The following were in attendance at this meeting based on the registration roll from the meeting: Chair Thirl Crudup, PVS Board Members: Todd Benedick, John Ertter, Jim Garner, John Hirschmann, Bill Marlin, Bill Stephens, Greg York. Club Representatives: Ward Foley, AAC; Rick Curl, CUBU; Roger McCoy, DCPR; Manga Dalizu, FAST; Joe Flaherty, JFD; Mark Eldridge, RMSC; Bob Walker, TCSD, Victor Abrahamian, VSC. Associate Members, Arvydas Barzdukas, NVSL; Mike Bowman, PMSL. At Large: Linda Crudup, Kerry Ellett, Boots Hall, Linda Klopfenstein, David Mengering, Don Riedlinger, Donald Smith.

The meeting was called to order by the PVS General Chairman, Thirl Crudup at 7:06 pm. Thirl opened the meeting and welcomed the delegates and guests. He asked that we "stick to the agenda." He reminded the delegates that the House has no quorum requirement.

A motion was made to approve the minutes as they were circulated prior to the meeting. Some questions were raised pertaining to items in the minutes. The House was reminded that unless the question pertained to the accuracy of the minutes, it was more appropriate to raise those matters at the appropriate point in the agenda.

Motion to approve the minutes as submitted PASSED

A proposed agenda had been provided in advance of the meeting.. The agenda was approved as presented.

Thirl made a presentation of this special ward to Naomi Lynch for the many years of service that her husband Myron Lynch provided to PVS. He noted that the PVS Board has discussed making this award at its April meeting and heartily supported giving this award in Myron's memory. Thirl made remarks regarding how PVS remembers Myron and highlighted his dedicated service to PVS.

Naomi thanked the association for the award and for the recognition being given Myron. She spoke of how much satisfaction Myron had received from officiating at PVS meets.

Jim Garner highlighted for those present the criteria for receiving the Conoco Phillips Outstanding Service Award. Greg York then presented the award to Linda Crudup for her many years of service to PVS. He highlighted all her support for the PVS Eastern Zone team and how she "always gave herself for the kids" and always helped with a smile.

Linda was very thankful and appreciative of receiving the award and expressed her gratitude to the Association.

Bill Stephens provided the House with updated information (relative to the April 30 data that had been mailed out prior to the meeting) pertaining to PVS's registration activity. He reported that PVS now had 6605 registered swimmers, 522 non-athletes and 35 registered clubs.

He indicated that he was confident that in contrast to last year, everybody who tried to register with PVS this year had been successful in doing so this year. Material improvements in the registration process had occurred following the transition to the new PVS Registrar last September.

In response to a question, the House was advised that the increase in number of registered PVS athletes was not sufficient to give PVS an automatic additional vote at convention. The additional vote goes the 5 largest LSC's in the country and PVS remains the 6th largest.

Thirl Crudup made the attached presentation to the House.

He highlighted that registration procedures for 2004 would be significantly different and that each club would be required to attend a registration clinic in September. This is because USA Swimming will bringing on line a new integrated data processing system (SWIMS) that will result in major changes in how LSC's and clubs interface with national In contrast to prior years, registration material would not be sent out ahead of time, but would be provided at the clinic.

Related to this, Sumie Emory will be attending training on the new SWIMS software pertaining to registration and Linda Klopfenstein and Tyanna Ertter will be receiving training on the Top16/NTV abilities of SWIMS.

Linda Klopfenstein reported to the House on behalf of the Nominating Committee. The Committee consisted of herself, John Ertter and Thirl Crudup. The nominations of the Committee had been circulated to the House prior to the meeting. It was pointed out that the current incumbents as Age Group Chairman and Strategic Planning Chairman were appointed as a result of vacancies occurring during the prior year, therefore the persons elected to those positions will have their terms commence immediately. Their terms will end on August 31, 2004. The remaining people to be elected to serve full two-year terms from September 1, 2003 to August 31, 2005.

Nominations from the floor for any of the positions being elected were sought. No additional nominations were made. The nominations were then declared closed, The nominees for the positions that were uncontested were elected by acclimation.

The House voted for three representatives to the Board of Review by paper ballot of the four nominated. The House was advised later in the meeting that Kerry Ellett, Ward Foley and Bill Stephens had been elected. A motion to destroy the ballots was made and passed.

Bill Stephens had provided the House with the attached report in advance of the meeting.

He noted that a year ago Tatoodles was still responsible for the day to day administration of PVS's program. The Board had voted to terminate their services in July. He noted that as result PVS had made greater use of volunteers over the past year - he in particular highlighted the efforts of Thirl Crudup, John Ertter and John Hirschmann. He also reported that Sumie Emory had become the new PVS Registrar on October 1 and was doing an excellent job.

He advised the House that the Board is giving serious consideration to hiring somebody to serve in a paid capacity as Controller for the coming year. The Board was also addressing whether to also resume having a paid administrator.

He reported that the need for a permanent physical office was also being reviewed. The ability to use the internet and e-mail has made the needs to have all of PVS's records in one physical location very different than even a few years ago. He also indicated the Board would be making some final decisions in this regard within 60 days, so any feedback from the House should be provided in that timeframe.

Bill also discussed various marketing efforts that could be undertaken. This includes arranging for publicity for our swimmers who do well. He indicated he recognized that clubs like to recruit for their swimmers and that it was important that efforts PVS undertake have the support of the PVS member clubs. He noted USA Swimming Nationals would be at UMD in August and this would be an excellent opportunity to attract more publicity.

Comments were made that they supported increased funding for marketing, but they also noted that most view marketing as primarily the role of the clubs. Mention was made that the USA Swimming Splash Tour would be in the Washington area on July 5-6 and suggestions were invited regarding where they should appear. The fact it would coincide with the Folklife Festival on the Mall was mentioned. It was recommended that Sue Anderson be contacted to make this suggestion.

The need to do things that do not cost a lot of money was raised as well as the importance of marketing the sport, not specific clubs. It was mentioned we should have publicized better the televising of the Duel in the Pool better and the difficulty of finding out on what channel and when Splash (produced by USA Swimming) is being televised.

It was reported PVS had placed ads in the summer league handbooks for the coming season.

John Hirschmann submitted the attached report in his capacity of PVS Webmaster.

The timeliness with which material was posted to the website was noted. Hirschmann noted we may move to (or also go to) another web hosting service due to inability to get additional storage space on the current site at a reasonable price.

Difficulty locating items on the USA Swimming website was mentioned, but it was noted this is something not within PVS's control.

In response to a question it was indicated, PVS had adopted a policy of not wanting to accept ads on its website when the page was first initiated. It was indicated might reconsider its position in that regard. It was also acknowledged the due to time constraints some pages have not been reviewed as often as desirable to remove obsolete material.

Klopfenstein reported that a DSL quality line would be needed for uploading times into SWIMS and doing other related tasks. She also reported that the NTV data base is currently frozen in anticipation of the transition to SWIMS. It was noted that this was a significant change as the use of paper to input/request information was being substantially eliminated. It was observed that PVS was farther along in this regard than most LSC's.

Greg did not submit a written report.

Greg York mentioned potential significant changes in format of the Eastern Zone meet that were discussed at the recent Eastern Zone meeting. He noted at least one LSC indicated it would not be participating in the Spring 2004 Zone meet. There was also discussion whether in the future to change this to a 14/U (or even possibly 12/U) meet. It is currently an age group with the oldest age group being 15-18.

He also mentioned that there was discussion within PVS whether to go the EZ long course meet as at team (as is already done for short course) rather than have athletes travel, arrange lodging and meals with their family as they PVS does now.

He clarified that while any recommended change would presumably originate in the Competition Committee, no change could occur without the approval of the Board.

Comments were also made about the appropriate role ot the Competition Committee and the Board, the desirability of making QT's more challenging for our major meets rather than be as inclusive as possible, and extending the Long Course season,

Jim did not submit a written report. He gave a brief report on the Short Course and Long Course Senior Championship meets and the Speedo Championship Series meets. He indicated no major changes are anticipated.

It was also acknowledged that that status of PVS sponsored versus club sponsored meets needs to be addressed and that Strategic Planning will be asked to do so.

John Hirschmann submitted the attached report pertaining to activities of the Operations Division for the past year. There was no discussion on the sections of the report pertaining to meet management.

Boots Hall was in attendance and had submitted the attached written report pertaining to activities of the Officials Committee in advance of the meeting. Boots noted the committee was working with the club officials chairman to provide them with greater support. Also, PVS officials are receiving opportunities to obtain national certifications at various meets being conducted within the LSC.

Don Smith was in attendance and had submitted the attached written report pertaining to meet and computer equipment in advance of the meeting. Questions were raised regarding PVS's ability to support adaptive swimming - in particular starts for hearing impaired swimmers. The need for strobes and remote strobes that can be located behind the starting blocks for backstroke swimmers was highlighted.

Questions were also raised about whether PVS had a need for 3 full sets of timing equipment and how frequently it needed to use 3 full sets concurrently - given that several pools rented by PVS now have their own timing equipment. In response, it was noted that rental circumstances do still arise where there is a need for 3 full sets of timing equipment.

A question was also raised about whether PVS charged for use of its equipment when PVS was not the sponsor of the meet. PVS stated that this was the case. The Board was urged to review the fee schedule and determine that an appropriate portion of the costs will be recovered by the rental schedule.

John McDonald submitted the attached written report pertaining to safety in advance of the meeting.

Thirl noted the position had been vacant for some time as Frank Persico had been unable to assume the duties of this position after being selected by the Board in November following the resignation of Greg York when he became Age Group Chairman.

He noted Jim VanErden will have many agenda items to take on in this postion.

Bill Marlin has submitted a written report to the House in advance of the meeting.

Bill noted that PVS would be holding its first 14/U Long Course Championship meet this summer. It would be in a prelims/finals format for the first time. He reviewed meet dates for the long course season.

He said he has been asked to get the sense of the PVS House whether PVS should begin to provide financial assistance to the clubs of athletes attending the NCSA National Junior Championship meets (SC and LC). Others noted that there are many other high caliber meets that occur that PVS does not provide financial assistance to the clubs of athletes attending many other meets. They indicated they did not know why this meet warranted particular attention when travel assistance is not provided for other USA Swimming supported meets such as the Grand Prix meets. Others suggested that the general issue of appropriate PVS assistance on behalf of PVS athletes attending major meets is something Strategic Planning should address.

Others noted that USA Swimming was bringing back a USA Swimming Junior Championships starting in the summer of 2005. The House by a vote of 7-4 indicated it felt PVS should budget to provide funding for participants in this meet - starting with the 2005 budget.

Neither Athlete Representative was present to give a report nor did they submit one in advance of the meeting.

In Frank's absence, it was reported that no petitions were submitted to the Board of Review during the past year.

John Ertter made an through report on the financial condition of PVS. He began by noting that he had modified the reporting of PVS's financial condition to a modified accrual basis-in particular he was now capitalizing PVS's equipment and reporting depreciation on it on an assumed 3 year useful life. This is based on IRS guidelines for computer equipment. This change was first effected for FY 2003.

John reviewed the status of PVS's financial activity for 2002. This had been impacted by the action of the Board in terminating Tatoodles contract in July, 2002. As a result there was the need to review activity occurring prior to July and then process financial activity (both receipts and disbursements) that should have occurred earlier. This necessitated keeping the 2002 financial records open longer than would normally be the case. John however stressed that while some financial activity had not been reported on a timely basis, a careful review was undertaken. He and the Board is satisfied that PVS overall financial condition was not adversely impacted by these circumstances. PVS reported a $78,000 surplus for FY 2002. Cash on hand at the end of the fiscal year was $293,000; including $4700 in the Dave Davis fund. He also noted even though the books were for FY 02 were closed later than normal, some activity that should have been reported in FY 02 was carried over to FY 03.

As a result of this, the financial condition of PVS at the end of FY 2002 was much better than was anticipated when last year's HofD meeting was held. PVS athlete registrations and meet revenue turned out to be much higher and consistent with prior year experience.

These circumstances made it impractical to attempt an audit for FY 2002. However, John stated the PVS accounting records are now in good shape and an audit for FY 2003 will be feasible.

John also reported that several changes had been made in the chart of accounts for FY 2003 in order to order to better reflect the nature of PVS's operations and improve the ability of the Board and House to understand them.

John also described improved procedures to verify PVS's receipts against independent sources, and document of the basis for PVS's expenses. There has closer coordination with PVS clubs and meet directors to assure PVS financial activities are being properly monitored and controlled. PVS clubs and meet directors were complimented for their cooperation in this regard. Also, an inventory of PVS equipment has been undertaken and that was used as the basis for recommending future equipment purchases. He also advised that the Board has approved spending up to $25,000 in FY03 for new equipment -- primarily timing related. An additional $5,000 was added to the officials program.

John reported that because of improved procedures and having better information regarding PVS actual activity than was available when the FY 2003 budget was presented to the House in May, 2002, he now expects PVS will end FY 2003 with a $73,000 surplus for the year. $59,000 is due to increased revenue and $14,000 due to reduced expenses. As a result, he expects PVS will have $359,000 in cash on hand as of August 31, 2003; including the Dave Davis fund.

John Ertter was thanked for all he had done to get PVS financial records into good shape. The House was also advised that the Board had started to discuss having an audit done of PVS financial statements once the current fiscal year is over.

John Ertter then presented the proposed budget for FY 2004. A copy of the proposed budget and the significant changes being proposed had been sent to the House prior to the meeting. He noted that while the budget being submitted calls for a modest deficit of less than $4000, the cash assets on hand at the end of the fiscal year will equal PVS's operating budget, providing for an appropriate reserve for PVS.

He highlighted the significant changes in the budget from the prior year. Amongst the most significant are the impact of the $15.00 per member dues increase approved by USA Swimming effective with the 2004 registration year. Since PVS will not retain any of this money, this will cause an equal increase in both PVS income and expense for 2004. Another significant change is increases in both meet entry fees and the club share of those fees for hosting PVS sponsored meets In some cases, the entire increase will go to the host club. Also, it is proposed that the sanction fee for club sponsored meets would be reduced from $.65 to $.55 per splash.

There was some discussion whether these were the appropriate fees, whether the increase in PVS Open entry fees should be less, the impact of entry fees and sanction fees on the desire of PVS clubs to sponsor and/or attend club versus PVS sponsored meet, the fact PVS does not make money on its championship meets in order to use the better competition facilities available.

Several spoke in support of continuing to support the pvswim.org website.

It was also pointed out that PVS financial assistance for its Spring SC and Summer LC Eastern Zone teams had been budgeted in equal amounts in order to give the LSC the flexibility to support both teams on an equal basis if that is its desire. This represents a $5000 increase in budgeted support for the LC team. Travel assistance budgeted for FY04 includes $18,000 for the Olympic Trials that will be held July 7-14, 2004 in Long Beach.

In discussing travel assistance provided on behalf of athletes traveling to national meets, it was acknowledged that the following motion passed at the 2002 House of Delegates meeting had not been implemented due to delays in finalizing those minutes following the transition that occurred in the Administrative Office in the summer of 2002.

It was agreed that this was an expressed desire of the House and that the PVS Board would take steps to assure it was implemented as soon as practical. It was also agreed that the amount of financial assistance to be paid in FY04 would not exceed the currently budgeted amount of $40,100. The Board was asked to work out the mechanics to assure this would happen. Some indicated they would be OK with the amount exceeding $40,100 if it were agreed to prior to the season.

The amount budgeted for Equipment Repair parts ($2000) in line 7300 was removed since these funds were budgeted elsewhere

There was discussion of PVS's plans to conduct an audit following the end of the FY03 on August 31. The budget as submitted provided for $2000, which would allow for expenses of a PVS audit committee, but would not allow for a more formal audit by CPA firm. After additional discussion, it was agreed that it would preferable to have PVS books audited by a professional accounting firm. An amendment to increase the line item for this purpose (line 5830-Professional Services) by $6000 was APPROVED

It was noted funds were included within Strategic Planning for a marketing initiative, if one were desired.

It was noted the provision for Contingencies had been reduced from $10,000 to $5,000 - in part due to recognizing the improved funding for equipment purchases.

An issue was raised whether PVS should be buying enough timing equipment to support 2 or 3 venues simultaneously. A motion was then made to change PVS goal to have enough timing equipment to support 2 (rather than 3) venues. It was noted the House at its 2002 meeting had affirmed a PVS goal of having 3 sets of equipment plus prudent spares. The motion failed for lack of a second.

The result of the two changes being proposed to the submitted budget would result in the projected FY04 deficit increasing from $3601 to $7601.

A motion to adopt the budget as presented after amendments PASSED.

It was noted no nominations for athlete representative had been requested by the Nominating Committee earlier in the meeting. Nominations were then requested for athletes to run as Athlete Representative to PVS House of Delegates for a two year term starting September 1, 2003. Before nominations were made, it was observed that in the recent past, the athlete representatives to the Board have generally been high school juniors or seniors. It was noted that given their other commitments, they had limited time to serve on the Board. It was suggested that the House might wish to consider this when making nominations.

One person will be elected by the athletes during the PVS LC Championship meets in July. Ethan Bassett of Curl Burke and Frank O'Toole of York Swimming were nominated.

Kerry Ellett reported on recent activities. He advised that USA Swimming had established a facility task force and a club development task force. This is one of the initiatives being undertaken that was made possible by the dues increase passed last September which will go into effect for 2004.

He noted USA Swimming will still have a balanced budget for the current quadrenium. USA Swimming expects to get a "safety rebate" from its insurance carrier. Assistance from the USOC will likely go down. Splash TV has been successful in terms of attracting viewers. The "Duel in the Pool" held in April with Australia had been successful - even though not all the best Australian swimmers had come. The meet had provided new sponsorship opportunities. Sales of merchandise from the meet had been very strong. He reported that USA Swimming reported NBC is holding times for broadcasting future meets of this nature. It was felt USA Swimming marketing efforts have been effective and is succeeding in reaching out to new athletes.

There was no old business to come before the House.

There was no new business to come before the House.

A motion was made and the House voted to adjourn. Adjournment occurred at 10:17 pm