USA Track & Field - New England Association

Board of Governors Meeting

Association Office

July 8, 2013

Attendance:

Eric Narcisi

Steve Viegas

Stephen Peckiconis

Steve Vaitones

Jim Garcia

Tom Derderian

Justin Kuo

Victoria Barnaby (on the phone from 8:30 on)

Yvonne Green

Lisa Doucett

On the Phone:

Paul Kirsch

Jason Cakouros

Jim Burgoyne

Jason Ayr

Laurie Boemker

Call to order at 7:14 pm, Secretary states there is a quorum.

Tom made opening remarks about his trip to Track Club Nationals at Icahn Stadium in New York. He was impressed by how all the field events took place within site, making use of the full infield. Team scores were announced between events. Tom would like to see a bigger New England presence there next year. For example, there were no BAA members competing there. It would be better for the association if all the bigger clubs had representatives competing at the meet.

Tom spoke about his desire to increase size and prestige of the organization, spread our influence. Of concern the increased competition for volunteers, whether it be for events or committees. Tom is particularly worried that we can’t find someone to fill the vacant LDR chair.

Secretary’s Report

Minutes were made available online two weeks ago. Jim Garcia made minor corrections. Mr. Viegas motioned to accept minutes as presented. Motion seconded, passed.

Discussed making past minutes available online to the members. Mr. Narcisi will follow up with Mr. Kuo and Mr. Vaitones on this matter. For the time being, PDF’s of finalized minutes can be sent out to members that request them.

Treasurer’s Report

Mr. Peckiconis highlighted a few items about the financial statements: net out the donation to One Fund and it’s pretty much even, or really running ahead of last year. Membership and sanctions are ahead of last year.

The liability number for 2013 sanctions is pretty high. National made a change in the way they do sanctions. Mr. Peckiconis thinks he might be doing something incorrectly that is inflating the balance in account 2113. Stephen will look into it to make sure it’s being reported correctly.

We’re doing better than last year, and we have cross country returning to Franklin Park so Stephen is optimistic that it will be a strong year.

There was talk of an increased investment in the mutual fund. We have a lot of cash in the money market, can we invest more? Currently have a 20% limit on it. Discussion will be continued at the next meeting.

Mr. Peckiconis suggested we leave small checks fully written out, just so they can be handed out (for stuff like background check reimbursement). This would help to ensure that we pay our small bills in a timely manner.

Vice President’s Reports

Mr. Garcia would like to have a meeting after the upcoming Carver Grand Prix race about contacting races, to canvas them about team scoring or the selection process. On the subject of cross country Mr. Garcia brought up cross country and the upcoming race series. Mr. Vaitones said that it looks like things are in good shape (schedule is set and available on the site). Mr. Cakouros (on the phone) said that he’s been in touch with some of the bigger clubs and received some good feedback.

Ms. Barnaby provided notes from Jenny Gardynski (in an email earlier today), wanted our feedback on it. Open forum-style discussion followed.

Managing Director’s Report

Mr. Derderian asked about Franklin Park, Mr. Vaitones spoke about how the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) won’t be running any events there. High School & Coaches Associations decided not to go there. It doesn’t affect our events at all. Mr. Viegas then singled out Mr. Vaitones for all his work on the Junior Olympics in June. Mr. Peckiconis stated that the current membership number (4,633) is a new record (modern era at least). Discussion of use of White Stadium followed (see report for more details), but priorities seem to be: 1.) Boston area student athletes, 2.) youth programs and then 3.) the community.

Track & Field

Mrs. Green would like to establish a link on the website to allow members to use the form so they can opt back in to Association communications. Performance lists posted. Outdoor GP scores posted on Sunday night after the meet, winners notified then. Joanna Murphy (NBB) and Alex Engle (GBTC) were the winners. Prize money: $300 each, but Murphy will receive a $300 bonus on top of that for competing and qualifying for Nationals.

Outdoor championship meet – Mr. Vaitones had provided a summary of it already (see report). Five athletes took advantage of their comp entry codes. One competed but didn’t use it (forgot about it?). There was a small, immaterial profit ($56) made on vending sales, will be donated to One Fund. Facility was great, but there seemed to be a lack of facility staff support (access to water, for example).

Membership census by sport – need to continue discussing further. Tom has requested numbers on this, but some clarification was needed as to how to calculate the numbers and what exactly they were being collected for.

Yvonne announced she will not be running again in the fall for the chair position. She will serve in an advisory role as needed, but can’t commit any more than that.

Cross country

Jason Cakouros mentioned that the Mayor’s Cup adds about 500 people, so it’s more realistic to compare to 2011. The fact sheet for the 2013 series is done and needs to be sent for posting. Mr. Cakouros worked with Paul Kirsch on an ad that was placed in NE Runner. The series starts in late August. The individual prize money was left the same as last year, only putting more into the team prize money. Jason has gotten some good feedback on it from the clubs he has spoken to so far. Note: it cost $636 for the NE Runner ad.

Road Racing

Lisa Doucett reported a good turnout at Hollis for the Fast 5k championship race. Carver coming up. Lisa trying to get meeting set up for committee, need to get going on 2014.

Tom spoke about wanting to provide a time trial on a certified course that would be acceptable to the BAA to get people qualified for Boston. The event would take place on Deer Island, wouldn’t have numbers, or a police presence, just would need to approve the course certification cost. After some discussion it was determined that Tom should first look into whether or not the BAA would accept times from the event as a qualifier.

Cost for travel to national meets – get group discounts? Ex: JetBlue ad on site in exchange for % discount for members on flights for specific national meets. Ideas briefly discussed to help encourage club attendance.

Date for annual meeting – Board needs to find a date in September that doesn’t conflict with major meets in the area. The secretary will work to find a date and consult with the managing director. Per by laws, must be in September, notice given about 30 days prior.

Grant application – we can apply every year, need to come up with idea to submit. An idea that was brought up was for a laser measuring device to be used in field events.

Motion to adjourn at 9:47. Seconded, passed. Meeting adjourned.