The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm by Thirl Crudup, General Chairman. Thirl stated that the meeting would be conducted following Robert's Rules of Order.

Approval of the 1999 House of Delegates Meeting Minutes: Motion to approve the minutes of the 1999 House of Delegates Meeting. PASSED.

Phillips Outstanding Service Award:

Thirl explained that USA Swimming granted each LSC the ability to present this award to one of its volunteers each year. The LSC nominated one person to receive the award. Thirl stated that this year's recipient was one with whom he had worked and had seen her function in many capacities of service to the LSC. He stated that she had served the LSC in a top quality manner over many years. The Phillips Outstanding Service Award for the year 2000 was presented to Marie-Beth "Boots" Hall. "Boots" accepted the award and thanked the LSC. Boots reviewed with the House the decline in the number people volunteering to become trained so they can officiate at PVS swim meets. In particular, she noted that the number of new officials getting involved had averaged 50-60/year, it is now much lower and is insufficient to replace the 30-40 officials who leave the program each year. Therefore, she stressed how essential it was for clubs to work with the LSC to get more of their parents involved in officiating.

Registration:

Irene stated the Potomac Valley Swimming currently has 37 member clubs and 6,569 athlete members. Non-athlete membership is down from last year by approximately 100. Three new clubs have joined the association. The new teams are Team Elite, DESI and George Mason University.

Treasurer's Report:

John Ertter presented the financial statements as of 31 March 2000. The balance of all accounts is $204,162. There is approximately $13,000 in the travel fund and the investment account remains structured as before, it follows the investments made by USA Swimming. He further explained that the cash position is expected to decline as PVS balances are historically the lowest during the summer months and at the beginning of the following fiscal year.

Thirl provided the following written report:

Policies and Procedures: Kit reported that some changes have been made to Policies and Procedures. He further stated that the current version could be obtained either via the PVS webpage or by request to the PVS Administrative Office.

Communications:

Dave S. thanked Kit for making the web policy part of the PVS Policies and Procedures. He further thanked John H, Jim G., Chris Granger, Ward F. and the PVS Administrative Office for their part. Interest is growing in the PVS website. In 1998, PVS reported approximately 1200 hits per day to the website, in 1999 this number increased to 2400/day and for 2000 to date, there are 4100/day. The three most important and most viewed areas of the website are the meet announcements, meet results and searchable times database. For the past three months, more people have gone from the PVS site to the USA-Swimming site than any other LSC sponsored site. Mark Eldridge asked about the possibility of having forms and online processing available. Dave S. stated that this had not yet been discussed.

Competition:

Senior Division: Jim Garner reported that the swims had been fast this year. The year has gone well. He further reported that at the Eastern Zone Meeting, the Zone had decided that the Sectionals would be defined the same way as the previously established. One meet will be held for the following LSCs: Mid-Atlantic, Potomac Valley, Allegheny Mountain, Maryland and Virginia. This meet will host ~700 athletes and will be scheduled to end by March 18, 2001. The sessions will last no longer than 4 hours with the meet covering a 3 1/2 day period. There will be a special Competition Committee meeting held on 13 June to discuss the implications of the Sectional meet on the balance of the PVS short course schedule.. Thirl stated that it is expected that there will be 1 or 2 bids to host the Sectional meet. Dave Carson, the non-coach Eastern Zone Director, will be determining the method of selection. Mark Eldridge expressed concern over the determination process and stated that for planning purposes, he would like Thirl to find out when the award will be made

Age Group Division: Ward stated that his tenure with the Board was ending after 5 years. He stated the three goals he had worked toward. 1. To have PVS govern swimming and not run meets; 2. To encourage the clubs in running meets by allowing them ownership of the meets and making the meets profitable for the teams as well as fun for the athletes and 3. Putting the athlete first.

Ward stated the LSC is doing great and are continuing to work toward these goals. Thirl thanked Ward on behalf of the Board, the LSC and the House of Delegates. He stated that Competition is a "hot seat" and that Ward had worked hard, facing the challenges and providing recommendations that put priority on the athlete. This was heartily endorsed by the House of Delegates.

Operations:

Officials: Frank Persico presented on behalf of Marty Cohen. He stated that it had been both a good and bad year. There was good participation, but a major goal is to get new people involved. Three officials will be traveling to the USA-Swimming Officials Clinic at Lake Placid, May 26-28. Frank stated that he was proud of the representation of PVS officials at National level meets and stated that 3 PVS officials would be working at the Olympic Trials. Frank stated that there continues to be a need for more officials. He pointed out that each club should encourage the parents of their athletes to become involved at this level. He further stated that this was a great way for the parents to get to know one another and form friendships. Frank explained that there seems to be a lack of moving women up through the ranks of officiating and that this was a goal to be worked toward. Frank stated that there would be recruiting efforts from within the summer leagues and additional clinics in order to increase officials.

Meet and Computer Equipment: Don smith reported that the equipment was in good order. Some repair and replacement had been done.

Meet Management: John Hirschmann noted that Jack Mechler, who chaired this function has left the area and so the position is now vacant. He advised the House that he was looking for a replacement for Jack and invited suggestions from House members. He stated the position had been responsible for training Meet Directors and he hoped to expand the position into also assessing how we can better run our meets based on feedback from the meets and other sources.

Safety: John Hirschmann presented the following written report on behalf of John McDonald:

Coaches' Representatives Report:

Greg reported on the PVS mini camp. He thanked Kerry Ellett, all the key note speakers and the coaches and athletes who donated their time to help run the camp. He stated that PVS should continue offering opportunities for the younger age groups in order to build enthusiasm for the sport.

Greg stated that Competition had recently voted on the use of a pool for the sake of convenience rather than sacrificing a bit on convenience to swim in a better pool. He stated that the sacrifice should be made in order to have better swims.

Greg commented that a wider range of representation was needed at the Competition Committee meetings. In order to voice opinions, attendance at the meetings is vital.

Greg stated that a club can sponsor any type of meet that it chooses, but in order to do this, the coach must bring it forward to Competition. He commented that PVS can have a better schedule if the teams will bring forth new types of meets.

Mark Eldridge recommended that Competition examine the possibility of assigning voting rights by team size, rather than the current one vote per team. He stated that there is currently no representation by size and suggested that perhaps each registered coach should have a vote at Competition.

Athlete's Representative:

Kelly stated that it has been a privilege to represent the athletes and looks forward to the upcoming year. She stated that anyone should feel free to contact her with comments.

Report of the Board of Review:

Mark Eldridge reported that the Board of Review had 3 petitions this year. 2 ended in mediation and the 3rd ended with a formal hearing. These petitions had illustrated the problem with the size of the Board of Review. Mark then explained the issue with the current size of the Board of Review and the lack of flexibility and coverage allowed with a 5 member board. He made a motion to increase the number of members of the Board of Review from 5 to 7. PASSED This means 4 members will have to be voted into position when the elections are conducted later this evening.

Presentation of the 2000-2001 Budget:

John E. distributed the proposed FY 2000-2001 budget. He thanked those who had worked with him to develop the budget. John stated that ending the year with a surplus was the goal and that the budget had been developed on the basis of experience. He noted the LSC has run a deficit for the past five years and the importance of stopping this trend. He highlighted the following major areas of change in the proposed budget: increase in registration fee for athlete members of $5, increase in revenue from sale of handbook (to be generated in FY01), and changes in the Zone team subsidy based on the location of the meet. John further explained that pool rental costs were increasing. He stated that this budget was based on the approved schedule. He stated that the travel reimbursement expense line item reflects a decrease from experience, but that there are more athletes attending the national level meets. There was discussion of the consolidation of the administrative items: administration, duplication, distribution, and registration as presented in the budget. John stated a strong desire to have $10,000 available in the budget to be used as a contingency fund for unexpected expenses.

There was discussion of the Zone team subsidy. It was suggested that this line item should vary depending on meet location. There was further discussion of the expected number of athletes traveling to this meet and the appropriate total subsidy for the Team and. Mark Eldridge stated that the Competition Committee recommended a reduction in the Zone team subsidy to $20K. That vote was taken prior to the time it was know the SC Eastern Zone meet for 2001 would be within PVS again. A motion was made to reduce the total Zone team subsidy to $15K. PASSED.

There was discussion of the suggested reduction in the travel assistance budget. Mark Eldridge stated that the Competition Committee recommended a reduction in the travel assistance budget of $10K John E. stated that once the travel assistance for the Open, Long Course and Olympic trials, no funds will remain for the Senior National meets. Mark Eldridge stated that it was inappropriate to reduce the share for the LC meets, but he felt that the Open shares could still be reduced. There was further discussion of the impact of the budget on these meets as well as the Open Water meets. There was discussion of the possibility of establishing a budget and then basing the shares on the funds available. Mark E. stated that Competition recommended this cut finding it preferable to an increase in registration fees as these fees have been raised within the last 24 months. Greg stated that a cut in this budget would require the use of lesser quality pools. Thirl stated that John E. as Finance chair has been given the task of developing this budget and to examine the "big picture". Motion to reduce travel assistance budget by $10K. FAILED.

A question was raised about the expenses that could be covered by the contingency fund. It was stated that items known to be a requirement needing funding should be included in the budgeted funds, rather than planning to finance it from the contingency fund.

Motion to increase registration fees by $2.50. FAILED.

Dave S. stated that an increase in registration fees of $5 would not cause severe financial difficulty for most families. Ward stated that a one time increase would be preferable to several smaller increases. Mark Eldridge commented that when one pays more, they generally feel less obliged to give of their time. Motion to approve the budget with only the change to the Zone team subsidy. PASSED.

Nominating Committee:

Greg York reported that the nominating committee was bringing to the House, the following recommendations:

Greg stated that the Operations Vice-Chairman and the Administrative Vice-Chairman had agreed to run for reelection.

Nominations from the floor were invited. None were received.

Motion to re-elect the Operations Vice-Chairman and the Administrative Vice-Chairman by acclamation. PASSED.

A vote by secret ballot for the remaining positions to be elected was taken as required.

Nominations for Coaches' Representative: Greg invited nominations from the floor. John Blaschke and George Massey were nominated. Each candidate made a brief statement.

Nomination of Athletes' Representatives: The following nominations were made: Chris Dean (a sophomore in high school who trains with AAC) and Coco Buck (a junior in high school who trains with York).

The election of both the Coaches' and Athlete Representatives will take place at Senior, Junior and Age Group LC Championships in July.

Thirl thanked Dave Scibetta for all of his involvement in the association over many years. This was heartily endorsed by the House. He further stated that it had been a pleasure working with him and conveyed the hope that Dave would remember PVS fondly and that we could count on him for future support.

Old Business:

Arvydas discussed the status of the Dave Davis Memorial fund. It has been used to produce officials binders (500), 350 of which have been distributed. Further, NVSL has recently purchased official tapes. Arvydas asked that anyone with recommendations for the use of these funds contact him.

Results of elections by secret ballot were announced. Those elected were:

Motion to destroy the ballots. PASSED.

Kerry Ellett stated that HACC has bid to run a Zone camp. Additionally, he stated that the MD LSC is going to conduct a Zone distance camp and that PVS has been invited to participate. In response to a query, the House indicated it has no objection to the LSC publicizing this clinic from its web site.

Thirl stated that Kerry is running for the Eastern Zone Director for United States Swimming, Coaches Position.

Thirl thanked Manga for the time and commitment he has made to the Board. He thanked him for his wisdom in decision making. The House endorsed the statements.

Mark Murray of UMD spoke to the House and indicated that he was anxious to work with the LSC to allow some PVS sanctioned meets held at the new UMD pool.

Mel inquired of the chair whether any item pertaining to Meet Reconciliation was on the agenda. The House was advised that a draft resolution had been prepared for its consideration and it was briefly discussed.

Motion to accept this resolution as reflecting the sense of the House. PASSED.

Motion to adjourn PASSED

Meeting adjourned at 10:00pm.