Maryland Volkssports Assocation
Minutes of Meeting
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Rockville, Maryland

Officers Present: President, Ron Looper; Treasurer, Ken Wilson; Acting Secretary, Fran Looper.

Club Delegates: Jean Gibbs, Piedmont Pacers; Sue Kenyon, Baltimore Walking Club; Sandi Cahill, WDCAVC; Bob Schmick, Annapolis Amblers; Bill Guion, CBCW; Rich Long, CVC; Lynne Haffner, Freestate Happy Wanderers; Kevin Shaw, SVSVC; and Skip Coburn, Potomac River.

Committee Chairs: Jim Fons, Sanctions POC.

Guests: Reg Bessmer, Ed Branges, J. Ginther, Betty Davis and Lynn Towle; all of the Seneca Valley Sugarloafers Volksmarch Club.

Officers' Reports

• President, Ron Looper, called the meeting to order at 12:08 pm. He expressed a Thank You to Lynn and the Seneca Valley Sugar Loafers for arranging the Chicken Out Restaurant as today's meeting location. A quorum was acknowledged, and a sign up sheet of attendees passed around for signatures.
• Minutes: Approved as amended: Sanctions POC, In the first sentence it should be "Jim Fons and Bill Guion reported...", and at Future of the Sport, in the last sentence it should say Curt Myers rather than Jerry Cottrell.
• Treasurer's Report: Ken Wilson passed out many statements. They included Changes to the Proposed Budget for 2004, and Financial Statements for April (showing expenses for the Rediscover America Program), May (nothing exciting), June (no disbursements), and July (no disbursements). Copies of these statements will be on file with the minutes. Ken noted that the second quarter reports were almost all in on time. He thanked the clubs for their timely reporting.

Committee Reports

• Sanctions POC: Jim Fons first complimented the Treasurer on his great record keeping. He then spoke the praises of the electronic sanctioning system, with there being few problems so far this year with events or YRE/seasonals. Although most clubs have theirs in, he reminded everyone that all YRE/seasonal sanctions must be in by August 31, 2004, in order for the information to be included in the 2005 Starting Point. Any club needing assistance was reminded to click on the sanction instructions on the web and then print out a copy. An average of 18-20 minutes is all it takes to enter an event - even faster for those with more agile fingers. It was also noted that most information on any event entered into the system can always be edited at any time.
• By-laws: The by-laws will be reviewed after the elections, but Ron asked that clubs begin to look at the by-laws now to see if any changes are needed.
• Future of the Sport: Ron Bowers could not be present, but Ron Looper passed on that Ron Bowers had received from AVA a pile of statistics on participation. He will be going over them thoroughly and reporting to the MVA at a later date on his findings.

Old Business

• None

New Business

• MOTION: Bill Guion made the following motion: The MVA will not sanction any events by its member clubs between 18 and 26 June except events being sponsored in conjunction with the 2005 Convention. Along with this, the MVA encourage those clubs sponsoring events in conjunction with the 2005 Convention to donate as much as possible of their profits from such events to the Convention treasury. In support of this, the MVA will donate its 10 cents per paid participant to the Convention for those events." The motion was seconded, and after some discussion was passed unanimously.
• MOTION: A motion was made, and seconded, that MVA donate $500 to the Convention Committee as the MVA's 2004 donation. During discussions, a second motion was made to table the first motion until the next MVA meeting. Second motion passed, so first one is tabled.
• MOTION: A motion was made by Sandi Cahill, and seconded, to donate $50 in memory of Lamar Bower, the father of Ron Bowers. After some discussion, it was decided since both Ron and his father were so devoted to volkswalking that the money be given to the AVA, and that the amount be $100. The motion was accepted as amended.
• Nominating Committee: Ron Looper announced the formation of the Nominating Committee to seek a slate of officers for election in November or December 2004. Bill Guion will head the nominating committee, and Jim Fons has agreed to work with Bill on this committee. They need volunteers to run for the offices of President and Secretary. Diane Evans has said that she would be willing to continue as Vice President, but this needs to be confirmed by the nominating committee. Ken Wilson has agreed to rerun for Treasurer, and Jim Fons has agreed to continue as the Sanctions POC if agreeable to the new president.

Comments

• Club Reports: Club representatives advertised up-coming events.
• President's Comments:
  1. Reminder: the MVA President approves all brochures for events and YREs before they go to PRESS.
  2. If anyone has a logo for the new partner GNC, please include it on club brochures, but make it smaller than NEWBALANCE.
  3. CHECK POINT: Remember to do changes of address for club POCs on the AVA's official form 201U. Headquarters will not accept changes in any other way.
  4. Get your 501(C)(3) info into Headquarters.
  5. Each club received an AVA survey. Please return it to AVA by August 15th.
  6. Thank you for getting your After Action Reports in on time.
• The Convention 2005 has walks scheduled for all the days preceding the convention and after the convention by Atlantic Region clubs (i.e. from the weekend before thru the weekend after). Skip has a verbal approval from the DC parks to put on an evening "German-style torch" walk with lighted torches beginning from the Washington Monument ending at the WWII memorial.
• As Convention Committee Chair, Ron asked clubs to submit their award nominations from their clubs for the convention by November 1, 2004 to the awards committee.
• The next MVA meeting is TBD.
• Sandi Cahill expressed thanks from the "4 walking Cahills" for all the condolences sent on the passing of Nelson's Mother. It shows that volkswalkers are a true family.
• The meeting was adjourned at 1:36 pm.

Respectfully submitted by Fran Looper for:

28 Aug 2004