Washington Biathlon Association

NOTE: If you did not renew your membership in October/November, it may have expired. Please use the form on the WBA website (www.wabiathlon.org) to renew.

(Draft) Meeting Minutes
WASHINGTON BIATHLON ASSOCIATION
January 3, 2005

President Chris Caviezel called the meeting to order at 6:41 p.m. Present were Chris, Vice President Jon Matson, Secretary Bob Vallor, Treasurer Jack Seabrook and Board members Jay Bender and Mike Spillane.

Jack presented his Treasurer's report noting that he was working off of the 'end of the year * 2004' bank statement. He reported a checking account balance of $5446.57, with one uncleared check for $78.88. Bob advised that check, which was reimbursement to him for target leg piping, had been deposited and should clear any day. Jack gave the savings account balance at $2503.42

The Membership report by Bob and Jack reported one membership renewal from Mike Poulsen. Jay moved to accept the renewal, Bob seconded and Mike's renewal was accepted (6-0). Jack asked about the status of Casey Smith's membership. Bob reported that he had spoken to Betsy Devin-Smith, Casey's mom and they were aware Casey was too young to have a vote, but they opted to keep his membership. Bob moved to accept it, Jay seconded and Casey was accepted as a member (6-0)

The board held a long discussion of the target situation. Bob had been in touch with the welder. He told Bob that the legs were done, as were the main housings that were previously reported as done. Bob said that he told the welder that the season was upon us and that races were scheduled. He also told him, again about the Yakima situation and the funding problems that had resulted from his failure to deliver targets as promised. The welder asked how many targets would be needed for the season races and Bob told him "at least five". The welder said he would have five done by the end of January. The board discussed previous promised delivery dates that came and went with no targets. Legal issues and legal action options were discussed as well as an rough estimate of what percentage of the work the welder had completed. In addition the option of sending him a registered or 'delivery confirmed' letter was discussed. After more discussion the board decided to start the process of pulling the target parts from this welder and explore other options, notably member Jim Scheibler's contact in the Leavenworth area and Ed Callahan. The method of this was discussed, also at length. In the end it was decided that Bob would try and make contact with the welder within the next seven days. He would tell the welder that the project was being pulled, that he needed to prepare a bill for what work he had done and arrange a date for the WBA to pick up the target parts. At the end of that week, if no arrangements were in place, the welder would be sent a 'delivery confirmed' letter advising him of the WBA's position, the request for a bill and a date to pick up the parts. He would be given, through Bob or the letter, the option of holding onto the parts for five targets to be done by the end of January, his most recent promised delivery date. Mike estimated, from what the welder reported and what Bob had seen on his site visit some months back, that the welder had the project about 70% complete and the board would expect his bill to involve 70% of his original work estimate ($2600 estimate * 70% of which is $1820), plus what the cost of completing the five targets (based on 70% completion - five targets at $100 per for a total of $150 for the five, if he took that option. The estimate due would be $1970.

Minutes for the December meeting were discussed. Jay expressed concern that when he agreed to Race Direct the January event, the one coming this next Saturday, he did not think he committed to Stevens Pass as the site. It was noted that SPNC was the base site for the WBA and events at Mazama, Methow Valley Biathlon's range were either their events or the WBA was a guest, so an assumption was made. It was agreed that site discussion would be done more clearly in the future and that SPNC was the WBA primary winter site. Jon moved to accept the minutes, Chris seconded and they were accepted (6-0). Bob asked about the timing of sending the minutes to the membership. He said that they had been well received by the members he had spoken to, but they were going out without any board acceptance. All agreed that it was important to share the minutes with the members as soon as practical, but some board review was needed first. No one was in favor of delay the minutes for a full month until after the next board meeting. Bob noted that in the history of the WBA the newsletter had been the mode of communication with the membership, but it was a very ineffective one, since its production was a one-man-operation and production was a lot of time consuming work. The minutes did a better job, but did not include some of the material that was in the newsletter, such as Dr. Domey's articles, articles occasionally taken (with permission) from Nat Brown's Nordic Ultratune Newsletter and other like articles that would not fit in the minutes' format. Jack noted that he is planning an article on the membership application process, which he will submit to the website fairly soon. After discussion, the board agreed to the following;

· The newsletter would be eliminated
· A permanent agenda item, discussed at all meetings and put out in the minutes would involve discussion of and titles of articles to be posted on the website. The website would be the publish location for articles.
· Those (few) members who did not give an e-mail address on their membership application would be mailed a copy of the minutes and asked if the lack of an e-mail address was an omission on the application or if they really didn't have one. Those without e-mail addresses would continue to receive mailed copies of the minutes.
· A mailed notice of membership renewal dates (due November 1st of each year) would be mailed out to all members. Many memberships have lapsed this year as no mailing went out in October or November.
· The Secretary will type up each board meeting minutes and distribute them, as a draft form, (by e-mail) to the board. The board members and officers would have five days to respond if any disputes or issues arose about their contents. Failure of a board member to respond in five days was an automatic acceptance of the minutes.
· Once the five days ended or any issues were resolved, the minutes would be e-mailed to the membership and a printed copy would be mailed to members without e-mail addresses.
· At the next board meeting the minutes would be officially accepted.

Chris moved to accept these changes and this process, Jon seconded and the motion carried (6-0)

Jon, Jay and Bob discussed the photos taken at events and how to post them on the website. Jon had linked Jay's photos of the Methow races last month. Bob said he had 70 or so more photos. It was decided that Bob would load his photos and Jay's onto a disk, which would be given to Jon. Jon would then select 25 or so photos for each race to place on the website. Bob noted that he would e-mail his photos of specific members to them.

The January 8th Clinic/Race was discussed. Jay noted that two youths from Leavenworth were interested in coming, but did not have the required safety clinic. These were a 12 and a 10 year old associated with the Linderhof Hotel in Leavenworth. Jay knew the family and Bob and Michele Vallor had discussed biathlon with their mother during a stay last summer. Jay reported that Jim Slyfield agreed to conduct a safety clinic for them, early on January 8th, allowing them to take part in the event later that day. Jay said he anticipated 10 plus biathletes at the event. He expressed that he was learning the Race Director function as he went along and had something he would have done sooner, but all felt the coming event would go well. It is to be a paper target event, with possibly one metal target on site for exposure.

The February and March races were discussed. Bob, the race director for February and Jay, the race director for March agreed to look over the trail maps and select courses that maximized variety. Race formats were discussed with a Sprint Saturday and Pursuit Sunday being likely for both weekend, with differing courses. A discussion of an Individual (long distance) race took place, noting that the format did not work well with weekend set of races. The Individual format race was too long to be preceded or followed with a shorter race. Gary Reed's SPNC course maps, posted on the website were discussed in terms of Mike Spillane obtaining them and putting them in software that would make adjusting courses easier.

The board discussed the group working on bring biathlon to the Ski Hill in Leavenworth. The Leavenworth Winter Sports Club has a group looking into building a range at the hill, integrating it into the cross-country ski trails there. Environmental impact studies are being arranged. Jay is part of this group and Bob had some communication with another member, Hal Malone.

Chris appointed a By-law committee to review and upgrade the existing document. The origin of the existing laws was discussed and some of the changes that many feel are needed. Voting rights and proxy votes are among things that may be changed. The committee consists of Jack, Jon and Chris. It is expected the process will take time and be reported on at each board meeting.

Chris reported on junior biathlete development. Ben Reed of Winthrop is still out with injuries he suffered in a race in Canmore, Alberta. He is undergoing physical therapy, doing strength and endurance training and had hoped to be back racing soon, but it now looks like he may be out several months. Jason Paur of the Bush School in Seattle had contacted Chris about some of his skiers and putting together some biathlon training at the SPAA range. Chris asked Bob to contact Jason and help set that up.

There was a discussion of USBA certification of officials and range safety certifiers. The USBA was not real clear on how to go about getting training for both positions. Bob and Jay spoke briefly about the problems with getting the USBA to be clear on the process of obtaining such certification. No decisions or action was taken at this meeting.

Jon gave a presentation on website and software development. He had done research into 'Dreamweaver' and 'Contribute' software and the costs associated with obtaining the software and use licenses. Jon laid out three purchase options then discussed the problem with licenses needed for each user. In the end it was decided that the purchase of Contribute, with its need for licenses would not be cost effective for the WBA. Instead, Jay would take on the role of a website associate with Jon and they would upgrade the existing 'Dreamweaver' and load information onto the site using existing software.

Jay asked for an explanation of the WBA role in Washington. Chris and Bob gave him a brief history of the growth of biathlon in the state after the WBA formed. It was noted that the WBA wrestled with how to help and relate to other groups and it was quickly decided that the WBA would work to support biathlon anywhere in the state, with any group who was working to the same end. The USBA does not sanction one state organization as the primary biathlon organization in any state. The WBA felt it was never in a position to assume that role of force itself in that role on any other group. It had been decided that the WBA would stick to its vision statement and provide any and all support it could. The differences in the organization in the Methow Valley (MVB) and Yakima, etc. were discussed. As it had developed, the WBA had obtained equipment, which would be shared were needed or requested, the website would be used for passing on information, schedules and promoting any biathlon group in the state.

A brief discussion of equipment storage was deferred to the next meeting,

The next meeting is set for Monday, February 7th at 6:30 p.m. in Bob's offices in downtown Seattle. Contact Bob for directions.

Chris moved to adjourn the meeting. Jon seconded and the meeting ended at 8:51 p.m.

Bob Vallor, Secretary