APLA BOD MEETING MINUTES Dec 16, 2014 Meeting called to order 7:05 CT In attendance were Victor Rompa, Richard McCullough, Nate Hamblin, Mike Bachkosky, Dale Merritt, Jeff Fryhover, Julie Knutson Motion Rompa to take minutes in lieu of Secretary (Mark on Medical Leave) SECONDED, APPROVED unanimously Elections: APLA Election Results are in. Re-elected BOD Members (2 year): Julie Knutson, Nate Hamblin New BOD Member (2 year): Julie Moore! New BOD Member (1 year): Kevin Eskam! Kevin was first runner up and has accepted to fill a BOD vacancy in 2015. Thank you returning BOD s, a big welcome and thank you to Julie Moore and Kevin Eskam for volunteering. Also an outgoing thank you to Bruce Smiley and Mike Bachkosky for their many years of service on the APLA BOD. MOTION to accept the election committee s results - SECONDED, APPROVED unanimously Treasurer s Report: Rich McCullough provided a detailed and itemized budget report outlining assets, accruals, liabilities & equities The final checking account balance as of today is $9,901.53 All expenses in for hunt tests. MOTION to approve the Treasurer s report SECONDED, APPROVED unanimously Secretary s Report: None due to Mark on medical leave
HUNT Test Committee Proposal - Richard McCullough See below. Motion - Adopt Hunt Test Secretary dot com for APLA hunt tests (see attached). SECONDED, APPROVED unanimously Discussion ensued on how the costs should be covered. It was noted that a similar type of system (that can only be used in the AKC and HRC tests- Entry Express) the costs are born by the registrants. Julie noted that she did not think membership should bear added costs. The rest of board argued that this is a new and improved system and our membership is receiving an added value for their expense (a tangible difference). In the future the tests fees may be reduced if warranted. Motion - Convenience fees to adopt the hunttestsecretary.com system should be collected while entering the dogs for a test. SECONDED, APPROVED 6 Yah s, 1 Nay (Knutson) There is a $5.50 fee charged by hunt test secretary per dog (none goes to APLA). This fee will be assessed at time of entry. Executive session: Discussion of Personnel matters MOTION to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel Issues Seconded Approved unanimously MOTION to go back into General Session - Seconded Approved Unanimously MOTION: All committees/commissions shall report to the BOD (including executive sessions). SECONDED, APPROVED unanimously Judges commission Bachkosky The Judges Commission reported the APLA added 4 judges to every stake this year Marketing Outreach (reference email) Knutson Discussion on extra titles and how much it costs to run a test, versus the extra titles. Should we do more than just offer tests? Yes! Information endorsed by APLA should be offered on how good these dogs are (not just tests!). Bird suppliers, videos of PL s, training grounds, local clubs, etc. Fiscal house in order, ran 9 tests in fall all in black, now focus on future of APLA. What are our strategic objectives? Vic to ask for input into 2015 year s focus. Looking forward to next year s BOD for new focus. Rules committee: Dale reported that shortly he will create a Judges written Test, for full rules committee review, that will needed to be passed for judges to retain their judging credentials. No action since last meeting.
4XGMPR committee: Note: Members with new 4XGMPR titles must contact Dale Merritt and provide the information necessary to receive the plaque. Audit Committee: Vic has contacted the other committee member (Larry Kimble) and are in process of auditing the 2014 financials. New Business: Nate Hamblin submitted a draft of a new title PRC (Pointer Retriever Champion). It is included below. This discussion was held during the marketing outreach commission portion of the meeting. It was generally felt that the general membership is satisfied with a 4XGMPR title limitation. While there are some who would want more titles, the theory is it would generally be for people promoting their lines of Pointing Labs (breeders) and may not necessarily lead to a better line of PL s (only those who could afford to do so, would). Plus, to conduct a national test would require another set of resources. Not out of the question but the thought is to focus on how to grow membership so that in the future, with more judges and volunteers, we may be able to offer more tests. A record of 9 tests has really stretched out judging pool this year. General Forum open to the public: No report due to medical leave. Will be on agenda in January.. Next meeting Tuesday Jan 20, 2015 Motion to Adjourn at 8:55 pm (CST) Respectfully submitted 12/17/2014, Vic Rompa APLA President
Proposal: Update and improve the current APLA entry system into a more member friendly on-line entry system utilizing huntsecretary.com Reason for change: Due to member comment, have a system were multiple dogs can be entered in different stakes at one time Benefits to members: 1)Current online entry system does not allow multiple dog entries at one time. The owner/handler has to continually go back out to the beginning and enter the next dog. With huntsecretary.com the owner/handler will be able to enter multiple dogs in multiple stakes at one time, cutting down the time to enter the dog 75% 2) Able to have multiple dogs under profile and add or remove as needed 3) Have ability to join and/or renew membership while entering dogs, a$35.00 membership box will be included 4) Members would be able to enter a dog for multiple stakes ( i.e.: Sat & Sun MPR) in one transaction instead of the one stake per transaction in our current system thus saving time and cutting down on entry errors. Benefits to APLA operations: 1)Huntsecretary.com would host every test for APLA
2)Provide excel spreadsheet to hunt test secretary for setting run order or set the run order then send spreadsheet to hunt test secretary for approval or change. 3) At close of test a spreadsheet sent to Sandy so that can be populated into the current hunt test system 4) After run order is set, another spreadsheet sent to Sandy for use if needed 5) After run order set and approved, huntsecretary.com (Janet Kimbrough) will print out premiums and send to hunt test secretary 6) huntsecretary.com will supply marshal sheets for each stake and each day 7) Liability sheets will be able to be read and then an acknowledgment box selected to continue entry. This will cut down APLA liability paperwork by at least 60% as all handlers/owners will have to read and select that box in order to finish up entries. 8) Anyone can see how many entries and per stake there is at any time 9) huntsecretary.com upon APLA request can require an APLA dog number and membership number to be populated in order to enter that dog. 10) huntsecretary.com can set up a registration event so members can enter their CP dogs and send the registration to the registration email in advance of either Spring or Fall hunt tests, so that way the CPR dogs will have an APLA number. Sandy would get the registration event spreadsheet after the close and then she can issue APLA numbers to the dogs and notify the owners. 11) Checks for event entries would be sent directly to the APLA treasurer. The cost reduction from our merchant Elevon, during hunt test times which can approach or exceed $1,000 in fees, The savings could be $400+ per event or an even break if the APLA accepts up the $2.00 fee as stated below. 12) Scratches prior to event closing: member contacts huntsecretary.com via email or phone call and entry fee minus the $3.50 fee previous paid will be refunded. Sandy will not have to do any scratch refunds prior to the close of each event.
Limitations of huntsecretary.com system: 1) Unable to post test results 2) Judges score sheets and pass/fail sheets will still have to generated off current APLA hunt test system 3) Not really a limitation, but every owner and or handler will need to have their own account on huntsecretary.com and know how to gain access if they are the handler. 4) huntsecretary.com system cannot differentiate and know if a dog number or membership number is valid and/or current Additional Costs : 1) Should be no additional work for Sandy provided excel sheets populate correctly for huntsecretary.com 2) Each entry would be charged $5.50 by huntsecretary.com at time of entry to the member (member incurred cost) 4) No startup cost at this time 5) A registration event would cost like.50 cents per dog, as nothing needs printed, just a spreadsheet made out and sent. (APLA cost currently) Feedback from membership: Question was asked about using huntsecretary.com on the APLA members only forum. Responses below As they are on the web site:
I went out and talked to the folks at huntsecretary.com and they are open to being our hunt test entry host. This sight is very similar to entry express, but you would be able to enter multiple dogs at one time, as long as the dogs have been loaded in the data base. There is also a per entry fee of $3.50 that would be assessed above the entry price. That $3.50 charge goes right to huntsecretary.com not the APLA. I know here is a want for an easier hunt test entry system, and this may just be what we are looking for. what do you think? I think it is a great idea. That would enable us to use our resources to address other website problems. Marlana Smith
Thank You Marlana, There are allot of pluses for using this, the one down side if it is, there is an additional cost to the owner/handler for each entry, but it is a dollar cheaper than entry express. They charge the club $2.00 per entry for the premiums, marshal sheets etc. either send a check or have the ability to direct deposit the entries for a small fee, and you get to enter multiple dogs at one time. Richard McCullough (Administrator) The only paperwork needed then from current APLA system is the judges sheets, score sheets, and waivers. No brainer!! Go for it please and thank you!! Aaron R Stover I use Hunt Test Secretary all the time, well worth it! Kevin and Barbara Eskam
I think its a good idea to at least consider. Does the APLA save any money by using this service or is it mostly a benefit to the HT Chairs/Secretaries? Peter Balzer The cost to the APLA would be $2.00 per entry, and that covers the catalogs, marshal sheets, and mailings. The benefit would be a handler like Mike and John from K&L would be able to pretty much enter 20 dogs in less than 5 minutes after the dogs are entered in the data base. A considerable time saver over the current entry method. Main reason I started talking to huntsecretary was all your concerns on hunt test entries. We were looking for solutions, and this is a good start not perfect but a good start. Richard McCullough (Administrator) There are things that is done on Wild Apricot that this site cannot do, and they will have to send Sandy a document or two so score sheets, pass/fail sheets, and dogs can be entered into that data base for certificates.
PRC (Pointer Retriever Champion) Qualifications of title Must acquire 5 points from the APLA Grand Master Nationals and must have placed 1 st in one APLA Grand Master Nationals. Points will be awarded as follows 1 st place = 4 points, 2 nd place = 3 points and 3 rd place = 2 points. Test The test will be paneled by four APLA certified Master Judges that will be made up of 3 judges and one head judge. Each dog will be scored by the three judges individually and their scores will be compiled by the head judge. The Head Judge will step in to judge in a case where there is a conflict of interest and will be the final decision on any dispute. The available judges will be voted in by members each year and the judge with top votes will be nominated the head judge and the next three will be the panel of judges. We will also have a reserve judge in the case were we have a conflict of interest with two judges. The reserve judge will participate with the panel so that they are up on all the dogs running but will not score any dogs unless they are needed as the third judge. We will also have everyone that wants to submit their application to hold the APLA Grand Master Nationals and the board will narrow it down to three suitable locations and put it up for vote as well by the current APLA members and the one with the most votes will host the event. We will start the serious out with an Upland run which we will only carry the top 40% of the dogs to the next serious. The next 3 serious will be retriever serious with at least one being a Land serious and one being a Water serious. After completing these three serious they will eliminate them down to the top five dogs and on the last day they will complete their final upland serious were the judges will award a 1 st, 2 nd, 3 rd and 4 th place finishers and hand out the trophies. During the final upland serious there will be no action that will eliminate the dog from the field they will just be judged accordingly and it will reflect in their placement. Qualifications to enter the APLA Grand Master Nationals The dog must be a 4X GMPR and must have passed a minimum of 3 MPR test during the current APLA hunt test year. This is a start of what I think the APLA could do to increase its sustainability. I believe this will increase its sustainability because it will allow members to stay involved and participating. It does this because it gives them a reason to keep running and campaigning their dogs. This will for sure increase the number of dogs running at the tests because it will bring dogs back to compete who would have otherwise retired after completing their 4XGMPR it will also without a doubt increase the number of people who complete their 4XGMPR because they want to compete in this competition. By requiring those to have 3 passes in a year helps us insure sustainability because it requires them to continue to
run their dogs to qualify. It also insures that the pointing lab breed will continue to get better and gain back its prestige as well. It will do this because by adding this level of competition you will without a doubt slowly increase the level of expectation as well. Again this is a start of an idea and I truly believe that we could build the start of a great thing from this going forward if we are able to look at this and find solutions for making it work and not reasons on why it will not. Thanks Ray Sweetman