Minutes approved by the BoD through an e-vote on July 29, due to no quorum at either the June or July meetings.
Potomac Valley Swimming
Board of Director’s Meeting
Overlee
6030 Lee Hwy, Arlington, VA
April 12, 2010
· Dinner
· Attendance: Greg York (via webcam), Art Davis, Riley Eaton, Bill Marlin, Bill Stephens, Manga Dalizu, Yuri Suguiyama, Boot Hall, Dave DiNardo, Jim Thompson, Danielle Schulkin, CJ Fiala, Tara Banks, Linda Klopfenstein, Jack Neill, John Hirschmann, Tim Husson, Brian Pawlowicz, Jim Garner, Paris Jacobs, Miriam Lynch, Dave Greene, Shelley Gesker, Patty Friedman, Lance Page and Terri Marlin
· Call to order 6:30 pm – Art Davis, Administrative Vice-Chair, called the meeting to order in the absence of General Chair Greg York. Greg was available throughout the entire meeting by webcam.
· Response to the CBS 20/20 piece on Sexual Misconduct in Swimming; which aired Friday April 9. The response / follow up email from Chuck Wielgus was distributed to the Board of Directors. The PVS Board of Directors is aware of the current situation and is doing everything we can to try to prevent this from happening within our LSC. PVS will continue to discuss this issue and work towards maintaining a safe environment for all of our athletes. A plan for a presentation for Clubs, Owners, Coaches and Officials regarding the best practices for keeping the swimmers safe from any type of sexual misconduct will be discussed and put on the PVS schedule for the early fall of 2010.
· 2010 SC Eastern Zone Report – PVS Zone Coordinators Dave Greene and Shelley Gesker were present to give a report on the 2010 Spring Age Group SC Zone Championships that took place April 1-3 in Rochester, New York.
o Dave and Shelley announced that The PVS Zone Team won the SC Zone Championships again this year. Congratulations to all swimmers, coaches and staff on a great meet. The PVS Zone team has now won 3 out of the last 4 Zone meets (SC and LC combined). Dave reported that it was a wonderful trip, due primarily to all of the great planning that is in place. He contributes the fact that he has not had any problems in the past three year to great planning and a top rate coaching staff, which provides for an excellent environment for the kids to have the opportunity to relax, swim fast and have fun. Dave’s primary goal while preparing for the Zones is to create a trip where the kids are being fed well, are comfortable, are able to be well supervised and to continue to give the 10 & under swimmers activities to help keep them occupied since that age group has more down time than the other groups. He strives to continue to make this trip the “thing” to do for the Age Group Athletes. This year, he counted at least 25 athletes where this was their third Zone trip, which he felt was primarily due to the quality of the trip and swimming environment.
o Both Dave and Shelley also wanted to comment on the recent budget concerns that the PVS Board had raised. Dave reported that the bus, food and lodging have remained fairly constant for the past three years during the Short Course Zone trips due to the consistent location (08-Buffalo, 09 & 10-Rochester). However the apparel cost has continued to rise over the years. We do receive discounts from TYR, the team outfitter and Aardvark the team supplier. One way they attempt to keep costs down is if the swimmer is a “repeat” athlete to the Zone Team then they are some outfitting items those athletes do not receive. In recent years they have added two items have been added to the outfitting list; a third shirt, so each day they can wear a clean shirt and then they give a “special” gold cap to the swimmers who make finals (12 & O) and in the top 8 for 10 & under swimmers since they do not participate in finals. Dave feels these items are important and have proven to be a very successful motivator. This year there were several steps taken to decrease the amount spent on the trip; Shelley was proactive in talking with Aardvark and worked with them to keep the prices down by doing a number things such as reducing the number of colors in screen printing. In addition they reserved fewer rooms for the younger swimmers; therefore putting 3-4 swimmers per room rather than only two. After making these changes the final amount spent came in under the predetermined budget. Dave and Shelley both feel it is important that we continue to provide a top notch trip for these Age Group Athletes.
§ Several suggestions were given to also help with keeping the price of the trip down. 1-Ask for a deposit (particularly in the summer) for the apparel, if they register then they have to pay for the outfitting, to try to reduce the amount of money lost on athletes who drop out at the last minute. 2-be more proactive when selecting the hotel and creating the rooming lists, so the correct number of rooms are reserved and we are not “stuck” paying for unused rooms. Fortunately this year quite a few parents staying in the same hotel and used some of the blocked rooms, which helped keep the costs down.
· Approval of March 8, 2010 Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the March BoD Meeting Minutes, the motion was seconded and approved.
· Approval of Agenda for HOD Meeting – John Ertter presented a proposed agenda for the annual PVS House of Delegates meeting to be held on May 19, 2010.
o The only comment was that if the PVS BoD is going recommend to the House that the position of the Inclusion/Diversity Chair be added to the Board of Directors then that item should be moved earlier in the agenda.
o Greg would like to see this position to be handled similar to when the Officials Chair was added, as an elected Chair for a two year term voted on by the HOD. Greg has asked Miriam to check and see if there was anyone else interested in the position prior to the HoD meeting.
o Since there were no more comments regarding the agenda a Motion was made to approve the HOD Meeting Agenda with the moving of the item of Diversity position, to be presented on May 19, 2010 at River Falls; motion is seconded and approved.
· Approval of General Chair’s nominations for At-Large Delegates to the 2010 Annual PVS HOD Meeting – Greg submitted his recommended list of 10 At-large Members to the House of Delegates. They were presented as follows; Ward Foley, Kerry Ellett, Dave Greene, Miriam Lynch, Brian Pawlowicz, Paris Jacobs, Jack Neill, John Hirschmann, Linda Klopfenstein, Jim Garner.
o Motion to approve the above list of people as At-Large Delegates to the 2010 PVS HOD Meeting, seconded and approved.
· Report of Nominating Committee – John Hirschmann reported there are four Board positions to be voted on at this year’s HoD meeting. In two cases incumbents able to run again and have indicated they willingness to do so; Jim Thompson for Strategic Chair and Dave DiNardo for Operations. Art Davis cannot run again for Admin Vice-Chair, Paris Jacobs asked to be added to the ballot for Administrative Chair. Bill Marlin is also unable to rerun for the Age Group Chair position, Manga Dalizu has been added to the ballot for the Age Group Chair position. In addition, Brian Pawlowicz has also been added to the ballot for Operations Chair. For the Board of Review there are 5 positions to be voted on. Four of the members who terms expire this year are eligible to seek reelection and have advised that they wish to run again, Janet Auger, Manga Dalizu, Mark Eldridge and Wally Dicks (athlete). Kerry Ellett cannot seek reelection to the Board of Review. The Nominating Committee has identified several potential candidates and expects to announce its nominee shortly.
· LEAP Update – There have been no changes since last month since the 5 remaining items are dependent on the completion of the P & P.
· By-Laws Amendment to add Inclusion/Diversity Chair as a voting member of the PVS Board of Directors – It was recommended that if the Board is in favor of endorsing this new position by the HoD, then it should become an elected position in the year 2011, therefore allowing for equal number of Board positions to be voted on yearly. See proposed job description.
o Bill Stephen made a motion that the BoD to endorse to the House the creation of the Diversity/Inclusion Chair as a voting member o the PVS Board of Directors, that the position be appointed in 2010 and voted upon by the House in 2011, seconded and approved.
· Conflict of Interest & Ethical Behavior Annual Certification – John Ertter has been working on drafting an updated Conflict of Interest & Ethical Behavior policy. USA-Swimming has recently updated the one they use and will permission Ertter has simply made some modifications so it is relevant to Potomac Valley Swimming and our needs. He feels each of the signees will have to have an idea in their mind what the policy means to them and whether or not any particular issue may or may not be a conflict (i.e. It is each person’s responsibility to identify when they have a conflict of interest.). By updating this policy, we as an organization will be in a better place when filling out the IRS form 1041.
o The policy itself does not indicate who is required or suggested to sign it, this something for the Board to decide itself on; however all Board members and contractors will have to sign it. Then there will be other yet to be determined individuals who act on behalf of the LSC who will be asked to sign it as well.
· 2010-2011 Budget – Finance Chair, Bill Stephens, reported that John Ertter sent out the draft/proposed budget a couple of weeks ago asking for ideas/comments. Several comments have been made. The most significant was John Ertter’s proposal to raise the entry fees for all PVS sponsored meet by $1. This proposal was previously presented at the December BoD meeting and again at the January Competition Committee Meeting. Since then Ertter has received a number of questions and comments, in response John has revised his budget to change the proposal going to the HoD in May to ask for a rise of the entry fee $.50 for the 2010-2011 season and then another $.50 for the 2011-2012 season. After further discussion, Ertter is now recommending that we propose to the HOD that we raise the fee $.50 this year, then ask for the additional raise in 2011-2012 but only if we continue to have the deficit in our operating budget that is currently predicted. Another thought is to go ahead and ask the HOD to approved the $.50 for both years, then if we decide we don’t need it the second year we ask the HOD to rescind it.
o There were many thoughts and opinions expressed regarding the proposal to raise the PVS Meet Entry. Many feel that for roughly the past 5 years PVS has projected a deficit in the annual budget, yet PVS has not seen a deficit in most of these year.. Ertter feels being proactive is the best way to proceed, given the constant increase in pool rentals and using all of the information he has; raising the meet entry fees for PVS meets is the best way to balance our budget. Others feel that members of PVS would rather see the deficit first, then react by coming up with a plan to increase revenue.
o John Ertter has prepared a five year history report for all to see. It showed that for four of the five prior years PVS had reported a surplus. A significant deficit for the current fiscal year, 2009-2010 is also anticipated.
o Most Significant Issues regarding the 2010-2011 budget.
§ Increase in PVS Meet Entry Fees; a proposal will be brought to the HOD regarding the potential increase of PVS Meet Entries Fees.
§ Zone Meet Support; A correction was made to the proposed budget for the Zone subsidy, it should be increased by $14,000 so that it is not $25,000 for SC Zones and $20,000 for LC Zones.
§ Diversity/Inclusion Program; it has been proposed to decrease the amount allocated for Diversity/Inclusion Programs from $7,000; however with the possibility of a the new Inclusion/Diversity position being added to the PVS Board, members felt that the budgeted amount should remain at $10,000 to give the new Chair the opportunity to start new programs within PVS.
§ Official’s Evaluation; The proposed amount budgeted for Official’s Evaluator’s expenses was $500; Boots asked to raise the amount to $2500. She stated that if PVS wants to continue to bring in top USA-Swimming Officials to serve as evaluators for our PVS Championship Meets then we have to increase the amount we can spend to pay for their traveling and lodging expenses.
§ Payroll & Contractor Services; It appears that the amount for PVS contractors has decreased; however the Equipment Manager’s fee has become its own line item under “Equipment Operations”. The line item, Equipment Manager is $15,000; this is the contractor’s fee plus delivery and set up charges.
o Art David made a motion to accept the proposed budget as corrected, seconded and approved.
· Correction for Zone subsidy which will add $14,000 to the budgeted deficit, added $2000 to the Officials Evaluation program, put the Inclusion/Diversity program amount back to $10,000 (instead of proposed $7000) We will now have a $34000 deficit for the 10-11 FY.
o Greg asked the Athletes if they would rather see an increase in meet entry fees or potentially swimming meets like PVS Senior Champs in a lesser pool than GMU. The athletes felt that the increase was a minimum and even though it is ultimately their parents that pay the bill, they would not like to have big Championship Meets in a lesser pool. The athletes then asked how much money will PVS make by raising the entry fee by $.50 per event, Ertter responded by saying the increase would bring in roughly $38,000.
· Support for the Black Heritage Meet in May– Don Brazelton, President of the DC Waves Swim Team has asked for PVS support for their team to travel to the Black Heritage Meet this May in North Carolina. Most of the participating swimmers from PVS swim for DCPR, CUBU as well as several other Clubs. The request is for $2000, which will help offset the cost of lodging, food and outfitting for the athletes.
o Miriam Lynch reported that several other LSCs are also participating in the meet. She believes this to be a great meet and great opportunity for these athletes. She confirmed that both Maryland and New England LSCs will be attending.
o A Motion was made to approve the $2000 support for the Black Heritage Meet in May 2010. The motion was seconded and approved.
o John Ertter said the grant will be paid to the DC Waves Swim Team Booster Club. In return John Ertter will ask Don Brazelton to submit a report on the trip on the meet to the Board upon their return.
· Policies & Procedures – Art has updated his draft and he will give everyone until April 27 to provide comment on it. On May 1 (April 30) Art will present them to Greg.
· Reports
o Executive Director
o Updating of PVS Records – See report submitted
o Athlete Representatives - No report submitted
o Administrative
o Webmaster – See report submitted. If anyone has addition responses/feedback regarding “reach for the wall” site on the Washington Post page please contact Tim.
o Finance/Accounting – See report submitted
o Operations – Our webmaster/Admin Referee did a tremendous job working at the Sectional Meet in March. A huge Thanks to Tim for all of his hard work. He utilized the website and travel modem for much of the meet.
o Senior Swimming Chair
o Age Group Chair
o Coaches Representatives – See report submitted by Manga, see report submitted by Yuri.
o Officials – See report submitted
o Strategic Planning – No report submitted
· Date for next BoD Meeting, Monday June 14. In addition the Eastern Zone meeting is May 8, Competition Committee Meeting is May 12 and House of Delegate is scheduled for May 19.
· Adjourn; motion to adjourn the April BoD meeting, seconded and approved.