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IGRA Board Meeting Minutes
Crowne Plaza Hotel, St Louis, Missouri
January 17, 2014
First posted Jan 30, 2014
Last update Jan 26, 2026
Minutes taken by ASGRA Trustee Tom Lott

Crowne Plaza Hotel, St Louis, Missouri
January 17, 2014

  1. At 10:45 AM the President called the IGRA Board Meeting to order. The entire Executive Board was present as well as most of the Trustees. A few Trustees were not present due to work schedules or finances at their home cities.
    • A quorum was met.
    • On the Monday night before IGRA Board Meetings, there were supposed to be telephonic Committee Chair meetings. While this was the plan, no one mentioned if the Committee meetings occurred.
    • The IGRA Secretary did a Roll Call.
  2. The minutes of the last IGRA Board Meeting, November 14, 2013, which was held at the Hilton Mission Valley, San Diego, California were approved. Larry Lindstrom, past IGRA Secretary, had to amend his Special Minutes, in which the outcome of a vote was not stated correctly.
  3. President's Report
    • The President was very pleased with how the IGRA Convention was handled.
    • He very much liked the way the Trustees came together to allow NMGRA to hold their rodeo this year.
    • The President said that IGRA had to select a Rodeo Director for the Gay Games Rodeo. There were two nominees; namely Judy Munson, and Tommy Channel. So the President asked the Board to take a 15 minute break while he convened an Executive Board to select the Rodeo Director. A vote was taken and Judy Munson became the Gay Games Rodeo Director. Judy is also the Gay Games Rodeo Chair.
    • Bud Light has a new staff representative who works with the LGBT community. The President is worried because our contract with Bud Light has been in limbo. Bud Light has the first right of refusal. He will investigate other options in order to advance the Bud Light contract, or shift to another beer distributor.
    • There was some discussion on where 2015 University will be held. Patrick Terry mentioned that at 2013 University, IGRA did not make their room block numbers and IGRA actually owed the Crowne Plaza $ 6,000. But the Crowne Plaza was kind enough not to press their point and so did not bill IGRA for that amount.
    • Other possible places to hold 2015 University are Las Vegas, somewhere in California to be designated later, and Tucson, Arizona.
    • The President asked that each Association holding a rodeo this year to please allow a free, one page ad for the Gay Games Rodeo to be held in Akron , Ohio on August 10-11, 2014.
    • He further asked that each Association holding a rodeo this year, to please provide a listing of all upcoming rodeos of the 2014 circuit.
  4. Vice President's Report
    • James Jenkins is the new Vice President of IGRA, having been elected to that position at IGRA Convention.
    • He stated that there will be an IGRA Dance Competition Saturday evening in the host hotel.
    • He stated that he will hold a round table discussion this year to see if IGRA wants to continue with the Dance Competition or eliminate it all together.
    • He stated that Royalty's goal this year is to raise $ 15,000 for charities.
    • He would like to use Royalty better. IGRA misuses them.
    • He also wants to get past Royalty involved in IGRA affairs.
  5. Secretary's Report
    • Bruce Gros from CGRA is the new IGRA Secretary.
    • The new Rodeo Rules Book has been published and is available today.
    • He is starting to review what records should be kept and which should be destroyed.
    • He will review all contracts and awards to see that they are properly posted on the IGRA web site.
    • Destroyed documents should be properly shredded or electronically erased.
  6. Treasurer's Report
    • David Hill gave a pro forma Treasurer's Report.
    • Nothing unusual in his financial discussions.
    • A note: IGRA brought two almost new projectors from Tom Lott/Frank Harrell at a cost of $ 700. Original cost of these projectors was $ 2,400.
  7. Trustee Chair Report
    • Ray Ostmann stated that there will be a Trustee Meeting immediately following the IGRA Board Meeting.
  8. Administrative Assistant Report
    • Tommy Channel is IGRA's Administrative Assistant.
    • He asked all Trustees to have their Associations to keep their Membership Lists up to date.
    • He said that the cost of the Directors' & Officers' Liability Insurance will have a slight increase in cost this year. The expected cost will be $ 225, plus tax.
  9. Corporate Auditor Report
    • Jabby Lowe is the IGRA Corporate Auditor and he was not present.
    • His audit report was read to the Board and approved.
  10. Committee Repot Highlights
    • IGRA Royalty has selected two charities for 2014. One is called Heritage, and the other is the National LGBT Cancer Network.
    • Budgeting for Gay Games Rodeo (GG9) and World Gay Rodeo Finals (WGRF) can be problematic, but we are trying to accurately forecast what will take place.
    • Public Relation sees no problems with GG9 nor WGRFs.
    • IGRA University. Patrick Terry asked three senior Crowne Plaza employees to attend the Board meeting and make friendly, small presentations.
    • The 2014 Convention will be held in a Denver Double Tree hotel. The room rate will be $ 99/night. There will be shuttles from the Denver International Airport to the host hotel. CGRA will be raffling off suites at the host hotel.
  11. The Board meeting took a break for lunch, and we walked the three very cold blocks to the Pickles Deli, a gay owned/gay friendly Deli. Lunch was sponsored by GWGRA and was excellent.
  12. The Board Meeting resumed at 2:03 PM. A Roll Call was taken.
  13. Committee Report Highlights (continued)
    • Gay Games Rodeo has established a budget of $ 113,000, with expected revenue of $ 117,000. Judy Munson is Gay Games Chair and expects upfront expenses to be $ 10,000 to $ 17,000. Her budget passed. The rodeo will take place in Akron, Ohio on August 10-11, 2014. The contract between Gay Games and IGRA has been signed.
    • Finals. Dan Nagel is Rodeo Chair for WGRFs. His assistant Rodeo Directors are: Clark Monk (Rodeo Director), Robert Thurtell, Ken Poole, and Lisa Smith.
  14. New Business
    • World Gay Rodeo Finals contract has been signed. The rodeo will again take place in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Will Rogers Memorial Event Center.
    • There was some discussion on where to hold the 2015 World Gay Rodeo Finals, and NGRA again recommended South Point Hotel in Las Vegas. It is a beautiful facility right on the Las Vegas Strip.
    • Jabby Lowe was again appointed as Corporate Auditor.
  15. The IGRA Board Meeting was then adjourned 3:33 PM.

Trustees Meeting

Crowne Plaza Hotel, St Louis, Missouri
January 17, 2014

  1. The meeting was called to order at 3:44 PM.
  2. A Roll Call was made of all attendees. Bruce Gros, IGRA Secretary, was asked to attend and take minutes.
  3. The minutes of the last Trustee meeting which was held at the Hilton Mission Valley, San Diego, California were approved.
  4. There then began a multiple hour discussion on whether or not the Trustees should place Jim Mitchell back as a recertified Arena Director. At the end of these discussions, Jim Mitchell was recertified.
  5. Old Business - There was no Old Business.
  6. New Business
    • WGRF's asked for a variance of 8 feet for the width of their rodeo. Their arena is 8 feet to narrow. The variance was approved.
  7. After the Trustee Meeting, there was an EPRB Meeting. No EPRB issues were brought forward and previous minutes were approved.
  8. The Trustees meeting adjourned at 5:46 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,
Tom Lott
ASGRA Trustee