January 20, 2020 Meeting Minutes

The Webster Water Ski Collective had a general membership meeting on January 20, 2020 at Point Breeze in Webster.
Attendees (15):   Linda, Heather, Carrie, Kevin, Blake, Nick, Bob, Susan, Victoria, Peg, Tim, Gloria, Bill, Karen, Ryan
Known Absences (via email/call) – 7:    Kelly, Ron,  Jim, Dave,  Joan,  Janet,  Joe.

After a social period, the meeting was called to order at 7pm by Ryan

Item 1)   Elections

In the previous meeting on October 29th, 2019, the following people were nominated for officers:

President: Ryan DesRoches
Vice President: Nick Cioffi
Secretary: Heather Jackman
Treasurer: Linda Candela
Director: Carrie Wolfe

These nominees were announced in the meeting minutes and new nominations were allowed per collective rules. No new nominees were brought forward.
A motion was made to accept the nominees and elect the above slate of officers, the motion was seconded and there were no objections.

Congratulations to our new and first ever slate of officers! The officers will assume their duties immediately.

Item 2) Incorporation / Banking

Ryan gave the floor to Linda to discuss the state of incorporation and tax-exempt status.

Linda talked about our options to file as a 501c3 versus a 501c7 organization, with the major difference being that a 501c3 is specific for charitable works and a 501c7 was more for social clubs. The only difference as the benefit for the collective is that a 501c3 would be fully tax exempt and would allow people that donate to the collective to write off the donation on their taxes.

Tim then mentioned that he did some research and noted that USA Water Ski was listed as a 501c3 and that our mission statement to educate and provide training should be enough to qualify us for 501c3 status.

A motion was raised to approve the collective to organize as a 501c3 organization.
The vote was approved with no objections.
Linda will be tasked with organizing the paperwork to file for this. We will have until the end of the year to file.

A second motion was raised to adopt the USA Water Ski mission statement as our own, with one subtraction concerning tournaments/competitions.
The vote was approved with no objection.
An action was taken for Tim to rewrite the mission statement and provide it back to the board.

A discussion was raised about our EIN number and bank accounts. It was discussed that Linda and Ryan would be the two primaries on the account and that an annual audit would be done. Quarterly reconciliations would also be done and discussed as part of the treasurers report at the beginning of every meeting. Accounting will be done electronically via Quicken.

A third motion was raised to immediately get our EIN number and open bank accounts per the above discussion. Kevin suggested using Webster 5 as our bank, due to connections we have with them.
The vote was approved with no objection.
An action for Linda and Ryan to obtain the EIN number and open the bank accounts immediately.

Item 3) Bylaws

Bylaws were discussed, and as mentioned in the October meeting, they have been out for review on the collective’s Google Drive. Very few comments were collected, and they all were incorporated back into the document by the bylaw committee. It is understood that the bylaws will be a “living document” and that we expect changes to it as the collective moves forward.

A motion was made to accept and adopt the bylaws as they are currently constituted.
The vote passed with no objections
Ryan will take the action to have the bylaws posted to the collective’s website.

Item 4)  Logo and Website

Ryan mentioned that the website is up and running, but future enhancements will be made to it.      Among the future enhancements will be an online “store” and the ability to do online payment of memberships once the checking account is set up.     

Ryan then asked if anyone would like to help maintain the website and social media channels and Blake mentioned that he would like to help.     Ryan will provide Blake with the login information and assist with anything needed on that front. 

New information pages will also be added to the site, including links to bylaws and a list of officers and certified officials.

Nick then addressed the logo and mentioned that there were only a few comments on the second revision of the logo.    
A motion was made to adopt this latest revision of the logo.   The vote passed with no objections
An action was taken for Nick to try to get the SVG/Illustrator files of the logo delivered to us.    A artist’s credit will be ported to the website, as the logo was generously donated to the collective.

Item 5) News on Home Base for 2020

The Home Base” for the 2020 season has been secured!   We will have a more formal announcement soon, but the details were sent out via email to those on our mailing list.   

Public announcements will be made as we get closer to the spring.    However, we have a spot that will allow the collective to grow and host events!   We also have a site B in Charlton on Glen Echo lake, and the potential to grow there as well.  

The collective would like to thank Kevin and Karen for helping to formalize the agreement!   

Item 6) Proposal from Kevin on a Video Event

This was put on hold, as the owner of the video has not given us new information on it.

Item 7) Discussion on USA Water Ski rules and requirements including drivers, etc.

Discussion started with Ryan giving information on what constitutes a sanctioned practice and the officials we need for it. At this time, the collective has numerous safety officials, but is lacking with certified drivers. It was determined that we should plan for a Driver’s clinic/certification exam in the spring (date TBD) and also hold a safety coordinator clinic at Koinonia Sports Complex in Thompson sometime in February or March. Ryan will reach out to instructors for both and plan these events soon.

In addition, people were encouraged to take the instructors examination, as we currently have three licensed instructors but would love to have more in our ranks. Anyone that wishes to get certified for either driving, safety and/or instructor can contact Ryan for more details or click the links below.

Instructor Training can be found here: https://www.usawaterski.org/members/online-testing/
SafeSport Certification here: https://www.usawaterski.org/members/safesport-certification/
Driver’s programs here: https://www.usawaterski.org/members/drivers-program/
Safety Coordinator program here: http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/officials/HowtoBecomeASafetyCoordinator.pdf

Only instructors may hold a clinic, and per collective rules, only members whom have got a background check and earned Safe Sport certifications will be allowed to work with skiers in and out of the water during collective activities.  

Bill Michalson also mentioned that he would donate two portable Marine radios so that we will have proper communications between the shore and the boat drivers.

Carrie will also obtain for us a backboard/first aid kit for the collective to have on site. Thees items will also be donated to the collective. Carrie also mentioned that we can have a first-aid clinic if requested for collective members.

Item 8)  New Business

The next general meeting will be our Spring kickoff on April 13th at 7pm at Point Breeze. We will discuss ski nights and schedules at this point.   Ryan and Heather will send out an agenda once formalized.  

A board meeting might be planned before the next general meeting. This will be announced on Facebook and on the website, and will be open to members to attend, but is intended for the board to plan for the season and tie up loose ends before the next general election.