Draft minutes until approved at the May 2012 HOD meeting

 Potomac Valley Swimming

House of Delegates Meeting

May 23, 2011; 6:00

River Falls

7915 Horseshoe Lane

Potomac, MD

 

 

·         Dinner

·         Attendance – PVS Board Members: Greg York, Paris Jacobs, Riley Eaton, Manga Dalizu, Bill Stephens,  Yuri Suguiyama, Bill Marlin, Miriam Lynch, Brian Pawlowicz, Jim Thompson, Boots Hall. Board Athletes: CJ Fiala, Richard Xue and Nick Campbell. At-Large Delegates: Art Davis, Jim Garner, Linda Klopfenstein, Bob Vincent, John Hirschmann, Kerry Ellet and Ward Foley. PVS Club Representatives: Bob Walker-ASA, Kira Oliver-BWST, Mark Faherty-CUBU, Rodger McCoy-DCPR, Tony Murray-FAST, Bruce Andersen-HACC, Bob Petraites-JFD, Dan Jacobs-MACH, Aaron Dean-OCCS, Scott Bryant-PM, Mark Eldridge-RMSC, Patty Friedman-TANK, Nathan Meadows-TIBU, Arvydas Barzdukas-NVSL, David Mengering-MCSL. PVS Club Athlete Representatives: Laura Schwartz-PM, Quinn Giroux-PM, Michael Palmiere-TIBU, Danielle Schulkin-RMSC, James Caldwell-HACC, Jonathan Nguyen-HACC. Non-voting PVS members; John Ertter, Tim Husson, Sumie Emory, Rick Curl, Tim Kelly, Lance Page and Terri Marlin

·         Call to Order – the meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm by General Chair, Greg York.

·         Approval of May 19, 2010 HOD Minutes – Motion to approved the Minutes from the May 19, 2010 HOD minutes, second and approved.

·         Approval of May 23, 2011 HOD AgendaMotion to approve the agenda for the May 23, 2011 HOD meeting, seconded and approved.

·         Report on the General State of the Corporation by General Chair, Greg York

o   Many great things happened this year and a lot of good people who worked hard throughout the year. All Board members were introduced to the body.

o   Thank you to all everyone on the PVS Board of Directors and to those not on the board who work hard to keep the LSC running; Jim Garner, John Hirschmann, Art Davis, Sumie Emory, (PVS is the 5th largest LSC in the county and she does a great job keeping up with all of the registrations), Terri Marlin, John Ertter and Tim Husson.

o   There are several members of the board who will be leaving after a number of years of service; Yuri Suguiyama,  Boots Hall, CJ Fiala and Bill Stephens – thank you for all of your hard work over the years.

o   Thanks to our PVS Zone staff – PVS won the SC Eastern Zone meet at the 2011 Spring Eastern Zone meet in Rochester.

o   Our Short Course Championship meets this past spring were a huge success thanks to the meet managers and Officials. Thanks to Paris Jacobs (14 & U), Brian Pawlowicz (Junior and Senior Champs), Sam Burgi (18 & Under Champs) and all of the Officials who worked so hard at these meets.

o   PVS is the 5th largest LSC in the country for the third year in a row. We have continued to add more swimmers and more teams each year. Thank you. By being one of the 5 largest LSC in the country, PVS is given an additional 3 votes at the Annual USA Swimming House of Delegates Meeting held in September.

o   PVS has a number of members who serve on USA Swimming and/or Eastern Zone Committees. Thanks to Bill Stephens, Tim Husson, Arvydus Barzdukas, Paris Jacobs, Miriam Lynch, Boot Hall, CJ Fiala and Greg York for all of their hard work.

o   Financially the LSC is very strong. We are going to be asking for some money tonight. But remember we are now getting better pools for our Championship meets, offering better hospitality for our Officials, coaches and volunteers, providing better travel assistance for our National Level Athlete and are providing better Zone support for our up and coming Age Group Athletes.

o   Tonight’s discussions about the budget will primarily be a philosophical discussion. We will try to answer questions such as; Do we want travel assistance for our National level athletes be a large part of our budget? Do we want to continue to send a number of PVS members to conferences such as the Eastern Zone Conference and USA Swimming Convention? Do we want to continue to run championship meets in the best pools in PVS, and great hospitality to support officials and other volunteers? Do we want to support our Zone team and Age Group athletes to travel to both SC and LC Zones?

o   The board has established a reserve policy to maintain a ratio of .75 to 1.25 of our total budget in reserve.

o   We also welcome several new members to the Board, Scott Bryant is the incoming Junior Coaches Rep , Brandon Fiala and John Kim have been elected as the two new Athlete Reps, we wish all of them good luck.

·         Several members leaving the Board after years of service, A special Thanks to both of them for their years of service.

o   Bill Stephens has served as the PVS Treasurer, Admin Vice-Chair, an Official and has served PVS for years. Bill was presented with a plaque to thank him for his service to PVS.

o   Greg York has served as the PVS General Chair for the past 4 year, he is on the National Athlete Protection Committee and has put in countless years on the board in a number of different positions. Greg was presented with a plaque to thank him for his years of service to PVS.

·         Athlete Protection Report – Over the past year there has been a lot of work going on around the country regarding Athlete Protection. Michigan is the first LSC to have put together an Athlete Protection Committee that is part of their Board of Directors which will be working closely with USA –Swimming on how best to keep all athletes safe in our sport. Art Davis is recommending that PVS continue to be a leader in the country and set up a similar committee in Potomac Valley and on the PVS Board of Directors. The Committee would primarily be an educational module and will present information that will be handed down from USA Swimming. PVS will not be able to make up rules, but rather uphold the rules that are established by USA Swimming.

o   The recommendation from USA-S is that an Athlete Protection Committee become a standing committee on the Board of Directors in each LSC.

§  This motion is being presented from the floor with little to no previous information being published because this information was only recently received from USA-Swimming. Potomac Valley Swimming is viewed as one of the leading LSCs in the country and we would like to be able to go to the USA-S Convention in September and say that we too have added an Athlete Protection Committee to our Board of Directors. There are other LSC’s that are adopting this proposal as well.

§  There is a concern that if the House does not approve the addition of the Athlete Protection Committee tonight then we will have to wait until the 2012 HOD meeting next May.

§  In Michigan the committee is made up of 5 members (1 coach, 2 non coach and 2 athletes), we could follow the same procedure or come up with our own list of committee members.

§  The proposal for this committee would make the committee consistent as with other committees already established on the PVS board.

§  Motion to adopt the proposal as presented, seconded

·         There was some surprise that this information was not presented either the Board of Directors or the House prior to the actual meeting. It was also felt that the proposal was not complete. It seemed difficult to discern what the proposal was actually asking.

§  It was suggested that we table the discussion until later in the meeting so that everyone present has time to read over the information presented before a vote to accept the proposal is taken.

§  Motion to table the discussion on adding an Athlete Protection Committee to the Board of Directors until the New Business partition of the HOD meeting, seconded and approved.

o   There was additional concern that the Athlete Protection Committee will be answering directly to the USA Swimming Athlete Protection Committee, which is the same group that is currently under investigation. It seems that there should be an outside group directing the LSC Committees.

·         Nominating Committee Report – John Hirschmann presented the nomination report. In addition he thanked Linda Klopfenstein and Jack Neill who also served on the nominating committee.

o   Prior to the elections that will take place at the meeting, two athlete representatives and a coaches representatives have already been elected to the Board of Directors during the PVS Spring Championship meets.

o   This summer the Official’s Committee will be voting on a new Official’s Representative.

·         Elections – There are four Board of Director positions up for election

o   General Chair – Riley Eaton, seeing as there are no additional nominations, it was declared nomination for General Chair be closed.

o   Finance Chair – Bob Vincent, seeing as there are no additional nominations, it was declared nomination for Finance Chair be closed.

o   Senior Chair – Bill Marlin, seeing as there are no additional nominations, it was declared nomination for Senior Chair be closed.

o   Diversity Chair – Miriam Lynch, seeing as there are no additional nominations, it was declared nomination for Diversity Chair be closed.

o   Board of Review - Four people nominated for the Board of Review at least one must be an athlete:

§  Ward Foley, Jim Garner, Elizabeth Jester, Richard Xue (athlete), seeing as there are no additional nominations for the Board of Review, it was declared nomination for the BOR be closed.

o   Motion to elect all of the above by acclimation, seconded and approved.

o   Congratulations!

·         Reports

o   Executive Director – see report submitted

o   LEAP Project Status – see report submitted (club recognition for LSCs)

§  We are continuing to work on getting our final submissions completed with USA Swimming. We are currently in the process of rewording our mission statement, as USA Swimming feels ours is too long. We should have our level 1 LEAP status within the next 60-90 days.

o   Administration & Registration – see report submitted

§  Our LSC has continued to grow despite the constraints on water. We have seen a 2.2% increase from last year, we now have 41 clubs and retention numbers have stayed consistent at 73%. 

o   Webmaster – see report submitted

§  The website has the ability to add communication pages for various organizations within PVS. Miriam Lynch has been making good use of the communication for the many Diversity/Inclusion events that have taken place over the past year.

§  In addition to being the PVS Webmaster, Tim is also the Eastern Zone webmaster. We are lucky to have such a gifted webmaster!

o   Operations – see report submitted

§  As the Operations Chair, Brian is responsible for meet operations, PVS equipment and oversees the Officials.

§  This past year, Brian received relatively complaints regarding equipment, which is an improvement over the past several years. Several new pieces of equipment have recently purchased including several new 1 line scoreboards. The goal is to try to standardize some of the equipment and facilities to ensure that the equipment goes with the facility. There are not as many Long Course meets as there are during the Short Course season, so we do not expect to have any major equipment issues this summer. Will be using UMD for Jr and Sr Champs, which is a great pool and they supply their own equipment.

·         What is our goal as to how much equipment do we have to have?

o   Our plan is to have 3 full sets of equipment with several pieces available for backups.

·         How close are we to having all needed equipment?

o   We are close to have 3 full sets, but there are still a few pieces that are being assessed and may need to be replaced and/or repaired.

·         As far as the full 3 sets, are there any other times where we need 3 full sets besides the Open meets? How often do we need the 3 sets?

o   While it is certainly not every weekend. There are some instances where there are several clubs running meets on the same weekend and all need to rent equipment. While it was originally thought that 4 full sets were needed, it has been determined that 3 full sets is enough equipment.

o   Officials – see report submitted

§  There are two reports that have officials numbers reported? Which one is correct? The third page of the Official’s report it is the most accurate, because it shows officials that actually work meets, whereas SWIMS shows all registered officials.

§   Several years ago we past a requirement that all clubs must have a required number of officials.

·         In the recent years we have gotten away from fining clubs for not being compliant.  This year, background screening was added to the requirements to be an official. We are now waiting to see if and how this is going to affect the total number of officials who request to be certified.

·         This policy is still in effect and will be upheld once we have additional information regarding the background screening and know how this will affect our Officials.

·         As of May 23, 2011, 122 Officials have completed their back ground screening and requested reimbursement, out of roughly 300 registered Officials. In order to be reimbursed, each official has to work a specific number of sessions, so it is possible that many individuals decided to pay for the background screening themselves. According to the SWIMS database there are about 100 key officials that tend to work a majority of the sessions throughout the year.

o   Safety – see report submitted

§  We just received the quarterly reports from USA-S, but not the yearly report yet. As an LSC, we are better about recording and report incidents. Please continue to report any and all incidents.

o   Diversity – see report submitted. The purpose of the Diversity/Inclusion chair is to support current teams with diversity athletes and Diversity events such as; The Black History Meet, Diversity summit, Nadar por Vida, etc.

§   The PVS website has been extremely helpful in promoting events such as “Water Safety Day” and “the Black Heritage Meet”.

§   Later this month, PVS will be sending “Team DMV” (DC, Maryland and Virginia), consisting of 85 kids from various teams in Potomac Valley, will be traveling to North Carolina for the Black Heritage Meet. Several weeks ago we held a clinic and practice for these athletes.

§  The goal is to celebrate the diversity in our teams/programs in Potomac Valley.

§  NBC is interviewing USA Swimming and the diversity programs which will be great publicity.

§  USA Swimming is looking towards PVS as are other LSCs as a leader in Diversity/Inclusion programs. Several other LSC in the Eastern Zone have already contacted Miriam about the work she has done for Potomac Valley.

o   Senior Swimming – see report submitted

§  Riley commented that serving the last four years as Senior Chair has been a rewarding experience in learning the background of PVS and the coordinating efforts of everyone involved. Without the unified efforts we would not be where we are now.

o   Age Group Swimming – see report submitted

§  CCM was last week and a number of proposals were submitted regarding the JO meets. A committee has been formed and will be meeting to work on how to better the meet. It is important to remember that by adjusting one meet, there will be a ripple effect across all meets in the LSC.

o   Coaches Representative

§  Yuri – see report submitted

·         Would like to see some changes made to the PVS Open meets and fine ways to better run them and the March Championships meets. Would also like to further discuss the best way to handle the travel funds.

§  Bill – see report submitted

·         Remember the Coaches Representatives are the voice of the coaches to the Board of Directors, please feel free to reach out to the representatives to ask questions and express concerns.

·         The new Junior Coaches Representative is Scott Bryant from Potomac Marlins.

·         Due to the elections there is now a vacancy for a one year term for the Senior Coaches Rep. This position can be filled either by appointment of the General Chair immediately, or the incoming General Chair can make the appointment after September 1 or the coaches can choose to run another election.

o   Athlete Representatives

§  Nick Campbell (PM) will be retuning as the Senior Athlete Representative. Brandon Fiala (MACH) and John Kim (CUBU) are the two newly elected Junior Athlete Representatives.  Thank you to all the athletes who have come to the meeting tonight.

§  CJ Fiala is the Eastern Zone Athlete Representative. CJ is also a member of the Athlete Advisory Committee for USA –Swimming. This group works closely with the new National Team Coach. There are new opportunities for the Junior National team that are getting ready to be announced.

§  Many athletes are part of a Facebook page for athlete reps to keep in touch across the country.

o   Strategic Planning – see report submitted

§  The number of meet sessions has increased by 83% since 2001; however the number of officials has remained flat. This is a huge concern for the Officials Committee. They have been doing a lot of recruiting for new officials and it would be great to get help from the coaches to encourage more parents to become Officials and to help work the meets.

o   Board of Review –

§  No action for this past year

o   Finance & Budget – 

·         Old Business

o   The questions was raised - At last year’s HOD meeting it was reported that there would be new policies regarding equipment rental along with instructions for the clubs who host PVS meets , have these rules/policies been established yet?

§  Unfortunately no, however they are being discussed and something will be posted soon.

o   It was also noted last year that “PVS would like to get out of the business of renting equipment?” Where does PVS stand with that statement now?

§  While yes we would like to get out of the business of renting equipment, we have tried to get teams to buy their own equipment through the subsidize program; however only one team has taken advantage of the subsidy program. So for right now PVS is continuing to rent equipment to clubs for club run meets.

o   It was asked where is the Eastern Zone meeting for 2012? And Why?

§  The 2012 Eastern Zone meeting will again be held in Ft. Lauderdale. Other LSCs has put in bids to hold the meeting elsewhere, but it continues to be voted on by the Eastern Zone to stay in Ft. Lauderdale. It has been determined that it is less expensive than most other places in the Eastern Zone unless we were to go somewhere within driving distance. The meeting room at the swimming Hall of Fame is free, the hotels are reasonable priced and no one needs to get a rental car. Over the past several years the number of participates has also more than doubled, which allows for more business to be taken care of while we are at the meetings.

·         New Business

o   Athlete Protection Committee – One option is to make this a chair position with voting ability on the Board. The chair would be appointed the first year and then voted on in even numbered years. This position would not have a policy making role, but rather an educational function and the responsibility of communicating information from USA-Swimming to the LSC and clubs.  The question is how many athletes if any are included on the committee.

§  Because this has been brought up on such short notice it will require a 2/3 majority vote. And there are still several areas where there are decision to make.

§  If we were to add a voting member to the board, with this person fit in without having to increase the number of athletes? We would not have to add an athlete to maintain a 20% athlete vote on the board, we would only have 15 total board members and we have 3 athletes.  

§  Would adding the Athlete Protection Committee affect the budget? No, we do not believe that the budget will be affected.

§  This issue will be brought up at the USA-S Convention in September and will most likely be voted on as policy, at that time we receive more direct instruction as to the way we are supposed to proceed. For the time being we are trying to continue to move in the same direction as USA Swimming.

§  What is our LSC philosophy? Do we feel this is committee with equal importace as other committees/chairs on the board? USA Swimming is saying that Athlete Protection should be a priority in every LSC. It is anticipated that all decision making regarding athlete protection will remain with USA-Swimming.

§  This is a working project. We are trying to get this in line with USA Swimming so we when go to convention we are ready and ahead of the curve before it is mandated by USA Swimming.

 

o   2011-2012 Budget

§  Finance report –Greg talked about the board philosophy

·         John Ertter, the PVS controller, has put the budget together to be used as a starting point for the actual current years expenses. The actual budget was not used  because it is a live document and it changes throughout the year.

·         As a bit of history, the policy of trimming budget came from USA Swimming about eight years ago. One of the recommendations from the Governance Committee, is to make the budget the property of the Board of Directors not the House of Delegates. Once the budget is approved by the HOD then it is the Board’s responsibility to carry it out throughout the year.

·         Jim Thompson has prepared a report showing the growth of the LSC. The last time PVS raised our splash fees or our registration fee was in 1998; however we have reduced the splash fee twice. During the same 13 years the rate of inflation nationwide has been 38%. The fee for PVS meets had not been raised until last year, while club meet fees have nearly doubled over the same time period. Last year we raised the meet fees for PVS meet $.50 will be asking for another $.50 raise this year.

·         We have been able to keep the fees down over the past several years  because we have continued to increase the number of athletes in PVS; therefore increased the number of swimmers entering meets.

·         As for the PVS financial management and our policies and procedures we are at the gold standard nationally. Many other LSC contact John Ertter for advice on how to best plan. Our reports are timely and accurate, and John Ertter is always available to answer questions regarding PVS’s finances. Last year USA Swimming held the first ever financial conference and Bill Stephens was amazed at how many other LSC came to PVS to ask questions. PVS has a strong financial policy and we are visible throughout the country. Reserve policies are now being addressed by USA Swimming; it is our policy to have between .75 and 1.25 percent of our yearly operating funds held in reserve, which appears to be in line with what USA Swimming recommends. PVS has an outside auditor to review all our financial transactions as well as an internal audit committee to review our books. There are a number of checks and balances in place to ensure that PVS is financially sound.

·         The one weakness we now face is that our finance team, who’s primary purpose is to make sure the finance and accounting records are accurate have been the same three people for a number of year. After this term, none of them will have a voting interest on the Board of Directors. However we just elected Bob Vincent as the PVS Finance Chair, who will also be on the finance team. Vincent is well qualified and will be a great asset to our organization. If there is anyone else who would like to become involved and join the finance team, please contact a Board Member or the General Chair.

§  Budget –

·         Travel Budget – It is important to decide how we are to view in regards to the budget. If the travel budget becomes a single line item on the budget, then the Board of Directors will have the ability to move the money allocated for travel from one meet to another as needed. This would be important because it is impossible to predict from one year to the next on how many swimmers will apply for travel assistance for any given meet.

·         Motion to make travel assistance a single line item on the budget, seconded,

o   It was recommended that each meet have a maximum amount established, then reallocate as deemed necessary by the BoD.

o   It was noted that PVS is one of the only LSCs in the country that budgets for travel this way. Most other LSCs have a travel fund with money deposited throughout the season from things such as athlete surcharges on their meet entries, etc. Any money not used gets carried over to the next year.

·         Discussion and questions included references to the previous policy approved in 2003 that established a travel fund for each meet. It was explained that this approach was deemed unfair to the swimmers because they and their teams need to know in advance whether they will qualify for reimbursement and for how much. The Board feels that this need outweighs the need to have a strictly controlled budget amount for each meet as long as the overall travel budget is respected.

·         John Ertter explained that this situation has happened for a number of years and at the end of the FY there were extra funds in the overall travel budget.

·         A point was raised asking why we have a detailed budget at all if the Board is free to move money around. The explanation pointed out the Board may not be bound by the budget, but a budget is necessary as a planning tool and the Board has a responsibility to the HoD to either work within the approved budget or be able to justify any budget changes that are made. The budget is a guideline for the board of directions. Every times a budget item is overspent and /or moved, the board discusses it at their meetings.

·         From a philosophical perspective, do the members trust the Board enough to understand that the HoD has set the budget and that then the Board is able to modify the budget as the need arises, or does the HOD want to demand a set budget and tie their hands where there will be some programs that will not be able to be one, because there will not be money available.

o   Motion that the travel budget is a single line item with estimated amounts provided for each qualifying meet, seconded and approved.

·         Moved to increase travel by $10,000, decrease meet expenses by $4000, administration by $4000 and the Zone Team by $2000.

o   The point was made that since the travel budget is always over budget, why not just increase the budget. However, it was then pointed out that the overall travel budget is adhered to and the only part that goes over has been individual meets. To date, each of these meets that exceeded the estimates has been offset by other meets that are lower than projected.

§  Motion (amendment) to increase the travel budget by $10,000 to $58,550, seconded and defeated.

o   It was explained that the operating reserve fund is not an actual fund, but just a reference to the overall financial reserves of PVS. We will not have a separate fund, just a calculated amount which is invested according to the PVS policies.

 

o   It was asked; How many years have we had a deficit? For the past 3 years we have projected a deficit, because we have not seen the same amount of growth and  pool rental has continued to increase.

·         Working within a fluid and dynamic budget is the responsibility the BoD. The Board is expected to live within the budget per the summary, but what if that doesn’t happen?

o   The BoD is held within certain boundaries, and while even if they have to move money and stay under the said amount then they are still with their rights

o   Then we are wasting our time discussing a budget, when the BoD can move money as they see fit?

·         A budget is still needed to set the guidelines. Setting a budget takes a lot of work. Forcing the BoD to adhere to a strict budget will tie their hands and there would be some aspects of business that would be nearly impossible to do.  For example; if we have a hard line budget and GMU raises our rental rates, then we wouldn’t be able to use that pool for that particular meet.

·          The board is asking for your vote of confidence that we can have wiggle room to “rob Peter to pay Paul” and to make sure all the money is going in the right direction and going back to the athletes and association.

·         Calling the question, Motion to adopt the 2011-2012 budget as presented, seconded and approved.

o   The USA Swimming Convention is going to be held in Jacksonville, Florida, September 13-18. Any member planning to attend must submit their information to Linda Klopfenstein by the July Board meeting. Linda will take care of securing all the hotel rooms, but each board member is required to make their own travel plans, then let Linda know when you are arriving and departing.

o   All coaches and team owners are asked to continue to recruit parents to become involved in swimming by certifying to become an official, time at swim meets or volunteer in another way. Swimming is one of the few sports that rely heavily on volunteers.  

o   Coaches, also remember that all of our PVS Officials are volunteers. While for the most part coaches are good about thanking the officials for all of the work they do, it would be nice if the athletes were also taught to say “Thanks” to the Officials.

o   Bill Stephens would like to personally thank Boots Hall who trained him when he first decided to become an official. In addition Boots has trained an large number of officials over the years. He also wanted to thank Ron Whalen for keeping swim meets fun, and John Hirschmann for always challenging him, Tyanna Ertter for encouraging him to become an official in the first place. And finally Bill wants to thank Greg York, for giving him years of insight. After meeting Greg he understood how much he didn’t know about swimming and felt that each time he has talked to Greg he has learned something new.

·         Motion to adjourn, seconded and approved.