North Carolina USATF

October Meeting Minutes

Saturday, October 25, 2008

 

Greensboro Convention & Visitors Bureau

Greensboro, North Carolina

 

 

In attendance in person: DePaul Mittman, Brian Ambuehl, Zina Parker, Chris Crowder, Katherine Branch, Eric Braschwitz, Roger Burbage. In attendance via telecom: Chris Coleman, Lena Hollman, Duane Ross, Tony Wayne, Max Hamlyn, Michael Roth, Donnell Mitchell.

 

The meeting was called to order at 1:08pm by Eric Braschwitz and a quorum was deemed present. The agenda for the meeting was distributed to those present prior to the meeting. The agenda and related discussion is presented as follows.

 

Agenda - Reno Delegates

Approve $600 expense reimbursement plus $160 meeting fee to be paid by Association

Meetings to attend (see Agenda on USATF website, maybe Roger can put a link on our website since it does change)

Voting

Coordination with others

Reception for Officials and Others to support Greensboro Junior Olympics

Other ideas

 

Discussions and Actions – Reno Delegates: The expense reimbursement and meeting fee was discussed. Tony Wayne made a motion and Katherine Branch seconded the motion to approve the above amounts; the vote was unanimous to approve the amounts to be reimbursed by the Association.

 

Scheduling of arrival in Reno on Wednesday by mid-day to review USATF restructuring proposals prior to the Wednesday night voting was suggested by Don Lein in an email. It was suggested in further discussion that an extra $150 reimbursement be made to those delegates changing their flight schedules to arrive earlier (most delegates had already booked their tickets and may incur charges if changing at this point). Michael Roth made a motion and Katherine Branch seconded the motion to approve the additional $150 flight reimbursement amount in the event of a change in airline ticket prices; the vote was unanimous to approve the additional amount to be reimbursed by the Association.

 

Eric Braschwitz proposed that NC USATF host an early evening reception in Reno primarily to assist with recruiting of qualified officials and to provide other publicity and support for the Greensboro Junior Olympics. He noted that during a prior USATF Annual Meeting, this type event was well received and attended for the Charlotte National Youth meet. A budget for this will be proposed at the November meeting. Also needed: “Champion(s)” to /organize/coordinate the event with the hotel and provide awareness in Reno to the Officials and others to attend. Possible cost sharing for the event with the Greensboro LOC and/or other sponsors will also be discussed in November.

 

Voting, coordination with others and the restructuring was deferred to the November meeting.

 

 

Agenda and Discussion - Reno Delegates (14) plus 2 Appointments

Eric Braschwitz provided an update to the list of delegates in alphabetical order by last name:

 

Katherine Branch

Eric Braschwitz

Roger Burbage

Chris Coleman

Chris Crowder

Al Davis

Frank Davis

Wayne Davis

Lena Hollmann

Jesse Lowry

Duane Ross

Tony Wayne

George Williams

Donnell Mitchell (first alternate to replace Andrew Allden who cannot attend)

 

Eric Braschwitz also made the following Appointments to Represent NC USATF in Reno:

 

Zina Parker (appointed to attend as Sanctions chair, but not a delegate)

Max Hamlyn (appointed to attend, running for National or Regional office representing masters, and past president of NC USATF, but not a delegate)

 

Agenda and Discussion - Greensboro National Junior Olympics

Reception for Officials and Others in Reno (Need Organizer and Champion) – This is discussed above.

 

Budget Assistance (Eric obtaining from Andy Martin) – The purpose of this request from National office is to provide assistance to the LOC so no major categories of cost are missed in the planning. Andy informed Eric via email that while he could not provide the detailed financial reports from prior National JOs due to policy, he could provide enough information to help with this matter. Eric will send to LOC when received from Andy. There was also discussion to suggest to the LOC that a stipend for Officials should be considered in their budget. Brian Ambuehl, LOC representative at the meeting took note of this.

 

Marketing to AAU Clubs – This was discussed and deemed worthy of pursuit. Katherine Branch agreed to assemble a list of clubs. Eric noted that Al Davis was a prior champion of this and very successful, resulting in a significant increase in membership. Looking for someone to champion this for year 2009, will be on November agenda.

 

Assistance with getting more Greensboro folks involved somehow – Eric reported that he is pursuing some of his business contacts for help.

 

November 12 is the next meeting of Greensboro LOC – Eric suggested that Duane Ross would be a good addition to the LOC on behalf of the Association; Duane agreed to follow up.

 

Appointment of Executive Chairs Formalized

Eric wanted to formalize these appointments as follows in the minutes:

 

Budget and Finance                            Open

Bylaws and Rules                                 Walter High

Member Services                                  Katherine Branch

Planning                                              DePaul Mittman

Records                                               Dr. Neville Wood

Sanctions and Standards                     Zina Parker

Road Running Technical                      Paul Hronjak

 

Eric noted that the Association is looking for a Budget and Finance chair, primarily to assist with the budget process. In the meantime, Duane Ross and Eric will handle this function.

 

Transition of Treasury function to Marian Lein (Eric will still review final books and prepare tax return in May) – Eric briefly reported on the progress of this transition with Marian, going smoothly.

 

Access to Facilities - should we do something and how and when (Duane Ross) – This topic generated great interest by all. This issue affects all of our members in North Carolina from cradle to grave, the primary issue being cost effective (or preferably free and open access) to public track & field facilities. Due to perceived problems with security and liability issues, as a matter of policy, many high schools and universities have locked up their track facilities. Our members need free and open access to these facilities and, since these facilities are considered “public” property, many in our Association believe we should do something about this for the greater good of our membership. Several thoughts and ideas were presented, and Duane Ross agreed to lead this effort. Further discussion will take place at the November meeting.

Communication and Website (Roger Burbage)

Look to the website for information, Roger has done an outstanding job with this. Eric reiterated that everyone should know about this success, it is hard work and time consuming. Help spread the word to the membership – www.ncusatf.org

 

Try to avoid using emails as much going forward since sometimes the message gets misinterpreted. Eric stated that when possible, sometimes a phone call may be more productive when communicating; that is not to say email should not be used, just that we should take a moment to consider other ways of talking before going to emails all the time; consider the pros and cons of email, then use judgment and decide.

 

Officers and Chairs (as time allows, otherwise to be continued at November meeting)

These topics were indeed deferred to the November meeting due to time constraints:

 

Accomplishments in 2008 (Highlights)

Plans for 2009 (Major projects and goals)

Budget Guidance - based on Plans for 2009, a simple listing on one page of amount by activity requested for November meeting review

Organizing committees and obtaining help (no one can do it alone)

 

The meeting was adjourned promptly at 2:29 pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Eric Braschwitz, acting secretary