Kootenai Pets For Life Meeting April 10,2024
The monthly meeting took place at the Shelter
Attending were Linda Andreasen, Juli Hopfer, Toni Crace, Matthew Holcomb Lake, Megan Hall, Marge Sullivan, Tina Green and by phone Deirdre Ruark and Sara Sherman.
The meeting was called to order at 5:05 by Board member Linda Andreasen
All agreed its not necessary to read the previous months meeting minutes
Megan gave shelter stats:
1 cat intake, 7 dog intakes, 3 cat and 2 dog adoptions, 6 dogs in shelter, 10 dongs in fosters, 17 cats in shelter, 6 in foster, 1 available (27 cats total) 6 cat spays 1 was pregnant, 1 neuter, 3 microchips 5 dog spays, 4 neuters, 6 microchips 27 exams (15 dogs, 12 cats 6 were follow ups) 3 dentals 22 total, 10 cats/12 dogs other procedures (YTD 57) spay/neuter YTD 44 Cat adoptions with 2 returned YTD 42 Dog adoptions with 1 returned Juli requested additional breakdown of how many are KPFL vs Clients.
Discussed breakdowns and financial reports, Sara said they would be sent out in the evening after the meeting March income of 2466. expenses 7984, net loss of 5519 Total bills 4751. Dr. Hawkins was 1675. Salary expenses 4665. Will be getting a breakdown of expenses. Motion to pay bills passed by Linda and Megan.
All agreed to do away with breakdown of fundraising, would be in the treasures report.
Discussed change of open days to Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12-5 Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday by appointment.
Matt and Megan worked out their schedule to cover off hour care.
Juli and Megan will discuss grants.
Recruitment drive at the farmers market, Megan will talk with Deb Fry Vendors market talk with Randy, she is willing to pay for a booth and offer education, volunteer recruitment, etc. Tina discussed setting up a booth next to her for KPFL.
Can recycling is going to be hauled by Chuck Ekstedt for KPFL.
Paid employees do they have job descriptions? They have them. Megan said she wanted to learn everything and then decide how much and what she would be able to handle. Her pay is 16 dollars an hour and Matts is 13. Megan’s supervisor is Faith and Matts is Megan. All agreed that the board members should be supervisors. They should have performance evaluations, and feedback for their job performance.
There should be a list of Faiths duties and it needs to be shared in order to have others that can pick up the slack.
Megan did the waiting list for spay/neuter people need to be contacted to see if people are still needing services.
Spay/neuter needs to be separate and handled by 1 or 2 people, all agreed Faith has that system handled well and should continue to do it with another person so there is backup.
Additional board member Tina Green was nominated by Megan and seconded by Linda she will be acting board member until the end of the term.
Bylaws were discussed and whether changes were filed with the state, do not believe they were. Need to locate the originals, Megan said she would find them.
Motion to adjourn the meeting by Marge second by Megan, voted and passed at 6:20
Toni Crace, Secretary
Kootenai Pets For Life Meeting March 13,2024
The monthly meeting took place on March 13 at the Shelter. Attending were Faith Lee, Megan Hall, Juli Hopfer, Sara Sherman, Toni Crace, Heidi McBride, Dee Shea, Matthew Holcomb Lake, Linda Andreasen, Tina Green, Marge Sullivan and by phone Deirdre Ruark.
The meeting was called to order at 5:10 by President Faith Lee.
1. Marge read the minutes from the last meeting. Faith took exception to the exception of last week that stated “there was no consensus of the voting members and there was no vote taken” and wanted entered a paragraph from an e-mail dated January 16, 2024, that was sent to 24 volunteer email addresses which was titled Board Statement and the paragraph said “At the January 10, 2024, monthly meeting, the Board placed in front of the membership in attendance the question of how to best handle situations where personnel are not willing to consistently follow established policies, procedures and to uphold KPFL bylaws. The consensus of the voting membership was that anyone unwilling to follow the above mentioned should be terminated from volunteering and having membership .”
2. Megan gave shelter stats report. There were 6 cat intakes, 1 return to us. Zero dog intakes, there were 4 cat adoptions and 3 dog adoptions. At the end of March there were 6 dogs in shelter, 8 dogs in foster, 1 dog waiting to come in. There are 18 cats in shelter, 8 in foster and 3 still available. There are 14 cats to spay/neuter. Four potentials coming in soon. We had 9 cat spay, 6 neuters, & 7 microchips. There were 4 dog spays, 2 neuters, 7 microchips. There were 13 exams, 1 dental and 7 other procedures. Fourteen feral cats were taken to Bonners Ferry Veterinary Clinic and spayed or neutered. The charge was $20 per cat. The feral cats were taken in live traps and after surgery were released back to their neighborhood. Thanks to Dierdre, Juli, Toni and Dee for their work in transporting and getting the job done and the volunteers at the Shelter for preparing the cats for transport and clean up.
3. Juli reported Bonners Ferry will take two feral cats a day if an appointment is made the day before.
4. Sara handed out a financial report. Our income for February was $52,235.54 and Expenses were $12,726.38. Our new income in February was $39,509.26. Our taxes are not due until May. We had $6,458 in bills this month. Tina made a motion to pay bills, second from Megan, voted on and passed. Fund raising, banks, Pay Pal donations will be discussed next time.
5. Faith printed and passed out the Articles of Incorporation and Incorporated ByLaws for each person to review, mark any changes and have ready for our next meeting
6. Juli gave a report on grants. She found KPFL must join as a partner before applying for them. It was discussed and she will join ASPCA, Petco, Pet Smart and Chewy as a partner. We already are a member of Petfinder and Pet Smart. She will try to get Pet Smart and Petfinder passwords and look into them. There is a Montana Pals for Paws that offers $2000 grants. She suggested a vaccine and microchip event in coordination with a spay/neuter day. She will discuss this with Dr. Hawking and see if this is possible and if not maybe another date where just vaccines and microchip are available to the public.
7. A question was asked by Dee as to criteria for accepting animals into the shelter. Policies were discussed. Faith asked to be excused. The meeting carried on.
8. Juli gave a report on microchipping. She found that Fi Nano which we currently use is a much less expensive system than others she looked in to. Fi Nano states that online questions are available and should be handled online and not by phone. Linda made a motion to stay with Fi Nano, Tina seconded it, we voted, and it was passed.
9. Publicizing our services and pets was discussed. The conclusion was that we need someone that would be willing to be our Facebook administrator and keep it up to date with all that it could be used for. Also included was someone willing to take on the webpage.
10. We should not warehouse pets but work for their adoption with quality advertising and publicity. There was no report on letters to volunteers no longer with us or possible fund-raising ideas as Teanne was not at the meeting. This should be discussed at the next meeting.
11. We have open board positions and that need to be addressed at our next meeting. Juli suggested that two officers - the President and Secretary and 3 others are sufficient for Board members. The position of Secretary was discussed. Toni Crace volunteered to take over the position for the remainder of this term. A vote was taken. She was nominated by Dee, seconded by Marge, a vote was taken, and she was elected for the remainder of this term.
12. It was reported that LOR is having a Volunteer Recruitment Drive on May 11 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Libby Memorial Events Center. The set up is the same morning from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. There was an interest and at our April meeting we will need to make a final decision on how this can be handled. Volunteer recruitment was discussed. Juli asked if we could set up a transportation fund for any volunteer that needs transportation to and from the shelter. No action was taken. Volunteer work was discussed - cleaning takes place first thing in the morning and volunteers are needed. Volunteers are needed for animal care in the morning. The protocols of paper handling, opening, duties and general duties need to be re-evaluated.
13. It was suggested that we have a moderator. The moderator's role is to act as a neutral participant in a debate or discussion, hold participants to time limits and try to keep them from straying off the topic of the questions raised in the discussion.
14. Linda made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:40, Juli seconded, voted and passed.
Marge Sullivan, acting Secretary
Kootenai Pets For Life Meeting February 14, 2024
Kootenai Pets For Life Meeting February 14, 2024 Kootenai Pets for Life monthly meeting took place on February 14, 2024 at the shelter at 5:00pm.
Attending were Faith Lee, Sara Sherman, Linda Andreasen, Gary Armstrong, Marge Sullivan, Matthew Holcomb Lake, Teanne Ungren, Elaine Hammer, Katie Tingey, Megan Hall, Carolyn Story, Nick Calabrese, Julie Hopfer, Heidi McBride, Toni Crace and by phone Deirdre Ruark.
1. Marge read the minutes from our last meeting, January 10. Juli Hopfer took exception to the last line - a consensus of the voting members agree that anyone not following the By Laws and Procedure should be terminated from volunteering/ membership. Several of the members attending the January meeting agreed there was no consensus of the voting members and there was no vote taken.
2. Sara read the Treasurer's report. Our income for January was $13,572, our expenses were $ 11,966. Our net income was $1,606. Banks are Ace - $5.73; City Service Valcon $5.00; Homesteaders - $2.67; Libby Sports - $1.69; Printing Press - $0.52; Rocky Mountain Music - $8.72; Roasters - $6.10; VFW - $22.56 in Libby. Troy banks were 1st MT bank - $28.06; Booze & Bait - $14.01; Mary Anne’s - $80.15. Boutique Brielle - $18.39 Motion by Linda to pay our bills, second by Teanne, motion carries.
3. Faith gave the shelter report.
For December we had an intake of 2 cats. We had 5 cats and 6 dogs adopted. We have 7 dogs in Shelter and 11 dog fosters. There are 19 cats in the shelter with 4 in foster and 1 still available. Five cats will be coming in soon. We had 14 cat spays and 4 of those were feral cats. We had 6 neuters and 10 microchips. We had 5 dog spays and 6 microchips. There were 17 exams and 6 other procedures.
4. Old business:
Juli gave a report on grants she had found. She has found three that she will pursue further. One grant from ASPCA has restrictions that do not allow paid members on the Board which is contrary to our current setup.
5. New Business:
Faith passed out information on several microchip companies. The current one is alright but customer service has been poor. Some have 24 hours service. The biggest factor in differences seems to be customer service. Juli will research several and report next month.
Faith said new bowls for wet food for cats are needed. Discussion of type of bowl/ plate with the suggestion to look at the dollar store and see what is available. Faith said she would check this out.
The yearly fund raising letter was discussed. It was agree we will discuss further next month. Including a membership with the letter was discussed. Teanne will report on some fundraising needs.
Juli brought up the feral cat program. She said the Bonners Ferry Vet Clinic has a $20 feral cat spay/neuter program that will take some cats from Libby & Troy at a clinic once a month. The ferals must be in a live trap when brought in. If we could get 20 cats for March we could try to get this started. Deirdre said she had a contact and could possibly provide 17 cats. Toni Crace has agreed to pull this together and she and Deirdre will confer and try to do a trial run and see how this goes. We expect KPFL may have to come up with some of the funds.
We would like to have a membership form for next month. Marge agreed to work on this.
Everyone was asked to come up with some goals for KPFL. Short, medium and long term goals. Email to kpflmt@gmail.com and we can have a list for next meeting.
It was suggested everyone become familiar with the Articles of Incorporation and our By Laws. Faith will e-mail a copy of each to all.
A group bonding exercise was suggested. Teanne will do the first one. She will let everyone know what is happening.
Gary brought up the topic of the loss of members. The group discussed and agreed for the most part that what happened was not right but we must go forward. We agreed to send a letter to each of these ex-volunteers thanking them for their service and apologizing for the way things were handled. Linda suggested that we have Teanne write a draft letter that the Board will approve and then mail to those that have quit. Gary made a motion to do this, Linda seconded, It was passed.
Juli suggested that volunteers that resign by email should be welcome to volunteer again but would not still hold positions of officers or Board members if that applies to them. Paid employees that resign by letter are still resigned.
Linda made a motion to adjourn at 6:10, it was seconded by Juli, voted on and passed.
Minutes by Acting Secretary, Marge Sullivan
Kootenai Pets For Life Meeting January 10, 2024
Kootenai Pets for Life monthly meeting took place on January 10, 2024 at the shelter at 5:00pm.
Attending were Faith Lee, Terri Harbst, Bonnie Edmundson, Sara Sherman, Linda Andreasen, Katie Tingey, Gary Armstrong, Marge Sullivan, Dr. Kathryn Hawkins, Matthew Holcomb Lake, Nick Calabrese, Julie Hopfer, Dee Shea, Toni Crace and by phone Deirdre Ruark.
1. Bonnie read the Minutes from December 2023, minutes were approved as read.
2. Sara read the Treasurer's report. Our income for December was $10,839.00, our expenses were $16,843.00 making a net loss of $6004.00. Bills for January are $6127.00. Motion by Bonnie to pay our bills, Terri second, motion carries.
3. Terri read the shelter report. For December we had 4 intakes, all dogs. New fosters 8: 3 dogs, 5 cats. Adoptions 9: 3 dogs, 6 cats. End of month we had 6 dogs, 23 cats + 3 outside, and 21 animals in foster. Spay/ neuter 7 cats, 4 dogs, 8 others, 15 exams and 9 microchips.
4. Fundraising: Boutique Brielle $13.50, 1st Montana Bank $2.00, Booze 'n Bait $5.45, LCCU $8.00, MaryAnn's $50.50.
5. Old business: 1.) Katie is trying to organize with LOR for a giant spay/neuter to happen possibly here at the shelter. Montana spay/neuter is a mobile unit, but is booked for all of 2024. Julie says the Humane Society in Missoula has mobile unit. Katie will look into it. Julie will help guide Katie. 2.) Terri looked into Grant Writer courses. Flathead nor Kalispell have any courses. Cost varies from $20. credit to $600. course. Julie says she will look up and try to write asking for some small grants.
6. New business: 1.) Dr. Hawkins says she will now note in dog files when she encounters dogs with aggression. She is not pro aggression for adoptive dogs. 2.) Faith is waiting to hear back about arranging a date to meet with Animal Control and the Health Dept. and Tobacco Valley to discuss cat procedure. Terri suggests getting a "memorandum of understanding" to report a clear delineation regarding cat intakes. All members suggest recording the meeting. 3.) Bonnie says the Board will be re-writing the By Laws. 4.) Faith asked Gary to confirm he wants to step down from the Board. He says yes. Motion from Linda to have Deirdre on the Board, Terri second, motion carries. 5.) A consensus of the voting
members agree that anyone not following the By Laws and Procedures should be terminated from volunteering/membership.
Motion at 6:00pm to adjourn by Bonnie first, Faith second, motion carries.
Minutes by Bonnie Edmundson
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