USA Track and Field New England
Board of Governors
Meeting held at Association Office in Brookline
February 4, 2013
Present: Tom Derderian, Yvonne Green, Lisa Doucett, Stephen Peckiconis, Joe Navas, Mike Travers, Justin Kuo, John Oleski, Jim Garcia, Will Feldman, and Jason Ayr
By Phone: Jim Burgoyne, Leigh Petranoff, Paul Kirsch, Laurie Boemker, Jason Cakouros and Victoria Barnaby
Called to order: At 7:10 PM. Tom opened the meeting with comments on the primary purposes of USATF New England. He noted that the important words are to "foster, encourage, improve, promote" our sport.
Secretary’s report: Tabled until the March 4, 2013 meeting.
Treasurer’s report: Stephen posted the most recent report to Google Drive. He also passed out copies. He noted that the bottom line was down, primarily due to cancellation of the Mayor's Cup XC and increased expenses for the banquet. We have with our partner in the Mayor's Cup (BAA) to make some kind of contribution to projects they designate. We haven’t made a donation recently.
Manager’s Report: Steve emailed the report to board members. He noted that the winners of our New England Cross Country Championship are being sent to Ireland to run in the Ras. They are Mary Kate Champagne, Eric Ashe and Sam Alexander. Also running will be former USATF-NE Vice-President, Joan Bohlke who won a road racing series. Rounding out the American team will be three runners from Hanson Brooks.
Grant proposal: Jim Garcia led a lively but time-limited discussion of the grant request from Western Mass. Distance Project (WMDP). It was in the nature of a joint application for the six listed athletes. They sought $250 to help defray their cost of competing in the USATF Cross Country Championships in Kentucky. Jim recommended $200 each. There was a discussion on whether this was for 2012 or 2013. It was agreed that it was for 2012. The grant request included a report on the race. However, Jason Ayr, who will not receive funding because he is a USATF-NE athlete rep, will have the six send individual reports. They will provide their social security numbers only to Jim Garcia or Stephen Peckiconis. At the end of the discussion the vote to pay each of the applicants $200 on the provision of a report and their social security number was unanimous. Victoria Barnaby sent an email voting affirmative. However, since she was no longer on the teleconference call at the time of the vote, her vote was not counted.
Website review: Tom appointed a committee of Justin Kuo, Victoria Barnaby and Stephen Peckiconis to review ways to make our website more attractive and useful and to report back to the board. He also appointed Eric Narcisi if he is willing to serve. Eric was unavailable at the meeting due to a death in the family.
Background check tutorial. Jim Garcia led a tutorial of how to sign up for a background check. USATF provides a background check for a net cost to board members of $8. The cost will be reimbursed to the member by the association. The link is: http://www.usatf.org/About/Programs/Background.aspx. The background check is good for a year. Board members who haven’t renewed their background checks since November 1, 2012 will need to apply in order to comply with our by-laws.
Jim also talked about the Coaches Registry which provides a youth background check. That link is: http://www.usatf.org/Resources-for---/Coaches/Coaches-Registry-(1)/Registered-Coaches-Program.aspx. The Coaches Registry background check is good for 2 years from the last check.
Awards Banquet: Jim gave a report. There was discussion of what went well and where it may be improved. Several of the track and field members of the board suggested that the banquet rebrand itself as an LDR banquet. Tom appointed Jason Ayr, Joe Navas and Victoria Barnaby to the committee to plan the 2013 edition. He also named Jim Garcia an emeritus member. He said that Jim should provide the institutional knowledge but shouldn’t have to do all the tasks he has done the last two years.
MUT Budget: Paul Kirsch presented the MUT budget. It called for a total budget request of $6,600. After discussion, with Paul abstaining, the budget was approved unanimously.
Masters Track & Field: Mike Travers reported that the East Region and Association Masters Championships in Providence were well attended but slightly fewer athletes than in 2012. The reasons for the dip were competition with the New Jersey championships the previous day and athletes who were sidelined by the flu and other viruses. There was greater geographic diversity with folks attending from as far away as Minnesota and as far south as Delaware. The event will clear $1,000 in profit.
Track and Field: Yvonne reviewed the indoor season to date. She is maintaining a performance list on the track and field webpage. The current leaders are Eric Nedeau and Caitlin Malloy. The committee is organizing a social beginning after 4 PM at John Harvard’s Brew House. Food will be provided and will be offered gradually so that late arrivers will be served and so that we will keep the food cost within budget.
The committee is considering using IAAF points to evaluate performances and to rate teams. The problem with this approach is that the committee is unaware of any automated way to compile this information. It will be testing it unofficially to evaluate the results.
Yvonne moved that the board confirm the three email votes previously taken approving the track and field budget. Mike Travers seconded the motion. She reviewed the items within the budget. After a short discussion, the question was called and the motion carried unanimously.
LDR: Lisa provided a PDF collection of PowerPoint slides to guide her discussion of the plans of the LDR committee. She also passed out a budget request. The most discussion surrounded plans for this year to hire a LDR assistant to complete discrete tasks at each championship race. The main concerns were the method of payment and whether such tasks should be performed by committee members. There was a discussion of a schedule of liaisons with event directors and whether chairs who are active athletes should forego competition in at least one of the annual competitions to see the role of LDR from setup to awards.
There was also a discussion about the appropriateness of providing paid volunteers to race directors. Steve Vaitones pointed out that we would have liability without insurance since we would provide the volunteers and the race directors would provide direction. We also discussed the committee’s idea of having an announcer on call for our series. If implemented, it would be for the 2014 series.
While Lisa was giving her report, Tom received an email from Gary Circosta in which Gary resigned as LDR chair due to business related time pressures. We discussed who might replace Gary. While Tom suggested that Jason Ayr move to that position, others suggested that we would lose an important voice of an active athlete and that he really shouldn’t be asked to take over a position which required him to sit out of any LDR championship completion. In the interim, Jason offered to be the liaison to the Amherst 10 miler since he resides in the area. Board members should think about a replacement for Gary and let Tom know. The board is permitted to vote to replace any board member who leaves office during his or her term.
Youth: Leigh reported that she has been working with Steve Vaitones on a questionnaire to youth clubs to gauge interest and needs. The questionnaire is in preliminary form with about 15 questions so far. Tom would like Leigh to pull together a youth committee. Steve Viegas and Laurie Boemker indicated that with Steve Vaitones, they form the beginning of that committee.
Delivra: Steve Vaitones and Steve Viegas are the two persons trained and designated to use Delivra. Steve Vaitones pointed out that USATF will not permit more than our two to use Delivra in order to keep a consistency in structure and to limit access to the membership database. To date, Steve Viegas has drafted the email blast at the direction of the board member requesting it and Steve Vaitones has been segmenting membership lists for the specific audience desired. Tom asked Steve Viegas to send out an email to the board with guidelines on what is needed in order to request a Delivra email blast.
With the clock approaching 10:00 PM, Tom said that the remaining items on the agenda would be deferred. The board voted unanimously to adjourn.
Respectfully submitted
Stephen G. Viegas, Secretary