Submitted by Carolina Bergles
Executive Attendance:
President Nancy Egelton (TCGG) - Present
1st Vice President Peter DeSouza (HDAS) - Absent
2nd Vice President Ann Marie Towell (CAS) - Present
Corresponding Secretary Cindy Golden (SCAAS) - Present
Recording Secretary - Vacant
Treasurer Albert Van Montfort (DRAS) - Present
Also in Attendance:
Jeff Mountjoy (BRASS)
Brian Glazier (LAS)
Murray Brown (TCGG)
Carolina Bergles (HDAS)
Jay Oliver (KWAS)
Jenny Oliver (PRAC)
Phil Barrett (SCAAS)
Catherine Salmon (BBC)
Morgan Ruttle (PRAC)
Les Turnbull (WAS)
Gabe Rac-Sabo (WAS)
Marissa McCrae (DRAS)
Kiefer Krule (Guest)
Treasurer’s Report:
Current balance: $12,185.38, $300 cash.
Outstanding invoices (Best Buy,WIX) to pay.
E-Transfer is now working.
Executives met at the bank this week and signing officers have been updated.
Membership Report:
All member clubs have been sent insurance policy information. SAM, MAST, GTA clubs have not renewed membership at this time.
Motion to accept 2020 member clubs - motion carried: Cindy, Nancy, Albert, Ann Marie.
Secretary’s Report:
Recording Secretary Murray Brown has resigned effective immediately. As per the constitution, his duties will be carried out by VPs and President until the next election. Prior to his resignation, Murray worked very hard to correct all of the organisational/government records. This was a daunting task, executives and members thank Murray for his great contributions to the organisation. We hope that Murray will return to service in the future when time permits.
Motion to accept Murray Brown’s resignation - Motion carried: Cindy, Nancy, Albert, Ann Marie.
Note: CAOAC government books are in possession of Nancy Egelton and are available for any members to view by request.
Corresponding Secretary Cindy Golden has no issues or news to report.
Fish Rescue:
One Betta and several Goldfish have been re-homed since our last meeting.
VP’s Report:
Nothing new to report.
Steering Committee:
Peter DeSouza will send clubs notices to prepare for CAOAC elections in May 2020. Highlights will include:
● Nominations for elected positions must be received no later than 60 days before the election
● All current executives wish to stand in their positions
Webmaster Update:
New website is operational, we ask that all members register on the website to see the full content (WIX app is not required).
Look forward to seeing everyone's feedback and contributions.
Webmaster’s task priorities for the next few months will be:
Rewrite/configure the ‘Find a Club’ page to include live links, meeting information
Edit Events page to include more details
Update Speakers page
Work with team members to create new ‘job descriptions’. We hope that defined and easy to understand roles will increase volunteerism and serve as a template for member clubs who feel this is important also
Work with member clubs to encourage centralised member only buy/sell - we recognise there is a need due to social media policy changes. Also working together will put less burden on individual clubs to monitor their own pages.
Suggestions given: add more articles and to the ‘news and views’ section - we encourage any contributions.
Moving forward, or newsletter will be available in a different format. You can find club reports, president's messages, important notices, meeting minutes and interest/educational articles in our ‘News and Views’ section of the website.
DRAS and 2020 Convention Update:
Printed tickets and flyers are available and have been distributed to the clubs in attendance to sell convention tickets. DRAS has created beautiful marketing and event logos which sponsored gifts are starting to roll in and everyone is getting excited.
If you wish to volunteer please contact DRAS, many hands makes light work… and lots of fun!
Please check out the DRAS and CAOAC pages for convention news and details.
Due to new changes in legislation (Bill 136) we are working to send out a survey to all members regarding showing fish soon. We hope to get everyone’s perspective on new changes to the convention show rules.
Social Media Update:
Committee members Cindy and Lisa are going to be working to improve and update CAOAC instagram and Facebook. Some challenges have been identified such as changing settings to FB, account ownership and constantly moving with the times to market important messages from our community.
IMPORTANT message about online bullying and slanderous statements being made on CAOAC and affiliated sites. We encourage everyone to discourage damming and unfair statements being made by a few. We are a small community, allowing others to post slanderous statements on our club pages about our members and sponsors reflects poorly on all of us. The internet is a powerful place, please remember to treat others with respect and keep our hobby enjoyable.
President's Report:
Nancy encourages everyone to read Bill 136 - New animal protection law, and have discussions about it within the clubs - it does affect aquarists! One of the changes is that we will potentially be inspected at shows and events by government appointed officials. The biggest worry is that we will be at the mercy of officials who may or may not have knowledge of aquatic livestock.
Although CAOAC and clubs feel strongly about ethical and fair treatment of our pets, we will need to take a stance and work together to create guidelines about how livestock is kept at shows and events.
Jay has is reaching out to his MPP to seek clarity on what guidelines they will enforce.
Morgan mentioned that in AUS a similar bill was passed and now each container at IBC shows needs to be inspected by an official.
Dave Holland, Club Representative Coordinator has resigned from his role effective immediately. We would like to thank him for his great work communicating and engaging our member clubs. We hope Dave will continue to volunteer with CAOAC in the future as time permits. This role has proven to be very important and we hope someone new will take over soon.
Open Discussion:
Election/Constitutional ideas and questions discussed - proposals must be officially received 60 days before the annual May meeting and will be voted on at that time.
If past president is an executive position, could we change that and give voting rights to the webmaster due to historically poor attendance of past presidents?
Should we offer a less expensive non-voting/insurance level of membership to small clubs?
Do we need rules or procedure on how to secure an event date?
Stay tuned for steering committee member Peter DeSouza to give specific details about who and votes are made. When to nominate a new executive, and when those proposed changes will be released so that you can discuss it with your club. We have many vacancies, please encourage each other to step forward and volunteer with other clubs for a CAOAC role.
HDAS news! Catherine announced that the Hamilton club will be donating all of their net proceeds from the spring auction to the Australian Conservation Foundation in light of the devastating fires. They challenge everyone to come out and/or donate to this worthy and globally beneficial cause. Also a new class will be introduced at the show for Jr and Sr Arts and Crafts.
Idea: If volunteers and space permits, we should have an informational booth at the convention for Bill 136.
Meeting adjourned at 2:30 pm by Nancy.
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