Approved Minutes of the CVVC  Board Meeting Held on July 17, 2006 at the Karkuts in Oxford, CT.  Adopted at the August 9, 2006 General Membership Meeting at Jefferson House in Newington, CT.

In attendance:  The meeting was held at the Karkut home. David Margolin called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.  In attendance were:  Carol Phelps, David Margolin, Kim Karkut, Jackie Argall, Elaine Poulin, Judi Reznick, Dennis Witzke, Rick Diotalevi, Joan Heimbach, Linda Morris, Ida Tenenbom, Kim Himmelfarb and Susan Potocik.  Elaine Poulin moved to accept the secretary’s minutes of the June 10, 2006 meeting and Carol Phelps seconded the motion.
 
David Margolin requested the meeting proceed a bit out of order, to accommodate Field Trial Committee chair Joan Heimbach’s need to depart early.
 
2006 Field Trial Committee Report:  Dave Margolin indicated that he wanted to first present the results of what both he and Carol Phelps came up during their get together over the preceding weekend to discuss the results of the 2006 Field Trial since they were concerned the future of the event could be in jeopardy and they wanted to come up with requirements that would help insure for the continuity of the event in the future.
 
Dave then stated that Carol would present and mutually discuss the results of that get together as the event took place during her holding of the office of President.
 
Carol prefaced the discussion with the mention that the spirit of the whole to be discussion was not to make Joan by any means the scapegoat for the disappointing financial results, etc. of the event and that both she and I recognize and appreciate the huge effort she put in.
 
At that point, Carol Phelps distributed a handout (see at end of minutes) representing the pros and cons of the field trial as well as things that both she and Dave deemed as needed in order to continue with the event in the future and insure for a more successful undertaking and perhaps avoidance of a loss as was the case this year with the $800 to $900 shortcoming.
 
In abbreviated form, those things needed were stated to be:
     - A functioning standing committee defined as members who are involved from
       planning through running of the event including involvement in selection of judges
       as well as determination of stakes and whether open or closed status
     - FT Event chairperson must be a member of the committee and responsive to both
       the committee and board of directors
     - There must be more timely and accurate budgeting and end reporting of the event
     
Much board of director and attendee discussion evolved from this handout and then Joan Heimbach, Field Trial Committee Chair, presented an accounting of the event with reconciliation of the loss meaning the things that contributed to the unfortunate bad luck as it was defined.
 
Joan attributed the loss to:
     - Cost of professional secretary
     - Increased cost of birds and horses
     - Trophy and additional judge costs associated with expansion of Hunting Dog Stakes
     - Loss of entries due to one pro going to another field trial, last minute cancellations
       associated with another pro's truck breaking down and having to pull several dogs
       due to no transportation for them and other participants canceling as bitches came into
       season or had finished their dogs during the previous weekend
     - Cost of additional judges (gifts, meals and hotel) resulting from other judge cancellations
       for the regular sanctioned stakes
     - Fewer club entries in both Hunting dog stakes, Amateur Walking Derby and
       Amateur Walking Puppy which had to be canceled due to just one entry......
       event was geared to junior dogs and walking handlers.
     - Reduced raffle support due to lack of CVVC items resulting in a modest offering
       generating an equally modest interest and financial result
 
Also, Joan discussed inadequate club helper support in many area such as kitchen, judge's dinner, event setup, cleanup, line marshalling and other necessary tasks other than some members showing up for a short period of time and offering help while they were going to be there............However, Joan did state that the exception to this was in the Hunting Dog Stakes where Patsy Dahlinghaus, John Morris, Elaine Poulin, Florence Duggan as well as Justin and Elizabeth Sausker who were incredibly supportive and helpful.
 
Some board members did take exception to the lack of club helper support mention for the following reasons:
     - One said that neither she nor her husband (FT Committee members) had been
       contacted during the planning, etc phase even
       though they specifically committed to help at the very beginning in those
       areas at a minimum and were only contacted to work two days before the event....it was
       stated if committee members are excluded from the event planning and prep activities, it
       is less than likely they will be supportive in the actual event workload  
     - Another said the physical segregation of the Hunting Dog stakes participants
       from the regular sanctioned stake environment was negative and didn't help in
       motivating those people to pitch in elsewhere after these stakes, etc. as they may
       not have felt to be part of the overall event
     
 Joan went on to provide recommendations as follows and mentioned several of them were
 provided by Patrick Cooke:
     - Contacting pros in advance as soon as dates are known so they can block our dates
       out on their calendar
     - Member breeders should encourage their puppy people to enter Hunting Dog and
       amateur juvenile walking stakes
     - Encouragement of regular AKC Hunt Test participants to enter both Hunting Dog stakes
     - Advance phone contact of membership for help in all areas such as
       kitchen, marshalling, bird planting, etc.
     - Better the raffle by collecting items at other events
     - Independent raffle for the benefit of Field Trials at other club events
     - Encourage members to contribute hotel reward points from any programs they're
       enrolled in to help reduce judge's accommodation costs
     - Raise fees
     - Judges dinner being made free with sponsor paying for steaks and club paying
       for all else
     - Commercial sponsorship
     - Forego expectation of hospitality break even at a minimum
     - Solicit trophy donations   
     - Idea of using judge's with horses in the future in conjunction with a more limited #
       of horses from a wrangler in order to lower cost of horses as well as have sufficient #
       available due to lack of onsite wrangler in the future
 
As a result of all of the above, several conclusions were made:
     - Dave Margolin recommended the institution of a formal budgeting and event reporting
       within 30 days of event end requirement applicable to all events
       and Carol Phelps motioned for such with Kim Himmelfarb seconding and the board    
       unanimously approving.  Carol Phelps was asked by Dave to chair and set up an Ad
       Hoc committee to come up with the approach, forms, etc for board approval and said
       committee should be made up of members from each actual club event area
     - Dennis Witzke expressed the need to promote all aspects of the club and a need to
       keep the Flaherty grounds seniority position ..............make FT work
     - Kim Himmelfarb suggested a fun FT match as was done in the past as a means to
       educate and develop future membership interest
     - Rick Diotalevi agreed/noted the importance of promotion and education and that we
       need to educate the membership as well as individual committees......maybe we should
       re-issue Joan Heimbach's Field Trial newsletter  
     - Joan Heimbach is to put together a Field Trial Information handout package to
       membership
     - Rick Diotalevi suggested an informational program during lunch at the Fun Day and
       maybe include a slide show and Elaine Poulin had a thought of a booklet for each
       activity
     - Joan Heimbach will contact the current FT Committee members to determine their
       interest in continuing on the committee according to the concept of a functioning
       standing committee and revamp the committee as needed
 
Dave Margolin additionally asked the board members to think further about any ideas, etc and be able to discuss at the next meeting as well as thanked Joan for her efforts in both the Field Trial event and this review.
 
Treasurer’s Report: Carol Phelps reported account balances as follows:  checking $6,854.05, CD $3,342.48, Breed Rescue $3,544.38, and the Health Fund $2,636.78.
 
Corresponding Secretary’s Report:  Susan Potocik sent new officers names to AKC. Linda Morris is getting new correspondence.  The Club received thank you notes from judges Dorothy McDonald, Susan Gray and Susan Potocik.
 
Breed Rescue:  Linda Morris reported for John Morris that the female from Naugatuck was placed in Southbury.
 
Conformation Committee Report:  Ida Tenenbom reported Greenwich/Longshore expenses to be $1,949.65 with an income so far of $1,358.90 with a small income piece still to come......she stated that a final reporting should be available at the next meeting.  
 
Carol Phelps reported Greg Gollick will be the sweeps judge for the SKC show on Sunday November 26, 2006 and Pat Boelte will be the sweeps judge for the 2007 GSA Secaucus, NJ show with Judi Harrington as the regular classes judge.  
 
Jackie Argall volunteered to chair the 2007 GSA Secaucus show.
 
The Conformation Committee submitted the following list, in ranking order of preference, of judges for both sweepstakes and regular judges for the future and Dave Margolin motioned to accept with Susan Potocik seconding and the motion passed unanimously.
 
Final Regular Judge Ranking                                Final Sweepstake Judge Ranking
Mary Ann Alston                                                 Graem Burdon
Richard Hilderman                                               Carol Richards
Kathy Rust                                                         Barb Ehlers
Barbara Alderman                                               Francois Bernier
Kimberly Meredith-Cavanna                                 Joe Diaz
Pluis Davern                                                       Dorothy Collier
Joy Brewster                                                      Fred Olson
Terri Hundt                                                         Pat Crowley
Alvin Kraus                                                        Alex Richard
Dorothy Hutchinson                                            Jim Dillon
 
2006 Hunt Test Committee Report:  David Margolin stated everything is in place for the hunt test but submitted a proposed budget for the upcoming hunt test and noted we likely will make less money this year due to rising bird costs, the cost of the professional hunt test secretary and the need to buy junior ribbons.
 
Health Committee Report:  Jackie Argall reported she is in possession of 2 Arachini wraps, donated by Marty and Fred Spoor, which will be raffled.   Judi Reznick led a discussion on using E-bay, raffling at Nationals or a Specialty until Kim Karkut made a motion to raffle one At Secaucus and hold the other one until we see how we do with the first.  Rick Diotalevi seconded, and the motion passed.  The September 19th blood draws will be held at 2 locations:  In Norwalk from noon to 2pm; Avon/Bristol from 6:30-8pm.   More information regarding this event is forthcoming.
 
Fun Day Committee Report:  This September 16, 2006 will be the date of the fun day at Mill Stream, Columbia, Ct.   Susan Potocik reported because of poor support there will be no versatility testing, but will offer and introduction to birds in the morning and an introduction to conformation in the afternoon followed by a match show. Mentors will be needed to spend time in the field. Brochures will be in the next newsletter.
 
Meeting Program Committee:  Carol Phelps suggested less meetings with programs after as there has been poor prior attendance which is embarrassing to the club and perhaps fewer programs will stimulate greater membership interest.....she suggested we limit the programs to maybe 2 a year and everyone agreed.  
 
Also, David reported the polling of the board members as to meeting start times indicated most were flexible and he suggested we start regular meetings at 7:00 PM and the twice a year meetings with programs after at 6:30 PM and everyone agreed.
 
New Business: Elaine Poulin requested  that since this meeting was so long, we set aside time at our August meeting to discuss membership.  Judi Reznick asked the Board for a budget for a basket for the Nationals silent auction.  Carol Phelps made a motion to budget $125.  Ida Tenenbom seconded and the motion passed.  Ida noted that of the 25 caps with the new CVVC logo ordered, only 4 were left for sale.  Tabled items included merchandise, cheer cards, and mentoring tie in.
 
Meeting Adjourned: A motion was made by Rick Diotalevi to adjourn, seconded by Carol Phelps.  The meeting adjourned at 10:15pm.
 
 
Discussion Issues – Field Trial

 1.     There are pros & cons to having a field trial – the big issue is whether CVVC should continue to run its traditional spring field trial, and if yes,  what changes need to be implemented to ensure its success from all perspectives. This is a decision which ultimately must involve the membership of the club – it is too big a decision for just the Board to act without input.
Pros To Running a Trial

1.     This is the only event at which vizslas can get points toward an FC or AFC.
 
2.     There is historical significance to the event. We have held a field trial almost since the inception of the club.
 
3.     If we don’t run a trial, we may lose our priority at Flaherty. If we skip one year, will we still have priority the next year? Would losing our priority affect our ability to get the grounds for a nationals event? What must we run to maintain our priority?
 
4.     For the most part, the event seems to have a good reputation. From what has been reported, it sounds like the event was successful from the perspective of the participants.
 
5.     Any others?
 
Cons To Running a Trial (with Possible Solutions)

1. The event is run primarily for non-club members. Only 6 CVVC members participated, and 2 of them walked and thus were not competitive.  A corollary to this is that because there is so little interest in this event, few club members are willing to step forward and work.
 
2. The event lost over $800.00.  An event which does not appeal to nor benefit the overwhelming majority of a club should not drain money from the club. It must at least break even, and because it imposes a significant potential liability on club insurance policies, it should probably make money to help fund a portion of the insurance. Possible Solution: Careful formal budgeting by the Field Trial Committee prior to Board approval of the event. Adherance to the budget. Separate handling of funds and careful oversight of kitchen and hospitality with adequate pricing (hospitality should not lose money). Establish an ad hoc committee to develop formal budgeting and reporting forms for ALL CVVC Events.
 
3. The Field Trial Committee has been largely excluded from decision making and participation in setting up and running the trial. This is the committee that should be proposing all the specifics of the stakes to be run (walking, retrieving, open/closed, etc.). The Field Trial Committee should also be voting on potential judges, just like the Conformation Committee. The Chair of the Event for the past two years has not been willing to serve on the Field Trial Committee and has not been responsive to that Committee or the Board. Possible Solution: Require the Chair of the event to sit on the Field Trial Committee. Revamp this committee so that we have an operational Field Trial Committee that is involved in overseeing the entire event. Have the President contact each member of the Committee and find out whether they want to serve. Require attendance of one Field Trial Committee Representative at each CVVC meeting.
 
 
4. We need much more accurate and timely financial accounting and reporting FOR ALL EVENTS. However, this is the only CVVC event where there is a constant struggle each year to get a handle on the financial outcome. We want to acknowledge that Joan has made a valiant effort to keep the Board apprised and has assumed a lot of the Chair’s liaison reporting requirements as well as overseeing of hospitality. However, she is only one person and she can’t do it all – nor should she. It is not fair to her nor is it fair to the members of the Field Trial Committee.
 
Deposits and payments are still being submitted nearly three months after the event. From the checkbook register, it is difficult to establish the net outcome of components of the event to plan better for next year (the accounting should be distinctly split between field trial entries and expenses, hospitality and field trial dinner). Perhaps Joan can help sort this out better when the Field Trial Committee analyzes this event in detail. Possible Solution: Divide the income and expenses into these three categories as was historically done so we can make better decisions. The Chair of the event must be responsive to the Field Trial Committee and to the Board of Directors. A representative from this committee must be at all meetings. Establish an ad hoc committee to develop formal budgeting forms and reporting forms for ALL CVVC Events. We need to also revisit the issue of timely reporting.
 
5. It is getting more and more difficult to procure horses – the on-site wrangler has left, and with the cost of gas, prices for horses may be out of sight next year. This will be a critical piece of the budgeting process and must be investigated immediately. With everything going up in cost (birds, etc.) our fees will probably have to go up.
 
6. Any others?
 
II.   Alternatively, if a traditional field trial is not possible, do we want to investigate holding a WALKING FIELD TRIAL. This would at least preserve some of the history, would maintain our seniority at Flaherty, and would appeal to a larger segment of our club membership. One potential problem with holding a walking trial is that the horse expense would still need to be incurred, and we may not have the entries to support that fixed cost. It is imperative that the Field Trial Committee begin exploring the wrangler options and costs NOW so that the Board has the information we need to make a sound decision.