MASSACHUSETTS THROUGHBRED BREEDERS ASSOCIATION

Minutes

 

May 22, 2008

Vinny T’s Dedham, MA

Chairman George Brown called the meeting to order at    7:05  PM.

 

 Board Members Present

Absent

Guests

Brown, George - Chair

Dirico, Joe

Brown, Arlene –Recording Secretary

Benson, Michael

 

Bill Robbins - Accountant

Catapano, Frank

 

Chip Wakely

Ferguson, Meg

 

Beverly Joyce

Janjigian, Armand

 

 

Joyce, Daniel

 

 

Loebelenz, Lee

 

 

Reagan, Kathy - Alternate

 

 

Rose, Gregg

 

 

Salim, Adel

 

 

Spadea, Anthony/Treasurer

 

 

Stone, Ed

 

 

 

1.) Secretary’s Report:

Minutes from April 17, 2008 reviewed by board

Motion to accept report: Anthony Spadea                           2nd:   Lee Loebelenz

Motion passed: unanimous

2.) Treasurer's Report:

Bill Robbins handed out the 2007 year-end report which was the basis for the 2007 Income Tax filing.   He also presented the current year profit/loss statement and balance sheet as of April 30, 2008.  They continue to show a 14-15% decrease over revenues from last year.  Anthony Spadea reported that the Suffolk Downs signal was being sent to many more tracks and that should begin to show up in increase revenues from simulcasting. 

 

Bill reported that we have renewed our TOBA membership.

.     Motion to accept report: Lee Loebelenz                          2nd:   Anthony Spadea

Motion passed: unanimous

 

Bill asked for a vote of the board to pay Beacon Hill Institute the last installment of $2500 for the report they prepared for us.

      Motion to pay: Mike Benson                                             2nd:   Adel Salim

      Motion passed: unanimous

 

3.) Chairman’s notes and comments

George Brown reported that our call-in/e-mail campaign to keep amendment  #888 out of the budget was a success .  This amendment would have eliminated all financing for thoroughbred and harness breeder’s programs.  But as of Tuesday of this week, the racing commissioner had proposed another amendment which would have taken 0.125% of the simulcast handle away from us leaving us with 0.375%.  Although 1/8 of a percent doesn’t sound like much, it amounts to 25% of our income from simulcasting.  Bill Robbins had projected this to impact us by about $159,000. Since there was no time to rally our breeders again, several hours of phone calls to our lobbyist and friends in the Senate managed to remove this amendment as well.  News of this success reached us just before meeting time on May 22.

 

A copy of an article from Ed Stone’s newspaper reporting on the state of casino legislation was passed out to members of the board.

4.)    Old Business

a.      Harland report

Harland was not available to report on the progress of the Amelia Peabody Grant

 

b.      Ed Stone report

Ed Stone reported that Mr. Hogan is unable to sponsor any stake races for us at this time.

 

c.      Dan Joyce report

Dan Joyce read a very nice letter drafted to Mr. Fields to ask for support for our Stallion Stakes race held in the fall.  He reported that he has not yet gotten a reply from Mr. Fields.

 

d.      Art. Of Incorporation

George Brown read a letter from the lawyer who drew up our bylaws revisions.  He reports that there is no conflict with Item 9, Appendix 4D of the articles of Organization and the bylaws as Article 9 deals with transactions between directors and the Association and Article 5 of the bylaws deals with qualifications of directors.  He does suggest that the bylaws and/or articles of organization be amended to include the classes of membership that the application for membership has on it to clear up misunderstandings.

 

A discussion follwed with some members unclear as to how and when the rules for membership were established.  Arlene Brown will bring all previous research and minutes discussing the changes to the next meeting.

 

5.)    New Business

a.      Next series of Stake Races

After much discussion, it was agreed to schedule two 3 year old races one for fillies and one colts preferred for 6 furlongs, one grass race and one 2 year old race. If additional simulcast money is realized, a second grass race will be added.

 

Kathy Reagan and Mike Benson will work on setting up a booth for the MTBA at the Eastern States Exposition. 

 

       6.)    Next Meeting:  6/19/08 at Vinny T’s, Dedham    

 

       7). Adjournment:   9:10 PM 

      Motion to adjourn:    Adel Salim                 2nd:     Lee Loebelenz

 

Respectfully Submitted

 

 

Arlene B. Brown