MARYLAND VOLKSSPORT ASSOCIATION
Minutes of Meeting
1 November 2003
Clinton, Maryland

OFFICERS PRESENT: President, Ron Looper; Secretary, Dennis Lynch; Treasurer, Ken Wilson

CLUB DELEGATES PRESENT: Bill Guion, CBCW; Bill Simmons, Baltimore; Sandi Cahill, WDCAVC; John Corolus, Annapolis; Sandra Lynch, Worldwide Volkssport and Diamond State; Lynne Haffner, Freestate; Rich Long, Columbia

GUESTS: Nancy Stenger, Past-President AVA

COMMITTEE CHAIRS: Phill Wilder

OFFICER'S REPORTS

• A quorum was present. The President proposed the following changes to last meetings's minutes regarding the Walk Maryland program revival: strike "and carried"; add "The motion was tabled, and club representatives were requested to take the idea to their club meetings for discussion there. The club reps would then bring club inputs on the idea to the next MVA meeting"; add: "There was a discussion of a Freestate Happy Wanderers club proposal that the MVA adapt or support a proposal that walkers under the age of 12 years would not be charged a fee for credit stamps. They would receive stamps in log books, and the club sponsoring that walk would pay the associated AVA and MVA fees. The club reps were asked to take this proposal to club meetings, and then bring club comments to the next MVA meeting".

  There were no objections to the changes and the minutes were accepted as changed.

• Treasurer's report: Ken Wilson circulated financial statements for Aug, Sept, and Oct, 2003. These were approved as reported.

COMMITTEES

• Rich Long presented the Audit of MVA Financial Records for 2001 and 2002, "no financial discrepancies were noted". President Looper thanked the audit committee for a job well done.
• Sanctions POC: Jim Fons reported that the electronic sanctioning is working very well. Changes done online must be reported to Debbie. March 1 is the deadline for sanctioning seasonal YRE's. Jim presented statistics on MVA sanctioned events:

  2003-- 46 sanctioned events versus 60 events in 2002

  2003-- 64 YRE events and 2004-- 59 YRE's

OLD BUSINESS

• There was a discussion about last meeting's proposal to not charge walkers under 12 years of age. The club would have to pay the AVA and MVA fee. The consensus was that the clubs can do this on their own, however not with YRE's--that would have to be an AVA decision.

NEW BUSINESS

• Phill Wilder made a presentation about the work he and John Carolus and Jim Fons have done on Walk Maryland. The motion he presented (in a flyer) reads "That the MVA and member clubs promote walking in Maryland by providing sanctioned events in the 23 counties and Baltimore City March 2004-Dec. 2006. To facilitate this endeavor the MVA hereby launches the 'Rediscover Maryland Walking Program' ". The objectives of the program and how it would be conducted were extensively discussed. Here are the highlites: There would be new books issued with credit for counties walked which had been entered in the old Walk Maryland books. A T-shirt would be available at the start of the program. All counties would be available to walk each year of the program.
  
  The motion was carried unanimously. Phill will form a committee and report back to the MVA. Clubs will be asked to provide a point-of- contact for the program; clubs will be asked to list on their brochures the county their event is located in; clubs will be asked to sanction walks in the hard-to-get counties; MVA will pay for expenses. Bill Guion has offered to help put all this on a web page.
  
  
• The Columbia club's Rich Long made a Motion: "That the MVA contribute $500 to the 2005 Convention Committee". This motion was passed.

Comments

• Club reports were given.
• Convention 2005--next meeting in Dec. in Williamsburg, VA
• A Reminder from the President: MVA has an emergency stamp which can be used if your stamp does not arrive in time for an event.
• Club officer updates are due by Nov 15. If MVA doesn't get them the web page will not be updated.
• The next MVA meeting is not yet scheduled, but it will be in 2004 (Happy New Year!). All clubs will be notified by the Secretary.
• "Walking is the best exercise"--Anonymous

11/8/03