Minutes approved at the 2011 October Board of Directors Meeting

Potomac Valley Swimming

Board of Director’s Meeting

River Falls

7915 Horseshoe Ln, Potomac, MD

July 12, 2011

 

·         Attendance- Voting members: Greg York, Bill Marlin, Brian Pawlowicz, Paris Jacobs, Boots Hal, Jim Thompson, Miriam Lynch and Manga Dalizu. Non-voting members: John Ertter, Tim Husson, Jack Neill, Bob Vincent, Linda Klopfenstein, John Hirschmann, Ward Foley and Terri Marlin. Others in attendance: Sam Burgi and Aaron Dean.

·         Call to order and General Chair Comments – The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm by General Chair, Greg York.

 

·         Approval of June 6, 2011 Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the Minutes from the June 6, 2011 Board of Director’s meeting, seconded and approved.

 

·         Mission Statement and LEAP –There were 5 items that USA-S had sent back to us in January to be reviewed and updated. Paris Jacobs reported that all items have now been re-submitted to USA Swimming.

o    Mission Statement – We have been asked by USA Swimming to shorten our current mission statement to their recommended 17-19 words. Our current mission statement is now part of our By-Laws which have been approved by the PVS House of Delegates, thus any change must also be approved by the HOD. Paris Jacobs has removed some portions of the Mission Statement and resubmitted it to USA Swimming noting that the final is “pending approval” from our HOD.

o   The Mission Statement has been changed to: Potomac Valley Swimming (PVS) shall promote swimming and foster equal access for competitive opportunities for the benefit of swimmers of all ages and abilities. The objectives and primary purpose of PVS shall be the education and assurance of instruction and training of individuals to develop and improve their capabilities in the sport of swimming. 

o    Our current and HOD approved By-laws have been sent to USA Swimming which they will review and have their attorneys look it over and send it back with red-line changes to be made.

o   Update BoD minutes and P & P have been submitted. USA-S continues to recommend that our vision statement be reviewed which we will look at.

o   PVS was commended on our safety reporting, a great training schedule for officials and sanctioning protocols. It was recommended that we post all “New Club Information” on our website under its own heading. It was also recommended that both the Vision and Mission Statements be posted on the home page of the web site in a more visible place.  PVS was also congratulated on all of the great work being done in our LSC.

 

·         Senior Champs – After all entries were submitted, timelines appear to be tight for both the Friday and Sunday preliminary sessions, so start times have been adjusted to accommodate the longer timelines on these two days. Saturday’s session is a bit lighter, no adjustments have been made at this time. The meet manager and Senior Chair have discussed several options, and adjusting the start times slightly seem to be the best option. In addition they are recommending that Time Trials be eliminated for all days due to the longer than ideal timelines and all events go to positive check in. SWIMS recon has been done and all issues are being worked on. The Senior Champ meet referee, Jack Neill and Junior Champ meet referee, Scott Witkin have reported that all sessions are staffed. Parking is $8/day Thursday and Friday and possibly on Saturday and Sunday for all athletes and coaches. Only the officials will be allowed drive in past the stadium and they will not have to pay to park. A clearly marked map has been provided and posted on the website.

o   Equipment doesn’t seem to be a concern, UMD is providing all timing equipment and the host club will be providing their own computers and printers.

o   Time Trials – A concern was brought up about Time Trial. In the past TT was offered after finals each night, but this year it was moved in between sessions, then eliminated due to the longer than normal timelines.

§   Why has it been eliminated and not moved back to after finals? TT were eliminated because meet management and the Senior Chair were concerned that with the later finish time of finals and earlier start times for prelims, the turnaround time would be tight primarily for the Officials working.  

§  One member of the meeting expressed a concern that this is a season ending meet for many swimmers and eliminating TT is not a preferred option for these swimmers. Feels this is unfair to the swimmers and a disservice to our athletes.

§  After hearing the concerns from several coaches, the meet manager stated that he will make every attempt to do Time Trials as initially scheduled if time allows. But wanted to make it clear that unfortunately it may not happen because we cannot ask our officials to stay to 10:30/11:00 at night when they have to return so early the next morning.

§  A note will be posted on the meet announcement stating that “if time permits once positive check in is complete and limited number of Time Trails may be offered.

·         Travel Assistance for OW Nationals – A travel assistance request has been submitted for 6 swimmers from one team who competed at Open Water Nationals in Ft. Lauderdale in June.  As a committee and board we failed to list this meet on the list of meets approved for travel assistance; however in the past we have approved this meet. Even though adding this meet at this time will cause us to go over budget for travel assistance it has been recommended is to accept these travel assistance grants for this year.

o   Linda Klopfenstein asked if we issue a full share to someone who only swam one event as well as those who did multiple events, or do we issue a half a share for one event and a full share for two events.  Linda recommends that a junior (half) share be granted if they swam only one events, and an full senior share for any athletes who participated in two events.

§  Based upon precedent, set the amount based upon the number of events swum. So while we could take this under advisement for the future, it is recommended to give all swimmers the full share because this meet is a National Selection meet.

§  It was asked if approving these grants if it would adversely affect the budget. The controller, John Ertter, answered by saying “No, the budget will not be greatly affected and remember the HOD has given the BoD permission to reallocate funds as necessary.

o   Motion to approve 6 full senior shares ($450) of travel assistance funds to the swimmers who applied for travel assistance for Open Water Nationals, seconded and approved.

o   As the board we need to be more careful not to allow meets, such as this get skipped when discussing what meets travel funds will be needed for, so that it doesn’t get left of the budget.

 

·         Official’s Committee recommendations regarding meet officiating requirements – Jack Neill has submitted a recommendation from the Officials Committee for all club meets and club meet referees. They feel it is important to let all meet referees and club officials chair fully understand the number of officials needed to run a meet. The Officials were not initially looking for this recommendation to be added to the PVS Policies and Procedures. Rather they were looking for a standard to be set so they can go back to clubs who consistently do not staff meets properly.

o   Jim Thompson recommends this report be sent to all Club Official Chair and we monitor for a year and then ask them for feedback.

o   The Official’s Committee is looking to have all meets in PVS run the proper way and feel that issuing this document is a statement in the right direction.

o   Another recommendation was to send this out with a statement included “that if a club meet is not properly staffed, then their sanction can be revoked and times will not be entered into SWIMS, in addition these clubs will no longer be issued sanctions for meets.

o   The CCM should send this out to teams that are being awarded PVS meets, and if clubs hosting PVS meets are unable to properly staff meets, then they will not be awarded the meet the following year.

o   The incoming SR Chair and AG Chair have requested from the Officials Committee a list of teams that are not currently fulfilling the minimum requirements, so they can make a more educated decision on which teams should be awards meets to run for PVS.

 

·         Auditor Engagement letter for 2010-2011 annual audit –The audit committee recommends that we engage Sarfino & Rhoades again this year to do the audit and authorize John Hirschmann, as chairman of the audit committee to sign the engagement letter and pay the amount in the letter or give authority to modify the payment as necessary.

o   It was noted that the fee of $9700, as stated in the letter is not a fixed price contract, but rather an estimate. The actual fee is based upon an hourly fee  it varies upon who within the company actually does the audit.

o   The incoming Finance Vice-Chair stated that Hirschmann is not an officer on the BoD and therefore should not be given authorization to sign the document, even though Audit firm, Sarfino & Rhoades recommends that Audit Committee chair be the one who signs the document.

o   According to the PVS By-laws a non-officer cannot sign financial documents.

o   An officer of the PVS Board should be the one to sign the document.

 

·         Who has authority to commit PVS funds to outside vendors through signing of formal contracts –In the past there have been individuals who are not board members that have been allowed to make financial decisions and commit the organization to financial contracts. According to our By-laws only the General Chair and Vice-President of Finance are authorized to commit PVS to any financial contracts. It is important to make sure that all board members have a clear understanding as to who is and isn’t allowed to sign contracts and make financial commitments on behalf of the LSC. This also goes for meet managers running meets for PVS.

o   Currently the Executive Director is the only one who has received authorization to commit the LSC by signing contracts for pool rental and cell phone accounts.  

o   It is important to have a paper trail documenting who is and who is not authorized to make any financial decisions.  

o   Signing checks is not the same things as signing contracts.

o   The General Chair and Admin VP will work together by establishing easy to follow guidelines which are based upon our By-Laws so that everyone has a clear understanding as to who can what authority.

o   The Executive Director, while not a voting member of the BoD is an Officer of the Board and therefore has been given authority to commit the LSC to financial contracts. Currently the Board feels very comfortable with the way that our Controller/Executive Director handles all contract and financial responsibilities, as he follows the rule of common sense and make the everyday operation decision; however when something seems more complicated or he is unsure he always contact the General Chair and/or Admin VP for final confirmation.

 

·         Athlete fee for 2011 Summer Zones – In 2009 the PVS Zone Team traveled to Penn State for the LC Zone meet. That summer we did in fact go over budget; however that was primarily due to the fact that we traveled with one bus that was only half full. Had that bus been full, we would have stayed within our projected budget. Unfortunately there is no way to accurately predict the number of athlete who will qualify and/or participate in the meet and therefore traveling with the team. It is recommended to maintain the athlete fee at $500 per athlete.  

 

·         4th site for January 2012 Open – FCPS has firmly confirmed that Audrey Moore Rec Center is available to rent for the 2012 PVS January Open. However has established firm ending times for each day of the rental. These strict timelines will only affect the January Open for the 2012 meets, starting in 2013 the ending time each day will be more flexibly.

o   The primary concern for this year limited number of entries that will be allowed at Audrey Moore for the 2012 meet. Because of the strict timeline, the total number of entries will be greatly affected which also affect the amount of income for the host will team of Audrey Moore. Several members feel that all income generated from the four sites of the January Open should be equally split between the four host teams.  

o   Motion to combine the total net income from the four sites (MLK, Fairland-2 courses, and Audrey Moore) of the 2012 January Open and then equally spilt the total amount between the four host teams, seconded and approved.

§  Reminder that the primary purpose of running PVS meets is to assist the LSC, not to be income for the clubs.

§  The Executive Competition Committee needs to stop blindly awarding meets to clubs who are not fulfilling their responsibilities and hosting poorly run meets. All host teams need to start being held accountable for their performance.

o   RMSC – 2 years in a row RMSC has been allowed to either run a club meet directly up against a PVS meet or that has conflicted in some way. The Competition Committee will be looking more closely at this in the future.

o   It was reported that USA Swimming is likely to establish rules as to the total number of swimmers allowed per lane during warm up and meet hosts will be fined if it can be proven that the number swimmers exceeds the established maximum number of swimmers per lane. There may also be established fines for meets where sessions last longer than 4 hours. This is all being discussions that are happening within USA-S and more information will be forth coming.

 

·         LC Age Group Champs – All entries have been collected for the 2011 LC AG Champs and the meet is larger than last year, despite the tighten of many cuts. Age Group Chair Manga Dalizu, incoming Senior Chair Bill Marlin and 14 & U LC Champ Meet Manager Sam Burgi have been discussing the options for this summer’s meet.  One option discussed is to only do “A” finals. Would like to come up with 2-3 options and then send out to coaches for feedback, then make a final decisions based upon the feedback.

o   Bill sent out a note to quite a few coaches to see what their feelings were. Four coaches have responded and want to retain finals for the 11 and over as stated in the meet announcement. Several stated they would be OK with timed finals for 10 & under swimmers, but only if we have to. Another idea given was to eliminate relays, but that would only save about 15 minutes.

o   Running the 10 & Under events as timed finals seems to be the best solution that Sam (meet manager) can come with. After processing the late entries there are 100 more swimmers and 400 more splashes than last year. We will have wall to wall swimming with no downtime or time for warm up. By eliminating 10 & U finals, we would save some time at night, which would allow the 11 & Over athletes to get home a bit earlier and rest. It was noted that by eliminating the 10 & Under events from finals would only roughly save 15 minutes.

§  At least one member expressed that they disliked the option of eliminating the relays.

o   Many of those asked, understand why 10 & U finals can be eliminated, however there are several coaches who feel this is unfair to the 9-10 swimmers in the association, especially since they have been preparing for this meet with the expectation of participating in finals if they are the top 8 in prelims.

o   We are looking at full timelines regardless of what option we go with and still hoping for a perfect meet. If there are any delays, (i.e. computer issues, pump problems, etc) then the current timeline will be totally thrown off.

o   One suggestion is to modify the amount of time allowed for warm up. It was recommended to have 1 hour warm up for the 13-14’s, 50 minutes for the 11-12’s and 40 min 10 & Under swimmers.

o   Tim Husson noted that at a recent trials/finals meets he attended, they omitted the pomp and circumstance in between events, did dive-overs and still announced names for all events.

o   One member noted that this could be a opportunity to try chase start; however the officials present were not in favor of this option. Two full sets of equipments and officials would be needed. It was also felt that we do not have enough time to prepare the Officials, coaches and swimmers.

o   From the Admin stand point is would be best to eliminate 9-10 from Finals.

o   Motion made to eliminate the 10 & Under from the finals sessions of LC AG Champs and seconded. This motion was then changed to a recommendation, so not to tie the hands of the meet management, and executive CCM.

§  Clarification…by eliminating 10 & U from finals would only save about 15 min, correct? Yes.

§  Recovery time for the 11 & O will now be compromised.

o    3 votes to eliminate the 10 &U events from finals, 5 vote to leave 10 & Under events as trial/finals. This is only a recommendation and meet management can make a final decision and will have the full support of the board.

 

·         Reports

o   Athlete Representatives – no report submitted

o   Operations –

§  The Operations Chair was asked if the equipment manager had been in contact with him for the need for any additional equipment (microphones for starters, etc). Brian Pawlowicz reported that Jake indicated that PVS is in need of some additional pieces of equipment. A formal report of the needed equipment has been requested.

§  Have any of the CST6 been sent to be repaired? Not that we know of.

§  What is the status of equipment for AG Champs? A- Jake says that all equipment is in the storage shed, but we are not sure, as there are reports of pads being left at Lee District. Brian will be in touch with Jake to make sure all needed equipment will be at Fairland in plenty of time for set up for the AG Championships.

o   Administrative – LEAP as submitted

o   Senior Swimming – No report submitted.

§  Do need to elect a coaches representative to take over as the senior coaches rep for the 2011-12 season.

o   Age Group Swimming – see report submitted

§  AG Chair and Bill Marlin sat down to discuss ideas regarding the AG Champs in the spring. They will meet again and then bring information back to CCM in the fall. Any decisions made will affect all championship meets.

o   Coaches Representatives – all information covered in previous discussions.

o   Officials – see report submitted.  The election for new Officials Representative will be held during the upcoming Junior and Senior Champs this weekend and the following weekend at AG Champs.

§  Jack went to the LSC Official meeting in Kansas City and was told that PVS has their act together. Congratulations to our Officials Committee on all of their great work. See report submitted with information from the meeting.

o   Inclusion/Diversity- see report submitted. Thank you to the board and all of PVS for all of the support to the Inclusion/Diversity program.

o   Webmaster – no report submitted

o   Strategic Planning – no report submitted

o   Finance/Accounting – see report submitted and previously stated.

o   Executive Director –  see report submitted

o   Convention – Linda has all needed information. Thank you for getting it all in. Question – understanding we are tightening up, but this is not publish earlier, and there may be people who have made travel reservations and now have found out that they are not being funded to go and they don’t want to attend at this point.  Greg recommends that this been turned over to the incoming GC about this, as he has specific ideas as to who is going and not going and being funded. See statement from incoming General Chair, Riley Eaton.

·         Date for next meeting – The board members attending Convention will be meeting that weekend. The date and place for the October meeting will be set by the incoming General Chair.

o   Do we want to have a semi-informal get together at Overlee? Greg York has indicated that he is happy to host an informal meeting/get together sometime in August for those interested.

·         Adjourn