days before the meeting.
II. Scorebook Sales and AKC Titles
2005: 21 Scorebooks
2006: 35 Scorebooks
2007: 24 Scorebooks
2008: 39 Scorebooks
2009: 48 Scorebooks
2010: 52 Scorebooks as of October 15, 2010
• 4 books issued as AWMA WPL
• 3 books to Belgian Sheepdogs
• 1 book to Dutch Shepherd
• 1 book to Belgian Terv
1 Confirmed IPO3 title for AKC
III. AWMA Entries for AWDF
2009 AWMA had 18 IPO 3 entries, 1 IPO 2 entry, and 1 IPO 1 entry.
2010 AWMA had 12 IPO 3 entries, and 2 IPO 2 entries
IV. Comments
Per the by-laws, High Mesa and Southern Arizona are no longer full member clubs.
Neither has insurance. S. Arizona will have insurance in time for their trial next year. I have not received reply regarding insurance for Atlanta club, so status is uncertain. Mike of Florida WDC home was destroyed in April by a flood, and some paperwork is missing. He is in contact with me and sending what I requested.
My club, High Mesa only buys insurance if we have an event, we do not meet to train. Since we do not have an event this year ... no insurance.
Going through paperwork from past years, the insurance issue has not been well documented and it is hard to tell if all clubs have always carried insurance every year.
There seem to be 2 issues that are related. Clubs who have let their insurance lapse, and full clubs who are temporarily inactive but wanting to stay involved at least as an affiliate club.
So it would be good to talk about it and come to some understanding about how insurance should be handled at the full and affiliate member club status. For High Mesa and S. Arizona, our members have conflicts and personal things going on that has made our club not active with events. Both intend to become more active in the future, but how soon, is unknown. So I am wondering if clubs can go to affiliate status if not currently active, then ask for full membership when active again.
Attachment #3: Treasurer’s report
AWMA Treasurer's Report for October 29, 2010.
1.) Treasury Update:
- January 1, 2010 Balance: $9,984.14
- Current Balance: $12,292.80
- Please see 2010 AWMA Financial Statement for detailed breakdown of income and
expenses.
- Projected expenses still to be paid this year: 2010 AWMA Nationals ($1500 donation) and
$100 to assist Jason Fink (lawyer) with expenses (need an address from Christopher)
2.) In order to decrease the amount of bounced checks, it would be beneficial if the Treasurer
can receive checks from the Secretary and Membership Chair at least once a month so
that they can be deposited in a timely fashion. Would it help if both the Secretary and
Membership Chair had a stack of self-addressed stamped envelopes from the Treasurer
so they can quickly throw the checks in the mail each month?
3.) PayPal has been a success for the first year with 27 memberships, 13 scorebooks, 1 IPO3
Club, and 2 Banner advertisements being processed through it. We charge just enough of
a fee for the service to cover the cost of the service, however we do not charge a fee for
any donations including the banner advertisements. I will check to see if it is possible to
add the Membership Chair and the Secretary's email to the payment receipt from PayPal
to avoid a delay in them getting the payment notice.
4.) FMBB Dues: We had a problem this year with the wire transfer to the FMBB not going
through properly. Our bank on this end said it wasn't on their end so they not only charged
us a wire transfer fee, they also charged us a fee for it being returned. This isn't the first
time we have had problems with the transfer to the FMBB (the transfer to the DMC for the
entry fees sent on the same day went through fine). Shari had to pay the dues at the door
and we would like to have an arrangement with the FMBB if the captain of the world team
can just pay at the door each time. This will eliminate the wire fee on both the AWMA and
the FMBB for the transfer and avoid any confusion in future years on when they are paid. I
believe Shari mentioned this to them and they were ok with it, but we should confirm for
next year that they are ok with us bringing payment with us to the world championship.
5.) I apologize for not being able to make it this year. I was hoping to be able to come up for
the day but not just is money a little tight right now, but I also ended up coming down with
the flu this past weekend that has set me really behind on work. I wish all the competitors
the best of luck and thank my fellow board members for all their hard work and dedication.
As this is an election year, I would be honored to serve as your treasurer for another term
and would like to put my name in for consideration. However if another individual is elected
to the position, all the files are in order and I can easily ship them and train the person over
the phone.
Warmly Submitted,
Kristina Carmody
AWMA Treasurer
Attachment 4: membership Chair’s report
We currently have 111 Single Memberships and 13 Family Memberships for 2010-2011. This is up slightly from previous years with more memberships expected to come in before the end of the membership cycle. This year we began using PayPal on the website, with a vote taken by the executive board that added a fee to cover our expense of using paypal. This has been a HUGE success with members and was particularly helpful for those doing last minute memberships for the Nationals. The only issue so far with using Paypal is some members do not understand the fee is only for Paypal. It is currently an extra $1.75 to pay for a membership over paypal versus a check but I’ve had several people send in checks with the paypal fee included. I’ve contacted those people when it has happened and most have just said to treat the extra $1.75 as a donation versus sending out refunds.
Donations were down this year as we did not do the T-shirt promotion we have done the past two years. The T-shirts were a big source of revenue for the club and it would be something I would suggest doing again during the next membership cycle (May 2011).
The IPO3 Club was started this past year as well, featuring Malinois that are Handler-Owner-Trained from 0-ScHH3 on our AWMA Website. Each member of the IPO3 Club is given a printed medallion which was designed by Dara Flores. The Executive Board voted unanimously to spend the initial cost of $216.25 to have 100 medallions custom made and ordered from Hodges Badge Company. To date, we have 15 people who have submitted the required paperwork with two more that are in need of processing. Given that the program has been around since February, I think it is safe to say it will cover its own cost and is a great way to showcase our member’s accomplishments.
Attachment #5: EB actions since last GBM:
Executive board votes since 2009 annual meeting
December 22, 2009
Motion that AWMA develop a process, contingent upon ratification by the ABMC, for providing title verification for AKC pedigrees as follows:
Applicants include a copy of the dog’s AWDF-member-club issued scorebook showing the titles to be listed. Applicant also provides proof of membership in AWMA or ABMC. Fees for processing will be $10 if membership in either organization is shown; otherwise processing is $50. Any fees charged by AKC are separate and not handled by AWMA. Titles to be certified include those awarded at AWMA trials, and any others agreed upon with ABMC. Titles issued subsequent to 2000 are eligible for inclusion.
Motion Warren Jones, 2nd James Downey
Passed unanimously
December 23, 2009
I move to spend 216.25 for IPO3 club Medallions.
Motion by Jim Downey, second by Les Flores
Passed unanimously
January 7, 2010
By-laws amendments. Ballots were returned by 8 out of 10 full member clubs and 11 of 12 board
members. All amendments passed.
1) Amendments to extend annual event beyond IPO trials alone
__18___ accept ___1__reject
2) Amendments to add Director of Judges to the Executive Board and remove three at-large members of the Executive Board.
___16__ accept __3___reject
3) Amendment to allow electronic balloting for election of Regional Directors
__19___ accept __0___reject
4) Amendments to define “late” periods for membership renewal (cluband individual) and to allow the Executive Board to set reasonable latefees in concert with these revised dates and deadlines.
_16____ accept ___3__reject
5) Establish the Director of Judges position as one that is filled by election, as no current process even exists for determining the DoJ.
__18___ accept __1___reject
January 22, 2010
Motion to adopt Regional Director Responsibilities as specified in "RDdraftResponsibilities.pdf" uploaded 1/8/10 to server.
Motion: Christopher Smith Second: Warren Jones
Passed 7 yes, 1 no (info has been posted in policies and procedures)
February 10, 2010
I move we establish fees for the use of PayPal on the AWMA web site up to the amount charged us by PayPal for the transaction, rounded up to the next $0.25. PayPal fees will not be charged to those using the service to make a donation.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Kristina Carmody
9 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain, passed
March 2, 2010
I move to appoint Donna McGinnis to the Board of Inquiry to serve until the next regular election of committee members.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Bob Miller
9 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
March 2, 2010
I move to approve a total donation of $1500 to the host club of the AWMA Nationals. The funds will be allocated based on the agreement in the host club contract.
Motion by Kristina Carmody second by Christopher Smith
8 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain
March 5, 2010
I move to accept the bid from Free Dog Hundesport Club for hosting the AWMA Nationals in October 2010.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Bob Miller
9 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
March 15, 2010
I move to accept the contract proposed Feb. 2010 between AWMAand the host for the AWMA National Championship.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Glenn Stephenson
9 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain
Document will be uploaded to policies and procedures section of the website
March 15, 2010
I propose that any dog that that has an AWDF scorebook that lists the dog as a Belgian Malinois, regardless of whether it is FCI registered or not will be eligible to represent the AWMA at the AWDF Championship.
Motion Christopher Smith, amended by Glenn Stephenson, second Warren Jones
9 yes, 1 no
May 28, 2010
The AWMA will budget up to $750 to help offset the cost for one delegate to the AWDF annual meeting, with expenses limited to airfare and car rental or mileage for personal vehicle and two nights’ hotel.
Motion by Glenn Stephenson, second by Dana Williams.
Passed unanimously
June 16, 2010
In regards to the BOI finding sustaining the charges against Jill Makstaller for behavior prejudicial to the AWMA, vote for one of the two options:
1.Permanent expulsion from the AWMA.
2. Expulsion for 10 years with the opportunity to reapply. Reapplication will be possible only if there are no animal cruelty or neglect charges, or suspected cruelty or neglect and documentation of 200 hours of community service. The application must be accompanied with written support from two current AWMA members.
- Option 1, , 6 votes, 46.15%
- Option 2, , 7 votes, 53.85%
- abstain, 0 votes, 0.00%
June 17, 2010
Motion to accept Christopher Smith as an AWMA apprentice judge.
Moved by Ivan Balabanov, second by Les Flores
9 yes, one abstain
July 29, 2010
Motion to accept all FCI registered Belgians as part of the FMBB agility team.
Motion by Dana Williams, 2nd by Warren Jones.
9 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain
July 29, 2010
Motion to delete the requirement that agility entrants in the FMBB have a BH title.
Motion by Dana Williams, 2nd Warren Jones.
3 yes, 6 no, 0 abstain
August 13, 2010
Motion to waive BH requirement for applicants to 2011 FMBB agility team (one year exemption from this requirement).
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Dana Williams
6 yes, 3 no, 1 abstain
August 13, 2010
Motion to accept revised agility regulations as of draft version sent to the Executive Board July 31, 2010
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Dana Williams
9 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
August 26, 2010
Motion to post the text of all seconded motions during the period that voting is taking place, and that the results of that vote be posted as a response, including the roll call of the final vote. Exceptions to this posting would include those specified in the bylaws.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Christopher Smith.
7 yes, 3 no, 1 abstain
August 26, 2010
Motion to send Jason Fink a check for $100 to cover expenses.
Motion by Christopher Smith, second by Warren Jones
10 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
September 14, 2010
I move that the AWMA endorse the concept of the “America’s Belgian Shepherd Championship” and participate as appropriate in the formation of the event and in sending a team.
Motion by Christopher Smith, second by Bob Miller
Explanation: Contact by group in South America interested in forming an America's competition, concept endorsed by the FMBB.
8 yes; Christopher Smith, Les Flores, Terry Miller, Dre' Hastings, Ivan Balabanov, Anne Camper, Bob Miller, Paul Konschak
2 no; Glenn Stephenson, Warren Jones
No vote recorded: Kristina Carmody, Jim Downey, Dana Williams
October 6, 2010
Motion to accept Cynthia Zimmerman as an AWMA apprentice judge.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Christopher Smith
By-laws require that acceptance of judge applicants be conducted by an anonymous vote with 80% approval by the executive board. Motion carried.
11 yes, 2 did not vote
October 14, 2010
Motion to accept Three Mountains Working Dog Club as an AWMA Club with full member status.
Motion by James Downey, second by Paul Konschak
10 yes: Les Flores, Bob Miller, Kristina Carmody, Anne Camper, Terry Miller, Glenn Stephenson, Dre' Hastings, Dana Williams, Warren Jones, Paul Konschak
1 abstain: Christopher Smith
2 did not vote: Ivan Balabanov, Jim Downey
October 26, 2010
I move we accept Blue Water as a full member club in AWMA.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Terry Miller
12 yes: Jim Downey, Bob Miller, Kristina Carmody, Anne Camper, Terry Miller, Warren Jones, Dana Williams, Glenn Stephenson, Les Flores, Dre' Hastings, Paul Konschak , Ivan Balabanov
Did not vote: Christopher Smith
Executive Board (no quorum)
“Minutes” – Executive board, attended by Paul Konshak, Christopher Smith, Warren Jones, Anne Camper (not a quorum), discussion started at 1500 (7:00 pm)
Old Business: Voting tally from members of EB was distributed for review.
New Business:
Agility teams beginning to show lots of interest. It is probably better for AWMA to go to all breed agility than to risk loss of channel to FMBB. Waiver of BH requirement will likely only be for this one year.
USA politics and implications for AWMA – Impact unclear, but meeting is next weekend (Nov. 3)
Rush charges for scorebooks and membership card: Should define NORMAL so that we can define “faster than normal” before instituting fees… 30 days? Will propose to GBM for both scorebook and for membership card (single membership - $50 expedition fee).
Judges’ Program – still need to work on recruiting new judges. AWMA can establish its own identity with a good stable of judges.
Increasing new member clubs – impediments include insurance requirements for clubs . D&O insurance covers officers of organization if a club does something actionable. The organization itself doesn’t have much in the way of assets (a few thousand in the bank). Therefore, we should consider removing the requirement that individual clubs have insurance, since the purpose of that requirement was to protect the executive board and organization as a whole. Clubs themselves should obviously want to have insurance, particularly those clubs that train on private property.
Becoming an all – Belgian club? Discussion on how this might be beneficial, but there are limitations in our ability to do too much at one time. Will consider moving this direction but not immediately.
End of discussion at 8:00 pm (can’t adjourn, there was no quorum!).
General Board Meeting, 2015 hr
Roll Call:
Chris Kutelis, Three Mountain
Pat Carpenter, Blue Water
Glenn Stephenson, Director of Judges
Christopher Smith , VP
Anne Camper, Pres
Warren Jones, Yellowstone River Dog Club
David Thomsen, Spirit arr. 2100 hr (no quorum prior to 2100)
Paul Konshak, S Regional Director
Guests: Bill Dotson, Dana Miller, David Greene
Minutes acceptance – Glenn Stephenson, David Thomsen 2nd, unanimous 2110 hr
President’s report (read by president), Attachment #1
VP report – no written report; Kiewel threatened to sue over posting on AWMA forum. Our atty has rebuffed the “attack” on behalf of the club, although apparently threats to individuals still linger.
Secretary report – Attachment #2
Treasurer’s report – Attachment #3.
Membership chair – Attachment #4
WC/NE committee --- Shari Lipski. report via email, read by president, shown below:
Dear AWMA Board and Membership,
In 2010 the AWMA sent five IPO teams to the FMBB World Championships in Cottbus, Germany and one team for the Agility Competition. Everyone had a great time and a lot of fun networking with other teams from over 20 countries. This is truly a fantastic event that showcases the talent, drive, and competitiveness of the Belgian Malinois.
Earlier this summer, the AWMA Board approved a change to the 2011 FMBB Agility Qualifications to include the other three Belgian breeds. I have received emails from all over the United States of agility teams looking forward to be able to vie for a spot on next year’s team.
The FMBB has not received a bid from a country for dates or location for the 2011 World Championship. Since the USA is one of only a few countries that have to make travel plans across the pond this is something that I am constantly monitoring as everyone’s budget is a definite concern in these hard times. I will be actively working on the collective efforts of the WC/NE Committee and the Sponsorship Committee during the coming months to try and develop and enhance our sponsorship dollars for the AWMA.
I will also be working with the Venezuelan Malinois Club to develop a new event in 2011. The event is called the America’s Championship. As details become available during the coming months I will let everyone know the details and how you can help.
Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for all their help in making AWMA the success it is. Without our membership’s valuable time and dedication to the breed we love, the AWMA would not be able to do the things we do.
Dogspeed to all and good luck at the 2010 AWMA Championship!
Shari Lipski
Judges’ – DOJ report read as follows:
We have one new apprentice and one apprentice applicant who have joined the judges program this year.
Christopher Smith has walked one trial with me and is scheduled to walk the stadium portion of our nationals with Mike Hamilton this weekend. Christopher has an excellent understanding of the basics for becoming a judge and I’m confident he will be able to jump right into his apprentice assignments. I look forward to completion of his apprenticeship near the end of 2011.
Cynthia Zimmerman, can start walk alongs at any time and should be clear to start her apprentice assignments early 2011. I expect her to complete this process rapidly.
All Regional Directors should be actively soliciting qualified people in their regions to get into our apprentice program. The judges program has proven to be the backbone of the more successful dog clubs in America and should be of the highest priority with AWMA. Now is the time for all of us to push our membership to higher involvement within our organization. It is very exciting to have Christopher and Cynthia as apprentice judges, they are both very qualified, driven individuals who will make excellent judges. There are many more in our membership who are qualified and should enter into the program.
Alarmingly, there have been a couple of instances where clubs have denied our apprentice to walk with the judge. This should not be acceptable with any AWMA clubs. From this point on, any club who denies permission for our apprentice judges will have the trial authorization revoked.
Glenn Stephenson
AWMA DOJ
Web committee - From Dana Williams, read as follows:
The website received a complete makeover at the end of 2009. The coding and re-design was graciously donated by Justin Adams of JustWhat.net. We also received additional help from Anne Camper’s son-in-law, Colter Lease, who really helped fine tune some things with the website. The website was designed inside and out so that anyone would be able to make updates to it within minutes. This has helped keep the content up to date and given us the chance to really use the website for some cool new things. We added the page for the IPO3 Club which currently features 15 Handler Owner Trained Malinois. We also added a page for Stud Dog Advertising which is free for members and a small fee for non-members. We currently have two Sponsors who do banner advertising on our website and we encourage anyone out there with a business to sign up for banner advertising. For just $100, you would get full time exposure on the AWMA Website. Dana Huckstein travel has received over 82,000 impressions and Kustom Krates has received over 38,000 impressions. An impression is the number of times someone clicks on a page, and their banner is on the side. The new website allows us to put banners on a rotation so they are seen on every page of the website.
In addition to changes to the website, the website committee also started a Facebook Page to keep members up to date on AWMA happenings. To date we have over 1600 Friends on our Facebook page.
Finally the AWMA Forum went through so changes due to spam posting earlier this year. Each registration is done by a forum moderator, versus allowing people to sign up by themselves. Paul Konschnak has agreed to help people become members of the AWMA Forum which has been a huge help so far!
Sponsorship – no report
Bylaws – One amendment for this year, will begin work for next year on amendment dealing with club insurance pending discussion by executive board.
Board of Inquiry -- Dana Miller, BOI – Jill Makstaller case. Behavior prejudicial to best interests of AWMA. End result is 10 yr suspension with conditions before eligible to rejoin. Decision upheld by vote of executive board.
Bylaws amendment on general Board Meeting delegate appointments, read Motion to accept Glenn Stephenson, 2nd by Christopher Smith, passed unanimously.
Elections: Officers retained by acclimation, Motion by Glenn Stephenson, 2nd by Christopher Smith, passed unanimously
Director at Large – 4 DAL’s that could be retained, plus Donna McGinnis, but no response received from Dre’ Hastings or Ivan Balabanov as to whether they were interested. Thus, Bob Miller, Donna McGinnis & Warren Jones are viable candidates
Paul Konshak nominated Warren Jones, Glenn Stephenson 2nded; Warren Jones nominated Donna McGinnis, Glenn Stephenson 2nd. Warren Jones withdrew as candidate for election by General Board, with the understanding he remain eligible for election by the Executive Board (email balloting required), Donna McGinnis elected by acclimation.
Director of Judges – Glenn Stephenson nominated by Anne Camper, 2nd by David Thomsen, passed unanimously.
Auditing committee, currently Marina Shukh, Warren Jones. Tim Evans nominateded by Dana Miller, Christopher Smith nominated Chris Kutelis, Michele Kutelis. Move to accept all three by acclimation by Warren Jones, Christopher Smith 2nd, passed unanimous (pending agreement by Michele and Tim, not currently present).
WC/NE committees (combined). As per by-laws, must elect two members each year. For even years, Paul Konshak nominated David Thomsen and Shari Lipski. Second by Pat Carpenter, passes unanimously.
Judges’ Committee: Christopher Smith and Warren Jones nominated by Chris Kutelis, 2nd by Paul Konshak, passes unanimously.
BOI – Pat Carpenter was nominated to fill Donna McGinnis’ spot (cannot be on Executive Board and BOI). Tim Evans & Pat Carpenter nominated by Glenn Stephenson, 2nd by Paul Konshak, passes unanimously
Updates given on AWDF business: Anne gave update of ABMC relationships, ABMC National Specialty is considering a IPO trial with at least BHs at their specialty. Need to find a club to host the event.
New Business:
(1) No comments on EB actions from last year ( Attachment #5)
(2) FMBB Championship of the Americas, Shari Lipski trying to make us a viable partner.
(3) Membership dues & related issues
(4) Rush fees discussion -- $50 & 30 days for each membership & scorebook as proposed by EB. David Thomsen suggested $75 fee for any turnaround requiring less than 2 weeks. Suggestion that rush REQUIRES paypal be used (avoids problem of waiting for checks to clear. Move that rush fees be imposed for less than or equal to 14 days advance delivery by $50 for membership and scorebooks. Motion Glenn Stephenson, second by Pat Carpenter, passes unanimously.
(5) Insurance issues – Removing the requirement that clubs buy insurance to remain viable will require a bylaws amendment. Difficult to “police” as is, as clubs can get short term coverage and cancel, etc. New company found that covers for $350 as opposed to Sportsmen’s current $700 a year. Pat said new company will insure for $350 and while they don’t like “Schutzhund” in the club name, they’ll still do it.
(6) New programs – IPO 3 club not generating a ton of action but some.
(7) Demonstration of new electronic trial reporting form that will be filled out by clubs hosting trials that will generate a trial form. The trial form will be sent to the secretary and can then be included in a database.
Meeting Adjourns at 2200 hr.
Attachment 1: President’s Report
This past year has been a productive and busy one for the executive board, with several new initiatives that have been enacted. Many of these have been ongoing for at least a year and one has been a work in progress for at least three years. More detail on some issues will be covered in other reports, but I will provide a general overview.
Last year we had the first formal elections for regional directors to fulfill the obligations of our by-laws. This year we have prepared and approved a list of responsibilities for our regional directors which can be found on our website. I am hoping that we can have increased activity within our regions under the guidance of our regional directors.
Another outcome of a considerable amount of work is our new, updated website. This includes the new FAQs section for scorebooks, the stud dog directory, and the ability to use Paypal. Each of these will be covered in more detail in the Website Committee and Treasurer’s reports.
Related to the website is the creation of our IPO 3 Club. The majority of this work was done by Dana Williams and she has purchased some very nice medallions to honor AWMA member’s dogs that have attained this distinction. I encourage all of you to have your dogs listed and please contact anyone you know about this so we can document and honor this accomplishment.
The World Championship/National Events Committee worked to establish a contract for host clubs for the AWMA Nationals. Since the parent club now provides financial resources as “seed money” for the event, it was important to ensure that a contract was in place that outlined milestones that would result in partial payment for completion. The contract is available on the website.
A major accomplishment has been revisions in our scorebook policies. After the vote in AWDF to limit scorebooks listing the dog’s breed to individual breed clubs within the AWDF, the board investigated ways to open up the listing to non-FCI registered malinois. A subcommittee of Terry Miller, Donna McGuiness, Mike Baker and Bob Miller were given the task of researching mechanisms for issuing scorebooks to these dogs. The outcome was a recommendation made to the board to have a Working Privilege Listing for dogs with either other registrations, an AKC ILP listing, or a dog that could be identified via photographs as a malinois. The scorebook forms for the WPL are posted on the website.
An outcome of the above action was a motion to allow all dogs that have ‘malinois’ in their scorebook to be part of the AWMA AWDF team. This year we had at least one dog participate under this allowance.
With a recommendation from Shari Lipski of the WC/NE Committee, the board entertained the concept of allowing all Belgian breeds (Malinois, Tervs, Sheepdogs, Laekenois) to declare for the AWMA FMBB agility team. This was proposed as a motion and passed. Also related to the FMBB was a vote to endorse the concept of an “Americas Belgian Shepherd Championship” that is slated to occur in South America.
On a more local level, we are pleased that we have recently voted to accept two new clubs, Blue Water in Michigan and Three Mountains in Pennsylvania. We are also happy to have two new apprentice judges, Christopher Smith and Cynthia Zimmerman. Growth in the number of local clubs and trials as well as our judges’ program is critical for the AWMA to be able to offer training and titles to our members.
We have continued to work with the American Belgian Malinois Club on several fronts. The first is to send malinois to the FMBB Agility competition. The second is a now-established partnership to list IPO titles on AKC pedigrees. As per the restriction from AKC, these titles must be earned at an AWMA event. This emphasizes how critical it is for clubs to be timely and correct with submitting their trial paperwork to the AWMA secretary.
Another point is the successful resolution of the AWMA’s first BOI case. I should note that we are extremely fortunate in that our club has been in existence for 10 years without having to deal with BOI hearings, and I commend the membership for their sportsmanship and camaraderie. On a related note, it appears that we have averted a lawsuit from someone who believed that they were treated unfairly with postings on the discussion forum.
There are also a few things that have not gone as well as we would have liked. First off is the potential loss of two or three local clubs. There are some lingering issues with insurance that are causing us problems that are worthy of discussion. We have also had difficulty in retaining sponsors and our fundraising efforts have stalled. This is likely due to financial aspects, but it is also partially because of an inability to have a focused effort on fundraising. An active committee would greatly facilitate this effort. We have also not been able to sell t-shirts this year because our main champions, John Wiitanen and Paula Daigle moved from Michigan where they had a connection with a local embroiderer. Another volunteer to take over this effort would be greatly appreciated. We have continued to have difficulties with releasing the newsletter on time. Putting out the newsletter requires a great deal of effort and we would sincerely appreciate the membership stepping forward to provide articles and suggestions for materials to be included.
I would like to personally thank everyone who has worked so hard to make this a positive, constructive, and forward-moving organization. We have some great board members, committees, regional directors, local clubs, and individual members. Could we do better? Of course we could, but in comparison to the trials and tribulations in other organizations we are doing exceedingly well.
And finally I extend my sincere thanks to Jim Honda and FreeDog!! for hosting the AWMA National Championships this year. He and his team have put in a tremendous amount of work to ensure that the competitors have the best possible venue to showcase their dogs.
Anne Camper
AWMA President
Attachment #2: Secretary’s Report
2010 AWMA Executive Board Meeting
Secretary’s Report by Terry Miller
I. AWMA Member Clubs
A. Club Names, Trials, and Delegates
1. Atlanta Working Dog Club, GA
Contact: Mike Morgan [email protected]
Joey Leigh [email protected]
• No trials reported
• No Delegate
2. Midwest Working Dog Association
Contact: Waine Singleton [email protected]
• Club Trial September 3, 2010
• No Delegate
3. High Mesa Malinois, NM
Contact: Terry Miller [email protected]
• No trials planned but wants to remain as affiliate
• No Delegate
4. Podium Belgian Shepherd Working Dog Club, WV
Contact: Sabine Ernsting [email protected]
• Club Trials scheduled for November 2010
• DELGATE: April Albert
• ALTERNATE: Andrew Albert or Hardy Ernsting
5. Motor City Working Dogs, MI
Contact: John Wiitanen [email protected]
• Club Trial September 5, 2009 with Judge #001
• DELGATE: James Downey
6. Spirit Working Dog Club, FL
Contact: Ivan Balabanov [email protected]
[email protected]
• AWMA Nationals December 2009
• DELEGATE: David Thomsen
• ALTERNATE: Viki Keller
7. TCT Working Dog Association, KY
Contact: Cynthia Zimmermann [email protected] [email protected] used January 2009
Gerry Zimmermann [email protected]
• Club Trial May 16, 2010 with Judge Hechler DHV
• No Delegate
8. Yellowstone River Dog Club, MT
Contact: Bruce Westerhoff [email protected]
• Club Trial September 26, 2009 with Hartmut Beckmann
• DELEGATE: Warren Jones
9. Southern Arizona Malinois Association
Contact: JJ Belcher [email protected]
• Club Trial planned early 2011
• No Delegate
10. Florida Working Dog Association
Contact: Michael Rivers [email protected]
• Club Trial January 2010 with Lisa Little
• No Delegate
11. Sacramento Valley Working Dog Association
Contact: Kelley Graham [email protected]
• Club Trial planned December 2010
• No Delegate
12. Phoenix AWMA Club (provisional member club)
Contact: Tim Evans [email protected]
• Club Trial planned early 2011
There have been 2 full member club applications, one has been accepted by board vote, the other is pending. I am in contact with 3 other clubs who may apply. One is waiting until they can afford insurance and another is only doing Mondio, so is not sure of any advantage to become AWMA though most their dogs are Belgian Malinois.
13. Three Mountains Working Dog Club
Contact: Carol Karchnak [email protected]
• No Delegate
Blue Water Working Dogs (pending vote)
Contact: Pat Carpenter [email protected]
• No Delegate
One club is resigning full member status.
Cascade Belgian Shepherd Working Dog Club, WA
Have not received club dues and insurance, they are resigning as full member club.
Contact: Les Flores [email protected]
• Club Trial October 17, 2009 with Judge Warren Jones
B. Delegates to the 2009 AWMA Nationals
These are the club delegates and responses as of the required deadline.
1) Spirit
David Thomsen club delegate, Vicki Keller alternate
2) Yellowstone
Mr. Warren Jones from Bozeman will be the delegate for YRDC
3) Motor City
James Downey Will represent Motor City Working Dogs
4) Podium
The delegate for Podium is April Albert Member# 552-10, alternates are Andrew Albert # 553-10 or Hardy Ernsting
New member clubs may declare up until 2 days before the meeting.
II. Scorebook Sales and AKC Titles
2005: 21 Scorebooks
2006: 35 Scorebooks
2007: 24 Scorebooks
2008: 39 Scorebooks
2009: 48 Scorebooks
2010: 52 Scorebooks as of October 15, 2010
• 4 books issued as AWMA WPL
• 3 books to Belgian Sheepdogs
• 1 book to Dutch Shepherd
• 1 book to Belgian Terv
1 Confirmed IPO3 title for AKC
III. AWMA Entries for AWDF
2009 AWMA had 18 IPO 3 entries, 1 IPO 2 entry, and 1 IPO 1 entry.
2010 AWMA had 12 IPO 3 entries, and 2 IPO 2 entries
IV. Comments
Per the by-laws, High Mesa and Southern Arizona are no longer full member clubs.
Neither has insurance. S. Arizona will have insurance in time for their trial next year. I have not received reply regarding insurance for Atlanta club, so status is uncertain. Mike of Florida WDC home was destroyed in April by a flood, and some paperwork is missing. He is in contact with me and sending what I requested.
My club, High Mesa only buys insurance if we have an event, we do not meet to train. Since we do not have an event this year ... no insurance.
Going through paperwork from past years, the insurance issue has not been well documented and it is hard to tell if all clubs have always carried insurance every year.
There seem to be 2 issues that are related. Clubs who have let their insurance lapse, and full clubs who are temporarily inactive but wanting to stay involved at least as an affiliate club.
So it would be good to talk about it and come to some understanding about how insurance should be handled at the full and affiliate member club status. For High Mesa and S. Arizona, our members have conflicts and personal things going on that has made our club not active with events. Both intend to become more active in the future, but how soon, is unknown. So I am wondering if clubs can go to affiliate status if not currently active, then ask for full membership when active again.
Attachment #3: Treasurer’s report
AWMA Treasurer's Report for October 29, 2010.
1.) Treasury Update:
- January 1, 2010 Balance: $9,984.14
- Current Balance: $12,292.80
- Please see 2010 AWMA Financial Statement for detailed breakdown of income and
expenses.
- Projected expenses still to be paid this year: 2010 AWMA Nationals ($1500 donation) and
$100 to assist Jason Fink (lawyer) with expenses (need an address from Christopher)
2.) In order to decrease the amount of bounced checks, it would be beneficial if the Treasurer
can receive checks from the Secretary and Membership Chair at least once a month so
that they can be deposited in a timely fashion. Would it help if both the Secretary and
Membership Chair had a stack of self-addressed stamped envelopes from the Treasurer
so they can quickly throw the checks in the mail each month?
3.) PayPal has been a success for the first year with 27 memberships, 13 scorebooks, 1 IPO3
Club, and 2 Banner advertisements being processed through it. We charge just enough of
a fee for the service to cover the cost of the service, however we do not charge a fee for
any donations including the banner advertisements. I will check to see if it is possible to
add the Membership Chair and the Secretary's email to the payment receipt from PayPal
to avoid a delay in them getting the payment notice.
4.) FMBB Dues: We had a problem this year with the wire transfer to the FMBB not going
through properly. Our bank on this end said it wasn't on their end so they not only charged
us a wire transfer fee, they also charged us a fee for it being returned. This isn't the first
time we have had problems with the transfer to the FMBB (the transfer to the DMC for the
entry fees sent on the same day went through fine). Shari had to pay the dues at the door
and we would like to have an arrangement with the FMBB if the captain of the world team
can just pay at the door each time. This will eliminate the wire fee on both the AWMA and
the FMBB for the transfer and avoid any confusion in future years on when they are paid. I
believe Shari mentioned this to them and they were ok with it, but we should confirm for
next year that they are ok with us bringing payment with us to the world championship.
5.) I apologize for not being able to make it this year. I was hoping to be able to come up for
the day but not just is money a little tight right now, but I also ended up coming down with
the flu this past weekend that has set me really behind on work. I wish all the competitors
the best of luck and thank my fellow board members for all their hard work and dedication.
As this is an election year, I would be honored to serve as your treasurer for another term
and would like to put my name in for consideration. However if another individual is elected
to the position, all the files are in order and I can easily ship them and train the person over
the phone.
Warmly Submitted,
Kristina Carmody
AWMA Treasurer
Attachment 4: membership Chair’s report
We currently have 111 Single Memberships and 13 Family Memberships for 2010-2011. This is up slightly from previous years with more memberships expected to come in before the end of the membership cycle. This year we began using PayPal on the website, with a vote taken by the executive board that added a fee to cover our expense of using paypal. This has been a HUGE success with members and was particularly helpful for those doing last minute memberships for the Nationals. The only issue so far with using Paypal is some members do not understand the fee is only for Paypal. It is currently an extra $1.75 to pay for a membership over paypal versus a check but I’ve had several people send in checks with the paypal fee included. I’ve contacted those people when it has happened and most have just said to treat the extra $1.75 as a donation versus sending out refunds.
Donations were down this year as we did not do the T-shirt promotion we have done the past two years. The T-shirts were a big source of revenue for the club and it would be something I would suggest doing again during the next membership cycle (May 2011).
The IPO3 Club was started this past year as well, featuring Malinois that are Handler-Owner-Trained from 0-ScHH3 on our AWMA Website. Each member of the IPO3 Club is given a printed medallion which was designed by Dara Flores. The Executive Board voted unanimously to spend the initial cost of $216.25 to have 100 medallions custom made and ordered from Hodges Badge Company. To date, we have 15 people who have submitted the required paperwork with two more that are in need of processing. Given that the program has been around since February, I think it is safe to say it will cover its own cost and is a great way to showcase our member’s accomplishments.
Attachment #5: EB actions since last GBM:
Executive board votes since 2009 annual meeting
December 22, 2009
Motion that AWMA develop a process, contingent upon ratification by the ABMC, for providing title verification for AKC pedigrees as follows:
Applicants include a copy of the dog’s AWDF-member-club issued scorebook showing the titles to be listed. Applicant also provides proof of membership in AWMA or ABMC. Fees for processing will be $10 if membership in either organization is shown; otherwise processing is $50. Any fees charged by AKC are separate and not handled by AWMA. Titles to be certified include those awarded at AWMA trials, and any others agreed upon with ABMC. Titles issued subsequent to 2000 are eligible for inclusion.
Motion Warren Jones, 2nd James Downey
Passed unanimously
December 23, 2009
I move to spend 216.25 for IPO3 club Medallions.
Motion by Jim Downey, second by Les Flores
Passed unanimously
January 7, 2010
By-laws amendments. Ballots were returned by 8 out of 10 full member clubs and 11 of 12 board
members. All amendments passed.
1) Amendments to extend annual event beyond IPO trials alone
__18___ accept ___1__reject
2) Amendments to add Director of Judges to the Executive Board and remove three at-large members of the Executive Board.
___16__ accept __3___reject
3) Amendment to allow electronic balloting for election of Regional Directors
__19___ accept __0___reject
4) Amendments to define “late” periods for membership renewal (cluband individual) and to allow the Executive Board to set reasonable latefees in concert with these revised dates and deadlines.
_16____ accept ___3__reject
5) Establish the Director of Judges position as one that is filled by election, as no current process even exists for determining the DoJ.
__18___ accept __1___reject
January 22, 2010
Motion to adopt Regional Director Responsibilities as specified in "RDdraftResponsibilities.pdf" uploaded 1/8/10 to server.
Motion: Christopher Smith Second: Warren Jones
Passed 7 yes, 1 no (info has been posted in policies and procedures)
February 10, 2010
I move we establish fees for the use of PayPal on the AWMA web site up to the amount charged us by PayPal for the transaction, rounded up to the next $0.25. PayPal fees will not be charged to those using the service to make a donation.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Kristina Carmody
9 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain, passed
March 2, 2010
I move to appoint Donna McGinnis to the Board of Inquiry to serve until the next regular election of committee members.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Bob Miller
9 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
March 2, 2010
I move to approve a total donation of $1500 to the host club of the AWMA Nationals. The funds will be allocated based on the agreement in the host club contract.
Motion by Kristina Carmody second by Christopher Smith
8 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain
March 5, 2010
I move to accept the bid from Free Dog Hundesport Club for hosting the AWMA Nationals in October 2010.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Bob Miller
9 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
March 15, 2010
I move to accept the contract proposed Feb. 2010 between AWMAand the host for the AWMA National Championship.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Glenn Stephenson
9 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain
Document will be uploaded to policies and procedures section of the website
March 15, 2010
I propose that any dog that that has an AWDF scorebook that lists the dog as a Belgian Malinois, regardless of whether it is FCI registered or not will be eligible to represent the AWMA at the AWDF Championship.
Motion Christopher Smith, amended by Glenn Stephenson, second Warren Jones
9 yes, 1 no
May 28, 2010
The AWMA will budget up to $750 to help offset the cost for one delegate to the AWDF annual meeting, with expenses limited to airfare and car rental or mileage for personal vehicle and two nights’ hotel.
Motion by Glenn Stephenson, second by Dana Williams.
Passed unanimously
June 16, 2010
In regards to the BOI finding sustaining the charges against Jill Makstaller for behavior prejudicial to the AWMA, vote for one of the two options:
1.Permanent expulsion from the AWMA.
2. Expulsion for 10 years with the opportunity to reapply. Reapplication will be possible only if there are no animal cruelty or neglect charges, or suspected cruelty or neglect and documentation of 200 hours of community service. The application must be accompanied with written support from two current AWMA members.
- Option 1, , 6 votes, 46.15%
- Option 2, , 7 votes, 53.85%
- abstain, 0 votes, 0.00%
June 17, 2010
Motion to accept Christopher Smith as an AWMA apprentice judge.
Moved by Ivan Balabanov, second by Les Flores
9 yes, one abstain
July 29, 2010
Motion to accept all FCI registered Belgians as part of the FMBB agility team.
Motion by Dana Williams, 2nd by Warren Jones.
9 yes, 0 no, 0 abstain
July 29, 2010
Motion to delete the requirement that agility entrants in the FMBB have a BH title.
Motion by Dana Williams, 2nd Warren Jones.
3 yes, 6 no, 0 abstain
August 13, 2010
Motion to waive BH requirement for applicants to 2011 FMBB agility team (one year exemption from this requirement).
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Dana Williams
6 yes, 3 no, 1 abstain
August 13, 2010
Motion to accept revised agility regulations as of draft version sent to the Executive Board July 31, 2010
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Dana Williams
9 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
August 26, 2010
Motion to post the text of all seconded motions during the period that voting is taking place, and that the results of that vote be posted as a response, including the roll call of the final vote. Exceptions to this posting would include those specified in the bylaws.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Christopher Smith.
7 yes, 3 no, 1 abstain
August 26, 2010
Motion to send Jason Fink a check for $100 to cover expenses.
Motion by Christopher Smith, second by Warren Jones
10 yes, 0 no, 1 abstain
September 14, 2010
I move that the AWMA endorse the concept of the “America’s Belgian Shepherd Championship” and participate as appropriate in the formation of the event and in sending a team.
Motion by Christopher Smith, second by Bob Miller
Explanation: Contact by group in South America interested in forming an America's competition, concept endorsed by the FMBB.
8 yes; Christopher Smith, Les Flores, Terry Miller, Dre' Hastings, Ivan Balabanov, Anne Camper, Bob Miller, Paul Konschak
2 no; Glenn Stephenson, Warren Jones
No vote recorded: Kristina Carmody, Jim Downey, Dana Williams
October 6, 2010
Motion to accept Cynthia Zimmerman as an AWMA apprentice judge.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Christopher Smith
By-laws require that acceptance of judge applicants be conducted by an anonymous vote with 80% approval by the executive board. Motion carried.
11 yes, 2 did not vote
October 14, 2010
Motion to accept Three Mountains Working Dog Club as an AWMA Club with full member status.
Motion by James Downey, second by Paul Konschak
10 yes: Les Flores, Bob Miller, Kristina Carmody, Anne Camper, Terry Miller, Glenn Stephenson, Dre' Hastings, Dana Williams, Warren Jones, Paul Konschak
1 abstain: Christopher Smith
2 did not vote: Ivan Balabanov, Jim Downey
October 26, 2010
I move we accept Blue Water as a full member club in AWMA.
Motion by Warren Jones, second by Terry Miller
12 yes: Jim Downey, Bob Miller, Kristina Carmody, Anne Camper, Terry Miller, Warren Jones, Dana Williams, Glenn Stephenson, Les Flores, Dre' Hastings, Paul Konschak , Ivan Balabanov
Did not vote: Christopher Smith