Regular Meeting of the Executive Board of Directors

Niagara LSC

VIRTUAL MEETING -- ZOOM

November 20, 2023 8:30pm

Agenda:

• Call to Order 8:35PM
• Roll Call (see attendance chart)
• Approval of Agenda - approved with additional item added to New Business: Strategic Plan
• Approval of Minutes -  9/18/2023 & 10/16/2023 EC Meetings

• Old Business

• Niagara Google Calendar (Will) - discussion to review difficulties with logins and reviewing usage for all EC members.
• Board Source Self-Eval Survey - determine window (Paul) - Mike discussed with Governance to help collect those surveys; we will need to determine a two-week window to complete.
• Banner Task Force (Will) - Task Force met and came up with a proposal for purchasing share-able banners with our current budget. 3 ft x 25 ft to be used at all host facilities. 2 for Silvers, 1 for Championships to use Golds. $500 projected budget. Athlete Committee tasked with design for a smaller banner. Respectfully declined purchase of banners from outside our Niagara budget.
• Athlete Committee applications (Will) - working with Elle and Peter on athlete nominations since the current terms will end at the end of the calendar year. Applications due 12/6/23.

• New Business

• Reports from workshops or conferences attended

1. Mike discussed conversations from when he was Mighty Mid re: strategic planning and working as more of a business and potentially investing
2. LSC Leaders Call  (Will/Courtney) - just reminders about making sure teams and members renew before 12/20 if possible so 2024 memberships are ready to go. Information shared via email by Eric; keep reading those and stay on top of things.

• Constant Contact - (Paul)

1. Athletes - with all the emails pulled in to CC, it raises our prices significantly.
2. USA Swimming does not keep emails younger than 16 years old, so using this same methodology makes sense.
3. Removal of the athlete emails out of SWIMS would not be losing the parent info - member type Athlete is the only type that would be impacted.

Recommend removing non-swims contacts and athletes under 15 as of 9/1/23. This will reduce our contacts to below 2500, bringing cost back down.

501-2500 contacts = 31.50/month, includes 5 user sign-ins

2501-5000 contacts = 53.20/month, includes 5 user sign-ins

Motion: To remove athlete emails for those under age 16 from Constant Contact. Pau motioned; Leo seconded. Motion carries.

• 4 Hour Rule Fine (Will) -  inquired among EC to better understand what we are currently doing and how we apply our current policy.

1. Motion to make a 20-second interval be the timing standard for meets so there is a consistent and reasonable plan in place for timing out session reports upon submission. (Effective as of 1/1/2024 to avoid problems for any teams that have already submitted session reports.) Will motioned, Courtney seconded. Motion carries.
2. Motion to remove the “up to” language in the current policy so that the charge is $500 per session that runs over 4-hour rule (violations for 12 & Under sessions) consistently applied. Zach motioned; Will seconded. Motion carries.
3. NOTE: At the December 18, 2023 meeting which immediately followed this EC meeting, there was additional discussion regarding backstroke intervals for the 4-hour rule and for clarity and consistency, we are documenting this discussion here: Motion to make the appropriate timing for backstroke starts being set at no less than 15-second intervals. M/S/C.

• Meet Marshal Requirement - Treasurer

1. Item for Safe Sport Committee to consider - meet reports that do not have two meet marshals listed, process to reinforce new USAS rule and educate clubs.

• Disability Time Standards Adjustment Approval - Disability

1. Request to extend Para time standards until December so the Disability Committee can review and update them since with the newly published traditional time standards, there are some Para standards that are faster than traditional and that needs to be adjusted.

1. Motion to extend the deadline for revised Para Standards to December. Courtney motioned; Dani seconded. Motion carries.

• LEAP: As of today, we have officially passed our LEAP 2023!

1. Strategic Plan - next steps

1. Discussion about cost for using an external organization:

1. Price points/budget/is that exorbitant and a proper return on investment?
2. Alternative option is USA Swimming Governance/Jane Grosser to lead us in the process.
3. Continue to discuss at the December meeting.

• Set dates

1. Next EC Meeting: December 18, 2023

• Reports & Committee Status

Committee Meeting Minutes - meetings since our last EC Meeting are listed below.

(If you had a meeting not listed below, please send minutes to be updated on our website. If you have an upcoming meeting, please submit date/time here.)

1. Disability Committee 10/22/23
2. Tech Planning 11/2/23
3. Senior Committee 11/5/23
4. Officials Committee 11/9/23
5. Age Group 11/12/23

• Minutes Link

Meeting adjourned at 9:35 PM.

Niagara LSC Board of Directors Meeting Attendance Record for

November 20, 2023

UPCOMING MEETINGS

• EC - December 18, 2023.
• Spring HOD - Saturday, May 4, 2024.

2022-2023 -- RESOLUTIONS

September 2022

   0.     R0 - September 12, 2022 – To approve reimbursement for EAST coach training for ESSC Clinic October 2022 - unanimous by email.

November 2022

1. R1 - November 2, 2022 – To approve banking change  – unanimous by email.
2. R2 - November 11, 2022 – To accept proposed changes to the Finance portion of P&P - M/S/C.
3. R3 - November 11, 2022 – To approve proposed new budget lines and approve outstanding reimbursement of Fall HOD Award expenses. M/S/C.

December 2022

4.        R4 - December 18, 2022 – To approve reimbursement to FAST for Coach Training related to Tritonwear investment. M/S/C.

5.          R5 - December 18, 2022 – To approve the BAAC full reimbursement request for the LSC LC Championship Meet July 2022. M/S/F.

6.        R6 - December 18, 2022 – To approve a revised EBoD suggested proposal to offset BAAC’s losses from the LSC LC Championship Meet July 2022 by 50%. M/S/C.

7.    R7 - December 18, 2022 –  To approve revisions in ByLaws regarding Organization membership specific to League membership to be inline with USA Swimming voting processes. M/S/C.

8.    R8 - December 18, 2022 – To approve the job postings to address the Business Manager vacancy and associated compensation structure. M/S/C.

9.    R9 - December 18, 2022 – To approve use of investment funding to increase the budget line available for Coaches Education. Further research needed by the Finance Chair/Treasurer. Tabled.

10.  R10 - December 18, 2022 – To approve revisions to the Niagara P&P reflecting format cleanup and modernization. M/S/C.

11.  R11 - December 18, 2022 – To approve increasing budget lines 4041 and 5320 by $3242.87 to address Coach training requests against Coach Education budget. M/S/C.

12.  R12 - December 18, 2022 – To approve five positions to attend the Workshops in Denver CO in April. M/S/C.

13.  R13 - December 18, 2022 – To approve the

14.  R14 - December, 18, 2022 – To approve a proposal that all meet sanctions be applied for only via SWIMS 3.0 effective January 1, 2023.  M/S/C.

January 2023

15.         R15 - January 22, 2023  – To form a Social Media Committee responsible  – M/S/C.

February 2023

16. R16 - February 19, 2023 - To approve Safe Sport Chair and General Chair to both attend the USA Swimming Workshop in Denver, CO and arrive a day early to attend Safe Sport Conference. - M/S/C.  

17. R17 - February 19, 2023 - To approve Admin VC as temporary Chair of the Social Media Committee. - M/S/C

18. R18 - February 19, 2023 - To approve Niagara covering travel for Marci Callan to attend the USA Swimming Workshop in Denver, CO as recommended by USA Swimming for her National Committee capacity (CAC).

March 2023

R19 - March 20, 2023 - To bring Darren Treadway as a guest presenter to the Spring HOD regarding youth sports organization resources in WNY. M/S/C.

R20 - March 20, 2023 - To financially support a total of two (2) athletes attending the Denver USA Swimming Workshops in April. M/S/C.

R21 - March 20, 2023 -

April 2023

R22 - April 24, 2023 - To approve the budget to send Mike Switalski as GC to Colorado for the ABM September 21-23, 2023. M/S/C.

R23 - April 24, 2023 - To approve the members of Niagara LSC who will be our voting delegates for the ABM in September: GC, AGVC, Officials Chair, and second coach TBD. M/S/C.

May 2023

R24 - May 22, 2023 - To propose a spending cap of $8,000 for the Athlete Leadership Retreat hosted by Maine Swimming at Colby College, June 22-25, 2023. Inclusive of travel and coaching stipend. M/S/C.

R25 -  June 1, 2023 - To approve increase to Athlete Leadership Retreat in Maine funding to a maximum of $15,000 due to coach bus expenses  – unanimous by email.

R26 -  May 22, 2023 - To approve budget amendments to properly charge out Denver Workshop expenses. M/S/C.

R27 - May 22, 2023 - To approve Sexual Harassment Policy revisions in concordance with NYS boilerplate document and post revised version on the Governance portion of Niagara’s website. M/S/C.

R28 - May 22, 2023 - Proposal to institute a re-vote for the Junior Athlete election due to an incorrect voting collection process to ensure a fair and accurate vote. M/S/C.

June 2023

R29 - June 19, 2023 - To approve Brianna Caferelli and Dominic Falbo as the Athlete at Large reps for Niagara for a one year appointment, as nominated by General Chair. M/S/C.

R30 - June 19, 2023 - To approve General Chair contacting Governance Chair regarding next steps for LEAP process; if not resolved by July 3, 2023, Secretary will take over scheduling duties and spearheading LEAP renewal process. M/S/C. 

R31 - June 19, 2023 - To approve the date for Fall HOD to be Sunday, October 1, 2023. General Chair to determine and book location as appropriate. M/S/C.

R32 - June 19, 2023 - To approve entering into closed session to discuss a personnel matter. M/S/C.

July 2023

R33 - July 17, 2023 - To approve the P&P changes that reflect the revised check receipt process between Admin Manager and Treasurer. M/S/C.

R34 -  July 17, 2023 -  To approve revisions to the Zone P&P reflecting the new Zone Team Manager role and appropriate clarification of roles and responsibilities as well as clean up of acronyms, etc. M/S/C.

R35 - July 17, 2023 - To approve $1,000 budget per person for travel for our two Mighty Mid Workshop participants (TBD) in Colorado Springs, November 2023. M/S/C.

R36 - July 17, 2023 -  To approve Tech Planning communicating out to winning meet hosts for Niagara meets the opportunity to use Niagara social media to communicate meet operations and other pertinent information, as appropriate. M/S/C.

R37 - July 17, 2023 - To hold an Exec Committee meeting in-person in August rather than via zoom, provided we can obtain a quorum and secure a meeting location. M/S/C.

August 2023

R38 - August 21, 2023 - To subscribe to a one year membership to the BoardSource Board Support Program at a cost of $750 and conduct a Board Self Assessment beginning October 1, 2023. M/S/C. 

September 2023

R39 - September 18, 2023 - Motion to approve all P&P items remaining in the voting block ahead of Fall HOD. M/S/C.

R40 - September 18, 2023 - Motion to approve pulled item 205.8.B. for discussion. M/S/F.

R41 - September 18, 2023 - Motion to approve pulled item 10b for discussion. Proposal to adjust budget language to be a soft cap for both AG and Senior EZ Long Course meet reimbursement. M/S/C.

R42 - September 18, 2023  - Motion to approve pulled item regarding USA Swimming representation as originally submitted (no change to initial proposed verbiage). M/S/C.

R43 - September 18, 2023 - All coach training requests approved as submitted. M/S/C.

R44 - September 18, 2023 - Motion to approve new process for adding committee meetings to Niagara website calendar. M/S/C.

R45 - September 18, 2023 - Motion to approve a late fee for clubs that turn in meet results files past the 10 day window. M/S/C.

R46 - September 18, 2023 - Motion to approve the donation of Niagara’s surplus laser printer to be offered at HOD. M/S/C.

R47 - September 18, 2023 - Motion to go into closed session to discuss a legal matter. M/S/C.

October 2023

R48 - October 16, 2023 - Motion to approve the coach training request, despite not receiving EC approval prior to attending the event. M/S/C.

R49 - October 16, 2023 - Motion to charge a fine of ZERO dollars ($0) to any club that a) would be subject to the non-HOD attendance fine under the current P&P, and b) was assessed a $100 fine in 2022-23 based on not attending the Fall 2022 HOD meeting. M/S/C.

November 2023

R50 - November 20, 2023 - Motion to remove athlete emails for those under age 16 from Constant Contact to keep subscription costs down. M/S/C.

R51 - November 20, 2023 - Motion to make 20-seconds between swims the standard for setting up session reports to be turned in along with sanctions for Vice Chair review/approval for reasonable planning and consistency among host teams. M/S/C.

R52 - November 20, 2023 - Motion to remove “up to” in the current 4-hour rule violation policy and charge $500 per session to any meet host that violates the 4-hour rule for 12 and Under meets consistently. M/S/C.

R53 - November 20, 2023 - Motion to extend the deadline for revised Para/Disability Time Standards until the December EC meeting in order for the Disability Committee to review and make recommendations. M/S/C.

December 2023