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Mark Schreffler
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Ruddy
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RANDY GOODLET: NEW
YORK PET BAN - DRAFT LETTER 07/20/01
Paul Tomko
Albany Office
LOB 713
Albany, NY 12248
-OR-
Carl Marcellino
812 LOB
Albany, NY 12248
Dear Sir,
AMDA (American Marinelife Dealers Association) is a trade organization
that represents stores and businesses that import, sell and maintain live marine animals and plants in the United States (including stores within the
State of New York). Several of us have contacted your office in regard to
(Assembly Bill 7375 or Senate Bill 4755). We understand the intended purpose
of the bill (to ban sales of dangerous wild animals to members of the public)
and we support this effort. We are very concerned, however, that
based on the way the bill is now worded, sales of marine animals and plants could also be
affected in the State of New York if this bill passes in its current fashion.
We ask that all aquarium animals and plants be placed on the
companion animal list in your bill so that their sale in the state of New York will not be affected by the passing of this bill.
We understand that you are considering these changes and we urge you to amend the bill accordingly.
We do intend to follow the workings of this bill and we will look forward to
the above mentioned amendments being adopted for this bill in the near future.
Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns regarding
this request. Thank you for your
consideration concerning this matter.
Sincerely
Randolph Goodlett
President
AMDA |
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RANDY GOODLET: PLATINUM PROPOSAL 02/27/01
Background
I initially came up with a "Platinum" concept late in Dec of 99 as I drove back from my first USCRTF meeting. I called Rick on my cell phone because I was excited about the concept and he said he liked it as well. Back
then it was to take all of AMDA and make our stores "Platinum" stores and work on the
perks for the stores and make sure that they had special advertising from AMDA and that they would shine in their areas as the best in
each location. Part of that concept was to get into some sort of inspection
program. This is where Rick and I didn't quite see eye for eye. He was not
sure if we could do that quickly and I felt that there should be some way to
do so. Anyway, it was tabled in early 2000 as we couldn't figure how to get
over that inspection hump. I did contact NMFS later that year. the National
Marine Fisheries Service does run an inspection program for stores selling
fishes for food, to inspect the product for quality control. It is not nationwide yet, but does exist as a program in areas where the retail stores
help pay for the cost of inspection in return for a clean bill of health on
the product. As I work at two retail stores that have these inspectors, I
ran it by them. They thought it might have potential and ran it up to their
bosses. They finally got back to them and then me that because pet stores do
not sell food fish, that program won't work for us. Bummer.
This past year has seen new forces on the move. The USCRTF is getting
it's act together, MAC is moving faster and faster and we are getting up to
speed. I asked the members for their votes so that I could lead us where we
have to go to survive as a group. I don't do that in an egotistical way but
in a way that says "I do have a vision and I believe that we can succeed at
our goals". I still feel that force and I still do feel that this new and revised Platinum concept is the way to go. The two tier concept again came to
me as I was on a long car trip. Seems that's when I get to fully focus on these things and
that's when these bursts of insight come. Again, I am not trying to say I know more than anyone else but I do think that I see a light
at the end of the tunnel and I do see how to go through that tunnel.
I bounced this off of Andrew Lee last night because one of us had
contacted him about parts of this issue. I am grateful for that person, because her question to Andrew helped me see how some of the pieces of this
tunnel fit together. Andrew was asked if he had to choose between getting more members and having the stores accountable, which would he choose. He
chose getting more members. I looked at that and realized that both those goals are intertwined and can't be
separated if AMDA is to survive.
My concept is simple. Make AMDA a two tier organization. A store can either join
at the current level, pay $50.00 and abide by the SOP in the honor system.
The second tier is the platinum one. A store can join at the platinum level,
pay $150.00 and undergo an immediate inspection, consisting of specially trained hobbyists who will look the store over and see how they stack up in
regard to following the SOP. If there are problems and we receive a set number of them (say 5 or 10), that would trigger our regional rep to call the
store and ask if there is any way that AMDA can help them rectify this foreseen
problem. That does two things. it lets the store understand that we are on their side and want to help them come up to SOP level. And it allows
them to give their side of the inspection red flags. If the hobbyists overstepped their bounds in their zeal, the issue will come to a halt here.
If not, we and the store will work together to solve the problem. If a problem is determined to exist, the store will have a set amount of time to
rectify the issue (say 2 months). They will then undergo another local inspection. If they fail again, one of us official board members will travel
to the store for our inspection. When that is done, we again sit down w store
management and work out a solution. They again have a set time. We must then
inspect them again. If they do not pass again, they loose their AMDA membership for the rest of the year. They can reapply for membership again,
the following year, and we again (or the hobbyists) must inspect then again
before reinstating them. A list of all inspections and results will be posted
on our website and maybe should be published once a year in newsletter. As
our membership grows, we may have to just list this on the website. the platinum concept also includes other
perks such as more advertising and better logos, etc...they are buying more w $150.00.
Andrew loved this concept. He said if we tackle both issues at once
(increased membership and accountability), AMDA can't help but grow and be
the force he feels it should be by years end. He also said we need to make
sure the Platinum stores know without a doubt that we are their trade organization, not a way for disgruntled hobbyists to get back at the stores
they hate. This is the stickiest part of the whole program and we may need to
tweak and change this part as we go, but I know there are enough good people
out there in each of our store's regions to make this work and I do feel that
we do need to have the hobbyists follow our lead (we will train them), not
reefs.org or any other group. This is our program and we need to make it work
for our members. Andrew said it is so obvious why is the right way to go. He has seen it again and again in other trade organizations... organize and
police yourselves or the government will step in and do it for you. And they
are poised to do so very soon. He also said that MAC has change their tune
and fully realizes that AMDA HAS to be there as the terminal entity and that
Paul has told him personally that they are now in the position to help w funding to do so. No specifics here as of yet, but Paul now admits that AMDA
has to be the terminal entity...he has no other viable options right now. So
we just may have some say in how they treat us and how we do our own thing.
If what Mary has told me and others is right (about how difficult it MAY
be to follow MAC's guidelines in regards to bar codes and the like in accepting fishes from the chain of custody), then that is one more reason for
us to do this now. How would any of us like it if we do not do anything in
terms of accountability and then MAC steps in and says, OK, here is how you
are going to do this. Make no mistake...the way things are going, the government may shut down everything but MAC certified fishes in the future
and if we don't get our act together now and move on this, they will do it
for us. That's the cold, hard truth.
Andrew said he hopes that we as AMDA grow because we are now a small
group of zealots who care passionately for what we do but are not big enough
to effect the industry. He is right, no matter how hard it is for any of you
to grasp it. If we do not grow, we will be pushed aside and PIJAC may be the
terminal entity for all fishes coming into the US (what a nightmare that would be). And if we do not make ourselves accountable right now, someone
else will. We can't do one and wait on the other or we will not have the other to do later. That is what the future holds.
I see tons of stores out there. Those who have heard of AMDA and have not
joined have their reasons...but it is obvious that two big reasons are the
following. Some stores see this government intervention coming and they do not
want to be regulated or join any store that may open itself to any inspections. Some stores are mad at AMDA
because we say the right things but stand for nothing because we are not accountable. I know that there are a lot
of stores that fall into either of those categories. So we make AMDA an organization that offers two types of membership. One is a base
level where a store can enter, be considered AMDA quality and operate under the honor
system. There are stores that want only that. Other stores that want to be
examined because they feel they are the cream of the crop and a cut above others and have nothing to hide would join the AMDA Platinum store level in a
heartbeat. Don't kid yourself if you think I am imagining this. I have two
local AMDA stores that say they will be Platinum as soon as we make it official and I have three small hobbyist run stores that left AMDA last year
because they are pissed we don't let them shine as the best in the area and
they would come back if we go with an AMDA Platinum choice.
We can not force our members to suddenly go platinum and be forced to
undergo inspection. It is not in our bylaws and that may require an official
meeting vote w members present (in July or August?). But we can add an extra
and voluntary new type of store that is there for the choice. That is voluntary and requires no membership vote as no one is required to join. Judy
has said we should throw all of this out to the members for a vote. I say that is a bad idea for a number of reasons and one is that we do not know how
many current members will initially support this concept. That is an unknown.
That doesn't bother me because I know how it will unfold. Those that do will
feel great and those that don't will watch intently and if they see revenues
going up w the PLATINUM stores, they will want in. That is how this usually
works and Andrew said it happens like that in almost all of the trade groups
he knew that were forced to organize. I know there will be some and that is
not important...because others will follow in the membership. What IS important is that we do this soon so that we can actively recruit the other
stores that are watching us and the ones who never heard of us. If I was just
hearing about AMDA as an organization that offered two types of organizations
I would think more of them than I would of an organization with one type of
choice. That is human nature. That is how we can help to boost membership. I
will eat my pirate captains hat if we do the AMDA platinum program soon and
we do not double our membership by years end. You can quote me on that. I believe in this and I want you guys to do so as well. Obviously I have not
looked at everything, but it is a good concept and it needs your input.
Mary and I thought we had a great ally in James Wiseman of
reefs.org... but he took Mary's remarks on the concept and put his own twist
to it..."why not have all stores in the country inspected by our
(reefs.org) hobbyists, including all of AMDA's stores. I said Ouch and said we have
different perspectives. I want only the Platinum stores in AMDA inspected,
for it remains a voluntary option and those stores who may shift over later
can carefully watch their fellow AMDA stores become Platinum and not feel any
panic. To force the inspections on all of them at once defeats this concept
and may cost us up to a third of our current store members...maybe we would
gain ground later, but we don't have the luxury of time. We have to do something soon (within next month or two) and we have to control it...or we
will either be told what to do or be pushed aside. That's how these things
work. Powerful forces are at work as we speak and we have to get our options
out there and decide what we are going to do soon or we wont be deciding much
by end of year.
Judy does bring a unique perspective to this. She worries about the
stores that can't afford the increase from 50.00 to 150.00. If they really
want to go platinum and they can't afford it, we can set up a scholarship or
a work in kind program that would allow us to check out that ,yes, it would
be a hardship to that store and yes, they can move up & still pay only
$50.00. The money is not meant to only include the rich. It is meant to both
defray some of the inspection costs to us (we will have to inspect some stores) and it is meant to bring us up to a proper level. I am convinced that
by end of year at least half or more of our stores will be platinum and then
the rest will follow. Andrew says that when MAC steps in to tie into us, they
may insist that only Platinum stores are to receive chain of custody fishes.
That may come to be. I don't have a crystal ball. And I don't think that that
would be a terrible thing to occur. I do hope that we can see the majority or
all of our stores become platinum in time. They will receive more perks (special
advertising and better stickers... Platinum porthole surrounding our existing logo is an idea) and the such. And nothing is wrong with that. They
are paying more and should receive more. Yes, it would be pressure on the base level stores and yes, some may see it as blackmail. But it is still
voluntary and if we don't do it, we may all get told what to do or go find
other businesses. That is life in our industry. Things are moving ahead and
we need to change with the moves. Sorry about repetition, but I am tired.
We are not MAC. But we would be fools to say that we can always exist w/o association w MAC because (as some of us know), we may be mandated to do so
or go away. And if we wait until that happens, then there goes AMDA, either
into servitude or right down the drain. Lets work on this, cover all aspects
of it, tweak it as necessary and come up with something we can all be proud
of. I feel the voluntary step up is critical because it allows us to move
soon. To come up w any formal change that forces the members to get inspected
may very well require a members vote and MAY GET SHOT DOWN and then where are
we. Think about this, guys...we don't have as many options as some of you may
think.
As your Captain, I am asking you to give it the team look over, discuss
it among yourselves and help me to make it work. If we do this and it is a
disaster, you can always make me walk the plank. I doubt that, though, for I
know that this industry is full of caring individuals who do see some of these forces moving and who do realize that we as an industry need to
mobilize. The hobbyists love the idea and they are the stores customers...don't you think they might have some sort of impact? If we can
work this out, even in rough draft by WMC, we can start to see just how some
stores that never have heard of us will react...I would bet money that we could end up w 20 new members by the end of that conference. If any of you need to discuss this w me soon, it is 11:00 AM and I am
hitting the road shortly & won't be back till 6:30 PM. Feel free to call me
on cell phone (412-606-6012). Thank you all so much for your time and
consideration in this matter. Randy
P.S. Sorry this is not in outline form as promised but I am tired and did not
have time to try and just cover each aspect and not miss something.
|
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RANDY GOODLET: FINAL
LETTER TO CLAUSSEN - 2/20/01
20 February 2001
John Claussen
Core Resources
California Environmental Associates
423 Washington Street, 3rd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
Dear John,
Thank you for meeting
with several of our board members and for issuing us copies of your
proposals (both the initial working draft and the final proposal sent to
the World Bank/ICF Japanese Trust Fund). Although your goal as outlined in
the proposal are lofty ones and ones similar to goals the board members at
AMDA share, we can not support your proposal in it's current state. We
also can not act as consultants for your efforts. And finally, we need to
formally ask that you do not use the AMDA name in any supportive reference
for this proposal.
We discussed this
proposal among ourselves and voted at our last board meeting to withhold
any support for this program at this time. Part of the reason for this is
that we reached a consensus that it would be inappropriate for AMDA to
support any program at the proposal level. There are more than a few
hurdles for this proposal to clear if it is to become a viable program. We
would rather watch the progress carefully, so that, if you are successful
in putting together a successful chain of custody program, we could at
that time step in and invite you to join us as an AMDA member. We are an
organization of working businesses and individuals and we feel that
supporting a program that does not exist yet and has not even been funded
is too risky. Even when funding is secure, there is still the trial
period, and many a previous program has gone belly up at this phase.
The second reason was
that although you mentioned support from a variety of organizations,
certain members of some of those organizations have told several board
members that they do not currently support your proposals. I realize that
you may have backing from others in some of these organizations, but as
the lines of support are somewhat fuzzy here, we wish to not be included
as one of these organizations that supports your proposals. We do applaud
your efforts and we do wish that you succeed. However, that is our message
for your eyes only. We will not officially support your program until it
has proven through trial and error that it can work. There is simply too
much at stake to do so prematurely.
Thank you again for your
time and efforts. As I have previously communicated to you I will meet
with you in March in Pittsburgh and I invite any board member to join me
at this meeting. This is an informal meeting so that we can monitor the
progress of your proposal and must not be misconstrued or used as a sign
of showing of support from AMDA.
Sincerely,
Randolph Goodlett
President |
RANDY GOODLET: FINAL
VERSION TO USCRTF - 2/23/01
23
February 2001
To the Members of the
U.S. Coral Reef Task Force:
The American Marinelife
Dealers Association (AMDA) is a non-profit organization comprised of
members who are wholesalers, retail store owners, manufacturers, service
companies and individuals who want to see the marine aquarium industry run
in a responsible and sustainable fashion.
We have a board of directors comprised of dedicated volunteers who
meet on-line every other week, and who are currently working on a number
of programs to benefit both our members and the marine aquarium industry.
We are, first and foremost, conservationists at heart and we fully
realize that the interest in marine aquariums is a corollary of
appreciation of marinelife in their natural habitats.
We know that by supporting our industry of selling marine aquaria
and marine organisms to the public we are actively supporting conservation
efforts on real reefs and on coastal shorelines.
We do this by providing financial incentive to natives living on or
near coral reefs to collect their marine organisms in a sustainable
manner, so that their reefs can continue to support their families for
generations to come. Although we are aware that there are a large number of
collectors who are not practicing sustainable harvesting of marine
organisms and are practicing harvesting methods that are destructive to
the organisms and their habitats, we are moving away from supporting them
and moving towards supporting the ecologically correct collectors.
The Marine Aquarium
Council (MAC) is playing a central role in building up a network of
sustainable collectors and we are in total support of their efforts to
clean up our industry. One of
AMDA's main goals is to serve as the terminal entity in their chain of
custody program (in which sustainable numbers of net caught fishes are
monitored as they travel from the reefs to the stores).
As MAC begins their pilot program this year, AMDA members will be
helping at the wholesale, mail order and retail store level.
AMDA is also an organization that operates to help its retail store
members. Our board members are actively working on benefits for these
stores, such as advertising, using combined numbers for better buying
power, introducing new technologies to these members through our
newsletters and through our regional directors, and by providing
information to the stores upon request.
We want to help these stores upgrade to more ecologically sound
practices. This year we will
also be working with The Marine Aquarium Society of North America (MASNA)
to obtain feedback from the hobbyists about our stores.
We have adopted standards
of practice that our members pledge to abide by.
These standards ensure that all live marine organisms in the
members’ stores are given optimum living conditions.
Furthermore, we will be developing a new program this year that
will allow us to monitor our members compliance with these standards.
We strongly urge the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force to continue to work
with our industry to help strengthen our commitment to conservation of
marine habitats. Conservation means management, and wise management of
natural resources such as coral reefs and coastal shores is the proper way
to go – not only for the marinelife that resides within but for the
indigenous peoples who live nearby as well.
This industry supports commerce, just as the New England Lobster
industry does. The lobstermen
have learned how to manage their natural resource from generation to
generation, and so too have some of the indigenous reef fish collectors.
Help us and the MAC to teach others to do so as well.
Sincerely,
Randolph Goodlett
President,
AMDA |
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RANDY
GOODLET: 1/21/01
One of our first priorities should be to increase AMDA membership. This is a long
term goal but we should
begin immediately to reexamine what the benefits are for joining AMDA. Why would someone want to join or
even renew? Mary is working on AMDA Purchasing Power and this is a great idea. Mike King has a good
information program to offer hobbyists information about their organisms. Can we make this an AMDA
sponsored program so that stores can also use this information. We need this and other ideas (like pushing the
training certificate program we developed last year) on how to make stores want to join
AMDA. - We need to focus our energies on building AMDA up in an organized manner. In going over some of the information board
members want us to cover tonight, I am excited to see so many good ideas. However, if we were to cover all of
these, we will be on line for five hours. We need to focus on a few specifics per meeting so we can give them
our full attention and not burn ourselves out. I think we need to focus on a few specific topics tonight so that we
can give them our full attention and not burn ourselves out. I think we all need to read the information listed on
the board because we do need to consider all of it. But for expediency's sake, we need to focus on a portion of
it so that we can keep the board meeting to a maximum of 1 and a half hours. I propose that we look at four
topics tonight and table everything else for future meetings.
The topics I think are most timely are the following:
a) Newsletter and website
b) Western Marine Conference
c) Meeting schedules and particulars
d) AMDA Membership Package ideas
I realize that there are a lot of issues we need to go over, but some should not
be rushed (i.e. Reef Product Alliance proposal). |
MIKE KING:
1/21/01
First; I think that The AMDA Pledge and Standards of Practice need to be placed in a visible and easy to read location at all
participating members locations. This should be made a standard requirement.
Second; We need to discuss Mr. Claussen's / Reef Product Alliances Draft business plan that he wants
AMDA's support of.
I have read this proposal and must say that while it would provide for a way of obtaining net-caught fish there are many flaws with the
methods to be used (there are also some associations being proposed that may be in direct conflict with our organization).
We should all get a copy (Mary's note: scroll down to read this proposal) and read very carefully and write our comments for discussion
on this very soon.
Third; My Organization CORL is working on several projects to help inform hobbyist on the organisms
they keep, I would like to offer the final products at a low cost to all . I'll post information on these projects and updates as the
projects move forward. I plan to show a sample of CORL's Ornamentals Marine Species Data Sheets
(OMSDS) CD rom project at
Marine Ornamentals 2001 and will bring copies for all AMDA members. If any members wish to help with this project they can
contact me.
|
| LIZ HARRIS:
1/21/01
As AMDA's newly elected treasurer, my concerns are as follows:
1. Obtain an audited copy of the books.
2. Evaluate the cash on hand and income projections.
3. Consider potential expenses, i.e. legal/corporate, newsletter, website, advertising, meetings, conferences, basically whatever y'all
tell me we're spending $$ on...
4. Develop a 'rough cut' budget, ASAP.
5. Have access to a complete database of members & develop a protocol for dues collection and/or any other contributions made to
AMDA. I don't know how this was handled in the past.
|
MARY
MIDDLEBROOK - 2/1/01
The following issues are
serious concerns of mine that I feel need to be addressed as soon as
possible. Please provide input so I can determine where each of you stands
on these issues.
I.
Membership Packets
A. Packets Should Contain:
-
Copy of the
Standards- I will get some nice ones printed. I was thinking about
getting nice, full color posters printed. I think stores would
be more apt to post them in a
visible spot. If any of you have some nice pictures of marinelife,
send them to me and I'll create a
draft for approval by the end of February.
-
Membership
Certificate- I will create a draft for approval by the end of
February. I think there should be places on the certificate where the
members can place a sticker for
completion of our various programs. That would give incentive
to take the programs so their certificate looks
"complete".
-
BOD bios- I need
everyone to send me a short bio, no more than 500 words. This will be
the same bio that will appear in the Newsletter (2 per issue) and the
website. Please get these to me by February 28.
-
We should decide on
what the various levels of membership will receive for their increased
dues. We should decide if they should be able to include business
materials in our membership package.
-
Copy of the previous
quarter's newsletter.
-
A welcome letter from
the President.
-
If any of you have any other ideas, please respond.
II. AMDA Brochure
A. Content
-
Mark and Randy
expressed interest in compiling the content for the newsletter, so if
anyone has any ideas contact them.
It would be nice to have brochures for WMC, so if the content
could be decided on by March 1, that will give me time to design it
and have it printed.
B.
Design
-
Once the content is
agreed upon, we need to choose a design type:
-
Single Page- This is
more like a flyer, full color front and back, no
folds.
-
Half Fold- Folded in
half
-
Tri Fold- Folded
three times lengthwise.
-
I will create the flyer and get them printed. Again, full
color is best and if any of you have some nice pictures of marinelife
that will help
C.
Cost
D. Sample
III.
AMDA Business Cards
A. Content and Design
B.
Cost
IV.
E-mail message Board for members
A.
JenSalt, a previous member of
AMDA, has generously provided AMDA with the message
board. They are not currently
members because of their displeasure with the
organization, and I can't say that I blame them. Once we prove that
AMDA is going somewhere, they will
rejoin. I think we should keep the message board there- it's free
and easy to use. And it will
show that members that aren't on the BOD actually participate! It is very
important that we contact all members and get them to join that list as
soon as we get the database.
V. Marine Aquarium
Council and AMDA
A. Steve brought up a concern
about MAC at the last meeting. I spoke with Paul Holthus
(president of MAC) January 31 and here are his thoughts.
-
AMDA Green Label
Project- Paul is concerned with AMDA "certifying (Ecolabeling)"
animals for the marine industry. He, and I, feel that this should be
MAC's role. He also expressed concerns about confusing the
industry with various
"certification" programs, all with different sets of
criteria. MAC has the funding, the support, and connections, and the
ability to make their certification program viable, whereas AMDA does
not. We have to face facts- AMDA cannot
be an organization that tries to police retailers. No matter how
commendable of a project it would be for us, we do not have the
resources to properly conduct
such a program. MAC does, and we should leave certification programs
to them. AMDA's role should be one of organizing our membership in
support for MAC certification.
-
Captive
Bred/Propagated Animals- Paul is not against captive breeding
programs per say. One
of MAC's missions is to provide economical incentives for overseas
collectors to harvest coral reef animals in a sustainable manner. This
mission is obviously in conflict with the creation of
state-side propagation farms. Basically, the only way state-side produced captive animals would
ever directly impact the
economically viability of overseas collection from the wild is if the
US government discontinued all importation of wild caught animals.
Paul would prefer to see
propagation farms remain in the local coral reef communities to
provide economic sustainability for the collectors.
VI. Advertising
A. Here are my opinions on
advertising. Yes, we all are very excited about AMDA right now and the
plans we all have for the future, but I think we need to be very careful.
Our membership is NOT behind us right now, and frankly I don't blame them.
AMDA has been a
"DISORGANIZATION" for a number of years, and it is now paying
the price with a disgruntled
membership. If AMDA is to achieve all of the goals the new board has
in mind, it must regain the
confidence of it's current membership before we reach out to new members
in a major way (via advertising). Let's not put the cart before the horse.
First, let's work on our current membership, proving to them that AMDA can
be an "ORGANIZATION"-
this will be achieved through our new discount programs, a heightened affiliation
with MAC and IMA, re-vamped membership packages, etc... Once we are
organized, THEN we can start reaching out for new members through
mass advertising. If we gain a lot of new members prior to us
laying out AMDA's new path, we are going to just end up with a lot more
disgruntled members. Let's blaze the trail, make it clear, then reach out.
That way the new members don't have to wander around trying to figure out
where AMDA is going- the trail will be clearly marked. Some of you think that AMDA's ideals and "morals" are enough to stand
on until we get organized. The ideals and morals were in place long before
this board came into office, and look where we are. Members want more than
ideals...they want something tangible. Let's insure we can provide that before starting an advertising campaign. I think
if we work really hard, we can be ready to move forward by the beginning
of the 3rd quarter. |
MARY MIDDLEBROOK: 1/21/01
WESTERN MARINE CONFERENCE
- I have procured a free booth for AMDA. MAC will be sharing with us. I will be there to work in the booth, and need at least 4 other
people to commit to working in shifts with me. The Western Director should call members and see if they are attending and could
work a few hour
- I think we should offer AMDA members FREE distribution of advertising from our booth. Members can send in flyers or business
cards. I am willing to create flyers for a fee for members that want one- I need approval from the Board to advertise this in the
newsletter.
NEWSLETTER
- I am now in charge of the newsletter. Each newsletter will offer the following features, more possibly to be added, suggestions are
welcome:
* Marine Menaces- Articles about identifying and controlling “pests” such as
Aiptasia, Red Slime Algae,
Mantis Shrimp, etc... (This newsletter I wrote an article about Aiptasia)
*S potlight On...- Articles featuring information on a certain species. Information will include identification,
origin, basic care tips, etc... (Still need an idea, although I may have something from Teresa Herndon)
* Netting Out Knowledge- Articles will feature an outstanding website that offers information pertinent to
retailers. (I have contacted the moderator of www.reefs.org and he will be sending me an article about
that site.)
* AMDA Purchasing Power- Coupons from various businesses offering discounts to AMDA members.
This will be free advertising for businesses as long as they offer a substantial discount.
* Eye On AMDA- Will detail the workings of the board and future plans for each quarter.
* Get Active!- Will list the various things the membership should be doing for that quarter (supporting the
businesses advertised in Purchasing Power, sending in survey forms, etc...)
* Did You Know??- Short hints and tips for retailers.
* Featured Member- The title speaks for itself!
- I WILL NOT be solely responsible for newsletter content after this first one. Each board member should be
assigned a newsletter task for each quarter so I know who is doing what by the end of February. Tasks will
include contributing information to one of the regular features, submitting your own original article, or calling
businesses to get them to offer discounts.
- I have obtained a discount rate at a local print shop for printing our newsletter. I will have the approximate
costs ready by the meeting. Mikki said that the printing was about $450 for 250 newsletters. I am going to do
everything possible to get below that.
- Whoever is in charge of the database (I’m not volunteering!) should be responsible for printing and mailing
labels to me. We also need to get a return address stamp made for AMDA- returned mail should go to whoever
is maintaining the database.
REGIONAL DIRECTOR TERRITORIES
- Territories need to be determined for each director.
MEETINGS
- A specific day and time for all future meetings needs to be determined. If members are consistently late or
absent, I WILL NOT HESITATE TO SHAME YOU IN THE NEWSLETTER. I’m not kidding. The ridiculous routine
of Rick having to call everyone every time there was a board meeting to figure out where they were was a waste
of time...and I will not tolerate any of you wasting my time. Obviously people are going to have things that come
up periodically and that’s fine- constantly is not fine.
- I think that a few days before each board meeting that everyone should type up what they’ve accomplished
since the last meeting and what they feel needs to be discussed at the next one. These “summaries” would then
be posted on the website for all of the members to read BEFORE the meeting. I think that will save a lot of time
in the meetings. Each member should leave every meeting with something SPECIFIC that they are to
accomplish before the next meeting. Again, if you aren’t pulling your weight I will not hesitate to shame you in the
newsletter. And again, I’m not kidding.
FUTURE ISSUES I’D LIKE TO ADDRESS
- Once AMDA starts to re-establish itself as a viable organization, I think the initial membership fees should be increased to AT
LEAST $250 per year. Renewal fees could be a little less, say $200. If people did not renew within 1 month of the deadline, they
would have to pay the $250 initial fee to rejoin. Hopefully this new rate can kick in 3rd quarter. By that time, members should be
reaping the benefits of the Purchasing Power discounts, and the membership will be more than paying for itself. I also think it makes
sense to have all of the memberships due for renewal on a specific date (say January 1 of each year). Members joining in the middle
of the year could be prorated. This would make the job of handling renewals MUCH easier. Once we get rolling, a focus needs to be
placed on a new membership campaign. We should set a goal of adding X amount of members by the end of the year (I say we
should add 25 new members at least).
- ALL AMDA members should be posting the standards in clear view of their customers. I think new door stickers should be
created that say something to the effect of “I follow the AMDA standards which are posted ____________(location for member to fill
in).”
- New, extremely professional looking membership certificates should be printed...something that members would be proud to
display. Same goes for the standards.
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JUDY
SHANER: 1/21/01
- All officers must be signed on to message board- so as to make sure all of the board gets the
same information (as per the amda-1 current message board.) This may be done for official
board members, separate from main member body.
- All AMDA members should be signed on to a message board so that all will receive the same
information. (those without e-mail, must be contacted individually)
- Spokesperson assigned to keep information currant between officers and members. (via the
message board?)
- Updated member list should be sent to all officers (via e-mail or snail mail)
- Official projects in the works along with pertinent information must be sent to all officers and
members. (via e-mail or snail mail)
- Delegated projects or assignments to be given (volunteers) (not just "we need help") and
records kept as to who is doing what by when.
- Communication to be kept open between officers and members. Closed door meetings to be
reported as to why and what was discussed, even if only generally.
- Minutes of meetings to be kept and open to anyone wishing to see them.
- Financial report given to at least all officials- hopefully to all members as a whole.
- Non-official members to be encouraged to participate when they
volunteer (specifics given as to what needs doing and what they can do to help)
- What to be decided as to the newsletter versus the AMDA web site?
- Information needed as to members having e-mail or only snail
mail.(list)
- Record of when dues are due and notices sent to all members when they are due (via e-mail
or snail mail).
- Secretary will have his hands full and will need to delegate some of these projects to other
officers and/or members to implement and report back to him when accomplished.
- Regular meetings to be held by officers and dates set-reminders sent prior to meeting via
e-mail or posted to AMDA site.
- Anyone wishing to have a topic or project discussed at any meeting should post a notice to
the secretary before hand, unless an emergency arises.
- Can we hold one meeting a month for all members to attend and how would this be
accomplished? (Open chat-one question per person-one topic per meeting?)
- If a list of topics/questions/concerns to be discussed at the next meeting by officials were to
be sent to all officials before hand- this would give everyone time to formulate their opinion
ahead of time- making less confusion during the actual meetings. More could be accomplished this way.
- Could we have an area set up on the AMDA web site listing all BOD members with contact information (this
would be much easier than going through the whole member list to find the proper person or persons to
contact.) A comment form might also help with this
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STEVE RUDDY/TONI
MCWILLIAMS: 1/21/01
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