The board held an in-person meeting at the GABF. Several proposals were voted on and several issues discussed.
- Dennis Mitchell was approved as Assistant Communication Director, 6-0.
- An exam protest fee of US$25 was approved in concept, awaiting an update on the process and how payments would be made, 5-0.
- A limit on open exams was approved in concept, allowing only one exam of each type to be open at a time for a single judge; implementation awaiting actual text of the policy, 5-0.
- A senior mead judge rank was approved in concept, requiring a tasting score of 80 and 20 experience points; a pin design and implementation plan are needed, 4-0.
- A member proposal from the NHC was discussed to allow judges who are certified under the 70/30 split but would be national under the 50/50 split to have a way to become national; the board voted 4-0 to redirect to the exam directorate with the advice that the current policy is acceptable.
- The board discussed a member proposal from the NHC to extend the written exam time beyond 90 minutes; the board voted 4-0 to redirect to the exam directorate with the advice that the current time limit is appropriate.
- The board voted 4-0 to establish an Ethics Committee to begin work in defining a judge Code of Conduct, to update the judge procedures manual, to establish a peer review committee, and to define an escalating disciplinary process; Sandy Cockerham was appointed as chair.
- A discussion was held on an exam directorate proposal to remove the requirement that feedback on the exam (and elsewhere) be required to address specific technical fixes involving recipes and processes unknown to the judge; the motion was tabled with a 3-1 vote in favor of adoption.
Meeting conducted on 26 Sep 2015