Minutes of the Board of Directors and House of Delegates Meeting

Held on September 25 2004 at 1:30pm, at the Topeka Free Methodist Church in Topeka KS

George Bruce called the meeting to order at 1:30 pm. The following delegates were in attendance: Linda Bailey, Scott Berry, Scott Bliss, Jim Devine, Peter Hay, Leonard Horne, Theresa Johnson, Harry Kaszycki, Tom Kleiboeker, Shawn Klosterman, Andre Koop, Gary Ledford, Mike Lewellyn, Richard Maxfield, Sandy Miller, Henry Morrow, Eric Nelson, Marlaine Nickelsen, Donna Ogilvie, Joe Ogilvie, Dave Powers, Janet Pucket, Dulcy Sellon, Derek Shipp, David Schumacher, Dale Shipman, Jesse VanScyoc, Renee Vanscyoc, Amy Wattis, Richard Winn, Lynette Yevak,

George Bruce, General Chair, called the meeting to order at 1:30 pm. He asked for corrections to the Missouri Valley Minutes for the Board of Directors Meeting, July 31, 2004. None being offered, Mike Lewellyn made the motion to accept the minutes as published on the Missouri Valley website. Marlaine Nickelson seconded the motion and it was unanimously adopted. George Bruce expressed his and Missouri Valley’s appreciation for the spring Swimposium hosted by the Wichita AquaShocks and asked for corrections to the minutes from the House of Delegates Meeting held at Wichita State University, April 17, 2004. None being offered, Richard Maxfield made the motion to accept the minutes as published, Mike Lewellyn seconded the motion and it was unanimously adopted.

REPORTS OF OFFICERS, COMMITTEE CHAIRS AND COORDINATORS

George Bruce began the reports by suggesting that each reporter include information on their USA Swimming Convention experience if they had attended the Convention.

Administrative Vice Chair, Gary Ledford, who is filling out the term of the former Admin. Vice Chair, Rick Harlow, reported that the Convention provided him with information that could be shared down to the club level. He cited the increased information available from the USA Swimming website. He reported that the rule change for in-water relay starts had been clarified and that the House of Delegates had passed a resolution stating that background checks would be done on USA Swimming members. Jim Devine, a member of the USA Swimming Counselors Committee, stated that USA-S would have background checks possibly using FBI data. A pilot program is being undertaken in Florida to determine the information needed for the checks. He thought we would have background checks required for coaches by 2006 and other non-athletes in the next 3 to 4 years. Eric Nelson, a member of the USA-S Board of Directors, stated that the Board of Directors may require background checks before the next House of Delegates meeting. The Florida pilot program will look at the questions to be considered in performing checks and the cost of doing one.

Senior Vice Chair, Mike Lewellyn, reported that $18,000 in travel fund money had been disbursed to swimmers who had attended the US Open, Senior Nationals, Olympic Trials, and Disability Championships. He requested $18,000 again for the upcoming year because we will have swimmers at the Junior Championships even though Olympic Trials will not be held. As Zone Age Group Coordinator he reported that the Zone meet held in Topeka had been exemplary while the one held at Miami University had gone very well. Awards presentation was an issue at both meets. The 2005 Zone meets will be held in Grand Forks, ND and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Missouri Valley will be attending the Ann Arbor meet, August 12-14, 2005.

Age Group Vice Chair, Scott Bliss who is replacing Craig Ivancic, presented the 2006 Short Course Division II Site Assignments. The East site will have Columbia Swim Club, Kansas City Blazers, MidMissouri Aquatic Club, Grand River Y, Tsunami, Northwest Swim Team, Pony Express, Kansas City Storm, Stingrays, Clay-Platte Y. The South site will have Wichita AquaShocks, Wichita Swim Club, West Wichita Y, Swim Newton, Jasper County Killer Whales, Springfield, Southwest Aquabears, Hutchinson Y, Emporia, McPherson Swim Club, Pittsburg Y, Parsons Dolphins, Burlington Aquatics, Salt Fork, Truman Aquatics, Warrensburg, and Tridents Swim Team. The West will have Western Kansas Swim Club, Salina Aquatics, Northland United, Ft. Leavenworth Lancers, Manhattan Marlins, Ottawa Swim Club, and TigerSharks Swim Team Club. Lawrence Aquahawks, Bonner Springs, and Kaw Valley Swimmers will be in group A; Topeka Swim Association and Olathe Aquatics will be in group B; Team Dolphins and Community of Olathe Swim Team will be in group C. In 2007 groups A&C will be in the west and B will be in the south. In 2008 groups A&B will be in the west and C will be in the south. Scott also reported that the scoring of Division I by flights at been well received at the summer meet. He also distributed the new time standards and noted that an * meant that the time was now faster. These will be uploaded on the website as well. Scott also made available a report from the USA-S Convention about keeping males in swimming. Scott reported that the 2005 Zone meet to Ann Arbor would not be a team travel trip for Missouri Valley. Teams and/or parents will need to make their own travel and housing arrangements. The Level II meet uses the A time as its upper level cut off time. Since the time standards have changed the Level II times will be different this year to reflect the change. This will be on the website and in the meet information.

Membership Chair, Dulcy Sellon, reported that Missouri Valley had experienced a decrease of about 600 seasonal swimmers in 2004. One entire summer league of approximately 600 swimmers did not reregister. Various Missouri Valley attendees had made this known at the USA-S Convention but no action has been taken as yet. She also provided information from the Convention on the increased amount of programs available to coaches on the USA-S website and on the increased availability of funding and information for camps provided by USA-S. She suggested that Missouri Valley appoint a Camp Coordinator to make use of these increased camp opportunities. The registration meetings and training at the Convention revealed the increasing countrywide nature of the USA-S database and data collection. The Missouri Valley Board of Directors decided to form a committee of webmaster Richard Winn, Records Chair Scott Berry, General Chair George Bruce, Treasurer Theresa Johnson, Registration Chair, Dulcy Sellon, Meet Procedure Chair Jason Petty and Sanctions Chair Jim Devine to work on moving Missouri Valley to the point of being an electronic registration LSC. This committee will explore the possibility of non-athlete registrations using credit cards, and requiring member clubs to use Team Manager for registrations and meet entries.

Treasurer, Theresa Johnson, asked clubs to put their sanction number on checks they submit to her. The meet financial report should also show the sanction number. She reported that Missouri Valley Swimming had $48,000 in its money market fund and $37,000 in its checking account. Theresa also stated that if she receives returned checks she will send them to the club for reimbursement. Theresa noted that the budget showed an expense of $22,510 for the second timing system. The delegates discussed the issue of charging for use of the MV timing system. George Bruce, Sandy Miller and John Malnar will study the issues around the cost and upkeep of the system and report to the House of Delegates at the Spring meeting. Mike Lewellyn made the motion to accept the budget as amended to show $18,000 in senior travel, a Zone budget of $19,000 and the secretary’s salary at $33,500. Marlaine Nickelson seconded the motion and it was adopted unanimously.

Coaches Representative, Derek Shipp reported that Amy Meyer had been elected as the new assistant coaches’ representative.

Athletes’ Representative, Andre Koop, thanked Missouri Valley for sending him to the USA Swimming Convention. He reported that the athletes had discussed the requirements for being an athletes’ rep, the scholarship money colleges allocate to foreign swimmers, and the impact the restarting of Junior Championships would have on the Sectional meets. He felt the experience had provided him information on what USA Swimming was contributing to facility development and club recognition also.

Sanctions Chair, Jim Devine, reported that the number of sanctions he will issue for 2004 would be about the same as last years’. He reported that a summer league championship meet had sought sanction approval for their meet from him. Sanction approvals enable the swimmers who are USA Swimming members to use their times from the meet as official times. He suggested that Missouri Valley might want to consider the financial implications of approving meets, which means the teams participating do not have to be USA Swimming registered. He also suggested that Missouri Valley pursue the idea of offering a Missouri Valley Summer League championship meet to keep our summer leagues as members of Missouri Valley.

Records Chair, Scott Berry, provided reports on the Missouri Valley records set this year and on the Top 8 swimmers. He also emphasized that meet entries sent to him for the national times database and for Missouri Valley’s times database need to accurately reflect registered club codes.

Outreach Chair, Leonard Horne, reported that their outreach program was growing and that USA-S was working with them to have KC Storm become an exemplary outreach program. Joe Ogilvie reported that he had learned from the USAS Convention that new clubs will need to attend the club management school. He also reported that the national officials committee had discussed using levels of certification for national championship officials.

Officials Chair, Linda Bailey, reported that the officials committee had met and had agreed that Missouri Valley officials’ certification would be changed to last for two years to reflect what most LSC’s currently do. This will be discussed under new business.

Scheduling Chair/Electronic Timing, Sandy Miller, as a Missouri Valley electronic timing system operator, requested that an operator schedule be added to the schedule for the timing system. She also reported that her Convention experience showed her that the USA-S staff was very helpful and a good resource for information. She will work with the MVS committee mentioned above in determining the costs of running two timing systems and whether clubs should be charged for the systems’ use.

Webmaster, Richard Winn, reported that the meet information section is the most used part of our website. Even small meets are often viewed and he encouraged clubs to post this information.

NEW BUSINESS

Missouri Valley’s House of Delegates considered the changes to MVS’s By-Laws as published on the MVS website. In summary, the By-Law changes require each member club to have a representative attend the annual and regular meetings of the MVS House of Delegates. The new By-Laws also eliminate the 6 District Representatives and elect three representatives at large to serve on the nominating committee. During discussion of the changes Jim Devine raised the question whether several clubs could designate the same individual to be their representative. George Bruce stated that the proposed By-Laws would allow that. Gary Ledford wanted to amend the document to require that summer leagues also send a representative to the MVS meetings. George pointed out that this would be a new issue, which should be published for 15 days before it could be voted on by the House of Delegates. George stated that he would work up this amendment and publish it before the Spring House of Delegates meeting for their vote. Gary offered a friendly amendment that the spelling be changed in 4.8.3 to read by publication and that 6.2 ELECTIONS be changed to show…shall elect the General Chair, Secretary, the Senior Vice Chair, in even numbered years, the Age Group Vice-Chair, the Administrative Vice Chair, and the Treasurer in odd numbered years. Joe Ogilvie offered a friendly amendment to 1.2 that (Correct reference of "USS" to "USA-S" throughout remainder of By-Laws.) Richard Maxfield called the question of accepting the By-Law changes with the friendly amendments. Marlaine Nickelson seconded the motion and it was adopted unanimously. These changes will be incorporated into the Missouri Valley By-Laws and published on the website.

George Bruce stated that the adopted By-Laws permitted the election of the three at large representatives. Gary Ledford nominated Janet Pucket, Richard Maxfield, and Sandy Miller for these positions. Mike Lewellyn made the motion that the nominations be closed. This was seconded by Scott Bliss and the three were unanimously elected.

Eric Nelson presented the three meet procedure changes as presented in the minutes from the July 2004 Board of Directors meeting. These changes pertain to the Missouri Valley rule restricting the scoring of 8 & Under competition, the Missouri Valley rule pertaining to the two-hour time period between swim sessions, and the scratch deadline to be used at the Division I meet. Eric made the motion to approve these changes as presented in the minutes; Mike Lewellyn seconded the motion and it was unanimously adopted. These changes will be incorporated into the Missouri Valley By-Laws and published on the website.

Linda Bailey reported that the Officials committee would like to have officials certified for two years. They would need to take their tests and attend a clinic every two years. Seasonal officials would be required to attend a yearly clinic but take the tests every two years. The committee hopes to have officials register and take their tests before their clinic. They would then receive a sticker at their clinic indicating their certification status. This change will be presented at the Spring Meeting as a motion to amend Section 16 of the Rules and Regulations of Missouri Valley and publicized on the website, in accordance with the By-Laws.

Mike Lewellyn made the motion for adjournment at 4:00 pm. This was seconded by Eric Nelson and unanimously adopted.

Respectfully submitted,

Dulcy Sellon, Secretary
Missouri Valley Swimming, Inc.