Minutes approved at the April Board of Director’s Meeting.
Potomac Valley Swimming
Board of Director’s Meeting
Lee-Graham Pool Community Center
7319 Lee Highway, Falls Church, VA 22042
March 5, 2012
· Attendance – BoD voting members: Riley Eaton, Bill Marlin, Manga Dalizu, Brian Pawlowicz, Miriam Lynch, Jim Thompson, Emily Felker, Scott Bryant, Brandon Fiala (Athlete), Nick Campbell (Athlete). Non-Voting Members: John Ertter, Tim Husson, Kurt Thiel and Jim Garner.
· Call to Order & General Comments – General Chair, Riley Eaton called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
o Riley Eaton thanked everyone who was involved in moving and restructuring of the Sunday Session of 18 & Under Championships, which was postponed due to a power outage in the facility. Everything went very well. Thanks to all the Officials, Meet Management Staff and volunteers who made the rescheduling a success.
o Terri Marlin, Tim Husson & Sumie Emory will be attending the Eastern Zone Workshop for Registration, SWIMS and OTS in Boston later in April.
o A meeting was held to discuss the Zone Team budget, Riley Eaton, John Ertter, Manga Dalizu, Bill Marlin and Zone Team Director, Dave Greene were all in attendance. They all left the meeting feeling that it was very successful and that both sides have a better understanding of what the expectations are.
o Art Davis has agreed to serve as Chair of Nominating Committee. Greg York will also serve on the Committee; they have both been asked to find one additional person to also serve on that committee with them, with the goal of having a diverse population on the committee.
· Action Items
o Discussion with Sean Link from DC – Sean Link was unable to attend this evening.
o Approval of February 6, 2012 BoD Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the Minutes from the February 6, 2012 Board of Director’s meeting, seconded and approved.
o Approval of Stipend & Expenses for Anthony Ervin appearance at PVS’s Diversity Day on April 14, 2012 - An e-vote was sent out after the February meeting (Motion to provide financial assistance for the Black Heritage meet in the sum of $3645. All invoice will be sent to the PVS Controller, who will distribute the funds as necessary; seconded) and passed. John Ertter is working with Diversity Chair, Miriam Lynch and Anthony Ervin’s agent to work on the details. Ertter is waiting on the final expenses from the agent which are estimated to be $2000 plus travel expenses; however some of these expenses will be shared with another LSC. The fees will pay for Anthony Ervin to be at the all day clinic, working with swimmers, signing autographs and participating in the camp for the day. The first 50 PVS swimmers who apply will be accepted as well as swimmers in the Learn to Swim program in DC.
§ Motion to provide the financial support to pay for Anthony Ervin to attend the Diversity cline and to give the controller a degree the leeway as to the final amount that is billed to PVS, seconded and approved.
o Approval of additional Assistant Coach for 2012 Spring Zone Team – move to later in meeting.
· Reports
o Executive Director – See report submitted
§ Top 6 LSC were highlighted in the report. In 2011 PVS is fifth and only 200 short of fourth. Our growth percentage is the largest in the country.
o Athlete Representatives – No report submitted
o Administrative – No report submitted
o Inclusion/Diversity – See report submitted
§ Recap of the Black History meet, there were 900 athletes from around the country. This is a very exciting event for these athletes who get to travel and meet many athletes from around the country. The meet was a huge success and thank you to the Officials who worked at the meet.
o Webmaster & Technical Committee – see report submitted
§ Some of the old Meet Manager Files have been taken off line and archived. They are still available by request.
§ PVS has experienced an issue with the current email lists, due to being black listed by aol. Because of this new email lists are being formed. There are some logistics that still need to be worked out, but this is probably a good thing in the long run. The new lists will be part of Google Groups and are closed and secure. All members who want to be on the list must be invited, but they can also remove themselves when they no longer want to be on the list. Tim will keep us all informed at the progress of the new email lists. Technical Committee Chair report.
o Finance/Accounting – See report submitted
§ There is only one more Board meeting before the annual HOD meeting. Over the next few weeks there are several meetings scheduled between John Ertter and Bob Vincent to go over the budget. Ertter asked the Board members if are any new programs, changes to the “your piece” of the budget to please let Ertter know as soon as possible so he can work the changes into the budget.
o Operations – Brian Pawlowicz reported that he went to the storage unit to try get caught up on the ongoing equipment issues. He has created a list of items that he will send to Ertter and will make arrangements to order and/or repair the needed equipment.
§ Jr/Sr Champs the entries are all in, all changes have been made and we are ready to go. So far the entries for Sectionals are lower than expected. The initial deadline is 10:00 pm next Monday, March 12, 2012. Will keep us posted on the status of the meet.
· What is the contingency plan if the meet is not financial viable? At this point the meet will take place regardless of size. Talks are in progress with USA Swimming regarding the finances of the meet and they are aware with the cost of many venue is making this meet more and more difficult for clubs to run, especially when the meet is long course.
§ We are in good shape for equipment for JO (pads, CTS, etc.) What about Velcro strips? We probably need a few more. Brian will make a request for additional Velcro strips to be order and John Ertter will order them.
o Senior Swimming – See report submitted
o Age Group Swimming – See report submitted
§ When the JO cuts were first published there was a question as to whether or not the meet was becoming too elitist? While for some of the events the cuts were tightened quite a bit, by final count we are only about 200 splashes less than last year.
o Coaches Representatives – Sent out email to PVS coaches in regards to Jr Coaches Representative elections being held at Jr/Sr Champs.
§ If a team feels they cannot afford to run a hospitality service, please send a message to the teams so the coaches are aware and know ahead of time.
o Officials – See report submitted
o Strategic Planning – No report submitted
o Safety Committee – USA Swimming has now created an On-line Report of Occurrence form and posted it on the PVS website. It is very simple to get to and simple to use. All information will automatically be loading into the database.
§ Third quarter safety report has been sent out from USA Swimming – the only interesting thing noted was that practice injuries are being grossly under reported.
§ The meet manager for Sectionals has been asked, if there a plan for marshaling at Sectionals? The PVS Safety Officer will be in attendance at the meet.
· Round Table Talking Points
o Another thought regarding the Email lists –Recently there have been two incidents where we have had to make last minute changes to meet scheduling (weather related issues at January Open and the power outage at 18 & U Champs). In both cases we have relied on the PVS website and Flash Mail to communicate the last minute schedule change. Given the recent incidents, do we want to have a general Blast email list that our members can subscribe to? There could be a link on the PVS website where swimmers, parent, coaches can sign up for. There would be very little maintenance and would be easy to maintain. It would be used only for the “emergency” type situations. We will need support from the coaches to send this information to their families if we choose to use start a list like this. The webmaster will continue to look into the options and report back.
· Old Business Excluding Action Items
o Black Heritage Swim Meet Support – Everything is set in regards as to the funding and to disperse the funds.
· Other New Business
o PVS meet hosting protocol – We need to make sure that as clubs take on the roll of Meet Host for PVS and there are changes to the structure of the meet due to timelines, pool shutting down, number of swimmers, etc. The meet managers must remember than they are in a sense contractors of PVS and must follow the advise/instructions given by the Age Group or Senior Chair.
o Summer JO’s – There have been questions regarding the facility for LC JO meet for summer 2012. It was Bill Marlin’s understanding and the understanding of some other coaches that the meet was to be at UMD. It was noted that at the January CCM there was a discussion about moving the meet, however the discussion was tabled in order to discuss SC 2012. Discussion will continue in May regarding the facility for LC JOs for 2013. John Ertter also reported that he has made a verbal agreement with Fairland for the 2012 LC Age Group Champs.
o 2012 Open Water Sanctioning Process –Kurt Thiel reported that the sanctioning process for Open Water events no longer has to go to one person in Colorado Springs, it now goes through two people within the Zone, who will then inform the PVS sanctioning officer. This new process should significantly simplify the sanctioning process.
Executive Session –
o Proposal to modify stipends paid to Zone Coaches – Discussion at Executive Session.
o Proposal to create & fund an Assistant Team Manager for Zone Teams – Discussion at Executive Session.
· Adjourn – Next meeting April 16, 2012