Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at about 7PM, and was held on the site under the large tent. Approximately 60 persons attended, including council members and National Directors.
Treasurer's Report - In interests of time, Marie Baker gave the Treasurer's report first, so she could complete scoring duties from the tournament. Motion made to accept Treasurer's report as read was made by Ralph Hall, seconded by Dave Robbins. Passed.
Roll Call -
Minutes of Last Meeting - There were no "minutes" from last meeting, because the Winter 95-96 Meeting was snowed out by "Blizzard of 96" snowstorm. Paul Allebach moved and Bob Burtch seconded to accept the written votes detailed in the EVP's 3 mailings to council, which contained following voting results: on budget; junior development & funding; 1996 regionals site award to Avon Old Farms; 1997 regionals site award to Twin Lakes; selection of officials and drivers for Regionals and Nationals tournaments; decision to stress use but not make WSTIMS use mandatory; and to allow reimbursement of $250@ for assistant safety director and assistant tech controller.
EVP report -
Roger Hammel thanked
Judging & officials - Roger reported that we have made progress, and have upgraded several persons to Regular judge, two to Senior judges, and several to scorer positions. We have made progress in eliminating red tape for EP/Open skiers to become an assistant judge.
Jr. Development - We have provided a generous $4000 for Jr. Development clinics in 1996. We expect to have clinics resulting in nearly 200 skier-days of Eastern Region funded clinic training at a half dozen clinics. In addition, the USOC provided funds to sponsor 3 clinics for young female competitors in 1996, similar to the USOC Young Female clinics held in 1995.
1996 Tournaments - We have scheduled 74 tournaments, with 6 "F" type Fun tournaments introducing competition to many skiers. Paperwork for these sanctions was completed in a timely fashion for the most part. Not 100%, but we are improving.
Future Regionals are in good shape - with 1997 Regionals being awarded to Twin Lakes. There will be at least one bid for 1998, from Timberlake in Virginia. (Bid was submitted at meeting's end. Any other club desiring to bid is urged to submit its bid ASAP to Roger Hammel or Regional Tournament committee head Doug Robbins in Pa. Bid will be awarded at 1996-97 Winter Meeting.)
Mechanized scoring - Scorers and Tournament sponsors are making increased use of WSTIMS and mechanized scoring, which is a big help to the Seeding Committee representative, Nancy DeJesus.
Problem areas -
Officials shortage - Roger reported that we are desperately short of Tech controllers (and encouraged volunteers to come forward), we have some shortages of new regular scorers and new regular judges, and in selected areas regular drivers are in short supply.
Membership - This is one of our biggest long term problems, with a declining membership base and significant turnover - about 25% annually. Roger noted that our competitive skier base is shrinking, remaining competitors are getting older, and few new Men & Women 1 &2 skiers are joining the sport in our region. Private lakes have boosted our performances, but have cut off a supply of new skiers since many competitors have left public water. Roger asked for volunteers for the membership committee, to address this problem in the East. (To date, we have had two volunteers for a membership committee, neither of those volunteering to Chair it.)
EVP position - Roger volunteered to run for EVP for 1996-97, but indicated he will not run after that. He indicated that he would like to break the job into 3 manageable positions: Tournament Sanctioning Czar, Newsletter and communications Czar, and the EVP. The governing limitation are volunteers. To date, only one person has inquired about the Tournament sanctioning position, and no one about Communications/newsletter position. If the EVP load is not split, finding a candidate(s) next year will be even more difficult.
WATERSKI NEWS
August 2, 1996
Summer Meeting Report
The "Pond" - Avon, CT.
Directors Present - Bill Baker, Rick Norford, Paul Allebach, and Roger Hammel (EVP)
Council Members present -
Maine - Bob Letourneau Vermont - Mark Dingman
Mass. David Allen & Howie Emerson Conn. - Ken Jones
New York - Bob Burtch & Alan Frederick
New Jersey - Jim Meis Pa. Barry Sangrey
Virginia - Ralph Hall & Steve Lohr Del. - Ed Nichols
Council Members absent -
New Hampshire - Alan Rossi Pa. Doug Robbins
W. Va. - Jerry Swoyer Md. Bob Morris
Snowed out Winter meetings. Hope 1996-97 will not suffer similar fate.
Eastern Region Committees
Roger announced the following changes in our committees: Rules Committee - Roger Hammel will be replaced by Ralph Hall of Va.; Doug Robbins of Pa. will head the Regionals Site Committee; Nancy DeJesus is stepping down from seeding committee at years end and will be replaced by Jennifer Frederick; Bud Raley wishes to step down from Membership - to date no one has volunteered for the committee to replace Bud; Jerry Stansberry will replace Jean Meduski on the Regional awards committee.
Subsequent to the summer meeting, Jerry Stansberry asked to step down from IAC committee. She will be replaced by Bill Baker, who will step down from Judges & Scorers committee. Bob Burtch will replace Bill Baker on this committee.
Committee Reports -
Jim Meis gave technical committee report. He solicited input regarding the new heavier and higher strength towropes, (sometimes referred to as the 80 strand lines).
Jim Meis also submitted a report on an Eastern Region Website for the Internet. Jim stated that we could use the website for timely communication of upcoming events, schedule changes, tournament results, and in general supplement the newsletter.
Charlie Owen submitted the Junior Development committee report. In it, we learned that at least 64 Eastern Region Junior skiers attended clinics this summer, but the figure could go higher as not all clinics had yet reported.
Bill Baker reported that the Judges & scorers committee had streamlined the process whereby an EP or Open rated skier could automatically receive an Assistant Judges rating.
Safety committee report by Glenn Jackson was available for inspection. No oral report was given.
No report from Drivers and Rules committee.
Steve Lohr gave the Skiers Rating committee report. Revised performance levels effective after nationals are the result of statistical analysis, with the goal to better equalize % of skiers across each division who can attain each rating. Steve also asked for input on a survey to assess concept of changing age divisions to better equalize performances throughout the entire division, The goal is to spark discussion and solicit creative ideas.
Paul Allebach gave the E&F committee report - He emphasized the HQ financial status is tied directly to membership. E&F is dealing with issues for the 1996 Nationals site and expects no significant problems.
Roger Hammel gave the Steering Committee report where he stated that the AWSA reorganization has been approved by a large majority of AWSA members. Eastern Region Directors and EVP have worked hard to assure the best organization for traditional 3 event AWSA and all skiers.
USAWS will be an umbrella organization with AWSA traditional 3 event skiing a Sports Division under USAWS, He hopes that the reorganization is transparent to the average competitor, but will allow leaders to focus on Traditional 3 event issues at the Board level. Roger indicated the need to appoint a USAWS board level position from the East.
Old Business - None
New Business -
Motion made and seconded to reimburse Avon Old Farms for out of pocket costs for food and beverage for the summer meeting, up to $300. Passed.
Roger noted that the Eastern Region by-laws must be amended to accommodate the reorganization. He will work with John Buck to accomplish this. Currently, we have no by-laws to call for a position of USAWS Director from the East. Roger stated that all of the AWSA directors are qualified for the USAWS position, and that the membership should elect one of them to USAWS.
Ralph Hall moved and Jerry Stansberry seconded to have Roger Hammel appoint the USAWS Director from the East for the first year, until transition details are firmed up and the Eastern Region by-laws can be changed. Passed. (Subsequent to the meeting and after caucusing with all three directors, Roger appointed Rick Norford to the position.)
Eric Ekloff moved and Sean Florien seconded that the East establish a website, and that we spend up to $250 to lock in our "domain name" for the website. Passed. Jim Meis will arrange for the domain name AWSAEAST.org and establish the website initially in an inexpensive way. After it is established, we can move to a stand alone web page on a separate server.
Comments, Suggestions, Proposals from Membership
Tanya Maurer of Coventry Lake in CT gave a report on problems she and 2 other clubs are having with CT. officials in securing 3 slalom course permits on 3 separate public lakes. Several suggestions came from the membership, and anyone with specific experience in this area is requested to volunteer to help out the CT. skiers plight. RSH will bring the matter to John Wagner's (Waterways Committee rep from Eastern Region) attention, and will also bring the issue up to HQ - Don Cullimore. The CT. federation also stepped up to assist Tanya and skiers from other lakes seeking slalom course permits. All in attendance viewed this as a serious problem, that in other instances has had mixed win/lost results. From a membership and public relations standpoint, we can't afford to be legislated off the public waterways.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned as darkness fell.