Rowing Victoria Inc. Minutes of Board Meeting Date - Wednesday 25 th May 2016 Phone Time 5.30pm 7.30pm 1. Welcome and attendance Present: Pat McNamara, Bill Webster, Caitlin Ripper, James Hatherley, Tom Wood Apologies Joe Joyce In Attendance: Nick Gall: CEO James Scott: Minutes Alice Evans: Events PMc opened the meeting at 5.35pm. 1.2. Acknowledgements 3. Minutes The Board acknowledged the passing of Graham McCall, Debbie Clingleffer-Woodford and Joe Goddard. PMc commented on the outcomes of the Lucerne Regatta with the M1X successfully qualifying for Rio, and the M8+ and W8+ being unsuccessful. 3.1. Draft Minutes April 27 2016 The Board approved the minutes from the 27 th April 2016. 2. For Approval 2.3. Draft 2016/17 Regatta Calender AE introduced the draft calendar noting that: a) The first half of the season is similar to recent seasons with two school regattas aimed at beginners amongst the head race and country regattas. b) Regatta Committees had generally been allocated their preferred date. c) There were some concerns with conducting the Nestles/Hamilton and Dimboola Regattas on consecutive weekends, but that there were reasons for doing so. To some extent, we need to see what happens. 1 BW clarified that Regatta Committees are generally getting the dates they requested, but some could be their second preference. BW queried confidence levels for the proposed MGGS and Korowa junior regattas. AE indicated that the MGGS regatta was expected to go ahead, and that the Korowa regatta was less certain as discussions, to date, had been
with parents rather than the school Director of Rowing. The proposed Korowa regatta will be on the same day as the Melbourne Head but focussed on Y8/Y9 crews. AE is meeting Carrum the following day to discuss possible venue change for the 2016 Carrum Regatta. Any such change would impact the proposed Horsham Regatta that is proposed for the Sunday at Nagambie Lakes. TW queried whether the Sunday is feasible anyway, and CR queried whether it would be the same type of regatta or something different. The Board generally, felt that the proposed Horsham Regatta might not go ahead, but are happy to include it on the 2016/17 Regatta Calendar. PMc queried when HTC Time Trials are likely to occur, and whether they would clash with the 2016 Head of the Goulburn. TW indicated similar issues with the 2016 Melbourne Head. NG pondered whether the NTC TT s could be conducted on Wednesday mornings as traditionally occurred. TW suggested each state conduct their TT s during a window when best suited the state. BW asked which venue the proposed MGGS Regatta would be held at. AE indicated either Footscray or Carrum. The only real impact is the number of lanes which will drive regatta length. BW indicated that the Indoor Rowing Championships has changed. AE advised that the date has not been confirmed, nor have the venue and host. Moving on to the second half of the season which focusses on open/under-age/senior school full distance racing every second week working around the 2017 NSW and Victorian State Championship Regattas. The Barwon Regatta is a week earlier which should reduce the length of the regatta vis-àvis 2016. The Lake Colac Regatta is currently not scheduled as discussions are ongoing as to whether Lake Colac RC want, or have the resources to, conduct the regatta. An extra boy s regatta has been added, and there is a break in the middle of the season for both boys and girls. BW queried who the host was for the boys regatta scheduled at Ballarat on the 11 th February 2017. AE confirmed that the Ballarat Rowing Association had sought a boys regatta and would probably be the hosts. The Head of the Schoolboys regatta is being introduced offering the BAS and APS schools, together with other school boys, another event. The host is still to be determined, but is likely to be RV. Year 10 boy s crews may not be included in the 2017 State Championships. BW queried if RV should continue to conduct row overs. TW suggested that some events with small numbers of entries could be consolidated. AE indicated that consolidation already occurs but takes time and effort. The APS Heads of the River date won t be confirmed for some months. If it does change from the place holder date, then there will be flow-on affects. 2 BW asked whether the State Masters Championships should be alternating between Ballarat and Nagambie like the State Championships. NG indicated that they won t be alternating and that the City of Ballarat understands why.
JH asked whether the proposed works at Nagambie are going ahead. NG indicated that they were and that the proposed amenities block and spit extension were expected to be completed for the 2017 Australian Masters Championships. 2.2. Dates for Australian Masters 2017 AE outlined the background to the proposed 18 th to 21 st May 2017 dates for the 2017 Australian Masters Championships. The date needs to work with the 2017 World Masters Games being held in New Zealand, and RSA and RT have indicated that the proposed date is acceptable. The Board approved the draft 2016/17 Regatta Calendar and the 2017 Australian Masters Championship dates. 2.1. End of April Financials JS indicated that the April YTD profit was $43k with a forecast EOY profit of $20k. This forecast allows for the recent State Masters Championships, staff costs for the remainder of the financial year, and tribunal related costs flowing from inflight incidents. The forecast will continue to be refined during the preparation of the 2016/17 budget. The Board approved the minutes from the 24 February 2016. BW asked whether the minutes from the 17 February 2016 had been distributed for approval. JS indicated that they had been prepared, but could not recall if they had been circulated. Action: Check and, if necessary, circulate for approval by circular resolution. NG 4. Discussion 4.4. 2016-17 Budget Cut 1 JS introduced the first cut of the 2016/17 Budget circulated the previous day. Once again, it is conservative, based on the draft 2016/17 Regatta Calendar including seat estimates for new regattas, and allowing for changes to delivery of Level 1 Coaching Accreditation. At this point, the budget does not include the 2017 Australian Masters Championships. Allowing for portfolio adjustments (not budgeted for), Hall of Fame (not occurring in 2016/17) and International Teams fundraising (not budgeted for), budgeted income is $10k higher than forecast actual. JH queried whether we can increase income further where can we stretch ourselves further. Budgeted expenditure is $21k higher than forecast actual after allowing for portfolio adjustments, disbursements of International Team fundraising, and Hall of Fame costs. This increase is largely attributable to assuming that the Team Director and STPC roles will be filled in 2016/17. 3 TW queried the City of Ballarat funding continuing given that the 2017 State Championships will be conducted at Nagambie. JS indicated that funding continues as RV is conducting a number of large regattas in Ballarat.
Further cuts of the budget will be provided. 4.1. State Team Review Survey Results NG outlined that the survey of athletes, coaches and selectors involved with the 2016 team. We need to scope out topics for further discussion and a forum to be held in a couple of weeks time. TW queried whether names should have been redacted when provided to the Board to mitigate harm due to leakage. PMc asked the Board not to release the survey results. In terms of the collected data, the comments are critical and should be sanitized before being distributed. NG indicated that it would be summarised into a number of points. Selectors need to be involved, and also have the opportunity to meet with the Board. TW wasn t sure how we would respond to the issues raised by athletes. Seems to be substantial amount of angst, which is interesting given the good results achieved. NG indicated that we need to hold a forum with athletes with firm views, selectors, coaches, some Board members, CEO and somebody from the office. Action: Summarise key issues with Selectors for discussion with the Board. NG 4.2. Proposal for Melbourne National Training Centre NG updated the Board on the Victorian submission to RA. RA has acknowledged receipt. Apparently there have been five submissions, which will be whittled down to two before site visits. Discussions are ongoing. 4.3. Proposal for Victorian Pathway Program 5. Reports NG updated the Board on the development and progress with the Victorian Pathway s Programme. NG indicated that he thought it had been quite a productive process involving RA, RV, VIS and MUBC and Mercantile. Discussions and negotiations are also continuing. 5.1. CEO Report The CEO report was accepted. NG indicated that holding the State Masters Championships over two days had worked well with 1318 seats compared to 861 last year. 4 Some commentary around event order and that holding the regatta over two days was merely a money making scheme. However, this format allowed athletes to compete in many of the events that they will be competing in at Nationals, and the costs of conducting the event over two days soak much of the additional income.
BW queried whether the 2017 State Masters Championships would be conducted over two days. Possibly, but in 2017 there are extenuating circumstances associated with the 2017 Australian Masters Championships and having two multi-day regattas in Nagambie in a fortnight. BW spoke to his report from the RA Council Meeting held on the 15 th May 2017. NG asked about the tone of the meeting. BW indicated that it was cooperative and the RA Directors were engaged. PMc suggested that Michael Eastaughffe and David Pincus review umpire manning levels. PMc closed the meeting at 7.10pm Meeting Closed: 7.10 pm Next Meeting: 23 rd June 2016 5
Action Items 27 th April 2016 Action Item Check and, if necessary, circulate for approval by circular resolution Who Date Raised Date Completed NG 27/4/16 27/4/16 6