June 11, 2007    

Secretary's Report was read and accepted; Mindy Gagner

Treasurer’s Report; Don Collins

Youth Business:  Tim Austin

• Tim has the schedule for the Junior World Championship in Hot Springs, Arkansas from August 2 -6.  There will be a President and Youth Director meeting on Thursday the second.  Flights are $468 for a round trip right now.  Last year the TBF gave $1,500 total towards both youth’s expenses.
• A motion was made and accepted to purchase tickets for Norm & Tim to go to Hot Springs.  A motion was also made and accepted for the Federation to give $200 to each of the youths going to Hot Springs.
• Tim did an outdoor radio show on WOKO with James Ehlers and mentioned the Federation and our website.  Tim also went to the Winooski River Access for an awareness event for the non-angling public.  James Ehlers and Wayne Laroche were both there and Tim spoke at this event also.

New Business:  Norm White

• Norm has been updating the website.  Many thanks to Bill Spence for helping to set it up!!
• The first Federation open is June 24 in St. Albans; Norm will e-mail everyone on the State Team to get some help running the tournament.  The money from this event goes to the State Team so some of them should be there to help.
• The TBF sent out an Action Alert for boaters to contact their legislators for the following reason:   if a recent court ruling goes wrong and is NOT corrected, every boat on US waters will have to obtain an EPA permit estimated to range from $800 to $2,000 per vessel.  If it is not overturned it will become law by September of this year.  ACT NOW!!  A recent court ruling targeting Ballast water on big ships to help control invasive species (which is needed) goes “outside the lines” and strikes down the existing exemption for “other” US vessels.  We should pass this info on to all clubs and get anglers to respond.  The TBF opposes the courts ruling and supports “The Recreational Boating Act of 2007”.  You can get further details by logging onto http://www.boattest.com/nmma.aspx.
• There was discussion to hold Federation meeting every other month unless an emergency comes up, in which case Norm could call a meeting.  There was a motion made and accepted to hold Federation meeting every other month unless Norm feels it necessary to call an emergency meeting.  It was decided that we would hold meeting on every even month (example:  August, October, December, etc.).
• THERE WILL BE A MANDATORY STATE TEAM MEETING ON JULY 9^TH AT THE GROUND ROUND IN BURLINGTON AT 7:00PM!!!
• Federation dues are due in June and they are $15 per member.
• You can log on to the Federation website at www.vermontbassfederation.com to get an application for the State Team Qualifier.  Entry forms and fees are due by August 3^rd.
• A motion was made and accepted for Norm to purchase a program he needs to maintain the website.
• Meeting adjourned at 7:46pm.                                        

Respectfully submitted, Mindy Gagner