The Board of Directors Meeting is the heart of the decision making process and gives all of the Chapter representatives an opportunity for input. It is absolutely critical that each Chapter have a representative present to speak and vote on their behalf. It operates on a one voice/one vote system. Even if any of those present hold a dual role, for instance as a GNA Executive Board member or as an Executive Board Assistant in addition to being a Chapter representative, he or she may still only cast one vote.

Old Business

VDD/GNA Chairman Bryon reported that the translation of the Questions on VGP Test Practices was now completed. The EB made final edits to the document the night before in their Executive Board meeting. Mark Heuer will have it available for distribution in a couple of weeks. It is 115 pages long. Bryon noted that the EB had budgeted $8,000 for the translations of both the VZP and VGP Questions on Test Practices, and that the projects came in under $3,000.

Bryon also reported that GNA’s Artificial Insemination proposal had little-to-no support in the VDD Board of Directors Meeting. It was an extremely watered-down proposal, in that the GNA EB reduced the request to just 3 such breedings per year, using cooled semen only. (Our original request was for 10 services per year using frozen semen.) However, what initial support we had evaporated during the discussions at the meeting, and Bryon withdrew the motion in hopes of presenting it again at a later date. When I asked if limiting the AI stud dogs to just those dogs already in the US, Herr Croneiß said that it wouldn’t make any difference with those who opposed AI.

It was also reported that the JGHV is implementing new Judge Candidate regulations which require a written test, but that GNA is already doing this so it shouldn’t affect us.

The 2011 Hegewald will be held 24-27 August in Hollabrun, Austria. The Hegewald has been held several times before in Hollabrun.

Treasurer Fred Turjan reported that GNA has been operating without an approved budget for the last fiscal year (GNA’s fiscal year runs from 1 Sept – 31 August). He based his projections on the 2008 budget, and anticipates that we will end the fiscal year with $6,800 net gain. He included several reports: VDD/GNA Balance Sheet, a Profit/Loss Budgeted vs. Actual comparison for the fiscal year to date, a projected budget for FY 2010-2011, and a 3-Year Accounting of Armbruster expenses. GNA losses for the Armbruster were $14,812.88 in 2007, $5,918.38 in 2008, and $16,245.17 in 2009. He also noted that GNA has €5,870 in our German bank account. The Atlantic Chapter has a $2,039.20 account balance, after $734 in expenses since 9/1/09. (Note that some chapters have in excess of $10,000 in their “accounts.”)

Newsletter Editor Larry Houck says that he has had no complaints about the reduction from 6 to 4 newsletters per year. He regularly gets requests from members for the site password after they throw out their newsletters and feels that this is an indication that the membership is using the GNA website as its main source of information. This occasioned some discussion, as especially the Heartland Chapter has spotty areas of internet, or at least broadband coverage, and has members whose only practical source of club information is still the newsletter. There were also several comments about the need to update, streamline, and fix the website. Currently Midwest North Chapter member Dan Wick is taking care of urgent changes on a volunteer basis. He is a web design professional. He has suggested to Larry 6 - 7 proposals to update GNA’s site, which would cost $6,000 - $8,000 for each modification.

Larry also noted that he is the new Purina contact for GNA. Purina is a big sponsor of the Armbruster and other GNA events. Any Chapters which want to inquire about Purina sponsorship for their events must go through Larry.

Larry said that the Document Distribution office falls within his area of responsibilities and that he wanted to mention that Lona Kluck is doing a great job in this position. She sent out $8,000 worth of documents last year, most of the time on the same day that they were requested.

Questions came up about the newsletter deadlines, since they are no longer published. Larry said that the deadlines are fluid; he has no set publication date now that the newsletters are seasonal. That allows him the flexibility to wait to publish the Summer edition until after the Annual Meeting, for example. He emails the Chapter Chairmen and EB Assistants 2 – 3 weeks ahead of when he anticipates putting together the newsletter. One of the Chapters asked for two notifications with an earlier reminder, but that’s probably not going to happen.

Vice-Chairman Ed Carney reported that he is the official contact for the Chapter Chairmen, and that he had requested that they submit a written report by email prior to this meeting. I gave our Chapter report verbally given that our current Chapter Board had not received such notification. AC Chairman Fred Turjan asked that I announce that he and several other members had located an appropriate site for the 2012 Armbruster near Gettysburg PA and I did so with the caveat that this was still under discussion, that the Chapter had not approved it yet, and that this announcement could not be considered as a commitment.

Ed also noted that the Southeast Hunter Chapter had implemented a system of appointing state representatives, with the goal of making them elected members with voting privileges on the Chapter Board of Directors. In this way, SEHC will be operating analogously to GNA and VDD. Fred and Nancy announced that the Atlantic Chapter was investigating a similar system using regional representatives since we have so many states, some of which may have 2 or fewer members. Nancy reported that no members had volunteered to the Chapter Board, but Fred said that a couple people had contacted him.

Ed mentioned that we are now in the second year of the Chapter Challenge to approve 5 new VR’s per Chapter. He noted that no Chapter has met the goal yet, but that every Chapter has had at least one new VR approved except for Midwest North. He noted that both the Wild West and Southeast Hunter Chapters have nominated 3 -4 new RAnW, and that the SEHC’s Forrest Moore has been approved as a VSwR. It was further noted that problems have been encountered when people are applying for the RAnW program right after passing a VGP, or even the following spring. It is required that prospective judge candidates provide a copy of their dog’s DGStB. Card (utility test card issued after passing a utility test). However, the cards are not printed until all the test data is entered by the JGHV which takes several months, and then GNA’s Business Manager receives all of the cards in one batch sometime around May. It was also noted that judge candidates are often not getting feedback from their senior judges, and that the regulations require that a copy of the report be returned to the candidate with the senior judge’s comments.

For 2009, GNA hosted 59 VJP’s, 37 HZP’s, 13 VGP’s, and 2 Btr’s. In VJP, 330 DD’s were tested, 326 passed. In HZP, 216 DD’s were tested and 178 passed. In VGP, 49 DD’s were tested, and 28 passed. In Btr, 6 DD’s were tested, and 2 passed.

It was also noted that GNA had some questions about whether we could be printing judge names on computer-generated test records. The answer is clear – at least two originals have to be signed, one for the handler and one for the club. GNA can submit legible photocopies to JGHV if we want.

Chapters were also reminded that the deadline for Hegewald judge nominations is 1 August, and that GNA will subsidize up to $500 of their expenses.

VDD/GNA Breedwarden Lynn Whiteley reported that 60 litters have been whelped so far for 2010, for a total of 480 puppies. One litter was stamped forbidden for breeding because it was an accidental mating with a male not yet certified for breeding. He expects that to be retroactively corrected, as soon as the male is certified for breeding. We are at exactly 20% schwarschimmel. Lynn reported that we were well below that last year, and that the total just really shot up in the last couple of months. Herr Croneiß added that 20% is okay with VDD, but no more. Should the percentage go up higher, it might be that VDD will consider implementing breeding restrictions. One possibility he cited would be to limit the number of services of schwarzschimmel stud dogs. (The Atlantic Chapter had the highest percentage of black pups registered at over 58%.)

Lynn also noted that he can pretty well predict the number of dogs that will be test based on historical data combined with the number of puppies produced each year. For 2009, he predicted that 331 dogs would be entered in VJP, and the actual number was 330.

And finally, Lynn reported that he has heard that many breeders are having a harder time placing all of their puppies in the current economy. He suggests that the Chapters make their members aware of this and that breeders would be well-advised to take this into account when they’re planning their breedings.

Lynn and Paul Trout reported that they expect 35 -45 Armbruster entries for Boise this year. The rabbit numbers look good. They will be holding the Breed Show about ½ mile from the water work area, and the banquet will be held ¾ - 1 mile from the host hotel. No events are scheduled for Thursday or Friday nights because these are test days and it’s too much to ask the various testing groups to be finished at an exact time. Two German judges are scheduled to participate and Bryon asked if there had been any special arrangements made for them, such as a hunt. Paul replied that small game season is open, but that big game is all back-country hunting, and there might not be any tags available at this point.

New Business

Brandt Hardy presented the Big Rivers Chapter proposal to host the 2011 Armbruster. It will be held Wednesday through Friday, 12 – 15 October 2011, in St. Clair MO. Leonard Baker will serve as test director and Jim Wion will be the test coordinator. Test headquarters will be at the Budget Lodging, and there is a secondary motel 300-400 yards behind it. Both motels are very dog friendly. The motels are about 40 miles from the airport in St. Louis. The field work will be done at the WilMor Hunt Club, the same place as in 2005, and the water work will be done at Upland Wings in Sullivan about 40 minutes away.

Next, the Heartland Chapter requested VDD Honorary Membership for several of its long-time members. It was noted that approximately 1% of the total VDD membership are Honorary Members. They must have been members for at least 25 years and have made major contributions to VDD. Normally, these members have also received other VDD awards in the past. The Executive Board recommended that GNA request this honor for founding member and past GNA Breedwarden Larry Reeves. Bryon expects the nomination to be acted upon either at the VDD Board of Directors meeting at this year’s Hegewald or in March 2011.

The emergency increase in the litter registration fee to $35 per pup that took effect on 1 January was ratified and it was recommended that it be left in place. The increase was necessary because of unfavorable USD – Euro exchange rates. Things have improved somewhat, but VDD increased the litter registration fee effective 1 July 2010. It was also felt that since a portion of the litter registration fee had always been dedicated to advertising, and that major improvements are needed to the GNA website, that the increase should be left in place in any case.

The new business concluded with the announcement that the 2011 General Membership Meeting will be held next June in Denver. Exact location and dates are still to be determined.

Motions

Basically, all of the motions presented by the GNA Executive Board were approved. All except one of those presented by Chapters or individual members failed. As the Atlantic Chapter representative, I cast my single vote as directed by the Chapter membership. Two exceptions were Executive Board proposals that had not been published, so none of the Chapter reps knew about them ahead of time.

Test Request Deadlines - The proposal to put back into the GNA Rules of Procedure test request deadlines, and to make those deadlines 1 June and 1 December in order to comply with JGHV publication requirements passed unanimously. This rule change also includes language to require that any subsequently scheduled “emergency” tests must be pre-approved by the GNA Director of Testing. Note that this does not apply to tests which have to be rescheduled or continued because of exigent circumstances.

Armbruster Exclusive Special Event – The proposal to put into the GNA Rules of Procedure the current SOP that no other tests or events may be held during the Armbruster schedule passed with only the Atlantic Chapter dissenting. There was quite a lot of discussion on this; our Chapter members are not the only ones with misgivings about this rule. The Great Lakes Chapter also expressed their disagreement, with the same concerns as our Chapter, as did the Heartland Chapter.

Written Motions May Only be Made by Chapters in the Future – This Executive Board proposal was not made in time for publication in the GNA Newsletter, so it may come as news to many of you. In short, the VDD and JGHV have amended their by-laws so that motions for their Membership Meetings may only be made by Groups, by 1 December each year. In order to conform to the spirit of these by-laws, and the principle that the Groups and Chapters operate analogously to VDD, the GNA EB recommended that our RoP be changed as well. In GNA’s case the deadline for written motions will be 12 weeks before the annual meeting. This was passed unanimously. (Please note that members may still go to the Annual Meeting and make motions from the floor, and that they may contact their Chapter Boards at any time to request or propose motions that the Chapter would then present in writing ahead of time.)

Submit Chapter Meeting Minutes to GNA EB – GNA Treasurer Fred Turjan made this motion from the floor. All present agreed to hear the motion, in accordance with the VDD By-Laws, which allow such motions to be heard if no more than 1/3 present object. This proposal will add an additional Rule of Procedure which requires the Chapters to submit written minutes of their membership meetings to the GNA Executive Board within one month of their meetings and they will be published in the GNA Newsletter. The motion passed unanimously.

Hire a Website Manager for GNA – This motion from the Heartland Chapter was withdrawn prior to a vote. It would have required the GNA EB to prepare a bid proposal and solicit bids for a professional website manager. There was extensive discussion on this topic, which ranged from the fact that its language included the phrase “will hire” and did not set forth the specifics of the bid proposal. In the end, HLC rep Rhonda Feazel agreed to withdraw the motion for now, in order to re-word it for possible consideration in the future. NL Editor Larry Houck will in the meantime form an ad-hoc committee to investigate the possibilities, and report back to the GNA EB by the end of the year.

Supply VR’s with Up-to-Date Test Regulations – This Heartland Chapter motion failed with the only Yea votes coming from the representatives of the Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Heartland Chapters. There was a lot of discussion with the main themes being that it would cost $4,000 every six years to do this, and that there were too many implementation requirements. HLC rep Rhonda Feazel said that they had put in so many conditions to distribution in anticipation of a negative reaction from the GNA EB with regard to cost.

Chapter Checking Accounts – This Heartland Chapter proposal was withdrawn after discussion, during which Fred Turjan explained how Chapters could pre-pay vendors or invoice expenses. He made it clear that GNA did not expect or want individual members to pay out of their own pockets or have to carry debt until reimbursement by GNA.

Before the consideration of the written motions made by Roger Smith, it was announced that the Atlantic Chapter had ratified all but one (the Hawaii Exclusion) at our Chapter Membership Meeting, and that they could be considered as coming from our Chapter.

Armbruster Cost Analysis and Entry Fee Adjustment – Defeated. Only the Atlantic, Great Lakes, and Heartland Chapter reps voted for this motion. The GNA Executive Board was opposed to it, saying that it was a signature, premier, international event that deserved to be subsidized, and that in fact GNA subsidizes all of its tests to one degree or another. Treasurer Fred Turjan objected also on the grounds that he’d have to go back and figure in Breed Show entry fees.

Increase Dues in Order to Include Test Regs with New Member Packet - Defeated with only the Atlantic Chapter rep voting for it.

Supply Test Regulations and Breeding Regulations to Judges Whenever there is a New Edition – This was argued extensively. We had other supporters here besides GLC’s Marty Ryan and HLC’s Rhonda Feazel. GNA Director of Judge Development Mark Heuer felt that we ought to go even further, and remove the requirement to distribute only to active judges. He felt that new copies ought to go out to all VR’s. The main points of those in favor was that it was the least we could do for our judges, who invest so much more than can ever be reimbursed, and that if GNA can lose $6,000 to $16,000 each year over the last 3 years on the Armbruster, $4,000 to support our VR’s every 6 years is a drop in the bucket. The motion ended up being defeated by a vote of 7 – 5. Once again, the Great Lakes and Heartland Chapters agreed with our position, as did several other individuals. One of those present asked for a re-count, and official announcement of the vote tally. This was a hotly contested issue. There was also some animosity over the misunderstanding that the motion implied criticism of how our judges were being kept up to date on rule changes by GNA.

The GNA EB was against the proposal for the following reasons: Cost – It was calculated that it will cost $4,000 to send out the regs, and a new edition comes out every six years; burden of additional work on our volunteer Board members or their assistants – how to track active VR’s, who would have to be responsible for the mailings, etc.; and, finally, the fact that VR’s in Germany have to buy their own copies. Fred Turjan felt that since the Chapters don’t contribute to GNA and that the Chapter funds essentially sit in GNA’s bank account and can’t be utilized, that they ought to buy the test regulations in bulk and be responsible for their distribution. This would only involve a paper transfer of funds from a Chapter “account” to GNA’s account. This was widely endorsed by the GNA EB and a few of the Chapters. In fact, Big Rivers rep Brandt Hardy said he would present this idea to his Chapter immediately and get this process underway for their Chapter.

Exclude Hawaii from any GNA Chapter – Unanimously defeated.

Request Permission from JGHV to Publish Updates to 2007 English VZPO on the GNA Website – Passed unanimously. There are sections in the English VZPO, 2007 edition, which do not match the current German language test regulation, which is called the 2006/2 edition. This motion proposes that the GNA EB request permission to publish such corrections/updates on the GNA website. There was extensive discussion of this proposal as well. It was noted that we (GNA) have always had difficulties in this regard, that we have repeatedly asked for permission to publish test regulations and have been denied under the umbrella of copyright infringement. However, JGHV is now posting the German language test regulations as pdf documents on their website. As an adjunct to this request, the GNA Board is also going to request that JGHV post the English version as well, and that if they won’t give us permission to post corrections, that they do so, thereby allowing us to link to their site. This would go a long way toward alleviating some of the concerns evidenced by some of the preceding motions.

Ask VDD and JGHV to Postpone Effective Date of Rule Changes for Groups outside Germany – I withdrew this after discussion. The GNA EB has already made these requests and had them denied. However, Herr Croneiß said that he is sympathetic to our concerns and he will see what can be done as far as getting changes translated into English and transmitted to GNA as quickly as possible.

Breed Judge Tests Conducted in US – This has already been requested by GNA and denied, so I withdrew it.

Provide Translations of VDD and JGHV Motions 21 days before their Meetings – Chairman Bryon Beaton said he would love to be able to do this, but it is just impossible to accomplish in the time frame specified. He said he himself doesn’t get the motions that far in advance since they are not prepared for publication until the February issue of the DD-Blätter. I withdrew the motion in light of its impracticality.

Exempt GNA from German Event Announcement and Publication Deadlines – The GNA EB just asked for this exemption and was denied, so I withdrew the motion.

2010 Annual General Membership Meeting Report >>
2010 Breed Seminar Report >>
2010 AGM Overview >>