POTOMAC VALLEY SWIMMING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
MEETING NOTES
7:00 PM – WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2008
MCLEAN COMMUNITY CENTER
MCLEAN, VA
Attendance: Board Members: Greg York, Chair, Riley Eaton, Mark Faherty, Boots Hall, Dan Jacobs, Bill Marlin, Virginia Ratcliff, Jim Thompson, Non-voting Board Members: Jim Garner, Karl Hellmann, Linda Klopfenstein Brian Pawlowicz. Executive Director: John Ertter. Individual Members: Janet Auger, John Hirschmann, and Tim Husson.
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at approximately 7:02 pm by Greg York, General Chair.
Agenda: John Ertter, Executive Director, provided the Board with a proposed Agenda that was adopted.
Presentation by Arlington County Board member: Jay Fisette, Arlington County Board member and Erik Beach, staff member of Arlington Parks and Recreation, made a presentation on the background and current status of Arlington County’s North Tract Project. The new park will be located along I-395 entering Washington, DC, near Reagan National Airport and on the site of the old Twin Bridges Marriott and adjacent property. It will be comprised of four rectangular fields with synthetic turf, an aquatics, health and fitness center, and an Esplanade that will connect the park and its recreational facilities.
Partial funding for the project was approved by Arlington voters in the November 2004 Park Bond Referendum. With a total estimated potential cost of over $90 million, depending on phasing, financing, and partnerships, Arlington County is vigorously pursuing creative partnerships with private and non-profit organizations.
Construction for the initial phase is expected to start this spring. It is hoped the aquatics facility can be started soon thereafter as the next phase.
The purpose in making the presentation was to make sure the PVS Board of Directors were aware of the project, invite input and explore whether there are ways PVS could be supportive of the project. Several Board members asked questions related to specifics of the pool design, its capacity, how scheduling of the facility would be done, and possible ways for PVS to support the project. Various options already being pursued by Arlington County for sponsorship were also discussed.
Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the December 12, 2007 meeting were unanimously approved.
PVS Travel Assistance for 2007 USA Swimming Short Course National Championships: Linda Klopfenstein, Travel Assistance Coordinator, informed the Board that 4 clubs had applied for travel assistance on behalf of 15 athletes who participated in the 2007 USA Swimming Short Course National Championships held in Atlanta, GA – November 29-December 1, 2007. The Board was advised that all applications were received by the due date and that all satisfied the requirements for reimbursement. It was noted that the amount of travel funds set aside for this meet was $6,750, with a cap of $450 per swimmer. Therefore the full amount budgeted would be utilized, but no pro-rating of the amount to be paid on behalf of each athlete would be needed. The Board approved payment of $450 per athlete to the appropriate clubs for these athletes.
Athlete Representatives’ Reports: Virginia Ratcliff had nothing to report.
Webmaster’s Report: Tim Husson, Webmaster, briefly reviewed his monthly PVS Webmaster’s Report with the Board. He agreed to prepare and present a draft Privacy Policy at the February meeting.
Presentation on Strategic Planning Initiative: Prior to the meeting, Jim Thompson, Strategic Planning Chair, distributed to all Board members his PVS Membership Study: Status Update. During his review of the material, Thompson pointed out that the use of geocoding membership data (in lieu of using zip codes) provided better accuracy as well as would allow data comparison from government sources. To assist in forecasting PVS membership, he requested that the Board review his assumptions and that the Administrative Chair and Operations Chair confirm his registration numbers and meet entry numbers, respectively. Citing an inability to find relevant data on youth participation in other sports programs in the Washington, DC area, Thompson recommended that work be suspended on the matter.
Thompson explained to the Board that a private wiki collaboration site has been established to support distributed collaboration for the demographic analysis. Currently, four Board members who had expressed an interest in the work, the Webmaster and Registrar are able to access the site. Other Board members who wish to participate or oversee the work were encouraged to request an invitation to join. Thompson’s planned future steps in the PVS Membership Study were reviewed and are available on Slide 22.
Citing the benefit to both PVS and its member clubs in assessing the future of swimming, York suggested that Thompson be given an opportunity to present at the upcoming House of Delegates meeting.
2008 EZ LC Planning Meeting: Prior to the meeting, Bill Marlin distributed to all members of the Board a write-up of the 2008 Summer LC Zone Planning Meeting held on January 3, 2008. He highlighted three action items in the report for the Board. The first item was to request a status update on the purchase of 2 four line score boards. Ertter explained that a decision on the purchase was imminent and that he was taking the lead on this item.
The second item concerned the financial arrangements for the joint hosting of the meet. A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved authorizing John Ertter to serve as the Chief Financial Officer for the meet and subsequently establish creation of the 2008 Eastern Zone LC Meet bank account for meet finances with initial deposits to be funded in the amount of $5,000 from VSI and $5,000 from PVS. It was reaffirmed that both LSC’s would continue to share equally in any net profit or loss from the meet. The Board was also advised the VSI Board had met the prior weekend and agreed to this. Both VSI and PVS Boards have indicated they wish to run a quality meet for the zone and that their objective was NOT to maximize what they might earn from the meet.
Marlin’s final item was to inform the Board that he was in the process of revising the budget for the meet.
Executive Director’s Report: Prior to the meeting, John Ertter, Executive Director, provided all Board members with his month “Report from Executive Director.” After reviewing his report, he noted two additional items. Regarding the upcoming PVS January Open meet, he informed the Board that arrangements had been made to secure the MLK site on Friday afternoon in the event that it was also needed as had been the case for the meet in 2007. He requested that the Board be supportive of this change if necessitated once all entries for the meet were received. It was noted that when this had arisen in the past, these changes had proceeded after just consulting the most directly involved members of the Board. Citing that the annual House of Delegates meeting would be held in four months, he asked members to begin work on their 2009 PVS budget numbers.
Administrative Division: York informed the Board that Art Davis, in preparation for his absence, had asked that he discuss the status of updating PVS Policy & Procedures. York explained that a spreadsheet had been created of modifications to P&P with the assistance of Hirschmann, Don Riedlinger and Janet Auger and that Hirschmann and Riedlinger have agreed to update the actual document. Independent of this a review of the By-laws should also be undertaken to determine if any changes are needed either based on legislation passed at the USA Swimming Convention or they are otherwise desirable. Any changes, if needed, must be presented at the upcoming annual House of Delegates meeting.
A Registration Progress Comparison had been provided prior to the meeting to all members by Davis. It shows PVS’s registration history as of December 31 for the past four years.
Finance/Accounting: Financial results for the period ending December 31, 2007 were not yet available pending the arrival of year-end investment reports. [These reports were provided to the Board on January 11th and showed that PVS’ current assets on hand as of December 31, 2007 were $837,586.]
Operations Division: Ron Whalen was absent and submitted no report.
Senior Division: Riley Eaton, Senior Chair, reviewed with the Board invitation requests he had received for the 2008 PVS Senior Championship meet. To date, he has issued only one invitation – to a team from Colorado – so as to allow it time to make travel arrangements. He expressed his intention to comply with Competition’s request that out-of-LSC entries be limited to 10%, but noted the inherent difficulty in achieving exactly this number prior to receipt of PVS’ entries. The Board acknowledged some flexibility was probably required in exactly how this limitation was implemented.
Age Group Division: Bill Marlin reported to the Board that the posting of the 2008 Eastern Zone Short Course Application was delayed pending receipt of the Outfitting Order Form. Mark Faherty explained that he had been in contact with both Aardvark and TYR and that some confusion existed regarding the state of the contract. He indicated he would review the matter with Paris Jacobs who had negotiated the contract. In the event that a new contract needs to be negotiated, the Board directed Faherty to request proposals from both Speedo and TYR for Board review. If necessary an electronic Board vote can be taken.
In response to Brian Pawlowicz’s concerns regarding the swimmer scratch rate at the recently completed PVS January Distance meet, Marlin prepared for the Board a handout illustrating five year data on the matter that demonstrated an average scratch rate of at least 24.4% for distance meets. The Board took no action on the matter, but suggested that if there were suggestions how distance meets could be conducted better in the future, that the matter be raised at the upcoming Competition Committee meeting.
Coaches Representatives: Mark Faherty had nothing additional to report.
Officials Representative: Boots Hall noted that she had volunteered the past weekend at the Speedo Eastern States Senior Circuit meet and expressed concern about the necessity of officials needing to cover five lanes. She agreed to include on the agenda at the upcoming Officials Meeting both the status of staffing at both the PVS B/BB Championship and the 2008 EZ LC meets.
New Business: Pawlowicz informed the Board that equipment bids were being accepted by Loudoun County for its Claude Moore Recreation Center. He agreed to investigate the possibility of a reciprocal agreement in the event PVS assisted in any equipment purchases.
As a follow-up to the presentation on the Arlington County North Tract Project, Ertter noted Jay Fisette’s request that an additional meeting be scheduled with a smaller group than those attending tonight’s meeting. York recommended that said meeting be attended by members of the Competition Committee. There were no objections raised to this suggestion.
Next Board Meeting: The Chair announced that its next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 6th, 6:30 PM at McLean Community Center.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted by,
Janet Auger
PVS Administrative Assistant