2010
January 31, 2010
(Minutes
recorded by Melanie Hanson and edited by Don Bucher and Jim Grew)
Board Members in Attendance: Brenda
Baldwin – AAC Rep. (substitute for Alex Lauretano), Rhoni Barton Bischoff – AAC
Rep, Don Bucher – Chair, Sara Chappell – Secretary/Treasurer, Gene Davis – AWSA
S (incoming),
Absent: None.
Committee Chairs in Attendance:
Honorary National Directors in Attendance (in addition to
the above): Andrea Plough.
Headquarters’ Staff in Attendance: Scott Atkinson – Communications Director, Melanie
Hanson – Membership Programs Director, Steve Upp – Director of Business
Development and Partnerships, Brandon Wolf – Competition Director.
Affiliate Organizations in Attendance: Larry Meddock – WSIA.
Alternate Board Members in Attendance: Janifer Ellis – USA-WB.
All votes are unanimous unless otherwise indicated.
1. Opening
2. Call to Order
3. Announcements, Introductions and Roll Call
Board members
introduced themselves and stated their position on the board.
4. Appointment of Parliamentarian
Jeff Clark was appointed as Parliamentarian.
·
Motion to allow committee chairs,
Headquarters’ staff and alternate board members to join the meeting as
necessary – approved.
·
Motion to allow any action items coming
from committee reports to have an automatic second – approved.
5.
Announcement of Quorum and Number of Votes
Jeff Clark, Bylaws Committee Chair, noted the following voting
changes for 2010-11: ABC – 3 to 2 votes,
AWSA – 40 to 39 votes, NCWSA – 4 to 5 votes and NSSA – 21 to 22 votes.
6. Review and Approval of January 2009 Board
Minutes
·
Motion to accept January 2009 Board
minutes – approved.
7. Ratification of Mail Board Ballots
·
Motion to ratify mail board ballots – approved.
*** New directors took their seats.
8. Bylaws Committee Chair Special Report –
Policies and Procedures Review
·
Motion to
accept all action items as presented – approved.
9. Review and Approval of Agenda
·
Motion to
accept agenda – approved.
10. Nominating
Committee Report –
a. Election of Officers
Chairman of the Board – Don Bucher
President – Jim Grew
Vice President – Tom Ghiloni
Secretary/Treasurer – Sara
Chappell
Don Bucher requested nominations from the floor. None were forthcoming.
·
Motion to
approve the slate of officers as presented above – approved.
Honorary National
Directors (HNDs)
Doug Koch (ABC)
Jim Jaquess (AWSA)
Doris Rohner (AKA)
·
Motion to
approve the slate of Honorary National Directors as presented above – approved.
Jim noted that USA Water Ski congratulates these individuals and thanks
them for their years of service.
b. Seating of New Officers – They were
seated.
11 & 12. Former and New President's
Report – Jim Grew, President
Jim stated that with Steve Locke’s weekly reports, his report two
weeks prior to the meeting and the most comprehensive packets ever - one sent
out after the Executive Committee meeting before Christmas, the second ten days
ago for this meeting on Jan. 20, the BOD has never had so much information.
With thanks to Steve Locke, he believed that communication and transparency have
been much improved over the past two years.
13. Executive
Committee Report – Jim Grew, Chair
Refer to written report included in the BOD packet.
·
Motion to approve the Guest/Basic
Skills Membership Consolidation proposal as presented – approved.
·
Motion to approve the revised towboat
license fee structure proposal as presented – approved.
·
Motion to approve the elimination of family supporting dependent memberships
as presented – not
approved.
TASK: HQ’s Membership Department will reinstate
the family supporting dependent membership type as soon as possible.
TASK: HQ’s Membership Department will conduct a
comprehensive review of USA-WS’ membership structure and fees, with input and
suggestions from SD Presidents and make a recommendation to the Executive
Committee for consideration at their April 2010 meeting and subsequent BOD
approval, for implementation in 2011.
·
Motion to approve the NGB name change
proposal as presented – not approved (46
in favor, 53 against).
14. Executive
Director's Report – Jim Grew, President
Jim provided
the BOD with an update on the Executive Director search. The Search Committee
has conducted numerous phone interviews and, as a result, narrowed the pool of
over 120 applicants to four potential candidates. The committee will be
conducting in-person interviews at USA Water Ski HQ on Feb. 16-18, 2010. A
majority of the USA-WS Executive Committee members will be on hand for the
interviews, and USA-WS HQ staff will also have the opportunity to meet with the
candidates. Following the interviews, the Search Committee will select a
candidate for approval by the Executive Committee and BOD. A conference call is
tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 18, in the afternoon. The BOD will be
notified in advance and sent the necessary information as determined by the
Search and Executive Committees in time for that call. Once the candidate has
been approved, the Search Committee will move forward to present the candidate with
a job offer.
15. Treasurer's
Report – Sara Chappell, Treasurer
Refer to written report included in the BOD packet.
·
Motion to approve the 2010 proposed budget,
in concept as a balanced budget, as presented – approved.
Gene Davis asked if it were possible to
receive a budget divided out by SD particularly as refers to the National
Championships. Jim assured Gene that
Bobbie Razor would try to provide Gene with whatever info he was seeking upon
request.
16. Committee Reports
All
committee reports were unanimously approved by the BOD as submitted unless
otherwise indicated.
a. Awards – Sherm Schraft, Chair: Review written report included in the BOD
packet. Sherm thanked his committee for their prompt responses. Don
congratulated everyone who had a part in the organization of the excellent Awards
Presentation the prior evening.
b. Bylaws –
·
Motion to approve the proposed changes
to the USA Water Ski Bylaws as presented – approved.
·
Motion to approve the proposed changes
to the USA Water Ski Policies and Procedures as presented – approved.
c. Ethics – Tom Ghiloni, Chair: No Report.
d. International Activities – Frank
Harrison, Chair (absent): No Report.
Jim stated that the next Pan Am Games are taking place in 2011;
and both AWSA and USA-WB would be submitting team selection procedures for BOD
approval early next year if not sooner.
d.
Judicial – Jeff Smith,
Chair (absent): Review written report
included in the BOD packet. Jim Grew added that HQ’s Competition Department is
in the process of putting procedures in place to keep this situation (a
tournament going forward without final approval, i.e., unsanctioned) from
occurring again in the future.
f. Risk Management/Safety – Jeff Smith,
Chair (absent) presented by
·
Motion to approve the committee’s
recommendation on the USA-WS driving certification program as presented – approved.
·
Motion to approve the committee’s
recommendation on the USA-WS safety coordinator certification program as
presented – approved.
Jim Grew added that, with Brad Scott’s assistance, USA-WS is
applying for a $42,000 grant from the U.S. Coast Guard for the creation of new materials
for the classroom portion of our existing safety course and offer it online.
Leon Larson noted that, as approved by the BOD in 2009, the annual
safety statistics summary/overview was not included in the committee’s Midwinter
meeting report, rather will be compiled around March 1, 2010 and distributed to
the BOD. This extended deadline allows HQ additional time to collect any missing
or incomplete safety reports and present more complete and accurate statistical
data.
g. Time & Place –
·
Motion to approve Jan. 29, 2012 as the
date for the 2012 USA-WS BOD Meeting, to be held at USA-WS Headquarters in
h. Towboat –George Lindy, Chair (absent): Review written report included in the BOD
packet.
i. USOC Centralized Funding/USOC Status – Frank
Harrison, NGB/USOC Representative (absent) and Rhoni Barton-Bischoff, AAC/USOC
Representative: Review written report included
in the BOD packet. Jim Grew congratulated
Jim assured the BOD, that although Steve Locke has resigned as Executive
Director, Steve will continue to work toward regaining funding from the USOC
for Pan Am Sports. Jim added that Andres Botero, a long time supporter for the
full participation of water skiing in the Olympics and the prior IWWF President,
was recently elected to membership in the International Olympic Committee.
Andres communicated to Kuno Ritschard, current President of IWWF, that the
organization should make every effort to be more “green” and environmentally
friendly. As a result, he feels that, at this point in time, cable skiing and
wakeboarding would be our best opportunity for becoming part of the Olympics. Rhoni
affirmed that, as the USOC Representative, she never received this information
and asked that she and Frank be copied on all such correspondence.
TASK: Jim Grew will ensure that Rhoni and Frank
are provided with all relevant information from the IWWF concerning Olympic
participation and related matters.
j. Waterways – Leon Larson, Chair: Review written report included in the BOD
packet.
TASK: HQ Competition Department will ensure
that they continue to include the IWWF Environmental Brochure in all tournament
kits mailed out from HQ.
17. Sports Disciplines’ and
Related Organizations’ Reports
a. Athlete Advisory Council (AAC) – Freddy
Krueger, Chair (absent): No Report.
b.
American Water
Ski Educational Foundation (AWSEF) – Carole Lowe, Executive Director
(absent) presented by Jim Grew: Review
written report and membership form included in the BOD packet. Jim requested
that the sport discipline boards of directors make every effort to distribute
information to their respective constituents on the scholarships available
through the AWSEF.
c.
Water Sports
Industry Association (WSIA) – Larry Meddock, Executive Director: Review written report included in the BOD
packet. Jim Grew thanked Larry for his attendance at the meeting and conveyed
how much USA Water Ski appreciates his valuable input. Jim stated that USA-WS
is supporting, as a sponsor, WSIA’s 2010
Larry also provided the following two suggestions:
·
Given the fact that tube sales account for 40% of the
equipment market, USA-WS should contact their insurance underwriters to inquire
whether they would be willing to offer a “rider” to those individuals who
purchase tubes to buy additional liability insurance as they ride the tube. Larry
also suggested that there be a prerequisite that these individuals become
members of USA-WS on some basic level to be eligible for this benefit. USA-WS could
provide a hang tag or some other form of information to the tube manufacturers
that would explain the benefits of this program.
·
The BOD knows that the USCG is pushing very hard for
hands-on education. The BOD also knows that Shannon Starling has a USCG and
NASBLA approved hands-on education program available (iDrive). Again, Larry suggested
that USA-WS contact its insurance underwriters to inquire whether they would be
willing to offer boat drivers who take a USA-WS endorsed iDrive course a
discount on the cost of their insurance. The driver would be required to join
USA-WS at some special rate for this benefit. Larry knows that the boat
companies would be in favor of this kind of program because it drives customers
through the dealer. It would also help the boat manufacturers with their own
liability if the boat manufacturers can show their underwriters the steps they
are taking to minimize boating accidents.
Larry stated that USA-WS would have the full cooperation of the
WSIA if they were to pursue any or both of these ideas.
TASK: HQ will forward Larry’s suggestions to
d. American Kneeboard Association (AKA) – Kenny Stuart,
President: Review written report
included in the BOD packet.
e.
f.
g.
National
Collegiate Water Ski Association (NCWSA) – Jeff Surdej, National Chairman: Review written report included in the BOD
packet.
TASK: Jeff Surdej will form
a working group to determine whether a method can be devised to more accurately
calculate NCWSA’s and other sport disciplines’ true membership numbers since many
athletes participate in more than one sport discipline but only have the option
to designate one primary sport discipline preference when they join. Any such
method would not allow a member to be counted more than once in our raw
membership numbers. However, there might be a way to allow our voting
allocation and SD funding distribution methodology to better reflect true
participatory numbers in all SDs.
h.
National Show
Ski Association (NSSA) – Gerry Luiting, President: Review written report included in the BOD
packet. Gerry provided more details on the Wisconsin Water Ski Convention &
Expo (WWSC&E) to be held Feb. 26-28, 2010 at the Chula Vista Resort in
Wisconsin Dells, WI. He added that this event offers both classroom and
hands-on instruction from top instructors for nearly every water ski discipline
as well as seminars and forums on team management, fundraising, insurance,
officiating, basic skills clinics and much more. The event is the world’s
largest indoor water sports educational experience and affords fun for the
whole family with
Jim Grew again requested that NSSA work closely with WSDA with
regard to the Basic Skills clinics they hold for the disabled.
TASK: HQ will add a space to
the Basic Skills Clinic sanction form to indicate which SD(s) are involved with
the clinic. Once received, HQ can send out the rosters of these clinics to the
relevant SD President(s) to allow the SD(s) to communicate with these potential
members.
i. National
Water Ski Racing Association (NWSRA) –
j. Water Skiers with Disabilities Association (WSDA) –
k.
l. American Water Ski Association (AWSA) – Gene Davis,
President: Review written report sent
out separately.
m. Pan Am and IWSF Updates – Jim Grew,
IWSF VP: Review written reports included
in the BOD packet.
18. Old Business
None.
19. New Business
None.
ADJOURN