Minutes approved
at the December Board Meeting
Potomac Valley Swimming
Board of Director’s Meeting
Overlee
6030 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA
November 15, 2010
· Dinner
· Attendance – Greg York, Paris Jacobs, Bill Stephens, Boots Hall, Miriam Lynch, Brian Pawlowicz, Manga Dalizu, Yuri Suguiyama, Riley Eaton, Bill Marlin, CJ Fiala, Nick Campbell, Richard Xue, John Ertter, Jim Garner, Tim Husson, Linda Klopfenstein, Jack Neill, John Hirschmann, Bob Vincent and Terri Marlin.
· Greg and Paris attended a Leadership Conference at USA Swimming in October. At the conference, they were given some ideas, at how to better run Official Board Meetings. One idea is to have the voting board members sitting at the table and non-voting board members in the back of the room. The goal is to have productive meetings and conduct them in a timely manner. There was an executive Board Meeting earlier this afternoon to discuss these matter, as well as to ask each Division Chair to take more responsibility for their Division and being better prepared for Board Meetings.
· Call to Order & General Chair Comments – The meeting was called to order by General Chair, Greg York, at 7:00 pm
o Greg presented some registration numbers based upon county for PVS vs VSI. We are still on good terms with VSI and plan to meet with Jeff Gudman from USAS at Eastern Zones in Ft. Lauderdale
o USA Swimming has released an Athlete Protection Program flyer that can be found on the USA Swimming website. http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/Documents/b6fee201-43cb-4018-ab79-449d208aab53/AthleteProtectionBrochure.pdf
o Child Protection – USAS has asked Greg to serve on the Child protection Committee with USA Swimming.
· Approval of October 11, 2010 Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the minutes from the October 11, 2010 BOD meeting, seconded and approved.
· Report on USAS General Chair & Admin Vice Chair Meeting – Paris commented that a major topic was being better at running meetings and our LEAP status, Paris has met with Hirschmann and is working on getting this completed. USA Swimming is now partnered with Marriott which will directly benefit all LSCs and teams. The program is in the early stages and Paris will keep us all updated as more information becomes available. Currently any Club who is a member of the Club Excellence program and LCS are requested to use Marriott Hotel for all travel when and where available. There is an East Coast Representative to help with all reservations. There were also ideas given out about additional sponsorship programs, Paris will be looking into several ideas and will report back.
· Board of Review – Ward Foley, Chairman of the Board of Review, has informed the Board that he has contacted the Law Offices of Tim Battle, and asks the Board to set aside $400 in case the Board of Review needs legal counsel. At a USA Swimming Board of Review information meeting it was suggested that a BOR Chair, establish an independent counsel in case an incident comes up and the LSC attorney faces a conflict of interest.
o Motion to set aside $400 for the legal counsel of the Law Offices of Tim Battle for the use of the Board of Review in the event that legal counsel is necessary, seconded and approved.
o It was noted that Kate Ziegler is no longer an athlete member of Potomac Valley Swimming therefore can no longer be an athlete rep on the Board of Review. It was recommended to have CJ Fiala fill the vacancy.
o Motion to appoint CJ Fiala as an athlete member of the Board of Review and finish out the current term left vacant by Kate Ziegler, seconded and approved.
· Speedo & TYR Contracts for PVS Meets sponsorship – Paris sent out information and two proposed sponsorship contracts from Speedo and TYR.
o Motion to form a sponsorship relationship that will best support the LSC, seconded and approved.
o Contract bids from both Speedo and TYR have been reviewed by members prior to the meeting.
o Motion to accept the contract with Speedo as the PVS Sponsor. Oversight of the sponsorship will fall under the direction of the Finance Chair, seconded and approved.
· Prince George’s PRIDE swim program inquiry about becoming a PVS club - is a program based out of PGS&LC, they have begun the process of becoming a USA Swimming team.
· Follow-up of athlete Travel Assistance Grants for Summer 2010 Senior & Junior Nationals
o Junior Nationals - Only one change to be made to the October travel assistance. Due to the maximum number of requests for Junior National travel assistance of 5, there was one swimmer who has now exceeded the request limit. Therefore according to the rules is only entitled to a half share, as is recommended by the Senior Chair and travel assistance coordinator.
o Motion to reduce the travel assistance to half a share for the one athlete who has exceed the maximum number of requests, seconded and approved.
o 10 1/2 shares total are granted, for a total of $2625.
o Senior Nationals- Out of 36 possible travel assistance request, there are a total of 34 approved. There were 3 appeals or lack of appeals discussed.
1. There was a college appeal submitted for one athlete, it was recommended that the appeal be approved. Motion to accept the appeal as written, seconded and approved.
2. A second athlete was unable to compete due to medical reasons, while an appeal was not officially submitted, it was uncovered that there was an actual medical reason for the athlete not to compete. It is recommended that travel assistance be granted. Motion to grant travel assistance to the athlete, seconded and approved.
3. There was one team’s application for two swimmers which was submitted nearly 3 weeks past the deadline, and no appeal has been submitted. Therefore the recommendation is to deny travel assistance. Motion to deny travel assistance based upon the application being submitted late, seconded and approved.
4. All other outstanding travel assistance requests are recommended to be approved. Motion to approve the remaining travel assistance requests, seconded and approved.
5. Discussion was held as to how much per share to pay out for Senior Nationals. Because all of the Junior National money was not allocated, it was agreed to pay a full share of $450 to the clubs for each of the 34 qualified athletes for a total of $15,300. Motion to pay a full share of $450 to the clubs for each of the 34 qualified athlete, seconded and approved.
o It was noted that many of the travel assistance rules are unclear and difficult to follow. The Senior Chair has looked into how other LSC’s determine travel assistance. While their procedures vary, they all seemed to have very clear cut rules. It has be determined that we need to clean up our policies and rules for travel assistance. The Senior Chair, both Coach Representatives and the Travel Assistance Coordinator will work together to come up with clear cut rules regarding the Travel Assistance Reimbursement program.
Discussion regarding PVS Investment Policy – Bill Stephens has continued to request feedback on his Investment Policy proposal. Please look it over and send him your thoughts, comments and concerns. The PVS P&P allow for a Finance Committee to be formed. Bill is looking for interested people to serve on the committee to discuss financial matters and policies. It will be important for the Board to show a united front and go to the HOD meeting in May with a plan in place.
· Anyone interested in being on the Financial Planning Committee please contact Bill Stephens.
· Reports
o Executive Director – See report submitted. In addition in was noted that one CD has matured and John did not renew it but moved to money market account and is awaiting a recommendation from the Finance Chair on what to do with it next.
§ New scoreboard that was used at Mt. Vernon (2 line) and it worked very well.
§ It was noted that there is a recommended that 2 new scoreboards were approved several months ago. Brian will look into this and purchase if necessary.
o Athlete Representative – No report submitted. We are looking for information and feedback from athletes based upon the first part of the season as we go into the “fall championship season”. It was suggested to the athletes that they discuss the order of events at Open meets, number of events offered, etc. What are the feelings of the athletes?
o Administrative – See report submitted
§ The ABC Swim Club has officially appealed USA Swimming decision to force them to join VSI. Virginia swimming has indicated that they will be meeting on November 18 and have requested that PVS not discuss the club
§ In cleaning up procedures, a review of the meeting minutes, go to the chair and then will be changed. Everyone please respond to Administrator.
o Inclusion/Diversity – Miriam has been trying to get a committee together and will be meeting Dec 18 to discuss ideas and programs for swimmers, parents and coaches within PVS.
o Webmaster – report submitted
o Finance/Accounting – There will have to be further discussion on the financial impact on the LSC, once the Financial Planning Committee is established additional information will be available for discussion.
o Operations – No formal report submitted. It was noted that there has only been one equipment complaint and one really bad pad sent to a meet. As far as Brian has heard all equipment worked fine at both the Oct Open and Nov Open was fine.
o Senior Swimming – no report to submit
o Age Group Swimming – no report to submit
o Coaches Representatives – See report submitted.
§ Discussion needed at CCM if we want to continue running the 50 of the strokes.
§ CCM is the appropriate place to discuss this events
§ Keep in mind that there is a recommendation from USA Swimming that 12 & Under sessions will stay within a 4 hour timeline.
§ 8 and under were allowed to swim at one site of the November Open which is against the rules. The Age Group Chair, Manga Dalizu, will discuss this with the Meet Director who allowed the swimmers to participate in the Open meet.
o Officials – 18 clinics, well attended. 8 more scheduled. A lot of new trainees on deck, last year’s Refs trainees are beginning to work more meets.
§ The Officials were asked to provide feedback to the Competition Committee Board Member as to what teams they feel can and cannot adequately staff and run meets. The PVS meet bids will be due to the AG Chair by the January CCM. The request for feedback is due by that time as well.
o Strategic Planning – still waiting for a financial report on what he feels is an adequate amount of surplus. IF having trouble ask for help
· Date for next Bod Meeting, Monday December 13, 2010 at Overlee
· Items deferred to a later meeting or not approved due to lack of quorum
o Study to develop appropriate target for LSC financial reserves
o Potential treatment of future budget surpluses
· Adjourn. Motion to adjourn at 8:42 pm, seconded and approved.