Apr. 13, 2005 Executive Committee Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 7:12 PM by Chairman Louise Lepie at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center at 4997 West Bellfort, Houston. Other Officers present were Vice Chairman Jerry Dunaway and Secretary Matt Delevoryas. [Secretary's note: Between the previous meeting and this meeting, Vice Chairman John Trojanowski offered his resignation, and the Chairman appointed Jerry Dunaway as a replacement.] Treasurer Dennis Meyers was absent.

The draft minutes of the previous (Mar. 1) meeting, as they had appeared on the Division Web site, were accepted without objection.

In the absence of the Treasurer, the Chairman presented a report from the office of Treasurer. As part of transferring the Division treasury from a savings account to a checking account, she had visited Washington Mutual three times so far, and was awaiting from John Trojanowski the employer identification number associated with the Division. Other than that, all paperwork had been filled out, and a signature would be needed from Dennis Meyers, who she wants to have meet her the following Saturday at Washington Mutual. John Trojanowski was to get a check with the balance of the old account, payable to "Gulf Coast Division". The new account was to have no check charges or fees. Once the treasury is in a checking account, it will be possible to settle the existing accounts payable, presuming the presentation of appropriate supportive documentation. As of April 5, the old account contained $4,229.54.

Matt Delevoryas, as the person delegated to handle Division equipment loans, reported on the state of the equipment. He reported:

The two main strip scoring equipment sets are in good shape with two previously reported significant exceptions.

1) The floor cords still missing for the "red set" and still being substituted for by a better floor cord set owned by Texas A&M University Fencing Club. Although a previous meeting had authorized purchase of replacements for the Division cords, I had not yet exhausted the final resources in attempting to locate the lost cords. However, it now seems beyond the point of diminishing returns.

2) Exactly two of the 16 rubber feet of the Favero Millennium reels are missing from their mounting holes. I have no reason any more to believe that the original feet will be found. I suggest that I be authorized to spend equipment maintenance money to procure replacements, provided I do not devise a cheaper way to deal with their loss than buying replacements, and I do not find the price too great. It is not known when the feet disappeared, except that one reel was observed to be in use at the J.O. qualifiers with two feet already missing. A previous meeting authorized my purchase of replacements for the rubber feet.

As reported at the January Executive Committee meeting, replacement microcontroller chips were installed in the Favero FULL-ARM-05 scoring boxes. These chips were two-program chips, capable of allowing the use of the scoring box either as an "old timings" or as a "new timings" box. Reimbursement for the expenditure, from the fund set aside for equipment maintenance, has been requested and not received.

There is no change in the status of the Escrime Technologies SG21V1 box.

Since the March 1st Executive Committee meeting, the two main sets of equipment have been lent to Katy Blades for the Houston Cup #3, approved for loan to SHHSFT for timekeeper training but unable to be delivered because the previous borrower had not returned them, lent to the North Texas Grand Prix (an SSCC tournament) and allegedly not used despite some indication that the contents had been intermixed and one of the cases (reversibly) altered, and one set lent (and not yet back from the loan) to TAMUFC for use at Club Nationals Championship Tournament at Michigan State University. Discussion is in progress about a loan of the same one set, and possibly the other one too, to TAMUFC for SWIFA #4. They have already been requested and, subject to the possibility of pre-emption due to future yet higher-priority requests, granted to TAMUFC for use at Divisionals, and they are subject to call by Sectionals.

Jerry Dunaway moved that the two main sets of equipment be permanently engraved with indication of Division ownership. The motion passed.

There was some discussion of Division sponsorship of referee development opportunities, both activity in progress and new activity. Louise Lepie moved that the Division pay $200 for Mauro Hamza to have a referee seminar presented by Amgad Badawi at Salle Mauro April 29^th, with reservations for places being made through the Division Secretary, capped at 15 people entitled to take the seminar, or take written tests, or be observed for rating improvement, or any combination thereof, participation to be limited only to current members of the Gulf Coast Texas Division, with other minor details including exact time to be at the discretion of the Secretary. The motion passed.

It was noted that there already existed arrangements for Gary van der Wege to give a referee seminar the evening before Divisionals with the Division paying for whatever would be necessary for the organizers of Divisionals to incur no incremental expenses due to the referee development. However, it was noted that many details had not been made firm, and that there was no provision for anyone other than the entire Executive Committee to take action to tie up certain possible loose ends. Further, it was noted that advance interest in the seminar was very small. Jerry Dunaway moved that unless seven people had asked for places by the end of the upcoming Monday, then the seminar would be canceled, and that in any case the authority to make any related miscellaneous minor decisions be delegated to Matt Delevoryas. The motion passed.

Matt Delevoryas raised the topic of possible reimbursement for the $88.75 he spent for each of three required mailings to the voting members of the Division, specifically the mailing announcing the proposed Bylaw changes for the March 21st Division meeting, the following mailing announcing the time and place of that meeting, and the mailing announcing the Annual Meeting. By general consensus, the assembly approved reimbursing Matt Delevoryas for the $266.25.

The assembly discussed the existing delegation of certain authority for the Division's Web site to its webmaster, the limits to the delegation, and the incorrect information on the home page for the recently changed Vice Chairman, and the changed e-mail address for the Treasurer. In particular, there was some discussion about rescinding the existing discretion for the webmaster to change at will the news item headline listing on the home page, and the news items to which they link. Ultimately, Louise Lepie moved that the webmaster be authorized to update on the home page the e-mail address for the Treasurer, and information relating to the change of Vice Chairman from John Trojanowski to Jerry Dunaway. The motion passed.

The assembly discussed organizational and responsibility matters involving the Division's Committee known as the Bout Committee and the bout committee for individual tournaments. It was noted that the USFA Operations Manual already defined exactly what a tournament's bout committee is, and what authority and responsibility its chairman has. Chapter II (Organization of Competitions) Section 5 (Management and Control of Competitions) Part B (Bout Committee) subpart (1) (Duties) was noted to read:

Each bout committee, through its chair, is responsible for and in complete charge of all competitions within its jurisdiction, including all officials, contestants, and spectators. At national competitions, the Tournament Committee representative works in conjunction with the bout committee chair to ensure that the competition is conducted in accordance with the criteria approved by the Board of Directors.

The bout committee itself is not a parliamentary body that makes administrative decisions by majority vote. All of the committee's authority is vested in the chair, who may delegate it as he or she sees fit. The advisory capacity cannot overrule the chair on administrative matters. Only on questions properly brought to it on appeal does the bout committee decide by majority vote. In such cases, the chair has only one vote.

The bout committee has no power to amend the rules of fencing. In emergency cases it may waive or modify the rules of organization for a particular competition with the consent of the fencers directly or indirectly affected, but in all such cases a report of the action taken must be submitted to the appropriate governing body.

The decisions of the bout committee on matters within its jurisdiction are final. However, if it ignores a positive prescription of the rules, or applies the rules incorrectly, a protest by the aggrieved person or team is allowed. If the protest is overruled by the bout committee, the aggrieved person or team may appeal, in writing, to the Jury of Appeal.

The bout committee, subject only to the Jury of Appeal, has the ultimate authority for conducting a competition. It is in charge of all personnel, competitors, officials and other persons present, including spectators.

The meeting adjourned at 9:32 PM by general consent.