Board Meeting minutes approved at the February meeting
Potomac Valley Swimming
Board of Directors Meeting
Lee Highway
Arlington, VA 2220
January 13, 2014
· Attendance Voting members; Bill Marlin, Manga Dalizu, Jim Garner, Greg York, Steve Menard, Mike Rubin, Brad Bowser, Paris Jacobs, Tim Husson, Bob Vincent & Merari Chollette. Voting Athletes Trey McKula, Murphy Greal and Karina Kolb. Non-voting members Riley Eaton, Tom Ugast, Kurt Thiel, Art Davis, Brian Pawlowicz and Sumie Emory.
· Call to Order The Meeting was called to order by General Chair, Bill Marlin, at 7:00 pm.
· Proof of Quorum There are 14 number of voting members in attendance.
· Approval of December Minutes Motion to approve the Board Minutes from the December 16, 2013 Board of Directors Meeting, seconded and approved.
o It was note that a change needed to be made to the statement regarding the Dolan Meet, National Deck on Sunday to Saturday, and change Potomac Marlins to Potomac Valley. [Changes made]
· Approval of December Financial Reports Motion to approve the Financial Report from December 2013, as prepared by the PVS Controller, seconded and approved.
· Approval of Chair Reports Motion to approve all Chair reports as submitted, seconded and approved.
o Finance Chair, Bob Vincent asked to read a statement from his report, that is required to be read each year;
§ The following statement was read to the Board of Directors by the Finance Chair; In January, the Division chairpersons are asked to review their programs, confer with their committees, and prepare a statement of their needs for the next fiscal year. This is also the time that the club House of Delegates representatives should be provide any budget proposals they wish to make. All proposals for the new budget must be submitted to the Treasurer by the February Board of Directors meeting in order to be considered. If a new program is being proposed, full documentation, including, a statement of why the program should be funded, a detailed breakdown of program cost, and the proposed method of funding, is required. Any current program which requests a significant change in funding must present full documentation, including, a statement of why the program should be funded, a detailed breakdown of program costs and the proposed method of funding is required.
· General Chair Comments Bill Marlin reported that he met with David Arluck, from the Fitter & Faster Tour, a clinic series that uses Olympic Athletes to run clinics for swimmers across the country. The company are now based in Potomac, Maryland and would like to work with clubs in Potomac Valley Swimming. In addition discussions included a possible sponsorship of the LSC.
o There were several questions regarding the possible sponsorship/relationship with Fitter & Faster Tours. If we give them the opportunity to run clinics and paying them for the clinics, what is the advantage to us/PVS?
§ They do clinics for athletes, parents and coaches. For example they bring in parents of National/Olympic athletes to talk to age group parents about what it is like to be a swimming parent.
§ There are clinics for nearly every level of swimmers in the LSC, from 8 & U through Olympic Trail Qualifiers.
§ How can we work together to make this beneficial for both parties.
§ Bill will set up a follow up meeting to discuss more specifics.
· Old Business
o Conflict of Interested Forms The new athlete members will need to sign them. All other members have signed and turned in the conflict of interest forms.
· New Business
o January CCM Items Age Group Chair, Manga Dalizu reported:
§ In a straw poll, the CCM body was in generally in favor of Inter-squad meets to be allowed to be sanction meets.
§ There were discussion on how to potentially make changes in the Open meets. There were several coaches who wanted to get more input from their Age Group Coaches before making any decisions. There will be additional discussions as the Spring CCM.
§ We had approved some scoring for Jr & Sr Champs.
§ Motion to approve zone coaches, as elected by the CCM, seconded and approved.
· Assistant Coaches for the 2014 SC Zone Team: Chris Schilegel-ASA, Dylan Jones MACH, Heather Purk-LMAC, Meghan Thiel-NCAP, John Leber PM and Jessica Lynn Fry NCAP.
§ Motion to approve Head and Assistant head as elected, seconded and approved.
· Head Coach & Assistant Head Coach for the 2014 LC Zone Team; Derek Young AAC as head coach and Jessica Lyn Fry as assistant head coach.
§ Motion to approve additional club bids for April 1 August 31, 2014 and initial club bids for September 1-December 31, 2014 as endorsed by the CCM with the addition of RMSC Maryland States on June 6-8, 2014, seconded and approved.
· Additional Club meet bids for April 1-August 31, 2014 (final opportunity)
o May 3-4 Mini Olympics MACH
o June 7-8 June Invite FISH
o June 6-8 Maryland States RMSC
o June 20-22 Black & Red LC Invite UMAC
· Initial Club meet bids for September 1-December 31, 2014 (first opportunity)
o Sept. 26 UMAC Relay Meet UMAC
o Oct. 4-5 MAKO Fall Invite MAKO
o Oct. 10-11 Red & Black Invite UMAC
o Oct 10-11 Pumpkin Invite SNOW
o Oct 25-26 Monster Mash Invite SDS
o Nov 1 Triple Distance Challenge UMAC
o Nov 22-23 Odd Ball Challenge FAST
o Nov 21-23 Swim & Rock SDS
o Nov 23 Pilgrim Mini Meet NCAP
o Dec 6-7 MAKO Holiday Invite MAKO
o Dec 4-7 Turkey Claus MACH
o Dec 11-14 Dolan Invite - NCAP
o Approval of New Club There is a new club application that has been sent forth from USA Swimming for final approval by PVS. The new club is out of the Alexandria YMCA. The organizational paperwork has been approved by USA Swimming with provisions. PVS is being asked to approve this application, so the athletes can begin to participate in PVS meets.
§ It is the responsibility of the LSC to ensure that the club is operating in compliance with the Rules & Regulations and following P&P.
§ They are a Y team and will have dual representation. Do all members have to be USA Swimming registered? No, they can intermix due to the agreement between the Y League and USA Swimming.
§ The BoD decided to table the motion, pending additional information from USA Swimming. In the meantime all athletes can be registered as unattached and are allowed to participate in PVS meets.
o Travel Reimbursement for Winter Nationals Senior Chair, Brad Bowser, submitted his recommendations for Travel Reimbursement for the Winter National meet, and proposed the following motions.
§ Motion to pass the reimbursement for 18 swimmers plus the one that came in as an appeal for Winter Nationals as recommended, seconded and approved.
§ Motion to approve travel reimbursement for 3 swimmers as recommended, seconded and approved.
o OW Travel reimbursement amount Previously we have awarded $250 for the Open Water Nationals. A request has been submitted to raise the amount for the 2014 Open Water National to a full share of $450 due to the location of the meet, which is in California.
§ It is a selection meet for World Open Water Championships.
§ There will likely be 7 swimmers who enter the meet.
§ Motion to approve the increase of 2014 OW Nationals to $450, seconded (after additional discussion motion was withdrawn).
§ Motion to make OW Nationals to be considered on the same level as National Level meet with a full share regardless of location, seconded and approved.
o Officials Travel Reimbursement Motion to accept the travel reimbursement request by the Officials Committee for the four PVS Officials that worked at Nationals and Junior Nationals, seconded and approved.
o Open Water The Open Water season in this area begins in April and runs through the end of October, especially with wet suits. The proposal, being brought forth is to extend the season from April 6-October 31. This will allow us to open up a new class of registration for membership.
§ This is currently single event registration; however this will give them the option of being a year-round athlete to just a seasonal athlete, which will save them some money. This would cover college athletes.
· Motion to extend the Open Water season, so it will be from April 6 to October 31, seconded,
o Can we extend this as per the USA Swimming rules? As per Mary Jo Swalley, a seasonal membership is 150 days. As an LSC we can pick the dates, if more than 150 days then we can make it two seasons, no championship level meets can be swum with a seasonal membership.
o Motion to table this discussion and set up a sub-committee for further discussion, seconded and approved.
· What does this LSC want to charge for a single event registration? Initially it was submitted to have the Registrar make a recommendation and then vote; however it is the boards job to determine the amount of this fee.
o For an Open Water competition only (single event), Motion for PVS to offer a single meet Open Water only registration for $25, seconded and approved.
· In 701.1.2 Meet Directors may request permission from their LSC for the use of wetsuits (for not championship meet) and must be classified separately and awarded separately.
o Motion for the request should come in to the Competition Committee and with the cooperation of the Safety Chair the Age Group Chair and Senior Chair will determine if wet suits will be permitted for OW competitions, as stipulated by Rule 701.1.2, seconded and approved.
· A member of the body asked the General Chair; we know where we are with the Executive Director/controller position?
o At this time John Ertter is continuing to work at the controller and is in place until a bookkeeper can be hired.
§ We have interviewed a bookkeeper, but the applicant was over qualified.
§ The transition plan is still in motion and moving forward.
o There is a concern from the board that there is no formalized plan.
§ While this is a true statement, we need the help from the current controller to carry out this plan. And will need his help to hire and transition to a bookkeeper.
§ There are additional concerns regarding the amount of his salary. Do we, as a board, decrease his salary, because he is no longer performing the executive director. Once a bookkeeper is hired we will be able to transitions him out.
§ Will the HOD be told that John is no longer working as the Executive Director? Yes, the House of Delegates cannot address compensation; however they must be fully informed as to what the process.
§ There is a controller section in P & P and the By-Laws and it will have to be looked at. All steps in this transition process needs to be documented.
· Round Table Discussion
o Evaluators Expenses Will PVS entertain paying for lead evaluators at Club meet out of the Officials budget. The recommendation from the Officials committee is that PVS cover the travel expenses because the Officials Committee chooses the evaluator and they could be coming from across the country and the Officials feel that they should cover the travel expenses and the club would continue to pay for the lodging expenses (which is a fairly fixed expense).
§ One comment is that it is an advantage for the LSC so why shouldnt the LSC pay for this expense.
§ In the past it was seen as an advantage to the club who is hosting the meet to have an evaluator at their meet and may make it more difficult for other meets to attract officials, but some meets have found this not to be as relevant as it was once thought.
§ When you are running a PVS meet it is benefitting the LSC. If it is a Club meet then the fee/reimbursement to the club that is benefitting from the profit of that meet.
§ The Officials Committee has asked that the only the travel expenses be paid.
§ Motion for the travel cost of a National Evaluator at a Club Meet be covered by PVS, paid out of the Officials Budget, seconded and approved.
§ How does a club apply or get selected to be an evaluator meet? There are certain criteria to be an evaluator, prelims/finals, at least 2 days long, must have athletes that are capable of swimming at a National level (or have qualified). There is only one club meet per year as an OQM. The others are PVS meets, which gives PVS three meets per year. LC Champs, SC Champs and one meet in December. It is likely that PVS will offer other clubs this opportunity in the future.
o Diversity Initiatives -
§ Club Member Benefits Merari asked if there were other things, like the deal with Bag Tags, that would benefit our clubs and Membership, such as LSC discounts at a Nationals game, which the PVS is interested in. If there is interest, anyone who wants work with Merari on setting up some deals with local companies should contact her.
· Paris Jacobs, commented that in Southern Cal, they have a deal with Dicks Sporting Goods.
§ Black History Meet The BHM is in February and they are looking for PVS support for the meet. If you have any questions please ask Merari or Rob Green, the meet director. Please, as a board, be supportive.
· She has been working with the Meet Director and the host club on how they are running the meet and are looking at ways to make the meet better. One thing they want is more and better Officials. Merari will be sending more information as to how they are working to improve the meet.
· They want the BHM to be an inclusive event. The meet is an Approved meet because there are some teams that are not USA Swimming Teams. One questions is, how many swimmers/teams are there to get times versus just to have fun. Merari believes a majority are there to swim.
· Several Board members commented that PVS has a long history of trying to help with the BHM. Some years they seem to be looking for PVS support and other years PVS is told they do need our help. Merari believes the message she is getting from the organizers this year is that they want the help and support of the LSC.
· February Meeting February 10, TBD (We will be looking into alternative locations for the meeting for the future meetings)
· Motion to Adjourn, seconded and approved.