The meeting was called to order at 1:10pm by President Craig Cole.

The financial reports were given for the Open and Amateur Associations and Hope In The Heartland by Executive Secretary Sandy Bryant Parker. The Open Association ended the year with $24,615.10 in the checking account and CD’s valuing $19,071.09 and $27,585.95. The Amateur association ended the year with $21,342.60 in the checking account and a CD for $4950.85. The Youth financial report was given by Ruth Knapp. KQHA had a very good year and is on firm financial footing. It was moved to accept the financial reports as read by Sue Nickel and seconded by Jeff Mellott. The motion carried.

Sandy parker gave the Youth Scholarship report as prepared by Stan O’Neil. There is $47,370.00 in the account. We had one applicant for 2008, Chandry Kraft. She received $2,148.50 from the Gorthy/Serrault Scholarship fund. We will be receiving some money from the Robert Young foundation, but as yet the amount has not been announced.

Outgoing board members were announced as Sandy Zwick and Garth Gardiner. There were thanked for their years of service. Scott Janssen and Shelly McColm wish to stay on the board. Nominations from the board are Tom Davies and Jeff Mellott. No nominations were given from the floor. It was moved to close the nominations by Jeff Mellott and seconded by Sue Nickel. The voting was unanimous to elect Tom Davies and David Mellott as our new board members.

Awards for Kansas Kounts were given followed by KQHA awards for last names beginning with A to I.

Craig Cole introduced Ed McKechnie with the AQHA Public Policy committee who spoke briefly to the group.

Committee reports
The Amateur report was given by Debra Powers, president of the Amateur association. New amateur board members are Sue Nickel, Denny Jaye, Levi Allison, Pam Wilson and Christine Dietz. The new Vice President is Roberta Jaye and the secretary will be Kathy Green.

The Youth report was given by Mariah Moxleyu the 2009 President. The Vice President will be Paris Nottingham, Erin Connell will serve as Secretary and Madison Vosburgh will do the Public Relations. The Board of Directors/Committee Chairs will be:
Year End Awards – Chelsea Zillner
Leadership/Scholarship – Katie Ralph
Membership – Jenna Persons
Fundraising – Sydney Doane
Congress/Youth World – Rachel Tearney

The Open year end awards report was given by Jessica Streit. They are on target with the spending on the awards, as they planned on spending $3000. A few bills are still outstanding.

The Recreational Ride report was given by Ryan Cole. Several rides were cancelled due to the weather. The rides that occurred had 65-70 participants and the riders all want to have the trail rides again in 2009.

The Show and Contest committee did not have a report as the profit and loss for Hope In The Heartland was given earlier.

The Media report was given by Peggy Pickford. We are still working to make the newsletter break even. We are in the process of applying for a bulk rate permit from the post office which will reduce mailing costs. Peggy reminded everyone of the deadlines for submitting information for the newsletter, In regards to the website we have added a for sale section for members to use free of charge.

Peggy also reported on the AIM plan that we turn in to AQHA. AIM stands for Affiliates In Motion and is AQHA’s program to help each state affiliate to achieve growth. We are targeting the Ranch Horse events as AQHA is strongly aiming this direction. Peggy is also contacting all of the 4-H groups in the state and has designed a new brochure to distribute to them. Each year we target areas in which to promote AQHA and we receive money from MBNA when we achieve these targeted goals.

Sherri Tearney encouraged everyone to use the website for gathering information and thanked Peggy for doing such a great job with it.

KQHA awards were given for last names beginning with J to Z.

The proposal for possibly changing the time and format for the annual meeting and banquet was discussed. It was moved to accept the proposal by Aaron Moeder and seconded by Abbi Demel. The motion was voted upon and passed.

A few general announcements were made. Sandy Parker had dinner tickets to hand out.

Peggy Wenger praised the annual directory issue and thanked those involved in putting it together.

Paris Nottingham and Chandry Kraft presented a gift to Ruth Knapp thanking her for her volunteer work with the Youth.

It was moved to adjourn the meeting by Julie Muench and seconded by Debra Powers. Voting ensued and the motion passed.

The meeting adjourned at 2:20pm.