Attendance - Jim Garner, Chair, John Hirschmann, Bill Marlin, Donald Riedlinger, Bill Stephens, Ron Whalen, and Greg York. Non-voting Board Members: John Ertter, Boots Hall and Linda Klopfenstein

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 6:58 pm by the PVS General Chair, Jim Garner.

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.

Approval of September Board of Directors Minutes -- - The minutes of September 29, 2004 Board of Directors minutes were approved as amended.

The presentation of Items in the minutes related to the Operations Division activities pertaining to the Equipment Manager and presentation of the stipend to be paid the Eastern Zone Coordinator were clarified. The former was expanded based on input provided by Whalen. It was also agreed the amount of the stipend to be paid ($500) to the PVS Eastern Zone Coordinator should be viewed as policy similar to the stipends now being paid to the PVS Zone Coaches and included in PVS's P&P.

General Chairman -- Regarding the continuing matter whether certain PVS Clubs should be registered with another LSC, Garner indicated he had not heard from the VA LSC General Chairman since communicating to him that at least two of the PVS clubs directly impacted by the proposed settlement were not receptive to agreeing to the terms that had been proposed. He also advised the Board that he had been in contact with the PVS General Counsel and advised the Board of the number of billable hours that might be involved should PVS choose to pursue the matter.

The Board reaffirmed its prior decision to support the two PVS clubs that are not in agreement with the proposed settlement of the matter.

Garner informed the Board that the MD LSC may address whether to accept MAV into their LSC when their House of Delegates meets in November to address other matters. He had also received feedback from several members of the PVS Board that they did not necessarily want to call a special meeting of the PVS House for this purpose.

Discussions had also been held and feedback to date indicates that MAV should hold a meeting of its membership (which would consist of its registered athletes) regardless of its ownership structure. Also, since they practice at the same pool, an interpretation is still needed from USA Swimming regarding the phrase in Item Appendix 6-E, Item #1 that states "no other club geographically intervenes" and whether such a decision would impact on the ability of other clubs to join PVS if they were geographically located between the MAV practice sites and the boundary of the Maryland LSC.

Garner stated he had informed MAV of the provisions in PVS's by-laws regarding calling a special meeting of the House of Delegates. It was stated there was apparently no strong feelings amongst PVS clubs about whether MAV remains in PVS - however this does not address the potential "long term" implications of such a decision.

Garner indicated he had received special reports about teams having problems getting the Registrar to change the legal name on the USA Swimming data base, if they had been historically been improperly registered. Bill Stephens was asked to look into this and make sure it is not continuing to happen.

Boots asked about getting more applications forms for new officials - she stated that she needed more than the 25 that had been originally been provided for use at clinics - particularly to give to new officials.

Bill S indicated that in order to reduce the beginning of the season heavy surge of registrations, Sumie may elect to request renewals later than new registrations. However, since registrations are processed in batches, doing so may not have that much impact or be that practical. The possibility of starting earlier and accepting registrations before any registration workshop was also discussed.

Treasurer's Report/Finance Division - Hirschmann indicated that no financial reports for the month of September (the first month of PVS's fiscal year) were circulated as there was relatively little activity to report. However there has already has been substantial activity in October - both in terms of registrations and the resumption of the competition program and statements would again be circulated as of the end of October.

Ertter advised the Board we are about to provide the auditor with the material necessary to conduct an audit of PVS's 2004 fiscal year. It was agreed the auditor should contact Bill Stephens for any information needed to document registration activity. Ertter also noted that the currently pending matter with the VA LSC was material enough that the auditor will need to be informed of the matter and it may be included in the notes to the financial statements.

Ertter reviewed with the Board two situations regarding receivables for equipment rentals from the last fiscal year that had not been paid. It was agreed that if they remained outstanding - they should not be permitted to rent equipment in the future.

It was reaffirmed that the PVS's Registrar's attendance at convention to attend specific clinics on Registration should be reimbursed on the same basis as is done for other PVS attendees at USA Swimming conducted clinics.

Jim advised the Board that he had requested that Lynn Hellman and Bill Stephens be given access to the Registrar's portion of the USA Swimming SWIMS database system.

Operations Division --

New Version of Excel for PVS Laptops -- Boots Hall informed the Board that Jim Thompson has requested that a newer version of Excel be placed on PVS laptops in order to allow an Excel spreadsheet program he has developed to track which PVS officials are working meets. This information is needed because it is anticipated that USA Swimming will require information on participation in officiating local swimming meets as part of determining whether they can be certified/renewed as a National or National Championship official.

The software developed by Thompson does not work on the Windows 97 version of Excel found on PVS laptops. Others inquired whether PVS needs to incur substantial costs to upgrade this software to satisfy this one requirement. Boots agreed to look into it. [Subsequent to the meeting, Thompson advised that he make his software compatible with earlier versions (Windows 97) of the software - eliminating the need for PVS to address the need to upgrade its software.]

PVS Rental Rates -- The desire to present a single bill to parties renting PVS equipment was reaffirmed. This would include both amounts to be retained by PVS and amounts to be reimbursed to the PVS Equipment Manager. It was further agreed that the Equipment Manager would be reimbursed by PVS within 30 days upon presentation of a valid invoice for services rendered, i.e, delivery/pick-up and set-up/break-down. The invoice would be signed by the party renting the equipment to acknowledge receipt of the services rendered. PVS would assume responsibility for collection of these invoices, including those issued to non-PVS member clubs. The Board APPROVED this reimbursement policy.

Equipment Manager Contract --- Ron Whalen also indicated that Don Smith was now prepared to sign a contract as Equipment Manager on a "month to month" basis. The Board voted to agree to AUTHORIZE Ron to do so. The terms of the contract would be consistent with those previously discussed with the Board. [It was clarified subsequent to the meeting that the effective date would be no earlier than September 1, 2004.]

Equipment Storage -- The availability of storage lockers suitable for storage of PVS equipment was reviewed. Lockers of the size of 10' by 15' (this size may need to be reviewed) with climate control were priced. It was suggested that a location in Virginia near the Beltway might be best as the greatest number of pools that need PVS timing equipment are located there.

Whalen also requested authority from the Board to buy 6 HP printers at a cost of approximately $370 each. The printers will print at a rate of 22 pages/minute and weigh 15-18 pounds. It was suggested that we also ask Don to locate and purchase cases to store and transport the printers. Whalen will provide the exact specifics to Ertter who will take care of the actual purchase.

Equipment Purchases -- Whalen indicated he had deferred initiating actual purchase of equipment authorized by the Board at its September meeting until Board approved the minutes of that meeting.

Whalen will provide specifics to John Ertter on exactly what to order (detailed specifications and/or exact model number, etc.)

It was agreed Don Smith will still order the additional 10 radios that had been authorized at the September Board meeting since he had started this process and he was coordinating submitting a joint order with a PVS club that also wants to order radios.

It was noted that in contrast to reports received at the September meeting, all three PVS one line scoreboard operated properly at the three courses of the October Open. Accordingly, a motion was made and PASSED to reduce the number of one-line scoreboards to be purchased from two to one. (The Board had authorized the purchase of two one-line scoreboards at its September meeting.)

Competition Committee -- Sanction Request -- Hirschmann advised the Board that RMSC had just requested a sanction for their November Invitational. The application as submitted was originally for a tri meet with AST and MACH - MACH has now withdrawn so it is now just a dual with AST. He noted that since the meet was requested on the same weekend as a PVS sponsored meet (the PVS November Open) - he did not have authority to grant it an automatic sanction.

It was noted that since the PVS November Open had to be scheduled on two weekends, this left less open weekends for club sponsored meets. PVS had previously agreed to sanction the Swim and Rock Meet on the following weekend (November 19-21) - which Is the second weekend of the November Open. It was also noted that PVS would most likely not be able to absorb the expected entries on the weekend of November 12-14 if this meet did not receive a sanction.

The Board approved issuing the sanction given the unique circumstances - in particular the inability of the PVS sponsored meets occurring on the same weekend to absorb the additional entries.

February Distance Meet -- Hirschmann advised the Board that this meet (scheduled for February 20-21, 2005) still does not have a meet host. He had expected to receive a bid to host this meet prior to this Board meeting, but it was not submitted. Hirschmann was given permission by the Board to award the meet to club willing to host it if he identified a club willing and capable of doing so. [Note; Subsequent to the meeting, MACH requested such a sanction and it was awarded to them.]

Administrative Division -- Registrar's Contract -- The Board was advised that a contract for the Registrar in the new format is still being drafted. John Ertter is working on it. Bill Stephens indicated he was proposing that the Registrar or the Administrative Assistant assist with loading times into SWIMS. Garner advised that for the present this responsibility would remain with those authorized to enter times into SWIMS (Hirschmann, Garner and Husson (pending.))

Hirschmann reported that the effort needed to load SWIMS is minimal so long as the files received have few (if any) swimmers who are not registered or are entered into the meet with an improper name or inaccurate registration number. The Registrar is actively working this aspect of the program - thus reducing the scope of this effort.

Status of Organizations - Clarification was again sought regarding the status of JMS as an organization within PVS. Stephens explained that JMS was allowed by USA Swimming to join as an organization in order to allow them to obtain insurance coverage. Since there is no provision for an "Organization" as a membership type in PVS's by-laws, they have no rights and privileges within PVS- such as a vote at the House of Delegates meeting, right to enter athletes into meets, etc.

Questions were raised whether the Associate members (summer leagues) and the one organization have been paying their annual dues to PVS.

Athlete Representatives -- Neither athlete was present. Ethan Bassett had sent word he was unable to attend due to academic commitments. Inquiries were made as to the status of the other athlete representative who has not attended any Board meetings since his election in July. Bill Stephens indicated that he would check on his status and whether he wished to continue to serve.

Coach Representatives - It was also noted that Todd Benedick has not participated in any Board meetings for several months - except for attending the annual House of Delegates meeting. It was agreed he would also be consulted to determine his interest in continuing to serve as a Board member.

Strategic Planning -- It was reported that following the special meeting of the Board on August 29th, a draft report had been prepared, but the Chairman had not yet to had time to finalize it. It was hoped that this could happen shortly so the PVS community could benefit from this effort in a timely manner.

Age Group Division - Camp Program -- The Board was advised that Kerry Ellett is no longer interested in running camps, but is interested in continuing to serve as camp coordinator. It was also reported that the PVS coaches no longer seem that interested in conducting and/or having camps available for their athletes. When camps are conducted, there is a tendency for the attendees to come primarily from the clubs of coaches conducting the camp and/or in close proximity to where the camp is being held.

The Board discussed whether it should attempt to continue to hold camps under there circumstance. While no conclusion was reached on this point, there was a consensus that if the camps are not going to be held, we should stop budgeting money for this activity in the hope the camps will be resumed. It was observed we have not run camps at the level we have budgeted for at least the last few years.

PVS Eastern Zone Long Course Team - Greg York advised the Board that Competition was preparing to consider a significant change in how future PVS EZ LC teams might be formed and funded. He asked for a sense of the Board to see if they had any fundamental concerns as he did not think it would be productive for Competition to seriously consider and potentially adopt a recommendation if the Board would have fundamental concerns with it.

They were considering a recommendation for Long Course which involved taking the 3 fastest in each individual event, PVS would assist in funding the LC team at the same level as the SC team, and if an athlete did not qualify under this criteria, they would not be eligible to attend Zones. If an individual made the Zone team, he/she could swim all events for which the swimmer had the Zone meet QT, even if not amongst PVS three fastest.

Greg indicated that he felt the Zone coaches thought it was important the LC Zone team travel to/from a meet as a group as the SC team presently does. Doing so improves both team spirit and helps assure the strongest possible relay teams could be fielded. Limiting the size of the team to the top 3 in each event makes the logistics of transporting, housing and feeding the team manageable.

It was noted the House had already passed the 2005 budget, which provided for $15,000 in support for the SC team and $6000 for the LC team. Whether funding for the LC Zome Team could be set equal to the SC Zone Team prior to 2006 would depend on whether the House was willing to authorize an amendment in the budget when it meets in May 2005.

Queries were made whether this recommendation Is coming from Zone coaches, or the larger population of coaches. There was concern that morale could be hurt amongst those swimmers who could have made the team (that is what is motivating them to do LC swimming) but who do not finish amongst the three fastest.

It was agreed and subsequently confirmed that PVS is free to decide how it wants to form its team so long as it does not submit entries in violation of Zone rules.

The proposal that Competition would be asked to consider would likely read as follows:

It was sense of the Board that they were prepared to support this proposal if such a recommendation were to come from Competition..

Coaches' Representatives

Coaches Continuing Education (CCE) - Garner made the Board aware that two CCE requests had been submitted in August, but their receipt had only been recognized recently. There was discussion whether the applications should be considered as being applicable to the just completed 2004 fiscal year or 2005.

Hirschmann read current provisions in P&P regarding CCE - It was noted the process has not worked in the manner that was probably originally envisioned for several years. It was suggested the coaching community may wish to review how this program is working and propose possible revisions.

The Board APPROVED the payment of $500 each for these two coaches - the payment to go to York Swimming since the coaches have already been reimbursed by their Club.

Swimposium - Marlin reported that USA Swimming had sent out the Swimposium manual at his request following the last Board meeting. The Board was also advised that Paris Jacobs was interested in serving as coordinator for the Swimposium. The Board discussed the appropriateness of paying a stipend to Paris for serving in this capacity. It agreed to appoint Paris as the Swimposium Coordinator and to pay her $500 when initial planning for the Swimposium was completed and another $500 upon its successful completion.

The Board also discussed what tracks should be offered at a PVS Swimposium - the Board was advised that normally 4 are offered. Tracks proposed for consideration include officials, parents, swimmers, coaches, meet directors and club registrars. The possibility of coordinating the Swimposium with the Business Management and Club Leadership Seminar was raised. It was felt the coaches track should be orientated toward the needs of age group coaches who have less opportunity to get training outside the LSC.

It was noted the Swimposium Manual indicated you need 10-12 months lead time to have a successful Swimposium. This was consistent with our desire to have a Swimposium in late September/early October, 2005. It is also important to make our desires known to USA Swimming soon so we can get on their calendar while they still have slots available.

October Open Report -- The Board was made aware of two occurrences at one site of the PVS October Open -- in one case where a parent got access to the deck and in the other case, an athlete engaged in what was inappropriate behavior toward swimmer(s) in the area of the starting blocks. While the timers in the immediate area observed it, it was not brought to the attention of the Head Timer or the Referee until the session was over. Meetings were held at subsequent sessions to discuss the matter with the coaches of the swimmer and the swimmer whose parent behaved in an inappropriate manner. Timers in future sessions were asked to alert the Referee immediately should they ever observe this type of behavior in the future.

Old Business

Summer Travel Reimbursement -- Riedlinger advised the Board that he had problems with the process used to obtain approval by electronic vote for travel assistance to be paid on behalf of two athletes who participated in the Olympic Trials. He did not have a problem with the payment for the athlete being authorized because an error had been made in reviewing the initial application. However, in the other situation he felt there were issues present that needed a "face to face" discussion by the Board. In particular, he wanted to know why an electronic vote was called on a matter that had already been decided at the previous BOD meeting, since the only explanation that had been provided was that an exemption for this athlete had been granted in the past.

Riedlinger indicated he wanted the vote recorded in minutes of the Board with the record showing that he abstained. Hirschmann noted that the vote, which was done by electronic vote will be posted to the website consistent with past practice. [See results of Electronic Vote initiated October 1^1th that was subsequently posted.]

It was acknowledged that a risk of electronic vote is that somebody with strong views on a subject who happens to be out of town will not have a chance to share their views with other Board members before electronic voting is over.

Advertising in Programs at PVS Sponsored Meets -- A revised proposal that had been submitted by Peter Sczupak was considered. He had made changes to his prior proposal in response to the suggestions made on the version resented at the September Board meeting. As result of further discussion at this meeting, the sentence pertaining to limiting the ability of United States Swimming clubs to place ads was restricted further. The paragraph reading:

"Advertisements actively recruiting attached members of other attending clubs to the host club or denigrating other participating teams is strictly forbidden. Host teams in violation of this standard by PVS will be prohibited from hosting any PVS sponsored meet for the period of one (1) calendar year from the final date of the meet where said violation occurred."

was changed to read

"Advertisements actively recruiting attached members of other attending clubs to the host club or denigrating other participating teams is strictly forbidden, No USA Swimming member clubs shall be allowed to place an advertisement in any meet program."

The motion as amended was PASSED 5-2 (York and Stephens opposed) A copy of the motion as passed is attached to these minutes.

New Business --

Unregistered swimmers -- Jim indicated that discussion on this item would be deferred to the November meeting. Bill Stephens circulated a proposal for the Board's consideration on how meet reconciliation would occur starting January 1st. Board members were invited to provide comments on the proposal to Bill prior to the next Board meeting.

It was noted that some aspects of this proposal are at variance with the guidance that had been adopted at the 2004 House of Delegates meeting.

P&P Change for Dual/Tri Meets -- Hirschmann asked that discussion be deferred on this item until after any recommendations resulting from Peter Karl's Task Force on Competition Scheduling has been presented for consideration.

Officiating Meets -- The Board was advised that some Meet Directors and/or Club Officials Chairman are sending out urgent messages for officiating help at meets - only to have several (more than enough) show up to work. It was noted that there is an increasing tendency of officials to not commit prior to the meet - but just show up ready to work. This makes it very difficult for the meet host to know ahead of time whether he has enough officials and/or whether particular sessions are short of officials. It was suggested that posting a roster of known officials would be helpful in helping people understand which sessions are covered and which still need more help.

Boots emphasized that clubs need to be promoting the officiating program and getting their officials to clinics.

It was recommended that a Club Officials Chair's meeting be held to address these issues. Bill Stephens agreed to contact Peter Karl to see if a meeting of the Club Official Chairman could be arranged at the Army Navy Country Club.

Review of PVS P&P -- Stephens indicated he is interested in conducting a review of PVS's Policy and Procedures and would be proposing revisions for the Board's consideration. He intended to initially focus on the Administrative and Operations Division sections.

Next Board Meeting -- The Board agreed to have it next meeting on Wednesday, November 10^th. This will be two days after the special Competition Committee meeting on November 8th. [Note; The November 10th meeting was subsequently rescheduled to November 17^th.]

Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:40pm.