February 22, 2025
AMERICAN MULE ASSOCIATION
Board of Directors Meeting February 22, 2025
Double Tree by Hilton
1150 9th Street, Modesto, CA 95354
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Meeting called by: President, Joy Valcheck
Note Taker: Secretary, Jody Lowrey
Facilitator: Double Tree by Hilton Attendees: Board Members, Officers, Members and Guests
Call Meeting to order and flag salute: President, Joy Valcheck at 9:19am
Roll Call: Jody Lowrey, Casie Fairbanks, Joy Valcheck, Michele Chico, Erin Kight, Kellie Shields, Sue Wallace, Claudia Stevens, Kristie Jorgensen, Kerry Tracey, Devrie Montogomery, Maggie Moore, Jenna Duncan, Vickie Powers, Mark Mallory, Cindy Mallory, Michelle Kern, Brian Morris, JoDe Collins, Joe Gonzalez, Judy Baker, Debbie Humphries, Kendra Bandock and Chris Lowrey.
Absent: Amy McLean is out of town. Kellie Shields makes a motion for an unexcused absence since she also missed last year’s February meeting. Second by Maggie Moore. Motion passed.
Read Minutes of last meeting Jody Lowrey, Secretary Maggie had a question about updating our rules with the corrections that needed to be taken care of. Kellie said this will be talked about in new business but did not do updates. Motion by Michele Chico to accept minutes. Second by Deverie Montgomery. Motion passed.
Secretary Report C Correspondence: Jody Lowrey, Secretary No report. Did let everyone know about the old AMA flag that was sent from Mr. Jacklin. We will hang tonight at the banquet. And I will bring to mule shows to carry.
Treasurer Report: Michele Chico, Treasurer
Total in checking as of January 31, 2025 is $10,324.16 and savings $11,032.32. It is down from previous years. We did pay for buckles from this year and last year since billing came in a little later and we also have been paying towards the youth classes at shows. We will be having more money coming from dinners and auction tonight, February was not included on the balance in the accounts. All reports done by Michele explain all expenditures and monies coming. Motion to accept the report by Kellie Shields. Second by Casie Fairbanks. Motion passed.
Old Business – Reports
Executive Report: Casie Fairbanks. Vise President
No Report
Performance C Judges Report: Kellie Shields, Chairperson We had 6 shows in 2024. Blossom Spring show assessments $1356, Gold Country Spring show
$700, Western States $570, Bear Valley $524, Gold Country Fall show $1104 and Blossom Fall show
$1312. We have 8 shows scheduled for this year, 3 are doubled judged. Working with the Idaho State Fair to get them approved with the AMA. Also the WRHA show in Winnemucca is going to offer mule classes but not donkeys due to lack of attendance at the last show. Bear Valley did put the donkeys back on, so we need to show our support. We have 28 approved judges with two pending, will be sending out reminders to pay dues next week. Still looking for qualified judges to give us more options at local shows. Motion to accept the report by Casie Fairbanks. Second by Jody Lowrey. Motion passed.
Youth Scholarship: Michele Chico/Michelle Kern, Chairperson No Report. No applications they have until May 1 to apply.
Membership: Chris Lowrey, Chairperson
90 Members, 9 Youths. We had 19 new members for a total of $2745. Will put out reminder at the first show to make sure everyone is paid. Motion to accept report by Deverie Montgomery. Second by Michele Chico. Motion passed.
Registrations C Transfers Jody Lowrey, Chairperson Eleven mule registrations and one mule transfer. Four donkey registrations and one transfer and four memberships for a total of $635.00. Motion to accept report by Michele Chico. Second by Deverie Montgomery. Motion passed.
Points Committee: Maggie Moore/Deverie Montgomery, Chairperson Points were taken from 10 shows for 2024. Five exhibitors qualified for All Around Champion Mule. Four exhibitors qualified for All Around Champion Donkey. Three exhibitors qualified for All Around Amateur. Three exhibitors qualified for All Around Youth. Contestants qualified for 24 divisions as compared to 25 divisions. The largest divisions are halter, bridled and amateur western performance, bridled and amateur ranch and donkey performance. All English divisions had minimal exhibitors. Green divisions had one contestant. Youth had a total of 5 exhibitors although not all qualified. Maggie did a comparison chart and over the years the numbers have gone way down for competitors. We actually need a separate division at the shows for the Donkey, we do in our rule book, but the show secretary needs to add this to the premium as Amateur Donkey. JoDe Collins brings up a good point that there is not enough competitors to make this work. Motion to accept the report by Michele Chico. Second by Sue Wallace. Motion passed.
Newsletter Report: Kristie Jorgensen, Chairperson Cost of the newsletter is down since all printing is free. We just need more participation with
stories and pictures. Motion to accept the report by Kellie Shields. Second by Maggie Moore. Motion passed.
LEVA C SSA: Casie Fairbanks, Chairperson
We had 5 in the LEVA and 6 in the SSA. Budget was $2000 plus the entry fees for the year of $220 for a total of $2220, surplus of $288.85. Since this year was light, purchased heated vests to encourage more participants. Roger Downey donated $1000 for the youth so bought the kids cowhide duffles with cowhide tags and laptop sleeves. Still under budget and everyone got great things this year.
Motion to accept the report by Michele Chico. Seconded by Deverie Montgomety. Motion passed.
Teamster Committee Jody Lowrey/Michele Chico, Chairperson No report
Packing Committee: Joe Gonzalez, Chairperson
Would like to say a big thank you to Kathy Pettit for always having packing classes at her shows. Not only does she cover Pro, Non-Pro and Youth, but she puts on a Scramble and a couple of non-AMA classes as well. We really appreciate the effort and the practice it gives us all for the back country. Apart from her Blossom Trail Spring Fling and Fall Classic, there were no other Packing classes to report on last year, apart from Bishop which wouldn’t count for point. Motion to accept the report by Michele Chico. Second by Claudia Stevens. Motion passed.
Awards Committee: Kellie Shields, Claudia Stevens, Sue Wallace, Chairperson Awards for 2024 cost was approximately $15,800. Sponsorship totaled $5750 plus Youth
sponsorship of $1000 not included in main award budget. Brian Morris sponsored $1000 for awards. Sponsorship was up this year. Budget was $14,000 including carry over of $1000. So there will be a carry over of $3950. Motion to accept report by Jody Lowrey. Second by Sue Wallace.
Motion passed.
Rule Change Committee: Joy Valcheck, Kristie Jorgensen, Kellie Shields, Vicky Powers, Casie Fairbanks, Maggie Moore, Lou Jacobsen
We had an emergency rule change meeting on zoom and the request was denied. The rule change was to change the way we do points and this was brought to us middle of the show season. So under new business we are going to fix the Emergency Rule change to make it for real emergencies. Motion to accept the report by Jody Lowrey. Second by Maggie Moore. Motion passed.
Election Committee: Brian Morris, Chairperson
We received 37 ballots. Would like the membership list in numerical order to make it a little easier to look up current members. Motion to accept the report by Michele Chico. Second by Sue Wallace. Motion passed.
Cattle Committee: Joe Gonzalez, Chairperson
No Report. Had discussion that at Gold Country cattle was canceled due to no participation and Bear Valley did not want to extend the show. Winnemucca will be having cattle at their show and so does the Idaho Fair Show. If the participation was there at Gold Country they would have cattle classes and along with Winnemucca that would be three shows.
Banquet Committee: Sue Wallace C Michele Chico, Chairperson Postage of mailers to 500 members including sponsorship generation $584. Center pieces cost
$250 and will be auctioned at banquet. Photos printed and laminated $26. Decorations $276. Banquet room set up, food, all inclusive $6000. Our room quota was met and sold 55 dinners for a total of $4125. More dinner tickets were recently sold will have total amount later. Motion to accept the report by Deverie Montgomery. Second by Kellie Shields. Motion passed.
Promotions C Website: Chris Lowrey, Kristie Jorgensen, Sue Wallace Advertised in Mules n More and Western Mule for a total of $610 dollars. Used the QR code in the last issue for $5 off a membership. Will be doing flyers for feed stores with a generic QR code so we can tell where we get the most traffic. Everybody was happy with the AMA stickers with membership renewal and also glad the website was updated. Motion to accept the report by Jody Lowrey.
Second by Michele Chico. Motion passed.
Historical Committee: Lou Jacobsen, Chairperson
No report. Announcement to be made at the banquet for Hall of Fame. Break 10:53-11:22
NEW BUSINESS
Seat new Board Members: Jody Lowrey, Kellie Shields, Deverie Montgomery, Jenna Duncan, Joy Valcheck, Debbie Humphries and Kendra Bandock.
Out going Board Members: Casie Fairbanks, Maggie Moore and Becky Santucchi.
Elect New Officers:
President: Claudia Stevens nominates Joy Valcheck. Jody Lowrey seconds nominations.
Sue Wallace nominates Kellie Shields. Kristie Jorgensen seconds nominations. No other nominations.
After votes were counted Kellie Shields is our new President
Vice President: Jody Lowrey nominates Claudia Stevens. Michele Chico seconds. Sue Wallace nominates Kristie Jorgensen. Claudia Stevens seconds. Joy Valcheck nominates Deverie Montogomery. Vicky Powers seconds. Deverie Montgomery declines. No other nominations.
After votes counted Kristie Jorgensen is our Vice President.
Treasurer: Sue Wallace nominates Michelle Kern for treasurer. Second by Michele Chico.
Michelle Kern nominates Michele Chico. Second by Joy Valcheck. Michele Chico declines and Michelle Kern is now our Treasurer.
Select New Committee Chairs:
Secretary: Jody Lowrey Membership: Chris Lowrey Registrations: Jody Lowrey
Performance/Judges: Sue Wallace and Kristie Jorgensen
Rule Change Committee: Kristie Jorgensen, Joy Valcheck, Kellie Shields, Casie Fairbanks, JoDe Collins and Maggie Moore.
Youth Scholarship: Michele Chico Packing Committee: Joe Gonzalez
Newsletter: Kristie Jorgensen, Claudia Stevens, Jenna Duncan. Teamster Committee: Jody Lowrey and Michele Chico
Cattle Committee: Joe Gonzalez Points: Maggie Moore and Joy Valcheck
Awards Committee: Deverie Montgomery and Kellie Shields Election Committee: Brian Morris
LEVA/SSA: Casie Fairbanks
Banquet: Sue Wallace, Joy Valcheck and Michele Chico Historical Committee: JoDe Collins
Promotions C Website: Chris Lowrey, Kristie Jorgensen and Deverie Montgomery Facebook. NEW BUSINESS
Horse Protection Act: Joy Valcheck/Amy Mclean
It is going to be involvement with the shows with inspections, this does not apply to mules and donkeys, but Amy Mclean will be speaking at a symposium and was wondering if we wanted to put a letter together. This started last year and was to start in February and now be pushed out to April, not sure how far this is going to go, but more than likely be pushed out further. Bear Valley was concerned about this, but we will wait to see what happens in April. We will address this in our
summer meeting if this becomes more of an issue for our shows.
Should shows be approved that only offer mule classes: Joy Valcheck After discussion we are not going to police shows and just try to get more education out there.
Board of Directors/General Meeting change to quarterly: Joy Valcheck After discussion and per our rule book we are to have a Board of Directors/General Meeting twice a year, this works just fine and we have had emergency zoom meetings as needed.
Emergency Rule Revamp/Rule Changes
Discussion: Will need to reword the Emergency Rule Change, after discussion Rule Change Committee to make sure verbiage is corrected and will email out and have Board Members look at it and approve. Deverie Montgomery makes motion to table this to Rule Change Committee to make revisions and email out to Board Members by April1, 2025. Second by Sue Wallace.
Also while updating this, will update the rules for ranch and regular trail so that they are same rules and not different, this makes it too confusing. A judge did show examples in the book that should be changed so there is better flow for both trails and not so confusing.
Kendra Bandock brought up that there is a fair in Yakima, WA in September that have added a mule/donkey division and they pay back. Just need to get the barns full and see if we can get this AMA sanctioned. Get a copy of the premium to Sue Wallace and see if we can get this approved. Also Kerry Tracey said that the Tri County fair in Bishop would be a great show also just need to get the Fair Board to agree having the AMA sanction the show. They are concerned getting sued by the AMA. We are more than willing to reach out to them to educate them that this was done by an individual not the AMA. This is on Labor Day weekend, so Kerry will talk with them and Sue will get a show packet to them.
Michele Chico asked that the new treasurer get a new laptop. The current laptop is so outdated. Sue Wallace will get one donated by her employer and Kristie will get it ready for use.
Sue Wallace will be changing the venue for our next banquet. Will get prices and 3 different locations and will bring this information to the next meeting.
Also brought up by Kellie Shields brought up about stream lining our show packet. After discussion maybe a smaller packet for shows that just want to add mule classes for a day. Kristie Jorgensen offered to go over the packet to see if we can streamline for just a small show that just wants to add a few classes.
Motion to adjourn the meeting at 12:42pm by Michelle Kern. Second by Michele Chico.