Participants
Dave Harmon, Cathy Gainor, Nanci Sundel, Tom Denes, Patroula Smpokou, Jeff Dubin,
Pam Blumenthal, Kate Fisken, Kara Permisohn, John Russell, Sandy Kweder, Peter Johnson,
Julie Goldberg, Dottie Buchhagen, Jeanne Crouse
Summary
It’s that time of the year again! Time for our—not to be missed—annual meeting. Board members and interested team members invaded the abode of Cathy Gainor and Tom Denes. We sat inside since it was a touch cold outside. We mashed 15 people into our little living room. So, onto the meeting minutes:
Minutes from Prior Meeting
A motion was made to accept last year’s minutes (held in October 2021) as well as the emergency program transition meeting (held in June 2021). Since nobody had dug too
deeply into the minutes, we quickly approved them.
Officer Positions
We nominated officers for the 2022-2023 season, some enthusiastically and some reluctantly. They are:
· President – Cathy Gainor
· Vice President – John McCaffrey
· Treasurer – Pam Blumenthal (Pam was nominated to take over the position of the retiring
Kate Fisken. Kate said she would stay on to assist Pam. Thanks for your many years of service,
Kate!)
· Secretary – Tom Denes
· Newsletter Editor – Julie Goldberg
· Webmaster – Dottie Buchhagen. (Dottie volunteered to continue as interim webmaster
under we find a replacement. Thanks, Dottie! Pam Blumenthal said that hubby Dan offered to
take over but will be in Pakistan for a year. After the meeting Patroula Smpokou offered to take
up the mantle! She will assume the position when the new website launches. Soon!)
· Registrar – Todd Moses
· Head Coach – Tom Denes
· Record Keeper – Jeff Roddin
· Bulletin Board – Sandy Kweder (Sandy was nominated to take over the duties of Kristin
Koehler who retired. Thanks for your service, Kristin!)
· Social Chair – John Russell (He was nominated since Nanci Sundel is retiring but she said
that she will stay on the Social Committee. Thanks for your service, Nanci! We need to check
if George Humbert wants to stay on the social committee.)
· At Large Board Members – Nominated to remain on or join the board were Kate Fisken,
Nanci Sundel, Peter Johnson, Jeff Dubin, Kara Permisohn, Dave Harmon, Jody Gan and
Sangeeta Bhargava. Leaving the board are Kristin Koehler and George Humbert.
Registration Report
· 218 people have registered as ANCM members so far this year. That’s not too shabby.
· 138 people paid the $15 team dues. (There may be a few more, but tracking this has been
a challenge.) 121 swimmers signed up for the County coached workouts. The average age is
50.5 with a range between 18 and 86.
Financial Report
· Cathy ran a tight ship and our 2021-2022 actual budget versus our proposed budget was
only $4 off! Our net income last year was $3,405 thanks mostly to Kara’s well-managed
Albatross Open that netted $2,473.
Coaching
· Tom Denes reported that the team gets 55% of revenue from the County. We use most of
that to pay the coaches. The coaches were required to do background checks and CPR
training. The board thought that the transition was seamless and that the coaches are doing a
good job. We will propose to the County that the next session go from Jan. 1 to Memorial Day
followed by a summer session going from Memorial Day to as close to Labor Day as we can
get. Tom will work on this with Carrie Headon at the County and Mark Walters at Germantown
Masters.
KSAC Closing
· Sadly, KSAC will close for renovation again, possibly as early as fall 2023. The exact date is
unclear. This will be mitigated by extending the outdoor season by swimming in the Glenmont
heated outdoor pool in the fall as long as we can stand it. If the new Silver Spring facility is
complete, we would also want to swim there. We’ll also still have Olney and MLK pools as
options.
· John Russell suggested asking RMSC what they are going to do. During Covid others have
paid for private pools to heat pools and extend seasons.
Silver Spring Facility
· There is an open house of this facility located at 2nd Ave and Spring St. this Nov. 4 at 7
p.m. Sandy Kweder will attend and report back on what she learns.
Budget
Cathy Gainor presented the budget, which as always generated a spirited discussion.
· Team Fee – we will eliminate the $15 team fee. It’s not needed with the extra income from
running the County swim program.
· Coaches Pay – we pay $32/hr, allow coaches to swim if they want, cover their annual USMS
fee, and cover their certification with USMS. We are carrying forward the same compensation
as previously under Premier Swim, Inc. We think it’s a competitive package but haven’t ground
truthed it.
· Swim Clinic – Sandy Kweder said that she took the USMS course on running a swim
clinic. The major costs are pool rental and instructor cost. The one put on by USMS clinic covers
all four strokes. We included a $2k placeholder in the budget. Sandy will check on this. We
agreed that we should charge swimmers something or they won’t value the experience; perhaps
$25/person and estimate 50 participants.
· Team T-Shirts – we added an item for t-shirts. The original proposal was to give them out
for free but Pam Blumenthal recommended that we charge something. Last time we did this,
we paid $13/shirt and charged $10/shirt.
· Outdoor electric pace clocks – we included two electric pace clocks for the outdoor season
at $650 each.
· Whiteboards – these are needed. Jeanne Crouse said it is better to have two boards with
the practice written on it so all swimmers can see it.
· Coaching Certifications – we increased this to $600. We are encouraging coaches to
become USMS certified if they aren’t already.
· Albatross Open Social – we decided not to hold one again in 2023. It’s a lot of work to do
concurrently with the meet.
· Holiday Party – we will hold this on the first Saturday after Jan. 1 at Nanci’s house.
A motion was made to accept the budget and it was approved.
Albatross Open – Kara Permisohn reported
· Kara Permisohn will be the meet director again in 2023. Thanks, Kara! John McCaffrey is
willing to continue as entries chair. Kara is working with pool manager Jeremy to find a
date. Hope O. will help gather officials. There is a Maryland Masters meet in the spring that we
need to avoid.
Other Items
· Peter Johnson said that Jeff Strahota and Mollie Grover may have a mini meet again. Kara
will check.
· Tom Denes explained why the County programs for Germantown and KSAC/Olney/MLK are
separate. It was for the convenience of the two teams. A few swimmers swim in both
programs; Tom Denes and Mark Walters (Germantown) move money around as
needed. Swimmers should avoid signing up for both programs since it will cost them much
more.
· Sandy Kweder mentioned that she would like to see morning practices. Tom said that Leon
would like to coach in the mornings. That request will be made to Carrie Headon.
Newsletter
Julie Goldberg reported. She asked if there a way to integrate Mail Chimp with our new website. Tom said that we don’t want to lose the newsletters over time. Our team is more than 30 years old and, believe it or not, we have all the newsletters archived on the website! BTW, a big, well deserved and shamefully belated thank you to Dottie Buchhagen for being the newsletter editor from 1997 to
2021 and putting together almost 50 issues of the Rime. 50??? Just wow. And here is a thanks
from Dottie to her support team over the years: “Many thanks to all the ANCM volunteers who
helped me with the newsletters beginning in 1997. First, thanks to all, too numerous to
mention, who contributed articles, news, and other content. Second, thanks to Tom Denes, and
then Cathy Gainor, who proofed every issue. And third, thanks to the group that helped in
mailing the newsletters. Prior to 2015 when I set up an opt-in policy for the hard copies and sent
them only as a link to the pdf posted on the website, the newsletters were mailed. Several of us
gathered for brunch after Sunday morning practices two to three times a year for nearly 16
years and formed an assembly line to put on address labels and stamps and to tape or staple
each of more than 200 newsletters for each issue. Those volunteers were Dave Harmon, Debbie
Kelsey, Alvin Russell, Susan Blum ,Tom Denes and Cathy Gainor. It is important to thank all
volunteers for their contributions. Without them, it would have been much more difficult if not
impossible to put together nearly 50 issues.
Website
Dottie Buchhagen reported that she will change the POC from Clay Britt to Tom. She will continue to manage the website until a new webmaster is found. Dottie migrated all website files to HostGator. There is a password protected file with important account info. Cathy Gainor and Dave Harmon have the
password and access to the document. We should launch the new website before June 17 to make sure we don’t have to pay renewal fees. Dottie is leading the website committee of Mia Garcia, Hannah Rubin and Todd Moniot. Expenditures to date are $51. She will send out a link to the site soon for Board Members to test and make comments. The website should only be launched if we have a permanent webmaster and volunteers to help with content. (As note above, Patroula volunteered! She will take over when the new website is active.) It would be good to have the newsletter and website integrated as was done in the past.
Meeting adjourned