MEETING NOTES

12/29/2006
Louisiana Equine Council Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

December 29, 2006

A meeting of the Louisiana Equine Council (LEC) Board of Directors was held via telephone conference call on Friday December 29, 2006. President Bonnie Clark presiding; Grace Simcoe, Secretary.

The meeting was called to order by President Bonnie Clark at 1:10 PM.

Board Members Present (14): John Boudreaux, Julie Calzone, Jimmy Christmas, Bonnie Clark, Deborah Devitt, Tom Foshee, Ruby Halter, Melinda Kennedy, Daniel Lyons, Dianne Morrill, Buddy Savage, Darryl Schouest, Ginger Schouest, Grace Simcoe.

Board Members Absent: (5) Dixie Bunton, Hunter Lewis, Steve Meaux, , Ky Mortensen, Aleta Overby,

LEC Advisors Present: Howard Cormier, Ron Harrell, Absent: Clint Depew, David Yount, Dennis French.

Minutes Acceptance: Minutes from the Board Meeting of October 19, 2006 were not available but will be presented for approval at the next Board Meeting. Apologies from Secretary Simcoe for the delay.

Annual Meeting Report: Status: Annual meeting will be held at 2 pm at the Alexandria Convention Center. Nutrena will be providing a hospitality room at the meeting held in conjunction with the Louisiana Cattleman’s Association meeting. Daniel Lyons has been organizing this effort.

Elections at Annual Meeting: Following a roll call of Board Members to determine who would continue to serve on the Board, Secretary Simcoe said that she would produce a summary of the discussion and with Darryl Schouest’s help would create an overview of the upcoming election.

Following is that report which was later distributed via email to Board Members:

We currently have 19 active Board Members (we can actually have 20, but the position vacated by Terry Fitch has never been filled). Those 19 are either District Representatives, Elected At Large Board Members or Board Appointed Board Members.
Our District Board Members are:
District 1: Tom Foshee
District 2: Hunter Lewis
District 3: Diane Morrill
District 4: Melinda Kennedy
District 5: Jimmy Christmas
District 6: Grace Simcoe
District 7: John Boudreaux

Tom was appointed to temporarily fill the District 1 vacancy and as he is not a resident of District 1, he will be resigning his seat and this seat is up for election.
Hunter was appointed to fill the District 2 vacancy and according to the ByLaws, the appointment only stands until the next annual meeting at which time he must be elected to the position. Therefore, the District 2 Seat is in need of being voted on, but will hopefully continue to be filled by Dr. Lewis.
Jimmy Christmas has asked to resign from the District 5 Seat and this seat is up for election.
The rest of the District Seats are still filled by their current members serving 2 or 3 year terms and are not in need of being voted upon.

Eight other "At Large" Board Members are also elected by the membership at the annual meeting. Last year those eight members elected were:
1. Bonnie Clark
2. Debbie Devitt
3. Buddy Savage
4. Johnny Spears
5. Aleta Overby
6. Ky Mortensen
7. Ruby Halter
8. Daniel Lyons

Bonnie, Debbie, Buddy are rotating off the board/resigning and will need to have their seats filled. Tom Foshee is hoping to fill one of these vacancies.
Johnny resigned during the year and had his seat filled by temporary board appointment with Darryl Schouest. Darryl will need to be elected to the position at the annual meeting.
The remaining 4 At Large Board Members (Aleta, Ky, Ruby and Daniel) are serving 2-3 year terms and are not in need of reelection.

Four Board Members are serving in Board Appointed Seats:
1. Ginger Schouest
2. Dixie Bunton
3. Steve Meaux
4. Julie Calzone
These seats are not currently in need of reelection as they are either 2 or 3 year appointments.

SO....
The membership at the annual meeting will be electing 3 District Representatives: Districts 1, 2 and 5. The current board is recommending that Dr. Lewis be nominated in order to continue as the District 2 Representative.
The membership will also elect 4 At Large Board Members. The current board is recommending that Tom Foshee and Darryl Schouest be nominated in order to continue serving as Board Members.

Therefore we are currently still looking to fill names to consider for nominations for the District 1 and 5 positions and 2 of the At Large Seats.



Treasurer’s Report: Read by Treasurer Deborah Devitt.

$6,764.58 Beginning Balance after last Board Meeting 9/21/ 06
+ $420 Memberships
+ $6,796.34 Donation from NVCEO
- $ 792.50 Payment to Louisiana Tech for Student worker
$13, 188.42 Final Balance as of 12/29/06

Treasurer Devitt reminded the Board that upcoming expenses of $2,500 Attorneys fees, $350 American Horse Council Dues, and a possible $800 second payment to La Tech should be factored in to Board decisions on money matters. Without the NVCEO hurricane donation available funds are currently $6,392.08
Motion by Daniel Lyons to accept the Treasurer’s Report. Motion seconded and passed.

2007 Horse Expo: Expo Chair Ruby Halter discussed the current status of the Expo. The committee has been meeting and plans are progressing. An advertising book is being worked on to provide revenue for the event, sponsorships are being pursued, and plans are underway for a “reverse” raffle of a 3 horse trailer. The next Expo Committee meeting will be January 4, 2006 at Evangeline Downs.
Motion by Darryl Schouest that LEC place $1,000 in an account which will opened by Ruby Halter. The money will serve as startup money to pay expo expenses and will be reimbursed to the main LEC account after accounts are settled at the end of the ’07 Expo. Motion seconded and passed.

Motion to Adjourn: Motion by Darryl Schouest to adjourn the meeting. Motion seconded and passed and the meeting was adjourned at 2:45 PM.