Ark-La-Miss Division Meeting Minutes (Approved 4/23/05)
April 3, 2004 6:20 pm
Attendance: Voting Members:
Clinton Fencing Club – Richard Jones
Fairfield Avenue School of Fencing – Bobby Thornton, Terry Gamble, Jason LeBleu, Teresa LeBleu, Jessica Stonum, Lester Ewing,
Ridgeland Fencing Club – David Williams
Shreveport Fencing Club – Sharron Settlemire, Evelyn Scarborough, Scott Harkey, Terry Harkey, Lydia Rich, Deb Condon
University of Mississippi Fencing Club – John “Doc” Matthews, Eric Aitala, Joseph Oliverius, Kevin Bartley, Vicki Reithel,
Proxies: (including voter)
Lydia Rich (4)
Deb Condon (4)
Richard Jones (6)
Doc Matthews (7)
Sharron Settlemire (11)
Evelyn Scarborough (20)
Scott Harkey (38)
Bobby Thornton (42)
1. Information – Bobby Thornton presiding in absence of chair, Clint Bowers, who had a death in the family and was not attending.
A. General Information and Organizational Items:
1. Letter to membership from Clint Bowers read by secretary.
2. Reading of minutes
MOTION: Approve minutes of Annual Meeting 4/03
Seconded. Unanimous
3. Reading of treasury report.
MOTION: Approve treasury report for 2003-2004 season to present.
Seconded. Unanimous
B. Officer and Director Reports
1. Division Circuit
Discussion: Vice Chair, Bobby Thornton, began the agenda with an invitation for suggestions for the ALM circuit which failed this year. ALMDCC chair, Evelyn Scarborough, said no bids were submitted anywhere close to a deadline. John Matthews complained of the misuse of points other than ALMCC, but it was noted that since no ALMCC points existed, Evelyn was using other outcomes to give us an idea of how our division fencers are doing. There was overwhelming approval to keep the circuit and have someone try to work with scheduling it this coming season.
MOTION: Close discussion.
Seconded. Unanimous
2. Division Equipment
Discussion: Scott Harkey reported that division equipment includes 2 Favero scoring machines with carrying cases, 6 floor cords, 4 Favero reels with power supplies which is including one reel we “lost” at the CCO last weekend, but is expected to be located. One broken Uhlman reel, and old style AllStar box (needs new sabre circuitry) and one copper strip. Discussion about need for equipment to be at all SSCC events and that any club that wishes to use the equipment only has to assume responsibility for its upkeep and making sure it gets to events.
MOTION: Purchase 1 box and 1 pair of reels.
Seconded. Unanimous.
3. Division Patches
Discussion: Over the season, it is generally universally anticipated for the division qualifier patches which would be given by the division to those who qualify for national tournaments. The much anticipated patches were held up for several reasons. Needed input from membership. Suggestion was to have a contest to end June 5 and then purchase them to distribute.
MOTION: Have a 4 week time frame contest which will end May 5, to be posted on the division website. After May 5, entries will be online until June 5. Only 1 vote per member.
Seconded. Unanimous.
4. The chair reported that the University of Mississippi and Oxford Park Commission sought to be allowed to withdraw from the ALM division membership in the Alabama division, but it was reported that was not completed last year. It seems to be on track this year.
MOTION: John Matthews moved to have his Gathering tournament reinstated and remove the revocation of classifications.
Discussion: The Gathering results were sent in under the Alabama Division. While John Matthews himself was never a member of the Alabama division, he assumed his new club was. Alabama chair and secretary deny sanctioning the event, however the treasurer posted the tournament advertisement which was interpreted by Matthews as sanctioning. Matthews presented an email he received from the ALM secretary suggesting other dates he could chose, as evidence that he interpreted as sanctioning from the division. USFA bylaws are clear that a tournament which is scheduled on top of a division-wide national qualifier cannot be sanctioned, so the ALM cannot and will not sanction the event.
Following an hour of complaints regarding the non-sanctioning of the Gathering which was held on top of ALM Junior Olympic Qualifiers in November 2003, the motion died without a second.
MOTION: To have the club with the problem contact the USFA and discuss it with them and have the division offer support.
Seconded. Unanimous.
MOTION: Look into a web based forum for communication.
Seconded. Unanimous.
A. Proposed By-Law Amendments
1. Elimination of ALMCC and divisional point standings.
MOTION: Motion to table.
Seconded. Unanimous.
2. Amend Article IV of bylaws regarding ALMDC chair to be replaced with a second VP for tournament coordination and fifth voting member of executive committee
MOTION: Motion to table
Seconded. Unanimous
. 3. Amend Article IV of bylaws regarding renaming of office of vice-chair to vice chair for club-division relations.
MOTION: Amend Article IV of bylaws to rename the office of vice-chair to vice-chair for club-division relations.
Seconded. For: 90 Against: 7 Motion Passed.
3. Amend Article IV of bylaws to change vice chair in charge of tournament coordination to be second in line of succession to the office of chair.
MOTION: Motion to table
Seconded. Unanimous
4. Add an article to the bylaws stating that a club should submit request to chair or secretary at least two weeks in advance of tournament to be sanctioned.
MOTION: Add an article to the ALM Division Bylaws which states that a club should submit a request to the chair or secretary at least two weeks in advance of a tournament to have said event sanctioned. Failure to submit such a request in a timely manner will result in the event not being sanctioned and classifications not being awarded.
Seconded. Unanimous
3. Amend Article IX of bylaws to include date of birth in the complete information that is to be sent following tournaments.
MOTION: To amend Article IX of the ALM Bylaws to state, ‘…complete tournament information including all participants’ names, dates of birth, classification, club representation, and placement in the event
Seconded. Unanimous
4. Amend bylaws to change composition and function of executive committee.
Discussion: Question would be if this amendment passed, what would be the function of the officers? The officers are elected to represent the membership. A creation of an EC from the member clubs is a good idea, but for advisory purposes only.
MOTION: Amend the amendment to exclude voting power, and include USFA clubs not just clubs.
Seconded. Unanimous
MOTION: Change the composition and function of the executive committee as follows: The Executive committee is composed of the division officers as defined in article IV of the division bylaws, and one member from each USFA club in the division. The representative would be selected by each USFA club.
Seconded. Unanimous
5. Amend bylaws to have rotation for all division qualifiers. And for proceeds of events to be given to host club.
MOTION: Address first part first.
Seconded. Unanimous
Discussion: Noted that the bylaws already provide for a 3 year rotation between the 3 states for the divisional qualifier. Junior Olympics doesn’t rotate at present because the bulk of the youth fencers are in the Shreveport area. This would be revisited if a youth population grows in another area.
MOTION: Rotate Junior Olympics within the 3 states.
Seconded. For: 8 Against: 82
MOTION: Table second part.
Seconded. Unanimous
6. Amend the bylaws to require all new rules and bylaw changes to be approved by a vote of the division membership.
Discussion: This completely eliminates the representative form adopted by the division. It also puts a huge road block to any progress due to required time notifications of membership meetings.
Died without motion.
B. Election of officers
1. Sharron Settlemire was nominated as chair. No other nominations were offered.
MOTION: Accept Sharron Settlemire as chair by acclamation.
Seconded. Unanimous.
2. Josh Roberts was nominated as the 2nd vice chair. No other nominations offered.
MOTION: Accept Josh Roberts as Vice Chair by acclamation.
Seconded. Unanimous.
3. Richard Jones was nominated as 1st vice chair. No other nominations offered
MOTION: Accept Richard Jones as vice chair.
Seconded. Unanimous.
4. Treasurer, Lydia Rich, nominated as treasurer.
MOTION: Accept Lydia Rich as treasurer by acclamation.
Seconded. Unanimous.
5. Secretary, Terry Harkey, nominated as secretary.
MOTION: Accept Terry Harkey as secretary by acclamation.
Seconded. Unanimous.
MOTION: Adjourn
Seconded. Unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Harkey
Ark-La-Miss Division Secretary