USA Track & Field New England

Weston Hotel, Waltham, MA

Annual Meeting Minutes

September 22, 2013

Present:  See sign in sheet attached

President Tom Derderian opened the meeting at 4:05 PM

Vice President John Oleski made a presentation of the 2012-2013 Athletes of the Month

President’s Comments:

President Tom Derderian opened the business portion of the meeting by introducing the current board members that were in attendance.

Tom then went on to make a few brief points, including his thoughts on putting the focus back on competition. Two key questions were ‘How do we get the message across about which race is The One?’ and ‘Which one is the big deal?’ If we want to foster competition, we need to alter the image in the mind of the public. The current business model in place (for races) seems to be backwards.

Tom expressed the need for good committees staffed with good volunteers. There is a lot competition for those volunteers and we need to do a better job of engaging them.

Vice President’s Report

Current vice president Victoria Barnaby introduced Jenny Gardynski and talked about Jenny’s social media role with the association. Jenny was hired recently as an independent contractor to help communications and social media. Jenny also spoke and said that she’s looked at everything being done and what could be done to improve. There has been an increase in blogging and outreach. She has identified events people should be looking out for, spotlight on what members are doing.

Treasurer’s Report

Stephen Peckiconis presented his report, of which copies were made available prior to the meeting. Net assets for association: $465,000, compared to $460,000 last year. Last year there were two special items: $100,000 invested in the market: 50% in an s&p fund, 50% in a total market fund. Investment was up to $108,000 at end of august, and $113,000 as of end of day on Friday. There was also a couple of larger donations made in the year: two $5,000 donations were made, one to the One Fund and the other to the Richard Family Fund. Both are listed under grants.

-           The regular grant program is to be increased to $5,000 per year in the coming year.

-           The association spent about $5,000 to send 16 delegates to the annual meeting.

-           Main source of income is race sanctions. Membership dues are the other big piece. Half of adult membership fee (close to $50,000) comes to us ($15 per membership). Number of sanctions is up 6%, up to over 650 for this year and it’s a recurring revenue stream. Number keeps rolling higher and could potentially be more so than membership.

There was no cross country (Mayor’s Cup) last year, which decreased our income. Cross country is returning this fall, and that combined with the masters indoor national championship at Reggie Lewis in March, both should be big boosts to our balance sheet.

There is currently $352,000 in the bank, which was drawn down a bit by the stock market investment. It is not earning much there, which was a main reason for the move. It is good to keep some cash liquid while investing some for long term.

Stephen stated: “I think we need to invest in further staff, part or another full time, we have the funds and can get better service. If we have a bigger staff then theoretically we can grow even further.”

Managing Director’s Report

Steve Vaitones spoke about how the association has continuously achieved high standards. The New England association is not at the top rung because we’re not hitting the ‘members per 100k residents’ standard.

The office is a resource for the entire sport. Calls and emails from around the country from people looking to put on events, including from other associations. A lot of other associations don’t have any full time dedicated staff.

There are a lot of events that have no interest in being more competitive, but they’re still growing and we benefit from this because the increased participation means a bigger sanction fee.

Along the lines of what Tom had said in his remarks, the Board needs to be more hands on due to difficulty in getting volunteers.

Steve had been invited to a meeting for a larger club in the association, and was surprised at how little people he know from the group. Among the topics discussed was the Grand Prix Series, and half the people there (approximately 16) didn’t know what the either the USATF or the Grand Prix series was and had a total disconnect from their club’s racing participation.

Online membership seems to be working. Membership numbers are now going to be permanent and will be good for 12 months (no matter when you sign up). The numbers will no longer be based on a calendar year. The online sanction process isn’t as clear of a success story. The smaller associations seem to be on board with it, but Steve thinks bigger associations such as ours still will need to have a large human element to it.

Masters Track & Field

Mike Travers spoke to the assembled members and gave an update on upcoming events. Two important indoor events coming up: On the last Sunday in January the association will be hosting the east region championships for the fourth consecutive time at Classical High School in Providence, RI. The meet usually brings in about $12,000 or so in profit. Six weeks later, the national championships will be held in Boston. The goal is to make $15,000 for that one. Looking to past years, the association made $23,000 and $20,000 in 2008 and 2010, respectively.

There were over 865 entries in 2010, which is a meet record. Looking for 900 entrants this year, and also looking for volunteers.

Vice President

Jim Garcia then addressed the gathered members. Jim’s been on the board for 18 years, and has held a vice president position for the last six. Jim talked about the recent push for committees; the bylaws allow for it and they are needed to help take some of the load off of the chairmen. It’s a good way to be groomed for a chair position down the road. Jim also mentioned:

-           There had never really been a formalized process for grants until about five years ago, as they were primarily for people going to world or national championships. Lately there’s been an increase in requests, but still need clubs to compete in our own series.

-           If you have any input for any Long Distance Running (LDR) matter, especially the upcoming Grand Prix race selection process, please speak up so that your ideas can be considered.

-           Surprisingly, 42% of our members are youth. There is a lot of revenue coming from youth and sanctions that is being spent on cross country and LDR.

Long Distance Running

Lisa Doucett mentioned the Grand Prix selection process. There is a meeting to be held after the annual meeting and she hoped to see increased turnout to help with the process.

Tom closed out the opening remarks by pointing out that the out going track & field chair (Yvonne Green) had started a performance list online for track & field, and that there were two past presidents in attendance: Paul Schell and Steve Viegas.

Old Business:  Tom called for old business and there was none.

New Business: 

The first order of new business was the association elections.

Proposed By-Law Change

That the following language be added to Article 10 of the By-Laws of USATF New England, Inc.

The Board of Governors, Sports, Administrative and Special Committees are authorized to meet by telephone conference or through other electronic communications media so long as the members may simultaneously hear each other and participate during the meeting. The Board of Governors may promulgate such additional rules, consistent with these By-Laws and Roberts Rules of Order, as may be necessary or desirable for the efficient conduct of said meetings.

Proposal to accept amendment as presented, seconded. Amendment accepted by acclamation from a motion from the membership.

Sports Chairs (1 year term): all chair candidates were unopposed. They were nominated and seconded by the membership and elected by acclamation from a motion from the membership.

Men’s LDR - Brennan Bonner (GBTC)

Women’s LDR - Larissa Park (SRR)

Masters’ LDR - Lisa Doucett (CSU)

Open T&F - Allison Wade (unattached)

Masters’ T&F - Mike Travers (MassVelocity)

XC - Jason Cakouros (HFC)

Mtn/Ultra/Trail Running - Paul Kirsch (White Mtn Milers)

Racewalking - Justin Kuo (NEW)

Youth Athletics - Alex Ivanov (Nitehawks Sports Club)

Athlete Representatives

The following candidates were nominated and seconded for the three athlete rep positions (along with vote count):

Jason Ayr (WMDP) – 36

Amanda Wright (SISU) – 31

Eric Ashe (BAA) – 31

Kevin Gleason (Twilight Throwers) – 30

Jason Ayr, Amanda Wright and Eric Ashe elected as athlete reps.

National Convention/Annual Meeting Delegates

The following candidates were nominated and seconded. The list also includes vote counts and percentage of ballots that a candidate appeared on.

The voting took place at the meeting but wasn’t counted until the next day. The New England Association can send up to 16 delegates, but must have the required number of coaches and athletes included in that number. The top 16 vote getters here, which includes Tom Derderian (37 votes) down through Carla Coffee/David Kerin/Gary Snyder (22 votes), meet the requirement for numbers of coaches and athletes. Eric Narcisi, Amanda Wright and Eric Ashe were unable to attend the meeting so the association only ended up sending 15 delegates. See attached sheet for list of candidates and voting results.

The meeting adjourned after the ballots were collected and it was determined that there was no more business to discuss.

The meeting adjourned at 7:29 pm (attendance list on the following pages).

Respectfully submitted,             

Eric Narcisi

National Convention Delegates - Voting results