ATAA General Membership Meeting, September 22, 2012 at the Country Inn and Suites, Bothell, WA

Called to Order:  9:17 am, September 22, 2012 by Cathy Leddy, Secretary

Roll Call by Secretary:  Jas Shearer-McMahon, Cathy Leddy, Ann and Gary Tipps, Amrita Ibold, Catrina Mettam, Jeremy Quantrell, Eloise King, Monica Bretherton, Betsey and Erin Wandler, Tish and Jack Saare, Jenny Rice, Terri Fender and Reeny Thompson via Skype and Susie Morrill via cellphone.

Minutes of 2011 General Membership Meeting- distributed to all attendees

Motion- Jas motions to approve 2011 General Membership Meeting minutes, Amrita seconds, approved

President’s Report, Terri Fender:  Read by Vice President Jas Shearer-McMahon

Treasurer’s Report, Amrita Ibold:  Amrita handed out reports to attendees.  Treasury is in Quicken and reports are easy.

For 2012, income exceeds expenses.  3 accounts, savings, checking and CD Amrita has itemized lists of accounts.  Amrita asks if we should put treasury reports on the ATAA website.  The membership approved putting a monthly summary  of the Treasurer’s report on the ATAA website.

All ATAA bank accounts:  Starting amount in checking 7276.46 + income of 3919.18 =11195.64  Expenses to date of 2389.54 = 8806.10 total checking and savings.  $6500 transferred to savings, which along with a monthly amount of $100 going into savings, waives any bank fees.  So, 2306.10 in checking, $6500 in savings and 10,000 in the CD that matures in 2013.  Total assets of the ATAA now = 18806.10  (as of 9/21/2012, the date of the Conference).

 Motion- Cathy motions to approve putting a monthly summary of Treasury reports on the ATAA website, Jas seconds, approved

Secretary’s Report, Cathy Leddy:  3 newsletters so far this year, 38 members, brief overview of promotions, Corporate logbook

Registrar’s Report, Amrita Ibold:  Registration is starting to move.  Thanks to Lucy for sending computer and software.  Thanks to Ann for helping getting things going. Amrita would like to register our horses with VNIIK.  Discussion with members of automatically registering all 


purebred ATs with VNIIK along with ATAA registration.  VNIIK charges a yearly fee for each horse registered.  Amrita suggests we charge $280 for combined ATAA and VNIIK registration.  Discussion of if registering geldings with both makes sense.  Several questions were brought up that Amrita will research with VNIIK.  We talked about starting a fund to help defray VNIIK registration costs.  We need to encourage people to register their half-bred ATs with us.  Terri asks if there are two VNIIK studbooks, Amrita answers that there is only one.  Right now, VNIIK registration for horses costs $180, not sure about yearly fees.  Discussion of specific fundraisers to help register horses.

Motion-Amrita motions that we use profit from the Silent Auction to set up fund to help register horses and to make a plan, Jas seconds, approved

Motion- Ann motions to have Amrita look into VNIIK registration for all ATAA horses, Catrina seconds, approved

Catrina asks about horses that are already registered, Ann asks if annual VNIIK fee is new. Amrita replied that the annual VNIIK fee IS new, and Ann suggested that we clarify that the Board is investigating the cost of doing this and will work to create a plan that will be economically sensible for the members who have diverse needs and need to mitigate the financial impact of the VNIIK registration fees.

 Ann suggests Board approval for registering horses with both ATAA and VNIIK.  Automatic registering with both ATAA and VNIIK was tabled for more information that will be passed along to members as we get it.

Website Report, Amrita Ibold: Amrita wants to put pending registrations on website in their own section, so people can see if any items are missing and where registrations are in the process.  Ann brings up 2011 minutes, where this was tried and it was negative instead of positive.  Discussion followed about how to make it positive.  It was decided to do it by horse name only, with list of what was needed to finish registration.

Motion- Catrina motions to put pending registration on website with horse name ONLY.  Jas seconds, approved

Newsletter Report, Cathy Leddy:  3 newsletters so far this year, more than half the members get it via PDF file.  We still need content, Monica suggests a stockpile of articles.  A member spotlight is suggested, with standard questions.  Cathy will work on that.

Awards Report, Catrina Mettam:  AERC has the best awards so far of the alphabet orgs – AERC has 4 awards to be presented at the National Conference next year, LD and Endurance for both purebreds and sporthorses


USDF has high points awards for each division, no difference between pure and partbreds.  People need to register for these awards using the AT abbreviation to be counted towards awards.

USEA will email us with high point and pure and sporthorse by division

Showjumping – same thing

Catrina is having nice coolers embroidered with the ATAA logo and the words “Akhal-Teke Association of America 2012” for each award.  She did not have a finished one, but had a cooler to show us.  Ann suggests that we use etched glassware, like what Lucy did a few years back for some awards in the future.

Catrina appointed Head of Awards Committee

Membership Report, Cathy Leddy:  38 members total, 7 Lifetime members, 3 Friends members

1 Jr member, 27 Active members-2 family memberships, 2 farm memberships, 2 International members

Of Active members, 7 joined after 3/31/2012, so cannot vote this year

Promotions Report, various: We did the Horse Illustrated ad and article, we got 14 breeders to participate, not all of them ATAA members.  Tish would like to bring horses to CA expos, there is a large one in Sacramento in June.  Eloise suggests getting Tekes into the Rose Parade, which she rides in yearly.  The idea of a show box was brought up again.  Cathy talked about renting out WEG banners – one just went to the Heirloom Expo in CA.  Idea of sending people files to print their own brochures.

Tish appointed Head of Promotions Committee

Nominations and Elections Report, Jas Shearer-McMahon: candidates gave short speeches.  We had 5 nominees, Amrita Ibold, Jenny Rice, Tish Saare, Betsy Wandler and Catrina Mettam.  2 3 year terms were available and 2 terms taking place of non-performing members, both to run through 2013. 

Two bylaw changes were also on the Ballot:  Article IV, Management 4.5E regarding the definition of a yearly audit, as follows:

Article IV: Management

4.5E

A change we need to consider re-wording in the Bylaws is the requirement for an "audit" of the treasurer's records. Per right now, "audit" is the whole nine yards, requiring bringing in every receipt and bank statement and having a CPA pore over it—very expensive, and more involved than an annual review of the records that could be done by a bookkeeper or CPA.

As the rule reads now:
The office of Treasurer shall be bonded and the Association accounts audited annually.

Proposed change:

A review of the ATAA financial records shall be performed by a professional bookkeeper or accountant, not otherwise affiliated with the ATAA at the end of every year.



This bylaw passed.

Second bylaw change in Article III Membership, Category I, Active Membership

Bylaw Article III Membership, Category I, Active Membership

Here is what our Bylaws state now:

As the wording is now:

                Category I; Active Membership.  Open to the owner(s) of any horse(s) registered with the ATAA.  Active members shall be entitled to vote after six (6) months membership and shall receive the Association newsletter. Active membership includes the following types of memberships:  Charter, Lifetime, Individual, Family and Ranch/Breeding Farm.

Proposed change in bold and underlined:

               

                Category I: Active Membership.  Open to the owner(s) or lessee(s) of any horse(s) registered with the ATAA.  Active members shall be entitled to vote after six (6) months membership and shall receive the Association newsletter. Active membership includes the following types of memberships:  Charter, Lifetime, Individual, Family and Ranch/Breeding Farm.

This Bylaw also passed.

Ballots collected with 4 mail in ballots, 1 via email and the rest voting at the meeting.

Results:  3 year terms to Amrita Ibold and Tish Saare.  1 year terms taking over non-performing members terms, Catrina Mettam and Betsy Wandler.  Both Bylaws up for vote passed.

Farm reports were given during counting of the ballots.

Silent Auction, Amrita Ibold- Excellent turnout at the auction, Amrita and Jenny set up online bidding on items on the ATAA website, which worked pretty well.  Auction ended at 5 pm and Amrita reports that it made $581, with $373 collected and emails send out for the remainder.  Money will go in the fund to help defray registration costs, per the motion above.

Old Business:  Nothing

New Business:  DNA vet signature requirement for registration brought up to membership.  BOD had voted to abolish this, but we decided that membership should be asked their opinions.

Vote- No vet signature required on DNA reports – approved
Discussion of using University of Texas with Gus Cothran to do our DNA reports vs continuing with University of Kentucky.  U of T is $20 vs U of K $29.  Also, Amrita says that Gus is easier to work with and gets back to us sooner.

Motion-Jas motions to change to using University of Texas for our DNA testing, Catrina seconds, approved

Grading Tour:  Discussion of previous grading tours, pros and cons.  We will look into inviting Nadesda Abramova next year to do a grading for us with information to follow to members.  Brief discussion of getting people here certified as graders, tabled for now.

The possibility of including the Caspian Registry with ours, per a suggestion from the ALBC. It could be a good thing and the Caspian’s could have a section on our website and in our newsletter. The suggestion was tabled until further information comes in from the ALBC. 

The Board then asked the membership for suggestions on what they would like the ATAA to do for the next year. 

Suggestions from floor:  print more ATAA decal stickers (Ann had contact info for company that did the old ones).  Logowear with ATAA logo for sale.  Tish said that she will head the Promotions committee and will work on decals and logowear.

Grants:  Cathy brought up having some sort of scholarship or grant fund to help with extraordinary efforts to promote and preserve the AT.  The WEG 2010 booth was brought up.  Betsy suggested that we write up a possible scholarship fund proposal.  Eloise suggests that we get some ATs into judging forums to help judges in the future when Tekes compete.  Susie suggests that we get donations for the fund.  Cathy will start writing up proposals for the BOD and membership to look at.

Motion-Monica motions that we put $500 into a starting up a scholarship fund, Betsy seconds, approved

Meeting adjourned at 1:15