General Membership Meeting Minutes
November 18, 2007
Steve Rice, president, called the meeting to order at approximately 4:00 PM. Steve said that Jacquie Cowan had some words to read. Some members asked why we were straying from the normal order of the meeting. Steve Rice said because he wanted to. It was mentioned that , Jacquie’s statement would not be part of the minutes. Steve Rice said Jacquie did not care. Jacquie read a prepared statement. At the conclusion of the statement Kim Rich resigned as secretary. Kim indicated that she had brought everything that belonged to the club and that she wanted someone to sign for it. Maria Perez said that the only one that could sign would be the sitting president. Steve Rice said it did not matter. Kim left the room. Steve Rice asked if anyone could read the minutes of the October meeting. Tom Gossard volunteered and Tom read the entire newsletter. Terry Reinbold said she had some corrections to the minutes. Steve said before discussion we needed a motion to accept. There was a motion from the floor with a second to accept the minutes. Maria Perez then asked for the floor and read some corrections to the minutes and addressed the letter from the president that had been sent out to the membership. Maria mentioned that she was speaking of the presidents letter not for its content, but because the letter violated by law rules (see corrections and violations). Jacquie Cowan said that Scott Douglas did in fact second her motion and that the motion failed because no one voted. Maria Perez said that Steve Rice never called her motion about the Expo to a vote. Terry Reinbold again asked to be recognized. Terry explained that the minutes did not reflect the statement about Country Care correctly. Terry explained that Country Supply would contribute to MATWHA 5% of purchases made by club members when they used the code MATWHA when the total of the purchases came to $50.00, not when “Members spend at least $50.00 each month” as the newsletter stated. Steve Rice called for a vote accepting the minutes with the correction. The motion passed unanimously.
Steve Rice then called for the Treasurer’s Report (see the report included). Bonnie Bucher passed out two statements, the first was concerning the Fun Show monies that Bonnie was in charge of. She pointed out that there was an excess of $207.45 and there was $60 still outstanding. She then went on to detail the club finances. Julio Perez made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report with a second from Ann McFarland. Tom Gossard asked Bonnie why she was showing the money for the Fun Show Circuit in the MATWHA Income Statement. He stated that Maria Perez had asked Bonnie in the October meeting to keep the monies separated. Bonnie explained that the monies are accounted for separately. Someone mentioned that short of having two accounts this was sufficient. The report was accepted unanimously.
Steve Rice called for Old Business.
Trail Riding - Tony Perez asked that new members be presented, since
we always do it in the beginning and we had skipped it. Steve Rice
said no, new member applications could wait. Jacquie Cowan reported
on the trail rides that are coming up (see attached flyer). Jacquie
distributed a copy of the Chesapeake Newsletter.
High Point - Ann McFarland reported that most categories were tallied.
She still needs some members to let her know what shows to drop. She
also needs to work on the youth and novice categories. When all is done,
she will have someone look it over to verify her numbers. Robin Ciapponi
asked Ann if she had the nomination for her horse. Robin noted that her
horse was not on the Horse of the Year Ballot so she assumed that Ann
did not have the nomination. Ann said that she did not have anything
from Robin. Ann will work with Robin to correct this problem. Toward
the end of the meeting, Ann asked if there was a budget for the High
Point trophies. She was told she needed to present a budget for the membership’s
approval. Bonnie Bucher looked up what the expense was for the 2006 High
Point. Going from the 2006 expense, Steve Bucher made a motion that a
budget be established for High Point 2007 of $700. Robin Lord seconded
the motion. The motion passed, unanimously.
Show Committee- Steve Rice called for a report from the show committee.
Maria Perez asked which committee., the one day committee, the Classic
or the committee formed to find a new location for the Classic. Steve
said it did not matter. The Classic does not have a show committee right
now, the one day-show committee has not met to start the 2008 process.
Julio Perez asked Maria Perez to give the report on the committee looking
for a new location. Maria reported that they had met and there were various
possibilities for a new location. The most appealing was a new park to
be opened soon, the DREAM Park in New Jersey.
Banquet - Sharon Gettle was not present, but Angie reported that Sharon
had said that it was all set.
The members present again asked the president to present the new membership application. Tom Gossard presented the following new members; Kathie Gregg, Jenny Ryan and Mike Perez, all returning members. Tom made a motion that the new members be accepted with a second from Bonnie Bucher. The members were accepted, unanimously.
New Officers – Steve Rice said that everyone had a ballot and should vote. Tom said to Steve that he had to open each position for nominations from the floor. Steve opened the position of president, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Parliamentarian and Directors. Tom Gossard nominated Jacquie Cowan for Secretary. Maria Perez, Parliamentarian, said to Jacquie that she was already on the slate for Director. That if she wished to run for Secretary, she needed to withdraw her name from the directors. Jacquie said it did not matter to her and that she would remain in the slate as a nominee for director. Andrea Perez nominated Julie Stein for Director. Julie accepted. Gale Monahan asked the two candidates for President to speak on what their plans were to unite this club. Tony Perez had a written statement, which he read (see statement enclosed). Tom Gossard stated that he was the first MATWHA president until elections were held. Then he became the vice president. Later he served as president again when the sitting president did not finish his term. Maria Perez asked Tom if he had served in any other capacity in MATWHA. Tom said he served as Treasurer, but resigned in the middle of his term because of the bickering in the club. Tom addressed Gale’s question by saying that he felt that the club was splintered so that he did not see it united in the future.
At this point, Jenny Ryan asked to address the membership. She had a
prepared statement that she read which addressed the comments made by
Steve Rice in his letter to the membership that was included in the October
newsletter (statement is enclosed). After Jenny concluded, Bonnie Bucher
asked for the floor. Bonnie too had a written statement, which is enclosed,
that addressed the comments from the president, Steve Rice. When Bonnie
finished, Steve Rice asked Steve Bucher and Angie Biddison to count the
ballots. It was stated from the floor that both Steve and Angie were
on the ballots. Steve was unopposed, but Angie was not and it would not
be proper for her to count the ballots. Rose Murphy volunteered to count
the ballots with Steve Bucher.
As Steve Bucher and Rose Murphy left the room to count the ballots, the
president, Steve Rice got up and announced he was quitting. Maria Perez
asked him if he was not going to respond to anything that had been said
today. Steve said, “No, I’m out of here” and left the
room.
Julio Perez, being the Vice President, presided over the remainder of
the meeting.
THE 2008 BOARD
President Tony Perez
Vice President Angie Biddison
Treasurer Bonnie Bucher
Secretary Maria Perez
Parliamentarian Steve Bucher
DIRECTORS
Gayle Miller Julie Stein
Julio Perez Andrea Perez
New Business
The next meetings. It was stated that we should go back to having meetings
at members houses. Jacquie suggested we have the January 2008 meeting at the
Roy Rogers. The meeting schedule is as follows:
December 16, 2007 – Andrea & Tony Perez’s
January 13, 2008 – Roy Rogers, Frederick, MD
February 16, 2008 – The Cozy restaurant before the banquet.
March 16, 2008 – Gale Monahan's
Julio asked for a motion to adjourn. Mike Perez made the motion with
a second from Gayle Miller. The meeting was adjourned with a unanimous
decision from the membership.
Respectfully submitted by,
Maria Perez
Acting MATWHA Secretary