The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. on July 24 at River Falls by Thirl Crudup, General Chairman. In attendance were Manga Dalizu, Mark Eldridge, Ward Foley, Jim Garner, John Hirschmann, Linda Klopfenstein, Greg York, Irene Millman and Linda Edmunds. Coco Buck arrived after the meeting had begun.

Approval of the June Minutes:

The General Chairman requested approval of the June Board of Director minutes as presented. PASSED

There was discussion of whether the participation of 13-14 year olds at the Age Group SC Championship meet had been approved. After review, it was confirmed that the minutes accurately reflected the decisions made at the June Board of Director's meeting.

Election Results:

Irene reported that the elections (based on the previously announced schedule) were held at the PVS LC Age Group Championship, the PVS LC Junior Championship and the PVS LC Senior Champs meets. She further reported that John Blaschke had been elected to the open position of Coaches' Representative and that Coco Buck had been elected to fill the open position of Athletes' Representative.

Greg York noted that the percentage of the total eligible body voting remained low and suggested that the voting process should be examined to determine if a election process that achieved greater participation could be implemented.

Meet Reconciliation: Greg York reported on behalf of the Meet reconciliation committee of himself, John Ertter and Linda Edmunds that had been assigned by the General Chairman at the June Board of Directors' Meeting. This committee had been tasked to bring its findings and recommendations to the July Board of Directors' Meeting. Greg presented the following motion, which had been distributed to the Board in advance of this meeting:

"The following are the recommendations of the Meet Recon committee as assigned by the Board of Director's at its meeting 24 June 2000.

1. That any fines which have been levied against teams between January 1, 2000 and August 1, 2000 within our association for meet entries as a result of Meet Reconciliation be waived. The committee is recommending this action due to the confusion that has existed with the administration of the current policy.
2. That effective August 1, 2000 the following procedure for the implementation of Meet Reconciliation shall be followed for any PVS sanctioned meet:
1. Meet Directors will submit to the PVS Administrative Office a meet entry file (a Meet Manager DOS version file or a commlink file of entries) at or before 9am on the fifth day following the meet entry deadline. In the case of non-PVS sponsored meets, this file shall be provided by 9am on the 6th day before the meet.
2. The PVS Administrative Office will run Meet Reconciliation on the above submitted file and contact all clubs via email and provide to each club the names of all athletes entered in the meet by their team who are not registered PVS athletes. These emails shall be sent at or before noon on the third day after receiving the file.
3. The team shall then register all athletes described above on or before 9am on the second day following the email notification.
4. The PVS Administrative Office will notify the Meet Director between 9am and noon of the second day after sending the email notification(s) of any athlete(s) who remain unregistered.
5. The Meet Director shall then remove the athlete(s) from the meet. The athlete(s) will be ineligible to participate in said meet and will remain ineligible for participation in PVS sanctioned meets until they are registered.
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6. The PVS Administrative Office will run Meet Reconciliation after the meet has occurred and notify any club who swam an unregistered athlete. The club will then have 14 days to register the athlete.
7. Instances of failure to register an athlete within the above timeframe will be reported to the Board of Directors for their action. At the sole discretion of the Board, a club failing to register an athlete as described herein may be subject to a $100 per athlete fine.
3. Further as a result of this investigation, this committee recommends that all clubs upon registering as a USA Club through PVS sign a statement agreeing to abide by the Policies and Procedures of the association."

Discussion of the committee's recommendations followed. John Hirschmann stated he was comfortable with recommendation #1; but he had great concerns about recommendation #2. His concerns pertained to primarily to the specific schedule in the proposal which did not allow for reconciliation to be completed until Friday morning, when PVS has meets that start before (or at) that time. He also noted there are situations when entries are not due on a Tuesday. He also stated concern whether all clubs would cooperate with the process and would attempt to register all their athletes prior to the time reconciliation process began. If they did not, the proposed process would likely become unworkable.

Jim Garner felt the PVS Administrative Office should handle timeline issues. Greg York asked that the Board consider the concept presented. Manga questioned whether an athlete found to be unregistered in the Post-meet Meet Reconciliation run could be entered and subsequently participate in a meet before the expiration of the 14-day window. Mark E. pointed out that the Pre-meet Meet Reconciliation of the subsequent meet would show this athlete remained unregistered.

Motion to accept the concept presented in recommendation #2 after agreeing that the Administrative Division may adjust the timeline contained in the motion and provide specifications with regard to the file type required. PASSED.

Motion to accept recommendation #1. PASSED.

Recommendation #3 was withdrawn following discussion that noted there already was a provision in PVS By-Laws (Sections 2.2.1and 2.2.2) stating that members must follow the Policies and Procedures of their LSC in order to remain members in good standing. Linda K. inquired as to whether there was a statement issued to clubs requiring that they register all their athletes. Ward stated that there were different insurance options available for the Learn-to-Swim Programs. Manga discussed the use of lanes exclusively by USA Swimming member stating that non-USA Swimming members could not be in a lane with USA Swimming members. Irene stated that USA Swimming had confirmed Manga's statement.

Thirl reported that based on a survey from the USA Swimming workshop for General Chairs LSCs within USA Swimming are charging the following: athlete registration fee range from $40 and sever LSC's were are $45 just as PVS is ( based on 39 of 59 LSC's present at the GC workshop.), and that the club fee ranged between $100-$200. Thus, PVS was at the high end of the athlete registration amount, but at the low end of the club registration amount.

Discussion of the need for the increase in registration fees for athlete members of USA Swimming through PVS as passed by the House of Delegates in May 2000 followed. It was noted that there are clubs and member athletes who do not participate in Competition, but who register as clubs or as athletes primarily to obtain insurance coverage.

Ward inquired as to the status of the report from the committee assigned by the General Chair at the June Board of Directors' Meeting to establish/modify P&P for financial arrangements in connection with National, Zone and Sectional level meets held within PVS boundaries. Thirl stated that the committee of Kit, John E., Thirl and Manga had been unable to meet due to his travel schedule. He further stated that this committed would be meeting and would bring their recommendations to the September Board of Directors' Meeting.

Treasurer's Report:

Linda E. reported on behalf of John Ertter (who was unavoidably absent) that as of June 30, 2000, Potomac Valley Swimming had $217,707.31. Linda E. stated that John E. would be making a full presentation at the September Meeting.

Athletes' Representative:

No current representative was present. Greg York introduced Coco Buck to the Board as the incoming Athlete Rep and each member present introduced themselves.

Competition:

Jim Garner stated that he had sent information with regard to Region 2 Short Course Sectionals to Dave Carson but did not yet have a response. He also stated he had only been able to obtain supporting detail regarding times at key meets from some LSC's within the section. This information was desired in order to have the time standards established produce the desired size meet. Thirl stated that he would contact Dave Carson and make him aware of the pressing need for the time standards for the Sectional meet. Mark E. noted that he needed to review these standards during the current week, given that many would be traveling to Juniors and Olympic Trials between July 31 and August 17 and thus would be unavailable to review any proposal.

Ward presented to the Board a concern with regard to an ad for refreshments in a program for a recently held PVS sponsored meet. He stated that he felt the picture in the ad was inappropriate for youth athletes. It was stated that there were other ads in the program. It was agreed there was a need to better publicize to member clubs changes made to the PVS Policies and Procedures as well as the inappropriateness of this particular picture. It was suggested that Thirl contact the involved club Thirl stated that he would contact the club.

Administrative Division:

The attached written report as well as a supplemental written report was presented.

Ward inquired what the surcharge for the use of Visa would be. Irene responded that it would range between 3 and 5 percent and that in addition it was felt the administration of credit card acceptance by the LSC would be difficult to handle at this time. The matter could be reassessed at a later date.

Ward asked how long the technical difficulties impacting the ability to leave voice mail on the registration phone line had existed. Irene responded that while it had been quite a while, but there has been no problem with the PVS Administrative Office number (301) 840-5955. This is only "publicized PVS phone number." It was stated all calls received at this number receive prompt attention. The registration line is only intended to be used for direct communication with Linda E. Irene further stated that all members must remember to leave both name and phone number when leaving messages in order for the Office to be able to respond to them.

There was discussion of the requirement for Meet Manager's to participate in a clinic. Mark E. asked if a list of those Meet Managers who would be "grandfathered" in had been created. Irene stated that there was nothing currently on paper but that there had been discussions. John H. stated that he and Irene would be considering which Managers would be "grandfathered" in. Mark E. asked that there be more than one Meet Manager's clinic held.

Thirl stated that as Dave S is out of town, no report would be presented.

Operations Division:

Written report as attached had been submitted.

Manga asked about holding a Stroke and Turn clinic for his team. John H. recommended that he contact Tyanna Ertter and stated that Official's Committee was making a new effort to attempt to hold such clinics for teams who request them.

Mark E. stated that a club had contacted him asking to use the RMSC equipment due to a lack of PVS equipment to run a meet. John H. responded that he had been assured that lack of equipment was not an issue. He further stated that PVS currently has 24 working pads. Mark E. asked if PVS would have adequate equipment to run this particular meet next year. John H. stated that this should not be of concern if all equipment being ordered remained in good repair.

Ward stated that there had been confusion as to the warm-up procedures at a recent PVS meet. There was discussion of PVS warm-up procedures. John H. will try to clarify the proper procedures to follow to the appropriate parties.

Age Group Division:

Ward stated that he would urge the incoming Age Group Chair to look closely at the session lengths (for Age Group SC and LC Champs in particular) and the later start-time for this year's LC Age Group champs. He also made a request to not use Oakmarr during the summer due to heat and airflow concerns. He further stated that the PVS Junior Championship meet had worked well at Wakefield Park in the past. John H. noted that PVS has shorter time-lines for individual sessions (incld prelims at championship meets) than many other LSC's, which tends to make our pool rental cost/splash high. Ward stated that that this was desirable and we should not move toward the practice of having longer sessions as done by many other LSC's. John H. stated that the time standards might have to be adjusted in order to come into line with the desired session lengths. Irene stated that she had heard concerns from both coaches and parents about the PVS Junior Championship meet and the PVS Age Group Championship meet being held on the same weekend.

Irene reported that requests to move the dates for the following club meets previously approved by the Board had been received. February Challenge from 2/2-4 to 2/9-11 and March Madness to 3/23-25 due to conflicts with the Region II Sectionals, High School schedules. and the availability of pools.

Motion to accept the date changes. It was noted that March Madness meet was now on the same weekend as Spring Championships. In response it was stated that the clubs competing in March Madness have in the recent past not participated in the Spring Championship Meet. PASSED.

Operations noted that three courses were now potentially in use that weekend and that first preference would be given to given to providing automatic timing equipment to meets open to all PVS athletes. Ward stated the March Madness meet could be timed with watches if need be.

Travel Reimbursement:

Linda K. stated that complete information was received on the college athlete for whom we had requested more information. Reimbursement to this athlete's club will now be made.

She further stated that all but two of the athletes who were asked to furnish further proof of eligibility with regard to the meet participation requirement did so. Therefore, only 2 athletes had been submitted as "qualified" but were found to be "unqualified".

Linda K. stated that a club who had been denied payment for a college athlete who had not met the rule regarding membership in PVS for 2 years prior to entering college had indicated an intent to "appeal". There was discussion of the college and appeal submissions. Mark E. stated that as per PVS Policies and Procedures "college submissions denied will not be further entertained." John H. stated that it was his impression PVS Policies and Procedures were intended to have a club make its best case in one submission, so that those reviewing the matter and the Board would not have to deal with a series of resubmissions of requests on a different basis. A consensus was reached that the club could file an appeal of the PVS Board of Director's decision to deny payment to the club for this athlete, but that a travel appeal could not be filed.

There was discussion of the athletes submitted as "qualified" who were found to be "unqualified" whose clubs had been unable to establish that the athlete "qualified" in a supplemental filing. Further discussion of the Board's need to follow the established policies as set forth in the PVS Policies and Procedures manual followed.

Motion to both fine and not pay travel assistance to the clubs that had failed to provide the necessary proof after being given the opportunity to provide additional information in order to prove their athletes "qualified" when the travel committee had found them to be "unqualified". PASSED.

Linda K. presented a request for reimbursement of actual expenses for travel to a National Open Water championship meet. She stated that it was her recommendation that the team be reimbursed. Thirl stated that his recommendation was for payment as well. John H. asked if this would set precedence for athletes participating in the USA Swimming National Championship Open Water 5K in Indianapolis during August. It was stated that since it was a special request, it would not.

The requested reimbursement was limited to actual expenses which were less than 50% of the current travel assistance provided for other National Championship meets.

Motion to reimburse the club for actual expenses for participation of an athlete in a National Open championship water meet. PASSED.

In anticipation of receiving reimbursement requests from Disability Championship participants, there was discussion of said reimbursement.. Ward noted that the reimbursement guidance in PVS Policies and Procedures does not address this. There was discussion of the historical handling of this issue and the fact PVS had done so for the previous two USA Swimming National Disability Championships. Mark E. suggested that as this is not addressed within PVS Policies and Procedures, the Board should handle this at a different time.

Motion to table the issue of reimbursement requests for Disability Championship participants. PASSED.

Coaches' Representative:

Mark E. asked if there had been comments on the 2000/2001 Short Course schedule. No one indicated that comments had been heard. John H. stated that particular webpage with this schedule had gotten quite a bit of traffic, so the Board could presume many people are aware of the changes.

Manga reported that there had been positive feedback this year on the availability of warm-up/warm-down lanes at the Junior LC Championship Meet, and urged it be continued. He also noted that several events at the meet had a very large number of entries and that setting a NST QT's for this meet might now be appropriate.

Manga reported that he had received inquiries regarding a potential issue between two clubs. One club was purchased by another. He was advised that a coach from the club that was purchased had emailed athletes to tell them where he/she would be coaching. After discussion of this issue, it was the consensus of the Board that the club could bring this issue to the PVS Board of Review if they wished to pursue the matter and felt there is evidence of recruiting violations under Section 304 of the USA Swimming Rules and Regulations.

New Business:

Ward stated that he had received information from four swim shops that were interested in bidding on providing the Zone Team outfits. Thirl asked that Ward coordinate with the incoming Age Group Chair to examine this issue.

Ward stated that PVS teams should follow Policies and Procedures when bidding Sectional or National level meets and that at the very least, these teams should present their intent to submit such bids to the Competition Committee. Mark E. stated that the Board would have to rewrite the policy if it chose to apply this to Sectional or National level meets.

A motion was made to apply the financial arrangements for either a club meet or a PVS sponsored meet to the Zone meet hosted within our association this year or reimburse the splash fees which have been remitted to PVS this year for club sponsored meets back to the club sponsors.

It was explained that PVS Policies and Procedures currently only allow for PVS sponsored meets and Club meets, therefore the financial arrangements for one of the two of these type meets should apply to Zone and similar meets not previously held within PVS. Thirl stated that the committee which had been formed would be addressing this issue and that any decision at this time would be premature without the committee's recommendations. Ward stated that until the issue of past meets had been resolved, the discussion of future meets could not occur. John H. stated that he shared the same concerns as Ward, but would not have made this motion. He further stated that the arrangements were made for the earliest of these meets under the previous General Chairman He indicated that apparently financial arrangements had not been discussed with and/or approved by the Board at the time the bid to have that meet was submitted.

Motion to table the motion to apply the financial arrangements for either a club meet or a PVS meet to the Zone meet hosted within our association this year or reimburse the splash fees which have been remitted to PVS this year to the clubs. PASSED.

Linda K informed the Committee that PVS had approved for observation the National Y LC Championship meet to be held at UMD College Park on August 1-4. The PVS Admin Office advised that a sanction fee was being assessed based on past practice.

Motion to adjourn at 10:01 pm.

Respectfully submitted,


Linda Edmunds/Irene Millman
Administrative Assistants/Registrars