Attendance - Thirl Crudup, Chair, John Ertter, Jim Garner, John Hirschmann, Bill Marlin, Bill Stephens, Jim VanErden, and Greg York. Non-voting members and guests: Ethan Bassett, Linda Klopfenstein, Donald Riedlinger, and Ron Whalen.

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm by the General Chair, Thirl Crudup. He provided the Board with an agenda. Ethan Bassett was welcomed to the board meeting as the incoming athlete representative. The other Board members present introduced themselves to him and stated their position on the Board..

Approval of Minutes - The minutes of the June 17 meeting were approved. One minor typographical error was corrected.

General Chair's Report - Thirl did not present a written report to the Board. He noted he had circulated two days prior to the meeting a proposed contract between PVS and John Ertter under which John would continue to provide the type of financial services he has done the past year - once his term of office as PVS Treasurer is over on August 31.

Several Board members commented that unfortunately this proposal had not been circulated until just prior to the Board meeting, This included those individuals who would be most directly involved with overseeing the contract. Therefore there has been no discussion with John regarding his proposal.

Accordingly, formal action on the proposal was postponed until the September Board meeting. There was a general discussion about proceeding in this manner. No Board members expressed concerns about PVS entering into this type of arrangement with John. In the interim, Jim Garner and John Hirschmann will meet with John Ertter to discuss the contract and possible modifications to the initial draft that was proposed by John E.

John E indicated he understood the situation and stated he would continue to support PVS while discussions on this matter are completed. It was also clarified that this prospective contract with John E is totally independent of a separate audit contract of PVS's 2003 financials. The later item was agreed to at the PVS House meeting. The audit contract will also still proceed.

Thirl also reported that he had received a thank you note from Naomi Lynch for the recognition that had been presented to her husband , Myron Lynch for his service to PVS.

Athlete Representatives - Neither currently serving athlete board member was present at the meeting and no written reports were received from them. Ethan Bassett as the incoming athlete rep asked several questions about what his role would be, including what role would be expected of him at convention. Various Board members responded to his inquiries and he was also given suggestions regarding where on the web he could find useful information. Board members also volunteered to speak directly with Ethan outside the meeting setting.

Treasurer's Report - John Ertter had distributed his written report and the June financial statements at the beginning of July.. The statements showed that PVS had a net operating gain for the FY thru May 31 of $135,391. Current assets on hand as of June 30 were $404,917 - including $4,446 in the Dave Davis fund. John also provided information regarding the number of entries and sanction and equipment fees collected for club-sponsored meets. For PVS sponsored meets, he provided statements showing both entry income received and expenses incurred, so that the net profit or cost to PVS of supporting these meets could be determined. The Board had no specific questions regarding these reports.

John Ertter discussed with the Board the need to establish procedures to be confident that amounts being charged on PVS accounts (such as at Kinkos) should be charged to PVS. It was suggested that John contact these firms to see what kind of control/reporting procedures they could provide to help us. John also noted that he made arrangements to get detailed information regarding the PVS meet awards that are being ordered.

There was considerable discussion regarding paying financial assistance for athlete travel to national championship meets to PVS member college clubs and how that interfaced with NCAA rules. Several facts were shared: These included that NCAA rules require that athletes on a team of a NCAA institution represent that school during the academic year and that NCAA institutions are prohibited from taking funds from others in support of these trips. Most felt that the combination of these two rules effectively precluded PVS from assisting its college member clubs when they travel to national level meet as an academic institution. This also prevents clubs with whom the athlete trains at other times during the year from requesting assistance on their behalf since the athlete cannot represent them during the academic year. This situation would not necessarily arise during the summer (when schools are not in session) if an affiliated USA Swimming club (rather than a school team) were to do such travel or the athlete were join their USA Swimming club during the summer. It was also noted that the 120 day rule does not apply when an athlete detaches from his school team to join his USA Swimming club.

It was suggested that some might wish to consult the college compliance officers. Don Riedlinger agreed to contact the NCAA to get more information.

Administrative Division - Bill Stephens did not present a written report, He did report orally that athlete registrations were at 6723 as of June 30. He also reported that PVS had 35 member clubs and that we had 528 non-athlete members (primarily coaches and officials.) A copy of this report and report on athlete membership by age and membership by club is also attached.

Bill also presented data about the meet reconciliation checking Sumie has been doing since January 1, once all athletes had to be registered for 2003. The report pertained to meets conducted thru mid June. In most cases the results of both an initial and follow-up reconciliation was shown. Most of the problems pertain to "noise" - the athlete is registered but there is discrepancy either in the athlete's name or registration number between how they are entered in the meet manager Hy-Tek file versus PVS registration system. The purpose is to make sure unregistered athletes do not compete in our meets.

Bill also reported that Sumie Emory and Lynn Hellmann had recently attended a clinic conducted by USA Swimming for registrars on how the process with work for the 2004 registration year as a result of new SWIMS integrated database. He stated that he thought given PVS was registering almost all of its athletes by electronic submission, the transition would not be a significant change for most PVS clubs. He also indicated that he felt the mandatory training that had been discussed at previous Board meetings would not be needed.

Thirl indicated that he had been having discussions with Sumie and she felt that such training would be useful and all clubs should be strongly encouraged to send people to this clinic. Registration material would not be sent out in advance, but would be provided at the meeting.

Thirl also indicated he was proposing the training be held on Saturday September 6. Hirschmann indicated that he felt that while detailed planning could still continue, it was important to get the word out ASAP so people who know what was coming and to keep the appropriate date and time free on their calendar.

Ertter asked that procedures be put into place so that he can more readily reconcile our registration records and fees collected as well as be able to verify the accuracy of the registration dues statement received from USA Swimming.

It was noted that Hy-Tek has announced that in order to be compatible with the new SWIM software, clubs must be using the newest version of Team Manager. It was also noted that a very few clubs are still using the DOS version of Meet Manager, which PVS can no longer easily handle, given almost all clubs are now using a Windows version of Meet Manager to conduct PVS sanctioned meets.. Almost all PVS clubs are now believed to be using Team Manager and all clubs sponsoring or hosting meets are Meet Manager. Accordingly the Board approved a motion to require all PVS clubs to use a version of Hy-Tek Team Manager or Meet Manager that is at least as current as the version numbers that will be posted on the PVS website. Initially, all clubs will be expected to have Version 3.0 or higher of Team Manager and a Windows version (not DOS) of Meet Manager if they conduct PVS sanctioned meets.

Bill also briefed the Board on the status of possible changes in how PVS administrative functions would be supported in the future. It was recognized that the arrangements in place for 2002-03 could not be continued. He indicated that it was intended to retain Sumie in her current role as PVS Registrar. It was recognized that some decisions in this regard were dependent on the outcome of other on-going negotiations regarding other contractual functions that could influence how many on-going functions would still remain unassigned. The Board took no action on this matter.

There was also a limited discussion of the role of PVS equipment manager and whether its purpose/scope has changed as the environment PVS operates in has changed. There was also some discussion whether PVS ought to require mandatory set-up of its equipment at a meet site by its equipment manager in order to minimize the risk or damage during set-up, break-down and/or transport.

It was acknowledged that the computers and printers recently purchased were not used at PVS Senior/Junior/Age Group LC Championships meets. The equipment manager has been asked to report on apparent incompatibility problems between the equipment.

Bill Stephens also reported that he would be establishing a new phone number for PVS's administrative functions. It would be a cell phone with a 202 area code. This would allow at least most PVS members to call it as a local call. The person in PVS who is responsible for monitoring incoming calls would normally have the cell phone and would respond to incoming calls. However, others (who would be given the access code) could easily take over for short period of times or in an emergency. Also, Sumie would make her cell phone available an incoming phone line to the PVS registrar and its welcoming message would reflect that. This cell phone also has a 202 (Washington, DC) area code.

Strategic Planning - No written report was submitted by the new chairman, Jim Van Erden. Jim reported that he had been speaking to various members of the PVS Board and coaches regarding what they felt were the most important issues facing PVS.

Issues identified include role of PVS vs. clubs in providing meets. - also the amount of support provide its most competitive swimmers versus its membership base in general.

Jim indicated he plans to come to next meeting with a general strategic outline regarding his proposed approach..

He said he hoped to emphasize discussing where we wish to go strategically as distinct from operational or tactical issues which the Board frequently focuses. He hopes that in the future the PVS will address operational issues of the context of how they fit into PVS's strategic plan. This will require PVS to first address what are PVS's long range or strategic goals. Thirl indicated he felt our strategic goals are already reflected in the preamble to PVS's by-laws.

Jim V indicated he had also done a web search to see if other LSC's etc had done strategic planning. He reported that he had not found much. Most of the hits involving strategic planning were abroad.

Operations Division - A written report was submitted by John Hirschmann. He brought to the Board's attention several items in his report.

He requested Board approval to award four meet for clubs to host PVS sponsored meets. These are:

The Board approved the awarding of these meets.

He noted that bids to host the November Open and Age Group Champs had been submitted as club priority requests and had been inadvertently overlooked when bids were considered by the Board in June. (OCCS agreed to amend their request for the Oct Open to the Nov Open since that meet had been awarded in the interim.) No other bids were received.

Hirschmann also reported that he had expected to receive two other bids to host the November Open, but they had not been submitted. The clubs were identified to the Board. The Board authorized Hirschmann to award the hosting of these meet to those two clubs if their bid(s) are received.

Hirschmann briefed the Board on the fact he had been loading all the PVS LC meet times into SWIM and how that was progressing. He emphasized that it is becoming increasingly important that we work with PVS clubs to make sure that correct and consistent registration numbers and swimmer names be used for both meet entries and the PVS/USA Swimming registration data base. A supplemental report on these items provided by Hirschmann is attached.

He also reported that as result of loading all these times into SWIM (with all times AA and better being loaded) only two swimmer names could not located in the USA Swimming data base under any likely spelling of their name. The presumption is that they have not been properly registered. The Board agreed the clubs which entered them into meet(s) should be fined.

There was also a discussion as to whether the PVS Registrar should have the authority to assess these fines . Many felt since it would be an implementation of clearly stated policy, it would be appropriate for the Registrar to do so without the need for additional review. However, if a club chose to appeal a fine, the Board would have to review that matter and if necessary, it could then be referred to the Board of Review. [Note; After the meeting, it was noted that PVS Policy and Procedures states that... "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" (See C-9. Verification of Athlete Registration)

A list of a coaches whose registrations were in proper order had recently been posted on the PVS website - These are coaches who are both registered for 2003 and none of the three required certifications had expired. In preparing the list for posting, over 35% of the coaches had to be deleted since they were either not registered for the current year or had an expired certification. The Board agreed that this matter required additional attention and that PVS needs to start enforcing the matter with greater vigor when the PVS season resumes in October.

The possibility of also posting those coaches who certifications had expired was proposed. It was suggested we should be careful in that regard unless we were highly confident that the list is accurate.

Senior Swimming - Jim Garner indicated he had nothing to report on behalf of Senior swimming.

Klopenstein indicated some questions were raised regarding previously denied travel requests. The Board indicated that since no formal request had been submitted, no Board action was needed.

Age Group Swimming - Greg York requested Board approval of PVS assistant coaches to the Eastern Zone Long Course meet in Pittsburgh. He indicated no election had been held on the deck, since there had been uncertainty whether all the coaches nominated certifications or registrations are currently in order. (David Kraft and Kevin Ahearn had previously been elected and then approved by the Board as Head Coach and Assistant Head Coach.) Greg reported that five coaches had been nominated during the prior two weeks at PVS Senior, Junior and Age Group Championships. They are Eric Adams, Chris Huott, Gabe Ibanez, Nate Meadows and James Taschek. There was some question whether all these coaches had current certifications and or registrations. The Board approved these five people to PVS Assistant Zone Coaches with the proviso that it was confirmed that their registration was in good standing through the conclusion of the meet.

He was also noted that no female coach had volunteered to be a PVS zone coach. The Board authorized Greg to add a female coach if one volunteered and their certification was in order.

Coaches Representative - Bill Marlin as the senior Coaches Representative presented a written report to the Board pertaining to the recently completed PVS LC Championship meets. He summarized by indicating the meets were generally well received.

Old Business - No old business was raised.

New Business - Ertter reminded the Board the PVS's fiscal year will end on August 31. He asked that Board members submit any expenses remaining to be reimbursed so that they could be expensed in this fiscal year. This includes expenses (e.g. travel) for convention that have already been incurred. Ertter and Klopenstein will coordinate so that any prepaid expenses are recognized when convention attendees submit their expense following convention.

Linda Klopenstein reviewed other convention arrangements with the Board, including the need for convention attendees to retain receipts to submit with their post convention claim for reimbursement. Garner indicated that he plans to hold evening meetings with the PVS attendees to review/share what has been happening and discuss how PVS should respond to various convention developments. .

Klopenstein indicated a clarification on PVS policy on convention reimbursement is needed. It arises in a situation where a delegate attends for a short period of time, and given their airfare and hotel costs, they still could theoretically claim a very large reimbursement for meals and incidentals. The Board agreed they did not intend that outcome. Klopenstein was asked to recommend a reasonable per day maximum reimbursement for meals and incidentals.

Klopenstein also indicated that some convention attendees were using frequent flyer miles to attend convention. It was agreed that such individuals could be credited for this based on the lowest airfare paid by an attendee paying their own fare.

The Board discussed whether since PVS no longer has a paid administrative staff (as it did in 2001 and prior) if Sumie Emory (who is now PVS Registrar) and John Ertter (who it is anticipated to remain responsible for at least all PVS financial records should attend.) It was agreed that PVS would reimburse Emory and Ertter at the rate of 3 shares -- provided they remain at least three nights and participate in PVS activities while at convention.

The Board was asked whether a Coaches Continuing Education Grant could be granted for attendance at the USAS convention. The Board felt this was not an intended purpose of the Continuing Education Grant program. Others indicated they did not think it had been used for this purpose in the past.

Ertter proposed an increase in hospitality allowance of up to $125 per session for PVS sponsored meets. He indicated he felt that $75 was no longer adequate to provide sufficient or appropriate hospitality for the coaches, officials and timers that participate in a session. The Board agreed to make this change effective September 1, 2003. Reimbursement would still be limited to actually expenses supported by receipts.

There was also discussion whether the reimbursement rate should be higher for championship meets. It was agreed that sine these meets do not occur again until March 2004, the Board would have additional time to consider such a change.

Bill Marlin presented a coaches continuing education request. Thirl indicated he had received the application form, but did not have it available at the meeting for others to review.. The Board approved the request. Thirl was requested to provide John Ertter with the application that had been submitted so PVS would have the documentation necessary to support the disbursement of funds.

Bill Stephens indicated he thought PVS should get more involved with Information Technology.

There was a discussion of the dates of future Board meetings. It was agreed the date of the next Board meeting should be after the next Competition Committee meeting on September 21. Greg indicated River Falls could be used for that meeting. The Board agreed to meet Wednesday September 24 at 7PM.

Jim G said he would set the dates of future Board meetings at the September Board. He also indicated he would be glad to shift meetings between the VA and MD sides of the Potomac River so the same people would not have cross it all the time. Others commented that River Falls is a good central place to meet and suggested we continue to have all meetings there.

Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 10:06pm.