Spring 2008 Annual Great Lakes Curling Association, Board of Directors Meeting

Minutes- Approval Pending

Date: May 3, 2008
Time: 2:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
Location: SDS, Inc., 600 N. Cleveland Avenue, Westerville, OH 43082
 

Attendees: Roger Peckinpagh (Mayfield), Sandra Takata, Kerry Cholka (Great Smoky Mountains), John Zimmerman (Midland), Leroy Bliven, Ed Korpi, Paul Badgero (Detroit), Stu Cohen, Mark Friedman, Karen Hamilton (Columbus)

Via Phone: Mike Graves (Midland), Bruce Listerman (Cleveland Skating Club), Donna (Cleveland Skating Club), Scott Piroth (Bowling Green), Gord Maclean (Copper Country)

Absent: Lewiston, Delta, Glacier Point, Circle City,

1. Call to order: Quorum – 50%? [In person; on conference call; by proxy]
2. Minutes of Previous Meeting: September 28, 2007, Bowling Green
• Secretary Sandra Takata
• Motion to approve: Bruce Listerman
• 2nd:  Paul Badger
• Carried: unanimous
3. Treasurer’s Report: Jon Zimmerman
• 799 members
• Not heard from Circle City or Copper Country (sent reminders)
• $ to Club National teams, patches, advertising
• $8,281.82 total available money
• Motion to approve: Bruce Listerman
• 2nd:  Sandra Takata
• Carried: unanimous
4. U.S.C.A. Update: Badgero/Moore
• Chris Moore is new USCA president
• Members Meeting – reps based on dues paid as of Jan 31. GLCA and member clubs will need to make sure that 300 members are paid to get 1 director, 600 – 2 directors, 1000 - 3 directors. Less than 300 members there is 1 director set for at-large clubs aggregate.
  We are currently at 837 members.
• Partial payments and updates for Curling News prior to Jan 31
• Note – 2010 there will be a re-allocation of directors.
• VPs – Jim Pleasants (Championships), Chris Shue (Membership Services) Walt Erbach (Competitive Programmes), Kent Beadle (Operations and Marketing)
• Needs new revenues. Dues going up $2/member
• WCF – 1st year of mixed doubles- Went Well,
• IOC – youth winter Olympics – 2012 – Curling will be part of this (kids 14-18 y)
• rules changes mostly cosmetic. Others:
• Stick – release point- tried to get hogline –USCA- will release at hogline for 1 year.
• WCF – maintained release at T-line
• Midland CC- Looked to WCF for building funding help – rejected
• WCF – helps fund new clubs through national associations – can subsidize new facility e.g. Potomac CC. At the moment funds are dedicated and $ available are going towards upcoming countries
• Championships for 2009 on website – Will also be our Olympic Trials. Denver Feb 21-28 2009.
• Members services – Instruction coordination and Ice Making – July 16-17 in Bismark ND. 
• Membership growth is in arena clubs.
• Copper Country is returning 1 set of WCF stones.
5. New Business
• Adoption of new By-Laws
• Section 10: Clarified by Roger
• Section 3: not changed – clarification of not-for-profit vs non-profit
• Section 5: point 2 (not changed) – Do we have variation from USCA rules? Decision to leave it.
• Section 5: point 8 (not changed) – How do you make all clubs to document all members?
• Section 21: Need ability to review decisions of executive committee.
• Discussion on the definition of “member”. Do we include social members?
• Section 20: Further revision - Additional executive member elected by the board of directors as needed.
• Motion: Paul Badgero
• 2nd: Sandra Takata
• Carried: unanimous
• Motion to accept revisions of Bylaws: Bruce Listerman
• 2nd: Gordon Maclean
• Carried Unanimous
• Motion to elect Gordon as member of executive: Paul Badgero
• 2nd: Ed Korpi
• Carried: unanimous
• Training Coordinator – volunteer?
• Idea is to get standard training throughout USCA clubs.
• Looking for 1 rep for each region
• Serve as a liaison with USCA and clubs regarding training, clinics within their region
• Volunteer – Scott Piroth – will go to USCA meeting in July.
• Motion to approve: John Zimmerman
• 2nd:  Paul Badgero
• Carried: Unanimous
• Discussion - Junior National Playdowns
• Sept 30 is last date to ask for waiver for playdown dates (must be done year to year).
• This year Circle City could not send teams men’s or women’s rinks at end of December.  There were objections however, there were waiver approvals. Columbus and Circle City women’s rinks played down. Neither rink could field a rink for the Nationals. Stu apologized for Columbus. Stu suggests all clubs have Jr Coordinators to avoid this. Set up a Jr internal sign-up form or pledge specific to GLCA to get commitments. Be aware that the option of a waiver is available for regional playdowns.
• Discussion - Host Club Rotation Schedule – Bowling Green
• Mixed 2 rinks this year
• Men’s 5 rinks
• Women’s 1 rink
• Bowling Green pays ice time and that they did not realize how much ice time was going to be needed since they had to reserve for double round robin, tie-breakers etc and therefore how much money it would run.  They have requested to be taken out of the rotation.
• 2009 Playdowns
• Mens & Womens - Midland
• Mixed - Mayfield
• Jrs – Location to be set in Sept meeting (Jr fixed optional date – mid Dec)
• Revision of stipend for Playdown Host Clubs
• John – will have a proposal once patch supplier is set
• Mayfield CC – requested host club stipend of greater than $400.  GLCA could not confirmed amount
• Removal – Nashville
• Motion to remove Nashville from GLCA: Paul Badgero
• 2nd: :Sandra Takata
• Carried: Unanimous
• Sandra – will send letter to USCA
• Stones – how many and where are the ones from Nashville
• Get updates on each club’s stones
• Membership Additions/deletions
• Clubs reps will update Roger and Sandra
• Waiting dues payment from Circle City
• John’s update:
• Glacier Point – Port Huron – waiting on application
• Kalamazoo – waiting on application
• Will do a special conference call to vote on applications when received
• Update GLCA Logo - any thought yet?
• John showed updated logo.
• Website Content – Gord will upload forms, bylaws etc
• message board is set up.
• Scott will talk to Mike McKay to shut down his site
• Post pending minutes
• Playdown results and rotations
• Spiel results
• J. Paul – Compete-at is sending dvds for timing for playdowns. All you need is a laptop and a monitor for athletes. Encouraging clubs to have their own clocks
• GLCA is lacking in certified officials. Paul will coordinate official training and tracking.
6. Old Business
• Review of USCA rules for stick play – see USCA update
7. Club Commentary/Calendar
• John Zimmerman- Midland
• Ground breaking last Wed. at Midland community Centre
• Made $1.4 million in donations
• Lewiston – not present
• Good spiel this year
• Gordon Maclean- Copper Country
• Best year ever for membership
• Good 2nd year bonspiel
• Upgrading facilities includes plant, roof
• Delta – not present
• Glacier Point – not present
• June13-15 spiel
• Sandra Takata– GSMCC
• 45 members this year
• Rocky Top Spiel is filled up 2 weeks after invitations went out.
• Thanks to many rinks from the GLCA
• Holiday on Ice – outdoor curling in historic Market Square 6 Saturday mornings from Thanksgiving to January. Generated a lot of interest through public curling, TV live broadcasts, radio, webcasts and newspaper
• Scott Piroth– Bowling Green
• Good Early Spiel
• Had problems with dehumidifier – cancelled women’s spiel as a result
• Do not see building a new rink
• Leroy Blevins– Detroit
• Strong membership
• Lots of rentals – conferences
• Spiels –full for all spiels
• Mixed Nationals- had a good time, successful, stands were full
• Indianapolis Circle City– not present
• Donna – Skating Club
• New curling only membership 1 year
• Spiels went well
• Roger Peckinpaugh- Mayfield 
• Largest numbers
• 180 members
• Club demographics – younger
• Stu Cohen– Columbus
• 4th year on arena ice
• New space to be opened late Oct – early November
• warehouse space – 2 sheets to expand to 4
• 120 members – goal is 160
• Expect to do bonspiels next year
• GLCA directors visited the site.
8. Next Meeting
• Fall ‘08- Friday, September 26, 2008, 7:00 p.m. - Bowling Green, OH
• Spring ‘09 - Midland, MI
• Spring ‘10 - Knoxville, TN
• Spring ‘11 - Detroit, MI
• Spring ‘12 - Mackinaw City, MI
9. Adjourn Meeting 5:15