Attendance - Jim Garner, Chair, Ethan Bassett, John Hirschmann, Bill Marlin, Donald Riedlinger, Bill Stephens, Ron Whalen, and Greg York. Non-voting Board Members: John Ertter, and Linda Klopfenstein Guests: Joel R Cyganiewicz, Jim Dvorak

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

Agenda -- Jim had provided the Board with a proposed agenda prior to the meeting and had incorporated additional items into the agenda as a result of input from the Board.

Executive Session -- Jim Garner asked that the Board convene in executive session to discuss a matter that had arisen with regard to whether certain clubs (and their athletes) currently registered with PVS should instead be registered with another LSC. The matter pertains to clubs that have most or all of their training sites in adjoining counties. A meeting had been held at the annual United States Swimming convention between Jim Garner, the General Chairman of the other LSC and two members of the United States Swimming board to discuss this matter and concerns that have recently arisen.

Jim shared with the Board a proposed agreement that had been drafted as a result of that meeting. As result of receiving input from Board members and directly impacted clubs, the following two motions were passed.

The board resumed its meeting in Open Session.

Approval of July BoD Minutes - The minutes of July 27, 2004 Board of Directors minutes were APPROVED as submitted

Request from Maverick Swim Team - Jim brought to the Board's attention a request he had received in late August from Erik Collins, Head Coach, to transfer their club membership from the PV LSC to the MD LSC. The club had first joined PVS as a new club in June, 2004 and their membership as a club had been approved at the July Board meeting. Erik stated the request was based on two factors - the stated desire of the coach to avoid potential "recruiting violations" by having his club be a member of another LSC and the fact most of his club members are (will be) residents of the Annapolis/Anne Arundel area or the Charles/Calvert County area.

Jim clarified that in contrast to what was stated in the letter, a change in membership cannot be approved by a simple majority of the PVS Board. Rather the requirements of Appendix 6-E of USA Swimming Rules and Regulations apply - which includes a requirement that a majority of his club membership to first approve - followed by a 2/3rd vote of the House of Delegates of both the Potomac Valley and Maryland LSC's.

Jim asked whether we should initiate calling a special vote of the PVS House for this purpose. It was noted that the House does not normally meet until May, 2005 and that calling a special meeting would involve almost 60 people for one agenda item. It was suggested that there was no point in PVS calling a special meeting if the MD LSC HofD was not prepared to address the matter. Garner was asked to first check the MD LSC General Chairman regarding this matter.

Treasurer's Report/Finance Division -- The financial statements for PVS as of August 31, 2004 (the end of PVS's fiscal year) had been sent to the Board prior to the meeting. PVS's current assets on hand as of August 31, 2004 were $490,855 including $4,466 in the Dave Davis fund. The Treasurer had been asked to report to the Board regarding uncollected receivables of the LSC. Hirschmann and Ertter reported this amount is very small and represent one equipment rental charge that a government entity is having problems getting disbursed and another for an equipment rental that we have been unable to get independent confirmation that the equipment was rented. However, PVS did learn earlier in the week that some additional equipment rentals may have occurred last year for which invoices (if issued) were never received by the Controller and therefore not set up as receivables on PVS's accounts.

Ertter informed the Board that he plans to meet with the auditor in early October to allow the audit of the FY 2004 books to commence. Since PVS has accepted the recommendation to make adjustments from cash to accrual accounting as of fiscal year end, he has discussed with the accountant the most efficient way to do so. It appears QuickBooks will not allow this to be done on a one-time basis and then return to a cash basis. Therefore, John is proposing to provide the accountant with a separate schedule of accruals to be made as of the end of Fiscal 2003 and Fiscal 2004. The expectation is the auditor will reflect them in the statements they certify. He noted the impact on PVS's financial condition will not be material. He offered to make the schedule of adjustments available to any interested Board member.

Ertter expressed concern that we may not be able to provide the level of detail desired by the accountant regarding PVS's registration activity and asked if discussions could be established with PVS's Registrar to see if there is a way to do so.

It was noted the matter of whether certain clubs and their athletes should be registered in PVS or another LSC is likely a material item that will be discussed with the auditor and reflected in the notes to our financial statements.

Questions were asked about the finances of PVS teams sent to the Eastern Zone meets. John Ertter reported that expenses (and net cost to PVS since no athlete participation fees were charged) for the long course meet were about $15,000 - the amount that had been budgeted much earlier in order to allow for a team approach if the LSC had chosen to do so. The short course meet came in well under budget since lodging costs were substantially less than had been anticipated.

Senior Division - Don Riedlinger led a review of the items from the September 25th Competition Committee meeting that needed Board review and approval.

Approval of Mark Faherty (CUBU) as Head Coach and Breanne Smith (SDS) as Assistant Head Coach for the PVS Eastern Zone SC 2005 Team. The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

Approval of the process to select the remaining 4 coaches with the two 12/U assistant coaches to be selected at the PVS 14/U JO SC Championships and the two 13-18 year old coaches to be selected at the PVS Senior SC Championships. The Board APPROVED this process with the understanding the procedures be well publicized in advance of these meets, including when nominations would be closed and when and how balloting will occur. Since it is a Competition Committee responsibility, each club shall be entitled to one vote. Greg York agreed to do so.

Approval of the end of the selection process for the SC EZ team to be March 6 (the Sunday of PVS Senior Champs) for the 15-18 age category and March 13 (the Sunday of PVS 14/U JO SC Champs) for the remaining age categories. The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

Approval of meet participation requirements to receive travel reimbursement for the 2005 World Championship selection meet in April to be at least 9 swims in PVS sanctioned meets - at least 6 of which shall be in PVS sponsored meets. This is no change from 2003 - the last non Olympic year. The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

Approval of meet participation requirements to receive travel reimbursement for the 2005 Conoco Philips National Championship Meet in August to be at least 4 swims in PVS sanctioned meets - at least 2 of which shall be in PVS sponsored meets. This is no change from 2003 - the last non-Olympic year. The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

Approve a travel reimbursement requirement applicable to the newly established 2005 USA Swimming Junior Championships in August 2005. Competition asked that the Board endorse the concept of setting the participation requirement for receiving travel funding at this time since the it was doing it for National Championships occurring a week earlier. The Board agreed to do so with the understanding that the decision to fund and the level of funding for both this meet and the Conoco-Philips Meet could not be finalized until the FY 2006 Budget was approved by the House of Delegates in May, 2005. The Board agreed that, if funded, the participation requirement be at least 4 swims in PVS sanctioned meets - at least 2 of which shall be in PVS sponsored meets with the additional proviso that a club may not receive funding twice for an athlete that participates on both C-P National Championship and the Junior Championships occurring in August.

Approve adding as a club meet sponsored by RMSC, the Mini Championships to be held March 19-20, 2005 with the understanding there are no material change in meet format from 2004. The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

Approve a recommendation that PVS age group records program (as provided for in P&P A-8) mirror the Age Group records program maintained by United States Swimming. This would have the immediate impact of adding the following individual event records to the PVS program - 11-12 year old 400 IM, 800/1000 Free and 1500/1650 Free. PVS also learned that a result of discontinuing the 15-15 and 17-18 relay T16 recognition and establishing 15-18 relay T-16 recognition, 15-18 relay age group records will now start to be recognized for times starting this year. The former 15-16 and 17-18 relay records will also be maintained - Hirschmann noted PVS will not be able to determine if new PVS records were achieved by reviewing T16 consideration lists. The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

Approve a recommendation that the Distance Award Program (as addressed in P&P A-6) be modified to include a separate award for the age 18 & Under age category whenever the primary winner of the award is older. The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

The Board received a recommendation from Competition that

The Board discussed this motion. Many spoke in favor sending its team to the LC meet in a team rather than individual format. It was noted the funds to allow greater support for the LC team (equal to that for the SC team) had been included in the 2004 budget, but had been eliminated by the House of Delegates from the FY 2005 budget in the absence of a specific plan to a send PVS's athletes to the LC meet in a team format.

It was noted the motion as passed no longer specifies an exact level of financial support or specifies how large a team should be sent. Some felt that sending two athletes/event as we do for SC would be feasible - having a team that allows for four athletes/event might be challenging to manage. It was also noted that in contrast to the SC meet, those who make the team by virtue of being the fastest two in an event, could swim additional events - so long as they met the meet's QT.

Questions were raised whether athletes who met the meet's QT could still go on their own even if they did not satisfy PVS's requirements for making the team. Most felt that since the entries are submitted by PVS to the Zone Meet Director, PVS would have the right to control entries - but this needs to be verified.

It was reported that PVS historically did not send its LC athletes in a team format since it did not have individuals available to volunteer to manage such a team - which could be substantially larger than the SC team. It was also recognized that many parents do not want to make a 4-6 day commitment to have their child on the team as it further limits the time they will have available for a family vacation.

The Board endorsed the general concept of exploring the feasibility of organizing future LC PVS zone teams on a team concept. It was not however ready to formally endorse the proposed approach until more details about how such a team would be selected and managed were developed. It asked Greg York as Age Group Chair to do so. It was felt that a more detailed plan could be presented to the Competition Committee at its January meeting and if endorsed by them - would be considered by the Board. It was felt the details as to how the team might be funded in 2005 (given the budget has already been adopted) and budgeting for future years could be worked out.

Approval of Travel Assistance Requests - The Board reviewed applications for travel assistance for both the Olympic Trials in July and National Championships in August.

For the Olympic Trials, the recommendation was to pay clubs for 11 athletes and deny 3 requests. Two of the denials were based on the fact the athlete did not list a PVS club as their primary (as distinct from secondary) affiliation. (In one case, the school they represented paid all their expenses.) One was recommended for disapproval on the basis they did not satisfy the "college exemption requirement" since they had not been registered with PVS for two years prior for leaving for college. Reconsideration of this recommendation was requested. The Board DENIED this reconsideration request by a 2-3 vote.

Of the 11 requests recommended for approval, 4 were recommended "on appeal" as the athletes had satisfied the "college exemption requirement." The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

For the C-P National Championships in Stanford in August, 2004, 10 requests were recommended for approval, of which 1 was recommended "on appeal" as the athlete had satisfied the "college exemption requirement." The Board APPROVED this recommendation.

Linda Klopfenstein was asked to get specific information to John Ertter so the clubs could be reimbursed promptly.

Administrative Division -- Bill Stephens presented to the Board for their consideration as proposed contract to be entered into with the Registrar. Some Board members raised questions about the some of the specific responsibilities and/or whether PVS's interests were adequately protected by the contract.. The current version of the contract was prepared two years ago, but for various reasons, never put officially into place. Some revisions have been made in the proposed draft to reflect new duties that have arisen - e. g., doing pre and post meet registration reconciliation to verify athlete registration status.

Issues were raised regarding what equipment should be provided versus what should be provided by PVS, provision of their own phone, fax numbers, etc.

Bill Stephens is to send an electronic version of the current draft to John Ertter so he can review it and put it in the appropriate format (consistent with the standard format to used with all contractors.) It will then be submitted to the Board for its approval.

The Board's attention was brought to the fact the 2005 registration forms for non-athletes have been widely distributed with a $5 fee for PVS in addition to the $41 to be paid to USA Swimming. This occurred even though the House of Delegates had voted last May (based on recommendation from the Board which had been approved in April) to eliminate the $5 PVS surcharge starting with the 2005 registration year. It was generally felt too many forms had been distributed to make it practical to call them back. It was also felt it would a major burden on the Controller to ask him to make refunds to more than 500 parties. There was some discussion of refunding only upon request and whether the $5 amount should be treated by PVS as donation. A motion was then made to assess the $5 amount for the 2005 registration year and to notify the House of Delegates that an administrative error had been made. The MOTION PASSED.

The Administrative Division made a request that the $1 transfer fee be dropped for intra-PVS athlete transfers. It was noted that A-12 of P&P on USA Swimming Registration Requirements states that PVS will charge $1.00 for each transfer. A motion was made and PASSED to eliminate this charge and make the appropriate changes to P&P.

It was noted that this does not address transfer policies for athletes transferring into the LSC from another LSC. It was noted that it appears that if they have already paid their registration fee to another LSC, PVS does not receive any revenue. There was discussion whether to charge a transfer fee in such circumstances and recognition the matter should be explored.

Swimposium Planning - Garner inquired whether PVS should be initiating planning to have a Swimposium in PVS. Earlier efforts had not succeeded for lack of a volunteer to step forward and organize such an event. There was agreement that the best time for PVS to attempt to have such a gathering would be the early Fall of 2005. To do, we need to get on USA Swimming's calendar now in order to get the speakers they will provide at their expense. To know what speakers are appropriate, requires establishing a date and deciding on the specific type of topics we want to include.

Bill Marlin volunteered to contact USA Swimming to get an additional copy of the manual they have on how to organize such a gathering. The possibility of extracting some material from this manual and posting it with appropriate explanatory material on the website in an effort to identify a volunteer was proposed.

Athlete Representatives -- Ethan Bassett spoke to the Board about the role of the athlete representative and improving communication with the athletes on the various PVS clubs. He expressed the hope that each team would appoint an athlete representative that he could use to help in communication with the athletes. The possibility of using club coaches to select athletes to serve in this role was suggested.

Ethan mentioned that one of the best meetings at Convention was a Q&A session with the Olympic athletes. He stated he would like to something similar with the age group athletes here in PVS and invite some other elite PVS athletes to join him on such a panel. There was discussion of when would be the best time to schedule such a gathering. Having it at a prelim/finals meet might interfere with athlete rest time, other meets would make it tough to schedule so athletes in all the sessions could participate and many such meets are at multiple sites. If it were held as an independent event, that would require separate trip by the swimmers and their parents, which might reduce participation. Another possibility would be to work with the Zone team or into the camp program - which will hopefully be resumed.

It was suggested that the Board might look favorably on the athlete participation on such a panel as a way of "giving back to the LSC" and the possibility of recognizing this as an alternative way to earn eligibility for travel assistance. He was encouraged to develop more details of what he would like to do and bring back to the Board for an endorsement.

Strategic Planning -- The Board had a special gathering on August 29th to discuss strategic issues facing PVS. Most Board members had received a initial draft summary of this report shortly before the USAS convention. In Jim's absence, there was no further discussion of this agenda item at this meeting.

Age Group Division

Camp Prorgram --The status of the PVS camp program was raised and the desirability of having an active camp coordinator. It was noted PVS has regularly made funds available in its budget to support these camps. In the past, PVS has held Age Group, 8/U and Distance camps. Some have been more successful than others and several have had attendance from only a few clubs - rather than attracting swimmers from throughout PVS. The camp's location and/or which coaches were encouraging participation were thought to be factors influencing who is participating in these camps. Greg York took an action to pursue with the current PVS Camps Coordinator to see if he could re-activate these Camps for the LSC.

PVS Eastern Zone Team Coordinator -- Greg proposed that since Linda Crudup is no longer available to serve in this capacity, that Breanne Smith be appointed to serve in this capacity. He proposed that she receive a $500 stipend per meet for these services in addition to actual expenses incurred.

There was discussion whether she would be able to perform these services and also serve as Assistant Head Coach - which she will be doing this Spring. Greg indicated he did not think this would be a problem - there will be at least 5 other coaches there to help out if need be and there are advantages to having somebody with a coaching background serve in this capacity.

The Board agreed to pay the zone coach coordinator a stipend per meet plus necessary reimbursable expenses.

Coaches' Representatives -- Marlin indicated procedures for selecting the 14/U ASCA Coach of the Year Award were nearly complete, but had not been implemented this past year since they not been finalized prior to the end of the 2004 PVS LC season. Garner asked that this be completed as soon as possible and that the current draft of the proposed procedures could be posted to the website to see if there were any additional comments. The goal of finalizing the criteria by the end of October and publishing them was suggested.

The status of paying Continuing Coaches Education Grants was also reviewed. Peter Sczupak had applied several months ago, but the application had been deferred since he had also applied for a CCE the prior year. As agreed to at the April 29th Board meeting, decision on this grant was to be deferred until July or August to see if there would be more applications received than could be funded. Since it appeared no others had been received, it was agreed to pay this request. [It subsequently was determined that two additional applications had been received.]

Operations Division -- Whalen reviewed with the Board several items pertaining to the rental of PVS's equipment and the contract with the current PVS Equipment Manager.

Whalen noted the presentation of new rental rates (discussed by the Board at its June 2004 Board meeting) had been finalized and were about to be posted to the website. Whalen noted that the proposed posting now called for all payments for the Equipment Managers services would be paid directly to PVS and the Equipment Manager would then be reimbursed by PVS. The Board agreed to go to a single billing procedure immediately so that clubs will not have to write separate checks to PVS and the Equipment Manager, and to eliminate confusion as to who should be paid for what. There was also discussion of the desirability of having the equipment actually rented documented in writing by both the Equipment Mgr and the borrowing party as well the actual services provided - e.g. delivery/pick-up, set-up/breakdown. The issue of when the Equipment Manager should be reimbursed (upon documentation of the services provided and or receipt by PVS of the fees) was discussed, but not decided.

It was also clarified that we were only agreeing to proceed with the one-page equipment rental rate schedule and not other changes that had been circulated to the Board for their consideration by the Operation Div Chairman.

The current condition of PVS's equipment was reviewed. The Board was informed that Don Smith did not arrange for Colorado Timing to come to service and do preventive maintenance during the down-season of late-August or September as had been requested.

The possibility of moving PVS's equipment to a storage locker was discussed. It was felt that so long as Don Smith was serving as Equipment Manager, it would be impractical to do so. Various possible locations were discussed as well as other locations the equipment could temporarily be stored were discussed. The potential problems of storing the equipment at a pool (security, proper handling by the pool staff, etc.) were also raised.

Ron reported that to date no applications nor serious inquiries to be Equipment Manager have been received. Various strategies to get some applications were discussed.

Ron discussed with the Board whether replacements for PVS equipment should be purchased. It was acknowledged that purchases to replace worn out equipment had not been made in the last fiscal year. Ron proposed that purchases now be made to address this situation as well as some items under this year's budget. It was noted there can be advantages of using one vendor to make preventive maintenance more efficient and minimize the risk of system incompatibility problems.

It was explained that the problems with the radios at Age Group Championships was due to their batteries being damaged due to being overcharged and PVS not recognizing what had happened. Arrangements have been made to have the batteries that were damaged replaced under warranty. It is proposed that new chargers be bought that will not permit the batteries to be overcharged. He also indicated that having sufficient working radios was an item on which there was a high degree of interest.

Ron recommended the following purchases to the Board:

• 3 - One line full matrix LED score boards $1,450 each versus 3 more expensive mechanical boards
• 1 - Colorado VI starter $ 4,500.00 each, this would be our second unit, the screen is much better and most users liked the VI better then the 5.
• 1 - Colorado Infinity Starter with 25ft cable mike and triPod (Infinity $850.00, TriPod $170.00)
• 3 - External Speakers $150.00 each with 125 ft cable.
• 1 - Colorado 10 lane wire harness set $600.00 each wire/ $1,200 for a set ( a set is composed of 2 wires). The price is the same for 6 thru 10 lane setup.
• 18 - Kenwood TK 3101 15 channel UHF portable with batt, ant, charger $243.00ea plus KHS-7 Headsets $ 57.00ea (300 x 18=$5,400.00), with the existing 12 radios this would give PVS 30 radios (two 12 radio site and one - 6 radio sites)
• 4 Kenwood 6 unit rack charger KMB-14\KSC-15 $252.00ea (252.00 x 4 = 1,008

There was discussion as to how many new radios PVS should attempt to have. It was agreed that the stated goal is to have enough equipment to support three venues plus prudent spares. It was agreed PVS should acquire 10 additional radios so that together with the 12 it already has (which will have their batteries repaired under warranty) will allow for 6 radios/site plus a spare.

There was discussion of buying inexpensive printers that would be expected to have to be replaced more frequently versus buying better HP laser printers that are more expensive but should last much longer. It was noted that many teams bring their personal laser printers to use at PVS meets. It was also felt that acquiring new starting systems was not an urgent priority.

The Board agreed to authorize the Operation Division to order the following:

• 1 CTS VI Timing system
• 10 radios
• 3 6-unit radio chargers (with overcharge protection)
• 2 single line CTS scoreboards
• 1 CTS harness set for 10-lane course (Prime-A and B/C harness)

Whalen indicated these purchases could be made within last year's unspent equipment purchase budget (approx $8,000) and this year's budget.

It was agreed Ertter would take care of ordering the equipment (except for the radios which Don had already negoitated), doing the initial inventorying of the equipment upon receipt, and then turning over the equipment to Operations.

Old Business -- Riedlinger asked for report on the type of membership JMS has and what "rights and privileges" if any come with the designation as an "organizational member" of PVS. It was noted while USA Swimming has such an organizational classification within its by-laws; PVS does not. Bill Stephens was asked to provide a clarification.

Klopfenstein reviewed with the Board the current status of reimbursement for attendance by PVS members at the recent USAS Convention in Orlando. The application of current PVS P&P as it pertains to reimbursement in a few situations was clarified. John Ertter indicated reimbursement checks would be promptly issued based on guidance he is receiving from Klopfenstein.

Inquiries were made about the status of Board members who have not been present for a considerable period of time.

New Business - Hirschmann had circulated to the Board earlier that day as an agenda item under this topic, the following:

Hirschmann indicated he would defer discussion on this - given the late hour and while awaiting whether recommendation will be forthcoming from the "Peter Karl ;Task Force." He noted the amendments is intended to address problems created by the recently sanctioned RMSC Kickoff Meet and its impact on planning for the October Open. In response to a question, he indicated the 1200 entry limit was picked so as to permit all dual and tri meet sanctioned in 2003-04 to still occur. He was receptive to discussion on what the appropriate figure should be.

Advertisements in programs for PVS Sponsored Meets -- Garner provided the Board with a request that had been made by Peter Sczupak to modify O-12 of PVS's Policy and Procedures on Meet Program Generation. The change pertained to allowing advertisements in the program of PVS sponsored meets and a provision that the revenues be shared 75% by the host club and 25% by PVS.

The Board requested additional time to review the proposal and it was agreed action on this could be deferred until the October Board meeting. Some specific issues were making sure the list of inappropriate type of ads was comprehensive enough - the need to prohibit ads for alcohol and tobacco products was specifically mentioned. It was also felt that PVS should only pay for program reimbursement for coaches and officials programs if those copies did not include any advertisements.

Next Board Meeting -- The Board agreed to have it next meeting on Wednesday, October 20th - rather than have it in two weeks (on October 13th.) At the October Board meeting, it will discuss whether to resume having its subsequent meetings on the 2^nd Wednesday of the month.

Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 11:02pm