E-Ballot 19-11(FEE FOR NON USCA APPRENTICE JUDGES)

E-Ballot 19-11(FEE FOR NON USCA APPRENTICE JUDGES)

Motion made by Nathaniel Roque and seconded by Al Govednik to add a fee for Non USCA Apprentice Judges in the amount of $ 100.00 per Trial to apprentice either at a USCA Trial or under a USCA Judge..

Background:

In the past USCA has always provided at no charge to all AWDF Member Clubs, Judges and training by way of approving apprenticeships and teaching judges to all AWDF Member Clubs, with the increase of clubs starting their own judges programs we are doing more and more apprenticeships for other organizations. This uses USCA Judges resources at the expense of USCA Funds to directly benefit non USCA Clubs.

The reasons that our judges are requested is because we are world recognized, this is due to USCA membership in the WUSV. The WUSV recognizes our judges College because we meet their requirements IE proper apprenticeship, paperwork, an active authorization process. active DOJ as well as yearly meetings (Judges College). Currently the cost to maintain our Judges College is at or above $ 20,000 a year due to the high cost of travel and that we now have 21 judges and apprentices. This cost should not be the sole burden of dues paying USCA members if our judges resources are being used for other organizations benefits, training their judges or allowing our judges to judge their trials. USCA members will not receive much benefit in the near future from the licensing of these other organizations judges since these judges can not be used to judge at a USCA Trial (USCA bylaws require all judges at USCA Event to be USCA, SV or FCI Judges

from WUSV Member Clubs). Our members will benefit from additional judges in other organizations by having potential availability to enter a trial and earn a title at another AWDF Club but this title will be accepted the same as we currently accept DVG earned titles it will only count towards a sport title, not valid for Sports Medal Points, SchH 3 Club or Breed Survey.

I believe that the fees being introduced for USCA Services to non USCA members and Clubs are very fair both for the other clubs and for our members. Their is no reason to support USCA as a member if you can get all of the benefits for free. In order for USCA to continue to provide support to our membership and to our AWDF Member Clubs services must be compensated. USCA has long been supporting all AWDF member clubs through supporting the lions share of the dues to support AWDF Activities and by providing access to USCA Events, providing judges and training and will continue to do so.

Submitted 07/26/11, closes 08/02/11.

Hi Sportsfriends,

I realize we are a few months away from our regional championship and meeting, but I wanted to hit a few things….

1) Regional Helper seminar. Dennis Van der Linde is a great teaching helper, and Twin County promises to provide good hospitality for all comers. Note that the spectator fee is waived if you bring a dog for the young helpers to work. This is a great opportunity to get all your young helpers certified and trained – way cheaper than trying to host your own, esp. for all the Washington/Oregon clubs.

2) Regional Championship. Frank Mensing is coming down from Canada to judge, Tri-State Schutzhund Club (with a little help from Big Sky, we hope!) will be looking to host a great event! Let’s get our regional championship entries up into the 20’s where they belong! Sept 24-25, 2011 in Spokane.

3) Regional Conformation show and trial. Treasure Valley Working Dog Association promises a great show with USA/SV Johannes Grewe. Boise, ID area, Oct. 7-9, 2011 (includes working trial on Friday).

4) Regional meeting, elections, bylaws, etc…. Held in conjunction with the Regional Championship, the regional meeting is our opportunity to clarify and rectify issues in our bylaws, take a look at how we do business, and elect the regional officers. It’s also an important opportunity to begin discussing the position the Regional Director should take at the General Board meeting in November.

This last item (the regional meeting) is worth fleshing out a bit as we get closer. First, bylaws…. I’ve downloaded and cleaned up the bylaws as posted on our regional website (to remove all the shown amendments, etc). Furthermore, I noticed while I was doing this that the amendments passed in 2009 were never included in the version posted on the web. Those of you with the energy to do so are welcome to go through and make sure I got it right. There are a few things that need (in my opinion only) some attention:

• Change all the “USA” ‘s to “USCA”.



• Either adopt directly by reference the duties of the Regional Training Director or cut and paste them in from USCA Regional Policy. [sidebar: I know that National bylaws provisions trump regional, and regional trumps club, etc., but what about national policy? Does it trump Regional Bylaws? I’m thinking it probably does. In which case, ALL of the material in the Regional Policy ought to be referenced somehow in our bylaws].
  There is no Article X… probably ought to renumber.



• The cap on the “checking account balance” imposed by Article XIII paragraph B hasn’t been observed for some time. If it had been, we would have been required to pay administration fees by the bank; the relationship between our regional treasurer and the bank is all that has prevented its adoption as it is. I don’t understand the reason for the cap; our expenses have exceeded our income for several years, so it may be moot sooner than we’d like!
  

Next… how we do business. How do we keep the draining of the regional fund from continuing? Our regional events have been under-enrolled for some time. This is a big factor, and it appears to me that if we get our participation in these events up to the level they should experience, the problem will resolve itself. But if it doesn’t? We may need to curtail our support of regional events from the regional fund. And if we do that, we may get no volunteers at all for regional event hosting. Not a good spiral. What are your thoughts on how we can deal with this?

Finally, regional officers. The positions of RD, ARD, Secretary, Treasurer, Breed Warden and Training Director are elected this cycle. As of this writing, I am planning on running again for RD. Others within the officer ranks may be looking to remain in their current posts or to depart. If you are interested in trying your hand at serving the region in one of these capacities, I encourage you to contact Emily Carte, the Regional Secretary, so that your name can be included on the ballot. Nominations from the floor are also welcome at the regional meeting, but I thought we should start folks thinking early.

Thanks for staying with me through such a long message and multiple topics. I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing you at one of the upcoming regional events.

Yours in the Sport,


Warren L Jones
PNW Regional Director

TRIAL HELPER SEMINAR & CLASSIFICATION

Plan now to attend the Trial Helper Seminar & Classification with USA Teaching Helper Committee Member Dennis Vander Linde!

AUGUST 13 & 14, 2011

Twin County Schutzhund Club @ Southern Training Center
Helpers: $30 Spectator: $10
Spectators who bring dogs to work are free.

Click for a copy of the flyer with registration forms and more information.

Regional Helper Seminar

It's time for all clubs to begin making a commitment to the Regional Trial Helper Seminar and to send new helpers and those needing upgrading to the classification.We need to be supporting the regional event and to develop our helpers by getting their helper books and study the rules for classification.

Also the event is a perfect place to network all of our helpers and the clubs. Introductions to the region's helpers and helpers to be as we pass into a period where our known helpers begin to retire or to limit their activities. The fees are low and all helpers from various organizations are welcome. This increases the learning experience and benefits the Region.

Please contact me as soon as possible with your club's commitment. We need to know how many helpers we will be serving.

Karen Bostwick