April 2019 Minutes

Board Meeting Minutes April 25, 2019 

(Also includes as Addendum: Minutes of Tuesday, May 7, 2019 OHA Board Conference Call)

Orinda Horsemen’s Association (OHA)

PO Box 904, Orinda CA 94563

REMINDERS:

• Upcoming In-Hand Herd Moves
  • , May 11, 3:00 pm: in-hand move to Lower Sullivan Ranch (LSR) pasture.
  • Around May 23: in-hand move from Beer Can to Lower Pear

• ACTION NEEDED by June 5, 2019: See proposed rule change on Horse Health Certificate required – referenced at the bottom of the page of the minutes (Agenda item 7)e)).  Comment period ends June 5, 2019.  Email comments to the Board.

.

MINUTES:

Board Members Attendance (held at Lisa’s house) – Meeting commenced around 7:10 pm:

• Board Members Present at Meeting:Alix, Diane, Elise, Heather, Linda, Lisa, Wakean.
• Non-Board Members Present: Kim Z.

• Approve Agenda– Approved with the one addition.
  1. Add 7) e) Horse Health – certification required

• Consent/Standing Items
  1. Minutes of last meeting were approved as sent out to membership.
  2. Review of Planning Grid

April

Rototill ring – this has been done.

May

Begin preparing for hay order – DEFER this to next meeting to discuss.

Mow hemlock – AGP not approved yet.   See comments under EBMUD report.

Review status of AGP projects – AGP not approved yet.  See comments under EBMUD report.

1. Pasture rotation schedule/upcoming herd moves
   • May 5: herd moves to Plateau
   • May 11: in-hand move to Lower Sullivan Ranch (LSR)
   • Around May 23: in-hand move from Beer Can to Lower Pear

• Membership Issues
  1. Status of open spaces
     • At the last Board meeting in March there were 3 open membership spaces.
     • Subsequently have had 3 additional members give up their proprietary membership spaces. Sara Shumer, Lynne Royer and Alison Martin.
     • As of this Board meeting there are 6 open membership spaces.
     • One Board member indicated that Sonny was requesting 2^nd horse space: make sure Sonny gets this information to Sarah Cohen.
     • If this is the case, then there will be 5 spaces to fill.
  2. Nomination for Honorary membership
     • Alison Martin is giving up her Proprietary Membership and requested Honorary membership and to be placed on the Waiting List as leaving proprietary member in good standing.
     • The Board discussed the definition and use of the Honorary membership with several Board members feeling that Honorary Membership should be applied to individuals who are “retiring” from having horses on the pasture.
     • The motion was made to grant Alison Martin Honorary Membership. A vote was taken and the motion did not pass.
     • A revised motion was made: To approve Associate Membership for Alison Martin with crediting the fees and work hours she has already contributed to meet the Associate Member obligations for this year.  A vote was taken and this motion did pass.
     • Heather offered to Sponsor Alison as Associate Member as did other Board Members. This will be clarified to the Membership Coordinator.
  3. Review of Associate Membership
     • The procedure is to review all Associate Membership annually. The Board has not done this year.  Add to the next Board Meeting Agenda.
     • Michael Barglow
       • Heather advised Michael prior to the Board meeting that the Board would be discussing the recent incident in which he took and rode the wrong horse from private property adjacent to OHA.
       • Michael requested that discussion of this topic be postponed to the next Board Meeting as he could not attend the April 26 meeting since he was out of town for several weeks.
       • The motion was made to in two parts: part one, to approve moving this agenda item to the next Board Meeting; part two, that Michael be advised that he can only be on OHA property if accompanied by an OHA proprietary member from the date of this Board meeting until the next Board meeting date. A vote was taken and the motion passed. Wakean responsible for advising Michael of this decision.

1. Role of mentors – Linda to review comments from membership
   • Linda indicated that the feedback was positive. There was only 1 recommended suggestion to be added.
   • Linda was asked by the Board to revise the document and take out any “opinions” on items and keep relevant to the rules and procedures. And then get the revision back to the Board for review at next meeting.

1. Email Etiquette
   • The Board discussed that the email traffic seems to be continually increasing so please everyone continue to think about…does that email really need to be sent?! Am I applying the email etiquette we have outlined on the OHA website which is referenced below.
   • business@orindahorsemen.orgshould be used for messages that are OHA business-related. Messages about meeting minutes, herd moves, OHA work coordination, notifications that owners are out of town, lost & found items, invitations to share a vet/farrier call, messages about horses leaving or coming to OHA, etc. should be sent here.
   • personal@orindahorsemen.orgshould be use for personal messages that are not integral to OHA business. Photos, messages about accomplishments, links to helpful horse articles or videos, info on fun horse events and trail work days in the area etc. should be sent here.
   • We had some feedback that members didn’t know if the Board was addressing concerns that had been sent to the Board. In the interest of acknowledging these concerns but remembering that being on the Board is a volunteer role,  we are going to try the following approach to see how it works:
     • Alix will be sending out an acknowledgement email of receipt if someone is sending an email to the Board requesting an action. In addition, she will keep a list of those items to make sure they are reviewed at the Board meeting and that the member is informed after Board has discussed.
     • This response email from Alix will only be an acknowledgment of receipt; not an attempt to immediately solve or recommend action.
     • Please note that the Board has many competing priorities, and limited time and resources, and cannot take action on all member suggestions. The Board’s action regarding a suggestion or request may include: discussing and taking action, deferring discussion to a future Board meeting, or declining to discuss the suggestion.

• EBMUD Report
  1. Status of AGP – Not heard any further status of AGP from EBMUD per Wakean.
  2. Capital Improvements: Not yet approved by EBMUD.
  3. Platform for water cache system off Taj. Lisa M. is spear-heading building this platform.  Lisa needs help.  So far she will get help from Sonny, Scott and Wakean.  Wakean volunteered to handle painting the Taj wooden structure.
  4. Wakean commented that there is a “big tree” down in the FM on way to Insp Pt that EBMUD will have to handle cleaning.
  5. Lisa M. identified a log across the single track down to pear orchard. Kim Z. volunteered to handle clearing it.

• Treasurer’s Report
  1. Status: dues are almost all in.  Diane following up with stragglers.
  2. After the Quarterly Actuals were sent out with the last minutes, Morris made some suggestions about historical information. Diane will be pulling together an explanation of the categories currently used as these have changed over time.
  3. Diane continuing to track OHA’s non-profit status request through IRS: not heard anything back so will actively reach out before the next Board meeting.

• Pasture Teams – DEFER to next Board Meeting

• Rule Change Proposals
  1. One-horse limit for Probationary members – discussed comments on proposed rule change. Comments are summarized on the attached document sent out with the minutes.
     • The 30-day comment period ends May 3, 2019.
     • Conference call scheduled for Tues, May 7 at 7:30 pm: Board agreed that we needed to have a conference call prior to our next Board meeting so that we can vote on this rule change or amend the rule for further comment. The Board feels this needs to be finalized so the Membership Coordinator can proceed with clarity to fill the open positions.  Heather to send out call-in information.
  2. Addition to rules re: safety (Lisa) – DEFER to next meeting
  3. Horse condition requirement (Bronwyn) – DEFER to next meeting
  4. Financial responsibility with vets (Linda) – DEFER to next meeting
  5. Horse Health – Certificate Required
     • Board discussed clarifying the horse health requirements for new horses coming onto OHA pasture.
     • Currently indicates vet check. Need to clarify new wording and what format and forms to require.
     • See the end of the minutes for the proposed wording change. The board is submitting this to the membership for the 30-day comment period.

• Check-in on Spring Confinements
  1. Per Lisa M. all is good; everyone has been collaborating and there are no issues to report.

• Report on Safety/Emergency Meeting – DEFER to next meeting

• Projects
  1. Back 40
• Progress has been made on the Back 40.
• Thank you to those who worked on project: Larry H., Caitlin and Patrick.  And to Larry and Bronwyn for donating materials.

2. Maintenance of surface in Pavilion stalls – DEFER to next meeting
3. Hot rope on Beer Can boundary fence – partially complete. The rope is up but the post Alison indicated would hold the charger is still enveloped in bushes. There is no charger or grounding stake, either, so still needs completion.
4. Drainage at USR gate
   • Nothing further discuss at this time as will be an issue to deal with before next winter.
   • Wakean will ask Kerry (EBMUD) about the drainage to see if they can address when they regrade the fire road for repair.
   • Another possible consideration is to put in a narrower gate in another location.
   • Question for now is: has the “bog” dried up enough to remove temp fencing.  Z. will check.  After the meeting, Kim Z. removed temp fencing so gate access open.
5. Taj Manure water cache – discussed in EBMUD section.
6. ADD IN: OHA Rules document:  Lisa M. has committed to taking on project of syncing up the rule changes in the OHA minutes with the Rules document.  Lisa will talk to Eddie R. regarding work she has done so far.

• Agenda items deferred to next Board meeting
  1. Discussion with Michael Barglow
  2. Pasture Teams
  3. Addition to rules re: safety (Lisa)
  4. Horse condition requirement (Bronwyn)
  5. Financial responsibility with vets (Linda)
  6. Report on Safety/Emergency Meeting

1. Maintenance of surface in Pavilion stalls

• Executive Session: attended by Board Members only.

Continuation of Agenda item 7) e).

30-day comment period ends June 5, 2019.

Horse Health Rule change:  Proposed wording highlighted in yellow:

OHA Rules

III. Membership

1. A) Proprietary Membership
2. Responsibilities of Proprietary Membership

(a) Forms: Upon acceptance of an offered space and before receiving a key, the probationary member must sign a membership agreement and a liability form for each member of their immediate family that will be present at OHA, and will have sent the stated fees. The forms must be received by the Secretary or his/her designee prior to issuance of the key to the new member. Prior to placing a horse at OHA, the member will complete an OHA Horse Health form available on the OHA website. stating that the horse satisfies the basic health criteria set by OHA, and will provide a separate, written certification of good health of good health from a licensed veterinarian (see Changes of Horses for details).

1. CHANGES OF HORSES
2. All new incoming horses must be in good health upon arrival at the pasture, as certified in writing by a licensed veterinarian that the horse is free of contagious disease and is serviceably sound to live on the pasture.  The horse must be current on worming and all vaccinations listed in the Health Care section of these Rules, as certified by the vet or as proven by receipts of vaccine purchase. An OHA Horse Health form available on the OHA website, must also be must be completed by the owner and filed with the Secretary.

Next Board Meeting – Thursday, May 30, 2019 at 6:45 pm.  Lisa McLaughlin’s house.  Diane committed to getting dinner – pizza.

Meeting adjourned at 10:00 pm.

Thank yous:  (Send info to Elise if you want to “Toot your horn” and be included in the next Minutes.   If I missed anyone send me email and I will include in next minutes).

• Work and donating many of the materials for Back 40: Larry, Caitlin, Patrick and Bronwyn
• Kim – for chain sawing tree in Forest and tree across single track down to bottom of Lower Pasture.
• Wakean and Scott – tree cutting.

Minutes of 4/25/19 Board meeting respectfully submitted by Elise Geske.

ADDENDUM: Minutes of Tuesday, May 7, 2019 OHA Board Conference Call

MINUTES:

Board Members Attendance via Conference call

• Board Members present on call:Alix, Diane, Elise, Heather, Lisa.
• Board Members absent from call: Linda, Wakean.
• Non-Board Members present on call:  Kim Z.

Agenda item:  Proposed changes to the one-horse limit for Probationary members.

• Board reviewed and discussed the rule change and subsequent member comments from 30 day comment period (that ended May 3, 2019).  There were no additional member comments since the prior review and discussion at  Board Meeting on April 25.
• Motion was made to adopt the rule change as initially proposed. Take out III) B) 2) (c) from the rules.
  • III) Membership
  • B) Probationary Proprietary Membership
  • 2) (c) Probationary member may not add their name to the second horse list.
• Motion was seconded. Board vote passed motion approving this rule change.
• Lisa will review the procedures to match up to this rule change. The motion was made to match up the procedures to the rule change.  Motion seconded.  Board vote passed motion.
• Lisa will share with Sarah Cohen so she can move forward with filling membership spaces.

Other Membership issues mentioned that impact filling spaces:

• Fred Goff has decided to give up his membership space.
• Eddie Reiter will be taking a second horse space and moving Cooper into that space (from Fred).
• So as of this conference call date there are still 5 open spaces.

Conference call adjourned.

Minutes of 5/7/19 Board conference call respectfully submitted by Elise Geske.