Midwestern Swimming, Inc.
Minutes – House of Delegates Meeting
Holiday Inn – York, Nebraska
Sunday, October 6, 2002

The Midwestern House of Delegates was called to order at 1:05 PM at the Holiday Inn in York, Nebraska. Present were Scot Sorensen, Betty Kooy, Mary Losee, Brian Jensen, Robin Lowe, Mike Jacobson, Gretchen Lindner, Patrick Rowan, Mike Fenello, Candy Hemmer, Kim Pappas, Peggy Speer, Lisa Ellis, Dick Hammer, John Hitchcock, Larry Ohs, Marsha Ketcham, Archie Heffernan, Susie Schmitt.

Reading, Correction and Adoption of Minutes
The reading of the minutes from the June 2002 HOD meeting held at the University of Omaha was dispensed. Copies were mailed to all Board Members and posted on the web site. An error on the second page of the minutes of the word, "governnance" is to be corrected. On first page of minutes, change the amount from $50 to $40 and delete the section referencing Midwestern. Minutes were accepted with changes.

Reports of Officers:
Age Group Vice-Chairman – Lisa Ellis

• It has been approved that the 2003 Zones meet will be a Mega Zone Meet held in Indianapolis. For Zones, Lisa is holding 27 rooms at the Hampton Inn Northwest for swimmers and chaperones only. Parents/families planning to attend separately need to make their own reservations.
• There has been a recommendation from the pre-sanction committee to run the LSC meet at UNO from both ends of the pool. Swim Omaha may be purchasing 2 starting blocks, UNO is purchasing 2 starting blocks and Lisa would like for Midwestern Swimming to purchase 2 starting blocks. If MW made a donation of $1,000 to the UNO Booster Club, this would provide funds for starting blocks and give a sense of unity with UNO swimming. Lisa Ellis made a Motion to donate $1,000 to the Maverick Booster Club at UNO to purchase starting blocks and benefit the swimmers. These starting blocks would sit on the bulkhead. The UNO Booster Club is mostly corporate sponsorship. Fees paid by MW for meets held at UNO go directly to the campus recreation and not to the swimming program. Question was asked if Midwestern would get charged in addition to the rent for using these starting blocks. Lisa said that Todd Samland said he would not charge us. But is that assurance sufficient. It was brought up that without Mary Kocsis present, we are not sure how much money is available for such expenditure. Motion made to table the issue until the next Board meeting.
• Mutual of Omaha has committed to be at the Division I finals to help with timing and take some burden off the parents so they can watch their swimmers.

• Zones 2003 will be a 4-day meet held in Indianapolis. Meet info will be posted to the CZ website as it becomes available..
• Swimmers achieving Top 16 times for 2002 have all been submitted to USA Headquarters.
• Registration procedures will be changing in 2003 – moving to a web-based program and submission.
• Midwestern’s Scholastic All-American swimmers are posted on the MW website.
• Betty will post all meet results as soon as they are sent in.
• Clubs must be registered for 2003 for meet sanctioning purposes..

• Betty provided summaries of convention meetings with the mailed minutes. The Convention Roundups that came to the rooms each night of convention.
• Junior Nationals is coming back in the form of an 18 & U Long Course meet in 2005. Final format is not finalized.

Note: 2 years after the Olympics the winter Sectionals will be short course and 2 years prior to the Olympics the winter Sectionals will be long course. Nationals will always be run long course.

• A new marketing tool is using cartoons to promote sports. Nickelodeon is sponsoring bowling with the cartoon Sponge Bob. Scooby Doo is sponsoring tennis. Sponge Bob may be used for sponsoring swimming next year. These cartoons target the kids at the lower age groups.
• The biggest convention issue was the raising of the fees. USA Swimming wants to raise $4 Million immediately. Of that $4 Million, $1 Million will go to marketing, $1 Million towards the Clubs, and $1 Million will go to the aquatics in the communities with the remaining $1 Million for discretionary use. 2004 national fees are being raised from $25 to $40, then they will be increased $1.00 until 2014 when they reach $50. The fees for swimming are in the middle in relationship to other governing sports bodies. A suggested way to get the money from the swimmers is to have the Clubs raise the fees for each swimmer.
• New Clubs will not have to pay the suggested $500 for the mandatory Club Management Seminar (effective in 2004). New clubs will have to participate in a swimposium-type event within the first year and prior to renewal of club membership.

See attached handout.

• There needs to be more attention to the details on the ledger notes on deposits so items are consistent and budget items line up. Registration fees were not put into the income on the Division I Meet, but put else where. Splash fees are being entered into different accounts, and they need to be the same. Mike is attempting to reestablish items and their proper entries and will ask each person responsible for entries to follow his pattern.
• For Zones 2003 there is more expense proposed due to a 4-day meet and the distance. There will be 5 days of hotel stay, 2 buses with 2 drivers each so they are able to drive straight through. Suggest raising the fee from $150 per swimmer to $200 per swimmer to accommodate the extra expense. Suggested that $200 is too much and will cause swimmers to not participate. Agreed that it should be raised to $175 per swimmer. Lisa Ellis is looking for a sponsor to held defer the costs.
• The All-Stars Meet and Zones Meet are missing entry fees, roughly $800 for one and $1,000 for the other. This will add $1,800 to the income. The Zones Meet shows only $125 per swimmer instead of the $150 and now as agreed upon $175 per swimmer for 80 swimmers. This will add $2000 to the income.
• It is suggested that we raise the Sectional reimbursements from $50 to $75 per swimmer. The National reimbursement is up to $400 with receipts. Receipts seem to be the most difficult thing to obtain.
• There seems to be some confusion as to the salary of Betty Kooy. According to records she is to be paid $9,000 yearly. But according to the budget she is being paid slightly less than that amount so is actually being paid a net of close to $9,000, but actually closer to $9477.72. Not sure why there is this discrepancy. Treasurer and Registrar are paid $200 per month. Last year Betty was approved $9,000 yearly. Lisa Ellis made a motion to raise Betty Kooy’s gross salary to $11,000. A 2^nd was made by Mike Fenello. Motion carries. Discussion was made to put a set percentage for an annual raise.
• Mary Losee made a motion to give a 5 % salary increase to Mary Kocsis (Treasurer) and Gary Flury (Registrar). A 2^nd was made by Lisa Ellis. Motion carries.
• Division I Meet did not budget for the fee for the starting system. Zones were over budget due to fewer swimmers participating, but still incurred same expenses for bus, coaches, etc.
• Concerns with Liability Insurance showing that nothing was paid. What is our coverage? Scot Sorensen gave Mike Jacobson the go ahead to take this matter and run with it and present his findings at the next board meeting.
• Lisa Ellis made a motion to accept the proposed budget with the changes indicated relating to the Zones fees for swimmers, salary changes for Betty, Mary and Gary, and the missing entry fees not posted. A 2^nd was made by Mary Losee. Motion carries.
• Mike Jacobson wants to provide a month to month budget so it is easier to see where we stand each month.

Presentation and approval of the annual audit
Mike Jacobson hasn’t seen it, but it is done.

Elections (Appointments)
Technical Planning Chairman – Robin Lowe
Scot Sorensen made a motion to nominate Robin Lowe for the position of Technical Planning Chairman. A 2^nd was made by Mike Jacobson. Motion carries.

New Business

• Gretchen Lindner brought her concerns with the Division I and Division II meets. Are teams able to change the meets they host from Division I to Division II and vice versa or are they stuck with what they have for this year? If a team submitted their meet proposal without specifying which one they preferred, Scot Sorensen made the decision for them depending on what type of meet was needed, but the host team was contacted to see if they were ok with the decision. The plan is to have 1 Division I meet, 2 Division II meets and 1 open weekend with no meet per month. Each team needs to submit, for next year, their preference for the type of meet they would like to host and the date. If there are more than one meet request for the same weekend, Midwestern will choose the meet that is best for all swimmers. There needs to be guidelines as to what weekends are Division I and Division II.
• The Division I/Division II meets pertain to the Metro teams in Lincoln and Omaha because of the number of swimmers in this area. Susie Schmitt wants Central Nebraska to be more a part of the Division I and Division II meets.
• Susie Schmitt made a motion to have the CSNL President or designated member as a member of the Pre-sanction Committee. A 2^nd was made by Mike Jacobson. Motion carries.
• Division I Championship meet will now only have 6 events maximum for swimmers, instead of the 9 events previously. This was addressed by the Sanctioning Committee. They also addressed issues of minimizing relays.
• Susie Schmitt addressed the issue of the summer Division II Championship meet being the same day as the Central Nebraska Championship. Division II Championship meet is not hosted by Midwestern, but there will be one weekend dedicated by itself for this meet.
• Looking ahead for summer meets:

  August 7-10: Zones
  August 1-3: LSC Division I Championship
  July 26-27: LSC Division II Championship
  July 19-20: Cornhusker State Games

• Lisa Ellis made note that the deposit for All-Stars is due. Scot told Lisa to take care of it.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kim Pappas, Acting Secretary