Officers

Regional Directors

Membership application

By-Laws

Minutes

Andrea Walsh memorial Raise-A-Lamb project

Board of Directors Meeting

January 12, 2002

Morrison Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Attending: Keith Stumbo, Kathy Stumbo, Bruce Vermeulen, Jean Walsh, Bob Melchior, Sue Smith, Todd Parsons, Don Otterness, Nancy Morey, Mike Thonney.

Jim Dunham was unable to attend because of illness; the meeting was called to order by Vice President Keith Stumbo.

Nancy read the minutes from the October Meeting.  Bruce moved, Todd seconds, to accept the minutes as read.  Motion passes.

Nancy has asked ASI for an accounting of expenses related to the membership mailings, as has Jim.  We still have not received one.  Jim will continue to pursue.

Kathy gave the Treasurer's Report; items below the solid line were activities to January 12.  There was some confusion over the funding to go to the MIYWW winners, and because of that, $600 was spent.  Nancy mentioned that we would be getting about $1400 from ASI in Wool Outreach Funding this year, and that the extra $400 could go towards MIYWW.  It was also noted that the Bagger line should no longer appear on the report sheet, as we sold them.  After discussion, Sue moved to send Janie Kovacs a thank you card with a check for $100 in appreciation of all of her years of dedicated service as the Coordinator for the Lamb Booth at Empire Farm Days; Bruce seconds.  Motion passes.

Committee Reports

Sheep Producer of the Year - Don did not receive any candidates this year, but it was not really publicized as it has been in the past years.  Discussion followed about how best to promote SPOY, for example, publish a list of all the past recipients in the Newsletter.

The meeting broke for lunch.  Mike Thonney was thanked for providing lunch for the BOD.

Because Mike and Bob had to leave shortly, they asked to move forward the By-Law section of the meeting.  Bob reviewed the By-Law changes that had been made since the last meeting.  The attorney recommended that the Directors not all be changed at one time; the recommendation is to change 2 Directors each year.  A nominating Committee needs to be set up to put together a list of individuals from each region to serve as Directors.  ESP would operate under the old By-Laws until next year, with the Nominating Committee putting together a slate in the fall.  The By-Laws should be considered a work in progress, to be changed when changes are necessary.  Sue moved to recommend to the General Membership at the Annual Meeting to be held later in the day, to accept the By-Laws as presented to the BOD; Bruce seconds.  Motion passes.

A discussion followed about staying in contact with Ag and Markets on any sheep related issues.  Bob Melchior agrees to serve as a liaison between Ag & Markets and ESP.  Bob also agreed to be the Membership Committee Chair.  Bob was thanked for all his efforts on working on the By-Laws.

Quality Meats Exhibit - A discussion followed about ways to improve this exhibit to showcase NYS producers and products.  In a newsletter, producers interested in being listed in a Directory would be asked to contact us.

Wool Center - Preparations are underway for this year's Fair; not much has happened other than planning since the last written report.

Budget - Todd asked for a clarification about whether ASI has been notified that ESP will be conducting its own membership mailing.  Nancy has spoken with Judy Brown, who handled the membership for ASI, and she is aware of this and would not do another mailing without our approval.

A lengthy discussion followed about how to promote membership in ESP so that members feel they will be "getting their money's worth".  Suggestions included: each affiliate group would be featured in the Newsletter; promotion at all Sheep & Wool Festivals in NYS; media recognition; direct marketing publications; establishing a committee for promotion of ESP; and including the ESP membership form on the Cornell Sheep webpage.  Bruce volunteers to Chair this Committee.

Andrea Walsh Memorial Award - Don has updated the application.  This is not in the ESP Budget, and is self-supporting.  The Schoharie group has offered to put all the information about the program into booklet form to document the program so far.  While there is no firm application deadline, there are some rules for the youngsters who are showing the sheep, so they need to be abided by.  It was suggested to publicize this more in the Newsletter and to put something in the ESP Budget to cover any unforeseen expenses.

Nancy spoke briefly about the new Wool Outreach Funding from ASI.  This is the same program as last year, with New York getting about $400 more than last year's monies.  We budgeted according to what we received last year.

Nancy had received a phone call from an individual at Ag & Markets who is interested in working with the wool pools and exploring possible options and grant funding if we went to a state-wide pooling process.  This person works primarily with export markets, but would consider other options.  Nancy asked if the BOD would like this explored further; the consensus was to follow up on it.

Newsletter - the copy for the next issue is due by February 10.  This will be the general deadline for all of the remaining issues (April, June, August, October, and December).  You can send information to Janice Handy via e-mail if that is more convenient than faxing or mailing.

Keith asked for a moment of silence in remembrance of Phil Comings.  The BOD felt it important to establish a memorial in Phil's honor.  After discussion of many options, Todd moves to establish the Phil Comings Memorial as a 1-year membership in ESP for a new producer from each of the 6 regions (1 in each of the 6 regions); Sue seconds.  Motion passes.  After notifying Pauline and her family, an announcement will be put in the Newsletter, with a deadline for fall and announcement of those receiving the award at the Annual Meeting 2003.

Nominations - Sue presented the following slate of Officers: for President, Jim Dunham; for Vice President, Keith Stumbo; for Secretary, Betsy Hodge; for Treasurer, Kathy Stumbo.  Todd seconds.  Motion passes.

A reminder of the following Committees and their chairs...Membership - Bob Melchior; Promotion - Bruce Vermeulen; Nominating - vacant.

The next scheduled meeting will be on May 31 at Cobleskill at 7:30 pm.

Meeting adjourned at 3:45pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Morey