Spring Meeting Minutes posted… Fall Meeting September 26

Sorry, I don’t know why these were not posted earlier, but here are the minutes from the April meeting:

New York State Ski Racing Association – Nordic, Inc. SPRING MEETING MINUTES SUNY Institute of Technology, Utica Sunday, April 25, 2010

I. Remarks: President Jim Kobak called the meeting to order at 12:35 PM. He welcomed everyone in attendance and asked for a recognition of officers, clubs represented and the individuals (noted by asterisk *) who will vote on business matters today.

II. Attendance: Officers: President — Jim Kobak; First Vice President/ Secretary for a Day – *Darwin Roosa; Second Vice President – *David Kvam

Clubs: HURT – *Tim Huneck, David Kvam; Lake Placid Biathlon – *Rick Costanza, Patrick Gallagher; NYSEF – *Margaret Maher, Polar Bear – *Carl Klossner; Peru Nordic – *Jim Kobak; Saratoga Biathlon – *Tom Moffett, Sean Halligan; WFRA – *Jamie Wilson, Russ Myer; NY Biathlon – *Russ Myer

III. Minutes of September 27, 2009: Approved as e-distributed and posted on the website on a motion by Carl Klossner, seconded by Russ Myer, carried unanimously.

IV. Treasurer’s Report: Lee Mahood, unable to attend the meeting, sent his report to Jim Kobak as follows: $8,500 (General Fund) and $4,500 (Youth Development). Five $200 grants were awarded to clubs in 2009-2010.

V. Committee Reports

a. Empire State Games – No representative was present from the ESG office. No report was presented other than Jim Kobak pointing out that the 2011 ESG Winter Games are scheduled for February 25-26-27.

b. Competition Committees:

Biathlon – Carl Klossner reported items addressed by the committee during the morning meeting included discussion on appropriate ways to update draft committee operating procedures (previously draft by-laws), the purchase of biathlon relay bibs, and work on a preliminary biathlon race schedule for 2010-2011. This draft schedule is posted on the www.NYbiathlon.org

Cross Country – Dave Kvam convened the morning’s committee meeting for Larry Wilkinson. Dave reported that for Empire State Winter Games action was taken to add M8 and M9 age divisions and break out the J3 and J4 divisions. They discussed issues raised by email criticism about the NYSSRA Nordic Championships. The role of TD and host clubs was reaffirmed for adhering to race procedure guidelines. The committee will work with SkiReg.com for a “0 $ paid” option for race registrations and adding NENSA age group drop-down menus. Sean Halligan suggested that a drop-down of masters age groups would be helpful. Roles were stated for the Mid-Atlantic Junior Committee to become a committee of NYSSRA Nordic. WFRA’s preliminary bid to host the 2011 NYSSRA Nordic Championships will be on hold from further consideration until pending litigation is resolved.

Ski-O – Eric Hamilton’s report was read by Jim Kobak and summarized as follows: Of the dozen E S G qualifiers scheduled last season only seven were held due to marginal snow conditions. There were several (too many) disqualifications at the E S G Finals all to do with the old ‘one way’ trail issue at Mt VanHoevenburg. In the future the course setter’s notes and the pre-race briefing when using the Mt VanHoevenburg map will include the points in the attached by Ellie George. The NYSSRA Championship Ski O on Friday of the NYSSRA Champ weekend didn’t work out. With much improved weather and snow conditions on March 6 the Championship was held with a small field participating. The committee recommends that NYSSRA – Nordic accept the request by the Empire Orienteering Club

for a $500 grant to help with the map of Moreau State Park in northern Saratoga County. This map will provide two areas that will be used for E S G Ski O qualifiers.

A new Ski Orienteering Chairman is being pursued.

BKYSL – Eric Hamilton’s report was read and summarized. There were 136 NYSSRA – Nordic members under the age of 14, down from previous years. Waiving the fee for a first year BKYSL “hooks” youth and their families into membership, yet adds minimal “exposure” to our organization. I recommend that this continue. The Southern Adirondack BKYSL clubs lead by Shenendehowa Nordic Club enjoyed hosting the 2010 Mid Atlantic Bill Koch Festival. The weekend came off flawlessly, despite the rainy, miserable weather. Some 67 youth and their families participated. Financially , we came out about even leaving a start up balance for the next Festival that wants to use this corporate structure. The guideline for hosting the Festival which we established a year ago served the organization well.

Next year’s Festival will be hosted by the Sunnycrest BKYSL club at Highland Forest the weekend of February 19 and 20, 2011, the weekend before Empire State Games. The new web site has been helpful for retrieving information and keeping a schedule. The supply of BKYSL award ribbons that NYSSRA provides to local clubs is well stocked and should last us into next year’s ski season.

Mid-A Junior – Margaret Maher reported that Mid-Atlantic that the by-laws would be dissolved and become Competition Rules if NYSSRA Nordic accepted Mid-Atlantic as a part of the organization.

c. Racer Camps – junior, senior, masters – no report [?]

VI. Other Committees:

a.Fundraising – Will put a notice on the website calling for a person to volunteer for fundraising.

b.Public Relations & Publications – Jim Kobak announced that a page can be added to the website for Face Book signups. NYSSRA had a presence at the Adirondack Sports & Fitness Winter Expo and also participated in the recent Cystic Fibrosis Stair Climb event. Will plan to participate in the Fall Winter Sports Fitness Expo and Team HURT will do a rollerski demo and race.

c. Membership – Jim Kobak reported 625 total NYSSRA members. There were 1700 racer starts/finishers for XC. Although the overall membership number appears low, XC racing is up. He expects online membership to continue for 2010-2011. Email renewal reminders will be sent to members and member clubs by October 1, 2010.

d. Liability Insurance – Sean Halligan reported on his review of NYSSRA Nordic’s current liability policy. He stated that it is necessary to make some changes in the current policy to become more workable. It is especially critical to close up additional insured provisions in future policies. Additional insured paper work is done by clubs for their events. The litigation process is still ongoing.

e. A.W.A.R.D.s – Jim Kobak announced recipients of the 2009-2010 season All Winter Accumulated Distance awards as follows:

GOLD: Jim Kobak 285 k and

Tim Huneck 272 k

BRONZE: David Burt 216 k

Darwin Roosa 197 k

Austin Huneck 197 k

Eric Hamilton 193 k

Rene Clarke 191 k

The Bill Thayer Memorial Secretary’s Cup is awarded to Connor Judd. Jim also noted that 12 – $100 racer support grants were awarded during the season.

f. Officials & Coaches – Russ Myer reported that several individuals are interested in being credentialed as Technical Delegates. Level 1 Biathlon Officials were trained last fall.

Old Business

a. Competition Manual – Consensus was that a printed manual was no longer needed. No real demand for a printed publication given the relative convenience of a web-based schedule with readily available updates. There is an estimated cost savings of $1,200 to $1,600 by not printing and postal mailing a printed manual.

b. 501 (c) (3) Status – no progress to report.

c. Ski Joring – Jason Sperry did not attend the meeting.

New Business

a.Race Schedule – the draft cross country ski and biathlon schedules will be posted on the website.

b. EMPO Map Funding Request – A request was submitted by Eric Hamilton for $500 from NYSSRA toward the purchase of a new map. There were several questions about how much the total cost of mapping, who would provide the mapping service, and what place is being mapped. Russ Myer moved to table the request, seconded by Tim Huneck, pending more information about the total package request. Motion to table passed 5 to 0.

c. Official designation for the Mid-A Junior Committee – Motion was made by Margaret Maher and seconded by Rick Costanza to designate the Mid-Atlantic Junior Committee as a subcommittee of the NYSSRA Nordic Cross Country Committee. Passed unanimously. Margaret will follow-up with John Farra at USSA in regards to the wording of the “USSA Mid-Atlantic Division” as part of NYSSRA Nordic. This would be finalized at the fall meeting.

d. CCSA membership exchange for ad space – Motion submitted in advance by Eric Hamilton for NYSSRA Nordic to be a member of Cross Country Ski Areas Association in exchange for their icon/add space on the NYSSRA website. Seconded by David Kvam. Passed unanimously.

e. Nominating Committee – Jim Kobak appointed a nominating committee to include Chris Rose and Sean Halligan. Jim will chair the committee. They will work over the summer for nominations to be submitted at the fall meeting.

f. Future Meeting – Fall meeting scheduled for Sunday, September 26, 2010 at SUNY Institute of Technology, Utica.

Respectfully submitted,

Darwin Roosa for Eric Hamilton, Secretary