Spring 2016  Saber Tails 67    

Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen Club of America

AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB

DELEGATE’S MEETING

DECEMBER 10-11, 2015

Delegate Committee Meetings

Bylaws Committee

    

Following the introduction of the committee members 

and approval of the Sept. 2015 minutes, discussion was 

opened on the subject of Term Limits.  This amendment 

will be voted on at the Delegates’ meeting on Friday, 

12-11-15.   An amendment to be read on Friday would 

permit a Delegate Judge to charge a fee of no more than 

$150.00 per assignment in excess of usual expenses.  This 

will be brought to the floor in March, 2016 for a vote.  

There was some discussion about the Bylaws Committee 

becoming more involved in hiring significant personel 

other than the 4 positions named in the Bylaws.  The 

Committee requested that the AKC provide them with a 

current Organizational Chart to help the Committee and 

Delegates understand the workings of AKC.  Greater Col-

lins KC has proposed that a member club would be per-

mitted to appoint a “proxy” Delegate should their regular 

Delegate become elected to the AKC Board of Directors.  

Valuable discussion followed with comments pertinent 

to numerous unintended consequences, for example, of 

having a “non-Delgate” serving on the Board and dealing 

with the issue of two Delegates if/when the Board Mem-

ber steps down or loses his seat.  Again, the Committee 

is invested in the need to review and over haul the AKC 

Bylaws as appropriate.  The relevance of a Nominating 

Committee in the process of electing Delegates to the 

AKC Board of Directors was discussed.  One benefit of a 

Nominating Committee is that it can offer direction to the 

Delegate body regarding the needs of the Board. 

Dog Show Rules Committee

The AKC Board has had presentations regarding real 

estate options and has decided to remain in two loca-

tions.  Discussion continues regarding the territory issues 

with nothing to present today.  The Committee is hop-

ing to change the mindset of the Delegates to go away 

from “territories” and into “venues”.  One Delegate raised 

an interesting point that should one club block another 

club from using its site because of territory rules, the site 

owners might consider this “restraint of trade” if other 

customers couldn’t use their site.  The Committee also 

discussed including non-regular classes in the calculation 

of Grand Championship points. 

The Forum 

The 7 candidates running for the AKC Board of Direc-

tors, Class of 2020, participated in a Q&A with most of 

the questions coming from those previously submitted 

by Delegates to Mr. Jim Crowley, Executive Secretary of 

the AKC.  In the remaining time, some questions were 

presented from the floor.  Each candidate, in rotation, 

responded to each question presented.

Delegates’ Meeting

The meeting was called to order, and the Chairman intro-

duced the people on the dias.  Mr. Jim Crowley read the 

names of the Nominating Committee, the names of the 

Delegates nominated by the Committee for the 3 posi-

tions on the Board, and the names of the Delegates run-

ning on petition.  Candidates include Gretchen Bernardi, 

Rita Biddle, Patrcia Cruz, William Feeney, Linda Ayers 

Turner Knorr, Karolynne McAteer, and Thomas Powers.   

Each of the 7 candidates spoke for 3 minutes. 

MrCrowley read the names of the 10 Delegates seated 

since the last meeting.  New Delegates were introduced, 

and the minutes of the Septemer 12, 2015 meeting were 

approved.  Four clubs were elected into membership of 

the American Kennel Club:  Bell Vernon Kennel Associa-

tion, Durango Kennel Club, LEAP Agility Club of Central 

Massachusetts, and the Pyrenean Shepherd Club of 

America.