AKCA Minutes of June 15, 2007

 

Officers Present:                                  Directors Present:                                                Guests:

Chair: Larry Leverett                              Burt Ballou                                             Martha Foster

Vice Chair: Harlan Glenn                        Bob Finnegan                                                         

Secretary:  Carole Elliott                         Bill Thompson                                        

CFO:  Doug Dahl                                    Johnny Foster                                                                        

                                                                Bob Finnegan

                                                                Harlan Glen

                                                                Joyce Glen             

                                                                               

Board Highlights:

Ø       Welcome to Johnny & Martha Foster of Nature’s Coast K&WGC of Florida

Ø       Slate of 2007-2008 officers approved

 

The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Larry Leverett @ 7:10  pm.   

 

v       MINUTES:  Motion:  To approve the minutes of May 11th.  Motion by Harlan, 2nd by Joan.  Approved.

 

v       MAY FINANCIAL STATEMENT/FINANCE COMMITTEE:

Doug reported that as of 5/30 there was $0 advertising due that is 60-90 days late and $6624 that is over 90 days late.  The investment account gained $4883.59 in April.  Doug mailed out dues notices to all clubs including request for club info update to those clubs that have not responded to his requests.  21% of the clubs are not responding to his requests for club info update so dues checks for those clubs will NOT be accepted without this updated info.  A letter was included with the dues notice to this effect to those 22 clubs. Harold Biggio, of the Atlanta Club and the person creating the KHA website, has submitted a package to do the photo/description work on the akca.org website for $800.  Connie would have to provide the high resolution digital photos and someone on the AKCA Board needs to provide the descriptions in Word.  Debby has volunteered to upload the photos and descriptions provided to her for free. Burt stated that Debby said her knowledge is limited and feels that we should hire someone to do this.  2007/2008 KOI USA budget was discussed.  Motion:  To accept the KOI USA budget as amended.  Motion by Doug, 2nd by Joyce.  Approved.   Motion:  To sell the Niagara Seminar t-shirts at the Phoenix Seminar for $7.  Motion by Burt, 2nd by Joan.  Approved.

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

v     SCIENTIFIC:   Spike’s report was passed out. Predicted that about 18-19 students will likely finish the class out of 50 starters.  Richard Carlson has finished his prep for a CE course on “Taking Koi to Shows” and is forming a class.  Patti Gingrich handled the ordering of KHA shirts for this year.  Lois Salaun organized a KHA dinner for Friday night at the Seminar.    

 

v     KHV Project:  Spike’s report was passed out.  Burt discussed auctioning 2 Peter Enfield’s slates at the Seminar.  Motion:  To auction 2 Peter Enfield’s slates at the Seminar with proceeds going to the KHV Project.  Motion by Burt, 2nd by Bob.  Approved.  The best health practices team of vets and professionals is formed and the participants have chosen sections to write.  Phase 1 grant group continues to schedule and give presentations; reports say these presentations are very well received.

 

v       PUBLICATION:    Joan gave the report; it was stated that at least $3500 was budgeted for the Seminar breakfast.  This will be served to those attendees who bought packets.  Steve reported the magazine is 3 ½ weeks late due to his problems moving.  Tom reported he has ordered the “Free Magazine” cards.  Tom will send the cards to Connie who will ship them to the clubs.  

 

v      MEMBERSHIP:  Doug reported that they have an application from East Tennessee Koi Club with 10 families.  41 clubs have paid their dues so far.  Motion: To approve the East Tennessee Koi Club as a member AKCA club.  Motion by Doug, 2nd by Joyce.  Approved.    

 

v       JUDGING:  Bob reported that they will not be spending $800 on the bus but will instead spend it on their lunch.  .   

 

 

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v       SPEAKER’S GRANT:  Burt reported that he will do the annual Speakers Grant drawing at the July Board meeting.

 

v      GUIDES:   Burt reported that Tom is working on the filter guide.

 

v      INSURANCE:  Burt stated that five agents are looking for insurance for us; 1 agent dropped out; 3 carriers refused to give us bids.   Burt asked about making a final decision; it was decided that Burt should contact Larry for final approval; if not reachable then call Harlan Glen.

 

SEMINAR REPORTS:

 

v      2007 Phoenix, Ariz.  Seminar:  It was reported that we have 152 packages purchased with 207 attendees.  There are currently 23 paid vendor booths and 55 people who have signed up for the Thurs. Grand Canyon Tours; 11 for Thurs. Phoenix City Tour.  They currently have 106% of our guaranteed room nights.  We should have no problem meeting our $8000 meal guarantee.   A 50% deposit check was sent to the hotel; remainder will be billed after the Seminar.  Robbi is very happy with the outcome.  

 

v      2008 Jacksonville, Fla. Seminar:  Burt reported that 5 members are going to the Phoenix Seminar; they are forming a list of subject and speakers.  313 pins were paid at a cost of $1033 for the Niagara Seminar.

 

v       2009 San Diego, CA:  Burt reported that the Town & Country Hotel is out; working with the Marriott Hotel but still up in the air.  Will report next month as to whether or not San Diego is a viable place to have a Seminar.

 

v       2010 Seminar:  Some discussion about locations for the 2010 Seminar.   Will talk about this further during the July Board meeting.

 

REPRESENTATIVE CONTACTS:

 

q       Written report submitted by Doug:  Sue Boydstun, of Idaho WGS, reports their recent wetlab proved to be a success with 28 registrants.  Spike Cover ran the lab.  They were fortunate to have access to a complete microbiology lab for this event.  Melinda Smieja, of Olympic K,G&WGC, reports club members are planning their pond information day with seven topics plus a BBQ.  Geoffrey Huntley, of Piedmont K&WGS, reports 35 club members are traveling to the Showa club pond tour.  The club 10th Koi Show will be Nov ¾ in Charlotte.  Kristine Jones, of Salt Lake KC, reports club members held a jeopardy contest with data from the AKCA guides.  The club completed a water hyacinth fundraiser selling plants for 25% off retail cost.  Dick Emerick, of Upper Midwest KC, reports the next club meeting cover preparing koi for a show in prepari8ng for the koi show in August.  The club raffled off a stocked koi medicine chest at the last meeting and will raffle a microscope at the next meeting.  Mrs. Emerick was invited to speak at Cedar Rapids Expo and sold CDs of the talk for the club.  She was also invited to speak at the local Home Depot.  Robbi McCleney, of Valley of the Sun KC, reports the AKCA Seminar is looking good with over 200 attendees.  Mary Oxman, of Ventura KC, reports the last meeting was held in a beautiful garden setting with beautiful koi.  Even the neighbors provided an extra tour of their 1920s vintage home and shared cuttings of an unusual succulent.  Doug tried to contact his other 22 clubs late with no response.

 

 

q       Written report submitted by Bob:  So Cal Koi Club held their annual potluck/BBQ at the home of Steve & Mallory Hartt (they have a beautiful home with Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island views); had a white elephant auction.  Every one ate too much and had a wonderful time; Steve & Mallory’s home overlooks the Pacific Ocean; incredible setting.  Their koi pond is the courtyard (approximately 11,000 gallons) and a beautiful two tiered lily pond garden in the front with one of them holding koi.   Louisville KC reported that they had their koi show which was very successful.  They had 101 koi and 30 goldfish.  The Indiana Koi Club stated that their annual pond tour is coming up right after the AKCA Seminar.  Taro Kodama will be there with koi. 

 

 

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q       Written report submitted by Burt:  Joe White, of Florida East Coast K&WGS, said that everything is pretty quiet; last meeting was on predator control.  Johnny Foster, of Nature’s Coast K&WGC, said their last meeting was at a nursery in Gainesville; had a speaker on bog gardens; she did a great job & made up 2 bog planters during her talk.  Next meeting will be at the Fosters;

no set speaker yet.  Henry Culpepper, of Orlando Area K&PC, said they had their pond tour;

around 1,000 attended, picked up a lot of new members; next meeting @ Henry’s & he will give a

 talk of the harvest at Quality Koi and then will treat 2 koi with hikui, and one fish to remove a

shimy.  Rod Lawton, of ZNA Southern Koi Assoc., said they are working on the July Kanapaha

Seminar and then the show in November in Naples.  Linda Montgomery, of Cascade K&GFC, said they went to Orient Koi farm and did parasite scraping & microscope talk & ID of parasites; the owner did a talk on dividing water plants; Linda Montgomery & Jeff Thomas did the parasite talk.  Arley Hulstrand, of K&WGC of North Texas, said their May pond tour was a success.  The turnout for the May meeting at the Dallas Fair Park Lagoon cleaning was fantastic with a local 4th grade class participating plus Fair Park staff.  The club is to receive public recognition this month.  There has been such improvement in the Lagoon that fish and turtles now are visible.  David Jones, KHA, will be conducting a water quality lab at the June meeting.  Members are to bring pond water samples and testing equipment.  David has recommended kits to those who don’t have them.  David gives generously of his time to help members with their fish and pond quality. Sandi Soedjono, of Dallas Koi Kichi Group, said they are recovering from their koi show; it went well with 134 koi.  Their next meeting will be at Derek Bye’s new pond; will have a panel discussion on pond building.  John Hathaway, of Pacific Wonderland KC, said that they did a koi dealer tour; owner is My Huynh’s; had a lot of new pumps & filters and nice koi; the group had a good time.  Barb Flowers, of Rocky Mountain KC, said their auction made $10,000; got some great fish from Eastern Nishikigoi.  Next meeting @ Denver Botanic Gardens and will have a behind the scenes tour.  In July pond tour one day with Colorado Water Garden Society ponds and next day with Rocky Mtn. Member’s ponds.  Denise Williams, of Santa Clara Valley K&WGC, said they are working on pond tour 7/21; planning monthly socials but no specifics yet.  Had a great koi show for Cherry Blossom Festival & some high schoolers helped in the tear down.  Burt tried but was unable to reach Middle Georgia KS and Oklahoma KS.

 

q       Written report submitted by Larry:  Darlene Jennings, of Mid-Michigan P&GC, said their next meeting will be at the home of Russ & Cindy Winters.  Lou Muckenthahler, owner of “Swamp Art” will be the speaker.  They will be having their annual Plant Exchange this month.  They are in planning for their Parade of Ponds, coming on June 14th.  Joan Woelfel, of St. Louis WGS, said Society members picked up their two free tickets for their upcoming Pond & Garden Tour, called Pond-O-Rama, at this meeting so they could plan out their route for the self-guided, two day tour in June, one of the highlights for Society members.  They have 49 ponds on the tour this year.  They were delighted to have good coverage in a local magazine, which included six of their participants.  They’ll be appearing at the local TV program “Windows on St. Louis” to help advertise the tour and have spoken on the radio with Mike Miller, their local Garden Hotline program host.  Shelly Klinger, from Central Illinois Water Gardeners, said Central IL Water Gardeners will meet on Sat., June 9th at Casey’s Garden Shop in Bloomington.  Jessica, head of the water garden dept. , will do a hands-on demonstration on how to build a tabletop water garden.  Members are encouraged to bring their own supplies or purchase them from Casey’s.  Mark Schatsiek, of Prairieland K&PS, said their club meeting is this Saturday at a members house.  They have a guest speaker who will be talking about kinds of bacteria, fish food and koi health.  They as a club purchased their own microscope to help members with fish health problems.  They are having a great deal of members who are having fish health problems and lots of green water issues, more than normal.  Weather seems to be playing a big part of it.  They now have currently 78 members; they have made some changes to their newsletter that is published monthly and also made some changes to their website based on the board members recommendations.

 

q       Written report submitted by Phil Hunter:  James Slider, of the Capitol Area K&WGC, reports that on June 10th the club will take a field trip to Able Koi.  The club will visit the home of Mike & Jennifer, as well as their business location, where they have a wonderful selection of koi, including some larger Japanese koi to choose from.  Don Hellard, of the Gainesville KC, reports that a few members of the club traveled to Louisville, Kentucky for their show over Memorial Day weekend.  The members assisted in setting up a few of the members took fish to the show and did well.  The club will not be meeting in June, but will begin

 

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q       meeting again in July.  Claudia McGowan, of the Inland Empire WG&KS, reports that Colleen McCalip, of Stillwater Gardens, spoke at the April meeting.  She discussed bog gardens as filters.  Also in May, the club had a booth at the Garden Expo, which is put on by a local garden club.  There are over 200 booths selling garden related items and the club sold water plants for the 3rd year in a row.  This was the busiest year to date,

and the club sold over $2,000 in plants.  The June meeting was held in conjunction with the clubs community service project, which is the cleaning of the Nishomya Japanese Garden Pond at Manito Park.  On June 2nd, members gathered to clean the 200,000 gallon pond and do a health check on the 50 koi who reside there.  Judith Minor Roberts, of the Mountaineer K&WGS, reports that the club will celebrate its 10th anniversary in July.  Tom Tranbarger, of the Shasta K&WGC, said the club will not hold a meeting in June but will host its Annual Pond Tour on June 16th.  Linda Siler, of the Springfield WGS, reports that there was no program at the May meeting, but everyone had a great time shopping at Hilltop Gardens.  Everyone took something home with them.  The June meeting will be at the home of John & Guinn Wolfe.  Nancy Murray, from Wet Spot Aquatic, Cindy Murphy, from Murphy’s Gardens and Elaine Zinke, from Pond Pets & Plants, will bring miniature water plants to the meeting.  The program will be the care and placement of these plants in ponds or containers.  Also in June, the club will host its Annual Pond Tour on the 22nd-24th.  The Dayton Koi & Goldfish Club had no report this month.

 

q       Written report submitted by Carole Elliott:  Larry Hursh, of Genesse Valley Pond & KC, said that they just finished their activities at LilyFest and have possible leads on a few potential new members.  They will have them on their mailing list for upcoming newsletters.  The auction also went well and they now have additional monies for their speaker and library material plans.  They have confirmed at least 5 ponds for their pond tour on Sat., July 28th.  They hope to add about 3 more to fill the schedule and conclude with their picnic.  Some of the potential members are already planning on participating in the tour.  Their August meeting will feature a slide or power point presentation of the ponds from the Niagara Frontier Club tour as well as their own tour.  The members who are unable to make the tours because of conflicts really appreciate the opportunity of seeing the various ponds and getting additional ideas for their own ponds & fish.  Jan Jordan, of Mid-Columbia K&PC, said they recently car pooled to Al & Donna Fearon’s in Yakima, WA.  Said it was such a treat to see it and his beautiful butterfly koi and Al’s own handiwork with stain glass.  Seven club members volunteered their Saturday to work the club booth at the annual Master Gardener’s Garden Fair.  June’s social meeting was held at the home of Ron & Gloria Boedekers.  Ron explained his flow through system to the group and explained the blood work for KHV that the club is sponsoring.  In the works are a yard sale to raise funds for the club, a caravan to the Portland show, and their annual pond tour planned for Sept. 8th.  Kathy Hoffman, of South Carolina K&WGS, said their club is planning a Young Koi Show to be held in Greenville, SC in October, 2007.  They will have two persons attending the Seminar, Kathy & Marie Loftis.  Kathy is a KHA and Marie will be taking the lab to become one.

 

q       Written report submitted by Spike Cover:  Ray Jordan, of Texas K&FGFS, reports they are having an active spring.  Members traveled to the Oklahoma show in May and the Dallas Show in June to show koi and help with show activities.  Quite a few members are traveling to Phoenix to attend the AKCA Seminar.  Their club gives a $100 scholarship to 1st time AKCA Seminar attendees.  A microscope/parasite lab is planned for their July meeting.  Plans are well underway for their 15th annual show near San Antonio, Texas on Oct. 13-14, 2007.  Dan Phillips, of North Carolina K&WGS, said they are doing well.  Mud pond growout is going well.  All 50 tosai bought from Toyoma Koi in Calif. were pre-sold to members.  About half are in mud pond for Summer, being overseen on a regular basis by mud pond chairman, KCKWS Koi Person of the Year and club VP Rich Eifel.  New ponds and new members keep coming.  They had a good turnout of club members at the first SKE show in May in NC.  May meeting was at the home of Amy Bonis and George Lambie.  June meeting is at the home of Tim & Megan Hodge.  Educational presentations given by Noel Weston on plants, Bryan Connelly on DIY koi pond filtration in May & June.

 

q       Written report submitted by Harlan Glenn:  Chuck Poppe, of ZNA Potomac, reported that they had a successful auction of small koi; planning a koi show for Sept. 8/9th.  Nine members are going to the Phoenix Seminar.  Bill Thompson, of Koi Club of San Diego, said congratulations to Shirley Elswick, Koi Person of the Year.  The club will hold its annual koi auction at California Koi Farm, Saturday, June 30th; a fundraiser for the 2008 Koi show.  Many members will attend the AKCA Seminar in Phoenix June 20th.  Last month several members traveled to Orange County for the Nishiki Club’s Pond Tour.  The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park was the site of a koi 101 afternoon in June, with speakers from the club explaining how to get the right start with koi and ponds.

 

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q       Written report submitted by Bill Thompson:  The Placid K&PC will hold a potluck dinner this month at the home of Susan Dorden.  Kay Rice, of the Koi Club of Middle Tennessee, said that they were one of the sponsors of the Southern Koi Expo and that it was a great show.  The next meeting will be a road trip to Koi Village, followed in July by a trip to Hammock Koi Farm.  Their Koi Persons of the Year are Nancy & Jim

Vaden.  Elections will be held in the fall.  Brian Moriguchi reports that the Santa Clarita K&WGC just held a pond tour with nine ponds and a dealer visited.  Next month they will begin another growing contest featuring kujaku, and award prizes to this years showa competetion. 

 

PROXY CALLS FOR JULY

§         Is your club interested in hosting the 2010 Seminar?

§         Is there a site you would love to go back to for another Seminar?

 

Upcoming AKCA Annual Calendar Events for JULY

·         AKCA year end financials

·         CFO presents Hotel contract analysis for Seminar 2 years out to Board

 

OLD BUSINESS:   None

 

NEW BUSINESS:

Ø       Judging Pins:  Bob reported that Jack Chang will make 20 pins for the judging committee.  Motion:  To purchase 20 pins.  Motion by Bob, 2nd by John.  Approved.

Ø       Roc Goudreau:  He designed art work for the hats/visors for free and also the artwork for the Seminar attendee pins.  Discussed giving him something for all his free work.

Ø       Koi Person of the Year:  Burt presented John & Martha Foster “Koi Person of the Year” plaque.

 

Motion:  To adjourn the meeting 8:30 p.m.  Motion by Harlan, 2nd by Joan.  Approved.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Carole Elliott