Message from Mark
| Here is my report on
the Sunday Board Meeting (June 27, 2010). It is based on my
notes and is not official. If you have questions, please
eMail: me and I'll do my best to answer them. There were Board
Meetings on Wednesday and Thursday; however, I was not on the
Board at that time and I have no notes from those meetings. If
you want to read what took place those two days, Carissa
Altschul has posted her notes on the CFA List.
- - - - - - - - - - President Jerry Hamza plans to bring CFA back to solid financial ground. In the spirit of “transparency,” he has directed the CFA Secretary to provide minutes without any editing. What each Board Member says will be included in the minutes. Some believe, according to Jerry, that our organization is ethically challenged. To the extent that is true, “we’re going to fix that.” In the past, CFA has had an attorney on retainer who served as the Parliamentarian for the Board Meetings. Jerry opted to bring in a new attorney, Ed Raymond, who is volunteering his services. Ed is a cat fancier from Rochester NY. Rather than adopt the budget prepared by the previous CFA Treasurer and her Budget Committee, Jerry decided to create a new budget from scratch. He anticipates it will take 60 days to prepare the budget and have the Board approve it. Once approved, it will be posted on the CFA web site for all to see. Until the budget is created and approved, CFA will only spend what it has to in order to keep the organization running (for example, salaries for Central Office employees). There are no CFA International Cat Shows planned, so that weekend will be made available to the Regions to hold fund raising shows, such as the “mega” shows planned for this year. The CFA Executive Director, Allene Tartaglia, is moving to Florida. Jerry believes we need to look outside the cat fancy for a new Executive Director; however, CFA is not currently in a position to pay what it would take for such a person. Until CFA is in better financial shape, he plans to hire an Office Manager rather than an Executive Director. That is more in line with what we can currently afford. Starting in August, Jerry plans to hold a teleconference with the Directors At Large the first weekend of each month. On the second weekend he plans to hold a teleconference with the Regional Directors. On the third weekend of each month he plans to hold a teleconference with the entire Board. On the fourth weekend of each month he is considering resuming his radio show. Jerry believes the Board is too large. If the Regions want to be represented at the Board table, he believes the Regions should shoulder the cost of sending Regional Directors to the Board Meetings. It was decided to postpone voting on this until the clubs have had a chance to provide input. The Board accepted the Minority Report Cat Club as a new CFA club in Region 5. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: Ambassador Program – Willa Hawke Animal Welfare – Linda Berg Analysis/Strategic Planning – Finance Committee Annual 2011 – Donna J Thompson & Susan Henry Audit – Carla Bizzell Award Review – Mike Shelton Breeds/Standards – Diana Doernberg & Donna J Thompson Budget – Carla Bizzell Business Development – Kitty Angell Cat Agility – Jill Archibald CFA Foundation – David Mare Clerks – John Heimstra Club Marketing – Ann Caell Club Membership – Liz Watson Credentials – Eve Russell Education & Outreach – Joan Miller Executive Committee – 4 CFA Officers & Ginger Meeker Finance – Rich Masten Hotel & Travel – Rachel Anger International – Darrell Newkirk IT – David White Judges – Loretta Baugh Judges’ Ethics – JoAnn Cummings Jr. Showmanship – JoAnn Cummings Legislative – George Eigenhauser Management – Ginger Meeker Meet The Breeds – David White Mentoring – John Gardiner National Fund Raising – Beth Cassely New Bee – Teresa Keiger Ombudsman – Pam Huggins Personnel – Entire Board Protest Committee - Dick Kallmeyer Publications – Alene Shafnisky Scientific Advisory – Roger Brown Show Rules – Paul Patton Standards – John Gardiner Volunteer – Ginger Meeker & Rachel Anger Animal Welfare & Breeder Assistance - Linda Berg Jerry appointed a new committee whose name I did not catch. Alene Shafnisky will chair. It will coordinate having the CFA Booth at shows staffed with friendly people; raffles to benefit clubs with such items as the Radko CFA Christmas Ornament which has not been selling well and is taking up space at the Central Office; establishing an “800” phone number in an effort to interact with the public and to engage them. The Volunteer Committee is to ascertain individual cat fanciers’ strengths, time they have available, and to create a database so people with needs can be matched with those willing to volunteer. A printed Almanac is expected to be available within six months. A new computer system for the Central Office is expected in about a year. 6/29/10 |