AMERICAN WATER SKI ASSOCIATION

WINTER 2007 COUNCIL MEETING

January 6, 2007, Silver Legacy, Reno, NV

 

TC Boice, EVP, called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m.

 

Present:

TC Boice, EVP

Directors and Honorary Directors – Merle Vasbinder; John Goodman (also representing Area 4); Frank Harrison (also IAC); Gaile Heieck; Mike Hayes; Andrea Plough (also AWBA), Wayne Canfield.

Council Persons – Larry Goodwin, Area 2; Connie Morris, Area 1 and Records Committee; Owen Letcher, Area 3; Barry Young, Area 9; Tad Scharpf, Area 5; Ken Cannon, Area 8; Brad Stevenson, Area 7; Stacy Holbert, Area 6.  John Goodman was substituting for Area 4 – see below.

Committee Representatives –Larry Goodwin, Safety, Membership, and Ethic; Richelle Matli, Rules; Dave Vogt, Rules and Nominations; Pat Rogers, Drivers; Laura Johnson, Web and Seeding; Lisa Wilson, Regional Junior Development; Phil Yastrow, Technical, Web, and Sanctioning.

Others –Barbara Canfield; Matt Oberholtz, Water Skiers With Disabilities; Lisa St. John, Competition Director AWSA Headquarters; Carol Boice, Secretary.

 

Introductions were made.  Roster was passed.

 

MOTION:  Ken Cannon / Mike Hayes for Council approval of John Goodman to represent Area 4.  Motion carried.

 

MOTION:  John Goodman / Ken Cannon to approve Summer Council Meeting Minutes from 2006.  Motion carried.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT

 

Presented by Tad Scharpf, Treasurer.  The Western Region is financially sound.

 

The meeting attendees recognized Tad for doing a great job with the budget.

 

MOTION:  Ken Cannon / Connie Morris to approve Treasurer’s report.  Motion carried.

 

EVP REPORT

 

TC Boice, EVP, presented the winter 2007 EVP Report.

 

RECORDS

 

Connie Morris presented the winter 2007 Records Report.  Connie is still having problems with getting the timing reports to support the record applications.

 

MOTION:  Connie Morris / Ken Cannon to accept the record applications presented to Council by Connie.  Motion carried.

 

REGIONAL GUIDE

 

Leora Matranga could not be present at the meeting.  TC Boice praised Leora’s abilities and efforts with putting the guide together.  Stacy Holbert has been working to gather pictures of placing skiers.  She has all but a couple of people.

 

REGIONAL AWARDS

 

Gaile Heieck reported we are continuing the award for LOC.  Owen Letcher brought up a proposal to create a special one-time award of appreciation for years of dedicated service.

 

MOTION:  Ken Cannon / Barry Young to approve the development of this award.  Motion carried.

 

MOTION:  Ken Cannon / Barry Young to set the dollar amount of the award at $50.  Motion carried.

 

WEBMASTER REPORT

 

Phil Yastrow presented a winter 2007 WebMaster Report.  Our Region is not like other Regions for sanctions.  We are more stringent.  Lisa St. John reported that there is a push at Headquarters to implement on-line registration.  Phil reported online voting has been doing well.

 

JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT

 

Lisa Wilson presented a winter 2007 Junior Development Regional Report.  Lisa’s program is going very well.  TC Boice complimented Lisa’s efforts.  Lisa expressed if anyone has ideas for fundraising she would appreciate it.

 

Discussion:  We need clinics to target both 3-event and single event skiers.  The Best of the West Program supports primarily 3-event skiers.  Lisa reported she has nothing to propose for Council vote.

 

NOMINATIONS

 

Dave Vogt presented a report.  Nominations for the next ballot are:

 

Area 1, Connie Morris and Jay Fitzpatrick.  Area 2, Greg Badal and Larry Goodwin.  Area 9 Rod Stiller and Sam Lee.  Other areas remain the same for Council.

 

For National Director, TC Boice.  For EVP, Gaile Heieck, Larry Goodwin and Barry Young. 

 

MOTION:  Dave Vogt / Ken Cannon to approve slate of nominees for ballot.  Motion carried.

 

FINANCIAL TASK FORCE

 

Mike Hayes presented a report.  He will have more to report this fall.

 

MEMBERSHIP

 

Larry Goodwin presented a report.  The committee has been working with the grass roots level with individual clubs.  Working on publicity and promotions.  Working on a club and dealer program.

 

MOTION:  Barry Young / John Goodman to provide an incentive to sponsors hosting a novice tournament and providing publicity.  We would provide a coupon of credit of $25 towards the next sanction request.  The LOC would submit the coupon with next year’s sanction request to obtain the discount.  Information on this incentive would be provided on web site, in the Regional Guide, in Water Ski Magazine, and in tournament kits.  The Council person and EVP would monitor and control this.  The coupon would be good for next year.  Mike Hayes made a friendly amendment.  Discretionary funds from the Financial Steering Committee would be used to cover the cost.  Motion carried.

 

TC, Mike, Larry, Tad will develop mechanics and get back to council.  A line item in the Region Budget would be created for the discretionary funds.  Application would be made to the Financial Steering Committee, who would then approve and dispense the funds.

 

DUAL REGIONALS

 

Merle Vasbinder opened up discussion on dual regionals.  Is Laku still willing to participate in dual regionals?  Phil spoke for Laku.

 

Merle gave a background to the proposal.  Skiers in Northwest wanted either a regional split or dual regionals to make travel easier.  Proposals have been submitted to Board of Directors.  There are bi-laws issues.  General membership meeting needs to be held in one spot allowing all skiers to participate.  Board rejected electronic meetings.  We need a vote from our membership on the issue of holding two separate membership meetings, and vote must be carried by 2/3 of membership.  But by-laws say simple majority of voters would carry.  Notice of the pending vote must be given to all members.  According to By-laws Chair, a director can act as Chair of meeting.  Merle will research the by-laws and determine what kind of majority of the general membership is needed to carry the vote.

 

Another issue is how to determine Regional placements to go to Nationals.  The Board of Directors said rules must be adhered to and Western Region would have to come up with a methodology to determine only top five in each division.  An option would be to have a Committee to pick placements to go based on a set criteria.  But criteria must be set before the tournaments.

 

If these issues can be overcome, the Board approves dual regionals in the West on a trial basis.  Results will be evaluated by the Board.

 

An internet vote of the membership showed support for dual regionals.

 

Lots of discussion followed.  Notification to members of a requested vote needs to not be solely electronic, email.  We need written notification.  Do qualification requirements for both tournaments need to be the same?  Can they be different within a division?  Can we simply take scores and determine placements without regard to possible differing conditions between the tournaments?

 

It was decided to take the best 5 placements combined, regardless of ski conditions.

 

MOTION:  Merle Vasbinder / Ken Cannon to ask the Board of Directors for permission to conduct a trial for dual regionals based on a successful vote of members allowing two membership meetings, and approval from The Rules Committee to allow the top 5 combined scores for placements, regardless of conditions.  Discussion; the states in each tournament are defined as proposed earlier.  Gaile Heieck / Tad Scharpf made a friendly amendment to stipulate a written notice to members would be made calling for their vote on the two general membership meetings.  Stacie Holbert / Mike Hayes made a friendly amendment to say we will use the same process and criteria to determine which regional tournament a skier competes in that we already use to determine which Region a skier skies in.  Mike Hayes / Tad Scharpf made a friendly amendment for ties which cannot be run off with the two sites.  Ties would be resolved by tournament seeding value.  Mike Hayes / John Goodman requested a calling of the vote.  Motion carried, 7 in favor, 6 opposed.

 

The kind of majority (2/3 of members, vs. 2/3 of voting members, or other) will be determined at the Board of Directors Meeting.

 

Council agreed written notice would go out to the membership to notify them of the pending vote.  The vote would be by accessing the web site.  Notice will be mailed to all active Western Region members as of end of 2006.  Lisa St. John with Headquarters will facilitate the mailing, to be accomplished by the middle of next week.

 

MOTION:  Owen Letcher /  John Goodman to allocate $1000 in the 2007 budget for mailing costs for the notice.  Motion carried.

 

MOTION:  Gaile Heieck / John Goodman to approved the paper mailing and web page posting, as proposed by Merle, for the vote of membership.

 

REGIONAL TOURNAMENT 2007

 

Connie Morris presented a report and update on behalf of Imperial Lakes.  The tournament announcement was reviewed and edited by Council.

 

Regional Officials:

 

Drivers

Pat Rogers, Chief

Bill Barrett                       Wayne Canfield

Ron Goodman                   John Goodman

Dee Johnson                     Mark Roske

Merle Vasbinder                Dave Vogt

Brad Stevenson, alternate      Joe Nolan, alternate

 

Assistant Chief Judges

Gaile Heieck                     Heather Heieck

 

Appointed Judges

Deb Parsons                     Andrea Plough

Richelle Matli                   Barry Young

TC Boice

 

Scorers

Barbara Canfield, Chief        Judy Stanford, Assistant Chief

Laura Johnson, Appointed    Carol Boice, Appointed

 

Chief Safety, Dean Cherry

 

Chief Registrar, Pat Morris

 

Chief Announcer, John Horton

Asst. Chief Announcer, Tom Mecham

 

Technical Controller, Don Strategier

 

MOTION:  Ken Cannon / Larry Goodwin to approve the tournament announcement, as amended, and the slate of officials presented.  Motion carried.

 

SKI PARK 2008

 

John Goodman spoke on behalf of Ski Park.  All is going well, in spite of heavy rains.

 

2009 REGIONALS

 

We have no bids yet.

 

TC Boice appointed Owen Letcher as Chairman of the Regionals Search Committee to come up with sites willing to bid on Regional tournaments.  TC also appointed Frank Harrison and John Goodman to serve on this committee.  The committee will develop potential sites and work with council to help solve problems.

 

LOCAL TOURNAMENT SANCTION APPROVALS

 

TC asked for tournaments and supporting documents and fees from all council areas. 

 

MOTION:  John Goodman / Merle Vasbinder to allow EVP to update sanction requests from C to E if rules are updated to provide incentive for “E” tournaments.  Motion carried.

 

MOTION:  Barry Young / Connie Morris to approve tournaments submitted by Council Reps.  Motion carried.

 

US WAKEBOARD ASSOCIATION

 

Andrea Plough presented a report.  Wakeboarding is being promoted and is growing.  They do, however, need officials’ clinics and training.  Cable, Wake Skating are also included in Wakeboarding Association.

 

COLLEGIATE

 

There is no information to report.

 

AWSEF

 

Carol Lowe submitted a winter 2007 AWSEF Report.  She is retiring.  Lisa St. John presented information to Council about the current status of AWSEF and Lake Grew.  The Lake is coming along.  Officials’ Towers are finished now.  There are aids for the disabled.

 

WATER SKIERS WITH DISABILITIES

 

Matt Oberholtz presented a report for current activities for Water Skiers With Disabilities.  They are in need of a site for the Nationals. 

 

NATIONAL TOURNAMENT OFFICIALS

 

Appointed Judge:  Andrea Plough, Mike Hayes

 

Assigned Judge:  Richelle Matli, Barry Young

 

Alternate Judge:  Brad Hartwell

 

Scorers:

 

Carol Boice, Chief

 

Appointed Scorers:  Lucie Goodman, Martha Selsor, Judy Stanford, Tad Scharpf, Laura Johnson

 

Alternate Appointed Scorers:  Barbara Canfield, Sally Mecham

 

Drivers:

 

Ron Goodman, Mark Roske

Brian Hockenbery, alternate

 

MOTION:  Gaile Heieck / Ken Cannon to approve recommended slate of Nationals officials.  Motion passed.

 

AWSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

 

Mike Hayes presented a winter 2007 AWSA Executive Committee Report.

 

MOTION:  Mike Hayes /  Ken Cannon to ratify the Executive Committee’s recommendations to the Board of Directors (bulleted items in their report).  Motion carried.

 

USAWS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

 

Randy Hocking submitted a winter 2007 USAWS Executive Committee Report, but could not be present at the meeting.

 

RULES

 

Dave Vogt presented a winter 2007 Rules Committee Report.  Attendees discussed the contents.

 

MOTION:  Dave Vogt / Barry Young to approve the Rules Committee recommendations, except for Proposal #2.  Motion Carried.

 

Proposal # 2 was discussed and clarified.  Council is now ready to address that one too.

 

MOTION:  Owen Letcher / Barry Young to approve the Rules Committee recommendation for proposal #2.  Motion carried.

 

JUDGES AND SCORERS COMMITTEE

 

Linda Hockenbery was not able to be present at the meeting, but had submitted a winter 2007 Judges and Scorers Committee Report.

 

MOTION:  Linda Hockenbery / Connie Morris, to approve emeritus standing for Reid and Wexler.  Motion carried.

 

MOTION:  Linda Hockenbery /  Ken Cannon to approve a method to allow individual fast tracking on an individual basis based on their individual situation, rather than fast tracking individual groups like Open, Masters, and drivers..  Motion carried 7 to 6.

 

MOTION:  Linda Hockenbery /  Ken Cannon to approve up to $1000 allowance from the Region for International travel to participate in international events.  There was no second for the motion; motion died.

 

MOTION:  Mike Hayes / Ken Cannon to add to the pool of people eligible for a $300 stipend people who travel internationally to participate in international events.  Motion carried.

 

DRIVERS’ COMMITTEE

 

Pat Rogers presented a winter 2007 Drivers Committee Report.  The point of the boat path tapes is to encourage drivers to be aware of their driving and correct weaknesses.  The Driver Committee may make a tape on helpful driving tips, how to make the ride feel better to the skier while still driving correctly, etc. 

 

INTERNATIONAL ATHLETIC COMMITTEE

 

Frank Harrison presented a winter 2007 IAC Report.

 

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

 

Phil Yastrow presented a winter 2007 Technical Committee Report. 

 

SAFETY

 

Larry Goodwin presented a winter 2007 Safety Report.

 

TOWBOAT / SPEED CONTROL

 

Will Bush was not able to be present at the meeting.  Wayne Canfield discussed Will’s winter 2007 Towboat Report to the Council. 

 

SEEDING COMMITTEE

 

Laura Johnson presented a winter 2007 Seeding Committee Report.  Seeding went well this year.  Seeding did inherit concerns and pending items from the Competition Task Force, which is no longer operating.

 

SKIER RATINGS

 

Jim Kinney was not able to be present for the meeting.  TC Boice discussed Jim’s winter 2007 Ratings Committee Report with the Council.  The methodology was discussed Methodology Report.

 

HEADQUARTERS / COMPETITION

 

Lisa St. John presented a report.  Lisa discussed personnel changes within Headquarters.  There are a lot of promotional activities going on.  Insurance has changed some.  They will have a new Web site.  Medals for Nationals will be revised.  These are medals that can be re-used for other tournaments.

 

NATIONAL SKI LEAGUE

 

Kay Goodfellow was not able to be present at the meeting.  TC discussed Kay’s winter 2007 NSL Report with the Council.

 

BY-LAWS

 

Jim Lang was unable to attend the meeting.

 

ANNOUNCERS

 

Brad Hartwell was unable to attend the meeting.

 

The tournament officials’ sign-in sheet will allow a space for announcers to sign in for credit.  A document in the tournament kits showing tips for announcing will be downloadable from the AWSA Web page.

 

NATIONAL JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT

 

Charlene Brown was unable to attend the meeting.  Frank Harrison presented Charlene’s winter 2007 National Junior Development Report.

 

MOTION:  Charlene Brown / Ken Cannon, to have the Region contribute $125 from last year and another $125 this year towards a Junior Development video.  That $250 is to be matched by other Regions; otherwise it is not used.  Motion carried.

 

NATIONAL NOMINATING

 

TC Boice reported there is no one from the Western Region running for National Office.

 

AWARDS

 

Randy Hocking was unable to attend the meeting.

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

None.

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

How will we set qualifications for Regionals, now that there are no official ratings?  We could establish “levels” in relation to scores on the rankings list, similar to other regions practices.  We could set a cut-off date for having these.

 

MOTION:  Barry Young / John Goodman to have a committee work on a methodology for Regionals qualifications.  The Methodology would be voted on in the 2007 Summer Council Meeting and presented at the 2007 Summer General Membership Meeting, to be effective for 2008 Regionals.  The methodology would be completed and available for review and email comments by some time in Spring .  Stacie Holbert, Barry Young (Chair), Mike Hayes, and Jim Kinney will comprise this committee.  Motion carried.

 

Budget – ongoing.  Tad Scharpf discussed future expenses and income. 

 

MOTION;  Tad Scharpf / John Goodman to approve the budget as presented by Tad.  Motion carried.

 

MOTION:  Gaile Heieck / Ken Cannon to adjourn the meeting.  Motion carried.