December ‘08 Minutes

Meeting called to order at 5:50 by Mel.

Vote taken for new officers by 17 attending member’s ballots. Results are:

President:  Mel Snethern - 5 votes,

                  Ashley Forrester - 11 votes

Vice President:  Megan Rogers - 10 votes,                                      Bobby Bair - 7 votes

Secretary:  Leza Smith – 12 votes

Treasurer:  Claudia Madden – 12 votes

Ashley read last months minutes, Barb motioned the minutes stand as read and Michelle second.

Barb is still working on getting 4-H members involved with the club and finding out if they would like to use our arena.

Discussion on getting event dates set and going to the city council.

Frank is in the hospital, the club decided to send flowers and balloons.

The checking has $1742.53; a check for $450 was made to John McIntare for sand bringing the total to $1292.53.

Discussion on a buckle for Ronnie and Mel, Megan to check on prices.

Ronnie talked about members needing to help the club or it will fail in 09.

Discussion about a sign to go across the entryway and a work day in the spring.

Discussion on having Cowboy Church at the arena. Barb motioned and Ronnie second.

Discussion about having horse soccer on Thursday nights.

Lora motioned the meeting closed and Ashley second.

January ‘09 Minutes

Ashley called the meeting to order @ 7:02. The meeting was attended by all 4 officers and 10 members.

Ashley read the Dec meeting minutes. Frank Bernard motioned they be accepted as read except for the Treasures Report, which was incorrect. Travis Forester 2^nd – voted and approved.

Claudia went and got the mail that had not been picked up since October 08. There were 3 bank statements there along with some overdue bills. There is a K-Kountry bill for 313.50; the club was told that the live remote was in trade for advertising signs. Ashley will follow up. After balancing the checkbook with the statements the corrected Treasurers Report is:

Oct 08 starting BAL 1319.96 ending BAL

Nov 08 ending Bal 1351.95

Dec 08 ending Bal 752.53

There was quite a bit of hot discussion on just how the checking account got run down so much last year. There was a start up amount in Jan 08 of 3919.02. There were expenditures made that were not approved by or even brought before the club. We also had poor attendance at many events due to a lack of advertising and also the economy.

There was a deposit made on Jan 8 bringing the balance to 936.53.

There was a motion made by Ashley to remove Mel, Colleen & Michelle from the bank signature card and add Claudia, Ashley, Megan & Leza. Travis 2^nd – voted and passed.

Needed changes to the Bylaws were discussed, the main points being combining the Treasurer and the Secretary into one office, adding 2 board members, having monthly board meetings, having VP also serve as Sergeant of Arms, and expenditure control. All proposed changes were agreeable to the members present. The secretary will prepare an amended bylaw and the changes will be voted on at the Feb meeting.

Ashley will go to the city to renew the lease.

The confirmed dates for JW Rodeos are May 22 & 23 and Sept 6 & 7. Ashley and one other officer to meet with JW for details and a contract. Ashley is also working on added money sources.

Insurance for the rodeos and bull busts and other outside contractors will be approx $1000.

There will be no South Central Show this year.

Ashley to check on a Trick Riding Show.

Barb Cooper will check about meetings at Stateline.

The members present discussed and approved quarterly newsletters with post card reminders in between.

West Plains club is willing to combine horse shows with us. Insurance money is a big problem, will check and see if we can do Cowboy Race instead on the city side of the grounds instead of Horse Shows.

Meeting adjourned at 8:06 by Ashley.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is on February 5^th @7pm at the Stateline Restaurant.

The State of the Club

Last year was tuff; we are starting this year with a small checkbook and higher costs for everything. One thing we will do to save money is only send a newsletter quarterly, with a reminder postcard in between. It would also help if those of you that have emails would let Leza (horsesmiths@tek-web.com) know your email address so we can send your newsletters and notices via email at no cost to the club.

There is a membership application enclosed, it is the only copy you’ll get sent to you. Please send it

 back with a check or better yet come to the next meeting and drop it off in person. If you can afford a little extra to help out, the club will appreciate that very much. 

Those of you that have billboard signs with us could also help out by renewing them as early in the season as possible.

We have to purchase insurance for the club before we can have any events this year and the cost for the insurance has sky-rocketed over the last couple of years.

We have two Rodeos scheduled, a Bull bust also and would like to be able to combine with West Plains on Horse Shows.

There had been a discussion last fall on purchasing buckles to thank Ronnie and Mel for their service. Sorry guys, that will have to be tabled until the club is flush again.

We need some dependable folks to take on the Trail Boss job, and for the Horse Shows this year the Chairperson would alternate months with West Plains and get to play every other month instead of having to work their tail off all year long. If you’re feeling motivated, please, step right on up!!

Unless someone is willing to find the funds for insurance and prizes and chair the Cowboy Race, there won’t be any races scheduled this year.

Billboards

The billboard signs are a good source of funds for the club. At the November ’08 meeting is was decided to change the sizes and pricing. The signs will be only 2’ high (2x8 or 2x4) so that they can all be placed along the arena fences without blocking the view of the events, but will be at eye level and give better exposure to our sponsors. The smaller sizes will also allow us to price them lower, a good thing to do in this miserable economy. A few people will be able to easily mount and maintain them also. This has been a problem in the past. There will still be 5 premium spaces above the chutes for larger 4x8 signs for our best sponsors. Someone from the club will be in contact with all you sponsors soon and we hope you’ll again help us out the best you can.

The Clubhouse

The day before the 0 temperatures hit in January Megan and Leza with help from Travis who was there to spread the sand around, winterized the toilets. The doors to the restrooms had been left unlocked even though the water is turned off for the winter. You can all probably imagine what the toilets were like. We went and got a barrel of water and some Vicks for our noses and chipped/scrubbed away until we finally got a clean flush and then winterized the bowls and tanks. There are broken

 pipes in the clubhouse going to the kitchen again. Ashley’s Dad has agreed to replumb with the new style flexible pipe that won’t keep cracking on us as soon as we can afford to buy some. Thank you sir!!

The clubhouse is in need of a paint spruce up. Does anyone have access to some paint at a big discount or maybe even some to donate? We will need to have a clean-up day later in the spring.

Winter Storage

Last fall the club had purchased quite a bit of soda for a fall hoe-down event with K-Kountry that didn’t happen. Leza has that stored in her temperature controlled basement for the club. The timer, PA system and left over tack for awards are also at Leza’s for the winter.

Ads & Notices

In future newsletters, I’ll be happy to post anything you’re needing to sell or trade, or anything you’re looking for.

As long as there’s space for it, there’s no charge. We all need to hang together and help each other out however we can.

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I sure am glad to be back serving as your secretary again and hope to see many of you down at the arena when the weather is warmer. Let’s all work towards better times again.

Brrr…. It’s cold enough to freeze a snowhorse plum solid….  ;-)