EAST COURSE COMBINE MEETING

Sunday August 8, 2004 (Location:  Sandberg Middle School)

 

The meeting was called to order at 18:10 by ECC president John Godinez.

 

ROLL CALL:

 Present:                                                                                            Absent:

1.       Bonita                      4.  San Gabriel Valley                        1.  Palm Springs

2.       Freeway                  5.  Santa Anita                                    2.  Pomona                        

3.       La Puente                                                                           3.  Winchester

 

MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING: John Godinez read the minutes from the meeting of July 11, 2004.  A correction was made by Sonny Cangiarella that the Freeway club was missing from attendance in the May-June and the Sept. minutes.  President John Godinez would make the correction.  Mike Smith wanted to clarify that the cost for the upgrade on the trailer crates was $10 per member.  Urban Paulus wanted clarify that the correct name for the 4/16/05 Old Bird race station was Springerville not St. Johns/Springerville.  He stated that these are two separate drop-off points.  The motion to accept the minutes was made by Ron Whitmer with the second from Sonny Cangiarella. The motion passed.

 

FINANCIAL REPORT: Kathy Bagu read the financial report. Kathy reported a balance of $3,420.01 in the combine account as of 8/8/04.  Debits were reported as a $16.00 service charge and a $1.87 error in the check book for a balance of $3,402.14.

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

RACE SECRETARY:

Sonny Cangiarella reported that the trailer had been taken apart and cleaned by himself, Alex Galustain, and 4 people they hired from Home Depot because no one else showed up from the combine.  Sonny brought up to the combine that 25 of the crates were VERY dirty and it was apparent that no paper liners were used.  After reviewing the bylaws, it was stated that Lyle Loomis was supposed to police the cleaning of the crates.  If standards for crate cleaning are not followed by each club the first offense would result in a warning and each offense after that would result in a fine of $5/crate.  Sonny researched crate numbers and found the crates in question to belong to the Pomona Club.  It was agreed that President John Godinez was to give Pomona Club their warning effective immediately for the upcoming 2004-2005 racing season, any new offense would result in a $5/crate fine. 

 

STAGING OF THE TRAILER DURING THE RACE SEASON:

The location to store the trailer is still pending.  The combine asked Vito to speak with Charlie Etttensperger again to clarify if there would be any costs associated with storing the trailer at his location.  Vito was to report back to the ECC at the next meeting with the information. 

 

WIRE BOTTOMS:

Mike Smith reported that there might be a slight increase in material costs for the crate wire bottoms.  They are hoping to get the new create bottoms back by the 1st 2004 Young Bird race.

 

COMITTED FLYERS:

The following clubs submitted the number of committed flyers for the 2004 Young Bird season as follows:

Bonita – 20 teams, Freeway – 6 teams, La Puente – 11 teams, Palm Springs – 6 teams, San Gabriel Valley – 5 teams, Santa Anita – 8 teams, Winchester – Possibly 3 teams

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

SHIPPING COSTS:

Based on 60 teams with Urban’s proposed conveyor’s cost of $7760.80, basic shipping costs are estimated at $130.  Kathy Bagu made a motion to increase the 2004 Young Bird shipping costs to $175/team to cover the cost of Urban’s conveyor proposal, trophies, and to increase the general fund for miscellaneous future Combine expenses.  The motion was seconded by Sonny Cangiarella and was passed unanimously.

 

 

TRAILER CAPACITY:    

A lengthy discussion began in regards to the crate capacity of the race trailer.  With the possibility of 60 teams and only 56 crates on the race truck, the Combine faces a space issue for at least the first couple of races.  It was discussed that crate capacity is 30 birds per crate, which most agreed was too many birds in each crate on a full truck, especially if weather conditions are hot.  Two possible solutions were discussed.  First, have a second driver haul the rack to the first two races at an additional cost to flyers.  Second, limit the number of birds entered in the first two races.  Sonny Cangiarella made the suggestion to have each club keep track of member’s team sizes over August and September.  Each club should return to the Oct. 3rd, 2004 ECC meeting with a team count for their club to provide the combine with a good idea if action needs to be taken to solve any possible capacity problem.  The discussion was tabled at this time.

 

WINSPEED:

Urban Paulus made the Combine aware that there will be a new updated version of WinSpeed available soon, which all clubs will need to acquire.  The AU is using the WinSpeed program to generate awards.  If clubs do not have this new version, their data will not be included.  Sonny asked all clubs attending if they had computers and the ability to download the WinSpeed update. All clubs except Santa Anita had computers ready.  Sonny Cangiarella asked Vito to go back to the Santa Anita club and find out their computer situation.  Sonny said for Santa Anita to contact him if they needed help in training members on how to use the WinSpeed program.

 

AWARDS BANQUET:

Kristin Swift-Ramirez asked if there was going to be an awards banquet.  Nothing had been set at this time.  Sonny Cangiarella made the suggestion to have the awards given out after shipping at the Route 66 race, since the hall has already been rented.  The Combine agreed to distribute the awards on November 27, 2004 after shipping for the Route 66 race.

 

ROUTE 66 RACE:

Sonny Cangiarella said the Corona-Norco-Arlington and West End Flyers of the 395 Concourse were interested in participating in the Route 66 Race.  Sonny asked the combine if there was any opposition to these two clubs participating.  No one opposed. Sonny was going to inform the clubs that they could participate.

 

SGV WINNER TAKE ALL PICK BIRD:

Lolo Ramirez announced that the SGV RPC was holding their own winner take all pick bird race for the Mesa station on 12/11/04.  The cost is $25/bird.  SGV has a mandatory 4 bird minimum in place for their club members, guaranteeing at least a $500 prize.  This is race is open to all ECC members.  Monies and bird lists are due no later than Monday 12/06/04 to Kristin Swift-Ramirez, 702 Packsaddle Lane, Walnut, CA  91789.

 

ADJOURNMENT:

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Sonny Cangiarella with a second by Ron Whitmer.  The motion passed and the meeting adjourned at approximately 19:45. 

 

The first Sunday in September falls on a holiday weekend and it was agreed to schedule the next meeting for Sunday September 12th, 2004 at 18:00 (6:00 p.m.). To be located at the Sandberg Middle School.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Kristin Swift-Ramirez/ECC Recording Secretary