OTFA Board Meeting
October 3, 2003
Delta Meadowvale Hotel
8:30 p.m.
NOTE: These minutes are yet to be approved by the Board of Directors
Present: John Metcalfe, Marc Christie, Enrico Toscano, Albert Tschirhart (Chair), Roman Olszewski (staff), Denis Landry (Vice-Chair), John Craig (staff)
Guests: Nathan Percival, Suzanne Leroux
Regrets: Kelly Harris, David Watt, Joe Sax
1. Welcome: Albert welcomed the guests and advised that the agenda was full with many decisions that need to be addressed.
2. Approval of minutes
of last two meetings: Nathan
Percival’s name should be added to March 28 minutes as being a guest.
Motion to Approve
Minutes
Metcalfe/Christie Carried
3. Approval of Agenda: New business items were added to the agenda including a Don Mills Memorial, discipline problems at the Espoir meet in Nova Scotia and at Supermeet, membership proposals, John Cooper’s (Alberta) request for input regarding the Branch meeting prior to the AC AGM.
Motion to Approve Agenda
Metcalfe/Christie Carried
4. Screening: John C. took the Board through the Volunteers Screening recommendations. Specifically, he made recommendations regarding the implementation of the process as follows:
That for screening purposes the OTFA divide volunteers into five groups and implement screening procedures as follows:
a) Coaches and club administrators (who are registered with the OTFA) must submit a PRC with membership beginning January 1, 2004
b) Parents volunteering with clubs (regular drivers, chaperones etc) should be screened by the club. OTFA to provide guidelines.
c) OTFA staff, Board of Directors, Committee members should be screened beginning January 1, 2004. Less risk, but leadership is important here.
d) Junior volunteers, one-day volunteers etc – not screened
e) Officials – three options:
1) they submit PRCs beginning 2005
2) they are screened by the OOC
3) they submit Offence Declarations beginning 2004
The Screening document was adopted as presented; Enrico will take the recommendation regarding the Officials to the OOC and ask for direction. John C will ask other sports if they require an original certificate of the PRC or if a copy is acceptable. He will present his finding at the next Board meeting for final approval.
5. Supermeet Format: Albert touched on concerns of weather and the effect it had on the competition. Discipline concerns were discussed.
ACTION: John M. will file a letter of complaint re: a coach who verbally attacked some officials at the meet with regards to scheduling. John C to send John M a copy of the official complaint procedure.
ACTION: John C will send a letter to the club of the two athletes who mislead officials and were put into a race despite not checking in by the required time.
6. Unity of Members: Albert reminded Board members that discussion and disagreement are an important part of any process that involves change and forward movement. He suggested that recent Board communication and discussions about specific Board related issues were an important part of any process and that, provided they continue to be professional, they should continue.
7. Meet Directors: Albert and Marc both agreed that they would withdraw from hosting some major competitions, in part because this may be perceived as a conflict of interest. Their withdrawal may present some problems as there are not a lot of clubs willing to host these competitions.
8. Winter Competition Schedule: John C and Roman advised of the insurance problems that may be inherent in competitions that are insured by different groups (i.e. OTFA athletes and MTA athletes competing in the same meet). John C advised that masters athlete Alan Davis has agreed to do a review of our respective insurance plans and will prompt Alan Davis to communicate his findings quickly.
9. Impact of Double Cohort Year: OTFA membership numbers will likely suffer from the changes made at the high school level. We may have as many as 150-200 fewer junior members this year because more are going to the states or going to University early and getting out of the sport. This number could rise to 300 in a couple of years; about 50% of potential 2003 graduates actually returned to high school this fall, so the number may not be realized this year.
10. Athletics Magazine and Membership: John C advised that Athletics magazine is on course to be revenue neutral for the Association. The Board suggested that each new member in a category that does not include the magazine receive one free copy with a subscription card to make the option available.
ACTION: John C. to put this process in motion.
11. Athletics Canada AGM: Albert will go to the Athletics Canada AGM scheduled for December 6-8 in Ottawa. Friday the 6th is the Branch/President’s meeting – who else? John C will go if the Board thinks this is a good idea, but we must be cautious of the expense.
Roly Bullock, who has served for three consecutive terms on the AC Board is no longer eligible for election. The Board acknowledged Roly’s good service and his commitment to the sport.
In Roly’s absence, the OTFA should encourage other people to put their names forward in an effort to continue with Ontario representation at the AC Board level.
Nominations for AC Board elections are due October 15, 2003.
12. OTFA AGM: Four OTFA Board positions are up for election at the November 15 AGM: Chair (Albert Tschirhart), Vice-Chair (Denis Landry), Director of Athlete/Coach Development (John Metcalfe), Director of General Operations (Marc Christie). Site confirmed to be at Variety Village in Scarborough.
Albert has agreed to run again for a position on the Board, while Marc, John M and Denis will all consider their options and advise at a later date.
ACTION: John C to see where we can meet the night before for our Board meeting then.
The AGM will follow the new format established last year: the OOC will have their AGM at 10:30a.m., lunch will be at 1:00 p.m., recognition awards will be presented at lunch, with the AGM beginning at 2:00 p.m.
ACTION: Roman will contact meet directors and chair a morning meeting to discuss common practices, and in particular to discuss and agree on a common athlete declaration/check-in procedure for OTFA Championships.
ACTION: Roman will present the OTFA Championship Cup and pennants to Club Champions during lunch.
13. Technical Committee Motions:
Motion: to approve the Technical Meeting motions, presented as follows:
Tschirhart / Landry Carried
14. New Business: John Cooper of Alberta wants to know what should be on agenda for Branch Meeting at AC AGM on Friday. Roman suggests CBET needs to get moving and should be discussed – with Adrian gone from AC and no-one to replace him, we can’t be sure if we are on line or what the time frames are.
Some discussion around the hosting opportunities for national championships. There are only some places in this country which can host a championship since there are only a few sites, including Vancouver, from which CBC will broadcast. Also, there is very little or no money to be made from hosting these championships so they are not attractive.
Don Mills Memorial:
Motion # 1: That the Senior Men’s 12,000m race at the 2004 OTFA Championships be named in honour of the late Don Mills.
Metcalfe / Landry Carried
Supermeet: Nathan Percival presented a report on the 2003 Supermeet, specifically outlining the expenses incurred with respect to hosting the Officials etc. Albert thanked t Nathan and Jennifer for doing a great job of coordinating everything and making it work for the officials. Most things came in under budget, though there was, generally, too much food. Quantities of water were also overestimated, but this may not have been the case if the weather had been hot.
Nathan suggested that a $7,500 budget would be sufficient for this meet in Kitchener, but the price would be more if we were in a more expensive location, like Toronto.
Albert said he thought the new relationship between the OOC, the OTFA and the HOC could work; it needs tweaking but this was a great attempt to make all the stakeholders happy. This could form the basis of a new relationship between OTFA, officials, and HOC.
Discipline at Espoir Meet: The Espoir team manager and coach have asked that some athletes be disciplined for inappropriate behaviour (missing curfew).
ACTION: Roman will draft a letter to the athletes involved and circulate it to Team Manager and Coach.
New Membership
Categories:
Seasonal Membership: Roman proposed new Seasonal Membership Categories which will have to be accepted at the OTFA AGM. These categories would allow seasonal athletes, or those returning from the States in the summer, to compete in specific competitions without having to pay full membership fees for only a few competitions.
Motion to Accept the Proposal for New Membership Categories
Tschirhart / Christie Carried
Pacesetter Coaches: John C outlined interest in Pacesetter Coaches membership category, which will allow people who take the Fun In Athletics course to be registered members of the OTFA. We will use a separate form for these members to avoid confusion on the regular membership forms.
Motion to Accept the Proposal
Tschirhart / Christie Carried
Technical Meetings: Enrico suggested there is a need for more regular Technical Meetings since they are sometimes missed (i.e. the August Board meeting in Kitchener). He suggests we need one meeting outside the Board meetings so we can do all required business. Roman will organize and schedule a third meeting so there is less business at the other two.
Adjournment – 11:10 p.m.