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

Call to Order -- The meeting was formally called to order at approximately 7:20 pm, when a quorum became present, by the 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 Minutes -- A motion was made and passed to approve the minutes of January 13, 2005 Board of Directors meeting as circulated.

General Chairman Items -- Jim made the Board aware of new Privacy Policy that had been approved by the USA Swimming Board in November, but which had just been recently circulated to the LSC's. It is to become effective by May 1, 2005. It will impact what information about a member of USA Swimming can be published, including that on a website. The Board was advised that several questions have arisen about its implementation - particularly as it relates to the electronic transmission of files. The Board agreed to defer finalizing its implementation plans while awaiting additional guidance from United States Swimming.

Swimposium -- Bill Marlin briefed the Board on plans for the Swimposium. Paris Jacobs in continuing to make plans. The Swimposium will now be held at George Mason University on Sunday, October 2nd. Arrangements have been made for use of the pool and classrooms at the Fun and Fitness Center at a very reasonable rate. Inquiries are also being made as to whether classrooms in the student union as well as their dining facilities could be made available. It is not yet known whether GMU will formally commit to make this space available before early July. It would have much bigger classrooms to handle the anticipated attendance for some of the sessions.

It was agreed that these arrangements would be much more attractive financially than the hotel space that had been under consideration earlier.

It was agreed the primary break-out groups that would be offered at the Swimposium would probably be for officials, the USA Swimming Club Business Management course and for age group coaches. There was discussion whether to have a separate program for 8/U coaches. There was discussion whether to use any PVS speakers or to concentrate on inviting strong speakers through USA Swimming or from other LSC's. Most felt we should attempt to arrange for outside speakers - feeling they would draw better and would allow our coaches to hear some different speakers and some new perspectives.

Paris has been in contact with USA Swimming to arrange for speakers. It was agreed that people from adjoining LSC's should feel welcome to attend - there was some discussion whether to give initial registration priority to PVS participants.

It was suggested that some initial publicity about the fact the Swimposium is coming should be sent to the clubs and posted to the website so people know to hold the date and clubs will hopefully develop their fall schedule so as to not create any unnecessary scheduling conflicts.

Most felt given the experience of 1999 - it would better to have the Swimposium oversubscribed - rather than initially limit invitations and risk a poorly attended meeting.

Registration of New Clubs -- Jim updated the Board regarding that status of discussions with VSI regarding the proper LSC's for clubs to register and how to determine in which LSC a new club should register. A meeting with VSI had been held at the Dulles Marriott on January 15th and reports pertaining to that meeting had been sent to the PVS Board immediately following. In recent days, Jeff Gudman, USA Swimming Vice-Chairman for Administration had been in contact with both the VSI and PV General Chairman regarding formalizing the criteria for in which LSC prospective new clubs should register. This proposal had been circulated to the PVS Board for review prior to the meeting. There was discussion of the proposal at the Board meeting and questions were addressed as to how it was envisioned it would apply in various situations. This included who should be the decision maker if the LSC's involved do not agree and how a club views on which LSC it should be registered would become part of the decision making process. Jim asked the Board members to let him know in the next few days if they had additional comments.

Jim indicated he was planning to take steps to invite VSI clubs from the northern part of VSI to as many future PVS meets as practical.

The Board was also informed that the training group at Strasburg, VA that had affiliated with Snowbird Swimming in the summer of 2004, has now decided to become an independent club and has applied to VSI to join their association as a new club.

Age Group Swimming Conference -- The United States Swimming sponsored Age Group Chairman Conference will be held in Colorado Springs on April 22-24, 2005. - Greg York confirmed that he would be attending as the PVS representative. The Board had previously said PVS would provide travel support to Ward Foley to attend as the Eastern Zone's coaches representative - provided he did not receive funding elsewhere. Greg indicated that he thought a topic on the agenda would be "What is the role of LSC Age Group Chairman."

House of Delegates Meeting -- The Board discussed an appropriate date for the 2005 PVS House of Delegates meeting. It was agreed we should follow past practice and have it a few days after the Spring Competition Committee meeting - which has been scheduled for Sunday evening, May 15th (This will follow the Eastern Zone meeting in Newark on Saturday, May 7th.) It was agreed an evening date early in the week of May 23rd would be a desirable date.

Greg indicated he would make arrangements to have it at River Falls and PVS indicated it would pay a rental fee to assure the meeting could be held upstairs. The Board also agreed it would be desirable to create an environment for more socializing prior to the start of the formal Board meeting. It agreed to fund a moderate sized buffet meal prior to the meeting. Greg indicated he could make the necessary arrangements with firms in Potomac, MD.

Garner said he would propose ten at-large delegates to the annual House of Delegates and bring those names to the Board for approval. He indicated involvement in PVS activities and likelihood of attending the House meeting would be important selection criteria.

Nominating Committee -- The Board reviewed what Board positions stand for election this year. All three positions (General Chairman, Treasurer, Senior Chair) are filled by incumbents, who can succeed themselves if they choose to run again. Two members of the Board of Review will have completed two full two year terms and cannot run again. The Board approved the formation of two nominating committees - Ron Whalen, Bill Stephens and Linda Klopfenstein will form the Nominating Committee for Board officers - Jim Garner, Bill Stephens, and Linda Klopfenstein will form the Nominating Committee for the Board of Review.. (The election of a Coach and Athlete Rep is a separate election process.)

Athlete Representatives -- No athletes' representative presented a report or requested action on any item.

Treasurer's Report/Finance Division -- The PVS Financials Statements as of January 31, 2005 and February 28, 2005 had been provided to the Board in advance of the meeting. PVS's current assets on hand as of February 28, 2005 were $644,571 including $4,475 in the Dave Davis fund. The Board had no questions on the financial statements.

Hirschmann also advised the Board that our investment adviser, Dean Raucher, had proposed some changes in our mutual fund investment holdings. John Ertter has been advised to tell Dean Raucher to implement the recommended changes, if they still deem their recommendations current.

The Board was advised that a check received for payment of club registrations had been returned for a second time due to insufficient funds. Various steps that could (should) be taken if the matter was not promptly resolved were discussed. [The Board was advised the next day that a cashier's check for the amount due plus additional charges incurred was being sent. It was subsequently received.]

Hirschmann noted that PVS's financial condition as of mid fiscal year again supported the conclusion that PVS would very likely again finish the fiscal year in a very strong financial condition. He also indicated that preparation of the 2006 PVS budget needed to commence soon in order to allow for Board input and review before being sent to the House for their consideration and adoption in May. He noted that he felt that some adjustments from recent budgeting approaches were probably needed to produce a budget that was more likely to be in balance when the 2006 fiscal year is over. It was noted the primary sources of PVS revenue are meet entry fees for PVS sponsored meets, sanction fees for clubs sponsored meets and the PVS portion of the annual athlete dues. Various Board members discussed their views on making adjustments to these revenues streams. The possibility of reducing club sanction fees and returning more of PVS entry fees to the host club was raised.

The likely need to increase the amount for certain expenditures was also discussed. A chief item was the very likely need to move away from volunteer support to paid administrative staff in certain key functional areas. Some also raised the desirability of PVS opening a permanent physical office.

Assisting pools with needed equipment (which PVS has done in the past), additional support/recognition to the volunteers, hiring of a public relations firm, purchase of banners for display at major competitions, creative of a more festive environment (music, DJ's) at major meets were raised as possible new initiatives.

Some noted the coaches community do not all support the adding of more festivity - feeling it causes some swimmers to loose their focus on competing and swimming fast.

Operations Division -- The Operations Division advised that there had been no further progress on the Equipment Manager's contract.

Senior Division -- John Hirschmann presented several items for Don Riedlinger in his absence. He reported the PVS LC Distance Meet traditionally held Memorial Day weekend had been moved this year to an indoor pool in response to many requests to do so. However, several efforts to get a club to bid to host the meet at the new venue (for which PVS had made a commitment) had been unsuccessful. Fortunately, CUBU had recently agreed to host the meet. The Board APPROVED awarding the meet to them.

The Board had also deferred at its January meeting awarding hosts for the PVS Senior/Age Group I and II meets since insufficient bids had been received. Part of this was due to the need to move the meets scheduled for PGS&LC since that venue could no longer be used for LC competition this summer - making the second venue unknown at the time bids were due. Since then Fairland was identified as the site to replace PGS&LC. Only one bid had been received for the following meets/venues.

PVS Senior./Age Group I at Fairland on June 12 - CUBU
PVS Senior/Age Group I at Lee District on June 12 - MAKO
PVS Senior/Age Group II at Fairland on June 26 - FAST

The Board APPROVED awarding the above three meets.

Multiple bids were received to host PVS Senior/Age Group II at Lee District on June 26 - the Board APPROVED the recommendation to award the meet to MACH.

A question was asked whether it would be possible to add the 400IM and the 200 strokes to the distance meet. The Board indicated that input from the Competition Committee on its desirability should be sought before action is taken.

The Board was asked to consider transferring travel assistance funding that had been previously approved for athletes going to the United States Swimming Disability Championships (which had been scheduled for June, 2005) to the USA Paralympics Championships to be held in July, 2005 under the sanction of the IPC. The Board was generally not familiar with why this change had occurred. The Board deferred action on this request. It observed that PVS has limited travel assistance funding to meets sponsored by United States Swimming - it noted it was not providing travel assistance support for meets sponsored by groups such as NCSA. It was concerned about the precedent that might be set, were it to do so. It also noted it could defer action until its April meeting, given when the meet was occurring and when swims to qualify for funding would need to occur.

It also noted that, if appropriate, grants to assist in attending meets such as this could be approved and there are precedents for doing so.

Administrative Division -- Bill Stephens reported the contract had not been finalized. He indicated he had not received input for the standardized format, he had been asked to use in finalizing the contract.

Outreach -- The Board was updated on how Speedo might be able to help Arthur Lopez with his outreach program. The Board was briefed on this initiative at its January meeting.

Strategic Planning -- No further activity on reviewing on the recommendations coming out of the August 29th Strategic Planning meeting was reported.

Age Group Division -- The status of planning for PVS's participation in Spring Eastern Zone Short Course meet was reviewed. Breanne indicated she would be getting to John for posting on the website by this weekend, additional information about PVS's plans including what would be the cost for each PVS athlete who wished to participate on the team. Information about outfitting would be provided in a few days. It was agreed that PVS would continue with its practice of last year and only provide minimal outfitting to the athletes, 3 T-shits, swim caps and a team bag. Athletes could acquire a team suit and other items at their own expense or continue to compete in their own suit.

The process for determining the amount that should be charged each athlete to be on the team was reviewed after taking into account the $15,000 subsidy that PVS would provide. Beanne agreed she would finalize this number quickly and provide as part of the team participation information to be posted on the website and otherwise be made available. [She advised that this amount would be $350/swimmer.]

The Board was informed that a question had been raised whether the cut-off date for selecting 15-18 year old athletes for the zone team should be extended from March 6 to March 13. This request had been made by a 14 year old athlete who still wanted to compete at the 14/U PVS Age Group Championships, but who would be 15 years old by the date of Zones. He did not want to give up an opportunity to compete in the 14/U Champ meet. It was agreed that this was insufficient basis for making a change that could impact many other athletes' plans and selection of the team. Next year the selection schedule will be very tight - given how close the PVS Championships and the Zone meet are scheduled. Also, the entry deadline for both meets had passed.

It was agreed to waive the fee for adapted swimmers applications for the Eastern Zone team that might be received after the February 28th normal deadline due to the lateness when information about the application process was publicized.

It was noted that agreement had been reached on how the Age Group Coach of the Year would be selected based on the Board approving at its January meeting the recommendation from the Winter Competition meeting. Bill Marlin was urged to incorporate those decisions into a finalized version of the material and make it available for posting on the website and broader circulation - particularly since the SC season would be ending in a few weeks.

Coaches' Representatives -- Marlin reported that there would be a "How to Build a Pool" seminar in Colorado Springs sponsored by USA Swimming in mid-April. They are also discussing putting some of the information being presented into book form for possible sale at a later date.

Marlin also reviewed some matters related to the recently conducted PVS February Distance Meet. Two problems were highlighted - one was that insufficient lap counters were delivered to the meet site - where and how the break down in communication regarding the needed number occurred was not clear. The other pertained to a pool manager who was unfamiliar with the use of whistles at a swim meet. Fortunately, this happened on Monday when only two heats of the distance events were conducted. Hirschmann indicated he would talk to Fairland about the whistle matter as well as the lighting and the need for backstroke flags.

Old Business -- The Board was informed of how the elections for PVS Assistant Eastern Zone coaches would be conducted - all four assistant coaches will be elected at the 14/U Championships Greg York will oversee the elections and provide a written ballot to each team. Greg indicated that he already had sufficient nominations and was requiring that any additional nominations be sent to him in writing by Wednesday, March 9th. This has been publicized via Flash Mail and the PVS website.. No objections were raised to use of this process.

New Business -- No new business came before the Board.

Next Meeting -- The Board agreed to have its next meeting on Monday, April 11th at 6:30pm at River Falls.

Adjournment -- The Board adjourned at approximately 9:30pm.