Draft Meeting Minutes until approved at the May 2014 HOD Meeting
Potomac Valley Swimming
House of Delegates Meeting
May 22, 2013, 7:00 pm
6030 Lee Highway
Arlington, VA 22005
Meeting Minutes
· Attendance – PVS Board Members; Riley Eaton-General Chair, Paris Jacobs-Admin Vice-Chair, Bob Vincent-Finance, Bill Marlin-Senior Swimming, Manga Dalizu-Age Group Swimming, Merari Chollette-Diversity/Inclusion, Tim Husson-Operations, Emily Menard-Coaches Rep, Scott-Bryant-Coaches Rep, Jim Garner-Strategic Planning, Mike Rubin-Officials Representative, Greg York-Safe Sport and Brandon Fiala-Athlete Representative. Club Representatives; Steve Menard-AAC, Mike Kraeuter-BWST, Tom Ugast-NCAP, Rob Green-DCPR, Bruce Andersen-HACC, Dan Jacobs-MACH, Heather Coulson Haddock-MAKO, Chris Huott-MSSC, Mark Eldridge-RMSC, Teresa Pluskaitis-SNOW, Lance Page-TANK, Shelley Gesker-YORK, Heather Purk-LMAC, Thuy Tran-RY, Timothy DeLucia-PGPR. PVS At-Large Delegates – Dave Crocker-RMSC, Tim Kelly-NCAP, Brad Bowser-MACH, Parker Ramsdell-YORK, Kevin Mallon-PM, Jim Thompson, Ward Foley, Boots Hall, Linda Klopfenstein. Athlete Delegates – Julia Schwartz-PM, Karina Kolb-PM, Constantin Waldschmidt-RY, Logan Coulson Moore-MAKO, Cassandra Quach-LMAC, Siena Shannon-HACC. Non-voting members – John Ertter, Brian Pawlowicz, Kurt Thiel, Sumie Emory, Terri Marlin
· Call of Order – The meeting was called to order by General Chair, Riley Eaton, at 7:00 pm.
· Proof of Quorum – Administrative Chair, Paris Jacobs, indicated that as of 7:00, we do not have a quorum to conduct business, motion to move forward, seconded and approved.
· Approval of May 22, 2012 HOD Minutes – At 7:30 pm, Paris Jacobs indicated that we now had enough members to carry out business, according to 4.10 of the PVS By-Laws, Motion to approve the May 22, 2012 HOD Minutes, seconded and approved.
· General Chair’s Report on the General State of the Corporation –
o Thank you all for being here. Not currently having a quorum in order to do business, should be an example of how important it is for all clubs to participate in the annual House of Delegates Meeting. This is the clubs opportunity to have a voice in what goes on within the LSC.
o Population now officially over 11,000. We are the 4th largest in USA Swimming with the smallest geographic area.
o As our swimmer population continues to grow, we must also continue to grow our volunteer base. Officials are a vital part of our association.
o We have gone through several highs and several lows this past year. The “lows” are the things that show up in the newspaper or on the evening news; telling us about illegal activity of an individual. It is important to remember that these kinds of incidents do not make up our sport. These events do not define our sport. We are working hard in PVS to keep our sport safe and to highlight the good things about it.
o Our highs are the successes we see every day through our athletes. We had a 15 year old Olympic Gold Medal winner! We have athletes on our National Team and they are being successful. Roughly 40-50% of our athletes are 12 & U.
o Several of our clubs have the highest retention rates in the country. USA Swimming is now working on finding out more information on how clubs retain swimmers and will being to track then share this information. We will continue to learn from USA-S strategies for retaining athletes and this information will be shared with all clubs within PVS.
o PVS is highly active in USA Swimming. We have a number of members who are members of National Committees and one member on the USA-S Board of Directors.
§ Riley Eaton – National Club Development Committee
§ Bill Marlin – National Age Group Development
§ Paris Jacobs – Eastern Zone Non-Coach Director, member of USA-S Board of Directors
§ Tim Husson – Eastern Zone Non-Coach Age Group Liaison, a member of elite group of Officials, SWIMS Committee
§ Greg York – National Safe Sport Committee
§ Linda Klopfenstein – USA-S Registration Committee
§ Ward Foley – National Board of Review
o All of our Board Member’s reports are on line. Please take a minutes and look at them. During the meeting members will recap their year in PVS, if you have questions, please let us know.
o In September we held our tri-annual Swimposium. It was a tremendous success with information for coaches, parents, officials and athletes. We had great support from our LSC and were pleased with all the programs that were offered. We are able to get USA-S support for a Swimposium every three years. Our next one is planned for 2015.
· Nominating Committee Report – see report submitted. All of you in attendance represent the body of Potomac Valley Swimming. You are the decision makers. Because we only meet once per year it is important for all clubs to be in attendance, so that the opinions of the body can be heard.
· Additional Nominations – As we proceed with the elections, keep in mind that nominations will not be closed until all nominations are taken from the floor. The body will be able to talk and ask questions of the candidates as necessary.
· Elections
o General Chair – You will elect one. The two candidates are Riley Eaton (incumbent) and Bill Marlin (current Sr. Chair)
§ The Nomination Committee asked for nominations from the floor three times. No additional nominations were made.
§ Motion to close the nominations, seconded and approved.
§ Ballots were passed out to all voting members of the body and voting instructions were given.
§ One ballot was incorrectly marked, motion to destroy that ballot, seconded and approved.
§ Each Candidate was given the opportunity to give a brief statement.
· Riley Eaton commented that he greatly appreciates the opportunity he has had to be General Chair for the past two year. He feels there are goals for PVS he still would like to accomplish and would like to the opportunity to continue to serve the LSC as the General Chair for two more years.
· Bill Marlin commented that he is currently an active member of the LSC. He has experience as club owner, coach, athlete, official, and board member. He has been in the association for 21 years, 15 of which he has served on the BoD. He feels he understands the inner workings of the organization, will be accessible and available to all members of the LSC.
o One member of the body asked; since you are a Club Owner and directly related to someone else associated with the LSC as a contractor/employee, will you be able to keep all lines separate?
o Marlin answered, stating, as a member of the Board of Directors he must sign a conflict of interest clause and feels he has never voted to put his club in front of any others in the LSC and has taken the opportunity to recluse himself for conversations and votes when necessary due to a potential conflict.
§ All ballots were counted and verified by the Nomination committee, Bill Marlin has won the election of the General Chair.
· Motion to destroy the ballots, second and approved.
o First office with a non-contested election is for Finance Chair, Bob Vincent as the incumbent. Nominations were requested from the floor three times.
§ Motion to close the nominations and elect Bob Vincent by acclimation, seconded and approved.
o Current incumbent for Diversity/Inclusion is Merari Chollette, Nominations were requested from the floor three times.
§ Motion to close the nominations and elect Merari Chollette by acclimation, seconded and approved.
o For the BoR we have 7 names on the ballot to bring our total number of Board of Review members up to 12. Nominations were requested from the floor three times.
§ Motion to close the nominations and elect (list the names) by acclimation, seconded and approved.
§ The current BoR Chair, Ward Foley, will contact the current members and advise them on their responsibilities and finding a new Chair.
o Senior Chair elections will be held between two candidates, Tom Ugast and Brad Bowser. Nominations were requested from the floor three times.
§ Motion to close the nominations from the floor, seconded and approved.
· Tom Ugast – Stated he was the CEO of NCAP, he is looking forward to serving the LSC and ensuring that we have good and fair competition for Senior Swimming.
· Brad Bowser, stated he is a coach for Machine Aquatics and has been in the LSC for the past two years. Previously he served as the Technical Chair of the Mid-Atlantic Board, looking forward to serving PVS as the Senior Chair.
§ Ballots were counted and verified by members of the Nomination Committee, Brad Bowser was elected as the Senior Chair.
§ Motion to destroy the ballots, seconded and approved.
· Reports
o Athlete Protection – The Athlete Protection handbook is available on the USA Swimming website. Additionally each club was sent a hard copy in the mail. There will be a National Committee meeting this summer to review the handbook and continued planning. In addition to the Coach/Official’s Athlete’s Protection Training there is now a Parent track and an Athlete track available on the USA-S and PVS websites, please be sure all of your club members have the opportunity to watch these informative training videos.
o Executive Director – see report submitted, nothing additional to add.
o Administration & Registration – see submitted report. We had a great post-Olympic registration trend. In comparing with past year’s trends we believe that our numbers and budget are consistent and this tread is accurate. Our By-Laws have been submitted to USA Swimming. We have been asked to make some additional edits to the By-laws, which we are working on. We will resubmit to USA Swimming.
§ P& P have been updated and all changes have been noted in red. As always, reminder this is a working document.
· Motion to accept P & P as amended from May 2012 through April 2012 as submitted, seconded and approved including the following updates.
· Under the current P & P we are allowed to invest up to 25% of our funds provided the needs of the GOA (General Operating Funds) and ROA (Restricted Operating Funds) are fully satisfied.
o Motion to allow PVS to invest up to 35% in mutual funds and/or CD’s as long as the needs of the GOA and ROA are fully satisfied, seconded and approved.
§ This would increase the amount to invest to about $70-80,000.
§ It was asked if the committee looked at more than a 10% increase? Vincent explained that yes they did; however they felt that following the lead by USA-S was a bit too aggressive for PVS. USA-S has significantly more to invest. Our goal is to still have cash available. Additionally, we have previously asked for a more aggressive plan, but it was shot down by the House.
§ With our cash reserve, our initial investment was $70,000, it is now worth $150,000. Our investment advisors have suggested we be more aggressive, and spread out how and where our money is invested. The more money we are able to invest, ultimately the more we will gain.
§ This is long term money, which we will need down the road, not for immediate use.
· Art Davis, Nomination Chair proposed that PVS increase the number of BOR from nine to twelve with seven being elected this year (2013) one of which is an athlete who will serve only one year. This will all for there to be 6 elected each year.
o Motion to increase the total number of Board of Review from nine to twelve, seconded and approved.
· As a reminder to all Board of Review members, when you serve on the BOR you are acting as an impartial judge on the P & P. We need a robust number of members, but they all must know the rules and policies. They must have the best interest of the association at heart.
· All 12 will never serve on a panel at one time. A panel is usually made up of three BoR members; a coach, an athlete and a non-coach.
· By increasing our number to 12 we will be more consistent with National policies.
· As a point of information, there is a motion being presented to the National HOD to move the LSC BoR to the Zone level.
o Webmaster – See report submitted.
§ Our website has been in existent for 16.5 years, it is one of the longest websites in existence within USA-S. Last year we had over 3 million page views. There is now a meet director’s handbook on line. We plan to continue to update it as necessary, so if you are a meet director and/or plan to run meets please review this document.
o Operations – See report submitted.
§ The equipment situation has drastically improved. Thanks, primarily to Carrie Tupper, we have an accurate inventory of equipment and it is all working. When a piece of equipment does go down, we are able to get it repaired in a timely manner.
§ As a reminder our P&P now includes that marshals are now required at all swim meets; for a short course meet a minimum of 2 marshals are required with at least 3 for a long course meet. While it is now a requirement to have marshals on deck they do not have to be members.
§ As per USA Swimming policies, an Administrative Official will now be required at every swim meet. PVS has not constructed a path to become an Admin Official without becoming a Referee. The first training clinic has been held with about 20 participants.
§ As a reminder, PVS will pay for all Official’s registrations after their first year as long as they are active within the association. It was difficult to track the computer operator (Hy-Tek & CTS), so it was determined that in order to be able to count these officials they must be registered with USA S. The minimum required number of sessions is 10 per year in any PVS sanction meet (calendar year). If all 10 sessions have been fulfilled then the Official’s registration will be paid the following year.
§ Currently, Officials representative, Mike Rubin’s, term is up this summer. The officials committee will hold an election at this summer’s championship meets.
§ From September 2011 through August 2012 we added 240,000 results into SWIMS (some were observed meets). This year (Sept 2012-May 2013) we have already submitted over 220,000 times into SWIMS.
· How many sessions are required for an Official to be considered active and on a team’s roster? Only 4 sessions are required to be considered active. However 10 sessions are required for their registration to be paid by PVS.
· Will the non-deck officials (computer operators) count in numbers for the team? Yes, if they are members of USA Swimming.
· To clarify, the Admin Official is not allowed to act in any other capacity at the meet.
· There were two clubs who took advantage of the purchasing of their own equipment. Is PVS continuing this program? Will the equipment in PVS we need to maintain and purchase decrease? PVS still sponsors 3 OPEN meets with a total of 11 sites and 2 LC Open meets in the summer (currently all Championship meets are held at UMD or GMU where equipment is supplied by the facility), so in the short term we do not plan to decrease the amount we have, but believe it will be used less and therefore will last longer.
o Diversity/Inclusion – see report submitted.
§ Moving forward and would like to have more involvement from the clubs in diversity and outreach. There is a Grant program in development with an application process, so clubs can create programs within their own clubs.
§ Want to improve the communication of what we (PVS) has to offer for outreach and inclusion to both the clubs and our membership.
§ A diversity summit. We want to send two athletes and a coach. All information and application will be sent out.
o Officials – Mike Rubin – see report submitted.
§ As a reminder each club has been assigned a liaison to the Official’s Committee. If your club needs help/guidance on recruiting, or maintaining Officials please let us know and we will put you in touch with your club’s liaison.
§ If your club is looking for an Official’s training opportunity and you do not see one on the current schedule, please let the Officials Committee know and they will help you out.
§ While the number of PVS members continues to rise, we are not seeing an equal rise in the number of active Officials. We are looking for strategies for retaining Officials.
o Technical Committee – see report submitted.
o Senior Swimming – see report submitted.
§ On behalf of PVS, we want to congratulate Tom Ugast, NCAP and Katie Ledecky and her coach, Yuri Sugiyama on being an Olympic Gold Medalist in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
§ 22 female and 45 male resident records broken this year.
§ 41 female Open records (37 by PVS swimmers) and 44 male Open records (30 by PVS swimmers) were broken this year.
§ 7 NAG records were set by PVS Swimmers.
o Age Group Swimming – see report submitted
o Coaches Representatives – see report submitted.
§ Safe Sport conference – It is important that all parents and athletes watch the training videos presented by USA-S.
§ There are some ideas of making changes to the scoring procedures for our PVS Senior Championship meet. These ideas will be brought forth at the Fall Competition Committee Meeting.
o Athlete Representatives – The athletes seem happy and felt the meets ran smoothly
o Strategic Planning – see report submitted.
§ What has the BoD asked the Strategic Planning chair to look at and what is the plan?
· We are looking at the infrastructure of PVS, how it currently looks and what it will look like over the next few year. We will be discussing how our association conducts business. We are basically running this association the same now with 11,000 athletes, as we did 10 years ago with only about 4,000 members.
· We will be looking at contractors, potential office, college teams, pool time for competition and practice, trying to increase participation in the HOD, etc.
o Safety – see report submitted
§ A committee of one, but has many, many active members in the LSC.
· If the accident happens at the meet send in the Report of Occurrence to USA Swimming, but also send it to the Safety Chair for his records, as well as keep a copy for the meet records.
· The Report of Occurrence form is not just for injuries or things that happen at meets, but should be used for issues/accidents during practices as well.
o Board of Review (see above) – For the past year there were two petitions that came before the Board of Review; however were resolved without going into a full BoR session.
o Finance & Budget – see report submitted.
§ Bob Vincent thanked PVS for allowing him to serve on the board and he has had the pleasure of working with Riley Eaton and John Ertter.
· Is looking into the possibilities of changing from a full audit to an audit review. He commented that the PVS By-laws do allow for this.
· Our budget has been submitted, thanks again to John Ertter for putting it together.
· We are staying at the lower end of the guideline of the reserve, next year we might be up to about 85%.
· Motion to approve the 2013-2014 budget as submitted, seconded and approved.
· Old Business - no old business
· New Business
o Kurt Thiel, PVS Open Water Coordinator spoke - In light of passing the budget, we have passed the idea that we are going to increase the amount of Open Water swimming. The Potomac River is swimmable. It has taken 15 years to accomplish this.
§ September 14, we plan to have our first OW sanctioned event. We have always had the interested swimmers, but need to increase the officials to help us hold top notch meets.
§ Will open Water be in conjunction with LC? The general open water season is May 1- Nov 1.
o Please look at the meeting notes from CCM. There are several ideas and future proposed changes for the CCM.
· Adjourn – motion to adjourn, second and approved.