POTOMAC VALLEY SWIMMING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m. on June 20 at Whitman HS. by Thirl Crudup, General Chairman. In attendance were Mark Eldridge, John Ertter, Ward Foley, John Hirschmann, Linda Klopfenstein, Kit Mathews, Greg York, Irene Millman and Linda Edmunds. Manga Dalizu, George Massey, and Jim Garner arrived after the meeting had begun.
The General Chairman noted that as school has ended for the year the meeting would need to end on time.
Approval of the May Minutes:
The General Chairman requested approval of the May Board of Director minutes. PASSED.
Ward asked if the college athlete travel requests had been rejected. Linda K stated that this had not occurred and explained that the letter sent to the clubs who had requested travel assistance for college athletes. The letter did not state that their requests had been declined, but simply requested further information. Thirl stated that he had spoken to one club and explained this.
Thirl explained that the HOD minutes were in the editing process. He stated that they would be distributed to the Board shortly. He asked that the Board review them and provide their comments promptly in order that they could be posted to the website.
Meet Reconciliation: Ward stated that PVS had fined clubs for meet reconciliation and recommended that as some clubs had paid fines and others had not, that a decision must be made on how to proceed. He stated that the Board needed to refund fines paid or enforce unpaid fines. Thirl stated that the House of Delegates had adopted a resolution that gave the Board guidance on how it wished the Board to put into place policies and procedures. He further stated that he would like a subcommittee to form in order to bring its findings and recommendations to the Board at the July meeting. He appointed Greg York, John Ertter and Linda Edmunds to that subcommittee. Hirschmann was asked to review their proposal since he had drafted the resolution adopted by the House. There was further discussion of the clubs who had not paid fines for meet reconciliation. Thirl stated that two things must be done to deal with the matter at this time: 1. to form a committee and 2. to determine the course of action to be taken on the fines which have already been issued.
Motion to collect all unpaid fines, with the exception of those of teams who have already filed for appeal, and hold the fine payments at the PVS Administrative Office until the Board adopts a policy/procedure at the July Board meeting. Further, this motion provides that teams for whom payment is not received on or before July 5, 2000 will be barred from participation in the PVS Senior Champs meet and any other PVS events after 13 July 2000. PASSED.
Mark Eldridge asked if the teams would be removed from membership or barred from non-PVS events. Thirl responded that this would not happen.
General Chairman's Report:Thirl reported that he had attended the USA Swimming workshop for General Chairs. Thirl reported the following from this workshop:
There was discussion of the sectional meet. John E. asked if it is considered a National Championship meet. Thirl responded that from an officiating standpoint it could be if the leadership team had the necessary certifications and those names were accepted by the National Officals Chair, Pat Lunsford, However, LSCs could also use their own deck officials. Ward questioned how Potomac Valley would be handling the National level meets from a financial standpoint. He stated that PVS needs to establish how such meets will be handled financially depending on whether they were a PVS sponsored meet, or a club hosted meet New or amended P&P was probably required. Thirl stated that a committee would work on establishing/modifying P&P for the National level meets. The committee will consist of Kit, John E., Thirl and Manga. Ward stated that as one of these meets had already been hosted and several more were in the bidding process, the established starting time for the policy would be a difficult matter to deal with. Thirl stated that the committee would bring forth a recommendation to the Board on this. John H. inquired whether in the absence of amended policy, these meets shouldn't be viewed the same as Club meets on the PVS schedule if the team assumed the financial risk in running the meet.
Treasurer's Report:John Ertter reported that as of May 31, 2000, Potomac Valley Swimming had $243,650.13. He stated that there had been expenditures in the Dave Davis fund during this period. He stated his opinion that based on the current financial information available; PVS will end the year with a surplus. There was discussion of the amount of surplus a non-profit organization is able to have as a 501(c)3 organization under IRS guidelines at the end of the fiscal year. John E. stated that there is not a hard and fast guideline, but that our current levels this should not be an issue for PVS. He further stated that USA Swimming recommends having one year's operating expenses. There was discussion of various income and expense items on the budget and the accounting appropriateness of consolidating the income and expense line items for selected accounts.
Mark E. asked if Thirl had been able to ascertain the operating budgets of any LSCs of a size similar to PVS. Thirl stated that he had investigated this at the General Chair's workshop and that the answers were widely varied. Mark stated that he questioned the amount actually required for "one year's operating expenses" as many of the expense items are directly related to the income items. John E. stated that the goal would be the net operating expenses. He stated his opinion that this amount would be around $250,000. Mark E. suggested that a target be set towards which the Board and the House knew was the goal.
Athletes' Representative: No current representative was present. Ward introduced Christopher Dean who is a nominee.
Age Group Division: Ward stated that he would handle the presentation to the Board of the May 3rd meeting of Competition.
Competition presented the following:
The following three motions were carried out by the Competition Committee and Operations at the SR I meet held June 11, 2000. Approval for the record only.
It was noted that the Board at its April meeting had already authorized Competition to decide whether or not to include 50M events in forthcoming meets. Therefore, no Board action was needed.
Motion to accept item #4 as stated above: PASSED
Discussion of motions 5 & 6 followed. There was discussion on the effect of Open Water travel reimbursements on the budget and how the budget would be limited to $5000 since reimbursements occur throughout the year. Motion to revise motion 6 to read: "Reimbursement for participation in Open Water National meets will begin 9/1/2000, for meets occurring after that date, the travel assistance share per athlete will not exceed ½ of the current USA Swimming National Championship share with the total of all reimbursements not exceeding a total budget of $5000. This will be further evaluated on 9/1/2001. Motions #5 and #6 as revised PASSED.
The committee for evaluation of the Open water policy will be Ward Foley, Kerry Ellett, John Flanagan and Jim Garner
Motion to accept items #7, 8 and 9. PASSED.
"Resident - Resident records can be set by any swimmer who is both registered with Potomac Valley on the date of the swim and has represented Potomac Valley Swimming in competition within the prior 365 days. A PVS resident record may be set using any time is considered an Official Time for USA-S purposes."
"Open - Open records can be set in any Potomac Valley sanctioned meet in which all PVS clubs are eligible to participate. They may be set by any swimmer registered with USA Swimming. They may not be set at approved meets or with swims approved for observation."
"Meet Records - The Board will determine if meet records will be maintained for any PVS sponsored meets (eg PVS Senior LC Championship Meet, PVS Age Group SC Championship Meet, etc.) Clubs may determine if they wish to maintain meet records for club sponsored meets."
Motion to accept item #12. PASSED.
Motion #13. Tabled until the July Board of Director's Meeting.
In addition Greg moved that only the Head and Assistant Zone coaches be selected at the September Competition Committee meeting and the other Zone coaches be selected after the team has been selected following the PVS Age Group, Junior and Senior Championship meets. Motion PASSED.
The following motions from June 13, 2000 Competition Committee Meeting were presented:
There was discussion of motion A and its effect on the athletes and conflicts with pool availability as well as the athlete's high school competition schedule. Additionally, concern was voiced about the conflicts with other high profile sporting events on the last evening of PVS seniors and the effect on meet attendance and availability of meet officials. It was noted that athletes may be able to focus on the meet if held at this time because of fewer conflicts with timing that occur later in the year.
Motion to accept motion A. PASSED. The club which had been previously awarded this meet will still host this meet on the new dates.
Motion to accept motions B and D. FAILED. There was discussion of the inclusion of 13 and 14 year olds and the attempt to have the best competition available. Jim stated that Jr. Champs could either be 13 & Over or it could be a time based meet. Ward moved that Jr. Champs be moved to 3/1-4/01 and be held as a 13 & over meet with the upper cut being the Sectional cut time. This meet will be planned to run as 3 ½ hour sessions. The 200 events in strokes, the 400 IM and the distance events will be open age events. Motion PASSED.
Motion to accept motion C. PASSED.
Motion to hold Sr. Champs on 3/1-4/01, Jr. Champs 3/8-11/01 and Age Group Champs 3/8-11/01. FAILED.
There was then discussion of the appropriateness of the Board amending motions of the Competition Committee before approving them. It was stated that in areas involving the Committee's expertise that Board should be cautious in amending or declining their recommendations. A motion to reconsider the prior motions and adopt Competition Committee's motions A through D as submitted to the Board. FAILED.
Motion to return the motions to Competition for further review. FAILED. There was discussion of the limited the attendance at Competition Committee meeting where the decisions were made and whether it fully reflected all views. Other noted that notice of the meeting was given and other clubs chose not to participate
It was emphasized to the Board that while "fine tuning" of the meet structure for the meets that had just been approved was still possible, that the process of renting pools had to be completed. Thus, changes in dates and significant changes in the number of expected entries could no longer be made.
Administrative Division:
The attached written report was presented. Discussion followed with regard to the following specific items requiring Board action:
After discussion, the recommendation of the Administrative Division regarding sharing of meet fees at PVS sponsored meets was modified so it would apply to any potential meet fee. A motion was made to modify the Policies and Procedures manual section (Operations Section 6) on meet entry fees to reflect the following.
"The club share of entry fees for PVS meets shall be $0.75 if the meet entry fee is $2.99 or less and the $1.25 if the meet entry fee is $3.00 or greater." PASSED The current table on how fees are shared will be removed.
Motion to accept a change in Board of Director's meeting schedule for the next three meetings to July 24, September 12 and October 24. PASSED
Motion to accept change in Flash mail so that it is sent to most clubs only electronically. Clubs will still be able to receive up to two copies by mail if they are not receiving it electronically. PASSED.
Motion to accept the proposed change to abolish Family Mail Subscriptions. FAILED. There was discussion of the need to continue to provide the information to families without internet access. Motion to change the Family Mail Subscription so it is offered at a price so all PVS costs would be fully recovered. PASSED.
Strategic Planning:
Thirl stated that as Dave S is out of town, no report will be presented.
Operations Division:
Written report as attached had been submitted.
Hirschmann also noted the concern of the Officials Committee with its ability to properly staff PVS Seniors on Sunday night of its new date, whether it can properly staff both Sectionals and Mini Champs on the same weekend and the potential conflict with a large club sponsored meet on the same weekend as Eastern Zone SC Champs.
Travel Reimbursement:
Linda K. stated 6 shares had been reduced to ½ shares based upon review by the travel committee. Two of the three clubs from whom further information was requested for college athlete submissions have responded.
Motion to delay the payment to the club from whom further information was requested for the college athlete but has not been received until contact is made with the club. PASSED.
Motion to pay travel assistance for a college athlete who did not meet the requirement of having participated in PVS. Motion FAILED
Linda K. reviewed the appeals. The first appeal concerned an athlete who had scratched an event but had listed the event as part of their meet participation requirement with an explanation. The second appeal concerned an athlete who had listed a club meet as part of their PVS meet participation requirement. Two other travel assistance requests listed participation in meets which could not be verified. Further information has been requested. These requests will not be paid pending receipt of further information.
Motion to pay all travel assistance requests with the above modifications. PASSED.
Linda K. presented a request for travel assistance for participation in a Zone distance camp. PASSED.
Linda K. stated that the number of events required to receive travel assistance funding for the 2000 US Open has not yet been set. She proposed some modifications to the prior practice. Others noted that it has historically been the same as for the LC Championship meets and recommended no change in this practice, particularly given the late date at which it is being addressed. A motion was made that The Board approve that the event requirement for the 2000 US Open be set at 4. PASSED.
New Business:
There was a request to add the rental of a facility onto the PVS contract (the club will fully reimburse PVS for the rental fee). Motion to accept this proposal. PASSED.
There was a request that PVS explore the possibility of accepting Visa/Mastercard for payments from clubs. The Administrative Office said it would do so and provide a report.
Old Business:
Mark E. stated a desire to have the Board examine the possibility of including a Board of Review member among its USAS Convention attendees. He asked that this be added to the July agenda. He further queried the Board as to the availability of funds for attendance by National committee members.
Motion to adjourn at 10:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Edmunds/Irene Millman
Administrative Assistants/Registrars