Livingston, MT
Summer Meeting June 2008
Minutes
The meeting was called to order by Presidant Holly Hayes.
Holly Hayes stepped down as president; Mikki Cook assumes the position of president.
Winter Meeting Minutes were approved as posted on the web by Cara, motion seconded by Holly. Motion carried.
The financial report was given by Secretary Marcia Cantrell (Treasurer was not present):
Our Checking account has a balance of $9595.90 and our CD Balance is $5401.55 as of June 17th 2008. Report was approved and seconded.
Unfinished Business:
CE - A reduced rate for CE at MVMA Summer & Winter Meetings has been brought up again. MVMA says the rate for Technicians is already reduced and they are not willing to reduce anymore for BSVTA members. This is why BSVTA offers a $10 reimbursement when you attend these meetings.
Winter meeting reimbursement – attention was brought to the fact that no reimbursement was received by the members attending the January 2008 Winter meeting. Marcia had failed to get a copy of the attendees to Billie. That will be corrected and checks will be sent out. If you attended both the Winter & Summer 2008 meetings the checks should be combined.
Rabies Vaccination – we had talked about arranging for those of us who have not been vaccinated, get vaccinated and those who have been vaccinated get their titers checked. Mikki looked into it and at this time vaccination is not available as the vaccine is in short supply, only those with exposure are being vaccinated. There has been a problem in the plants that produce the vaccine.
Regional Reps – discussion was heard about trying to have regional representatives/regional chapters. Because of the size of Montana and our small size as an organization, splitting into chapters does not seem like a good idea at this time. As we grow, we may revisit the idea. Fern motioned that anyone of us should feel free to promote our association and direct those with interest to our website or our president for more information. Holly seconded. Motion passed.
Membership – Our membership has grown. Montana now has 92 CVT’s, BSVTA has 56 members. The Membership committee will try to contact those CVT’s that are not BSVTA members. Also we will include these numbers as well as the number of those who took the VTNE this year in the next newsletter and forward the info to the MVMA Vet Tech committee.
Member Incentive – The jackets from last year were a huge success, this year the executive board decided to have the general membership decide between a backpack or a baseball cap with our logo on it for this year. A vote was taken and back packs were chosen by a vote of 9 to 3. Billie Manning will be informed of the results and further information will be gotten to the members as soon as possible.
Non-profit Status – Our non-profit status is still a work in progress. Billie Manning, Kathy Sanders, & Mikki Cook are consolidating all of the information from the many years BSVTA has been formed to get the proper paperwork together to achieve this status. This process should be complete soon.
Mission Statement – Ballots for our mission statement were submitted. Results will be posted on line and in the next newsletter.
Executive Member – a new Executive member needs to be elected. Response by mail was not successful. Serena McElry & Arianne Perlinski were nominated and seconded. They both agreed to be nominees. An absentee ballot with return envelopes provided will be mailed to all BSVTA members within in a week of this meeting. Ballots are to be returned with a postmark no later than August 1, 2008 to be counted. The new Executive board member will be announced in the August newsletter.
New Business:
CE – Do we want to try to finance CE as a separate tract for Technicians at the winter meeting? Financial responsibility would fall solely on the BSVTA. If you have an idea for CE the proper course of action is to present all information, including cost to the BSVTA CE Committee who then presents it to the Executive Board who approves it then sends on to the MVMA. One idea for CE is a symposium on Veterinary Practice Management with Shawn McVay at either the winter meeting or as a separate symposium. There was some discussion of not having a separate Technician tract at the Winter meeting at all. Anyone with thoughts, comments, CE ideas, is to contact anyone on the CE Committee.
Tech School @MSU – Dr Becky Mattix reported at the MVMAVet Tech Committee that the school program at MSU had hit another brick wall. The funds are not there. It has been tried to work up the ladder. Dr Mattix feels we need to go higher in the government and work down. This brought on discussion of the grandfather clause. The clause was closed a couple of years ago in Montana. Cara brought up the thought of reopening since the school has not come through. Marcia voiced the opinion that we really do not want to take that step backwards. Fern suggested we look into whether it is even possible to bring it back before we start discussion on whether or not we should bring it back. Cara motioned to have the certification committee investigate the requirements of NVTE through AAVSB for Montana and see whether it is possible to allow life experienced individuals to sit for the test again. Holly seconded. Motion carried. The only states that allow to “grandfather clause” WA, DE, IL, GA, AK, &AZ . Furhter inquire can be made to the AASVB.org.
By-Law Change – A possible new member wanted to transfer her NVTE scores to Montana to become certified in Montana. The fee for score transfer is $80. It was felt that because this high fee might discourage some from becoming certified in Montana that we should change the By-Laws from reading:
SECTION 2. Graduate
A person who has graduated from an AVMA accredited school for
Veterinary Technicians
A) Reciprocity for a graduate will be a copy of the National Exam Scores
and a copy of their diploma
to read:
SECTION 2. Graduate
A person who has graduated from an AVMA accredited school for
Veterinary Technicians
A) Reciprocity for a graduate will be a copy of the National Exam Scores or a pass / fail letter from AAVSB
and a copy of their diploma
Marcia made a motion to vote at the Summer 2009 meeting to change the by-laws to read as stated above. Holly seconded. Motion carried.
Web Info – the availability of having a discussion board for our web site was discussed. Website committee members will look into this and report back. Also, members would like to have access to decisions made by the executive committee between general meetings. The website also seems to be a good spot for this info to be posted.Arianne moved to adjourn meeting, Holly seconded.
