Minutes
Ohio HBPA Board Meeting
11:00 am, Thursday, January 27th, 2022
Ohio HBPA Main Office, Grove City, OH
Members Present: President Joe Poole Directors: Susan Anderson. Bobby Cline, Mark Doering, Bruce Miller, Dick McCall, Mike Rone, John Royer, Robin Schuster and Kristi Tumblin
Members Unable to Attend: Jeff Jarvis, Kim Williams
Others Present:
Executive Director Dave Basler, OHBPA Lobbyist Tom Pappas
Call to Order/ Approval of Minutes:
President Poole called the meeting to order. After review President Poole moved and Director Royer seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the December 2nd, 2021 Ohio HBPA board of directors meeting. Motion passed.
Director Cline and President Poole seconded a motion to grant an excused absence to Director Doering for the December OHBPA board meeting and to Directors Jarvis and Williams for today’s OHBPA board meeting all for health reasons. Motion passed.
Special Order of Business
OHBPA Lobbyist Tom Pappas updated the board on current legislative issues including the redistricting issue where the Ohio Supreme Court had ruled that the redistricting maps drawn by the committee were unconstitutional and would have to be redone.
Executive Director’s Report:
The executive director updated the board regarding the current status of the OHBPA’s lawsuit against Belterra Park et. al Detailing that he along with the OHBPA’s legal team at Porter Wright had completed the defense’s request for discovery materials and that legal counsel was now awaiting Belterra’s responses to our discovery requests.
Basler updated the board on the latest happenings involving HISA detailing that the Authority had put out a press release the previous month stating that their contract negotiations with USADA had broken down and they were looking for new entities to oversee medication regulations and drug testing under HISA but they would not be filing medication regulations with the FTC by the deadline and it would likely be early 2023 until any medications regulations would be filed.
However, Basler informed the board that the Authority had filed a 50+ page document of safety regulations with the FTC that were still set to take effect on July 1st, 2022 and that many of these were problematic and without a scientific basis including limitations of traction devices to 2 millimeters on both front and hind shoes and a 30-day restriction on the use of shock wave machines prior to racing or working despite the analgesic effect of the machines being documented to last less than 48 hours.
New Business:
Purses and Wagering
Basler updated the board on the current status of the purse accounts at all three Ohio thoroughbred tracks which showed the purse accounts at all three tracks ahead of where they were at the same points last year. Discussion was held regarding the numbers including purse increases for the upcoming meets at both Belterra Park and Thistledown.
Basler went through handouts provided to the board showing VLT revenues for the state’s seven commercial racetracks which showed that the net win at Thistledown for December, 2021 came in at $16,654,664 up over 57% from the previous December. Mahoning Valley recorded a net win of $12,762,638 in December up over 53% from the December, 2020 net win figure at the track. The net win at Belterra Park in December, 2021 was $8,013,924 which was up over 41% from the prior year figure. It was pointed out by the executive director that the December 2020 figures at the tracks were negatively impacted by the Governor’s state wide curfew at that time.
Budget and Finance
Following discussion, the motions below were made regarding 2022 Ohio HBPA contributions from the Industry Initiative Fund.
Director Rone moved and President Poole seconded a motion that a $35,000 contribution be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the National HBPA which would cover 2022 dues, Horsemen’s Journal assessment, winter convention registration fees and winter convention sponsorship. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion that a $15,000 contribution be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center in support of the equine research of Dr. Tobin. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and Director Miller seconded a motion that a $55,000 contribution be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the Ohio HBPA Scholarship Fund to cover OHBPA sponsored scholarships on track as well as to the FFA and 4 H. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and President Poole seconded a motion that a contribution of $30,000 be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. Motion passed.
Director Schuster moved and Director Cline seconded a motion that a contribution of $75,000 be made to New Vocations in support of the retraining and rehoming of Ohio thoroughbreds. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Doering seconded a motion that a contribution of $10,000 be made to the Equine Health and Welfare Alliance, Inc in support of research on environmental contamination and threshold levels on medications. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Doering seconded a motion that a contribution of $35,000 be made to the Belterra Park Purse account from the Industry Initiative Fund to support Quarter Horse purses at the track in 2022. Motion passed with Director McCall voting no.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion that a contribution of $75,000 be made from the Industry Initiative Fund to CANTER Michigan to support the retraining and rehoming of Ohio thoroughbreds. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion that a contribution of $1,000 be made to sponsor the Regulatory Vets Conference. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion that a contribution of $48,000 be made to sponsor various programs and advertising with the Ohio Farm Bureau and Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation . Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and President Poole seconded a motion that the executive director be authorized to enter into a contract with CHRIMS for up to $18,000 annually from the Industry Initiative Fund for their services in auditing the export handle at all three Ohio thoroughbred tracks. Motion passed.
Director Doering moved and Director Miller seconded a motion to authorize the executive director to pay Mahoning Valley Field Office manager Darla Ball a $500 bonus for her help in getting members 2022 OSRC licenses at the request of the racing commission. Motion passed.
Discussion was held regarding the next meeting date for the board with the date set for Thursday, March 24th beginning at 11am. (Please note Mahoning Valley Race Course subsequently added March 24th as a make up date and the OHBPA board meeting was moved to Friday, March 25th)
Adjournment:
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to adjourn. Motion passed.