Jim Garner, General Chairman; Bill Stephens, John Hirschmann, Don Riedlinger, Ron Whalen, Greg York, Todd, Benedick, Jim Van Erden, Ethan Bassett, PVS Board Members; Rick Curl, CUBU; Manga Dalizu, FAST; Joe Cyganiewicz, OCCS; Mark Eldridge, RMSC; Thirl Crudup, Kerry Ellett, John Ertter, Boots Hall, Linda Klopfenstein, Dave Mengering, Frank Persico, Jim Thompson, At-Large Delegates; Arvydas Barzdukas, NVSL; Sumie Emory, PVS Registrar; Ward Foley, Duane Davis, Shelly Lesher.

The meeting was called to order by the PVS General Chairman, Jim Garner at 7:08pm. He introduced everybody in attendance.

The House approved the minutes of the May 28, 2003 meeting that had been posted to the website prior to the meeting without change.

The House accepted the agenda that had been prepared by the General Chairman and circulated prior to the meeting without change.

Jim indicated that some of the board and committee members had just submitted written reports and that they would not have additional comments to make unless those in attendance had questions regarding their content.

Jim Garner presented a Special Award to Thirl Crudup in appreciation of his outstanding service to PVS which was essential to assure the continuity of PVS operations after it was determined it was necessary to terminate the services of Tatoodles in July, 2002. This need was particularly crucial until others were identified to assume responsibility for the registration, financial and administrative functions of the association.

This was the same award that had previously been presented to John Ertter and John Hirschmann for their services during this transition period.

Jim Garner made the presentation of the Conoco-Phillips Outstanding Service Award to John Hirschmann. This award can be made annually by each LSC to an individual in recognition of his or her volunteer service in the area of administrator, official or coach.

Jim noted John's many years of service as an official, member of the Officials Committee, Officials Committee Chairman, Operations Division Chairman, PVS Webmaster and other administrative duties including sanction officer, arranging for pool rentals, etc.

Jim commended CUBU for hosting USA Swimming Nationals at the University of Maryland last August. He noted that while he had not been personally present, he had heard many reports on how well it had been run. This is the first time a meet of this stature had been held in PVS in at least a couple of decades.

He noted the format for the LC 14/U Long Course Championships had been substantially revamped into a prelim/finals format (and inclusion of 13-14 year old age category) and was held successfully this past July.

A new athletes and non-athlete registration system had been implemented by USA Swimming for the 2004 registration year. He acknowledged that PVS had experienced some "growing pains" in transition to the new system - primarily in area of making sure athletes are registered with USA Swimming the same way they are entered into meets (i. e., use the same legal name and date of birth.)

The process is also determining whether all swimmers competing in our meets are properly registered with USA Swimming. Compliance has generally been found to be good, but there have been a few situations where some unregistered athletes have been identified. PVS has been following up in these situations. It is also important that Meet Directors get their Meet Director files to the Registrar promptly so the pre-meet registration process can occur and any problems can be addressed well in advance of the meet.

Jim noted the officials program is not growing like we need it to do The Officials Committee has conducted more clinics than in past in order to try to remedy this. He also noted that too many meets on the schedule can lead to "burn out" of the officials - who all serve as volunteers.

Jim reported that PVS had a professional audit of its financial books for the first time in at least a couple of decades. He reported PVS had received a "clean opinion" which is a major accomplishment for having your financial records audited for the first time. He commended John Ertter for all the effort he undertook to bring PVS books into order. This had been sizeable effort over many months after taking over day-to-day responsibility from Tatoodles.

Jim also reported that athlete registration is up slightly. On the financial side, the current fiscal year will report a surplus -- income is up relative to what was budgeted, expenses will be less than what was budgeted.

The budget being proposed for adoption by the House contains a significant increase for Contractor Services. He advised that several of the administrative functions of the LSC had been performed on a volunteer basis over the past couple of years - following the termination of the Tatoodles contract. He indicated it was not realistic to assume this would continue and that John Hirschmann in particular would not be available to provide the same level of support to the LSC as he has over the past two years.

He noted that in the area of adapted swimming, Don Riedlinger had undertaken a highly visible inclusion policy. He reported PVS had 5 athletes at the recently completed USA Swimming National Disability Championships -- our athletes took 8 first places at that meet and one of our athletes is going to the Paralympic Games in Athens during September. These athletes are now also getting equal financial support from PVS when they go to USA Swimming national disability meets as our able-bodied athletes do for comparable meets.

Jim reported that two new task forces were formed at the recent Competition Committee meeting. Don Riedlinger is chairing a committee addressing the philosophy of how PVS should establish time standards for its championship meets - starting with the Senior Championship meets. Peter Karl is chairing a committee on what should be the role of the clubs versus PVS in sponsoring meets and providing various types of competition for our athletes.

Jim reported he had hoped to announce that PVS would be having a Swimposium. This is when USA Swimming offers to send their people to speak to a LSC's parents, athletes, coaches, officials etc. for a one-day gathering. He indicated most LSC's in the country have held them, but PVS has not. But in order to start the process a volunteer is needed to step forward to offer to organize it. He asked for those in attendance to give consideration to identifying somebody who might be willing to undertake this effort.

Jim Van Erden as Chairman of Strategic Planning submitted a report to the House on PVS's sanctioning policy - Jim indicated he hoped to schedule a special 1/2 day meeting to allow the Board to discuss it in greater depth. The goal is to get any resulting recommendations to the Competition Committee for consideration at their September meeting.

Bill noted the Registrar's report could be found in last three pages of the Administrative Division report, which he had provided just prior to the meeting. He noted that the number of registered athletes in PVS is 6709 vs. approximately 6600 a year ago. The number of "clubs" has increased from 34 to 35 - PVS currently has 34 registered clubs and one organization.

Non-athlete membership has risen from 525 to 553. Bill indicated that the increase had occurred primarily amongst coaches - the number of officials registered is down.

Bill highlighted that everybody getting registered in a timely manner - this is a significant improvement from the situation a couple of years ago. Club registrars are generally doing an excellent job.

He also noted that PVS had conducted a seminar for registrars this past September. He indicated that other changes in the process are coming from USA Swimming. Accordingly, it is planned to have another clinic for club registrar's this September - it will most likely be held the last Sunday in September.

He also noted in order to make it easier for PVS coaches to retain their certifications, clinics on the certifications they are required to keep current are now being offered thru NV Pools They will be offered in late Aug/early Sept, December and late May/early June, the periods of greatest need.

Jim Garner presented a report on behalf of the Nominating Committee, which consisted of himself, Linda Klopfenstein and Frank Persico. The committee nominated Bill Stephens as Administrative Vice-Chairman, Greg York as Age Group Chairman, Ron Whalen as Operations Chairman and Jim Van Erden as Strategic Planning Chairman. Jim advised that all were incumbents and thus were eligible to run for reelection for the same position beyond their current term. The term of office will be from September 1, 2004 to August 31, 2006. The motion was made and PASSED to elect them by acclamation. Since Ron Whalen was also selected by the Board last June to fill a vacancy, he was also elected by the House to fill the remainder of the current term until August 31, 2004.

Jim then presented the names of Tim Husson, Dave Mengering (incumbent) Jeff Roddin and Jim Thompson for the Board of Review. He advised that there were 4 positions to be filled. The term of office will be from September 1, 2004 to August 31, 2006. Dave Mengering is running as an incumbent having served one two-year term. The other three candidates have not previously served in this capacity. The other three current incumbents have served two full two-year terms and under PVS's by-laws may not succeed themselves. The motion was made and PASSED to elect the nominees by acclamation.

Jim also advised the House that Bill Marlin had been reelected as Coaches Representative in March for a term that will run from September 1, 2004 to August 31, 2006.

Nominations for Athlete Representative, whose election will take place in July, was sought. It was suggested that for the athletes to be more effectively represented on the Board, an athlete be nominated who will have time to attend Board meetings and has sufficient experience to be an effective Board member.

No nominations were made at this time. It was agreed to accept nominations until a date closer to the election Jim Garner, as General Chairman, will accept the nominations.

Linda K advised that a release and conduct pledge is now needed for athletes under age 18 now attending the convention. USA Swimming would like to see the LSC's elect more mature athletes to serve in the positions at their local LSC and attend convention.

Garner brought to the House's attention that the Safety Committee had been moved from the Administrative Division to the Operations Division several years ago. However PVS's By-Laws had never been formally amended to reflect that change. Accordingly, he proposed that the language pertaining to the duties of the Safety Coordinator currently found in Section 7.4.1.D of PVS's By-Laws be moved to Section 7.4.3.D as a new section. Conforming amendments to renumber Section 7.4.1.E as Section 7.4.1.D and listings found in Sections 7.1.2 and 7.1.4 would also be made.

A Motion was made to amend PVS by-laws to make this housekeeping change. There was no discussion. The Motion was APPROVED.

Note: The remaining by-law amendments circulated in advance of the meeting were not put before the House for their consideration.

Bill discussed coaches' registration and certification and new procedures that had been implemented to assure that coaches on the deck at PVS meets hold a current registration. Considerable work had been done - when the effort was started about 50% of the coaches had registrations issues. That list is now much shorter and the coaches left on the list may no longer be actively coaching.

He further stated that Meet Referees and Meet Directors are getting lists of certified coaches to use in enforcing that only currently registered coaches are on the deck. Enforcement takes place when practical. We are also making it easier for our coaches to get the needed certifications so coaches can be in compliance.

He is encouraging clubs to build into their club coach's training program the opportunity (requirement) to get these certifications.

Bill also talked about meet reconciliation and the process of loading all times into the SWIMS data base. He pointed out that if there were any error in the information (discrepancy) between how (if) the swimmer is registered with USA Swimming versus how they entered into a meet, it would be flagged for special attention. He noted that in general we have been encountering relatively few problems.

He stated the PVS is planning to implement a new policy of fining clubs for running meets with unregistered athletes. This would apply to both unregistered and inaccurately entered (i.e., "noise") athletes.

Bill also stated that PVS would hold both a Registrars and Meet Directors Clinic in late September so they will know what is expected of them. A clinic for Registrars (but not Meet Directors) was held last September to explain the new procedures.

It was noted that the athletes need to be registered by the date they were entered into a meet and the current software provided by USA Swimming (SWIMS) provides the ability to check registration status against all 59 LSC's.

There was discussion of the process, when meet files need to get to the PVS Registrar, when the Registrar will complete her review, under what circumstances fines will be assessed and against whom, whether swimmers can still register on the deck, etc.

Bill, in response to questions, acknowledged that the Board still needs to work out details of how this program will be implemented. He also noted that while most clubs have either been fully (or almost fully) in compliance - PVS is having a problem with a few clubs that are not taking the requirement seriously.

There are problems both when clubs are not careful about only entering registered athletes and entering them accurately, as well as when some meet directors fail to take the requirement to enforce the rules seriously. The problem has to be given high enough visibility to get people's attention.

A question was asked whether both the club entering the athlete and the club accepting the entry be subject to being fined. The answer was "yes."

It was stated that PVS has rarely assessed fines for failure to comply. It was also stated that many LSC's are now requiring their athletes to be registered by the date meet entries are due to assure they will officially be on the registration roles when the pre-meet registration reconciliation is done.

Motion: Mark Eldridge made a motion that the HofD direct PVS to start fining clubs hosting meets for permitting both unregistered swimmers and those athletes not accurately entered in the meet (i.e., noise) to participate in a meet. The fine would be $100 per swim. He stated he is trying to come up with a solution. If we are told we have a problem, we need to fix it.

Cy recommended that instead we need to fine club that is entering unregistered athletes (or where they had not entered in the meet properly) and then only to go after the club hosting the meet if they accept into the meet somebody that they were told not to accept.

It was noted a process would also have to be put in place to make sure deck entries are properly registered.

The goal should be sure all athletes participating in PVS sanctioned meets are registered. It was suggested that PVS start enforcing a $100 fine on clubs that enter unregistered athletes - but it should be reduced to $50 if they "clean up the problem" and properly register the athlete prior to the meet. Another variation proposed was to reduce the fine to $50 if the problem was fixed within 24-48 hours. Also, the submitting entries with "noise" (athlete registered - but not correctly entered into the meet) would involve a $25 fine.

Others observed that unenforced fines don't fix the problem and PVS has not fined anybody recently. They also suggested the host club as well as the submitting club be fined, particularly if it involved deck entries. Others noted the appropriateness of fining the host club should be dependent in part on when and how they were informed of potential violations.

Mark Eldridge withdrew the motion he had made.

Motion: Mark Eldridge then made a motion to direct the Board of Directors this coming competitive year to fully apply the existing fines and protocols for Clubs and Meet Directors relating to unregistered "swimmers" in a meet vice "entries." In support of his motion, he stated he was anxious to see PVS implement existing policy and make the meet reconciliation procedures work.

Statements were made that they were more interested in avoiding safety/liability issues and were not anxious to have to get involved with fining PVS clubs. Kerry Ellett mentioned that PVS needs to better enforce the existing warm-up policy.

A motion to call the Question was made and PASSED. The second motion made by Mark Eldridge then PASSED.

Bill Stephens noted that likely future staffing needs of PVS had already been discussed by Jim Garner as part of his presentation.

Stephens also stated PVS was still looking for office and storage space - which he stated PVS hoped to acquire on an economical basis. He stated PVS is still hoping acquire space at below market rates - hopefully from somebody who has excess space and would like to help PVS out.

Bill noted this was an Olympic year and this coming year is the year for PVS to grow. He was hopeful we could take advantage of the attention competitive swimming will get during the Olympic Trials and Games to publicize our own program and draw more athletes to it. He also noted that most of our likely volunteers to help in such an effort would likely be gone in August and also our clubs' competitive programs fill up early and are likely to be full by August.

He noted he had brought a sample of publicity material provided by USA Swimming to the meeting and people were welcome to look at it. Bill said he would like to do a brochure for summer league swimmers to explain to them the advantages of participating in swimming throughout the year.

He was also creating "generic" PVS goodies - which clubs might be able to purchase at a low cost from PVS. The purposes of PVS's publicity program should be to drive people to our member clubs and to the PVS website to learn more about us.

Stephens also indicated that providing information for new families to the PVS community about competitive swimming and in particular about the PVS competitive swimming program would be particularly useful.

Arvydas reminded the House that some summer leagues (or their individual teams) welcome either PVS coaches (or long time parents with swimmers in USA Swimming) to come to summer league programs or meetings to discuss the advantages of participating in year around swimming.

John Hirschmann had provided a written report in advance of the meeting. He noted that activity in March 2004 was extremely high and set monthly records for the site. This was due the many major meets held in the LSC during that month and providing results for the Eastern Zone SC meet. Also PVS may need to move its searchable database to a new arrangement if the current provider is no longer able to provide that support. In addition, the webhosting service for pvswim.org might need to be changed - this change can hopefully be made so it is seamless to the users of the site.

Greg indicated he had no report to present to the House.

Don indicated he views part of the role of Senior Swimming to provide for an orderly Competitive program with a logical progression as swimmers go from our championship meets to Sectionals, USA Swimming Juniors (when they return) and then USA Swimming Nationals.

He observed PVS had conducted a SCY/LCM format at PVS March 2004 Senior Championship meet - he reported some liked it and others did not. He also reported that two swimmers qualified for Olympic Trials for the first time at this meet, which was the purpose for this change in format. (The QT for OT can only be obtained in a LCM pool this year.)

He also reported the PVS Long Course Summer Senior Meet would now have its QT's set at 105% of the Eastern Zone Super Sectional Meet's QT. This is contrasted to the past where the QT's were set in order to get a desired number of heats with more heats of the shorter events being sought. He also stated that a new task force had been created to determine what is the best philosophy to set QT's for PVS Senior Championship Meets. He noted that after this effort is completed, the Committee might give attention to how QT's are established for PVS's Junior and Age Group Championship meets.

Another task force on role of clubs vs. PVS in providing meets for our athletes was also created. Peter Karl is chairing that Committee.

Finally he reported the PVS Distance Meets are being much more fully subscribed and providing adequate pool time has started to become a challenge. He reported that Rod Montrie as PVS Distance coordinator is seeking input on how these meets might be reformatted in the future.

Ron Whalen submitted a written report just prior to the meeting. A copy is attached to these minutes. There was no discussion of it at the meeting.

Boots Hall submitted a written report to the House.

In addition to her written report, Boots noted some people may be miscategorized as officials in the official registration file as reported within the Administrative Division Report. This is presumably a result of how the individuals have declared themselves when they registered with PVS.

Don Smith did not submit a report to the House.

John McDonald provided a written report in advance of the meeting, which is attached to these minutes. There was no discussion.

Ethan Bassett was present at the meeting. He did not provide a written report or provide a verbal presentation.

Bill Marlin supplemented his written report by adding that the Coaches were also recommending that PVS start presenting an annual award to a coach of 14/U swimmers, based on accomplishments of swimmers he is coaching in that age bracket. ASCA allows each LSC to nominate one coach each year from their LSC to receive this award. He reported that PVS had apparently nominated somebody to receive this award 3 of the past 15 years. Bill clarified that you do not have to member of ASCA to be eligible to receive the award

PVS coaches would be allowed to self nominate and include a listing of accomplishments achieved by swimmers they coach who were 14/U. A group of coaches would review the nominations received and make a selection.

Marlin advised that the Board had not acted on whether to pay for coach's travel to the annual ASCA convention to receive the award. Manga Dalizu made a motion to pay for this travel. It was suggested that this motion be deferred to discussion of the proposed FY05 budget. Manga agreed to do so.

Frank Persico had provided a written report for circulation at the House meeting. A copy is attached. The report discussed the one case the Board of Review heard this year.

Hirschmann reported that the LSC is in strong financial shape. He commended John Ertter's contribution first for all the work he has done to carefully monitor and control PVS's receipts and receivables as well as appropriateness of all disbursements. . He also commended all the work he had done in regard to preparing the proposed budget and its supporting detail.

He reported that PVS's fiscal year ending August 31, 2003 had been audited and PVS had received a clean opinion. Copies of the FY 2003 financial statements and the auditor's opinion letter were made available. They had also previously been posted to the website in January.

Hirschmann also reported that financial controls had been improved - who has access to funds held by PVS have been divided and is segregated amongst several individuals.

PVS has gone to a partial accrual basis so we can depreciate our equipment that is capitalized.

Hirschmann then moved to present the proposed 2005 budget to the House. He noted the budget being presented contains a $16,000 deficit on a cash basis. This was done in recognition of the fact PVS now had reserves in excess of one year's expenditures as a result of doing better than expected in FY'04. A larger deficit is not recommended in order to not make the transition to future year's budgets more challenging.

The Budget being presented is what was recommended to the Board and what the Board is now recommending to the House for adoption.

The changes in the budget from the prior year were highlighted to the House and are included in the cover page transmitting the budget to the House.

He noted the budget contains a recommendation to conduct a financial audit of the current year's financial statement. He indicated it would be more economical to do an audit every year than just every third year as required by PVS's by-laws. He also noted that funds are included for legal services - PVS has arranged for an attorney to be on retainer -- only the General Chairman can authorize the attorney to perform work on behalf of PVS.

Hirschmann made a motion to adopt the budget as submitted in order to allow discussion on it to start. The motion was seconded.

Manga Dalizu then offered an amendment to have PVS pay actual costs to allow the PVS coach selected as its outstanding 14/U coach to travel to the annual ASCA convention and receive the award. He proposed that up to $1000 be budgeted with disbursements being limited to actual expenses. It was also agreed to reflect this as a separate line item under Other Program Support rather than as part of Travel Assistance. The proposed amendment to the budget PASSED.

Mark Eldridge made a motion to reduce the Athlete Travel Reimbursement account to $0 and to reduce the PVS portion of the Athlete Registration fee by $4/athlete. He stated he felt it was better for clubs to take responsibility providing this travel assistance support to their athletes rather than have the LSC participate in supporting this function.

Rick Curl noted that most other LSC's do provide this type of support and would be a mistake to take it out of our budget. He noted the LSC's also provides financial support for both 10/U's going to zones as well as 15-18 old swimmers who do not qualify for national championship meets. His club provides the money received to the athlete's family to reimburse them for costs incurred. He stated that he feared getting rid of this program could have a long-term negative impact on retaining our better swimmers in competitive swimming.

It was also pointed out that this motion could take money away from disabled athletes going to their USA Swimming sponsored championship and open meets.

There was also discussion of the time spent reviewing the applications and that unfortunately some athletes now view it as an entitlement rather than as a token expression of LSC's appreciation. It was pointed out the participation requirement was designed to make these athletes visible to up and coming athletes and their parents - help inspire them to stay in the sport and do better.

There was discussion of the frustration associated with swimmers who ""bag swims," make less than a competitive effort simply to satisfy the requirement to compete in a specified number of events.

Mark Eldridge then made a motion to amend his prior motion so it would only apply to meets held after January 1, 2005 In addition, the athlete registration fee collected by PVS would be reduced by $2 per athletes instead of $4 per athlete.

He stated that upon further reflection he felt that having the travel assistance terminate so soon, some clubs might not have adequate time to adjust their own budgets for the reduced support that they might get from PVS.

There was further discussion on the motion including which meets would still receive PVS assistance under the amended motion. The motion was then put to a vote and the motion to amend FAILED 10-9.

John Ertter noted that PVS has supported sending its athletes to National Championship meets for many years, including his own daughter. He agreed there have been a few "bad apples," but he also stated that it did not think this a reason to stop the program. He further noted that other athletes have found ways to support the program in positive way - this had included participating in the 8/U clinics, meeting with the parents of younger swimmers, etc.

It was also noted that USA Swimming gives substantial support to our elite athletes and we all support it thru dues we pay to USA Swimming - similarly, PVS as an LSC should not be reluctant to do its share to support its athletes. Others pointed out that our athletes represent not only their clubs at national level competitions, but also their LSC's.

Mark pointed out that RMSC pays the full costs for athletes who participate at this level.

Bill Stephens reminded the body that this is part of the pyramid of support the USA Swimming provides to its elite athletes. All our athletes help support our National athletes thru their dues to USA Swimming. We should be willing to do likewise for our own athletes who participate in national championship meets.

It was also pointed out that PVS is the 6th largest LSC in terms of registered athletes - it is by far the most concentrated in terms of athletes/square mile of territory. Accordingly, it would seem strange for PVS to be unwilling to support its best athlete at a cost of $4/swimmer - it was further noted this is a very small percentage of the total cost to an athlete (or their family) of being in competitive swimming.

Ron Whalen noted he felt we presently have unworkable arrangement - he suggested PVS just give the athletes the money. Others reminded the House that funds must go to the athlete's club in order to avoid potential problems with NCAA eligibility.

Others noted it was desirable to showcase our outstanding athletes to our up and coming athletes and their parents. Rick suggested that we find other ways for athletes to support the LSC (other than meet participation) for athlete to make a "pay back" - do clinic - speak to parents, etc. as an alternative to having an athlete "bag" a swim.

The question was called. The motion to call the question PASSED. The subsequent motion to adopt the amendment to the proposed budget to remove funding for athlete travel to national championships meets and an associated reduction in PVS athlete registration fees FAILED.

Frank Persico recommended that the topic of PVS's role in providing travel assistance to its athletes be referred to Strategic Planning so don't have to continue to have this debate each year as part of PVS budget approval process.

The discussion then returned to the primary budget proposal as amended by Dalizu.

A question was raised regarding the PVS Eastern Zone budget and why it is being proposed that PVS support both the SC and LC meets with $15K subsidy. It was explained that Competition had asked that PVS provide the same level of financial support for each team. Competition Committee had indicated a desire to support its LC team in a manner similar to how it supported its SC team. The Board agreed to provide this level of support in the option so this approach could be pursued. The task force recommendation to Competition had not been accepted at the January Competition Committee meeting. The budget had been prepared before last week's Competition Committee meeting at which no new proposal was forthcoming.

The House was advised that PVS in the past has spent $5K-6K to support its LC team by sending coaches to accompany the athletes

A motion was made to reduce the amount PVS budgets to support its LC zone teams from $15K to $6K. This motion PASSED.

It was indicated that Mark Faherty would analyze what the PVS zone budgets should be based on analyzing on what PVS is currently paying and the level of subsidy being provided.

A vote was then taken to adopt the FY 2005 budget as submitted to the House for approval as amended to (1) include $1000 in funding for a coach to receive the 14/U Outstanding Coaches award at convention and (2) reduce support of the PVS Eastern Zone Long Course team by $9000. Motion PASSED.

The 2004-05 budget as approved is attached.

Jim had submitted an extensive report in advance of the meeting regarding various aspects of PVS's sanction policy. That report was not however discussed at the meeting.

There was contained within the report a motion to amend PVS's Policy and Procedures Part C-8 on Sanction and Approval of Competition to expand the circumstances under which a sanction could be granted.

The motion was to add the following language:

Garner explained the motion by stating it was designed to allow the Board to issue sanctions after the last opportunity to bid a meet to Competition if the conditions in the motion were present - primarily that the meet not be in direct competition with a similar meet already sanctioned for that weekend or the team holding that sanction did not have an objection to the sanction being issued. There was further discussion regarding clarifying the motion.

It was observed that if requests to receive meet sanctions are not available till the Competition Committee meeting -- this could lead to a scramble.

Mark Eldridge stated he thought it was unfair to bar meets in conflict with another meet it that would force swimmers to travel to the other side of LSC in order to compete.

Concern was also expressed about danger of meets being bid and then withdrawn

Others spoke to the danger of requests for meets bypassing the Competition Committee - thus requiring the Board to act on the request without getting input from the Competition Committee.

Others suggested what we are now doing is a strain on association - many LSC's allow for only one scheduling meetings - we allow for up to three sanctioning opportunities for the same time frame..

Others suggested the purpose of having a deadline is to get clubs to submit their bids in an orderly manner and to allow the Competition Committee to provide input before the Board is asked to vote on whether to grant the sanction.

Cy inquired as to what are the rules within PVS as to who gets awarded a meet. It was explained it was different for meets sponsored by PVS (but hosted by our clubs) than for meets bid and sponsored by PVS clubs.

It was also suggested it would help if PVS had a requirement for clubs to have a requisite number of officials to order to apply to get a meet sanction for a club sponsored meet or to a host a PVS sponsored meet.

Jim Van Erden explained the amendment would make the sanctioning process more permissive by allowing some sanctions for club sponsored meets to be granted later than is currently the case in situations where there would not be a direct conflict or there is no objection.

Others observed for club sponsored meets, the Competition Committee should be asked so coaches input as to what competition should be held is available. Otherwise sanctions could be awarded without benefit of Competition Committee input.

The question was called. A voted to call the question PASSED.

The motion to amend PVS's P&P as proposed PASSED.

Kerry indicated that the QT's for Men's events at the 2004 EZ LC Super Sectional would be relaxed for the 100 Breast, 200 Breast and 200 Fly to encourage greater participation in these events. Hirschmann indicated the new QT's had been reviewed and should be released very shortly.

He also reminded people that are entitled to deck access at the Olympic Trials (athletes, coaches, officials) will require a special picture ID for the OlympicTrials. They are being encouraged to have the passport type photo picture taken in advance rather than wait and have it taken at the meet.

In addition, if athletes need to use asthma medications, they will need actual test results documenting this need - a doctor's note will no longer be sufficient.

Kerry also indicated that the new USA Swimming website would be launched the following day - May 26th. About 95% of the current content would be moved to the new site. Additional material would be added to the site in mid-June. This includes a nutrition tracker for athletes to use and another feature that will allow swimmers to track their time. This is making it increasingly important that all competitive times that are official for USA Swimming purposes be loaded into the new SWIMS data base.

Kerry also reported that Sue Anderson would be changing jobs on September 1 and that Ira Klein will become the new Eastern Zone Representative on that date. There will be additional new hires occurring after the Olympic Trials.

The financial health of Unites States Swimming is good and they will report a surplus for the about to end quadrennial. Their investments have done well in the past year and an insurance rebate is expected as a result of favorable underwriting experience from less than expected claims under various insurance programs.

Several marketing and TV opportunities are coming up in the next few months. These include the United States Olympic Trials in July, the Olympic Games in August and the FINA Short Course World Championships, which will be held in Indianapolis in October.

Jim made an additional inquiry whether anybody had during the course of the meeting identified somebody they wished to nominate as athlete representative to the PVS Board. There were no nominations.

There was no old business to come before the House.

Manga expressed the view that he would like the PVS HofD to give guidance to the PVS Board similar to how he believes the USA Swimming HofD gives guidance to the USA Swimming Board of Directors.

A motion was made and approved to adjourn at approximately 9:35 p.m.