�� Minnesota Swimming, Incorporated�� Board of Directors

Minutes of the meeting of February 19, 2002

(Quorum equals 10 people)

Present at the Meeting

Executive Board Members:� Sue Griffin, Dennis Dale, Cathy Thwing, Blair Buccicone, Paul Lunsten

Other Board Members:� Tim Mann, Rocky O�Neil, Kathy Czuprynski, Michael Bougie, Bob Pearson

Appointed Committee Members (Voting): Marlene Goblish, David Shapley, Jack Boder

Appointed Committee Members (Non-voting): Paul Windrath, John Witzel

MSI Staff: �Cassy Shapley, Sheryl McGuire

Non-Board Members:� Bob Peterson (HOP), Jeff Rodriguez (EDI), Ellen Youngers (ROC), Jim Stewart (ROC), Jeff Chida (ROC), Rick Dunham (M3F), Mark Davis (FOXJ), Linda Chida (ROC), Karen Stewart (ROC), Tom Kern (HUT), Jerry Simpson (SEMS), Charlie Pietso (LKV), John Sfire (ROC)

The General Chair called meeting to order at 7:55p.m.� (Note, Board did not have a quorum until 7:55.� However, the Board did hear reports from the General Chair and Admin Vice-Chair that did not require action until a quorum was reached.)

Motion:� Made by Michael Bougie to approve the minutes of the meeting for January 22, 2002 with changes��

Seconded, Passed - Unanimous

Officer Reports

General Chair:� Sue Griffin

1. Governance Study.� National is conducting a governance review to investigate:

a. The structure of staff and volunteers

b. Governance across the organization (clubs, LSC�s, Zones, House of Delegates)

c. Organizational culture

The results from the focus group will be presented to the National Board in May for discussion and possible implementation by the House of Delegates meeting in September 2002.� You may record your own thoughts on the USA-Swimming website� (www.usa-swimming.org).� The General Chair�s focus group consisted of 8 General Chairs.� Their primary concerns were:� Conflict between the �Build a Base� initiative and the shortage of facilities (especially with the apparent drive to implement the 5 foot depth proposal), Lack of focus on age group level swimming and how this would be negatively impacted by dissolution of LSC�s, and the proposal to increase fees.

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2. Club Membership Proposal

Please read the proposal included in the lastest FYI.� The proposal will be sent to the National board in May and will not require action as it is considered a process, not a rule change.

3. The U of MN would like to remind the swimming community of the upcoming aquatic events at the Aquatic�

Center:�� the Go-Pher-It! Invite on March 10^th and the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships on March 19 � 23.� There is also has also been a contact from Edmonton regarding an open meet the last weekend in April.� Contact the MSI Office for contact information or go to their website:� www.eksc.com

4. Minnesota Swimming and USA-Swimming have been named co-defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by the

Rochester Swim Club ORCAS alleging procedural misconduct and asking for damages in excess of $50,000.� MSI may be responsible for up to $20,000, after which we are covered by insurance.� Counsel has made MSI�s initial response denying the charges.

(At this point in the meeting, the General Chair read the Administrative Vice-Chair�s written report since her

remaining items required action by the Board.)

Administrative Vice Chair:� Joel Shinofeld� (Not Present, written report submitted)

The Admin Vice-chair is beginning work on creating a policy and procedure manual, requests to various sources for materials have gone out (thank you to those who have already responded, the rest-please provide information as soon as possible),� The goal is to have the manual completed by the end of the summer season.

(At this point in the meeting, a quorum was reached and the meeting called to order at 7:55pm)

General Chair:� Sue Griffin�� (continued report)

�� 5.� The Chair has asked Matt Brown to fill the open seat on the Board of Review.� .�

Motion:� Made by Michael Bougie to accept Matt Brown as the new BOR member.�

Seconded, Passed - Unanimous

�� 6.�� The Chair has asked Jack Boder to fill the open Public Relations Chair position.

Motion:� Made by Michael Bougie to accept Jack Boder as the Public Relations Chair.�

Seconded, Passed - Unanimous

Senior Vice Chair:� Dennis Dale�� No Report

Age group Vice-Chair:� Cathy Thwing

Meet Schedule:� An open forum meeting was held at the Presidents� Day meet.� There will be proposed changes

to the meet bid process.� The Age Group Chair�s feeling is that this will be a multi-stage process that is needed for three reasons:� retention of athletes-especially B/C and novice swimmers, recruitment of new athletes, and proactive response-we know there is a problem, we need to deal with it before it becomes larger.� There will be a meeting scheduled (possibly at the Age Group State meet or Senior State Meet) for which concrete proposal are requested so that they may be brought to the Board for the April meeting.� The general concept is sanctioned �A� meets once a month with quad/tri/dual/invitational meets for the B- & below swimmers.� Two major concerns are ensuring the ability for small teams to be included and supporting MSI�s budget (a large proportion of income is through meet entry fees).

Finance Vice-Chair:� Dave Hulit� �� Not Present / No Report

Senior Athlete Representative:� Blair Buccicone�� No Report

Junior Athlete Representative:�� Chad Krastins�� Not Present / No Report

Senior Coach Representative:�� Paul Lundsten �� No Report

Junior Coach Representative:�� Jean Freeman�� Not Present / No Report

Ex officio General Chair:� Bob Pearson��

The Central Zone Committee Chair has no idea what data the National Safety Committee is collecting as reported in a published report.�� Best guess is that USA-Swimming may follow suit with the High School league in minimum depth requirement on starts for competition � which will impact virtually all swim clubs and facilities

Technical Planning Chair:� Rocky O�Neill � �� No Report

Safety Coordinator:� Kathy Czuprynski��

1. ��The Coaches Safety Class scheduled on April 14^th has been moved to the Eisenhower Community

�� Center in Hopkins

2. �A Coaches Safety Class has been scheduled for March 24^th at the Rochester Recreation Center from�� 1:00 � 5:00pm.

Officials Committee Chair:� Michael Bougie

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1. There are currently 134 total officials.� Forty with Referee certification, 18 are certified Starters, and 76 are certified Stroke & Turn officials.

2. There are plenty of upcoming opportunities for officials.� There are three A/B/C Finals meets, followed by Age Group State, followed by Senior State-which is a prelim/finals meet.� All officials are strongly encouraged to work these meets, so that we can guarantee fair competition.

Legislative Chair:� Betsey Aby�� Not Present / No Report

Adapted Swimming Chair:� Marlene Goblish No Report

NTV Chair:� David Shapley�� Not Present / No Report

Equipment Chair:� Ron Murphy�� Not Present / No Report

Registration - Membership Chair/ Office:� Cassy Shapley

1. Athlete Count :

2. Seasonal registrations start March 8^th, however, they are not valid beyond Long Course State so any athlete who may participate in the Central Zone Championship should be registered as a year-round athlete.

3. Membership verifications for Nationals are due ASAP!

4. Reminder to college coaches to get their charter application for summer clubs as well as athlete memberships turned in.

Swim Meet Sanction Coordinator:� Sheryl McGuire

Sanction applications for summer meets are due soon.� Clubs hosting summer meets are encouraged to submit them ASAP

Records Chair:� Paul Windrath�� No Report�

�(State Record Certificates were brought to the meeting for distribution.� Those not taken will be mailed).

Top 16 Coordinator:� Jim Teter�� Not Present / No Report

Outreach Coordinator:� Joel Shinofield�� Not Present / No Report

Board of Review:� John Witzel

1. There was one hearing on a complaint in January, which has concluded.

2. There is a complaint that has file that has a hearing to be scheduled.

(Paul Lundsten opened discussion on the matter of the January hearing results, which were to be discussed at the Board�s work session that was scheduled to occur after the regular Board meeting.� The offered opinion was that if the BOR results were to be explained in more detail beyond what the BOR Chair has already given that it should be done during the public meeting.� The BOR and BOD are two separate entities and the BOR is not answerable to the BOD and should not have to explain its decisions.� The point was made that the only reason that the General Chair had scheduled this item for the work session was in response to the many calls that she had taken on the decision so that the BOD members could give specific answers to questions, if necessary.� Consensus opinion was that to avoid the appearance of impropriety or collusion between the BOR and BOD that no additional report should be requested or given beyond the BOR Chair�s report in the open forum.� Although, it was suggested that unless a result of a BOR hearing is closed that the BOR Chair�s report should include the nature of the complaint, complainants, respondents, and the simple result or finding of the Board of Review).

State Meet Committee:� Joel Shinofeld, Chair � Not Present

Committee member Rocky O�Neill was not expecting to have to make a report, so he had nothing to pass out or formally present.� However, the final suggestion of the committee for reducing the congestion and time crunch at the Long Course state meet is expanding the 13 & over sessions to 4 full days of prelims and finals, individual events for 11-12�s and 9-10�s on Thursday � Saturday, 8 & Under individual events on Friday and Saturday, and all 12 & Under relay events (and only the relay events) on Sunday.� The primary reason for the all relay session was to eliminate the extra relay-only swimmers EVERY day and it was tried a few years ago with great success and was very exciting.� It also gives the Zone coordinators an opportunity to work on the entries Sunday afternoon.� One main issue for implementing this suggestion in 2002 is the support of Team Foxjet (the 2002 host) since they did not bid for the meet under these circumstances.� The Team Foxjet representative present at the meeting thought the idea was good because it allowed their club an opportunity to spread things out and give them the ability to run a better meet, but would like to hear the final proposal.

The committee will have a full report and proposal for the Board�s consideration / action at the April meeting.

Old Business:

1. Orcas Sanction Issue re: the December B/C Meet

No legislation was received from the Orcas in regard to a proposed remedy.� John Sfire spoke on behalf of the Orcas and stated that he had put together a proposal originally, but it was complicated by the awards reimbursement and other factors.� He requested another month to finalize their request and submit it to the Age Group Chair and Admin-Vice Chair for feedback before presenting it to the Board at the April Meeting.

Motion:� Made by Paul Lundsten to table the issue until April meeting.

Seconded, passed - unanimous

New Business

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1. Charter Approval for �The Waves�.� Have completed all paperwork, except waiting on the State of Minnesota to act on Corporate Charter application.

Motion:� Made by Dennis Dale to approve the charter of the �The Waves� pending the completion of all of the proper paperwork.

Seconded, passed - unanimous

Motion to adjourn at:� 8:30pm

After the Open Meeting, the Board of Directors met for a work session.�

No business was conducted; no motions were entertained, and no actions were taken.