Annual General Meeting
Opening of the Meeting
President Charles Ferguson called the meeting to order, introduced the officers and members of the USOF Board of Directors in attendance, and read USOF’s official mission statement.
Agenda
The agenda as previously provided to the meeting was unanimously approved by voice vote.
Report of Credentials Committee
The Credentials Committee reported that 27 clubs were represented at the meeting, represented by 38 delegates with a total of 1145 votes under the voting system established by the By-laws.
Certifiers of Minutes
Mary Frank (Delaware Valley Orienteering Club) and Mike Brooks (Quantico Orienteering Club) were unanimously approved by voice vote as certifiers of the minutes of the meeting.
On motion made by John Fairley, and seconded by Clare Durand, the meeting dispensed with reading of the minutes of the 2001 annual general meeting, which had been previously distributed, and approved those minutes.
Reports of the Treasurer and
Auditor
Robin Shannonhouse, USOF Executive Director, provided a written report of USOF accounts and finances. Sam Burd, Jr., Treasurer of the Endowment Fund reported on the accounts and finances of the Endowment Fund. Both reports are attached to these minutes. Cathy Yekenevicz reported that she had inspected the accounts and financial records of both USOF and the Endowment Fund and considered them to be in proper order. USOF does not obtain, and Cathy Yekenevicz did not provide, a formal audit of the books or an auditor’s opinion.
2003 Budget
Robin Shannonhouse reported that the annual process to develop the 2003 USOF budget is under way, and that a proposed budget will be presented to the Board for approval at its next meeting.
Election of Officers and At-large
Board Members
The following USOF members were nominated:
Vice-president Administration – Frank Kuhn
Vice-president Club Services – Scott Drumm
Vice President Marketing – Robert Rycharski and Frank Skorina
At Large Board Member – Sandy Fillebrown
On a motion by Mike Minium, seconded by Walter Siegenthaler, the meeting by voice vote unanimously elected Frank Kuhn, Scott Drumm and Sandy Fillebrown in the three uncontested races. Ballots were distributed in the contested race for Vice-President – marketing. After counting the ballots, the certifiers announced the election of Frank Skorina. On a motion by Linda Ferguson, seconded by Mike Minium, the meeting by voice vote unanimously directed that the ballots be destroyed.
President Chuck Ferguson announced the results of the elections for regional representatives to the Board, and their alternates:
Heartland: Stephanie Martineau (MNOC), representative; Gale Teschendorf (CAOC), alternate.
Pacific: Clare Durand (LAOC), representative; Syd Reader (BAOC), alternate.
Northeast: Robert Buraczynski (CNYO), representative; Joanne Sankus (NEOC), alternate.
President’s Report
President Chuck Ferguson thanked Mike
and Vivien Fritz for hosting the meeting at their
He also thanked the credentials committee: Al Petit, Linda Ferguson and Betsy Hawes.
He read the USOF Mission Statement, adopted several years ago. It states the
reasons for having a national federation in the
He reflected on the great contribution to orienteering made over the years by Al Smith, who recently died.
He described the new promotional video being produced by Chris Cassone.
He is looking for a volunteer to serve as USOF safety coordinator.
Jerry
Rhodes, for single-handedly revitalizing orienteering participation in the
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Cathy Yekenevicz, for excellence in her continuing work reviewing USOF financial records, and for her work in helping to establish the new USOF Endowment Fund.
Bob Rycharski, for perseverance and dedication that made the 2002 National Orienteering Day the most successful ever.
Reports of the Vice-Presidents
Frank Kuhn, Vice-president for administration, Scott Drumm, Vice-President for club services, Eric Bone, Vice-president for competition, and Sheri Litasi filed written reports which are attached to these minutes.
Mike Minium, Vice-president for program development delivered an oral report. He thanked Frank Kuhn for his work on Trail-O development, and David Irving and Karen Dennis for an excellent 2002 Trail-O championship event. He described the development of amateur radio direction finding using orienteering maps. He is looking for volunteers to coordinate orienteering with the developing sport of geocaching. Liz Kotowski has taken charge of development of college clubs and is organizing a committee. He described Greg Sack’s work on teaching lesson plans for orienteering, and on distributing orienteering information for schools. He thanked Carol Moran for filling the orders for the O in Schools teachers book. He announced that 20,000 flyers describing orienteering have been printed and are available to clubs, as is the orienteering display that can be used at meetings, and shows.
A report was presented on the SportIdent project. Eight clubs have rented USOF’s equipment; seven clubs have bought their own.
Proposals from Committees and the
Board
None
Proposals from Member Clubs
None
Questions Related to the
Constitution and Bylaws
None
Questions Related to Competition
Rules
None
Questions Related to Competition
Meets
Joanne Sankus asked why there is no M75 class, even though there are M75 competitors.
Sara Mae Berman announced that the World Championships will be held annually beginning in 2004.
Questions Related to USOF
Publications
Sara Mae Berman noted that USOF once considered developing regular electronic communication with its members and clubs, perhaps with a members-only web site. She observed that not much has been done to follow-up on this idea.
Questions on Membership
Chuck Ferguson stated that membership and starts have been static. He noted that web access to orienteering information, particularly schedules, results and rankings, makes membership less valuable.
Questions on Membership Fees and
Other Financial Matters
Chuck Ferguson stated that USOF is looking at the possibility of developing a life membership category.
Other Business
Chuck Ferguson led a discussion on
whether National Orienteering Day should be moved from spring to fall. The
orienteering season usually begins in September, and there is some logic to
having our big promotion at a time when people have a whole season of events
ahead to try out the sport. In May, many clubs’ seasons are drawing to a close.
Some concern was voiced about avoiding conflicts between NOD and championship
events.
Clare Durand, chairman of the special committee to review the course/class structure, noted that her committee does not yet have a final proposal, but will present its report at the next Board meeting. She said that the data from the committee’s survey does not show support for more choices and that a majority of respondents like the five-year age brackets. The committee does not think that more classes can be provided with so few orienteers to spread among them. The committee is considering whether more courses, perhaps splitting green, should be tried. On the assignment of F50 to brown instead of green, she said that the committee has nothing new to contribute to that discussion. People in that class want to run on green, but their performance shows that they belong on a shorter course. Assigning F18 to green has strong support. The committee does not think there are enough participants to justify new M70 and M75 classes.
Chuck Ferguson announced the Silva Award to Evan Custer of the Bay Area
club. Evan headed the effort to bring electronic punching to the
Evan was selected by USOF’s executive committee from a strong field of six candidates. Chuck thanked Jon Nash, chairman of the awards committee, for managing the selection process, and Anne and Steve Dentino for their work on the award trophy.
Adjournment
On a motion by Karen Dennis, seconded by Clare Durand, the meeting was adjourned by unanimous voice vote.