Last board meeting before the Annual Membership Meeting

Present: Brett Pharo, John Anderson, Chris Kaeb, Bryce Freking, Mark Meurer.

Brett Pharo called the meeting to order.

Results of the by-law amendment voting were discussed. The amendment passed 12 to 4.

Results of the directors voting were discussed, Mark Van Roekel received 10 votes, Brett Pharo 9 and Glenn Jones 8. Mark will join the board and Brett will remain on the board.

Meeting adjourned.

Annual Membership Meeting

Present: Approximately 25 members including 5 board members, including Brett Pharo, John Anderson, Chris Kaeb, Bryce Freking, Mark Meurer.

Brett called the meeting to order

The board discussed the process to reduce the board from 9 to 7 members as per the by-law amendment. It was decided this would happen by attrition, so the process would take two years.

Chris Kaeb gave the treasurer’s report. Currently there is just over $27,000 in the account. Chris mentioned we are losing a little money each year. The treasury lost $1597.00 last year, although that loss included a two year payment for web page services that totaled $475.00. Part of the losses were due to a late fee holiday for the fiscal year ending in 2017. There were 52 registrations this year that took advantage of the late fee holiday, so they did not pay the penalty. The idea of the late fee holiday was to offer an opportunity for members to catch up on registrations if they had fallen behind or needed some encouragement to register sheep again. This late fee holiday will expire on November 1, 2017.

In 2016 most of the costs incurred (after registry fees) were for advertising. There were 1,463 registrations so far in the current fiscal year, and 588 transfers.

There was a discussion of the director’s credits still on the books. These director’s credits are from the old system used to compensate APSA board members for expenses incurred by travel to the National Sale and Annual meeting. They are still on the books and are used by those who have the credits to reduce registration and transfer costs.

The registry costs have gone up from 2.50/hd to register to 3.15 and the same for transferring ownership. This cost will need to be passed on to members when animals are registered or transferred.

Another topic was how to encourage members to keep memberships up to date. APSA members often do not renew memberships until they submit registrations. A suggestion was made to send a reminder in December to urge members to re-new membership.

First board meeting after the Annual Membership Meeting

Present: Brett Pharo, John Anderson, Chris Kaeb, Bryce Freking, Mark Muerer.

Officers and committees were selected.

Brett Pharo will remain President. Mark Meurer will remain VP. Chris Kaeb will serve again as Treasurer, John Anderson Secretary.

Committees:

• Finance Committee - the entire board acts as the Finance Committee.
• Advertising - Bryce Freking, Mark Muerer, John Anderson.
• National Sale - Chris Kaeb, Bryce Freking, Mark Van Roekel, Kathy Ewert, Jeremy Refshaw.

National Sale discussions:

• Discussed a limit on the number of rams and ewes that each consigner could enter. No motion was made on this topic. Discussed moving the date of the sale, one suggestion was the second Saturday in July, no motion was made. Discussed the location for the sale in 2018. Brookings SD, Arlington Wisconsin and several other locations were discussed, no motion was made.

Financial changes:

• There was a discussion about the shrinking bank balance.
• Bryce Freking motioned that since registration and transfer fees went up $1.15 per animal, we increase the transfer fee cost to $7.00 and leave the registration cost the same. Based on recent numbers of animals transferred this should about cover the added expense. Non-member fees would still be double the member costs and late fees would still be double. John Anderson seconded the motion. The motion passed by unanimous vote.

Submitted by John Anderson