Draft Meeting Minutes until approved by BoD

Potomac Valley Swimming

Board of Director’s Meeting

Overlee

6030 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22205

July 16, 2013

7:00 pm

 

·         Attendance – Riley Eaton, Bob Vincent, Jim Garner, Greg York, Mike Rubin, Tim Husson, Manga Dalizu, Scott Bryant, Merari Chollotte, Bill Marlin, John Ertter and Kurt Thiel

·         Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm

·         General Chair Comments – No general comments were made.

·         Action Items

o   Proof of Quorum to Conduct Business – There are 10 voting members in attendance.

o   Approval of June 20, 2013 Board Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the Board Meeting Minutes from the July 20, 2013 meeting, seconded and approved.

o   Approval of 2013 LC Zones Athlete Fee of $525 – Motion to approve the fee of $525 per athlete for the 2013 PVS LC Zone Team, seconded,

§  John Ertter has done calculations based upon best guess and by looking through the last several years. Assuming that we fill the buses, we will come in under budget. However if the numbers change and we have empty seats it could cost us more and we could come in over budget.

·         There is a concern that we will have more than 210 athletes, and will need another bus. What do we do then?

o   The body is divided on whether or not to cap the number of athletes allowed on the trip. Any additional swimmers would still be allowed to attend and would be able to be outfitted; however PVS would not be providing transportation for them. 

o   Motion to cap the total maximum number of athletes at 210 on a first come first serve basis. These athletes will be on the bus and any additional athletes will be traveling on their own, seconded and approved (5 yes, 4 no, 1 abstain).

o   Motion to cap the total number of athletes at 210 and not allow any additional athletes to attend, seconded and defeated (1 yes, 8 no, 1 abstain).

§  Can we actually hold up on this? We may not be able to keep any athletes from attending the meet.

§  How hard would it be to get an additional bus and/or hotel? Ertter comment that he is unsure at this time. We won’t know until we ask.

§  Age Group Chair, Zone Coordinator, Senior Chair and Head Coach will meet and discuss options and make a final decision. This needs to be done as soon as possible, then inform John Ertter and he will attempt to implement it. [Bill Marlin and Riley Eaton spoke with Zone Coordinator, Dave Greene, after the BoD meeting he indicated that he has up to 15 additional rooms at his disposal if needed and several buses on stand-by if needed. It was then determined that no cap on total athlete count was necessary.]

o   As a point of order, during the meeting a message came in informing us that at least 200 athletes have already applied as of July 11, 2013.

o   Proposed Change to Officials Travel/Education Stipend Program – see proposal submitted. Tim Husson submitted a proposal from the Official’s Chair, Jack Neill, to change the Officials Travel/Education Stipend program. The major changes are to include only National Level meets including the Grand Prix Series and to no longer include the Zone level meets, and to reduce the total number of opportunities from 3 to 2.

§  It was asked; Why are we taking out the Zone level meet?

·         The response was that these meets are not anywhere close to the level of the National level meets. It is also felt that the overall level of officiating my not even be as high as some of our LSC meets.

·         Bob Vincent indicated that he feels that there is still a benefit for Officials to attend the Zone level meets and that these meets are stepping stones to the National Level deck.

·         Additional concerns were brought up by Paris that we still have a responsibility to our LSC officials to learn and focus on PVS and was concerned about the term “National .” Tim Husson explained that by using the term “National” he means the same across the country. That there is an effort to ensure that officiating it the same in all LSC’s, that this doesn’t mean our PVS meets should be run the same as National level meets.

·         Another member asked if there was a requirement for officials to be able to be reimbursed, in the same manner as an athlete requesting travel reimbursement? Yes, Officials have specific requirements, similar to travel reimbursement for athletes.

§  A friendly amendment is to add Zones and Sectionals back into the list of approved meets, seconded and approved (9 yes, 1 no)

§  Friendly amendment to scratch the final sentence of the proposal, seconded and approved.

·         Reports

o   Executive Director- see report submitted

§  The Fiscal Year end August 31. Ertter reported that most of our money gets spent now. As board members, If you have any expenses please get them into John Ertter as soon as possible.

§  Automatic withdraw for USA Swimming Registration will start in September, this means that as USA Swimming registrations are submitted to USA Swimming payment will automatically be drafted from our account. Therefore it is important that all registrations are paid in a timely manner, so we can pay for all registrations.

§  From Spring Zones there were several swimmers who managed to get on the bus and on the trip who did not pay. Currently there is still one athlete who has not paid. Efforts have been made to retrieve the money. A check was mailed and deposited; however it bounced. Payments still have not been made. What do we do now?

·         It was asked, what if this family cannot afford the trip. There is a policy in place for athletes to qualify for a hardship grant. Has the family been informed of the hardship grant? Yes, several times.

·         What can we do? There is no precedence for a situation such as this.

·         Riley suggested that we try to resolve this on a more personal level within the team. He will look into this situation and report back.

·         Motion that we do not accept this athlete in any zone meet representing PVS until the 2013 SC Zone fee is paid, seconded and approved. 

o   Athlete Representative- no report submitted

o   Administrative – no report submitted

o   Inclusion/Diversity – see report submitted

§  A Grant program has been proposed, all board members are asked to review and we will discuss at Convention. Merari was asked if the effective date could be moved to November 1, 2013 instead of October 1, so that all board members have the opportunity to review and she said that was acceptable.  

o   Webmaster – see report submitted

o   Technical Committee – no report submitted

o   Finance/Accounting – see report submitted

o   Operations – see report submitted

o   Senior Swimming – see report submitted

o   Age Group Swimming – see report submitted

§  Manga submitted a preliminary job description for the new position as 8 & Under coordinator.

§  Manga has also started looking into alternative formats for the Long Course AG/SR 1 & 2 meets for the 2014 LC season. He will continue to work on a proposal and discuss ideas with other board members and coaches and will submit a proposal for the Competition Committee meeting in September.  

o   Coaches Representative – no report submitted

o   Officials – see report submitted

o   Strategic Planning – no report submitted

o   Safety Committee – see report submitted

·         Round Table Talking Points

o   Discussion regarding PVS Equipment Purchase Subsidy Program – We began this discussion at the June meeting. We approved the purchase of the second set. The club requesting this purchase is now asking to break the purchase of this second set in three installments. As historic reference the clubs who have purchased the equipment using the subsidy program have done so in a full set. How do we want to proceed? Do we want insist that the entire purchase be made at one time or do we become a “bank” for any club who decides to buy their equipment in multiple stages.  Do we need to change the policy and put more limitations on how it is purchased? Do we set stricter guidelines or do we just do away with the program at this point?

§  Greg suggests leaving it in the books, since it doesn’t hurt to keep it nor do we lose anything to delete it.

§  However we do not want to be in the business of purchasing replacement pieces.

§  Motion to have john Ertter to propose the language for the policy, seconded and approved.

·         Old Business – No old business

·         New Business –

o   Should all of the Open Water information be advertised on the PVS website. Yes, Tim will work with Kurt Thiel to get this information.

·         Adjourn – Motion to adjourn at 8:30.

·         There will be an executive session.