Minutes of the Green Mountain Waterskiers Annual Meeting

Arvad’s, Waterbury, Vermont
May 10, 2002

Present: Ed and Carol Brown, Paul Frascoia, Darlene McCormick, Tom Papp, Jim Nye, Halle Davis, Joe Bourgeois, Steve Pakulski, Mark Dingeman, John Witmer, Phil Cutting, Lisa Darden, Mike Tassi, John Ebert, Leonard & Nina (guests), and Gary Moeller

In the absence of President Roger LeDuc, Vice President Paul Frascoia called the meeting to order at 8:50 PM.

The Minutes from the last meeting on May 12, 2001, were read and accepted.

Treasurer’s Report
Joe Malenfant reported (in advance of the meeting) that the Barefoot Blast brought in about $75, but Darlene noted that we haven’t received the money yet. We also did not get the annual contribution of $100 from the Vermont Slalom Derby. This will be requested at the upcoming tournament.

A major expense this year was purchasing radios for use at tournaments. By purchasing radios we’ve saved money from renting them each year. If other sanctioned activities borrow the radios, a fee is to be paid for use when they are picked up.

Other discussion about finances included clarification that the club is responsible for costs of the dock. The question was raised as to whether or not we have a backboard? If not, should we purchase one? The answer was unknown so this will be discussed again in the future.

This was a low year for membership/dues. The treasury balance decreased by over $200 this year, but this should be recouped from the two tournaments. Treasurer’s report was approved.

Proposed changes to the bylaws
Darlene reviewed the proposed changes to the bylaws including (see attached for more detail):

• Article II, Section 2. – replacing the words “the officers” with “an officer”.
• Article IV, Section 2. – replace “Secretary-Treasurer” with “Secretary” and “Treasurer”; replace “four” with “three”
• Article IV, Section 3. – Insert “or delegate authority” to represent the organization
  Additional changes were proposed throughout Article IV to accommodate the division of the Secretary-Treasurer position; these were posted on the website for review.
• Article VIII – Section 1. – Replace “winter” with “spring” and changes to timing of the annual meeting
• Article VIII, Section 3. – Insert “or his/her delegate among the membership” after “by the President”.

All proposed changes were approved with some adjustments. The Secretary-Treasurer position will be described so that it can be either one or two positions. Also, email was approved as a form of notification of meetings.

The question was asked, what is the purpose of this organization?
The discussion that followed determined the primary purpose is to keep a body to go to the legislature. We need to protect the ability to have slalom courses and access to bodies of water in the state of Vermont. It was agreed that increasing membership is key to keeping a presence for waterskiers in VT.

Dues
A motion to keep dues at the same amounts and method of payment the same was unanimously passed.

Elections:
The following slate of officers was proposed:

President – Mark Dingeman
Vice President – Paul Frascoia
Treasurer – Darlene McCormick
Secretary – Halle Davis
Safety Officer – Bruce Epstein
Special Events – Joe Bourgeois
Director-at- Large – John Ebert

This slate was unanimously approved.

Waterbury/ Wrightsville Status:
Waterbury Reservoir was dropped 25′ this year. It should be raised 25′ next year and then back to normal in 2004.

The Wrightsville Reservoir course is in and 3 tournaments are scheduled.

Tournaments:
We need to consider changing the date of the Reservoir Dogs tournament in 2003 so that it is not the weekend of July 4th.

Slalom Derby June 29
Reservoir Dogs is July 5 (tentative)
Barefoot Blast July 6 (tentative)

Observer Law:
This is the third year the bill has been in the House Transportation Committee. We had great support. The committee chair never brought it to a vote even though much of the committee was in favor. Dick Pembroke was the chair of the committee. Several representatives were very helpful including Senator Doyle. We will try again during the next session. The bill must be done in November in order to get presented by January. Carol wrote an excellent letter and the seven-member board came up with a strong letter. We need to have support from people all over the state.

Carol wrote all 50 states to inquire about their observer laws and 49 responded. Twenty-two states have similar laws. Carol’s letter will be on our website.

Membership Drive:
Halle & Tom will work on membership. The board will discuss by September/October.

New Business:

Gary stated that we should have a Vermont State Championship like all the other states. We should change the Reservoir Dogs or Vermont Slalom Derby to be the Vermont State Championship. Is GMWS the Vermont Federation as far as AWSA is concerned? This has been a gray area and loosely accepted as such.

Ed advised the group that we need to find a new storage space for our equipment. We are looking for at least winter storage, maybe year-round. We have a dock, 2 tubs, tables, chairs and a tent. The tables are falling apart and we should think about replacing in the near future. No specific storage space was decided but some suggestions were provided.

The meeting adjourned at 9:35 PM.