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NPGA Board of
Directors Meeting
Orlando, FL
January 17-18, 2004
Saturday January 17, 2004.
President Bill Granger called the
meeting to order at 8:00 AM. Present were President Bill
Granger, Vice President Ray Hoyt, Secretary Linda Henwood,
Treasurer Aaron Esterline, Directors Mark Adkins, Lynda
Gredin, Mary Beth Guenther, Stacy Hamilton, Carol Hepner,
Joyce Hubbard, Theresa McPhedran, Red Mertens, Bobbie
Montgomery, John Murray, Andy Nash and Susan Seiler, and
Business Manager Dori Lowell.
Pres. Granger had everyone in
attendance introduce themselves and which region they
represented.
All Directors having an interest in
running for office were asked to declare their interest in
each position.
Vice President’s Report
Since the June Board meeting this office has dealt with a
number of time consuming issues.
On July 15, 2003, Larry Speed resigned
as chair of the Arbitration Committee. The President
appointed an interim chair. As the liaison to NPGA
committees, I provided procedural guidance to the interim
chair as the process went forward. A number of incoming
complaints were referred to the interim chair for
investigation.
Two NPGA manuals have been prepared,
one by the Judges Training Committee (Showmanship Manual),
and the other by the Show Committee (Guidelines for Hosting
a Pygmy Goat Show). The Publications Committee has reviewed
both.
I have participated in the NPGA
Organizational Study, assigned at the last Board meeting to
Aaron Esterline, Bobbie Montgomery, Dori Lowell and I. Aaron
has taken the lead in this effort and coordinated our
activities. A progress report will be presented to the
Board.
At the last Board meeting, paragraph
7C2 was added to the Rules and Regulations to provide that
“Committee chairs shall sign a statement at the bottom of
both the NPGA Committee Chair’s job description and the
particular job description for their respective committees
that they have read, understand and will comply with their
job descriptions.” Those signed statements are all on file.
I was assigned earlier this year to
survey all committee chairs to determine the type, volume,
and use of files and records kept by each committee. Five
questions were asked of each chair, and the answers
compiled. The results of this survey have been passed to the
President, and will dovetail into the activities of the
committee studying the NGPA organization mentioned above.
Fran Bishop has submitted her
resignation as Chair of the Youth Committee, to be effective
at the January Board meeting. She says “I have enjoyed being
a part of this committee and the chairperson, however I feel
I can’t do justice to the position because of my involvement
in other areas of NPGA.” She has agreed to serve as a member
of the committee should a new chair deem it acceptable. I
already have a request from a member of the committee from
Region 7 to serve as its chair (Patricia Kaufmann). This
vacancy will have to be advertised in Memo, but we certainly
should have an interim chair in place during the pendency of
this process.
As most of you are aware, I conducted
the oversight of the scoring of the National Champion
Challenge at the Boise convention in the absence of
President Bill Granger. Using the scoring system prescribed
in the Show Rules, i.e., the goat with the most first places
will be the National Champion, it became very apparent to me
that the system provides no ability to determine the overall
comparison of the goats placed to each other. A number of
people asked me after the competition how certain goats
finished, and there was no way to determine any relative
positions. I brought the individual judge’s ballots home
with me from Boise and tested a point system to see what the
results would be. I arbitrarily assigned points to 1st, 2nd,
3rd, 4th and 5th places as 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 respectively.
There was NO CHANGE to the winners in all three categories
(does, bucks and wethers), but it gave a much better picture
of how each goat did in relation to the other goats with
which they competed. The JTC was assigned the task at the
last Board meeting to make a recommendation at the January
2004 meeting on National Champion scoring. A recommendation
is included in the JTC report.
Secretary’s Report
The minutes of the June 2003 Board Meeting were accepted.
Motion # 2004-01
Passed
Proposed By Esterline/Montgomery
Secretaries Job Description item 4 be
amended as follows:
Sends drafts of minutes to other members of the Executive
Committee for review. Upon approval by the Executive
Committee, copies of the complete version will be sent to
all Directors for approval. Directors will be given 7 days
to provide input. Upon approval by the majority of the Board
members, copies of the published version will be sent to all
Committee chairs, the MEMO Editor for publication, and the
Webmaster for posting on NPGA’s website.
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Esterline stated the 2003 picture looked better
than previously projected due to the fee increases and the
lateness of MEMO. The report was accepted.
9:00 am Nomination for Officers
Nomination for officers were taken; President Aaron
Esterline, Vice-President Ray Hoyt, Secretary Mark Adkins,
Treasurer Linda Henwood. There was no opposition and all
nominees were elected unanimously.
President Esterline stated that we
would go over the budget as each item came up during the
meeting.
Central Office Report
• Final numbers were not in till January 14th so Dori
gave those numbers as of December 8th.
• There were no significant complaints. Operations continue
to go smoothly. All equipment seems to be functioning fine.
• Price increases - Due to the lateness of Harvest/Fall
issue of MEMO, many members were not informed of the price
increases that took effect October 1st. By late November
almost all paper work was submitted with correct payment. No
complaints regarding price increases were received.
• Ellen Kritzman offered some old correspondence that may be
of interest to NPGA. Dori will get back on this.
• Ellen also offered to donate to NPGA a yearling doe
skeleton. The Board graciously accepted the donation and
suggested that it be made available for the convention host
to put on display. The convention host would be responsible
for shipping cost.
• Central Office procedure manual is being updated as time
allows.
• Productivity Certificates are now available to Does who
have had 10 or more kids for a $3.00 fee.
• A storage unit is not needed at this time.
• Report accepted.
Merchandise Report
• It has been a very good year for sales with over
$18,000.00 taken in. The big seller being the Patriotic
T-shirt and sweatshirts.
• Will send non-working capital to central office to put
into a CD.
• The report was accepted.
Webmaster Report
• Breeders’ listing continues to be updated in a timely
manner (110 requests).
• Jewel is now handling the updates to the Show list.
• There are now 15 different image bars with photos
submitted from 85 different members.
• The New Website was launched on April 20th. Between then
and December 5th we had 49,690 visitors, sold $10,271.44 in
Merchandise and services, and had 116 new members join
through the website.
• The Webmaster would like to work with the JTC to create a
special section of the website dedicated to the information
that judges need.
• Aaron offered his resignation as Webmaster. THE BOARD
REJECTED HIS RESIGNATION.
• The report was accepted.
MOTION # 2004-02
Passed
Proposed By Nash/Hepner
A new item 12 be placed on the
Webmasters Job Description.
All Breeders with a youth membership will be listed on the
Youth Breeders page of the website. NPGA’s non-youth
Breeders list will list Herdname, Name, Address, Phone
Number, E-Mail and Website link only.
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Memo Report
• MEMO advertising remains fairly consistent with a
couple of exchange ads brought in by Bob Flickinger.
• One advertiser has stopped doing their ad in color. The
initial reaction to the rate increase was negative until the
reason was explained. Then it was received well.
• Concern over the cost of the back cover being a half page
vs. a full-page ad inside (the cost is the same).
• Show results being sent in on disc are on the increase.
The majority still being sent in the old way. The number of
people sending in photos on disc is on the increase, which
saves NPGA money.
• The MEMO Editor expressed the need for more people to
submit photos and articles.
• The Board expressed the need for more communication from
the Editor. The Vice-President will act as liaison.
• Color cover vs. black and white cover will be dictated by
the budget.
• MEMO report accepted.
The Roster
The Roster was discussed. The need for Committee Chairs
and members being printed in the Roster was discussed. This
hasn’t been done and needs to in the next one. Darren will
be asked if he will do it for the same price as last year.
The cost of the January Board meeting
was discussed. A committee was formed composed of Lynda
Gredin, Linda Henwood and Dori Lowell to find a hotel with
airport shuttle service for the January Board meeting. It
was suggested that we might consider changing the Rules &
Regulations (1.a Board actions and Board meetings) to set a
permanent site for the January Board meeting. The committee
will make its recommendations to the Board in June.
Affiliated Clubs
There are 46 clubs listed as affiliated clubs
Information packets have been sent to groups in Texas, Ohio
and California. No new clubs have been listed.
The report was accepted.
Breed Standard
Linda Carpenter and Michael O’Kelly rotated off and have
been replaced by Becky Conerly and Fran Bishop.
There have been a few requests for clarification of the
Breed Standard, all by e-mail. None of these needed
committee action.
There is an ongoing project to better define random
markings, as well as breed markings, and their relative
faulting. Coinciding with this project, the committee worked
on some rewording of the Breed Standard to add the
classification “Moderate” to faulting the Breed markings and
random markings. The Guidelines for Judging Pygmy Goats will
also need rewording to reflect these changes.
Report accepted as amended
MOTION # 2004-12
Passed
Proposed By Adkins/Hepner.
The Breed Standard be changed as
follows:
COLOR:
Markings - a. Breed-specific markings are required: muzzle,
forehead/crown, eyes, and ears are accented in tones
lighter than the dark portion of the body in goats of all
colors, except in goats that are solid black. Front and
rear hoofs and cannons (socks) are darker than the main body
coat, as are crown, dorsal stripe, and martingale
except in the solid black. On all caramel goats, light
vertical stripes on the front sides of darker socks are
required.
b. Optional markings: Light areas (on darker backgrounds)
that appear as complete or partial girth belts are
acceptable. All other patches are faulted moderate to very
serious.
c. A complete lack of all Breed-specific markings is
disqualifying.
Guidelines for Judging Pygmy Goats:
A complete lack of all Breed-specific markings is
disqualifying.
Wording in Reasons Column:
Weak or missing markings, or markings other than those
specified, detract from pygmy type & may challenge breed
identity; evaluate extent of detraction as Moderate,
Serious, Very Serious.
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard, McPhedran, Mertens,
Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO: NONE
Certification Committee
For the period of January 1st, 03 to December 31st, 03
one animal, which lacked breed-specific markings, was
rotated through the committee for review. There was a
unanimous decision that the goat should not be registered
due to the absence of the breed-specific markings. No other
animals have been rotated.
Progeny Division: 11 new progeny
applications since January 2003, which brings the total
number of applicants to 186 since June 1990. Four animals
completed the process and have been approved this year.
Two committee members resigned. One from Region 2 and one
from Region 7. Looking for members in Region 2 and 3.
Progeny process updated to add -The
reviewer will also check the applicant for disqualifying
traits such as non conformity of height cannon; hernias
(scrotal & umbilical); natural hornlessness; roman nose;
face crooked; disfiguring malocclusion; ears pendulous;
multiple orifice in bucks; non functioning or bi-furcal
teats in does; blue eyes. Please be aware all fees are
non-refundable. Does: two of these kids may have been born
prior to starting the progeny process, however, one set must
be born after you have submitted your initial progeny
application. Bucks: four of the eight kids may have been
born prior to starting the progeny process, however, four
must be born after you have submitted your initial progeny
application.
The report was accepted.
MOTION # 2004-04
Passed Proposed By
Hamilton/Montgomery
Rules and Regulations 4. C be revised
to read:
“Only the offspring of two NPGA registered animals or
animals that have successfully completed the progeny
process are eligible for registration.”
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Judges Training
Showmanship Manual - will include an acknowledgement
page on the inside. It will contain the revised goat
drawings done by George Starbuck. It will be sent to the
judges for review and then to Publications.
Closed Session
The Showmanship Manual was approved
pending a final review by the Board (via e-mail) after the
suggested changes and a review by the Judges is complete.
The Executive Committee will handle the revisions and
collecting feedback. The goal is to have the manual in print
by Convention. The cost of the new manual will be $10.00.
Closed Session
National Champion scoring system was
discussed and the following motion was made.
Motion # 2004-05
Passed
Proposed By Nash/Granger
Show Rule I. 1 a be amended to read:
Champion Challenge Class competition only of Permanent Grand
Champions for the National Champion trophy shall be judged
by a panel of judges in attendance at the convention who do
not own any goats being judged or have any goat with their
Herdname being judged. Each judge shall write his/her top
three placings on a scorecard, and they will be tallied by
the NPGA President or a replacement the President delegates.
1. The placings will be scored 1st place=5points, 2nd
place=3points, 3rd place=1point.
2. The goat with the most points will be the National
Champion. If two or more goats are tied then.
3. The winner will be whichever tied goat has the most 1st
places. If there is still a tie then.
4. The winner will be whichever tied goat has the most 2nd
places, then 3rd places. If there is still a tie then
Co-National Champions will be awarded.
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
JTS Written Exam Scoring System Change
– JTC proposes that an applicant must earn a grade of at
least 75% in each section and an overall grade of 80% or
higher in order to pass the written exam. This was tabled
but would be approved provided the changes to the manual and
a study guide for the test be available.
JTS Candidate Scoring System Change – JTC recommends that
the passing grade of the JTS candidate must be at least 80%.
Not Approved.
Judges Yearly Dues - Request denied.
Judges Dress Code -
Motion # 2004-13
Passed
Proposed By Hubbard/Adkins
The Code of Ethics for Judges be
amended as follows:
Add the following “No blue jeans, open-toed shoes, or
shorts. Deviations from this are acceptable if agreed to
between the local show chair and the judge, in writing, in
advance.”
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Apprenticeships, Rules regarding
apprenticeship or show observers – sent back to the
committee for more clarification.
Article on judging the milking doe class will go to JTC for
review and then to Publications then to MEMO.
JTC report accepted as amended.
Public Relations
Proposal -
1. To continue to seek out publications willing to do
exchange advertising.
2. To request an increase in the budget to pursue
advertising in nationally distributed magazines.
3. A modified exchange advertising deal which would generate
money for advertising by selling ad space in MEMO to a
publication and then in turn using that money to place an ad
in their publication. This would help jump the policy hurdle
of no exchange advertising.
4. The committee is will have a camera-ready ad created that
they can use to swap with other publications.
The report was accepted.
Publication
There is an opening in Region 6. The committee continues
to review articles prior to publication in MEMO.
Guidelines for Hosting a Pygmy Goat Show- minor changes
needed to be made. The cost will remain $5.00. Guidelines
approved pending revisions.
The report was accepted.
Show Committee
There was a discussion regarding putting a cap on the
number of wins each wether can have, and creating a Champion
Challenge class for platinum wethers to compete in. This was
sent back to the committee for more clarification with input
from Mary-Beth Guenther, Aaron Esterline and Stacy Hamilton.
Jewel will be directed to change show sanction application
to indicate that if wether shows are scheduled, the fee is
$16.50 per show. A set of wether ribbons and a Report of
Awards will be furnished. Effective immediately.
The report was accepted.
Motion # 2004-06 Inactive
Proposed By Hamilton/Hepner
This motion has been declared null and
void as it conflicts with motion 1981-09
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Arbitration
Closed Session
Exhibiting Goats in Judge’s Herdname
After lengthy discussion this rule remains with the
following amendment:
Motion # 2004-07
Passed
Proposed By Hubbard/Montgomery
Rule B 3b be amended to remove the
“non” from the sanctioned 4-H/youth shows.
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Procedures for Unpaid Membership
Dues
If dues aren’t paid by December 31st for Directors, Judges,
Committee Chairs you are no longer a member therefore you
are no longer a Judge, Director or Committee Chair.
Notification of loss of membership and position will come
from the President with a copy to all other parties that are
affected, through written communication.
Closed Session
Organization Study
The Committee was formed to look at positioning NPGA for
an Executive Director and have more accountability from
committees. This committee has been communicating over the
past several months through e-mail and phone calls regarding
NPGA’s mission and strategy for supporting that mission. We
have created a mission statement and objectives, listed out
the service that NPGA offers, and evaluated each committee
to see if any changes are necessary. The Board agreed that
the committee was on the right track with this study. This
will be brought up in June for more input.
Meeting Adjourned 11:00 pm
Meeting Called to Order at 8:00 am
January 18th
Closed Session
New Business
O. The Board wished to reinforce “That it is the
exhibitor’s responsibility to make sure goats are tattooed/microchiped”
and that the tattoo/microchip must be recorded on the
registration paper.
Motion 2004-03
Passed
Proposed By: Hoyt/Henwood
Sections” 9. Nominations Procedures”,
“10. Election Procedures” of the Rules & Regulations be
replace with the following:
Nomination Procedures
A. Nominations for the next Director or Vacancy Replacement
Director in each region will be open to the membership
immediately following the January Board Meeting, and remain
open until August 15th each year.
B. Notification of such vacancies shall appear in every
MEMO, which will be received by the membership between
January 15th and August 15th each year. This notification
will include a sample nomination form.
C. Eligibility requirements
1. Must be at least 18 years of age by August 15th of the
year in which the nomination is made.
2. Must be a voting member in good standing according to
NPGA Central Office records at the time of nomination, and
remain in good standing through the nomination and election
cycle.
3. Must have resided in the region for which he/she has been
nominated for a minimum of 6 months prior to the close of
nominations. Residency is defined as the primary residence
and verifiable by a driver’s license or state ID.
4. The Business Manager, MEMO Editor, Merchandise Department
Head, and chairs of the Arbitration, Nominations and Judges
Training Committees are not eligible for nomination, nor are
any members of their respective households.
5. No other member of the same household as a sitting
Director is eligible for nomination.
D. For Director three written nominations, on the NPGA form
or facsimile thereof, and bearing the original signatures of
the nominators, are required, for the Vacancy Replacement
Director, only one is required. One of the three may be a
self-nomination by the prospective nominee. Nominators must
be voting members in good standing, and all nominators of a
given nominee must possess separate NPGA membership numbers.
Fax and e-mail nominations will not be accepted.
E. All nominations must reach the Nominations Chair no later
than August 15th each year. At this point, the Nominations
Chair will forward the nominee information to the Business
Manager for confirmation of eligibility as outlined in
paragraph C.
F. An automatic candidate is defined as a director who,
through the normal election process, has completed one or
two 2-year terms. Automatic candidates are absolved of the
nominations procedures as outlined in paragraph D.
G. All nominees, including automatic candidates, must
formally accept their nominations by submitting an
autobiography of 150 words or less. This autobiography must
reach the Nominations Chair no later than September 1st,
otherwise the nominee or automatic candidate will not be
eligible for election. The submitted autobiographies will be
checked by the Nominations Chair for proper length, that
they include only pertinent facts about the candidates’ past
activities and qualifications, and do not include
endorsements or derogatory comments.
H. Immediately following the reception of all nominations
and acceptable autobiographies, and verification of
eligibility of all nominees, the Nominations Chair will
submit the official slate to the Executive Committee for
final approval.
Election Procedures
A. Per section 4.3 of the Bylaws, in the event there is
either no candidate or a single candidate running in a
particular region, elections in that region will be
eliminated. If there is no candidate, that directorship will
be vacant for two years, and its remaining director will
serve the region. If there is only one candidate, that
unopposed candidate will be deemed elected.
B. All ballots will be prepared and mailed from the Central
Office by September 15th to be returned postmarked by
October 15th. Ballots returned after the deadline will not
be counted.
C. All completed election ballots will be sent to a
designated auditor that has no affiliation with NPGA for
counting and will be verified by a notary public. The
election results, as counted by the auditor and verified by
the notary public, will be provided in writing directly to
the NPGA President with a copy to the Central Office. No
other person will be informed of the election results until
the President has had time to personally notify the winning
and losing candidates.
D. Any tie in the election for the Board of Directors will
be decided by written vote by the existing Board members,
with their ballots certified and counted by a notary public.
E. Successful candidates for election will assume the duties
of their office on the ensuing January 1st.
F. The current year ballots and two previous year’s ballots
will be stored at Central Office. Prior year’s ballots will
be destroyed.
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Motion 2004-10
Passed
Proposed By: Esterline/Henwood
We amend the Rules & Regulations as
follows:
4.A Herd names must be registered prior to registering
goats. The cost of registering a herd name shall be $10.00
for NPGA members and $50.00 for non-members.
4.C Only the offspring of two NPGA
registered animals or animals that have successfully
completed the progeny testing process are eligible for
registration. The registration fees for members are $6.00
for Does, $10.00 for Bucks and $4.00 for wethers.
Registration fees for non-members are $15.00 for Does,
$20.00 for bucks and $8.00 for wethers. Transfer fees for
Does, Bucks, and wethers are $4.00 for members and $10.00
for non-members. Registration certificate errors shall be
corrected for $3.00. Duplicate certificates may be requested
for $3.00.
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
Motion # 2004-14
Passed Proposed
By: Esterline/Gredin
Rules & Regulations 7.C.1 be amended
as follows:
All openings for NPGA Chairpersons shall be advertised in
MEMO with the exception of the JTC Chair in which a notice
shall be mailed directly to all licensed judges. Interested
candidate…
YES: Adkins, Granger, Gredin,
Guenther, Hamilton, Henwood, Hepner, Hoyt, Hubbard,
McPhedran, Mertens, Montgomery, Murray, Nash, Seiler. NO:
NONE
New Business
Add rules pertaining to judges to the Rule & Regulations
- after some discussion the JTC was asked to prepare a list
of current requirements and present them at the June
meeting.
Examination of bites at shows by
judges - this was tabled until June for further research.
Establish guidelines/video for JTS -
tabled. Andy Nash will look into the cost of having a Video
done professionally.
Adding a symbol for National Champions
- tabled till June so that Dori could look into the cost.
Lower the age of Senior Does to 18
months so that Does that are 18 to 24 months old don’t
always win Junior Champion - tabled till June so that
Director can poll the membership.
Physically holding a part of the goat
in the ring to enhance the appearance - The Board felt that
this is part of showmanship and will continue to be allowed.
Exhibitors drinking alcohol at shows -
the Board felt it was up to the local show chair to handle.
Mistreatment of animals - The Board
felt that any complaints of maltreatment of animals should
be handled through the Arbitration Committee.
Remembering “Friends of NPGA” - There
will be a spot on the website for the remembrance of any
NPGA members who has passed away.
The Board of Directors would like to
thank the Florida Pygmy Goat Club for the generous fruit
basket.
Meeting Adjourned 3:45 pm January 18th
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Adkins
Secretary
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