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BLUE RIDGE SKI COUNCIL |
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| Attendees Approval of minutes Treasurer's report Special
Contract Committee |
Minutes of Spring 2000 Meeting Swan Point Country Club, Issue MD Sunday, April 30, 2000 Attendees
BRSC: Peter Porton, President; Wayne Homens, Vice President; Candy Levin, Treasurer; Steve Peirce, Assistant Treasurer; Nancy Cruise, Secretary; SMSC: Bob Gray, Barbara Flynn, Denise Gray, Jackie Hoel; Pentagon: Joel Gardner, Pat Riggs, Dave Olsen; PVS: Dina Taylor, Sally Finan; Baltimore: Robin Dodd, Jackie Owens Harris; HQAFWSC: Dave Gurtner, John LaJeunesse; SCWDC: John Veen, Pete Cambell; Columbia: Bill Eskew, Kitty Imdahl, Bill Schrodel; Fredericksburg: Dennis Chin, Rae Ehlen, Michael Redding; OTHG: Inge Lesjak; Salisbury: Ed Torbert; Fagowees: Pam Chewing, Stacy Hickman, Dutch Mueller; Mogul: Larry Arnett, Jeff Harper; Crabtowne: Nate Boring, Don Chase, Natalie Gabler, Robert LaChance; St. Mary's: Mike Canty; BARS: Kate Hayes President Peter Porton called the meeting to order at 9:32 a.m. He welcomed everyone to the meeting, introduced the executive committee members and thanked Bob Gray and Southern Maryland Ski Club for hosting the meeting. Peter welcomed a new club St. Mary's to the council. Approval of Minutes. Robin Dodd moved and Stacy Hickman seconded approval of the minutes. All in favor. Motion approved. Treasurer’s Report/1999-2000 Budget. Treasurer's Report/2000-2001 Budget. Candy provided the council a copy of the 1999-2000 Financial Statement, 2000-2001 Proposed Budget and a Financial Statement covering this past season's three ski trips. Candy stated that overall BRSC lost money on the trips and lost money on the fall 1999 meeting. The Eastern Winterfest and Western Carnival trip profits helped to offset the loss on the Millennium trip but the overall loss for the season was $1,567.84. Candy said because of a change in banks she had not yet paid the honoraria approved in the 99-00 budget. Peter explained the Millennium trip losses. He said that originally BRSC had anticipated a large participation on the trip with clubs estimating up to 800 people. When clubs started signing up they came in with 300-400 estimated participants. That is the number GTU started to base the billings on and orders for such items and the ID souvenirs. In September when penalties kicked in the signups dropped from 300-400 to a final count of 170. Peter said he believed a couple of mistakes were made, a) we were very optimistic and b) the penalties should have kicked in earlier. He said GTU did a yeoman's job with dealing with the resorts and keeping the penalties to the clubs to a minimum. Robin Dodd asked to discuss the expenses. She said that with Baltimore, if they don't get the numbers, trip leaders do not go for free, they must pay and also she said she felt the upgrades were out of line. Peter explained that the upgrades were because the officials wanted to stay with their own clubs that were staying in higher price accommodations. Other representatives agreed that the officials should pay the upgrade fee and Peter agreed he would. Candy asked whether the discussion should be continued in new business and stated that the by laws did not address such policy issues and that all the clubs have different policies on comps, etc. She said BRSC does not have a policy and she felt one should be established. Dave Olsen asked whether BRSC would have been billed for the upgrades if the trip had made a profit. Candy answered that according to the contract the BRSC's guaranteed not-to-exceed base price was 1480.00 and that BRSC would get three comps for BRSC officials based on 300 person participation. Nate Boring said he felt a policy needed to be established on when not to award comps. There were some further questions from the floor in reference to the upgrades. Dutch Mueller asked whether a committee would be formed to address the issue of comps, etc. Candy replied she thought it should be discussed under new business. Dutch also questioned the $5.00 administration fee, thought it was too low and didn't cover expenses. Peter agreed and said that the last agenda item under new business was to discuss contract bid procedures and recommended the discussion take place at that time. Question from Stacy Hickman whether it was traditional for the vendor to order the ID souvenirs. Answer from Candy was yes, vendor in conjunction with trip coordinator orders the souvenir. Stacy recommended that the issue of ordering souvenirs be discussed. There were other questions from the floor. Kitty said many items would be addressed in her trip report. Stacy moved that the Financial Statement be approved as submitted. John Veen seconded. Discussion followed. Question was called. Motion was approved by majority vote. Ski Shows. On behalf of Fred Zedeck, Peter reported that the ski show would be November 3-5 at Ballston Commons with a Warren Miller movie. PSIA. No report. Ski Safety. No report. Fall meeting item. Trip Sanctions. Wayne Homens reported he had received two trip sanctions for summer activities from the Fagowees one a float/camping trip for June 23-25 and the other Labor Day weekend trip at Algonkian. Stacy Hickman gave a brief summary of each trip. Wayne would like upcoming ski season sanctions prior to the fall meeting. If a club has a page on a trip that is sanctioned, he will link to it. Clubs are encouraged to publish trip sanctions in their newsletters. Internet Update. Wayne said the council needed to reregister the BRSC web name, www.skicouncil.com and could renew for 10 years at $35.00 a year. Dutch Mueller moved BRSC renew for 10 years, seconded. All in favor. The council thanked Wayne for his hard work. Racing. Handouts were available for WSI 2000 season race results. Dave reported that although the new NASTAR method for handicapping of 5 vice 10-year age groups had been adopted into the scoring of BRSC races, awards were still awarded based on 10-year age groups. Reports on the past season's races were available to the council. 2000 Millennium Bash Trip, Steamboat, CO. Kitty handed out copies of her trip report. There were 167 participants, which included 3 BRSC officials and 9 trip leader comps. Kitty gave a recap of the trip. Overall the trip went well. Biggest problem was the financial loss to BRSC due to low number of participants. There were 155 full paid participants at $5.00 per person credit to BRSC for a total of $775.00. Dutch Mueller commented that the $5.00 admin fee and a cancellation policy needed to be addressed by a committee. Peter stated that contracts are between the different clubs and the tour operators. Question from the floor about whether BRSC signs initial contract. Peter explained that BRSC signs a contract with tour operator stating they are the tour operator for that particular BRSC trip but that it is up to individual clubs to sign contracts with the tour operator for financial matters. 2000 Western Carnival, Park City, UT. Wayne reported 278 participants. Overall, he said it was a very successful trip. Things he reported that did not work well: the tour operator was selected at a higher bid price because the operator alluded that all clubs would stay at same condo complex, which wasn't the case; the tour operator did not provide any extras, e.g., prizes for the race awards; the snow/weather conditions were poor; the lift supporting the race broke so the race had to be moved which caused confusion; and the meeting place was suppose to be in the new Olympic facilities which were not complete. Things that worked well: transportation went well; the substitute meeting place in the Marriott was excellent; the race awards went very well; and the support by Park City and its sports department was outstanding. There was a comment from the floor that the tour operator not providing any extra prizes was unusual. Wayne explained that in the past 4 years or so the tour operators have provided extra prizes/awards and helped the trip coordinators in soliciting prizes from the ski areas. Peter explained that extras provided by the tour operators are not in the contract, are purely given on a volunteer basis, and that some years, ski areas and operators are more generous than other years. Question from floor about different condos. Wayne explained that when he presented the bids to the council for selection he had two good bids, the least expensive had clubs scattered in different condos and the higher one had everyone in the same condo complex. The council voted on the higher bid based on the fact everyone would be in the same complex, which turned out to not be the case. Wayne stated the council needed to be very careful with what is actually being offered by the vendors. 2000 Winterfest, Killington, VT. Steve Peirce reported there were 45 participants, it was a good trip, with good snow. Only problems were skimpy food at the arrival party and that at the farewell party the drink tickets were only good for beer and wine. Peter briefly listed and discussed the items on the agenda under new business: 1) select location and tour operator Eurofest 2001; 2) select locations and tour operators to send out bids for 2002 Western Carnival; 3) discuss BRSC contract bid procedures. Peter suggested that the council form a committee to review the contract bid process, to look at the whole contract bid process from sending out a bid, evaluating it, what does BRSC get out of it, whether to keep the $5.00 per person charge, to who do you want to send bids to, then come back with recommendation in the fall and present it to the council. Peter offered to put the committee in contact with the National Ski Council Federation to see how other councils do the process. Recommendation from floor that the council not include internal policies along with contractual regulations (e.g., BRSC comps). Peter stated that the council should decide the committee parameters. Eurofest 2001. Bill Eskew reported because the council had sent out a request for bids without specifying locations, he received a wide range of bids. Bill explained the different bids and he and the council discussed pros and cons of each area and bid. Dutch moved that the council accept the Grindelwald bid, March 9-17, 2001. Nate Boring seconded. Discussion followed. Question was called. All in favor, motion approved. GTU is the tour operator. Kate Hayes recommended that the ID souvenirs be more generic e.g., without vendor name on it, just BRSC. The council broke for lunch at 12:00 and reconvened at 1:00 p.m. 2002 Western Carnival. Nominations from the floor for location were Lake Tahoe, Snowmass/Aspen, Big Sky, Mammoth, and Banff. The two sites selected by the council were Snowmass/Aspen and Banff. Tour operators selected to send requests for bids to were JTM, K&M and GTU. Peter asked for volunteers to serve on the contract committee. Volunteers were: Dutch Mueller, Jackie Harris, Stacy Hickman, Steve Peirce, Don Chase, John Veen, Bill Eskew. Peter asked the committee to get together to decide when to meet and who would be the coordinating agent. Peter explained that the committee's charter is:
He said that if they needed financial information on how it's working right now they should call Candy. Peter said the committee could discuss comps and what happens if the trip doesn't go but Peter said he felt Steamboat was a one time phenomena but that the committee may want to put down in writing, put down procedures and present it in September. His recommendation was for the committee to come up with a procedure, hammer it out among the committee, come to an agreement, give the council a final package, put it on the web, and let everyone read it. BRSC Directory. Peter showed a copy of a possible directory to the council. Felt that the council might be able to better, asked for suggestions. BRSC Ski Show. Peter asked the council to think about whether it would be interested in a Blue Ridge ski show. 2001 Western Carnival, Telluride, CO. Nancy Cruise reported that so far six clubs had signed up with approximately 200 committed spaces. Joanne Magro of JTM gave a brief run down on the trip. Peter asked on behalf of the council for JTM to keep the pass to the parties as simple as possible. Robin Dodd suggested that a policy be put in place that clubs not be allowed to sign up for a BRSC trip until an established specified date in order to give all clubs an equal chance to request specific properties. Suggestions were made on how the process could work, e.g., once a date was established, clubs could fax in requests for accommodations. Peter suggested that club reps give their suggestions to the members of the contract committee and recommended that the issue be looked at by the contract committee. He also suggested the contract committee establish a web page with e-mail addresses of the committee members so that suggestions could be passed onto the committee members. 2002 Eurofest. The council selected Chamonix and Val-d'Isere for locations and the tour operators are GTU, Joanne Young and JTM. Peter stated the next step for both the western and eurofest 2002 trips is for anyone who would like to be the group coordinator to send his/her resume to the President within the next month. That way trip coordinator selections can be made and bid packages can be sent out and received back by the fall meeting. Peter asked for any new business. Question was raised about spreading the wealth in awarding trips to brokers. Peter said that some clubs believe in spreading the wealth in that if the bid prices are the about the same, they'll award a trip to one broker one year and another broker the next year. Peter recommendation that the contract committee look at whether, during the council approval step, the trip coordinator should let the council know which tour operator submitted which bid(s). Ski-O-Ree. Pete Campbell, President SCWDC, said that SCWDC could entertain running Ski-O-Ree trip since they were already planning to run a weekend trip to Timberline. He explained the way he saw it functioning is that SCWDC would run the trip, it would be sanctioned and would be the BRSC Ski-O-Ree. It would be a car pool trip, price would cover lodging and lift tickets and possibly a party or get together on Friday night. Each club would be responsible for getting to Timberline. Not sure whether it would be an instructional weekend or just a ski weekend. He said by the fall meeting they will have a trip in place and will come back to the council with a proposal for Ski-O-Ree. Pete’s e-mail address is: pcambell@scwdc.org. 2000-2001 Proposed Budget. Candy presented the 2000-2001 proposed budget and explained she was proposing a fairly stripped down budget to pay only essential items such as changing registered agents, getting BRSC reinstated with DC, and paying back corporation fees. The web site cost was amended to pay $350. to retain domain name plus $83. per year for server fees. Question from the floor on the Reinstatement Petition fee. Candy explained that a couple of things happened, the DC went to a two year cycle for corporation fee payments, the last notification she received said that the fees weren’t due for 3 years, the BRSC registered agent changed names and addresses so the notification for renewal was not received. When Candy looked into the matter she found that BRSC was in arrears, which meant BRSC needed to pay fee to change registered Agent, past due corporation fees, reinstatement fee, a registered agent retainer fee and the next 2 years’ corporation fees. Wayne pointed out that even the council had not been in arrears, it still would have paid approximately the same amount in fees. Discussion followed on finding another registered agent and possible corporation in either Maryland or Virginia. Nate moved that the council approve the proposed mandatory council expenses as amended. Motion was seconded and approved. The council considered the proposed honoraria line-by-line. Item 1, BRSC Ski instruction support. The council discussed the program, which is conducted by SCWDC and whether council clubs actively participates in the program. Recommendation from the floor that each club find out if anyone is actively participating in the SCWDC program. Natalie Gabler moved deletion, Nate Boring seconded, two opposed, majority in favor. Line item 1 deleted. Item 2, Regional ski patrol. Pat Riggs moved the council approve $250.00, Wayne Homens seconded, council all in favor. Line item 2 approved. Item 3, Disabled Sports USA (Spring Fling). Don Chase moved the council approve $175.00, Peter seconded, all in favor. Line item 3 approved. Item 4, Baltimore Adaptive Recreation & Sports. Stacy Hickman moved the council approve $175.00, Bill Schrodel seconded, all in favor. Line item 4 approved. Line items 5 and 6, Southern Area Racing Association and Pennsylvania Area Racing Association. Wayne Homens moved to withdraw support for both for the budget year 2000-2001, seconded, all in favor. Line items 5 and 6 deleted. Peter asked if there were any questions or other new business from the floor. Question was raised in reference to the upgrades for the officials on the Millennium trip. Peter offered to reimburse the council for his upgrade, which he considered not an upgrade, but staying with his club. Wayne opined that since there was no policy in place at the time, nothing malicious was intended, the charge should not be retroactive, the council should leave as is and move on, and that there is a committee established to lay the ground rules. Question on whether a comp was approved at $1480.00. Wayne explained that the comps were given to BRSC to off-set its costs to send its officers to attend but nothing was stated that they had to stay in standard housing, if it that had been said, he would agree. He stated it’s something to carry forward. Kate Hayes raised the problem of clubs RSVPing for BRSC meetings and then not showing up resulting in a shortfall and BRSC expense. Candy explained that some clubs do and other clubs do not pay the cost for their representatives to attend the council meetings. Dave Olsen moved that Blue Ridge bill those clubs that put the council in arrears for the fall meeting. Peter stated that there is no policy in effect so it would be difficult to collect. Motion was seconded by Kate Hayes. Question was called. All opposed. Motion defeated. Peter suggested that someone write a policy and bring it to the fall meeting. Elections. Peter withdrew from running for another term as BRSC President. Wayne thanked him for his service. Jackie Hoel moved that Wayne be elected President by acclamation. Seconded from the floor. All in favor. Wayne asked for nominations for the office of Vice President. Nominations: Natalie Gabler accepted, Don Chase declined. In accordance with the by-laws the executive committee elected Natalie Gabler to fill the office of vice president for a term of 1 year. Fall meeting. Crabtowne volunteered to host the fall meeting on Saturday, September 24. Motion to adjourn. V/R Signed Nancy E. Cruise Secretary Blue Ridge Ski Council |
