2005 Eastern Region Winter Meeting-Minutes
Membership Meeting – 1:00 p.m. Saturday 1/8/05

1. Call to Order – called to order 1:36 pm

2. Introductions of Council & Membership

3. Announcements –

• There is new Jr. Dev. Leadership – they are looking for reps. from each state
• Dean Rudy update – he is doing well & is now in his 9^th of 12^th week of chemo

4.Summary of morning Council Meeting

• 2004 Summer Meeting Minutes
• Treasurers Report
• 2005 Tournament Schedule
• P&P Amendment – Regional Entry Fees
• Announcement of Officials for 2005 Eastern Regionals
• Announcement of Officials for 2005 Nationals
• 2005 Eastern Regionals Preview – Lake Holly Ski Club
• 2006 Eastern Regionals Announcement – the bid was awarded to Lake Holly
• 2007 Eastern Regionals & Beyond – accepting bids

5. 2005 National Judges & Scorers Clinic Announcement – Roger Hammel

6. State Reports

• CT – Pat Byrne – Avon will hold 4 tournaments including one record in July – more activity in jr. dev. that have become more active. Perhaps a week night tournament to get more involved in competition.
• DE – Clarence Swift – 4 tournaments this year – 2 - 3 event sites
• ME – Dave Robbins – not present
• MD – Jean Giove / Mike Sturdevant – Jean reported they have reorganized their federation & they meet once a month. 3 – 4 “C” tournaments in ’05. Hopefully 4 fun meets will be held.
• MA – David Allen / Ron Kokernak – not present but Randy & Russ Cole were - they reported 3 tournaments planned in ’05. 2 “C”, 1 “novice”.
• NH – Bill Swaffield / Paul Meyers – not present
• NJ – John Corkery / John Paulovich – John Corkery stated John’s Lake # 80 is this year. South Jersey, Twin Lakes & John’s Lake are their 3 sites. They will have NSL included in their South Jersey “C” meet.
• NY – Alan Frederick / Dean Rudy / Darrell De Bey – Alan stated 11 tournaments will be held. NYS will try to get new faces & send a newsletter to all AWSA members to increase membership.
• PA – John Davis / Gary Noll / Carrie Rishel – John Davis stated 7 tournaments will be held. They are also looking into having a fun tournament at Dave’s Pond, as well as NSL events. MasterCraft is bringing April Coble to perform instructional clinics at Dave’s Pond and Lake Latonka in Mercer in 2005. Correct Craft is bringing Andy Mapple to perform instructional clinics at Dave’s Pond and Big Rock Pond in Perryopolis in 2005.
• RI -
• VT – Mark Dingeman – not present
• VA – Ed Spear / Rod Barney / Mike Ohmsen – Rod Barney stated 10 tournaments including Regionals. 5 Fun tournaments – clinics and many other interesting events
• WV – Sam Ingram – 3 submersible courses on Deep Creek Lake. New interest at the new lake in Terra Alta, WV. A church group is interested in leasing their lake for the serious skiers and new skiers to stay at Deep Creek Lake. No tournament in the plans.

7. Committee Reports

• Executive – Steve Lohr – 11 million recreation skiers in the country. What can we do to encourage them to be part of our organization? AWSA along with Newport will be doing a study to find out what the general membership needs to increase members. There are 40,000 USAWS members, 8,000 tournament skiers, and 900 National skiers. 2006 Nationals will follow the rules for dates. Meaning the usual dates which leaves Bakersfield with the only bid in for 2006. Straw poll taken to gauge interest in Okeeheelee in early Auagust, or Bakersfield on traditional date. Several abstentions, relatively even.
• Judges & Scorers – Dean Rudy – not present – last year there were clinics at winter meeting, NE judges clinic, and many upgrades
• Regional Guidebook – Leslie Carr – she will retire after this year. Need everything by 1/31/05. Jr. bios are in demand – she only has one. A description of each tournament class should be listed in front of the guidebook to classify it for the skier. Perhaps an electronic guidebook vs. the paper copy. Give membership the option to what they want.
• Regional Web Site – Darlene McCormick – not present. Doug said perhaps we could use the website for better/more use. The e-mail directory by all should be checked and updated. Maybe we could also be getting advertising for our site. Our domain registration will be good for another 7 years. Bealnet should be recognized as our host on the server since 1996.
• Regional Records – Dan Baumgart – not present
• Rules – Ken Crofton / Lee Mershon – not present
• By Laws – Gary Noll – report submitted – all bylaws have been updated and listed on www.awsaeast.org
• NSL – Ron Ramsey – is to provide the organizers to fun & rewarding experience – his club is paying their own insurance because it’s cheaper than AWSA. NSL has requirements that are followed: awards, hospitality person, give away, and announcer makes the difference. Create an awareness of the event. There is a 19 pg. booklet on-line to help you run this event www.usawaterski.org
• Skiers Rating – Gordon Gay – not present
• Technical – Dan Baumgart – not present – report submitted – 3 changes listed
• Nominating – Jean Giove – summer election – EVP (Doug Robbins) & National Director (Ed Nichols). Please contact Jean with any nominees you may have
• Drivers – Bill Swaffield – not present – a report was submitted – there were 5 drivers clinics in 2004 & many upgrades
• Towboat – Doug Robbins – the test took place in early October 2004 & his report was read
• Speed Control – Ralph Hall – was in conjunction with the towboat testing. The switch was not eliminated. Ralph read his report
• International Activities (IAC) – Ralph Hall / Jon Thacher – Team Trials in July, Can Am being brought back with juniors
• Junior Development – Kim Spear – not present - There will be a change in leadership. Mike Laurentano and Pat Byrne have volunteered to serve as co-chairs.
• Coaches – Tom Hinman – not present
• Competition Task Force – Steve Lohr – Provided verbal report on CTF direction. Solicited feedback from membership which was not in agreement with much of what was presented.
• Safety – Susan Andrews – report was submitted – insurance complaints and safety paperwork hasn’t been being submitted.
• Seeding – Jennifer Frederick-Kelly – NSL scores could be submitted to our web site or contact Darlene. In 2004 there were 54 “C” or higher tournaments – 43 scored w/WSTIMS & 11 scored manually.

8.       Other Old Business

• Jon Thacher made a motion and seconded by Steve Vincent that the council should legislate the maximum late fee amount to $25.00 for regional entry fees. The motion failed. Roger Hammel made a motion and seconded by Bill Baker to include in the regional bid & package a statement of late fee policy and amounts. The motion was passed.

9. New Business

• USAWS endorsed insurance – Indmar / Global Marine
• Nationals Date straw poll of membership results = 0 in favor of first week in August / 26 in favor of traditional date in mid August / 8 in favor of Labor Day weekend Nationals date.
• Eastern Region Web Site Poll Results – 6.45% in favor of first week in August date / 64.52% in favor of traditional date in mid-August / 29% in favor of Labor Day weekend.
• Overall Poll Results (including MW & Southern Region responses) = 13.9% in favor of first week in August date / 59.4% in favor of traditional date in mid August / 26.6% in favor of Labor Day weekend.

10. Regional Recommendations for AWSA BOD Meeting

• Selling tapes of Sr. judges clinic
• Skier Performance Rating Cards downloadable from USAWS web site
• Slalom switch to be eliminated from use in amateur competitions
• Senior judges to relieve ACJ’s at Nationals

11. Adjournment at 5:35 pm