July 7th, 2009
PAC Board Meeting
Minutes
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Ann Zalkind with the following in attendance: Ann Zalkind; Gillian Gagliardi; Debbie Saly-Messick; Carl Sandoe; Brenda Sears; Caroline Duncan; Ray Staniszewski; Jef Christian; Helen Flanders and Steve Fancher. In the absence of Recording Secretary Jeff Lucash, Megan Nikolai recorded the minutes of the meeting.
Approval of Minutes: Megan Nikolai requested an amendment to the June minutes reflecting that the end of season potluck dinner on July 25 be confirmed to be held at the outdoor pool and Helen Flanders approved the request. Brenda Sears made a motion, seconded by Carl Sandoe “to a accept the minutes of the June meeting as amended.” The motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report: Debbie Saly-Messick made the treasurer’s report. The following payments have been made to the treasury since the June meeting: $510 from the snack bar and $104 from the sale of extra t-shirts and string bags from previous years at the 6/24/09 meet. $500 was made from the national team snack bar and 50/50 sale at the 7/1/09 meet; all proceeds are to benefit the national team swimmers. Caroline Duncan mentioned that there were no 50/50 tickets available to use for the 6/24 meet. Megan Nikolai volunteered to purchase 50/50 tickets in time for the 7/8/09 meet. Megan will bring a receipt to Debbie Saly-Messick.
Committee Reports:
Corresponding Secretary Report: Ann Zalkind and the rest of the board praised Corresponding Secretary Gillian Gagliardi for an outstanding job informing swim families of upcoming events and helping them with their questions. Megan Nikolai suggested that whatever inquiry Gillian can't answer, should be forwarded to the Co-Leaders.
League Representative Report: Ray Staniszewski reported that no reschedule had been suggested for the rained out meet on June 20th between BCY and Wagontown. Helen Flanders mentioned that the bill for the dues for the Brandywine Summer Swim League had not yet been received by the YMCA and asked Steve Fancher to talk with Sarah Callaway about getting a bill for the dues. The YMCA pays the league dues.
Invitational/Districts/States/Nationals: Ann Zalkind made the Nationals report. The National Team will hold a 'Duck Race' fundraiser on 7/17 at the indoor pool. They are selling numbered ducks to be 'raced' in the water for $5 each. 300 ducks will be sold and there are 5 prizes overall that were donated from local vendors. The funds raised at the snack bar and the meet sales of the Duck Race ducks will be dispersed among all national team members. Individual duck sales will benefit the swimmer that made the sales. Meet workers (National and Jr. National parents only) are needed for the Q Meet on 7/10/09. Ann will contact National and Jr. National families only for this request. No mass e-mail or bulletin board posting will be made.
Social/Welcome/Banquet Committee: Helen Flanders stated that the bill from Shady Maple arrived for the April 2009 Swim Team Banquet. Brenda Sears reported that there were 268 attendees at the 2009 banquet and that the price we received was base on 400 or more in attendance. Shady Maple will likely not honor that (lower) price for the 2010 banquet. Brenda is awaiting the pricing quote. The date of Friday, April 16th, 2010 is available at Shady Maple.
On another note, Brenda and the banquet manager at Shady Maple discussed the state of the room after we left in April. Food was stuffed into glasses and dishes and left on floors; children were running through the halls. They had great difficulty cleaning up after our group and had never experienced such a mess after any use of their facility. The board discussed adding a warning to next year's banquet announcement and invitations about the behavior of the swimmers and parents' responsibilities.
End of Season party is confirmed to take place poolside on July 25th, 2009 from 5-8pm. Helen Flanders also granted permission to the PAC to use the outdoor grills (just outside the pool fence) for the party. Brenda estimated that 4 parent volunteers will be needed to man the grills and that hot dogs, hamburgers and other foods for the potluck can be collected via parent donations.
Publicity: No report
Officials: Carl Sandoe reported that the software update for Meet Manager was not needed. It would only be required for computers running the Vista operating system. The team's computer uses XP. No Officials Training Clinic has been planned and will most likely be scheduled for the fall.
Team Apparel: Caroline Duncan reported that the t-shirt fundraiser she initiated resulted in 114 t-shirt sales. The income was reported to be $1285 with at least $300 of that being profit for the PAC. Since the actual cost of the shirts were based on less than 70 being ordered, it is likely that the profit will exceed $300. On another note, Caroline expressed her dissatisfaction with the inaccurate process of ordering the shirts as set up in the YMCA ordering system. Many people's orders were incorrect (either style or size) and had to be corrected with many phone calls prior to sending the order to the printer. Helen Flanders agreed that it did not work well and will be corrected in the future; purchasers will not have to be members to place orders and multiple shirts could be ordered by one person; sizes will not be entered via the computer but rather via order forms that purchasers would hand in at the time of ordering.
Caroline also looked into the possibility of using Action Accents for a fundraiser and recommended against it. The minimum sales necessary to earn $300 would be unrealistic to reach. The board agreed not to pursue Action Accents as a fundraising possibility.
Steve Fancher reported that 25 silicone team caps are available for purchase at the front desk of the YMCA. The board recommended that the YMCA be sure to have enough silicone caps available to give to each swimmer at winter registration. There should also be a good system in place of keeping track of who receives their caps.
Website Committee: Megan Nikolai reported that the software disks are currently with Helen Flanders. Megan will remind Helen and Vincenza Krikorian that the software is available for Vincenza to pick up and load onto her computer. Megan Nikolai, Jef Christian, and Vincenza Krikorian are to hold the software licenses of MS Expression Web 2 that the YMCA owns. The website has yet to be fully updated, however the Calendar page and several other pages of the site have been brought up to date. The website committee will meet and divide responsibilities for updating the site with the goal of having the site up and running and fully maintainable by the beginning of the Fall Season.
Old Business:
Ray Staniszewski brought information about getting an equipment cart for the swim team closet. The cart would replace one set of shelves in the closet and would hold the computer equipment, wiring, console, printer, clipboards, stopwatches, etc. that are necessary to hold a meet. This would be particularly valuable for use in the summer as the equipment is now being transported by a rolling dumpster, risking damage to expensive equipment and bringing the added difficulty of having people mistake it for a trash can. Ray S. provided many samples and pricing of a variety of carts that he researched. Some start at $315 and some are as costly as $1000; some have doors. Size would need to be discussed so that it would fit in the closet. Helen Flanders suggested she would check on someone she knows who makes carts to get pricing. Debbie Saly-Messick and Brenda Sears will also research more about carts and pricing for the next PAC meeting and for further discussion.
New Business:
Helen Flanders announced that she will be leaving her position at the Brandywine YMCA on September 1st. She will be going to the Corporate Office of the YMCA of the Brandywine Valley as Director of Marketing and Member Services.
Carl Sandoe said that one cable on the pool deck (used for the pads and buttons) is showing a lot of wear and will soon need to be replaced. For the time being, it is being used at the shallow end of the pool. Helen confirmed that replacing the cable is a YMCA expense and asked Carl to get her the information necessary for replacing it. Carl and Helen also suggested the starting blocks at the indoor pool will soon need to be replaced and Helen asked Steve Fancher to get information on replacing the diving blocks.
Ann Zalkind brought up the question of the empty swim team cabinet in the hall outside of the therapy pool. Megan Nikolai and Steve Fancher inspected it and found that, with minor repairs, the cabinet would be lockable and usable for the swim team. Brenda Sears requested that the cabinet be used for craft supplies, ribbons, ducks, decorations, sharpies, etc. The board agreed and asked Steve to have the cabinets repaired and the board would purchase 2 combination locks (for the top and the bottom) to be used by the swim team hospitality committee.
Gillian Gagliardi mentioned that she would like to institute a BCY Apparel swap or sale. She would collect all used suits, bags, sweats, shorts and/or towels that were in good condition and clean and will either hold a sale or organize a swap. She would like to communicate with swim families via e-mail and will coordinate with Jef Christian to promote the collection.
Brenda Sears had a new fundraiser idea; have swimmers or families purchase decorative tiles to make a mosaic on one wall of the pool deck or in the hallway leading to the pool. Others suggested having a muralist design a mural on the pool or hallway wall and swimmers can purchase their own cinder block to paint. This would be a fundraiser and community builder as well as providing beauty to the Y. Erica Dehart (sp?) was suggested as a muralist. The idea was well received and the board asked Brenda to get more information.
Ann Zalkind announced that she and Helen Flanders are finishing the Handbook.
Megan Nikolai, Ann Zalkind and Gillian Gagliardi (among others) brought up the lack of volunteers for the meets and snack bars. It was agreed that Gillian would send out an e-mail with meet announcements and reminders about volunteering. 20 parent volunteers are needed for each home meet and it is often the same ones every time. Getting and maintaining volunteer levels will be discussed at the next board meeting.
The meeting was adjourned around 7:45 pm.