Minutes for the Annual Meeting of July 6, 2017

Board Members:

Sylvia Ortega (Co-President), Martha Corneck (Co-President), Kerry Steele-Rubin (Co-Treasurer), John Belpedio (Co-Treasurer), Lorraine Kennedy (Ex officio), Tracy Keblish (Co Officials Coordinator), John Wang (Co Officials Coordinator), Adrienne Williams (Escrow Manager), Trish Begg (Senior Parent Rep), Lori Blessey (AG Rep) and Ellen Johnston (Head Coach).

Also Attending:

Scott Van Kuilenburg

A quorum was achieved and the meeting was called to order. Martha Corneck and acted as Secretary and prepared the minutes.

Minutes:

Sylvia Ortega called the meeting to order. Members present reviewed the minutes from June 10, 2017 meeting. Martha Corneck motioned to approve the minutes as stated. Lorraine Kennedy seconded the motion.

RESOLVED that the minutes from the June 10, 2017 meeting, as presented to the Committee, were approved.

Coaches Report

Head Coach Ellen Johnston presented her monthly report by beginning with the Phillips 66 National meet she had just returned from and the great results. The YMCA will be sponsoring its second annual Town meet. The Short Course meet bids were announced: October 8th for the 8/under meet, November 11/12th for the Freestyle Frenzy, and the Pentathlon will be held January 20/21st. The Parents Club had committed to send coaches to the World ASCA Clinic in DC; however, the date is not good for many so only Coach Scott will attend. Many of the other coaches will attend the New Jersey Eastern States Clinic, which also has an agenda of more Age Group focused break out groups. Ms. Johnston also discussed the current plans for sound paneling to be included in the pool area to make the space more pleasant for people on deck as well as on the Observation Deck. Finally, Ms. Johnston discussed the Bill Krumm Memorial that the YMCA and PC will host on Tuesday July 11, 2017. Along with the many people traveling to town for the event and the many speeches scheduled, the Memorial Committee will present a plague that will be hung above the Swim Office.

Coach Scott Van Kuilenburg presented his findings on upgrading the starting blocks for the 10 lane pool. Mr. Van Kuilenburg discussed the parameters for the upgrade which included drilling into the deck which is not going to happen, powder coating or polished chrome, incorporating the Team and Y logo, the current pad/information system will still work and the backstroke device. Mr. VanKuilenburg was able to achieve the cheapest quote from the local vendor, Connecticut Custom Aquatics in New Haven. There are many advantages to this upgrade which include that the newer pools all use these types of blocks so we want our swimmers comfortable with them and there has been research that swimmers tend to have faster times using the heel lift system.    Also, the backstroke ledge is adjustable for the size of swimmers from a young age grouper to an 18yr old Senior.   A general discussion ensued. Sylvia Ortega made the motion to approve the expenditure for the new starting blocks with backstroke ledges. Lorraine Kennedy seconded the motion and all in favor.

RESOLVED the expenditure for the new starting blocks with backstroke ledges, as presented to the Committee, was approved.

Meet Manager’s Report

The Meet Manager, Huong Belpedio, was unavailable but Sylvia Ortega there was nothing to report as the home meets are completed for the year. An inventory of the closet will be taken soon.

Officials Report

John Wang presented the Officials Report.

WRAT officials can always be counted on to volunteer at home and away meets. Our officials provide a professional and necessary service to assure that all swimmers have the best possible experience at a swim meet.

PET- WRAT Report

Candace was unable to attend the meeting but added in a report that there were no new updates. A few families have some points to fulfill and they were alerted as such for the upcoming Long Course Championships.

USA Swimming Manager’s Report

Adrienne Williams discussed the accounts stating that a few have debit balances but that will correct it once credit cards are updated as they were billed during the beginning of the month process but many were rejected until new credit cards are updated. Mrs. Williams stated there are no escrow account issues and all Meets have been billed. The size of the team is currently 214 swimmers and 180 families.

Treasurer’s Report

John Belpedio and Kerry Steele- Rubin discuss the state of the club. John presented the financials and stated that the Parents’ Club is very close to its budget targets. Mr. Belpedio stated that they are now in the process of wrapping up the fiscal year with a strong savings and bright future ahead.

Parent Rep reports

The practice groups were involved in many philanthropic and social activities. The reps would like to see many of these activities repeated next year and suggest that calendar dates are chosen early as the swim calendar fills up.

Co-President’s Report

Martha Corneck first presented the current comments she has of the review of the By-laws.   A general discussion ensued. None of the updates are material in nature and Ms. Corneck stated she will circulate the red line copy to all members for their complete review and she will request an email vote to adopt the updated By-laws. Sylvia Ortega presented the Annual Meeting recap.   The Planning and Evaluation Meeting focused on two fundamental issues: Volunteer Development and Officials Development. A brief summary of the recommendations and actions was discussed to become active next year.

Tracy Keblish moved to adjourn meeting, and Sylvia Ortega seconded, all voted in favor. The next meeting is slated September 7, 2017.

Respectfully submitted
Martha Corneck
Co-President
Water Rats Parents’ Club