Official Minutes

POTOMAC VALLEY SWIMMING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
MEETING NOTES

 

6:30 PM -- MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2007
McLean Community Center
McLean, VA


 

Attendance:  Board Members:   Jim Garner, Chair; Art Davis, Mark Faherty, Frani Hess, John Hirschmann, Dan Jacobs, Bill Marlin, Don Riedlinger, Bill Stephens,  Ron Whalen.  Non-voting Board members:  Janet Auger, John Ertter. Boots Hall, Jim Van Erden.  Guests:   Cy Cyganiewicz, Manga Dalizu, Paris Jacobs, Greg York.

 

Call to Order:  The meeting was called to order at approximately 6: 40pm by Jim Garner, General Chair.

 

Executive Session:  The Board of Directors met in Executive Session from 6:40pm until 7:55pm during which time John Ertter gave a presentation entitled, “Potomac Valley Swimming – Racing into the Future.”  Following the presentation the Board resumed its meeting in an Open Session., A committee comprised of Jim Van Erden, Bill Marlin and Bill Stephens was formed to review the strategic proposals presented and to report back to the Board at its March 12th meeting.  Additionally, a Board Retreat was scheduled for Sunday, April 15th, time and location to be announced at a later date. John Ertter volunteered his home as a possible location for the meeting. The final item was a unanimously approved motion that John Ertter attend the USA-S “Build a Pool Conference” to be held in Colorado Springs, April 11th – 14th, 2007 to allow him to obtain background relevant to one of the recommendations in his presentation.

 

Agenda:  Jim provided the Board with a proposed agenda.

 

Approval of Minutes:  A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the January 17, 2007 meeting.  After accepting the need for one correction, the motion passed with one abstention by Don Riedlinger.

 

General Chairman Items:  The General Chair, Jim Garner, began the meeting by requesting that Paris Jacobs provide an update on the 2007 Swimposium.  Paris informed the Board that the location had yet to be finalized and confirmed that Peter Clark had reserved the date on his calendar.  She asked the Board for direction on retaining an athlete speaker. There was discussion and it was recognized the more we are willing to spend – the bigger name we can get with its increased drawing power. A motion was made and seconded to permit Paris to spend up to $5,000 for an athlete speaker.  A friendly amendment was made to increase the amount to $7,000.  The amended motion passed.

 

It is now also recognized that VSI will not be able to participate with us in a joint Swimposium as VSI has made other commitments for the first weekend in October and that is the only weekend that it is practical for PVS to hold it.  There was also discussion whether the Swimposium would be on Saturday October 6 or Sunday, October 7.  It was noted it was held on a Sunday last time in order to allow coaches to attend without having to cancel Saturday practice.  It was agreed for now we would simply announce that the Swimposium is planned for the weekend of October 6-7, 2007.

 

Manga Dalizu was welcomed to the meeting and was provided an opportunity to clarify his previously submitted request for funding for a Diversity Team.   Dalizu explained that he had prepared in a short time frame the request that he had presented at the January Board meeting at the behest of the Competition Committee.  The Board reviewed the concerns it had raised at its January meeting and reflected in the meeting notes for that meeting.  Manga indicated that his informal planning group had subsequently concluded it has insufficient time left to plan a good experience for this May’s meet.  Accordingly, they are now focusing their planning efforts on May, 2008.  The Board asked that it continue with those efforts and also recommended that a request be prepared to be included in PVS’s FY08 budget, preparation for which will take place in March-April 2007.

The Board next turned to the proposed Statement of Principles on Ethical Behavior and Conflict of Interest that had been deferred at its January meeting at Riedlinger’s request until Art Davis could be present.  Davis explained to the Board that, while he agreed it was wise to not reinvent the wheel, he thought that the proposed document wandered away from a pure conflict policy document and that he did not think that the average Board member would fully comprehend the technical and legal aspects of what was being signed. Others noted the title of the document indicates its intent is broader – as it includes “Principles on Ethical Behavior” and therefore it is appropriate to include other topics.

 In response to a question regarding the genesis of the proposed statement, John Ertter explained that the document was very similar to what was signed by USA-S Board members and all its staff members.  Noting that the IRS Form 990 required of all non-profits now poses the question for the first time as to the existence of a Conflict of Interest Statement, Ertter indicated that he believed such a requirement may be instituted in the future.  Hirschmann reported to the Board that he had spoken with the PVS auditor about the subject and while it was not addressed in the management letter PVS received, our auditor had strongly recommended such a statement be adopted.  A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved requesting Davis to prepare a revised Conflict of Interest Policy to be presented at the March meeting.

 

Garner next requested Hirschmann to discuss the difficulties that are being encountered regarding routine requests.  Hirschmann indicated he had not anticipated the item would be on the agenda and that he wished the topic to be tabled pending the creation of an inventory of expectations.  Paris Jacobs and Hirschmann were asked to prepare a request of routine items that occur in connection with a meet.

 

Concluding this section of the Agenda, Boots Hall reported she had learned at a recent National Officials Committee meeting that USA-S was amending its Rules & Regulations regarding the teaching of racing starts to increase the minimum water depth from 5 feet to 6 feet.  [Subsequent to the meeting, PVS received official notification of this change and posted a notice to its website at:  http://www.pvswim.org/safety/WaterDepthChange0702.pdf as well as sending it out via Flash Mail.]

 

Athlete Representative:  Frani Hess advised the Board that she had received an email asking for clarification as to which database would contain times from observed high school meets.  It was explained to her that observed swims would not appear in the PVS Searchable Database, but would be loaded into the USA Swimming Database and if specifically requested for zone consideration, in that data base as well.

 

Senior Division:  Riedinger presented the bids that had been received to host PVS sponsored meets for the 2006-07 Long Course Season.  The following bids were presented for approval:

 

He indicated they were the only bids received. The Board voted to approve all of the awards.  It was noted that all PVS sponsored meets for the summer 2007 period were now awarded.

 

Treasurer’s Report / Finance Division:  Financial results for the period ending January 31, 2007 had been provided to the Board prior to the meeting.  PVS’s current assets on hand as of January 31, 2007 were $787,409.  With his transmittal of the financial results, Hirschmann had reported to the Board that (1) registration revenue during the first 5 months of the 2006 fiscal year was up 7.7% compared to the same period in the 2006 fiscal year and (2) entries in Club and PVS meets thru January were up by 12.6% over last year.  PVS overall financial health remains strong, investment income thru January is also ahead of budget and some initiative for which funds were budgeted have seen relatively little activity.

 

In light of the recent enactment of the “Sanction Fee Treaty” with VSI and Maryland Swimming, Hirschmann requested the Board clarify the handling of fees due PVS when a meet is held out-of-LSC.  For club sponsored meets, he recommended to the Board that PVS charge the standard fee of $0.45 per entry and credit the club up to $100 paid to the host LSC, providing the splash fees generated are at least $100.  In the event the meet is a PVS sponsored meet, the $100 paid to would be an allowable meet expense.  A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to adopt this policy.

 

The second item needing clarification was the handling of sanctioning meets to be held out-of-LSC under the ‘Sanction Fee Treaty.”  Hirschmann recommended that these meets follow the same policy and procedure as meets run within PVS.  A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to adopt this policy.

 

The final item discussed was the matter of an outstanding accounts receivable by an out-of-LSC team for unpaid meet entry fees.  No action was taken pending taking further steps to verify the amount outstanding.

 

Age Group Division:  Marlin informed the Board that he was not prepared to present a budget for the 2008 Summer Zone meet as he had just received estimated pool rental cost information that day.  He indicated that he would coordinate with John Ertter and present a cost estimate for hosting the meet and a cost estimate for the team at the March meeting.

 

As to the matter of a replacement Zone Team Coordinator, Paris Jacobs informed the Board that she was in discussion with a potential candidate.  Paris requested that, in the event this candidate accepts the position, she be allowed to accompany Paris to the 2007 Eastern Zone SC Championship.  The Board granted Paris’ request.  Pending acceptance by the potential candidate, Marlin was to prepare job description to be sent out by FLASH mail and perhaps post on the website.

 

Concluding discussion on Zones, John Ertter pointed out to the Board that PVS will be issuing IRS Form1099’s to those individuals (including Zone coaches) who receive $600 or more in payments in a calendar year.

 

Operations Division:  Jim Van Erden informed the Board that the Officials Committee had revised its Officials Education Travel Reimbursement Policy.  Highlights of the revisions were presented as follows:

 

 

A copy of the proposal had become available to some members of the Board prior to the meeting.  In response to a concern that reimbursement requests might exceed the budget, Van Erden stated that it was the Committee’s intent that when the yearly allocation (currently $5,000) is exhausted no additional allocations will be made in the year.  He was also requested to clarify whether participation in USA Swimming Open Water Championships and Disability Championships would also be eligible meets.  It was agreed the proposed policy should be amended to reflect these changes. Van Erden was asked to amend his proposal to reflect these requested changes and they will be reviewed at the next meeting.  [Subsequent to the meeting, the revised “Officials Education Travel Reimbursement Policy” was provided to the Administrative Assistant.}

 

 

Administrative Division:  Davis informed the Board that an application to join PVS as a new member club had been received from Central Chesapeake Swimming (PEAK).  A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to approve PEAK’s application pending approval by USA-S.

 

Davis updated the Board on club renewals and the status of two YMCA teams that have been expressing interest in joining PVS.  He also informed the Board that Background Screening had been initiated by 286 of PVS’s 316 coaches.

 

Coaches Representatives:  Mark Faherty requested clarification from the Board regarding the parking arrangements for meets at GMU. The most immediate concern was a large number of tickets had been issued for parking in Lot B during a tri meet held there on a Sunday morning. It was explained that free parking for those attending/participating in swim meets is normally restricted to Lot C (with overflow to Lot A and a paid parking deck) and that an outside contractor strictly enforces the parking in other lots  -- particularly Lot B.  While GMU does not permit the placing of signs by others on its campus, it will provide assistance in placing its own signs.  It was also stated that for a club sponsored meet, it is PVS’s expectation that it should take the lead in communicating parking arrangements to visiting teams.

 

Strategic Planning:  Stephens informed the Board that he had only received comments from one Board member following last month’s meeting regarding his draft proposals to amend the PVS By-Laws .  He reiterated to the Board that R-41 from last year’s USA-S House requires that PVS increase its athlete representatives on the Board up to at least 20% of the voting members (which means PVS must increase its number from two to three) and it also requires that it increase ifs athlete members to at least twenty percent of the voting membership of the House of Delegates. Since the three athlete representatives to the Board will be insufficient, it was recommended that the remainder be appointed by the General Chairman with the concurrence of the Board.

 

Comments were separately made regarding how to elect the Athlete Representatives to the Board were as follows:

 

Regarding the proposal to add the Officials Chair to the Board of Directors, clarification was requested as to whether the Officials Chair would still report to the Operations Division Chairman or report directly to the Board. Some members expressed the concern that the Operations Chair’s authority might be minimized if the Officials Chair would now report directly to the Board.  Others wondered if the voices of the coaches and athlete representatives would be diluted.  There was also discussion whether the Officials Chair should be an elected or appointed position.  There was a consensus it should be an appointed position based on a recommendation from the General Chairman and the Operation Division Chairman, subject to the approval of the Board.  A motion was made, seconded and passed (6-1-2) to amend the By-Laws to add the Officials Chair as a voting member of the Board, with no change in how that individual is selected or confirmed.

 

The final proposal discussed was to allow the General Chair, with the advice and consent of the Board of Directors, to appoint up to three at-large Board members who would serve for the remainder of the General Chair’s term in which they were selected.

 

The Board concurred in proposing the amendments necessary to effectuate these changes to the PVS House when it meets in May.  It requested Stephens to develop the precise language changes that need to be made in the by-laws to effectuate these changes.  Those items mandated by USA Swimming will not be subject to a vote.

 

New Business:  Hirschmann and Ertter requested that discussion on the Formal PVS Investment Policy be tabled so that one matter in the proposal could be clarified. 

 

Paris Jacobs volunteered to fill the Club Development Liaison position since she indicated she was frequently already performing that function for the LSC.  Her offer was accepted.

 

A request was made to Ron Whalen that the condition of some of PVS’s equipment (particularly touchpads) be evaluated.  Reports were received on the performance of the equipment at two club sponsored meets the past weekend.

 

The importance of broadcasting that Daylight Savings Time commences on the Sunday of Senior Championships was discussed.  It is already reflected and will be more broadly publicized as the meet date gets closer.  

 

Next Board Meeting:  The Chair announced that its next Board meeting will be held at McLean Community Center on Monday, March 12th at 6:30PM.

 

Adjournment:  the meeting adjourned at 10:20PM.

 

Respectfully submitted by,
Janet Auger
PVS Administrative Assistant