Officer status and reports at the meeting:
 

The Secretary accepted the following proxies:
PROXY LIST (Encl. 2)

The Secretary accepted the following proxies:
 
 

Sign-in Record (Encl.2)
 

REPORTS

VP Education / Conclave Report - VP Easterling did not submit a written report. He reported that the rods, reels and vices were used approximately 10 to 12 times during the past year. The majority of those uses were by Joe Curry with the rest in Texas and Arkansas.

Conclave report (Enc. 3 - updated) - preliminary report was presented with finacial figures from Conclave. One of the major goals from this conclave was to increase FFF membership and it looks like we succeeded. The price differential on the per-pay seminar programs seemed to influence the decision on signing up. Current estimate on new membership is approximately 35

Sr. Vice President - Secretary Maler stated the would like to confirm the minutes of the last meeting. VP McIntosh made the motion to accept the minutes as written. Motion seconded by VP Slane. Motion approved.

Treasurer - Treasurer Taylor presented a written report (Enc. 4) showing current balance and a summary of expenses. Everyone was under budget for the past year.

Communications - the VP of Communications, Hod McIntosh, presented a written report (Enc. 5) plus a list of club contacts, a club directory, a list of the clubs by state and a directory of the 2001-2002 Council officers.

VP McIntosh introduced his replacement, Brian Ellis. After many years of service to the Council, Hod decided that he was ready to retire.

President Camp expressed his appreciation to VP McIntosh for his years of service and welcomed the new VP of Communications aboard.

Communications - Asst. VP - Web Master Bill Brant presented an oral report. He stated he welcomes questions and comment as well as input on the website. He is working toward adding photos of the Conclave to the website. He again stressed that the webpage belongs to the Council and he welcomed input.

Conservation - VP of Conservation Sodamann presented a written report (Enc. 6) which listed the conservation projects that we contributed to financially this past year.

VP Sodamann also gave an update on the Salt Water Committee and the Sea Grass project. He had available bumper stickers in support of this project for those who wanted them.

He gave a short report on the Strawberry River project as a prime example of what we want to do and should be involved in.

Development - VP of Development Slane presented a written report (Enc. 7). He announced that the 2001 Conclave Chairman will be Paul "Sodie" Sodamann and will be hosted by Flint Hills Fly Fishers and other clubs in Kansas and Nebraska.

VP Slane reported that the video tapes that were made during the 2000 Conclave will be edited to produce 60 second spots that can be used in local markets to create interest in the Conclave. The tapes are being produced and edited by Brent Slane.

VP Slane also reported that Tyson Foods had donated the chicken that was served at the welcoming party and that credit was not given to them at that time. The hope is that through this contact, generated by Michael Ames of Northeastern Arkansas FF, that we can make this an annual thing. The food that was left over after the welcoming party was taken to homeless shelters in the area.

Membership - President Camp reported that we are the largest and fastest growing Council in the Federation. We currently have approximately 4,100 members and 1,338 of those are Federation members.

President Camp introduced Judy Boston who will be the new Vice President of Membership.

Long Casts - Editor - Editor Fritz reported that the deadline for the next issue is October 31. Everyone was urged to use the newsletter as a way to communicate with the membership. He requested everyone to please send their articles in on time.

Editor Fritz reminded everyone that if they were not getting their newsletter to let Managing Director Smith know so their address could be checked. Clubs were also reminded to let the Managing Director know of new members so they could be added to the database.

National Directors - Directors Jensen and Smith reported orally that the Council was well represented at the National Conclave this year. There were 9 hours of non-stop dialogue dealing with membership policy and use of logos.

President's Report - Seminars for the cubs are being planned. The Texas seminar is planned for November. There will be one in Central Arkansas for the Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Oklahoma Clubs. Another will be planned for Western Missouri which will host the Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska clubs. Three members from each club will be invited: president, newsletter editor and membership director. The purpose is to determine ways to make the club stronger and more efficient and to improve communications between the clubs and Council.

The Federation of Fly Fishers(tm) in general is doing good financially. They took a loss in Gatlinburg and are hoping that the move back to Livingston will put them back on firmer grounds financially. This year the show was a success and the Federation is currently $44,000 under budget.

The Ralph Moon fund was dissolved and the money was put into the All Fish All Waters Foundation designated for conservation and education.

President Camp included in his verbal report a listing of conservation items from National. They are as follows:
 

1. A Native Fish Conservation effort was started this year with committee formed to propose policy.
2. The Warm Water Conservation committee which is a subset of the conservation committee was formulated with our own Dennis Galyardt as chair.
3. The Salt Water Conservation Committee (also a sub committee of the conservation committee) was formulated with the first project to be a sea grass conservation effort in cooperation with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
4. A grant of $8000 was approved in cooperation with the Targhee National Forest on a native species recovery effort involving stream surveys in the headwaters of the South Fork of the Snake River in Idaho.
5. Conservation grants to the individual clubs were approved totaling $22,000.
6. Three endangered fishers will be announced at the end of July.
7. An Invasive Exotics committee was formed to help in effort to combat the introduction of exotic species into our waters.

President Camp reported that National has made a change in it's awards program in that all past winners of the Buz Buszek Memorial Award and the Lapis Lazuli Award will be awarded a non-transferable life-membership.

He reported that National VP Tracie Maler has drafted a fund raising manual with the help of council memberships. This booklet is available to all clubs for use in fund-raising.

National has not dropped the 10% membership requirement for affiliate clubs only. Dues have been increased. They were $25 plus $1 per member with a max of $200. They are now $50 plus $1 per member with a max of $250. Of the $50 - $30 stays in the Council. The Council will receive a check for $1.50 for each FFF member within the Council.

Increasing membership is an ongoing problem. It is evident in lack of attendance at Board meeting. People don't feel an ownership in our organization. There was much discussion on how to instill ownership in individuals and clubs.

Advantage of 100% clubs is that they are tax exempt and are entitled to legal support from National.

Membership retention rate in the Southern Council is good.

We need input from clubs on how we can help them.

Trademark issues - According to a trademark attorney the council and clubs have been illegally using the Federation of Fly Fishers(tm) trademark. The Logo must not be altered in any way. Nothing is to touch the trademark. The logo must have the (r) on it. All clubs and individuals who use the logo must have the word "member" printed under logo.

Fly Fisher magazine has a new publisher - Frank Amato Publications. There will be few or no changes to the magazine at present. All clubs are asked to place Amato Publications on their newletter mailing list.

Wisconsin is not a separate council. They don't have the minimum number of clubs required for a council but they have been given an exemption to give this a try. It appears that the Great Lakes Council is splintering off into small councils.

Retailers membership of $70 has not changed; however, for each membership recruited through a retail member $10 will be returned to the retailer. Each retail member will be listed in the Fly Fisher once per year and will receive a link on retail shop page of the FFF website.

Thirteen were added to the Senior Advisors. Our own Dave Whitlock was among the number.

OLD BUSINESS

Status of 100% Membership Plan - Secretary Maler presented a short update on the 100% membership plan. The plan was presented to the National Board of Directors in Livingston in August. He asked that the Southern Council be allowed to institute a pilot program allowing 100% clubs to reduce membership dues to $15.00. There was no action taken on the request and if we want this to happen we may have to continue to push National.

Money Market Account - Treasurer Taylor has identified a money market account provider (First Star Bank) in the Mountain Home area that will offer FDIC accounts at 6% for $5,000 to $25,000 and 6.25 on amounts over $25,000. This would be an excellent way to keep our "lazy" money more fluid. Motion to set up Money Market account was made by VP Slane and seconded by VP Sodamann. Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS

Missouri 4-H - Patricia Koenigsfeld of Capital City Fly Fishers has requested $2,000 per year for 3 years ( Enc. 8) to help establish a sports fishing program for the Missouri 4H program. The leaders would be trained and certified for this program. Council could restrict money to how we would like it to be used. Response to be delayed until we get into budget.

Stream Team - President Camp read a portion of a letter (Enc. 9) from Mark Van Patten of the Missouri Stream Team program regarding their annual request for funds. They are again requesting $1,500. Response to be delayed until we get into budget.

Crooked Creek Coalition - Fred Wiseman of the Coalition gave a short report on the status of the Coalition. There has been no new permits in 5 years however one is coming up and they have asked for $5,000 from the Southern Council to help block the permits. The funds would be used for legal fees. President Camp asked Mr. Wiseman for an accounting on how funds given in the past have been spent. Mr. Wiseman said he would have a report available shortly. Response to the request delayed until we get into budget.

Awards Criteria - VP McIntosh brought up that there has been some controversy about the criteria used to select the Southern Council awards winners. VP Slane made a motion that a committee be appointed to re-write the awards criteria. Motion was seconded by VP McIntosh and was approved unanimously. President Camp appointed a committee of himself, VP Slane and Editor Fritz to re-do the awards criteria with the results to be presented at the December Executive Committee Meeting.

Budget - Much discussion took place regarding how much the budget should be. Should we stay within income or dip into reserves to fund budget items.

A motion was made by National Director Jensen that we fund $3,000 for Conservation, $1,000 for Crooked Creek Coalition, $1,500 for Stream Team, and that we table the request from Missouri 4-H until later. This is recognizing that we are over budget but have funds to carry on. Motion was seconded by Treasurer Taylor and was approved.

Interim budget was set as follows with final budget to be set in December.

Long Casts $7,000
Managing Director Salary 8,000
Capps Creek 3,000
Communications 1,000
Development 1,000
Education 3,000
Executive Committee 400
Managing Director Supplies 700
Membership 500
Crooked Creek Coalition 1,000
Conservation 3,000
Total $28,600

NEW OFFICERS - 2001 - 2002 - Walter McLendon of Pineywoods Fly Fishers reported that his committee had arrived at the following slate of officers for the upcoming term. They are:

President Brian Camp
Sr. Vice President/Secretary Roger Maler
Treasurer Shawn Taylor
VP - Communications Brian Ellis
Asst. VP - Communications Bill Brant
VP - Conservation Paul Sodamann
VP - Development Dennis Slane
VP - Education Chuck Easterling
VP - Membership Judy Boston
Editor - Long Casts Steve Fritz
National Director Steve Jensen
National Director Chet Smith

Positions of Archivist and Parliamentarian are appointed by the Executive Committee.

Next Meeting - December 2, 2000, 4:00 PM at the Ramada Inn. Meeting postponed - date to be determined.

/ps