MTA committees reported during business session
Pub Date: 10/1/2008
After three days of golf, trap shooting, parties, trade shows, luncheons, more parties, candidate and regulator panels, banquets and much more, it seemed some members of the Montana Tavern Association attended the final Thursday morning business session of the 2008 convention with a measure of relief and a resolve to expedite the remaining chores.
President Dennis White gaveled the session to order at 10:30 a.m. following an ample buffet brunch that had been served up to members. He immediately called upon Mary Jane Heisler, chairman of the budget and membership committee, to give her report.
She said 306 had registered for the convention, up substantially from the year before but down marginally from two years ago. She also reported 252 had attended the banquet the previous evening.
Raffle tickets for the "Dinner/No Dinner" drawing were down disappointingly, Heisler said, from 838 last year to 680 this year. She said the Public Relations Committee is making plans to better organize the event next year with more accountability expected.
Heisler said the organization recently sustained its annual audit and was given "a clean bill of health." The MTA auditor, she said, told her he audits 58 non-profit groups and concluded MTA "is a first-class act."
Tanya Harper, chairman of the Public Relations Committee, took the podium next.
She said MTA had received a request to contribute to a film documentary being produced to boost fundraising for the Virginia City historic district that would feature a special tribute to the late Lt. Gov. Carl Ohs, who was largely responsible for saving the magnificent historic collection of buildings and artifacts from the auction block. Her committee recommended a $250 donation and the membership approved it.
Harper also reported MTA had been asked to endorse the historic "Six-Mill Levy" for higher education that has been approved by voters every 10 years since 1948. Her committee recommended endorsement and the membership did so.
With that report concluded, President White noted there was no national report or Insurance Committee report since no business on those fronts had been conducted since the last board meeting in June.
MTA Government Affairs Counsel Mark Staples was then asked to give the Legislative and Gambling Committee report.
He said the committee discussed the coalition preparing to push selective local option sales taxes. He said he would have a better sense of the issue's drift after talking to candidates and conducting political forums and would report further at the Nov. 12 board meeting.
He also said the committee has discussed the recent press brouhaha over a Department of Revenue attempt to clarify by rule what is the specific closing time for brewery sample rooms. He said "negotiated rule making" would commence to clarify the law and that MTA would provide input if necessary. He said representatives of Big Sky Brewing had spoken to the committee, too, about a couple of regulatory issues that MTA would take under advisement and consider further.
Some fine points regarding liquor license lotteries had also been covered and will be resolved internally and by working with the Department of Revenue, Staples said.
He said it was crucial local tavern associations quickly schedule with him their local candidate forums. "This is the best way to determine what candidates are thinking in terms of our issues and to get them on the record," he said.
Staples said an MTA Legislative and Gambling subcommittee created earlier this year would convene soon to determine position recommendations on issues surrounding advancing gaming machine technology, creeping machine obsolescence and increasing machine volatility. The results of those deliberations will then be relayed to a subcommittee of the Gaming Advisory Council also working along these lines.
He said a Wyoming liquor association contacted MTA to see if there was any interest in a legal military exemption for the 21 drinking age. Staples said the committee expressed no interest and such would be relayed to our neighbors to the south.
The issue of tribal identification cards was also covered by the committee, Staples said. A new state law has taken effect that requires businesses and government agencies to accept tribally issued IDs as bona fide, he said, however at least one member reported seeing a clearly faked tribal ID.
"If you have a reason to question the validity of any ID, you have a right to request a second form of ID," Staples said. He also suggested members make copies of all IDs they check since a provable presentation of a false ID is a complete liability defense.
Diana Koon was asked to give the Executive Director's report, and first thanked many of the people behind the success of the just concluding convention.
She also reported the previous evening's silent auction earned $9,800, of which half goes to MTA and half goes to the host organization of the coming convention which is Missoula in 2009. She said membership dues had been slow coming in this year and reminders were being sent.
She noted several other coming events: Butte-Silver Bow's charity dinner October 13, the next MTA board meeting Nov. 12, Missoula's dinner tentatively set for Nov. 13, Cascade's dinner Dec. 3, Gallatin's dinner Jan. 20 and the MTA Legislative Reception January 28 at Jorgenson's in Helena.
Under new business, one audience member asked Staples for an update on the Oct. 1, 2009 total smoking ban. He said so far enforcement has been reasonable and said he expects it to continue to be so.
With that, only one item remained on the MTA agenda before the convention could be brought to a close: where to conduct the 2010 event.
Jupe Compton, immediate past president and Havre licensee, said Hill County is interested and there are tentative plans to have ready by then a new facility with ample convention amenities. The group voted to conduct its convention there in 2010, provided facilities were indeed available.
White banged his gavel and brought to a conclusion the 2008 MTA convention which by acclaim had been an excellent and productive event.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, October, 2008, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.