Dear Fellow Saint Fancier,
If you are a current SBCA member, you will be receiving a ballot for the SBCA leadership in the next few days, as our constitution requires that they go out on or before January 15th. There is no longer recourse of referendum to the membership from motions made at the Annual Meeting. Many Board Motions are now labeled “Housekeeping” so the membership doesn’t have time to comment on them. It is my position that you elect the board to be your representative, and you as the membership, should be heard. Our Board needs to be accountable to the membership.
It is now, more than ever, important that you vote and return your ballot in order to have a voice in our National Club!
Our club is facing many other challenges at the moment, which is why I am running for President of our Club.
What about the position? The President, as an officer of the club also has other duties. It is important that this person follow our Constitution and Roberts Rules of Order. The President must facilitate orderly conversation and communications within our club in a clear and impartial manner. It is important that all members get treated with the same respect.
Accountability. Our members need to be accountable to the board if they take a leadership position. Our Meetings need to be run in an orderly fashion according to Roberts Rules and our Constitution, not just when it’s convenient. A parliamentarian should be at the Annual Meeting for advice, should the occasion arise, so a ruling can be made immediately.
What about the club? It is time for unity in our club and not fractioning. What are we all about? We are the keepers of the breed and all in it for the same goal – not to be back-biting each other!
I just completed a two year term as Charter President of our Local Rotary Club. This involved bringing together people of different social, financial, political and economic backgrounds in our small community, facilitating conversations and ideas and putting these ideas into place with the backing of the entire club. In being trained for this on a regional level I gained some great tools that I will put into place in the Saint Bernard Club of America.
Our board needs to SUPPORT the people that volunteer, and everyone needs to play by the same rules! Our club needs to SUPPORT each other and work towards the common goal of a meaningful membership in the SBCA. It should be important to be an SBCA member, not just a way to get the Fancier!
What about the dogs? Have we gone so far that we have forgotten about them? Is our breed so diverse from east to west and north to south that the breed is no longer unified? We need to be talking to each other about The Standard, Health, Structure and Temperament – without casting stones or challenging each other. The SBCA has a membership in the World Union of Saint Bernards – we need to be up to the challenge nationwide and worldwide.
While our present treasurer is doing a wonderful job, the club is facing financial challenges at the moment. I believe that as President of the club, my background as a CPA, Investment Representative and running businesses can help with these challenges and hopefully still keep the same level of service to its members.
I don’t have any ulterior motives for politics. I am what I am. I want to make sure that the breed and the breed club survives all these challenges.
I have been the president, vice-president, recording secretary and board member of our local all-breed club, the President, Vice-president and working dog chair of our local Saint Bernard club. For the SBCA I have been the Recording Secretary, the Working Dog Chair, the SBCA Webmaster, Ways & Means Chair, the New Titleholders Chair. I show in Conformation, Weight Pull, Rally, Obedience and Drafting events. I am an AKC Provisional Judge in Saint Bernards and Limited Jrs, an SBCA Weight Pull judge and was formally a AKC canine good citizen evaluator. I help with Rescue when possible. Both our daughters have grown up in Junior showmanship and in the Saint Bernard Breed. I am a founding member and current President of the Saint Bernard Club of Southern Oregon, a member of the Saint Bernard Club of the Pacific Coast and of the Saint Bernard Club of Puget Sound.
I believe that I can be open to each of you in a straight forward fashion. As a “bean-counter”, I like to try to look at all angles of a challenge and resolve it in my mind before tossing all ideas out. I know I can fulfill the duties of this office FAIRLY, and IMPARTIALLY. This club needs to rehabilitate, regenerate and recuperate. It is time to get back together. We as members can disagree sometimes, and that’s ok, as long as we treat each other with RESPECT to ALL.
If you have any questions of me before you make up your mind on your ballot, you are welcome to email me at: karen@saintbernard.com or call me at 541-592-6529 (west coast).
I would appreciate your vote of confidence.
Karen M Bodeving, CPA