AS APPROVED at the PVS Board Meeting – July 24, 2007
Meeting Notes
POTOMAC VALLEY SWIMMING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
OFFICIAL MINUTES
7:00 PM – TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2007
RIVER FALLS
RIVER FALLS, MD
ATTENDANCE: Board Members: Jim Garner, Chair; Mark Faherty, John Hirschmann, Dan Jacobs, Bill Marlin, Don Riedlinger, Bill Stephens. Non-voting Board members: Janet Auger, Linda Klopfenstein. Guests: Ward Foley, Paris Jacobs, Brian Pawlowicz, Jim Thompson and Greg York
CALL TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at approximately 7:02pm by Jim Garner, General Chair.
AGENDA: Jim provided the Board with a proposed Agenda. The awarding of host bids for 2007-2008 PVS sponsored meets was added to topics to cover under Senior Division.
SUMMER ELECTIONS FOR ATHLETE/COACH/OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVES TO THE PVS BOARD OF DIRECTORS: It was noted that elections need to be held at the upcoming Long Course Championship meets for the Board of Directors positions of Athlete Representatives (two), Coaches Representative and Officials Representative. The Board was informed that both Dan Jacobs (incumbent) and Jon Rogers have indicated their desire to run for Coaches Representative, while Virginia Ratcliff has indicated her desire to run for Athletes Representative.
The Administrative Assistant was requested to post notices requesting nominations for all three positions on the website. Nominations for the Athlete Representative and Officials Representative are to be sent to Jim Garner, while nominations for Coaches Representative are to be sent to Mark Faherty.
2007 UNITED STATES AQUATIC CONVENTION: The General Chair, Jim Garner, will prepare a list of potential attendees to the Convention.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes of the April 25, 2007 meeting were approved. Don Riedlinger abstained.
STATUS OF NEW CONTRACT WITH MONTGOMERY COUNTY RECREATION DEPARTMENT (MCRD): Garner informed the Board that John Ertter had reviewed the new contract with MCRD and that only two items had changed: (1) The contract period is now 3 years, rather than 1 (with a one year extension) and (2) the maximum dollar amount is increased from $200,000 to $250,000. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved authorizing the General Chair to execute the contract.
MODIFICATION TO PVS OFFICIALS REQUIREMENTS FOR COLLEGE BASED CLUBS: Prior to the meeting, Don Riedlinger had provided all Board members with a proposed amendment to the PVS Officials Requirement for each PVS club. Included with his proposed amendment, was an explanation that the Board had previously discussed exempting college affiliated teams, but had not thought it necessary believing that colleges would not register 25 or more athletes. Noting that one college coach with a team in PVS territory elected this year to register all of his swimmers
with USA-S, Riedlinger stated his belief that the Board should take action to explicitly exempt from the calculation of this requirement, college athletes who are also competing for the same school or affiliated USA-S Club.
Without discussion, a motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to modify the PVS Officials Requirement to include the following:
For purposes of applying this test, registered USA-S athletes representing that school (or its affiliated USA-S Club) who have participated in NCAA competition during the current year shall be excluded from this computation for that school/affiliated Club.
TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT FOR PVS ATHLETE PARTICIPATING IN 2007 USA SWIMMING SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS: Riedlinger informed the Board that five clubs had applied for travel assistance on behalf of seven athletes who participated in the 2007 USA Swimming Spring championships. The Board was advised that their applications had been reviewed and they all satisfied the requirements for reimbursement. One was submitted as an “appeal” and the basis for the appeal was noted as “college.” The Board was advised of the specifics of the situation and agreed the
circumstances satisfied the intent of the “college” provision. It was noted that the amount of travel funds set aside for this meet was $9,000, with a cap of $450 per swimmer. The Board approved payment of $450 per athlete to the appropriate clubs for these 7 athletes.
2007 PVS LONG COURSE EASTERN ZONE ASSISTANT COACHES: The Board voted to approve Competition’s election of James Gully (OCCS), Peter McDonough (PM), Nathan Meadows (TIBU), Yuri Suguiyama (CUBU) and Shelley Gesker (YORK) as 2007 PVS LC Eastern Zone Assistant Coaches. (Although Jenn Verser had been elected as an EZ LC Assistant Zone Coach at the Competition Meeting, she had since indicated that she would be unable to serve and that the Age Group Chairman is recommending she be replaced by Shelley Gesker (YORK).)
CLUB MEET SANCTION REQUESTS: Riedlinger reviewed Competition Committee’s endorsement of eighteen club meets to be held between September 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007:
Riedlinger reviewed Competition Committee’s endorsement of thirteen club meets to be held between January 1, 2008 to March 31, 2008:
Riedlinger reviewed Competition Committee’s endorsement of one club meet to be held between April 1, 2008 to May 31, 2008:
It was pointed out that several club meet sanction requests were proposed on the same dates as PVS sponsored meets and would require Board waivers in order to be sanctioned: These are the RMSC November Invitational (PVS November Open), Friendship Mini Invitational (PVS) (November Open), Speedo Eastern States Senior Circuit #3 (PVS January Distance Meet), York Friendship Mini Invitational (PVS February Distance Meet), PEAK “Right Weekend” Qualifier (PVS February Distance Meet) and AAC Winter Gator Mini Meet (PVS February Distance Meet). The Board agreed to grant all these waivers. In doing
so, it noted that several had been granted in prior years. The Board was also informed that the new PEAK meet would not be offering distance event (it is on the same weekend as the February Distance Meet.) The Board voted to approve the sanctions.
2008 LONG COURSE PVS MEET SCHEDULE: Competition Committee’s recommended 2008 PVS LC Meet Schedule was presented as follows:
The Board voted to approve the schedule as presented.
CRITERIA FOR RECEIVING PVS TRAVEL ASSISTANCE: Competition Committee recommended to the Board the following Travel Assistance criteria:
the athlete must have competed in a minimum of 4 swims in any PVS sanctioned meet during the 2007 LC season with no minimum requirement of swims in any PVS sponsored meets.
the athlete must have competed in a minimum of four swims in PVS sanctioned meets during the calendar period Apr 1 up to the date of the meet.
the athlete must have competed in a minimum of four swims in PVS sanctioned meets during the calendar period April 1 up to the date of the meet.
It was also noted that except for the 2007 USA Paralympics Can-Am Meet to be held December 6-8, 2007 the House at its May 23 meeting had approved the travel assistance requirements recommended by Competition at its May 15 meeting – therefore no Board action was needed.
ATHLETE HOUSING ARRANGEMENTS FOR 2008 EASTERN ZONE LONG COURSE MEET: The Competition Committee recommended the offering of a two option plan regarding the housing of PVS athletes for this local zone meet. Option 1 included hotel accommodations and group travel, while Option 2 included neither hotel accommodations nor travel. The Board deferred action on this recommendation due to the current uncertainty regarding when and at what venues to the 2008 EZ LC Age Group Championship meet will be conducted.
REQUEST FOR OFFICIALS COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE CHASE STARTS: Competition Committee requested the PVS Board to task the Officials Committee to investigate the potential introduction of chase starts at long course meet. The Board voted to approve Competition Committee’s request.
MODIFICATION TO EVENT LINE-UP AT 2007 PVS OCTOBEN OPEN AND 2007 PVS NOVEMBER OPEN MEETS: The Board voted to approve Competition Committee’s modification to the 2007 October Open event line ups and the 2007 November event Open line-ups both carried.
MODIFICATION TO FUTURE PVS SENIOR SHOURT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIP MEETS: The Board voted to approve Competition Committee’s recommendation that future PVS Senior Short Course Championship meets limit out-of-LSC athlete participation to 10% and that the format include four heats at finals.
ADDITION OF LANGUAGE IN FUTURE MEET ANNOUNCEMENTS: The Board voted to approve Competition Committee’s recommendation that language be included in all future meet announcements requesting that each participating club send one table worker or official if it entered 25 or more splashes.
AWARDING OF 2007-2008 SC PVS SPONSORED MEETS: Riedlinger reviewed with the Board the bids that had been received to host the 2007-08 SC PVS sponsored meets. He noted that bids had been received for three of the four November Open sites and that no bids had been received for the January Distance and February Distance meets. The Board was informed that they had just learned day that one of the bidders for the November Open dual course site might be interested in hosting both sites. Therefore, the Board agreed to defer the award of all but one site
pending learning of the club’s response. [Subsequent to the meeting, the bidder declined to host both sites at the November Open dual course.]
The Board voted to award the following meets on a vote of 6 to 1.
October Open
Lee District Potomac Marlins
Fairland CUBU
Fairland OCCS
November Open
Cub Run FISH
January Open
MLK RMSC
PGS&LC MACH
PGS&LC PM
14/Under JO Championship
MACH
SC Senior Championship
CUBU
TREASURER’S REPORT/FINANCE DIVISION: Financial results for the period ending May 31, 2007 had been provided to the Board prior to the meeting. PVS’s current assets on hand as of May 31, 2007, were $753,489. The Board was advised that the GOA (General Operating Account) at M&T has gone up by $100K in anticipation of buying a new CD very shortly. The money came from the Restricted Operation Account (ROA) at the same bank.
Team B whose membership was suspended at the March Board meeting for non payment of amounts due to PVS -- has brought its account current - including paying a $100 late payment charge and a $25 bad check charge. Their club membership has been reinstated.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION ON PARTICIPANT OF 2007 SC EASTERN ZONES: Age Group Division: Paris Jacobs, Zone Team Manager for the 2007 SC EZ meet, presented to the Board a situation involving an athlete whose parent took the athlete home following prelims on Saturday. This was in spite of PVS policy that athletes are expected to return to Washington with the team and in no cases are released to their parents prior to the conclusion of finals on Saturday evening. A motion was made to ban the athlete from participating in future Zone meets through 2008. A friendly amendment was made and
accepted so that the ban would apply to the 2007 LC Zone meet and the 2008 SC Zone meet only. The motion, as amended, passed with one abstention. It was agreed that a letter, signed by both the General Chair, Jim Garner, and the Age Group Chair, Bill Marlin, would be sent to the athlete’s parents informing them of the Board’s decision.
REGISTRATION REFUND REQUESTS FOR 2007 EZ LC ZONES: Paris Jacobs suggested that Zone Team registrations be accepted through the close of the appropriate championship meets and will only be considered complete if full payment is made. In addition, she recommended that wording be added to both the information on the website and the registration packet stating that athletes have until 5pm on Monday, July 23rd to withdraw their registrations without penalty. This was because of the commitments PVS must make for lodging, transportation,
outfitting, catering and meet entries ahead of time. Requests for refunds after this time will not be honored. Her recommendations were unanimously accepted by the Board.
ACTION ON FCPA’S OFFER OF RENTAL OF LEE DISTRICT POOL FOR FEBRUARY 22-24, 2008: The Board agreed to accept FCPA’s offer of Lee District pool for the dates of February 22nd (PM), 23rd (AM and PM) and 24th (AM and PM) in 2008. Options for the use of the site included a PVS 8&U Camp, a slower than JO cut time meet for 9-14 year olds with a partial event line-up, and a 15-18 meet offering events no offered at high school meet. The Coaches Representatives agreed to develop final plans to be presented at the Fall Competition meeting. There
was also discussion whether the meets should be club or PVS sponsored meets and what clubs might be potential bidders under either sponsorship arrangement.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO PVS BY LAWS: Noting the action taken at the 2007 Annual House of Delegates meeting to create the position of an elected Officials Representative on the PVS Board of Directors, Riedlinger had prepared and circulated prior to the meeting a draft of the necessary amendment to the PVS Bylaws. He indicated that he had used as his foundation for the draft the position of Coaches
Representative. In a preliminary review with Bruce Stratton, USA-S Rules & Regulation, he had been told that such a position was unusual, but permissible. A motion was made, seconded and passed, with one abstention (Bill Stephens) to adopt the Bylaw amendment as presented.
The final item to be determined by the Board was to define the criteria for an Officials Representative. By a unanimous vote, the Board established the criteria as follows: At the time of election, the Officials Representative must (a) be currently registered with USA Swimming and (b) be currently certified by PVS as Referee, Starter, Stroke & Turn Judge, Hy-Tek Operator or Colorado Timing System Operator.
CALL FOR A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES: In a desire to re-open the tabled discussion of the Executive Director position, the Board decided to call a Special Meeting of the House of Delegates. After reviewing various dates and locations, the Board’s preference was to set the date and time as Tuesday, July 24th at 6:30PM. The Administrative Assistant was requested to check on the availability of McLean Community Center. [Subsequent to the meeting, the location was confirmed as McLean Community Center.]
DEFERRED ITEMS: An inquiry on an item of New Business that had been deferred for several months was raised. It was suggested the Board should either act on the item or remove it from its agenda. The background for why the motion was being considered was explained. It pertains to athletes transferring into the LSC during the year receiving services from PVS, but not paying PVS any dues. A motion was made to not charge fees for transferring athletes into PVS from other LSC’s. The motion was tabled.
NEXT BOARD MEETING: The Chair announced that its next Board meeting will be held on Tuesday July 24, 2007 at 7:30PM, location to be announced at a later date. [Following the meeting, it was confirmed that the meeting would be held at McLean Community Center.]
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting adjourned at 10:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
Janet Auger
PVS Administrative Assistant