The Chinese Shar-Pei Club of America, Inc. Board Meeting,  September20, 1996  Kansas City, Missouri
The meeting was brought to order by President, Jocelyn Barker at 9:15 a.m.

Board Members present: Vice President Cathi DiGiacomo, Secretary Judy Dorough, Western Directors: Darlene Wright and Dawn Walling, Central Dimectors: Robert Hall and Jo Ann Leistner, Eastern Directors: Romana Arnold and Kim Philipps. Treasurer Kay Rosenberger, Western Director Shirley Rafferty, Central Director Jim McFarland and Eastern Director Georgette Schaefer were unable to attend the meeting.

Members present: Lee Arnold, Charitable Trust Chairman, and Claudia Henley, 1997 National Specialty Chairman.

Vice President Cathi DiGiacomo thanked everyone for appointing her as Catalog Advertising Chairman for the 1997 Nationals. Cathi passed around a list for trophy donations for Debra Cole, Trophy Donations Chairman.

Secretary’s Report     Secretary Judy Dorough read the minutes of the July 5, 1996, Board Meeting. Those minutes were approved as read. The minutes of the executive session meeting of July 5, 1996, were also read and approved as read. The draft copy of the General Meeting Minutes of July 5, 1996, were distributed. Corrections were noted.

President’s Report     President Jocelyn Barker is continuing to try and work with the AKC regarding the revision of our Bylaws. Discussion will be tabled until Sunday morning. The Club computer is not running. Jocelyn contacted Joe Trumbill to find Out how to access data on pedigrees, etc. To date, Jocelyn has not heard from Joe. Jocelyn has no idea what a set-up disk will cost. Western Director Shirley Rafferty has resigned her position as Membership Secretary. Shirley is in the process of putting together her job duties and how long each job takes so that when we have a new Membership Secretary, she will know just what the job entails. People who haven’t received their Barker on time call and are not happy. This has put added stress on the job. This is one of the most important jobs in our Club. The membership list is on the computer disk. People joining the CSPCA in February are not happy when they receive their renewal notice the following May. The Board discussed prorating the dues to alleviate this problem. A motion was made by Darlene Wright, seconded by Jo Ann Leistner and passed unanimously to table the discussion of Membership Chairman until later in the meeting.

The Board discussed ways to disperse some of President Jocelyn Barker’s responsibilities to other Board Members. A suggestion is to put on the Directors’ page in the Barker that members contact their Regional Director, not the Club officers regarding problems; then if no results are received, the member could contact an Officer.

Treasurer’s Report     Dawn Walling reported in Kay Rosenberger’s absence. Walt Lupeika, the Club Certified Public Accountant, is working with Kay on transferring all the Club’s financial records, etc. to Kay in Colorado. A statement made by Dawn Walling is that the Club has never charged for bounced checks. Kay would like to charge for these returned checks. A motion was made by Cathi DiGiacomo, seconded by Judy Dorough, to charge a bad check fee of$15.00, or $5.00 over what the bank charges—whichever is greater—for all returned checks. Motion passed unanimously. Dawn stated that there are several large filing cabinets belonging to the Club in Walt Lupeika’s office. These will be stored at the Walling’s residence. All moneys should be sent to Kay Rosenberger. The audit is complete.

Standard Committee     Darlene Wright has had 70 responses from CSPCA members. Darlene is expecting a fax of her reports.

Meeting recessed at 11:00 a.m.

Meeting re-adjourned at 11:15 a. m.

There was more discussion on the Standard. A motion was made by Jo Ann Leistner, seconded by Cathi DiGiacomo and passed unanimously to suspend discussion on the Standard until the information that Darlene is expecting arrives.

President Jocelyn Barker stated that there are 511 members in the Western Region, 504 members in the Central Region and 1031 members in the Eastern Region. The CSPCA Bylaws require that the Board review the equality in size of the regional population. The Board worked on making the Regions more equal. New boundaries will be worked Out and voted on later.

A motion was made by Cathi DiGiacomo, seconded by Darlene Wright, and passed to return to the tabled discussion on the Membership Secretary’s position. A motion made by Darlene Wright, seconded by Kimberly Philipps to appoint Cathi DiGiacomo as Membership Secretary to replace Shirley Rafferty. Motion passed 7 in favor, 1 (Cathi) abstained.

Romana Arnold will assist Cathi with The Barker portion of the membership.

Affiliated Clubs     Romana Arnold reported and asked for clarification on the policy of affiliated club officers and directors belonging to CSPCA. A motion was made by Cathi DiGiacomo, seconded by Judy Dorough, that all officers of the affiliated clubs must be members of the CSPCA. Motion passed unammously.

Jocelyn Barker encouraged all Board Members to return their comments on the Policy Procedure Manual to Bob Rosenberger.

Charitable Trust     Lee Arnold, Charitable Trust Chairman reported to the Board. Lee thanked the Board for suggestions and support. Donations are still arriving on a weekly basis. Jocelyn encouraged Lee to run an ad in the November/December issue of The Barker to solicit donations on amyloidosis and to also state that all donations are tax-deductible. Robert Hall will contact his supplier to see if he can get angel pins done any faster than Lee Arnold’s supplier. A motion made by Robert Hall, seconded by Judy Dorough, to give Lee a vote of confidence and support of his work and continued effort on the Charitable Trust.

Cathi DiGiacomo reported on the World Wide Web and e-mail. The charge for this service would be $30 to $40 a month. Cathi suggested that we add a CSPCA Membership Application to the web. Discussion followed. A motion was made by Jo Ann Leistner, seconded by Judy Dorough, passed unanimously to have Cathi get more information on the web and set up a format for the Board to review.

Jocelyn Barker stated that we have run Out of the Introduction to the Chinese Shar-Pei and we need an updated version. The Board will assist Jocelyn in updating this brochure. Kim Philipps will assist Jocelyn in distributing the literature to interested persons.

Robert Hall and Claudia Henley, Chairman of the 1997 National Specialty went over the Judges’ Schedule for the 1997 Nationals. They will report later on in the meeting.

We recessed for lunch at 1:00 p.m.

Meeting reconvened at 2:00 p.m.

Jocelyn Barker opened the meeting and reported on redistricting. The Board discussed cutting down on the number of Directors. It was also discussed that the Directors need to communicate better with the Chinese Shar-Pei Club members. It was suggested to have three total Directors, two voted on at large. This change will be in the form of a Bylaws amendment. A motion was made by Cathi, seconded by Judy Dorough, to use the attached chart for redistricting. Motion approved unanimously.

The areas that the Board needs to work on is the number of Regional Directors. The AKC has stated that the number of Regional Directors should be less than the number of officers elected at large. The AKC feels we need a nominating committee and that we need to firm the date of beginning and ending terms. We need at least 30 days for return of ballots. Cathi DiGiacomo will make an appointment with Marla Friedes at AKC and find out the exact changes that need to be made in our Bylaws so that they will be approved by AKC. Jocelyn was given the approval of the Board to proceed with the necessary revisions to our Bylaws. Jocelyn stated that she will send the proposed changes to Danny Jaber and Chris Amatruda (in Danny’s absence) for approval prior to sending them to AKC.

There was a discussion on changing the membership dues.     A motion was made by Judy Dorough, seconded by Cathi DiGiacomo, to go with the straw vote of the membership taken at the July 5, 1996, General Membership Meeting regarding the membership dues. The recommendation of the membership was to raise the dues on a single membership by $5.00, thus making all membership dues $45.00 Motion was defeated (Cathi and Judy voted in favor, rest of the Board opposed). More discussion followed. A motion was made by Romana Arnold, seconded by Jo Ann Leistner, to approve the following changes: Family membership $50.00, Single Membership $45.00 and Associate Membership $0.00. Motion passed unanimously.

Jocelyn Barker reported some problems in our advertising policies in The Barker. Our policy states that only purebred Chinese Shar-Pei with no disqualifying faults can be advertised in The Barker. Robert Hall and Cathi DiGiacomo asked that the minutes reflect their feeling regarding the disqualifying faults. The Barker Liaison Committee is against dogs with disqualifying faults being selected as winners in the annual photo contest. The table discussion on the use of The Barker for activities that feature the CSPCA, Inc. to publicize dogs with disqualifying faults continned. The photo contest in The Barker is in question. President Jocelyn Barker will ask Barker Editor, Jo Ann Redditt to write a disdaimer and send it to the Liaison Committee for review and then to the Board for final approval.  A motion was made by Cathi DiGiacomo, seconded by Jo Ann Leistner and passed unanimously to accept the Editorial and Advertising Policies of The Barker submitted by JoAnn Redditt.

Claudia Henley gave a report on the 1997 Nationals to be held in Kansas City in August. The National Show Committee is looking forward to giving the Board a tour of the National Show site this evening ending dinner in the hotel restaurant. Claudia thanked everyone that is helping her. A thank you card will be handed out with the trophy to the winning exhibitor of each class. This card will be pre-addressed with the trophy donor’s name and address. Claudia encouraged everyone to make their reservations early as it is the Kansas City Chiefs’ weekend and rooms will be at a premium. The CSPCA price per night is $7900. The hotel phone number is 816-737-0200 or Fax: 816- 737-4713. The Show will be at the Adams Mark Hotel in Kansas City Missouri.

In the past, the policy of proofreading the Premium List for our National Show was the responsibility of the entire Board. A motion was made by Cathi DiGiacomo, seconded by Robert Hall, that the National Show Committee make all the decisions regarding the National Show, including the proofreading of the Premium List. If the Committee has any problems, they can then contact the Board. Motion passed unanimously.

Jo Ann Redditt has again asked for volunteers to be guest columnists for the Breed Columns section of the AKC Gazette. Jo Ann asked that anyone interested to please contact her.

A proposed guideline for specialty and regional shows was submitted. A motions was made by Judy Dorough, seconded by Darlene Wright, to approve the attached form with clarification on the 3rd paragraph.

The Board discussed the revision of the Standard at length. The Standard is the property of the CSPCA. The balance of the discussion of the Standard will be tabled until tomorrow morning.

Jocelyn Barker informed the Board that the AKC has a new rule regarding alcohol. Clubs may give wine as awards.

A motion was made by Robert Hall, seconded by Jo Ann Leistner, that Members of the Board may show their dogs under other Board Members at all show except Nationals. Discussion followed regarding the CSPCA rule that states Board Members were not permitted to show under each other. This is a rule the Board passed several years before we went AKC There is no AKC rule prohibiting this. This new policy will become effective immediately. Motion passed with one opposed, Darlene Wright.

Meeting closed at 4:30 p.m. to re-open Sunday morning.