Minutes approved by the BoD through an e-vote on July 29 due to no quorum at the July meeting.

 

 Potomac Valley Swimming

Board of Director’s Meeting

Overlee

6030 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA

June 14, 2010

 

 

·         Dinner – 6:30

·         Call to Order; the meeting was called to order at 7:07 pm. Several Board Members were absent at this meeting therefore no official votes could be taken because there was not a quorum present. Discussions were held and straw votes were taken if necessary. Attendance; Voting Board Members; Greg York, Yuri Suguiyama, Boots Hall, Dave DiNardo and Bill Stephens. Non-Voting Board Members and attendees; Jim Garner, Brian Pawlowicz, John Ertter, Tim Husson, Miriam Lynch, John Hirschmann, Ward Foley and Terri Marlin

 

·         Approval of April 12, 2010 Meeting Minutes – No vote taken

 

·         Approval of Special Meeting of April 26, 2010 Minutes – No vote taken

 

·         Post-mortem on HOD Meeting – In recent HOD meetings there has been less and less discussion on the general philosophy regarding PVS’s financial goals and objectives, and instead there was more discussion on the specific details of how the money is raised or spent.

o   There is concern that the smaller clubs in the LSC get lost in the discussion and may not fully understand the issues at hand.

o   One suggestion is to have an open meeting for member to ask specific questions regarding the budget, and even the opportunity to go through it line by line if necessary.

o   The Board of Directors is also looking for ways to increase the amount of participation in the HOD meetings amongst its member clubs, particularly the smaller one. At this year’s HOD there were only 14 out of 37 teams represented. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

·         By-Laws – Not discussed

·         USAS Convention – Potomac Valley Swimming is currently the fifth largest LSC in the country; therefore are given three Presidential At-large votes at the USA Swimming House of Delegates meeting held at the USAS Convention in September. The General Chair has submitted Bill Stephens, Bill Marlin and John Ertter as PVS’s three additional at-large vote. Other names have also been submitted with a request they receive a USA-S President’s At-large vote. As a general reminder to those Board Members planning on attending Convention, please get your commitment forms to Linda no later than the July Board meeting, and do not wait until the last minute to make airline reservations, as the rates will increase the closer we get to the meeting.

 

·         May 2010 Competition Committee Report and Proposals – As a whole, the BoD had significant concerns regarding the proposed Club meet schedule for the 2010-2011 season that was endorsed by the Competition Committee at its May 2010 meeting. The overall number of meets on the schedule, equipment issues as well as the potential conflict of club meets and PVS meets were among the primary concerns of both members of the Board of Directors and Officials Committee.  Boots Hall, the Official’s Representative, strongly opposed the number of club meet proposed for the upcoming season, stating that the increased number of meets on the schedule will just add to the strain on the PVS officiating comunity to adequately staff these meets. There were also concerns raised that some clubs requesting to hold club sponsored meets do not have sufficient trained officials affiliated with their club, yet expect to make a considerable profit from having such a meet. It was also noted that the PVS office and many clubs have gotten away from strictly following P & P regarding the proper procedures for sanctioning of meets, which includes gathering and submitting the proper paperwork in order to have a meet sanctioned in PVS.

o   A message will be sent out to the Clubs regarding the proposed meet schedule and the proper procedures that must be followed by each club in order to have their meet sanctioned. The guidelines for the required items needed to obtain a PVS sanction will also be included in the note (these items will include but are not limited to; the date and facility, meet referee, a sanction request form and at least a starter and 2 stroke & turn officials).

o   The Policies and Procedures for sanctioning PVS Club meets will also be reviewed and possible changes will be discussed and proposed to the Board of Directors at a later date. It was concluded that it is the responsibility of the PVS BoD and the Admin Office to ensure that all P & P requirements are being strictly enforced to maintain the integrity of all meets held within PVS territory.

 

·         Planning for September 2010 Sexual Misconduct Workshop – From this point forward we will no longer use the word “harassment” connection with this activity. The title will now be the “Sexual Misconduct Leadership Workshop”. John Ertter has suggested a slight change in the structure of the workshop; the information will now be presented to Club Owners, Club Board of Directors, Head Coaches and Head Site Coaches. They in turn will be encouraged to go back to their clubs and present the same information to their staff, so they as club leaders can learn to protect their own clubs. The initial line of defense again any sexual misconduct incident and the ultimate responsibility falls directly on the clubs themselves. In addition Ertter also believes it will be important for the club leaders to know what to teach the athletes, and this information will also be included in the workshop. John has proposed an agenda and once the agenda is approved he will go back to the workshop instructor and get it set up. The intent will be to schedule a workshop of this manner annually.

o   The weekend of September 25-26 is the targeted weekend for the workshop. [it was later noted that the Fall Competition Committee Meeting was scheduled for Saturday September 25. The Age Group and Senior Chair will be notified and a new date for the CCM will be scheduled.]

o   In addition it was suggested to add to the agenda the topic of “dealing with false accusations”, John said he would add it.

 

·         Study to develop appropriate target for LSC financial reserves – The Strategic Chair, Jim Thompson is working on a study and will submit a report at the July BoD meeting.

 

·         Potential treatment of future budget surpluses – This “proposal” will be presented by John Ertter, once the study on what should be PVS’s reserve target is completed. However it should be noted that the two studies should not be confused as being on the exact same issue. The two studies relate to each other. The “target study” is going to establish what the targets are going to be for PVS’s financial reserves, taking into considerations many issues; other LSCs, other sports, other non-profits, etc. The proposal for the treatment of the budget surplus will focus on what PVS will decide to do with any surplus reserve that may exist at the end of any given fiscal year.

 

·         Official’s Travel Assistance – John Ertter received a request from Jack Neill for a PVS Official to receive travel assistance for attending and working a Paralympic meet. In the past requests such as this have been granted, however these request have not been made on a regular basis. Greg asked the Officials Committee to discussion the request and send their recommendation back to the board at the July meeting.

·         Reports

o   Executive Director – submitted report. PVS has a new cell phone plan. He is seeking Board approval to write the check to pay for the bill. An e-vote will be sent out to the Board Members. [E-vote Motion that John Ertter be authorized to open a cell phone account in his name for the benefit of PVS and that he be authorized to use PVS funds to pay the monthly fees for the account. This authorization will be in effect until rescinded by the Board or until PVS directs that the cell phone account be closed. As a point of clarification it was stated that all of PVS cell phones are subject to this arrangement and have always been in individual’s names. No cell phone account has ever been in PVS’s name. This motion is intended to all the Executive Director to consolidate the current PVS cell phones under a single agreement that allows the three lines to share minutes. It is less costly than having 3 separate phone contracts. The motion passed with 8 yes votes.]

o   Athlete Representatives – no report submitted

o   Administrative

o   Webmaster

o   Finance/Accounting – John Ertter and Bill Stephens will be attending the USA Swimming Treasurer Workshop in Minneapolis, June 26-27.

o   Operations – As the in coming Operations Chair, Brian has looked into bar coding equipment, but has yet to find something that is water proof.  

o   Senior Swimming – no report submitted

o   Age Group Swimming

o   Coaches Representatives

o   Diversity/Inclusion – Is looking at an April 2011 date for “April Pool’s Day”.

o   Officials

o   Strategic Planning – no report submitted

·         Date for next BOD Meeting; Tuesday July 20, 2010 at Overlee [Overlee is not available on July 20, so we will contact RiverFalls]

·         Adjourn  - the meeting is adjourned at 9:48 pm