Draft Minutes until approved at the June BoD meeting.

Potomac Valley Swimming

Board of Director’s Meeting

Overlee

6030 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA

April 11, 2011

· Attendance – Board Members: Greg York, Bill Stephens, Paris Jacobs, Riley Eaton, Manga Dalizu, Yuri Suguiyama, Bill Marlin, Miriam Lynch, Boots Hall, Jim Thompson, CJ Fiala, Richard Xue and Nick Campbell. Non-voting Board members: Ward Foley, Linda Klopfenstein, John Hirschmann, Jim Garner, John Ertter, Tim Husson and Terri Marlin

· Call to Order & General Chair Comments – Greg York called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm

o There is a lot of information swirling around the internet and pool deck regarding the recent swimming scandal. Board Members are asked to familiarize themselves with the issues being presented as it is expected for there to be quite a bit of discussion regarding the scandal during both the upcoming Eastern Zone Conference and the USA Swimming Convention. A website is now posted on-line outlining the issues related to the scandal. BoD members are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the website, www.usswimnscandal.com. There will also be a short statement made at the PVS HoD meeting in May, simply to inform the PVS body of what is going on.

o PVS has proven year after year to be a leader within USA Swimming both in our involvement and our population. PVS is currently the 5^th largest LSC in the country; in addition we have many members who are active on numerous USA-S committees. There have been questions raised when looking at the budget, as to why PVS sends so many people to meetings such as USA Swimming Convention. The answer lies within a question; do we want to continue to strive to be a leader within our sport? Or do we choose to cut money from budget and only take a small contingent to the annual USAS convention?

o It is important to go forward to the HOD with a balanced budget

· Approval of March 21, 2011 Meeting Minutes – Motion to approve the Minutes from the March 21, 2011 Board of Director Meeting, seconded and approved.

· HOD Planning – All board member’s need to have reports written and submitted no later than May 1, so they can be posted on line. All reports will be posted but will not be printed for distribution. All attendees will be asked to print the reports themselves and be familiar with the content. All BoD members will be given a couple minutes to present what they have done throughout the year and answer questions. The priority of the HOD meeting will be to discuss and approve the annual budget for FY2012. (Nomination Report)

o Ward Foley was originally named to the Nominating Committee at the March Board meeting, but since he is eligible to re-run for Board of Review, he has stepped down.

§ Motion to add Jack Neill to the Nominating Committee for the May 2011 House of Delegates Elections, seconded and approved.

o A new group will be introduced to work on Athlete Protection by USA Swimming. They will be in charge of teaching classes to coaches.

o The following individuals have been nominated by the General Chair as At-Large Delegates for the upcoming HOD meeting because of the contributions to PVS and USA Swimming; Ward Foley-PVS Board of Review Chair, Kerry Ellet-Former USA Swimming BoD member, John Hirschmann – Special Assistant to the General Chair, Bob Vincent – PVS Finance Committee, Linda Klopfenstein – USA Committee Chair, Jack Neill – PVS Official’s Chair, Jim Garner – Past PVS General Chair, Art Lopez – Diversity/Nadar Por Vida, Dave Greene – PVS Zones Coordinator, Art Davis – Immediate Past PVS Admin Vice-Chair.

§ Motion to add Ward Foley (Board of Review Chair), Kerry Ellet (former USA S Board member), John Hirschmann (special assistant to the General Chair), Bob Vincent (Finance Committee), Linda Klopfenstein (USA Committee Chair), Jack Neill (PVS Officials Chair), Jim Garner (immediate past PVS General Chair), Art Lopez (Nadar Por Vida), Dave Greene (PVS Zone Team Coordinator), and Art Davis (immediate past PVS Admin Chair) as the 10 At-Large Delegates for the HoD meeting May 23, 2011, seconded an approved.

o John Ertter will prepare a full line by line budget; however this report will only be made available on line. A shorter version will also be prepared and printed for distribution at the HoD meeting. If any member feels they need the full line by line report they will have the opportunity to print it directly from the website.

· 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 Budget Discussion

o Policy issues –

§ It is important to bring a balanced budget to the HoD. A number of years ago the Board was able to consistently bring forth a balanced budget. Then several years ago we began projecting a yearly deficient yet produced a surplus due in part to the LSC growth. Over the past 3 years we have predicted a deficit for each year and have followed up with a deficit. During these years there were little discussion on how to raise more income and no fees have been raised for some time. The currently Board of Directors feels it is their obligation to bring forth a balanced budget

· Motion, it is the PVS Board of Director’s intention to bring forth a balanced budget for FY 2012 to the 2011 House of Delegates. Also it is PVS policy to do so for all future fiscal years, seconded and approved.

o The definition of a balanced budget does not necessarily mean that revenue equals expenses. The Board has the option of transferring funds from the reserve fund into revenue in order to provide a balanced budget. Or, if revenues are projected to exceed expenses, the surplus can be added to the reserve fund, as necessary, to keep that fund with the designated ratios of .75 to 1.25 of the annual expenses.

§ Policy on operating reserve funds –·

· Motion that the Board of Directors affirms its long standing policy of maintaining a reserve operating fund equal to one year of operating expenses. This amount is expressed as a ratio that is calculated by dividing the PVS Current Assets by Total Expenses at the end of the fiscal year. Total expenses are calculated net of dues payments to USA Swimming. The reserve operating fund expressed as a ratio of Current Assets to Total Expenses shall not drop below a ratio of .75 nor exceed a ratio of 1.25, seconded and approved.

o The policy of having a reserve ratio of 1.00 has been a long standing policy that dates back as long as anyone on the BoD can remember.

o There was an observation that if our membership numbers drop lower than expected, then our expenses will be much less as well.

o Others noted other things could happen that cause PVS to face an unexpected loss without a compensating adjustment.

o We often seem to be waiting for info to come down the pike (from USA Swimming) regarding a recommended reserve policy for each LSC to adopt. We should not hold ourselves hostage, we should move forward with what we feel is in the best interest of the LSC. If further information from USA Swimming is obtained at a later date, then we can make adjustments based upon their recommendations or policies.

§ Motion that we accept the draft budget presented by John Ertter with the listed adjustments seconded (see report)

· On the revenue side, there are a number of policies that are in place where we are supposed to fine clubs. There are members that feel that the PVS Board should start to fine clubs who are not in compliance with all current registration practices and/or continue to sign athletes up for meets who are not registered swimmers. Assessing these fines would not necessarily be a long term source of revenue. Fines should be assessed to aid in meet recon and ensuring that all clubs are following the same set of rules. It was however recommended that this not go into the budget as a source of income since the LSC should not be put in the position of having to assess fines in order to balance the budget.

· The question was raised: Any thought given to adding other stipulation to the athlete assistance to the qualification of receiving the money, such as parent volunteer time, etc? Currently there are no such policies.

· Some member have a hard time with dropping the amount for travel assistance, they feel that if we are taking money from our Olympic Trials swimmers, National and Junior Nationals athletes, then we should also take money from the Zone Team.

o Travel assistance money goes to the club to help subsidize their athletes who participate in the meet. For Zones each swimmer is going and representing the LSC, the individual clubs do not have to pay anything for these athletes to participate, however when athletes go to Junior, Senior Nationals or Olympic Trials they are representing their club.

o The Athlete members felt it was hard to find the balance. Making Olympic Trials for many athletes is the pinnacle of their career and is important. But they can see both sides of the issue.

o We as an association exists by the dues paid by the members, if we start cutting services then many of our members will not be happy. We will need to show that we are also looking at other areas that need to be cut. Not just the services we offer.

o One option to eliminate travel entirely may work if we could also demonstrate that for each dollar we are reducing in services, we will also reduce fees; however right now we are talking about reducing travel and increasing fees

o If we do everything with increasing our revenue and reduce any of the travel assistance will we will still be able to present a balanced budget. Yes.

§ Amended the above motion to discussion revenue as a package, then all expenses as a package, seconded and approved.

o Revenue: increase PVS registration for year round athletes from $25 to $27 and with the USA-S increase of $1, will make the registration fee $75. Increase PVS meet event entries another $.50, this is the second half of the increase from last year. Increasing the splash fee from $.45 to $.55, which work us back towards the splash fee amount from a number of years ago.

§ Motion to accept the budget with the revenue package changes: Increase PVS registration for year round athletes from $25 to $27 and with the USA-S increase of $1, it will make the registration fee $75 per swimmer. Increase PVS meet event entries another $.50 this year and increase the splash fee for club meets to $.55, seconded and approved. (1 opposed)

§ Expenses – one of our core responsibilities is to train and support our athletes at all levels. If we reduce the travel expenses we might not get questions, but we would get questioned if we eliminated. Other LSC’s have a surcharge on the senior athlete’s meet entry fees. Across the board we are on the low side of the support of athlete travel, however we often send more athletes then most other LSC. Many of our PVS athletes go on to represent their college. If they primarily are representing their university, then they are not eligible for PVS travel assistance; however if they represent PVS first then they do qualify for support.

§ In the past it was much more difficult to qualify for travel assistance. Athletes were required to swim a lot more events at PVS meets. Over the years we have reduced the number of event needed to qualify.

§ Revised motion to accept the budget with the expense package changes: Add Olympic Trial travel assistance at $800 per athlete for a total of $16,000, omit the proposed reduction of Junior and Senior National travel assistance (Travel assistance for these two meets will remain unchanged from the prior year - $450 per share for Senior Nationals (SC and LC), and $250 per share for Junior Nationals (SC and LC), depreciation on new capitalized is added as capital equipment purchases will remain the same, seconded and approved.

· The total travel assistance budget amount is now $48550. The policy of the Board is that the travel assistance budget is a single line amount, but for the convenience of the members, estimated budget amounts for each qualifying meet are also presented in the detailed budget. Each year the Board decides the exact amount of travel assistance that will be provided for each meet based on it best estimates of participation in the meets.

· Reports

o Athlete Representatives – no report

o Operations – no report

o Administrative – no report

o Senior Swimming – no report

o Age Group Swimming – report submitted

§ Motion to accept all bids for club meets as noted in report, seconded and approved

o Coaches Representative

§ Yuri – no report

§ Bill – no report

o Officials – report submitted

o Inclusion/Diversity – report submitted, Eastern Zone Diversity Camp – Miriam has handed out a form for selection, it is open to the LSC as to how to select the 2 members of the team and the coach. USA Swimming has also asked each LSC to help fund the expenses. One Male and one female at least 13 years old, must be an ethnically diverse. Miriam is asking that we use the camp funds to help pay for the expenses. Motion to use the Camp Funds to pay $300 each per swimmers (2), one coach and the Diversity Chair not to exceed a total of $1200, seconded and approved.