First, I would like to offer my personal apology for the conduct of a member or members which completely disrupted last night’s Board meeting and made it impossible for the Board to continue and conduct business with the phone lines open. If it was genuinely a mistake on the offender’s part, that is understandable; none of us is perfect. If it was intentional, we WILL find out who is responsible and hold them accountable. No one has the right to disenfranchise the membership in this manner.
There will be a Special Board Meeting and a Special GSDCA Charitable Trust Meeting, (one to follow the other), on Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 4:00 PM Pacific Time. The Agenda is as follows:
GSDCA Meeting: Reapprove holding the GSDCA National Specialty in Gray Summit, Missouri and Springfield, Illinois from Tuesday, October 6, 2020, through Saturday, October 17, 2020. Carmen Battaglia and Michael Banks will hold discussion.
GSDCA Charitable Trust Meeting: Reapprove the expenditure of $12,000 on the new Illustrated Standard. James Moses and MaryEllen Kish to present (again.)
The call-in number is 712-770-4010, Access Code 220853#.
Last night, at both Carmen Battaglia’s advice as well as the advice of Michael Banks, the attorney who chairs our Covid-19 Committee, the Board elected to rescind the motion to adhere to what were interpreted as seven “rules” for holding the National during this pandemic. Both Carmen and Michael believed that these “rules,” which were only guidelines when proposed by John Ayotte but recorded as requirements, would put the GSDCA in a position of potential liability and they needed to be removed or restated. The Board voted to rescind the original motion and go on with the plans for the National in Springfield.
Suddenly, earlier this morning, a number of individuals on the Board are now claiming that, by rescinding John’s motion, the Board has, in effect, canceled the National. That was neither the case NOR the intent but this is the course some Board members have chosen to take. Therefore, this needs to be addressed and rectified ASAP and will be done at the GSDCA meeting next Wednesday evening.
Last night, James Moses and MaryEllen Kish CLEARLY explained that they needed a $12,000 budget to cover the costs already incurred in the construction and illustration of a new GSD Illustrated Standard. Jim specifically stated that the costs would probably be $10,000 or slightly less but wanted the leeway in the budget for any items that might come up between now and final approval. The funds requested would be paid by the GSDCA Charitable Trust and would cover the illustrator’s fees and formatting of the Illustrated Standard in preparation for printing. The Board approved the expense.
Suddenly, earlier this morning, I received emails from several Board members that stated, since this was a GSDCA meeting, no discussion of GSDCA Trust issues could be had. Therefore, we need to address Jim and MaryEllen’s request for funds at yet
another meeting and will hold a Charitable Trust meeting directly following the GSDCA meeting next Wednesday evening.
Once again, I offer my personal apologies. I can only ask that the membership understand that some of us are working extremely hard in order to hold our National this year. Clearly, the majority of the members want to have the National and I am doing everything in my limited power to make sure that it happens.
