Meeting minutes approved at the January, 2015 Board Meeting
Potomac Valley Swimming
Board of Director’s Meeting
Video Conference
December 17, 2014
· Attendance – Voting members - Bill Marlin, Tom Ugast, Tim Husson, Mike Rubin, Bob Vincent, Steve Menard, Greg York, Manga Dalizu, Jim Garner, Merari Chollette, Non-voting members – John Ertter, Kurt Thiel, Art Davis, Sumie Emory.
· Call to Order – The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by General Chair Bill Marlin
· Proof of Quorum – There are the minimum number of board members in attendance to conduct official business
· Approval of November Minutes – Motion to approve the meeting minutes from the November Board Meeting, seconded and approved.
· Approval of the Chair Reports and December Financials – Motion to approve the reports as submitting including the monthly financials, seconded and approved.
· General Chair Comments –
o QDD has submitted a request to join PVS. Bill reported that he spoke with Steve Hennessey, VSI General Chair, yesterday and he, himself, is ok with the move. This has been an ongoing issue for the past couple of years. Virginia Swimming will not be meeting for a Board meeting until January. His biggest concern is that he doesn’t want to open the flood gates and have other teams to decide to move to PVS as well.
§ We do need 2/3 of our House and their House to approve this.
§ We will need to give our HOD representatives enough time to ask questions.
§ Their primary factor for wanting to switch is the encroachment of NCAP, OCCS and RIPS all swimming in a facility 5 miles away and it is making it more difficult to keep athletes. The PVS teams only have to travel 30 or so miles for meets while the VSI/their teams often travel 100+ miles. For their Officials, they are required to participate in twice as many sessions as our Officials in PVS and they have to travel further to meets. In PVS they won’t have to travel as far or go to as much expense.
§ Bill feels if our HOD agrees with this move, then we bring in the QDD head coach and board of trustees to go over the PVS P&P to ensure he understands what it means to be part of PVS and what our policies are.
§ Tim commented that QDD has 12 certified Officials. (2 meet refs, 12 officials).
§ How big is their club? (we think about 180 swimmers. They do have an 8 lane 25 yard pool, this may be a benefit to PVS. Nice pool but minimal deck space. They seem to run quite a few small meets.
§ A primary concern expressed in bringing them into PVS is: What is the impact going to be on our meets? Will it contribute to our over-crowding issues?
§ Do they meet any of the criteria? It all comes down to both HOD. Concerned about adding 200 more athletes to our numbers.
§ It was asked if the coach was in good standing. Yes, he seems to be. He seems to be a bit of a rebel at the LSC level. That is a bit of a concern on our side. These issues are more recent.
§ Sumie commented that they are listed as a non-profit. Registration wise they are no problem.
§ Steve Menard commented that being based out of Manassas, they will still have to travel some. Doesn’t sound like they will impact in Open meets, but more impact our Championships/JOs etc. where we are already over-crowded.
§ They have a direct competitor with OCCS, now there will not be a difference between the two. Doesn’t feel that OCCS will be ok with this. Feels it is important to talk with the coaches who will be impacted. QDD has commented that they are losing athletes to PVS teams. What’s to make sure that we all think about this before we let them in.
§ What pools do they use? They do have their own pool and then use others. Will need to find out what meets they plan to do.
§ There is a concern that there will be other teams that will start to petition the same thing and we cannot afford to add all the teams. Feels we need to have USA Swimming to add in on this issue. Is concerned that they just want to do their own thing, their own dual meets, fun meets, etc.
o Bill will get back to Steve H and let him know what our concerns are. This will give us time to talk with OCCS, RIPS, NCAP-West first. And then see what VSI’s BoD thinks about this issue. Tom will work on getting the protocol together for how to send this to HOD.
· Old Business
o Follow up on Derek Young, regarding his educational reimbursement request. He has written a report, but does he have to report to CCM. Manga will reach out to him. The request is for a trip that he has already been on (ASCA in September 2014).
o Motion that we send the reimbursement for Education Grant to Derek Young, seconded and approved.
· New Business
o Athlete Committee Update – Everything has been set up on the website. Can we send a Flash mail to the Head Coaches. The first technical term will start September 1, 2014.
o Official’s Travel Reimbursement – Tim submitted a request to reimburse 5 Officials who have sent in their requests for reimbursements. There are 7 Officials total who are eligible. So far 5 have sent in their requests. Tim will follow up.
§ Motion to accept travel reimbursement for 5 Officials who have submitted their travel reimbursement requests, second and approved.
§ Motion to approve the other 2 officials as if they apply within the 30 day limit, seconded and approved.
o Athlete Travel Reimbursement – 39 total athletes attended National meets: (34 winter nationals, 5 at winter Jr nationals). 32 had met all requirements by April. The GMU group use the Patriot Invite, which is an Observed meet. Bill suggested that we should wait to see if Peter applies for funding. Generally if the students are still in sessions, GMU pays and they do not submit a reimbursement request.
§ Only 1 request has been submitted at this time.
§ If we do not see the requests/applications, then how do we verify their expenses
§ Recommendations that as we receive the applications, as they come in they be verified and then paid. This way as the applications come in they can be immediately approved. If they have not met the requirements, then they will be returned and have the opportunity to appeal.
§ Motion to approve the funding for the 32 Travel Reimbursement, and to be sent out and paid. As the applications come in they will be sent to the Executive Board, seconded and approved.
o PVS Athlete of the Year Selection Discrepancy – We were informed that there was an athlete selected in a particular age group for 2013-2014 Outstanding Athlete, but he was in the incorrect age group. He was nominated and awarded the OA as a 15 year old, but was in fact 16 at the time.
§ Manga will be contacting both parents and all coaches with an explanation.
§ Motion to take the award back from the 15 year old OA award, seconded and approved.
§ Motion to approve the remaining 15 year old the Outstanding Athlete Award, seconded and approved.
§ The new name will be sent to Tim for posting.
§ It is agreed upon that there are flaws in the nomination/awarding system for PVS Outstanding Athletes. A new system is supposed to be discussed at the CCM in January.
· Round Table Discussions –
o Hospitality expenses at November Open – Indicating that the host clubs at the November Open went over the budget for the meet, but just a bit. Do we want to stick with the $250 per session (per course) or do we want to increase this amount? All hosts went over the budget.
§ November Open was 20% smaller than the previous year. But that doesn’t mean the number of timers/coaches/officials was less. Do we need to raise the amount?
§ Worth revisiting…seeing that food items are starting to go up.
§ Maybe look at session length vs session size. And come up with general guidelines for all teams hosting PVS meets.
§ Can we send out an email with a reminder as to what the hospitality limit/budge is? Maybe they just need a reminder.
§ Remember there are a lot of Officials on the deck, particularly in the beginning of the season. And we have to feed them.
§ Any thought/idea how many trainee officials are on deck and how much more does that cost. Tim thinks there is about a 20% increase and feels that Officials can be fed on a budget and they don’t need expensive meals. Often depends on the host club and how much labor do they have.
§ Let’s see how January Open comes out and then we can talk about this again.
§ Do we authorize the additional funds spent? The total over spend was $200 in total. Tell them what is allowable and what is not allowable.
§ Feels the note to the January Open host should come from Bill. In the past John Ertter has sent out a note to the host club and for the November Open he did remind.
§ Motion to authorize payment for $1250 to the Host of the November Open, seconded and approved.
o Safe Sport – Observation from several of the December meets.
§ A few issues with parents behind blocks and videoing and not understanding why they can’t. Deck changing seems to have gone away. The coaches, officials and marshals seem to be the biggest culprits. Several coaches didn’t think it was important to put their phones away behind the blocks, several marshals were observed on their phone and not doing their job.
§ Greg feels, we are not all on top of being safe and keeping electronics off the deck behind the blocks.
§ It needs to be a constant reminder in coaches meeting and timer briefing. Feel that people tend to forget.
§ Maybe use Safe Sport bag tags for Sectionals and banners at these meets.
o QDD – Art is looking and sees they are parent run. Looked at tax returns that is available is 2006…no money in the bank and has debt. This information has to be made public.
· Next meeting – Tuesday, January 13, 2015
· Happy Holidays.