Saturday, June 30, 2018Bizzell: Before I get started, I have an agenda that also includes a set of deadlines. If
anyone did not receive a copy, please raise your hand and I will get you a copy. I have a stack
here left. If you realize you don’t have one later, we have them up here. We don’t have
everybody back in the room but I do need to get started or we will not get finished. In addition to
what’s on our agenda, we have at least two other items that have been brought forward, so I
would like to try to get us through the agenda items. Every one is important. I do want to stress
that we are unlikely to come up with complete solutions today. I would like to get the board’s
help, the help of the IT Committee, Central Office and the Breed Council Secretaries, maybe
form committees to try to make sure these things get solved before another cycle comes around.
So, if the Breed Councils need help from the board, now is a good time to ask. If the board needs
something from the Breed Council Secretaries, now is a good time to ask, but we have less than
an hour and a half now, so just saying. We’re going to have to go crisply through this.Bizzell: The first thing we need to do is quickly run through and introduce yourselves,
what breed you’re representing, and if you’re not the Breed Council Secretary or Breed
Committee Chair, then you’ll have to tell us what breed you’re representing, because if you’re
not the Breed Council Secretary I’m not going to have you on my list as having been present. So
anyway, let’s start with you. Speak loudly please. Just pass it down the aisle.Cyndee Hill Sphynx
Carissa Altschul Persian
Orca Starbuck Chartreux
Jan Rogers American Wirehair
Nancy Dodds Cornish Rex
Howard Webster Balinese/Javanese
Sherrie Phelps Siberian
Marie Vodicka Bengal
Sonja Moscoffian Ocicat
Stephanie Moore Burmilla
Marianne Clark Japanese Bobtail
Cyndy Byrd British Shorthair
Trudie Allen Maine Coon
Brigitte Jean-Duguay Ragdoll
Shelbie Friemoth American Bobtail
Bruce Russell Scottish Fold
Mary Ellen Troup Khao Manee
Kathryn Brady Colorpoint Shorthair
Linda Peterson Devon Rex
Mary Kolencik Siamese
Ikuyo Takase Singapura
Laura Jo Barber Selkirk Rex
Susan Murphy Manx
Annette Wilson Russian Blue
Bob Zenda American Shorthair
Jeri Zottoli Bombay, also representing Birman and Havana Brown
Claire Dubit Tonkinese
Cheryl Coleman Korat
Judy Bemis European Burmese
Martha Auspitz Abyssinian
Keith Kimberlin representing Norwegian Forest Cat
Kitty Barie Norwegian Forest Cat [joining the meeting later]
Rachel Anger OrientalBizzell: Just so you know, there are minutes of this meeting so it is important that you
identify yourself when you start speaking, so that can be captured. Welcome everyone to the
meeting. There’s a lot to cover. There are a lot of issues and a lot of opportunities to improve. I
have to stand; otherwise, I can’t see any of you guys. Apparently I’m getting shorter every year,
sadly.1. Issues with timing and format of the year-end breed files
Bizzell: Item #1 has to do with the breed files that you received at the end of the year. I
know that there were a lot of complaints. I will tell you that there have already been some steps
taken to pave the road for improvement for next year. This is going to be a joint process. We
already have Annette Wilson, who put together quite a detailed description of what needs to be
fixed. In addition, Norm Auspitz – who is not currently a Breed Council Secretary but he is very
close to someone who is – put together an Excel file which showed what was received and then a
strong recommendation how it could be presented to make it much easier. I know when I was a
Breed Council Secretary, I’m not an IT person. I would get the file and it would take me days to
sort through it and figure out the best way to present it for my breed council. So, it would be nice
to concentrate all that effort in Central Office. Central Office will probably need IT assistance to
getting this to where it’s a little less onerous a task. I know a lot of hard work went into it at
Central Office but the product that was received was not satisfactory to the Breed Council
Secretaries. Does anyone want to speak to this? Kolencik: I had a lot of issues, as everybody
else did, with the files. I spent hours trying to get it where I could actually use it, but I have a
request. One of the things that I need the files for, I know it takes a while to get it. I know that
Central Office has to first work on making sure the points are all correct, that you have to work
on getting the files to the regions first, and I know that we’re next. What would really help is if
maybe early April you could have a list of the names and addresses of people who have maybe
the top 30 cats. One of the things I need the file for early on, as quickly as possible, is to send
them a list and say, “you might be getting an award, would you like a duplicate?” So, if I have
that list of addresses, even if I don’t know the exactly placement, just names and addresses that I
can say, “you might be getting an award, would you like a duplicate?” That would help me so
much if I had that in early April. Maybe that would take some burden off Central Office in how
fast they get it out. I have a question about this. In the Rules of Registration, it says that an
owner’s name – the owner name of the cat can only be 35 characters, and yet we have 6-7
columns with owners’ names. I had one cat this year that had 8 names on it. I’m like, I can’t print
this on the trophy, I can’t print all of these names on a trophy. I thought the names were
supposed to be 35 characters. So, what I would like is, if I know some people want to be able to
spell out all those names, but could we also have the 35 character name that actually is the
registration name of the cat? Bizzell: Is there anyone here in the room that can clarify that? I
didn’t realize we were limited to 35 characters for the owners. I thought that was just the cat
name. Hannon: What about Dick? Kallmeyer: I don’t know. Kolencik: Could somebody check
on that, because in the Rules of Registration it says 35 letters, but somehow when you register a
cat or kitten, you’re allowed to add a whole bunch of names. I don’t have a problem with people
who want that so they can spell it all out, but I would also like the 35 character name so that
when I put this on a trophy and I can’t fit all that, then I know what that person thinks the name
of their owner is. Bizzell: OK. Thanks for that Mary. I didn’t even realize that was an issue. I
didn’t realize that was a limitation that was stated. Kallmeyer: The reason for registration is that
when you have multiple owners, they keep an owner field which is basically the 6-digit owners
so when they can list the long owner names, they take that field and expand it out to the name. In
the old days, they used to have a display field – the 35 characters. That’s where we got all those
initials and everything for the awards, but I think for annuals we passed a resolution that said
these are the initials. They had to use the full name. I vaguely remember. Rachel might know,
but that’s where the expanded field came from. Hannon: It shouldn’t matter. All she’s asking for
is, what are the 35 characters that is the official registered owner. Kolencik: Right. Most have
both, so if people want to use that they can. Bizzell: OK. Could I just put together a little core
committee to help bird dog this? Yes, I was going to point at you first. Annette, do you mind
being on that committee since you went through all the process? And Martha, with help from
someone in your household? Auspitz: Yes. Bizzell: I think we can nail down some significant
improvements, but again I will need your help, and the help from Central Office and potentially
from IT.2. Breed Council Renewal issues
Bizzell: The next item – this year we had some breed council renewal issues that had to
do with – part of the issue is that all the Breed Council information is still on the old system,
which has worked fairly well for the last many decades. However, now there have been issues
with it, so we need to find a way between now and next April 30 to correct the issues we’ve had,
and to make it easier to re-join, join the Breed Councils and Breed Committees. Altschul: I
actually brought this up with Verna because I wanted to know, what was the process in Central
Office? Do they actually check the litters and the cat that was shown on the applications, because
the implication was made on our Breed Council Secretaries’ list that Central Office was not
actually verifying those. Verna did confirm with me that they are verifying them. They have a
process in place for checking when a cat was shown. They have all the catalogs. They are in
large file cabinets by date, so it’s not that difficult for them to look it up. This came up as an
issue with people who are trying to Rapid Renew who had let their memberships lapse. I wish
there was somebody in this room who remembers when Rapid Renew came in place, because
there was nobody on the Breed Council list who could remember. So, I went back and did some
research on my own. I found some old Constant Contact messages that said Rapid Renew was
restricted to current Breed Council members only. It was not for people who had previously
qualified for Rapid Renew who had let their membership lapse and now wanted to rejoin on an
election year without bothering to look up all the old information. I believe Rapid Renew was
meant for people who are loyal to the Breed Councils, not for people who only join when it’s an
election year or when there is something important they want to vote on. There’s a point of
joining your Breed Council every year. It shouldn’t just be because a you want to vote that year,
it should be because you’re proud to be on that Breed Council. So, right now, Central Office
decided on their own that you could just tell them you’re Rapid Renew and they will just take
your word for it. That’s an issue. Hannon: I don’t understand what the point is of what you’re
asking the Central Office to do. They have already looked up the information. You want them
again to go back and check all these catalogs. If they have their previous Rapid Renewal number,
you’ve got proof that they have already checked this. Altschul: There’s no different number for
Rapid Renew versus Breed Council membership, so Central Office, by a membership number,
does not actually know if you are Rapid Renew. I did ask them if they could find a tag in a file,
like I look up your name and it says you’re Rapid Renew. She said on some of them it did, so
they can just look up a person’s name. There was some sort of identifier that said you are
previously qualified for Rapid Renew, but it’s not on everybody’s. At this point, the message that
was sent to our list was, Central Office will just take your word for it that you’re Rapid Renew.
That is the email that went to our list, and that’s a problem. I’m sorry, people are honest but not
that honest. In an election year, we should not be taking people’s word for it that they are Rapid
Renew with zero information, if they let their membership lapse. If they’re on the current list as
Rapid Renew, that’s not a problem. That’s what we’ve already been doing. They have already
been verified. Does that address what I’m asking here is a problem? Hannon: It was addressed
but we just disagree. Bizzell: I’ve just been told by Verna that you may have received some
incorrect information. If you weren’t on the Rapid Renewal list in the past, that you would not
just be having your word taken for it. We need to look at that and make sure that’s what’s
happening. Kolencik: I think that what I’m going to ask might solve a lot of this problem,
because a lot of the problem why this came up this year is because I’ve had almost 10 members
say, “how do I renew? I wasn’t a member last year,” for whatever reason. We’re not going to
crucify people if they weren’t a member for one year. I’m sorry, we can’t put them in the dog
house and do mean things to them just because they missed a year. We want them to renew. We
want to encourage them to renew. We want them back in the fold, so the problem is, they went to
the website and couldn’t figure out how to renew. The only type of membership that can renew
through the website – and I’m not talking about PDF forms, I’m talking about the web form,
where you put in your name and you pay your fee, and a message or whatever goes to Central
Office – only those people that were on the year before could do it. We need that for every type
of Breed Council membership. New people, if you’re joining for the first time, there should be a
web form that says, put in your three litters, put in this. The form should be online, not a PDF
form, but an online form. Kathy Durdick our webmaster could create this, so that every single
person and type of membership can go online and do this. We need directions on the website that
say, “this is what you need to put in,” because if somebody wasn’t on last year and you wanted
them to fill out a different form, if the web form is there to fill out they’ll do it, but there was no
directions for anybody to figure out what they needed to do. So, if we had that and if everybody
could renew online, if Central Office got to the point where everybody could do everything
online, this could be a major help and we wouldn’t have had this issue. Hannon: This is not
something that has to go through CompuTan or Sonit, this is something that our webmistress can
do. Bizzell: Yes, and I agree with you 100%. Are we done with this, or do you have something
for this discussion Jeri? Zottoli: Yes. Bizzell: Yes to something else, or yes to same subject?
Zottoli: Same subject, definitely same subject. I’m a member of 5 Breed Councils. I don’t breed
a lot of those breeds anymore, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about those breeds. That’s why
I choose to be a member of those Breed Councils. Last year when the Rapid Renewal forms
came out, the evil Bombays decided that they needed to ditch the Siamese Rapid Renewal form
behind the computer, and my husband found it about 6 months later. It was too late to renew
then. When the renewal came up, my name wasn’t on the list, then it was on the list. Mary has
been working like a dog trying to get this resolved for me, but there’s a lot of reasons why people
choose to remain on Breed Councils that they might not breed the cats anymore but they care
about what happens to those breeds. Bizzell: Right. There’s no argument there. I think we all
agree with that. Moser: I just wanted to make sure, because in my region one of my constituents
asked me because this has happened to them also, what Carissa was saying, and so are we going
to look into this to make sure that this is being done correctly, because they were really
concerned about it. Bizzell: Yes. The objective is to make sure we have the policies in place that
we believe should be in place, and then fix the computer side of the house, too – both, between
now and April 30th. Altschul: I just want to make sure that we’re clear. If you let your
membership lapse, you should have to reapply to the Breed Council, using the regular form.
That’s what I would like to do. [why?] Because Rapid Renew was meant for people who are on
the Breed Council already. Kolencik: Where does it say that in the Constitution? Altschul: It
says it in previous documentation. I would like someone to look up what Rapid Renew was
brought up to begin with – and I have the floor. You can speak when my turn is up. I think it
would be nice. I tried to look through the old minutes myself. There’s so many minutes, and I
was hoping someone could remember when the Rapid Renew was brought into place. Let’s use
the rules of the original Rapid Renew. Otherwise, if we can tag a file that says, “hey, this person
was Rapid Renew” then yes. As long as that information can be kept in the file, I don’t have a
problem with it but I don’t like the statement that came from Central Office that said, “we will
take your word for it that you’re Rapid Renew.” That’s my concern. If there is documentation
that Central Office can look up easily, fine; let them Rapid Renew, but I still think we need to go
back to when was Rapid Renew brought in place, because it was not always there. Anyone who
has been in CFA for a long time knows that they used to have to fill out the applications every
year, regardless of your qualifications, they have to fill out the regular application. So, what was
the original purpose of Rapid Renew? Why was it brought into place, what were the rules on it,
and why are we not following them if there are some rules there? I don’t think Central Office
needs to be making the decision on their own. Kolencik: The most important thing is how we go
forward, not looking backward. The most important thing is that we make it as easy as possible
and encourage people to get on the Breed Council. We can’t keep putting up roadblocks and
make it confusing them, so going forward we need a process for people who have bred a grand,
have met all the requirements, and maybe they were on the Breed Council two years ago. Central
Office should have a record of that. Hannon: And if they do, you’re OK with it. Kolencik: If
they do have the record, so develop a system so you can easily do this and make it as easy as
possible for people to renew. I don’t care what was done in the past or why we did something
some way, let’s make it as easy as possible going forward. Bizzell: Yes, I agree 100%. Again,
this is a multi-pronged issue, first of all to make sure the policies are in place that we believe
should be in place, and that communications that go out reflect the policy. Then secondary is,
make it easier to join, rejoin, whichever your situation is. Kuta: I have a quick thing. The link on
the regular renewal when you go to the list of breed council members? That link is broken. It’s
supposed to go to the regular renewal PDF and it goes nowhere. I just tried that. Bizzell: Yes, we
recognize there were a lot of broken things and there’s still some broken things in the process.
Vanwonterghem: Is there a reason to renew only for one year, or would there be any
objections to multiple year membership or lifetime membership? Bizzell: For people who have
Rapid Renewal, I suppose a lifetime membership – let’s think of a price we can put on that.
Really good suggestion, Peter. Kolencik: You might have constitutional issues, so we might
have to look into that. It might say in the constitution you have to renew every year. You have to
check on that. Bizzell: Good point. Auth: I know Bruce [Russell] you’re not going to like the
answer to this, but I dropped off the Scottish Fold Breed Council a number of years ago because
even though I really care about the breed, I felt like since I was no longer a breeder I shouldn’t
have a stake in the direction of the breed. As a judge I could. Now, some people aren’t going to
agree with me, but that personally is how I feel, is that unless I’m actively breeding – and I was
at Rapid Renewal – that I should have some influence over the breed in perpetuity. I don’t know
that that’s fair. Bizzell: I believe that’s constitutional, the requirements for being in a Breed
Council, so that would be a constitutional change if you wish to take a run at that. Russell: I just
want to respond to that, because I’m in the same situation that Mary is now. As a Breed Council
Secretary, I had my last litter of kittens over 2 years ago, but I plan to continue with the breed
because even though I may not be breeding, I am concerned and want to track what’s going on
with the breed. I hope that a lot of us that, at some point, retire from breeding cats will still
continue to provide positive input and also help to support the Breed Councils with sponsorships
and with any help that they can do along the way, so I would encourage people to continue.
Eigenhauser: I’m still on the issue of Breed Council lifetime memberships. My read of the
constitution is that it only provides currently for annual memberships. Kolencik: That’s why I
brought that up. Eigenhauser: But there are certain people here who love to put resolutions
before the delegation. I might suggest that there be a constitutional amendment to provide for the
possibility of lifetime memberships, and let’s see how it goes. Bizzell: Let’s see if we can
provide for that for next year. That would be excellent. Kolencik: It’s going on my list.
Zenda: To make it easy to join the Breed Council, I had members from China and
Kuwait in the Breed Council meeting this morning. Has the PDF form been translated to
Chinese? [no] With 69% of the American Shorthairs that were shown last year from China, and
we have several who want to join the Breed Council. They can’t find the form, and when they do
find it they don’t understand it, so it would be really helpful. I can carry those around and I can
help them do it. We got other stuff translated, but that’s an important one. It’s income for CFA
and they deserve to have a voice with the breed, too, since they’re working so hard with it.
Bizzell: That’s a very good point.
Barie: I’m wondering if, rather than doing a lifetime membership, if we could do 5 years
so it’s a little bit more limited but it doesn’t prohibit people from being able to sign up for an
extended period of time. They don’t have to deal with trying to find the PDF every day. Mastin:
What you might want to do when you make this proposal is, bring options to the table and work
from there, so you might want to look at a 2 year, 5 year, 10 year, maybe a lifetime membership.
Kolencik: Since I’m the one who always proposes lots of changes, what I was just thinking of
was a very generic thing, like The CFA board will establish multi-year or lifetime memberships
or something like that. Make it generic and then stick the onus back on you guys for figuring out
how much and what to do. There needs to be an ability in the constitution, and then let you figure
out what to do.3. Central Office Providing e-mail addresses and/or phone numbers of Breed
Council/Committee membersBizzell: OK, we need to move on to the next item. [reads] This is something that we need
to know from you what would be most helpful, what in my mind I’m thinking but I’m not a
Breed Council Secretary anymore, is that after August 1st, after everything has been processed,
you get a listing of all your contact information for your members. After that time, no one can
join again until May of the next year, so it should not change, OK? Is that something that would
work? Several people nodding. Peterson: I actually brought this up last year at this meeting,
because oftentimes you can’t find the correct email address or searching everywhere to find
someone to try and get them invited to my yahoogroup, because I do have a yahoogroup for
Devon Rex Breed Council, so it would be very helpful first of all to get a working email address,
because often times with especially our International and China Devon breeders, there’s 5 or 6
email addresses for one person and to get their address, their name, the correct spelling in the
right order – first, middle, last – and their email, that would make me extraordinarily happy.
Vodicka: I agree it would be great to get a full list with complete information – name, phone
number, email, but I also have a problem as a new breed and Breed Council. We have people
coming in, in this interim period between May 1st and August 1st, and I have no way to invite
them to anything. This creates a problem because they’re not involved then in the processes for
sending things for the ballot and stuff like that, because that’s also due on August 1st. I don’t
have a way to get their contact information at all if they weren’t on in previous years, and some
of them are not. Also, the only way I know people are on there is to go to the website. I don’t get
a notification that there are new people added, so I have to check that which is fine, but then I
don’t have any way to contact them. I can get their name but that’s all you can get, so I know
that may be a really big job to try to do that for all the councils. I understand that, but I just
wanted to raise that that’s an issue for us in trying to reach out to people who are joining now
through August 1st and there’s no good way to get them involved until after August 1st. Bizzell:
You have a rather unique situation, where they are going from committee to Breed Council, and
I’m not sure. We’ll have to talk later, if there’s something that we can do to help you
specifically. Clark: I think that’s a good idea what you’re proposing, because this last Spring I
asked Central Office for a list of my members’ emails so I could contact them, because they’re
not in the White Pages or they’re new or what have you. I got a list that had like 50 members on
it from the past 15 years and 4 dead people. I said to Kay, “where did you get this from?” She
said, “I don’t know.” So, that was not very helpful. Bizzell: Kay is relatively new in that
position. We’ll need to shore up the parameters around the list that goes out, obviously. Clark:
Also on my Breed Council list there’s two members that are listed twice, one is for Rapid
Renewal and one is for regular renewal. I asked about that and they said they don’t know why
it’s like that. Eigenhauser: Some of the things we’re discussing here would be changes and
some of it has to do with implementation. If we’ve got dead people on the Breed Council list,
that’s a mistake. That’s the kind of thing we should really be taking up with Central Office to
help them clean it up, so problems with the implementation I think just need to be presented to
Central Office and if you don’t get a good enough response, keep going up the chain of
command until you do. In terms of sending out emails, when people join that might work for a
small Breed Council but if your Breed Council has 100 people, do you really want to get 100
emails? So, that’s part of the problem, too – trying to find a “one size fits all” solution when
there are so many different shades and variations in what we do in CFA. So, if you have specific
complaints, certainly bring them up but if you want to talk about policy, try to think about what
works for everybody and maybe we can compromise. Allen: What all are we proposing? Just
contact information? The reason I’m asking is, one of the things as Breed Council Secretary that
I get on a regular basis are requests from people for breeders they can contact for kittens. We
have a large Breed Council and they all tell me they’re from Washington, D.C., but if all I have
is the email, I don’t know all of our Breed Council members personally. I don’t know that they
live there. Would at least the state – I don’t know if we want addresses, but if at least I could
have a list of states that the Breed Council members are listed in, that would help me in being
able to provide information back to people who email me because I’m a contact on CFA’s
website. Bizzell: Are addresses something we could – Hannon: She’ll look into it. Bizzell:
We’ll look into that. Calhoun: I just wanted to add a comment when it came up about having lists
that didn’t have people that passed away on it. If we do a lifetime membership for the Breed Council, we
have no way of knowing when those people no longer are with us, so the integrity of the list will
get even more degraded. Kuta: I think that’s a – going back to your example. This is an
excellent opportunity to encourage all your Breed Council members to subscribe to the CFA
Breeder Referral Service. All joking aside, that’s what it’s there for. That’s a great way to point
potential pet people to, and I think it’s an under-utilized thing. We can encourage all breeders to
sign up for it. Brady: I would really like to get an email from Central Office when somebody
new – not a renewal, but a new person joins my Breed Council. I would like to immediately
reach out to them and make sure that they understand that I want to include them in everything.
Somebody might have applied 3 or 4 months ago and they got no information from me regarding
this Annual because I just didn’t know that they joined, so I think that would be really helpful.
Bizzell: Good suggestion. Vanwonterghem: Just a small remark. We need to be careful with
exchanging this data. There is an increasing number of international legislation, GPR, that
protects the owner of email addresses and things like that, which does not allow CFA to hand out
all these email addresses and other information to Breed Council Secretaries. For instance, you
need to have their official, individual approval to hand that out. Bizzell: That’s why I think Mark
said we’ll look into it. DelaBar: Just very quickly, it’s called the General Data Protection law in
Europe. It was just instituted. If you have any European members in your Breed Council, CFA of
course has several people from Europe that are affected. I have a proposal to the board that
basically we just use the same for everybody, so when somebody provides their information,
they are given the option to, “yes, I accept my information being shared within the organization”
or they can opt out. That’s part of it. It’s to protect the individual’s privacy for name, address,
phone number, email address and, in the case of being hacked, the company that was hacked can
actually be sued. So, this will be in my report that will be given to the board tomorrow, but this is
how it works. Bizzell: Melanie, and then we need to wrap this up or we’re not going to get done.
Morgan: Pam just basically covered what I was talking about. I think we need to make sure –
and this is a note for Central Office – that this is included on the application forms that we have,
both hard copies and online. I think that will take care of the problem. I’ve been a Breed Council
Secretary I think for 14 years now, and it used to be that every year I got a copy of all the
information on my Breed Council members, so this is nothing new. What is new are the rules
and regulations that we’re seeing worldwide because of hacking issues, so I think that’s a way to
cover ourselves. Bizzell: Just as a quick comment – not that I want a bunch of discussion on it –
that would also include our breed files we send out, right Pam? Anything with names and
addresses on it? DelaBar: Yes.4. Audit of registrations for accuracy/color issues
Bizzell: OK, going on to #4 out of 10. [reads] I know this is something that we discussed
last year. I don’t believe anything actually – no fruit was born from that discussion. Altschul:
This is actually the third year that I’ve brought this to this meeting, that we need to be doing
some sort of true audit on the registrations. For some reason it’s not as big a deal if they’ve got
one color or four colors – not a whole lot of colors, but for the breeds where we have a plethora
of colors, it’s becoming more and more of an issue. It used to be in New Jersey the registration
staff stayed for years and years. Over time, they came familiar with the colors. Not so much in
the HP system, had some hard stops. We’ve been promised hard stops with the new program and
it’s not happening, so until that happens I am once again asking for a way to audit the
registrations for accuracy. Our main core asset in CFA is our pedigrees and they are becoming
hopelessly messed up by the Central Office staff, who receives pretty much no training on colors
and genetics. They change over so often. I realize they just aren’t picking up on this stuff. I know
that they have some sort of form. I’ve never seen that form. I’ve asked to see it, I’ve never been
given it. They have something that has some genetics on it that they do refer to. We’ve been told
that CFA only has a such-and-such error rate by the IT person, but that error rate is a recorded
error rate. That is not a true audit error rate. I can tell you it’s much higher than what we’re being
told, just by what I did. I just want to have CFA not registering solid white out of two blacks, or
registering a solid anything out of two pointed cats, or registering a red female out of a black
male, or registering a shaded silver out of two Himis. The list goes on and on and on and on.
Major genetic impossibilities that when CFA comes to me every now and then and says, “hey,
can you help us identify this color?” I identify it and they always provide me with the
registration numbers of the parents, and I go, “well, this is a black but you registered both of the
parents as Himis, so not really sure what I’m going to help you with here. Either you registered it
wrong by its pedigree or we try to fix it from this generation on forward.” I’ve volunteered my
time to do the audit. I asked for nothing to audit my own breed. I have plenty of time that I can
do this. This breed means so much to me, I will volunteer my time and I know that they process a
lot of [inaudible] registrations and I’m fine auditing them – even a spot audit – until such time
that we have hard stops in the new program. I also don’t understand why Central Office staff
doesn’t get basic genetics training. When I was in high school, I got a job waiting tables. They
spent two 40-hour weeks training me on the lingo of the restaurant. Central Office staff gets zero
time learning the lingo of our association when it comes to breeds and colors. They learn how to
use the program, but not our basic genetics. A little cheat sheet isn’t helping them. I don’t think
we need to give them a 50 page booklet on all of the semantics of all of the weird colors in our
breeds, but some basic genetics might be helpful. Hannon: You ought to have Verna respond to
that. Dobbins: Rachel, did you want to talk first? Bizzell: Did you want to speak to that Rachel,
and then we can have Verna respond. Anger: Verna can supplement it. We’re all really sick
about talking about the computer, but it’s so close to the migration. We’re all expecting really
great things. We have a project scheduled to go in and spot audit – that’s a great term for it – as
soon as that migration is complete. There’s not a lot of point in doing it right now because
everything is going to change. The start-up screen is going to be the same. I’ve seen it, and I’m
going to be doing some of it to find out what the scope is and what the problems are, so that we
can at least start with a plan on what direction to go in once we identify the issues. I know
Central Office does use a notebook with a color chart that says, if you breed a black to a black,
the chart shows the allowable offspring. Finally, I don’t know if the rest of you are receiving
these emails from Central Office, but I’m getting sometimes one or two or three a day of pictures
asking, “here’s a kitten, what color is it?” They are involving the Breed Council Secretaries a lot
more. We’re the guardians of the breed and I think every one of us has Carissa’s spirit about
wanting to protect what’s going on in our pedigrees. So, it’s coming. Dobbins: I do want you to
know that they are trying. We don’t want to make errors. That is very detrimental to them. It
hurts them when they find out they have made a mistake. We come to you when we can, we use
the charts. Actually, if you would talk to the staff, they do know more than what sometimes I
think you give them credit for. But, they are human. There are millions of color schemes that we
have to work with, and we are trying. We appreciate those of you that help us. We come to you
and we take what you give us. You should see these girls’ books, there’s notes, notes, notes.
They keep your emails. You are very important to us, so we do want this to work and we want to
make it right. The computer system is going to be a big help. Peterson: I get a lot of emails from
Central Office staff, because Devons come in every color – every color and pattern. One of the
things that I ask, and I’m thinking that maybe you could give a little cheat sheet to the staff at
Central Office, is before they send an email to a Breed Council Secretary to assist with this,
there’s a few things I always end up asking. I need pictures of the paw pads, the cat from the
back, the cat from the front, the color of the eyes, I need to know the color – because our
registration numbers don’t indicate always – and pattern of each parent, and then I need to have
contact information for the owner, which often times they forward me, but before they send that
– oh, and then they also – inevitably I say, to be sure, they need to DNA test for color. Silver
doesn’t show up. So, I think if you give them a little cheat sheet of what would be helpful to get
from the breeder before they send it to us, then I won’t have to send them 2 or 3 emails, then
they have to send me another 2 or 3 emails. You know, and spend all that time for just the things
that for my breed that I need in order to do the best job I can. I’m always sending – I have a few
breeder friends who are more expert in certain colors and patterns than I am, and so we work
together to do that, but that would be very helpful before I get that. I don’t mind getting it, and
I’ll respond as quickly as possible, but I feel bad when I have to keep asking them different
questions. Black: I was just going to ask Verna if it was possible, is there a file you can create of
the litters or the cats that were registered that day? Just a basic file that says the dam had this
registration prefix, the sire had this registration prefix, and the offspring had this registration
prefix. Is that something that can be generated on a daily basis? Dobbins: I honestly don’t know.
I would have to check with the IT. Black: OK. I think that – Carissa was asking just something
as simple as that. These Persians were registered today. Here’s the prefix for the sire and the
dam, and here’s what we gave the offspring. I think that would be simple enough, right Carissa?
That would identify in her breed that there was a mix-up that happened. I appreciate how quickly
the Central Office turns around the registrations on the eCats site, but I think if we slowed that
down just for a day or two for some spot checks, people would not be all that upset about that.
So, I’m just saying something as simple as that. Just get that out – these are all the Persians that
have these registration numbers come out, and that would be enough to spot check. We would
have a better idea of how many errors are happening, even just for a short period of time.
Kallmeyer: It should be a little more detailed. It would also have the color description in some
breeds because the prefix doesn’t give enough, and the eye color. It’s a little more complex.
Bizzell: As we go forward and potentially consider doing this, we will be getting with you or
someone in IT to see what would make sense. Kolencik: I wanted to go back and address what
Kathy said about maybe even if it results in a slow-down of eCats to do these spot checks. There
are certain breeds where you don’t need to do spot checks, so I hope that this will not affect those
breeds. Like the Siamese – we’ve got four colors. Come on. Bizzell: And like the Chartreux.
Kolencik: Maybe for the more complicated breeds. Definitely the Persian and the Devon Rex.
Maybe increase spot checks on those, but you don’t have to do that for all of them. Bizzell: OK,
we need to move on.
5. Issues with pedigrees coming in from other associationsBizzell: This is not a simple issue, either. [reads] This is another item that Carissa
brought up. May I give my thoughts on this and then we can go into discussion? Many other
organizations have different registration rules than we do. Some are identical for some breeds
and some are very different. When we say we’re taking a pedigree from that association, right
now the policy as I understand it is that we take that at face value. So, if they call the cat on the
pedigree a Persian, it’s a Persian. Now, there are alternatives. We can stop taking pedigrees from
other organizations, and that can be on a breed-by-breed basis. I don’t think that’s a good
solution. I think we need portability of pedigrees. We can have this rule stay in place, where we
take it at face value. The breeders need to take responsibility to line chase their own. Or, a third
alternative would be what the Egyptian Mau and Russian Blue did, is that they review every
pedigree that comes in before it’s approved. That is correct, right? Of course, the volume is not
nearly the same. That would be a Breed Council decision. The issue as I understand it is that
there may be cats on that pedigree that our registration rules define not as that breed. That could
be any breed. In fact, Orca and I were talking about some registrations of Chartreux in other
organizations that we need to discuss. Did we want that to be considered for Chartreux? We do,
but maybe we need input, and also make sure that the people doing the registrations understand
what those codes mean. So, it’s not just Persian. There are a lot more Persians being registered
probably via pedigree, so it’s probably a bigger issue for you, but it could apply to anyone in this
room. So, that’s kind of my stance. Altschul: Carla brought this to my attention, that there were
Breed Council Secretaries that had to approve pedigrees, and that solves a lot of problems. That I
can look over, or whoever is Breed Council Secretary, has the opportunity to look over it, that’s
something I have to take back to my Breed Council. But there were a couple of things I wanted
to bring up that I’m not sure about. I asked Verna this on Friday and she didn’t really know the
answer. If not there, I would like to see if other Breed Councils are OK with this idea, those who
have generational requirements is, like Persians have 8. I know there’s a couple of others that
have 8. Getting 8 generations from FIFe or LOOF is hard, and I understand that. I would like to
put a process in place that, suppose I’m bringing in a Persian that has a FIFe pedigree but all 4
grandparents or great-grandparents, whatever, they’re all CFA-registered Persians. I would like
to put something in place that those cats would not need the full 8 generations. If I can see at a
certain point there’s all CFA-registered Persians behind them, there’s no reason for them to have
to give me all the rest of the pedigree. The only reason Persians wanted the 8 generations was to
keep non-Persians out of the line. If we’ve got CFA-registered Persians, I think that I can take it
to my Breed Council but I’m pretty sure that would satisfy what our Breed Council was looking
at, and it would certainly help those trying to register with pedigrees. I know the 8 generations is
difficult to get. I don’t know how other Breed Council Secretaries would feel about that. Would
the Siamese be OK? Would the Abys be OK? Anybody who has generational requirements, if
they reach a point where there’s CFA-registered ancestors, do you want them to have to keep
going back and providing more information, or can they stop when they provide the CFA
information? My second problem with this is, we need a process in place to correct mistakes.
Whether it’s color mistakes like the previous issue or when we find a mistake on a pedigree, I
think there needs to be a time limit. I don’t think we can go back 30 days and go, “you made a
mistake, we’re not going to give that,” and I don’t think we can go back and say, “well now it’s 8
generations but when it was 5 generations you brought in a cat in the 6th generation that was a
problem.” We can’t go back and apply new rules on the old. I understand that, but if a cat gets
registered via pedigree and a year later we find out that there was erroneous information or
information not disclosed, right now there is no process in place, from what I’ve been told, to
change or correct a pedigree or registration. So, in my breed, cats registered as Persians that were
actually Exotic longhairs with CFA-registered Exotic longhairs 3 generations back, CFAregistered
Exotic shorthairs 5 generations back – they were registered as Persians and Central
Office went, “too bad, we have a policy of not correcting that.” I want there to be a policy in
place to correct registrations. Bizzell: OK, I want a chance to respond to that really quickly. The
board probably needs to review the definition of “error.” In the current policy, that’s not an error
on that pedigree per that registering body’s rules. That’s where the rub is. We later find that if we
had registered the cat from the beginning, that cat would have been a longhair Exotic. So, as
board members, this is something I probably bring up or Central Office should bring up, because
it’s a registration issue. I had another thing and it is now totally gone out of my head that I was
going to respond to the first subject you were talking about, and I can’t even remember what I
was going to say – oh, about the CFA-registered parents. There’s nothing to say you couldn’t put
that in your registration rules. Ballot it and say, 8 generations or until you get to a CFAregistered
cat in the pedigree. That can be done on a breed-by-breed basis. I don’t think we
would get everyone to agree to that. Wilson: I would like to respond to that, as a breed that
requires 8 generations and has for a while, practically that’s already done. I tell my Breed
Council members or anybody who asks for help to register by pedigree that once you reach a
CFA cat, you don’t have to go beyond that. What you need is a certified pedigree that shows the
cats without CFA registrations. First, you have to have a certified pedigree that proves the cat has
these parents. Then you go back to any cat that doesn’t have a CFA number, you need 8
generations until you get to the point of having a cat with a CFA registration. Monique has
always accepted that. You don’t have to go beyond that. I think that’s just a practical application
of the process. I don’t think we have to change any registration rules for that. That’s just what
you have to provide. Bizzell: OK, as long as we can clarify that with Monique that’s what she’s
doing. Wilson: She is doing it. Bizzell: Mary and then we need to move on. I will get this
brought to the board for a discussion item. Orca has had her hand up for a long time. She just has
a very short hand. Starbuck: Just very briefly, if we as Breed Council Secretaries could get a
complete list of all the other associations that we accept pedigrees from, then we could all go
through these associations and identify if there are differences in registration rules that could
cause a problem for us as Breed Council Secretaries and then we can adjust our registration rules
if necessary. If that could be sent out to us, that would be helpful. Bizzell: Rachel, is that
something we can do? Anger: Yes. It’s on the website now. Bizzell: Done and done. Kolencik:
I just wanted to add that I thought it already was the policy that once you hit a CFA-registered
cat in the 8 generations, you don’t look further back. That was always my assumption, so I have
no problem with that. I wanted to talk about the correction of mistakes. If a mistake is made and
there are kittens or cats that have titles being shown, the board has to be really sensitive before
you start rescinding things. I’ve got to tell you, if you rescinded the title on my national winner
this year because somewhere you found something in the background that wasn’t legal and you
took my title away, my lawyer and I would have a very big problem with this. [laughter] So, I
understand making things correct but it’s really important. You already know that the parents are
correct, it’s just the color was wrong. OK, but don’t screw us. That’s just what I’m asking.
Bizzell: Right. The board is very sensitive to those issues. That’s why we get paid the big bucks
for being on the board. [laughter] It’s one of the facets. When you get a room full of brilliant
people all thinking about the same subject, one of you will be thinking about the ramifications
for exhibitors down the road, one of you will be thinking about the financial impact of rescinding
registrations. I’m pointing at Kathy [Calhoun]. There will be enough collective brain power to
where hopefully we won’t do something stupid.6. Financial assistance for Breed Booths for International Show
Bizzell: We need to go to the next item, which is actually yours, Mary. If you want to just
give a really quick recap on the financial assistance for breed booths at the International Show.
Kolencik: Thank you, thank you, thank you very much board for giving us some money for our
breed booths this year. We really appreciate it. [applause] Zenda: Thank you for fighting for it.
Kolencik: The reason I brought this up was that last year I had to shop two booths to Portland
and it cost me almost $200. I had to ship them out there and ship them back, because of course
this year I have to take it to Cleveland, so I’m like, if you want us to participate with these breed
booths in the show – and the breed booths are a huge asset to the spectators. I put candy in the
breed booth and it’s always all gone. They love it, and they love seeing these breed booths. At
first I just thought maybe we could just get the shipping, at least to help us with the shipping, but
the board has also approved additional money. So, the way it works is, everybody gets $50
because everybody – no matter what you do, if you put up a booth, you’re going to spend at least
$50. So, we’ll all get the $50. If you have to ship, and this includes carrying it on an airline and
paying an extra baggage fee, but if you ship and you provide receipts, you will get an additional I
think it was $100 and then we get an additional $300 to update our booth. What I would like to
suggest to people is that you use this $300 to get recent pictures and do things like pay for the
high resolution pictures, get printed pictures, because I know we’re working on the joint show
with TICA and we might have breed booths there, so really get pictures of your cats and get
them updated so that you can use them in both places. The $300 will be for that. Linda and I –
my buddy Linda – we’ll establish some more guidelines in a process and get that out to you.
Hannon: What about the other girl on the committee? Kolencik: The other lady on the
committee? Little David. We’ll think about involving Little David, but we’re going to work out
the process with Kathy Calhoun for reimbursement, and the plan is that you’ll be reimbursed
either at or after the International Show. We don’t want you to spend the money on things like
your hotel nights. I remember with Meet the Breeds that we were allowed to do that, but that’s
not this. This $300 has to be spent on the breed. Candy is supposed to come out of the $50. You
can buy a digital frame if you want to. If you think a Kindle would work better or whatever –
something for the breed booth. Does anybody have any questions? Linda wants to add
something. Peterson: One thing that came to my mind for the breed booths, also popular are the
breed brochures. I know that you all give us what, 50? It would be nice if you give us 100
because they are very, very popular with the public. I’ll run out of the 50 and then I have to come
out of my pocket to pay for the additional, because my Breed Council doesn’t have money. I
think that would be nice to up the breed brochure at the International. If you come to the
International Show and you are there with your breed booth, that you would be given the
additional pamphlets. That would be very helpful for all of us. Bizzell: Is that all you had on that
subject?7. EMS Registration Codes in lieu of BCS Codes
Bizzell: The next item was requested by a board member, by Pam DelaBar, and it has to
do with going to more universally accepted ways to identify our breeds, colors and patterns.
DelaBar: I brought this up because of something else that happened. I changed color on an
American Curl. It went from being a blue lynx point with white, to being a DNA-tested seal
tortie lynx point and white. All of a sudden I get this notice from Central Office that the first four
digits of the registration number would change, which got my thought going on other cats. What
happens after this cat has been bred? Has produced and continued a history on that pedigree?
How do you line chase a cat whose registration number has been changed? It’s highly difficult,
so I have some exposure to FIFe and have had some exposure to the Easy Mind System (EMS).
Now, to let you know, this was developed by a FIFe person and it is being utilized in more and
more of the associations around the world. From what I’ve heard, even the very, very
conservative Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) in England is even going to EMS. I
think even TICA is going to EMS. What EMS does is, give a breed code. Persian would be PER,
Maine Coon MCO, Norwegian Forest Cat is NFO. If you would have what we would call a black
ticked tabby, it would MCO N25. Cornish Rex CRX. We are also discussing in the judges’
workshop about the changes of color, and that was discussed earlier. You go from Cornish Rex,
let’s say a 906 to a 908. You’ve changed that cat’s registration number. Now, we’re migrating to
a new computer system and I think it’s going to be announced on the 10th and 11th of July – don’t
try to do anything on the computer, that’s when everything is being migrated – that possibly once
we get this new system going that the Breed Councils can talk with your people and see if they
think a clarification and adopting this type of system would be helpful to your breed. Bizzell: Let
me mention something really quickly. The EMS coding would not be part of the registration
number. The registration number would be however many digits you find it to be, so as that cat
goes forward that registration number is not going to change, regardless of what color we think it
is today. DelaBar: That’s what I was getting to, is that no matter PER N or PER A (A being
blue), that can change but that cat’s registration number is still easily tracked, even though there
would be a color change. Now with the American Curl, what got me going on this is the
American Curl color is one point. We also have breeds where color is no points, but I bring this
up for discussion to see one, it makes us working with the other associations much easier if we
come in to the modern world and adopt this program that’s being utilized around the world. It
also helps us maintain a history on that cat. So, that’s basically my part of it. If you want to see
what the EMS system is about, go to www.fifeweb.org. Bizzell: I sent them that link on the
Breed Council Secretaries’ list, yes. DelaBar: And then go to EMS System. It’s a link down on
the left side. After you get used to it, it really is an Easy Mind System. Bizzell: Just another
really quick point, I’m not an IT person and I don’t play one on TV, but I would have to think
that if we had a standardized way of naming in the code system the breed, color, pattern, that we
would be able to program those hard stops that we all want, so far as genetically impossible
colors would be impossible to occur. I think that would be one of the biggest benefits, frankly.
What we have right now, it’s not impossible to code that in our system, but I can’t even wrap my
brain around how hard it would be. Coleman: I know this sounds weird because I only have one
color. Pam, thanks for bringing this up, because this is a little weird situation I got. I had
someone from the U.S. send out a cat to Poland. Many years ago, some of you remember What is
a Breed, where we defined that. One of the things was colors. You had a blue Persian, you had a
Russian Blue, you had a Korat. It was all defined as blue and they said, can you fine-tune the
color? So, we changed it to silver-tipped blue. A Korat is a silver-tipped blue cat. So, when the
Polish FIFe person got it, she said, “it’s not a Korat, it should say blue.” So, right now she is
refused that pedigree but it’s a CFA-registered pedigree. So, would that silver-tipped blue
translate to blue in FIFe? Right now we’re fighting that because the girl can’t even use the cat.
DelaBar: You’re going to have to elevate even higher with FIFe from the Polish federation.
Korat in FIFe is KOR A. There’s no silver there, because actually it is not a true silver, as far as
genetics go. Coleman: I’ve already made Carla aware and she said Rachel is going to be
working that out, but I just wanted to know if that was going to help. Bizzell: I think we’ve got
some things lost in translation there, because their standard actually calls for the cat to be silver
tipped, but it’s just not part of their color coding in the EMS system. Eigenhauser: I’m not
speaking against Pam. I support her proposal, but I know how CFA is and a lot of times we’re
not really quick to change or to adopt new ideas, but one thing we could do is simply stop
including the color prefix in the registration number; simply have a unique registration number
for that cat. That is that cat, whether it’s a blue cat or a brown cat or a silver cat, that is that cat.
A searchable, unique identification, and the other would be informational but not really part of
its registration number. Just like we have date of birth in the database, but it’s not part of its
registration number. So, we could make the cat unique and searchable and line chase-able by
adopting a unique registration number that does not include its color as part of its registration
number. We could do that whether we go over to the EMS system or not. I think we’re better off
going over to EMS. I think we’re better off being consistent with the rest of the world, but
knowing that CFA is slow to change we can do this one step at a time if necessary. Clark: I
noticed on the list that you sent out that half my breed is not even covered. Hannon: Mary, stop.
You must use the microphone and she explained because it goes into the minutes. Clark: Oh,
I’m sorry about that. I just wanted to make a comment that I noticed on the EMS system that you
sent out that half of our breed isn’t listed in any place. Longhair Japanese Bobtails are not even
listed under non-recognized breeds. That’s all. DelaBar: There’s nothing to stop us from adding
JBL. There is a system in line to be able to add these different breeds. Not every association has
the same breeds, so there is that mechanism available. You would probably go to, instead of JBT
which would be the shorthair variety, JBL. They are always three-letter identifications for the
breeds, but that’s an easily overcome-able objection. Kallmeyer: Just point out, by the way we
already have a unique code. Your last 8 digits are unique and the system can actually search on
that. Unfortunately, the external phase is that you’ve got to add that color prefix, but the color
prefix is actually used for the show to efficiently align, so we already have the unique prefix.
You can actually change the other part to handle it, so it’s not completely bleak. It would be a bit
of a migration but it’s possible. Bizzell: OK, I think we need to probably wrap this up. We’ve
got a few more items.8. Breed Council/Committee Code of Conduct
Bizzell: The next item on here, someone brought up that we might think about having a
Breed Council and Breed Committee Code of Conduct. We already have a Code of Conduct or
an ethics statement for breeders, for the board, for judges, but currently we don’t have anything
for Breed Council members. Just something to think about. Marie, I think you had suggested we
might consider doing this. Vodicka: As Carla said, there’s no sort of special Code of Conduct
for Breed Council members, and most of the ethics codes deal with registration and exhibiting at
show kind of conduct, and exhibitor and breeder registration rules but don’t deal with sort of
general approaches to the public or to other breed members or other exhibitors. I understand it’s
hard to have a Code of Conduct specifically across all exhibitors or whatever, but the Breed
Councils and Committees have an additional responsibility when you join the Council to
represent not just your breed but CFA, so I just brought it up for consideration. It would be not
like an onerous Code of Conduct, but just something that would remind people of that
responsibility. Bizzell: Did you want to put together a committee and come up with a
suggestion? I sent you some of the others. Vodicka: I would be happy to do that if people are
open to it. I don’t want to do it if everybody has a really negative reaction then I’m not going to
push. Bizzell: Is this something we could come up with and throw it against the wall and see if it
sticks? Is that the idea?9. Timeline for 2018 Ballot Items
Bizzell: Let me just point out that at the bottom of your agenda there is a set of deadlines
for this upcoming cycle.10. Other items as time allows
Bizzell: Peg wanted just a few minutes of your time to I think ask for your help.
Johnson: Those of you that don’t know, I’m the Chinese support person for CFA and one of the
things that I find, they really want education on grooming, on breeds, on showing, and we have
the language barrier. And, how to join the Breed Council, as I found out today. What I’m asking
for your help is, I think in the world we live in today – visual aids, YouTube, pictures – I know
many of you have breed presentations that you use at judges’ workshops and things, but I think if
we can make – for colors and patterns, and breed standards – if the Breed Councils would be
willing, if they have materials, we could start investigating how to get that out in a place that’s
easily accessible to help give pictorial and video type information to non-English speaking
exhibitors and breeders, so I’m asking for your assistance and any ideas you have on how we
could accomplish this. I’ve seen some of your breed presentations. They are lovely, but it’s like I
had to search for them. So, one of my jobs would be to figure out what’s out there and how we
could get it to the right place. I’ve talked to the Chinese exhibitors. They could dub over it – take
something you have and add Chinese translation to it, but just getting the pictorials, like if you
have a video and you’re talking, people said they could work on adding translations but they
have your video with you handling and showing examples of good and bad aspects of a breed.
“This is a good head, this head is a little too oval,” anything like that would help. So, my ask is,
how can we reach out to the non-English speaking? Some of the breeds have larger populations
than others in those countries. Any help, please let me know. I’m at peg.johnson06@gmail.com.
Bizzell: OK, so you want them just to respond directly to you? Johnson: Yeah. If you want to
just email me, let me know and if you have any ideas and then we can have some discussion,
either via phone or email, but I appreciate any assistance you can help me. Also, how many of
you think that’s a good idea, or am I shooting in the dark? So, you agree that that might be good?
I think it would be good for all exhibitors, but especially non-English speaking exhibitors, so
thank you very much.
Bizzell: Laura had asked for just a second to mention something. She was bringing
something forward. We’re not going to have adequate time to really discuss it, but just so the
idea gets out there. Barber: I have been asked by our growing numbers and folks in the
Household Pet group to bring to your attention and have you consider that since they also have
been given the top 25 – and Rachel is aware of this – that since they are now getting top 25
awards, they would like to be recognized in this room, as well. They would like to have a voting
member elected by them, and would like to be able to listen in to what we say and hear. They
would like to be part of us, so they would like for us to come up with an idea of how they can
participate in a council. They’re not going to breed, but they want to have a vote. They want to
be part of us and they want to share and they’re very proud. Eigenhauser: Any sort of a Breed
Council representative would require a constitutional amendment because the Breed Councils are
set forth in the constitution. However, there is nothing to prevent the board from appointing a
special advisor to the board – we can call it whatever we want – to be able to speak and I think
that’s a good idea. While I don’t what to go through the whole rigmarole of a constitution
amendment to formally make them a Breed Council, I think having a Household Pet advisor to
the board would be a good idea and I support it. Kolencik: I think I have a better idea. I know
you have a meeting with the people from the International Division. You don’t limit that to just
their elected representatives, right? Why limit this to just one Household Pet person? Why don’t
you have a meeting with the Household Pet people and discuss the concerns that they have? Just
set up half an hour, and any of the Household Pet people who come to the annual, let them come
and discuss. Bizzell: I don’t think that’s what they are asking for. Kolencik: We don’t vote on
anything here, so why do they want to vote on anything? Bizzell: Correct, yeah. Anger: Thank
you Laura. I’m glad you floated this. This is something I was going to bring up quickly at our
Sunday meeting, which has got a pretty full agenda, but as long as it has some positive reaction
here. They were looking more for a representative, like the Breed Councils and Breed
Committees have.
Anger: I just need to make an announcement for the board before we adjourn. We would
like to request a closed session meeting immediately after this meeting for the existing board.
Hannon: Are you through? Bizzell: Yes, I’m done. Hannon: Before we adjourn, since
this is the last meeting of the outgoing board, I just wanted to recognize some board members
who, this is their last meeting. Dick Kallmeyer, John Adelhoch, Lisa Kuta, Jean Dugger and Pam
DelaBar will be leaving the board after today. I want to publicly and in the minutes thank them
for each of their contributions as a board member. [applause] The meeting is adjourned and the
board is going to stick around.Breed Council Significant Dates
Breed Standard Timeline for changes, advancement, and membership:August 1: Breed Council membership deadline
August 1 (even years only): Deadline to Declare for Breed Council Secretary/Breed
Committee Chair
August 1: New Breed/Color Application and Advancement deadline
August 1: Breed Council Secretaries must have all proposed standard
changes from Breed Council members
August 15: Breed Council Secretaries must be notified of any breed color or
advancement requests that might affect their breed
August 15: Proposed breed standard/registration ballot items to Breeds &
Standards Committee for review
September 18: Breed Council proposed standard/registration changes must be
received by Central Office
October 31: Breed ballots will be sent out by Central Office or on-line and