Jan. 2005 Combine meeting

EAST COURSE COMBINE MEETING
Sunday January 9, 2005 (Location: Pepper Tree Restaurant)

ECC Race Secretary Sonny Cangiarella, who stood in for President John Godinez, called the meeting to order at 16:20. Because of the President’s absence there was no agenda to guide this meeting, so only main issues would be discussed. A proper agenda will be prepared for the next ECC meeting.

ROLL CALL

Present:                                                                                            Absent:
1. Bonita                      4. San Gabriel Valley                         1. Pomona
2. Freeway                  5. Santa Anita                                     2. Palm Springs
3. La Puente

MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING: Kristin Swift-Ramirez did not have the meeting minutes from the 10/03/04 meeting to read. She will have them at the next ECC meeting to be read with the meetings from the 01/09/05 meeting.

FINANCIAL REPORT: Kathy Bagu read the financial report. Kathy reported a balance of $3,693.28 in the combine account as of 01/09/05. The report is as follows:

September Balance: $3386.71
Deposits:   $9950.00
Expenses:
    Sonny(Trailer Repair) $ 698.78
    C. Ettensperger (Storage) $ 200.00
    D. Bagu (Water Pump) $    82.58
    Glendora Trophy $ 426.77
    U. Paulus (2004 YB Season) $8171.30
    Bank Charge (4 months) $    64.00

Balance in Account: $3693.28

A motion to accept the financial report was made by Charlie Cathel with a second from Steve Whitmer. The motion passed unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS

RACE SECRETARY:
Sonny Cangiarella spoke in regards to the 2004 YB season and felt that even with the hardships the combine faced this season, it was a successful season. Sonny wanted to make it clear that the ONLY person to be speaking with the Liberator during the shipping of a race is the Race Secretary, NO ONE ELSE. During the shipping of a race the Liberator should only converse with the ECC Race Secretary and NO ONE ELSE. If it is found that someone other than the ECC Race Secretary has contacted the Liberator with directions to release the birds, the WHOLE club from which that person belongs to will be disqualified from that particular race. This is a SERIOUS infraction, so make sure all club members are aware to contact your individual club Race Secretaries with any questions or concerns, which can then be forwarded to the ECC Race Secretary if need be. Sonny wanted to make this clear as the Old Bird Season is about to start and he wanted to clear up any confusion with this issue.

STORAGE OF THE TRAILER:
Urban Paulus relocated the racing trailer for storage to Charlie Ettensberger’s mobile home park on December 13th, 2004 at a cost of $100 to the combine.

TRAILER ISSUES FOR OLD BIRD SEASON:
Sony Cangiarella stated that arrangements needed to be made to pick up the trailer from the storage site and transfer it to Sonny’s shop to have the brakes replaced before the 2005 Old Bird season starts. Urban Paulus was asked if he could do this at a cost of $100. Urban agreed, but no confirmed date was arranged at this meeting. Sonny also stated that the trailer needed to be cleaned and disinfected before the 2005 Old Bird season, no definite decision was made at this meeting as to who would clean it or if the combine would hire out the job.

WIRE BOTTOMS:
Sonny inquired again to any update in information on the wire bottoms for the trailer. It was stated by Dan Huddock that the reason this project is on hold is that a wire bottom has not been able to be delivered to the company who is to make a sample for the ECC. Sonny asked if we could try to get the wire bottom shipped via UPS or other method if it could not be taken in person. The combine is not able to move forward on this issue until there is a sample bottom. No definite plans to get this project moving forward were committed to at this time.

COMITTED FLYERS:
The following clubs gave their ESTIMATED count of flyers for the 2005 Old Bird season as follows:
Bonita – 11, Freeway – 3, La Puente – Not Participating, San Gabriel Valley – Not Participating, Santa Anita – 6 Pomona and Palm Springs were not present at this meeting but the combine estimated 6 teams for PS and 5 teams for POM. At this time, an ESTIMATED count is 31 flyers for the 2005 Old Bird season. Representatives are to check back with each of their individual clubs and bring an exact count as to participating flyers for their clubs by the next ECC meeting.

SHIPPING COSTS:
The shipping fees for the 2005 Old Bird season were discussed. Urban Paulus submitted his draft proposal for the 2005 Old Bird season. It is as follows:
   Set up fee $    215.00
   Race Reports $ 2420.00
   Hauling   $ 7892.00
   Hotels   $    555.00
   TOTAL:   $11082.00

If Urban’s proposal were accepted the ESTIMATED cost for shipping in the 2005 Old Bird Season based on the 31 teams would be $357/team. Be aware that this number could increase or decrease with the actually numbers of participating flyers for the 2005 Old Bird season. There were discussions on trying to find ways to reduce the costs, but no alternative solutions were reached at this meeting. Club representatives are supposed to take this proposal back to their club for discussion and vote. Urban Paulus was going to email the final proposal to Sonny as soon as possible.

RACE REPORTS:
Charlie Cathel made a motion to make sure that race reports are printed for distribution for EACH PAID team, in each club, for the WHOLE racing season. This motion was seconded by Vito Frankini and was passed by a majority vote. Urban Paulus and other members attending this ECC meeting stated that this was already included in Urban’s contract. It is the job of the individual club Race Secretaries to make sure copies are received and distributed to the correct members of their clubs.

NEW BUSINESS:

RACE RULES AND BYLAWS:
Sonny Cangiarella brought it to the attention of the combine that the race rules and bylaws, as they stand, are outdated and are not clear enough to be useful for upcoming racing seasons. He asked for a committee to be formed and commit to a date to revise the current race rules and bylaws. At this time Charlie Cathel brought out the Articles of Incorporation to be added to the list to be reviewed. It was asked that a representative from each club be in attendance to make sure all clubs were involved. The meeting was set for Saturday January 29th at 10:00 am at the home of Fred Frobos located at 234 N. Valley Center Ave., Glendora (626) 963-8270. The following people have committed to attending so far: Sonny & Steve - FWY, Kristin & Lolo - SGV, Charlie Ettensberger - SA, Charlie Cathel & Fred Frobos - BON. La Puente, Pomona, and Palm Springs need to make arrangements with Sonny or Kristin as to who their representatives will be if any. Please remember that these are VERY IMPORTANT decisions that affect EVERYONE in the combine and we want to make sure all clubs are represented.

RAISING ECC DUES:
Charlie Cathel made a motion to raise the ECC dues from $10/member to $30/member per year to help cover Combine expenses. There was no second so the motion died.

Lolo Ramirez made a motion that each club representative should come back to the next ECC meeting with their clubs vote on how much to raise dues. After each club offers their suggestion, the ECC should take the average increase as the new dues to be charged. There was a second to the motion by Francisco Hernandez and the motion passed.

CLUB REPRESENTATIVES:
It was asked that each club designate their representatives. Each club can have up to two representatives to attend the ECC meetings. These are the representatives designated so far for each club attending the meeting tonight. Bonita – Charlie Cathel, La Puente – Ruben Mora & Ruben Olmos, Freeway – Ron Whitmer & Alex Gaulstain, SGV – Lolo Ramirez, Santa Anita – Charlie Ettensberger & Vito Frankini. Please remember when making the decision for your club representatives that these people are responsible for attending all ECC meetings and report back to their respective clubs.

OPEN FORUM:
Charlie Cathel brought up some issues in regards to the releasing of the pigeons during the 2004 Young Birds season. He made a reminder that the birds are supposed to be released with a full sun and that the race trailer is to be facing homeward. Sonny asked to table this discussion to a later date since the meeting was disorganized due to the unplanned absence of the President.

Please find a member from each club to be responsible for email communications between the ECC and clubs. If you are not already on the ECC mailing list please inform Kristin Swift-Ramirez of any email addresses you would like included in the mailings. Email is the easiest and fastest way to get information out to the clubs. Remember also that the ECC website, www.eastcoursecombine.org, is a great place to catch up on any information you may have missed.

NEXT SCHEDULED MEETING:
The next meeting for the ECC was set for February 6th, 2005 at 16:00. The location of the meeting will remain at the Pepper Tree Restaurant. Representatives please consult with your clubs to get the necessary information requested in the topics above. Make sure to get in contact with either Sonny or Kristin to have any issues you want to discuss added to the agenda for this meeting.

ADJOURNMENT:
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Charlie Cathel with a second by Steve Whitmer. The motion passed and the meeting adjourned at approximately 18:00.

Respectfully Submitted,

Kristin Swift-Ramirez/ECC Recording Secretary