USA Track and Field New England
Board of Governors
Meeting held at Association Office in Brookline
April 1, 2013
Present: Tom Derderian, John Oleski, Mike Travers, Jason Cakouros, Jim Burgoyne, Stephen Peckiconis, Joe Hagan, Jim Garcia, Yvonne Green, Lisa Doucett, Stephen Viegas, Joe Navas and Stephen Vaitones.
Phone: Laurie Boemker, Victoria Barnaby, Leigh Petranoff and Jason Ayr.
The meeting was opened by the president, Tom Derderian at 7:15 PM.
President’s Remarks: Tom brought the new Associations Manual to the board’s attention. The board discussed how it will help it in understanding its roles and duties. Tom was very interested in the position of communications coordinator and how we might use it in New England.
Tom also reminded the board of board expense policies that we adopted to encourage help at our events when the member isn’t otherwise participating.
Secretary’s Report: The minutes of March 4, 2013 were reviewed. Justin Kuo moved that they be accepted as written, Stephen Peckiconis seconded. They were approved unanimously.
Jim Garcia asked about action items and where they are kept. Steve Viegas opined that action items are within the purview of the president and don’t belong in the minutes. Jim offered to keep an action list.
Treasurer’s Report: Just prior to the meeting, Stephen Peckiconis posted the March 2013 report on Google Drive. He highlighted and explained the discrepancies with 2012. Some of them are the timing of payment of expenses. Some are the increased spending approved by the board. We are running $4-5,000 behind from last year.
Stephen also reviewed the association’s Vanguard mutual fund investment. He posted a document on Google Drive showing its values.
Jim Burgoyne moved to accept the Treasurer’s report, John Oleski seconded. The board voted unanimously to accept the report
Grant Committee: The association has received a grant request from Greater Boston Track Club for $750. This represents a request of $150 per person for five GBTC athletes to attend the Club 5K National Championships. The board debated whether to pay individually or one check to the organization. It was agreed that one check for $750 would be paid. There will be $1250 remaining if this is approved.
Jim Garcia moved to approve the grant. Mike Travers seconded. The motion passed unanimously. (The board members who are also GBTC members abstained from the vote.)
Manager’s Report: Steve Vaitones sent out his report by email. The board discussed the number of members – the historic high and the number last year. It also discussed when the cross-country dates at Franklin Park will be confirmed.
LDR: Tom has spoken to the organizer of the Upton 5K to see what it would take to get that race to apply to become a grand prix race. He encouraged other board members to talk up the LDR series to increase the choices.
The LDR committee plans to meet with the organizer of the Hollis 5K, our next race, to review procedures. It has two certified starts, which would allow separate male and female starting lines. Both would start at the same time but would allow women a clearer start.
USATF 10K Championships: Will be held at the James Joyce Ramble on April 28 in Dedham. Joe Navas is working on promotion and says it is going well. Steve Viegas reported that a Delivra email went out to all masters runners announcing the race. Joe reported a good response from fellow runners. Tom Derderian would like to have a New England association presence to promote our organization. The masters athletes will have a three minute head start. There will be no day of event registration. The championship rules are spelled out on our website.
Managing Director Review: John Oleski reported that the executive committee met on March 13 with Steve Vaitones. The nature of the interview was informational regarding the job description. It wasn’t for evaluating Steve’s job performance. Tom also suggested that the sports chairs meet with Steve to see where their duties intersect with Steve. Steve has a copy of a job description prepared several years ago, which he will email to the board. John passed out a synopsis of the meeting. Tom would like to complete the Steve’s performance review before the June meeting.
Track & Field: Yvonne Green reported that she updated and finalized the performance lists on the Wordpress blog for indoor track. She reported that Regis denied our request to use its facilities for summer track practices. She is considering if another locus might be found.
Tentatively, the association’s outdoor championships will be a combined open and masters meet. We have reason to believe that Regis will permit us to hold the meet at its facility but we are awaiting approval before announcing it as a sure thing. A discussion ensued on the difficulty in obtaining confirmation of the outdoor champs and the difficulty of working with other facilities in general.
Yvonne reported that data collection for track is in place for the outdoor season. The committee is working on the track and field rewards system. Yvonne wills to re-announce the track and field grant and announce the prize money.
Website: Justin said that there was nothing new to report. There had been some email exchanges with the working group but no in person meeting. Jim Garcia started a discussion of how things get onto the website. Parallel to this discussion was a discussion of what kind of platform could be used. Justin felt that the USATF model should be examined and compared to a Wordpress site.
Communications Coordinator: Tom stated that would like to have a communications coordinator like the one mentioned in the associations manual. Tom said that he wanted to create the position first and then define what it does. Steve Viegas suggested it would be more productive for the executive committee or another discrete committee to define the position and then to vote on the position. At the end of the debate, Stephen Peckiconis moved that we create the position. Joe Navas seconded it. The president called the ayes and nays. The vote was 8-3 for and none abstaining. The motion to create the position of communications coordinator passed. Tom said that the next step will be to define the position.
Cross-Country: Jason Cakouros is reluctant to promote series until the budget is approved. Jason will review it with the. Jason will email his proposal to executive committee.
Motion to Adjourn: Made by John Oleski, Seconded by Joe Hagan and passed unanimously. Another late meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 9:45 PM
Respectfully submitted
Stephen G. Viegas, Secretary pro tem