Chairperson Nannette Halliwell called the meeting to order at 1:10 PM

Executive Committee members present in addition to the chairperson: Tim Stuldreher, Vice-Chairperson; Richard Kirchoff, Secretary/Treasurer; April Kauffman, Member-at-Large; Terrie Doom, Member-at-Large; Carol Buerdsell, Congress Representative. Other members present: Andrew Schrom, Kim Bleecker, Rachel Caldwell, Carolyn Halliwell, and Amy Madzelan. Guests present Doug Schrom.

The minutes from the annual meeting of the division held on July 19, 2009 were reviewed. Tim Stuldreher made a motion to accept the minutes as read. April Kauffman seconded the motion. The motion to accept the minutes was passed unanimously.

Because we had a quorum of executive committee members present we reviewed the minutes from the executive committee meeting held on August 15, 2009. Tim Stuldreher made a motion to accept the minutes as read. April Kauffman seconded the motion. All six executive members present voted in favor of the motion to accept the minutes.

It was noted that the executive committee recommended at their meeting on August 15^th that an outside audit of the past records be completed because of prior discrepancies. Tim Stuldreher checked into that possibility by contacting three different firms. All three firms were unanimous in saying any form of professional review would cost far in excess of the $200.00 limit set at the August 15 meeting. A basic “review of agreed –upon-procedures” would cost well over $1000.00. An actual audit would cost a minimum of $7500.00. Moreover, given our limited paper trail, it is unlikely that a review would uncover anything of significance. All three firms recommended that we put the past behind us, so to speak, and instead focus on improving our transparency and financial oversight procedures going forward.

It was recommended that a financial report be included with the minutes of each meeting. The bank statements are our definitive records of transactions on the account. Dick Kirchoff and Tim Stuldreher are the two authorized names on the account to write checks and make transactions. The executive committee must approve any check written for an amount over $100.00.

It was noted that both sets of minutes are on the website for all division members to read.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Tim Stuldreher gave a report on the emails sent out to all members of the nominating committee. He reviewed that the nominating committee is charged with soliciting members to run for office; provide the division secretary not later than March 15^th an announcement of the election of officers for the division; a description of the offices and officer requirements; the due date that candidates for office must submit their letter for candidacy (April 10); the date that a slate should be submitted to the secretary from the committee (April 15).

TOURNAMENT COMMITTEE:

Hannah Emig was not available to give a report so Nannette Halliwell gave the report in her place. It was noted that we have several competitions scheduled in October and November. The schedule is posted on the website with links to askfred for registration. Also the Hespenheide Foil and Tom Dann Epee are posted. The tournament committee will be working on the second half of the schedule as soon as possible. We still need to find sites to hold the division qualifiers for Div II /III and Under-16 and Youth –14 Qualifying Events for Summer Nationals. Nannette will make sure that Hannah has everyone’s email that is on the tournament committee.

Each tournament that is sanctioned must provide to the division secretary a hard copy of the tournament results including a financial report. The hard copy is to be kept in the records of the division. It was suggested that we also perhaps could scan the results to an electronic copy. When the tournament is posted on askfred that does provide an electronic copy. Nannette also is planning to scan all records to an electronic copy at the end of the season. Possibly some other members of the division could get bout committee status on askfred in the future.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE:

April Kauffman provided copies of forms for a Division Equipment Lending Policy. She is in the process of an inventory and collection of all division equipment. Once collected it will all be checked for proper operation and each piece will be given a specific number. We will also know at that time if anything is in need of replacement. The three forms for the equipment lending policy that she provided were a “Harrisburg Division Fencing Equipment Lending Agreement”, “Return Assessment Form” and a “Damage And Repairs Form”. All forms were briefly discussed and a few wording changes were recommended. April expects to have the inventory completed and a final wording of the forms by the next meeting. April Kauffman and Amy Madzelan were thanked for their work on the forms and inventory. It was recommended that all the equipment be kept in one place at April’s house.

REFEREE COMMITTEE:

Terrie Doom gave a report on the referee clinic that is scheduled for November 22^nd at Millersville University. Brad Baker will be providing the clinic and the written test for general rules and each weapon will be available after the clinic. The division will be paying Brad a flat fee of $800.00 for the clinic. The normal fee for the clinic is $50.00 plus $10.00 for the test fee. The executive committee decided that all Harrisburg Division members including any Millersville students would only have to pay $10.00 for the clinic, which includes the test fee if they choose to test out. All other participants from outside the division will pay the $50.00 clinic fee plus a $ 10.00 testing fee.

Terrie discussed the documents that are necessary to be studied by participants attending the clinic. It was discussed that possibly we could have a pre-clinic study session for anyone interested in coming. Tim Stuldreher was going to look into setting something up at Lebanon or Millersville and Terrie was going to check the possibility of getting the library in Colonial Park. Any difficult questions that someone is having a hard time with finding the correct answer should contact Terrie.

It was discussed that possibly we could arrange for practical testing at the Mid-Atlantic Senior Sectionals or perhaps at the Hespenheide Foil.

BY-LAWS COMMITTEE:

It was discussed that because our by-laws are still not in accordance with the National by-laws that we should form a committee to start to look at revising them. The National by-laws are also in the process of being revised at the present time but our committee could look at our by-laws and start to look at some necessary changes. Members of the Division by-laws committee will be: Carol Adams, Carol Buerdsell, Terrie Doom, Dick Kirchoff, and Tim Stuldreher.

TREASURERS REPORT:

Dick Kirchoff presented an interim financial report dated October 15, 2009. He reported that the previous division account was closed at Members 1^st Federal Credit Union by Steve Squibb because there were no local branches in this area. A new account was opened at Susquehanna Bank in Lancaster. We had an opening balance of $7758.55, which was transferred from the other account. We had an income of $ 215.50 from the Tom Dann tournament, USFA membership rebates, an L’Equippe tournament and a small interest amount. We had expenses of $59.85 for three months of invoices for the PA Online web site. Our balance as of October 15^th was $7914.20. We have expected expenses of $ 800.00 for the referee clinic and Nannette Halliwell submitted a receipt for $ 40.01 for printing and binders that she made up for division tournament manuals. We can anticipate some unknown income for the referee clinic and some scheduled tournaments. An updated report will be given at the next meeting.

SENIOR MID-ATLANTIC SECTIONALS

Nannette was going to check to see if Gary had finalized a contract with Northern Lebanon School District. Dick Kirchoff reported that he had received the third party insurance certificate for the tournament to cover the school district.

Dick Kirchoff reviewed the responsibilities of the division for the tournament. The division has submitted a budget to the section, which was approved. The tournament expenses are paid from the entry fees of the participants. If the division stays within the budget it has the opportunity to make a small profit. The division is responsible for the site; for scoring equipment, for setup and tear down of all equipment; for personnel to assist with running the tournament; for a trainer; for food and beverages for all officials; for any miscellaneous items and for awards or medals. Nannette has volunteered to run the tournament on askfred and fencing time. She is aware of the financial contract that must be filled out to have fees collected by askfred. Chris Medalis has arranged for 8 full sets of scoring equipment from Absolute Fencing for the tournament.

The section officers will be there to assist in running the tournament along with the division officers. The section receives $ 7.00 from every registered fencer. The section sanctions the tournament and final responsibilities lie with the section officers. The section officers will assist the division in whatever it needs for a successful tournament. The section will be hiring referees and armourers based on our budget. All fees for the officials will come from the tournament entry fees.

Dick Kirchoff reported that he has arranged for Mary Frye to be our FOC representative for the tournament. Tim Hively will be the armourer. It was suggested that we have a few of our members that are interested assist him. We will post information about the tournament in the near future.

WEB SITE

Doug Schrom was thanked for doing an excellent job in updating the web site. It is recommended that everyone check out the new website. The website will soon be listed as the official site for information about the division and events. It was also noted that we could use the yahoo group for an additional method to get information to the members. There was some general discussion on putting information also on “Facebook”.

NEW BUSINESS

We have a current policy in effect specifying a club/division split of a sanctioned tournament. It was suggested that we have an actual printed out policy we can send to club owners and anyone else interested in hosting sanctioned tournaments, which specifies club/division split, lead time required for posting on askfred and any other issues the EC thinks are necessary. This will be referred to the executive committee for consideration and discussion. This policy could also be posted on the division website. After a policy is approved it will be mailed to all club owners.

Cindi Moore requested that we reconsider the club division split for the L’Equipe fencing club because Nic Alexe has a large rent to pay for the site. This will be referred to the executive committee for discussion.

The next executive committee meeting will be scheduled for December or early January.

The next general membership meeting will be scheduled for March.

Tim Stuldreher was thanked for extending the hospitality of opening up his house to us for this meeting.

There was a brief review of all that we had covered in the meeting. The meeting was adjourned by mutual consent at 3:40 PM

Respectfully Submitted,

Richard Kirchoff, Secretary