Minutes of Meetings

Annual FBA Business Meeting

July 16, 1998, Longmont, CO

Following a dinner at the Third Avenue Grill in Longmont, Colorado, Paul Hunter opened the annual business meeting at 8:30 p.m.
Those present for the meeting were Paul Hunter, Lonnie & Patti Cook, Grant Blackburn, Lisa & David Fowler.
In Sandy De Master's absence, Lonnie read the minutes from 1997.
The treasurer's report stated that there is $2280 in the savings & checking accounts.
The Board of Director's terms were reviewed & election was held. Those elected were Grant Blackburn & David Fowler.

Old Business:

The combined advertisement in the Shepherd Magazine has had positive results for many of the breeders listed.
Semen importation information was brought up to date by Paul Hunter & mentioned that there should be information in the next newsletter about it.
The new display is finished & available for use. Elizabeth Luke did a wonderful job of putting it together. There are as of now, twelve scheduled dates in the future in which the display will be used by the breeders. The cost of the display was $1143.83. $523 was for the display case and $620 for the photos.
Grant Blackburn presented information on the new Internet web page. There have been 664 actual hits since December. Fees & changes that need to be made were discussed.

New Business:

Sandy De Master has resigned from doing the newsletter & registrations. Those tasks will be done in the future by the United Sheep Registry in Milo, Iowa. Sandy will continue, however, as treasurer.
Lonnie Cook read an e-mail from Sandy De Master. She asked for discussion on not registering crossbreds. It was decided to continue for now to register them.
It was noted that requests for information on Finnsheep had increased this past year.
Lonnie Cook read a letter from Elizabeth Luke asking that the selling prices of sheep at the sale be published in the newsletter. It was agreed that it will be done.

FBA Board of Directors' Meeting

July 17, 1998, Longmont , CO

The directors' meeting was called to order at 11:45 AM Mountain time. Those in attendance were Grant Blackburn, Paul Hunter, David Fowler and Lonnie and Patty Cook. The minutes from the meeting in Ohio from the previous year were read and approved. The financial information from the annual meeting was reviewed.

Election of Officers

Via mail, Elizabeth Luke nominated Grant Blackburn for the expired term of Lonnie Cook.
David Fowler agreed to serve a second term as director.
The vote was unanimous for David Fowler and Grant Blackburn as our directors.
Per mail, Elizabeth Luke nominated Grant Blackburn for president. David Fowler declined a nomination for president and for a second term as vice president. Paul Hunter nominated Elizabeth Luke for vice president.
There being no objections, our new officers are Grant Blackburn, President, and Elizabeth Luke, vice president.

Contract with United Sheep Registries

The proposed contract with the Hampshire Registry was reviewed.

Negotiations should try to reduce the length of term to two years.
Need President's approval for quantities and price on orders for supplies.
Need to specify that registration forms include color, litter size, and age of dam at lambing.
The greeting process was discussed. There was some concern in regards to maintaining the identity of our breed. The negotiator was advised to look into a separate phone line or distinctive ringing.
A procedure chart for incoming inquiries was discussed.
It was suggested a log of all incoming calls be made including name, number and a brief message pertaining to the nature of the call.
A quarterly or semi-annual report to the president was recommended, it should include

number registered by sex,
number transferred by sex, and
number of requests for information.

Advertising-several suggestions were made concerning having the Hampshire people solicit advertising by giving them a percentage of the fee.
It was decided to let Paul Hunter negotiate the contract and to use his best judgment considering the concerns of the board.

Short Tales

It was voted to have three newsletters a year. They are to be mailed out by May 1, September 1, and January 15. The May issue is to be widely distributed while the other two issues will only go to those that have paid the yearly activity fee.
It was suggested to have Short Tales be put in HTML format so it could be placed on our web page by our webmaster.

Group Advertising

It was agreed that the group ad in The Shepherd was beneficial and should by run again in 1999.

Code of Health/Ethics Practices

It was proposed that a draft be put together for comment and be published in the January issue of Short Tales.

Adjournment.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 PM by unanimous vote.
Respectfully submitted
Paul Hunter

Ed note: Paul, our former president, deserves our thanks for tireless and patient work for Finnsheep and for the FBA. Thanks, Paul!