The Willamette Valley chapter meeting was held at the home of Howard and Vicki Meyer.  Members present: Jeff Merriman, Phil Swain, Kathy Steele, John Lucini, Grace Lucini, John Kerr, Josh Rhodes, Jay Welch, Sam Deleganes, and Howard Meyer.

The meeting was called to order by President Howard Meyer at 2:00 p.m.  He presented the minutes from last year’s meeting.  

Treasurer Colleen Reiss was not in attendance but had forwarded the financial statement to Howard.  After it was presented and discussed, Phil Swain moved and Kathy Steele seconded to approve the financial statement.  Motion carried.

A current membership list was distributed to those in attendance.

Membership dues are currently $20 per year.  John Kerr moved and Grace Lucini seconded for the dues to remain at $20 for the 2008 year.  Motion carried.

Chapter bylaws were discussed regarding dates for the financial year and the annual meeting.  Howard suggested that the current dates conflicted with fall tests and hunting seasons.  It was proposed by Phil Swain and seconded by Jeff Merriman that the financial year will be changed to a calendar year (January thru December) and the annual meeting be held in January.  Article 4, Section 1 of the bylaws will be changed accordingly to read “An annual meeting will be held in January of each year or at such other time as deemed necessary by the Board of Directors.  All current members will be given ample notification as to the time, date, and location of the annual meeting.”  Motion carried.  

The following further adjustments concerning timing of dues were then made:
Article 2, Section 3 to read: “Chapter membership dues: Dues will be determined by the Board of Directors and are payable January 1 to cover the calendar year.  Dues paid by new members joining after the fall test will cover both the remainder of the current year and the following year’s membership.”
Article 3, Section 4 to read: “Members not paying dues by March 1 will be dropped from the membership rolls and all benefits of the chapter will be terminated.”  The above amendments were move by John Kerr, seconded by Jay Welch; motion carried.  Therefore membership dues are now due as of January 1.  

Discussion ensued regarding an additional charge of $5.00 to make the current adult membership into a family membership with the spouse being given voting rights.  The intention was to give spouses added involvement in the chapter.  Not pursued any further at this time.

Howard indicated the membership has been informed via email regarding the spring test which will be held April 19 & 20 at the St. Louis Ponds for NA, UPT, and UT testing; entry fees will be NA ($110), UT & UPT ($125).  Howard has reserved the test birds; Kathy Steele is the test secretary.  Tentative dates for a fall test are August 16-17.

Considerable discussion then took place regarding limiting the number of test entries per handler.  The basis for the limit (as provided for in the bylaws) was to allow access for active WV chapter members to test their dogs.  The consensus of the group was to retain the 3-dog limit for any one handler with additional entries to be placed on a waiting list for any slots still available three weeks prior to the test date.

It is planned that two or three training days will be held before the spring test; Howard will procure and hold the birds for training days.  Dates will be announced via email to the current membership list.  

Jeff Merriman is establishing a website for the Willamette Chapter.  Phil Swain moved and Sam Deleganes seconded the motion to spend up to $250 annually for establishment and maintenance of the website.  Motion carried.  (Following the meeting, members viewed Jeff’s skeleton website – very impressive!)

The election of officers then took place with the following being elected:
    President:  Howard Meyer
    Vice President:  Josh Rhodes
    Secretary:  Vicki Meyer
    Treasurer:  Jeff Merriman

The meeting was adjourned at 4:27 p.m.