EmeraldCoast Vizsla Club General Membership Meeting

July 17, 2010

Order of Business:

David Black, President, called the meeting to order at 2:25pm.

Roll call: the following members were present: Myrna R. Widmer, David Black, Vicki McArthur, Charles McArthur, KC Smith, Roger Smith, Susie Perkins, Bill Perkins, Sue Towne, Beth Chandler, Chet Chandler. All members present were voting members; quorum 27%.

Minutes of last meeting: The minutes from May 22, 2010 were accepted.

1st motion by David Black

2ndmotion by Vicki McArthur

All approved.

Report of the President:(David Black)

David read the letter from the AKC sharing the news that the EmeraldCoast Vizsla Club has been approved to hold licensed Field Trials and Hunt tests. Everyone present was pleased to hear this news. Our Club was able to be licensed in a short period of 6 months from when we began the process. We were able to get this far because we have positive and supportive members and all should be applauded.

The Club has sent in applications to AKC requesting approval for dates for our Hunt Tests and Field Trials for 2010 and 2011.

David announced that the winner of the “Name the Newsletter” contest was Shella Black and our Newsletter is now called “The Red Dog Reader.”

Report of the Secretary: (Dana Akridge)

Our Secretary, Dana Akridge was not able to attend today and Myrna Widmer volunteered to stand in to take minutes. There was not a report of the Secretary.

Report of the Treasurer: (Tony Akridge)

Our Treasurer Tony Akridge was not able to be present today, David Black reported in his absence. Current balance as of June 30, 2010 is $1410.07. There will be some deductions to this figure for AKC application fees as well as an addition for a new member application.

In order to be able to help off-set the cost of our upcoming events, David encouraged members to donate money (cash or check), raffle/auction items such as dog/hunting gear, items that people would enjoy, etc. We can then use these items to hold raffles or auctions at our events. Please contact Sue Towne () if you have any items to donate at our future events.

Report of Committees:

Membership: (Sue Towne)

The ECVC currently has 40 voting members and 29 associate members. This requires a quorum of 8 voting members to be present at meetings for voting agenda items.

The question was asked if there was a way to get names of Vizsla owners in the area from AKC. The response is that AKC does not share this information as they are strict in maintaining dog owner’s confidentiality.

Field Trial/Hunt Test: (Beth Chandler)

Beth reported the schedule of events, pending AKC approval:

Hunt Test – October 9, 10, 2010

Field Trial – December 10, 11, 12, 2010

Field Trial – January 28, 29, 30, 2011

Hunt Test – February 12, 13, 2011

Sue Towne has sent in paperwork to AKC for these events. There are conflicts on these weekends with other clubs out of our region. There, unfortunately, are conflicts on most every weekend. The Board tried to chose weekends with the least conflicts.

Discussed purpose of HT’s and FT’s for those present.

AKC allows 3-4 FT’s per year and 2 HT’s per year. Our Club will start out with 2 FT’s and 2 HT’s per year.

We have several sites that we are working on to host these events. One is Southwind Plantation in Bainbridge, GA and the other is Quail Country Plantation in Arlington, GA.

We can offer both of these facilities free advertising in our Newsletter with the next issue being a hard copy that goes to Nationals, which would provide national coverage.

Jim Spencer in Milton, FL will have his property ready to host both HT’s and FT’s and Walton Plantation in Laurel Hill, FL is getting prepared to also hold both events.

Beth and David shared info on both of these facilities and they will report back with the feedback they receive in regards to our ability to use these sites for some of our future events.

Election and Welcome of New Members:

Sue Towne read the following membership applications:

Kristen Sullivan

Gainesville, FL

Sponsors: Sue Towne & Beth Chandler

Vote:

1st motion: Sue Towne

2nd motion: Vicki McArthur

All approved

Justeen and Matt Oess

Atlanta, GA

Sponsors: Kelly Wood & Sue Towne

Vote:

1st motion: Sue Towne

2nd motion: Beth Chandler

All approved.

Welcome Kristen, Justeen & Matt – we are very happy to have you as new members!

We now have 40 voting members & 32 associate members for a total of 72 members!

Unfinished Business:

By Laws Revision:

AKC recommended that we return to the 20% quorum from our previous recommended change to 10%:

Article II, Section 1: “The quorum for meetings shall be equal to 20% of the regular members in good standing.”

1st motion: Sue Towne

2nd motion: David Black

All approved.

By Law change accepted; 27% of total membership voting, 100% approved.

Snake Avoidance Clinic – was a great success. Discussed that we could host this event for many more dogs than the previous 54. Will schedule a time with Dr. Bud Calderwood for this coming year. Discussed adding $5 to cost for each dog to raise money for the Club, which Dr. Calderwood stated is the common practicein most Clubs.

1st motion: Beth Chandler

2nd motion: David Black

All approved.

David Black will follow-up with getting prices for having shirts made with the ECVC logo on it. Members were supportiveof this and felt members would enjoy owning a Club shirt.

New Business:

Beth Chandler recently came back from a trip to Spain/Europe and brought back a beautiful piece of artwork (a statue) of a hunting bag and gun. She would like to donate this piece of artwork as a trophy to our Club. This would be a traveling trophy whose reason for earning will have to be decided by the Club along with rules for earning, etc.

She also presented to the Club a beautiful white, porcelain Vizsla statue that she would also like to donate for a trophy to the Club. Discussed maybe for Obedience or Good Sportsmanship. Again, rules, etc. would have to be developed.

Thank you Beth for your generous donations of these beautiful pieces of art to out Club.

Our Club now has 6 new signs for our Club Events. Thank you Beth for getting these ordered. They assistedmembers today to find their way to our meeting!

A big Thank You goes out to Patty Hart for all her efforts to produce such a quality Newsletter, which was agreed upon by all members present.

The next issue of “The Red Dog Reader” will be a hard copy print and copies will go to Nationals. The deadline for ads will be August 19th. We encourage you all to put an ad in – this will give you exposure at the national level and will be a fun way to introduce your dog(s) to the nation! Prices for ads will be more expensive than our email version. Patty will post the costs of these ads as soon as she receives the information from the copying facility. The Vizsla Club of AmericaNationalsis the last week in September.

After the conclusion of this meeting, we are pleased to be able to have Darby Wagner-Boyett, a dog trainer with over 35 years experience, demonstrate fetching and force

Retrieving.

Due to time constraints, the round-robin discussion was not held. It was discussed to send our “lessons learned from your mistakes” to Sue Towne (), and she will comprise them for all members to use as a tool for future learning.

Adjournment:

Adjournment was called at 3:15pm

1st motion: Myrna Widmer

2nd motion: Sue Towne

All approved.

Respectfully submitted,

Myrna Widmer