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Board Meeting Minutes
Posted: 10/22/08
VERMONT STATE
WOMEN’S GOLF ASSOCIATION
Meeting:
Board of Directors / Committee Chairs
Date/Time: October 14, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.
Place:
Lake Morey
Attended
by: Tracy
Sloan, Sue Ginnett, Mary Corey, Suzanne Neville, Jeanne DiBattisto, Nancy
Myers, Kathy Allbright, Cindy Paquet, Sarah Lee, Judy Manley, Ellen Sheffer,
Jeanne Morrissey, Shari Pfannenstein, Harriet Parot, Phyllis Simon, Deb Warner
Recorded
by: Mary
Corey
President,
Tracy Sloan, called the meeting to order.
President’s
Report:
Tracy Sloan welcomed everyone and asked that the entire Board and Committee
Chairs introduce themselves. Tracy
created a new VSWGA Board Manual that was distributed to everyone present.
She stated there was a section for job descriptions and asked that
Board Members and Committee Chairs write job descriptions.
Copies of the Agenda were e-mailed prior to the meeting, Tracy
announced the agenda was extensive and we should be thorough but stay focused
on the topics.
Minutes:
Minutes
for May 08, 2008, Mini Meeting Minutes for May and Mini Meeting Minutes for
July, August, and September were edited and approved by e-mail. Tracy asked that the Minutes be accepted as written.
Minutes were approved.
Treasurers
Report/Proposed Budget for 2009: Tracy Sloan prepared the 2009 Proposed Budgets,
capturing the estimated income and expenses based on historic data, expressing
how difficult it was to prepare a Proposed 2009 Budget with a $9,939
deficit balance. Adjustments
and explanations are:
a. The Final (Awards) State Day Income Notes should
be changed from 80 teams to 82.
b. The New GHIN computer was estimated at $1000 and
should be $1500.
c. State Day Rep Training should be increased from
$300 to $600.
d. A suggestion was made to move the USGA Intern
Grant Expense to Administrative Office Expenses. The USGA did not renew
the $10,000 Intern Grant for 2009, so the VSWGA will have to absorb this
expense and change the job title to administrative assistant.
Tracy
did an excellent job of preparing the VSWGA Proposed Budget.
A motion was made to accept the Proposed Budget with the changes.
Motion Carried.
Course
Rating: Currently, the VSWGA has 19 courses that need to be rated.
Carolyn Barbieri agreed that she would continue as the Course Rating
Chair if the Board voted in her recommendations:
How do we get
back on track:
Jeanne Morrissey made a recommendation that we make this a competition by
having two team leaders: One from the North and one for the South, seeing who
can rate the most courses during the season with the winning team receiving
VSWGA jackets or shirts. The Board agreed this was a good idea.
Nancy Myers volunteered to be the Team Captain for the north with
Jeanne Morrissey as her Assistant Captain.
She recommended that we ask Nina
Tasi if she would consider accepting the position of Team Captain for the
South. One of the
stipulations of the competition is that they must share course raters.
We only have seven qualified Team Leaders, Nancy
Myers, Nina Tasi, Carolyn Barbieri, Marilyn Patten, Ellen Sheffer, Shari
Pfannenstein and Ethelyn Bartlett. To
qualify you must have attended the Course Rating Seminar and have 3 years of
rating experience.
The VSWGA Office will send out initial contact
letters but the Team Leaders will be responsible for actual scheduling.
The courses that need to be rated will receive an introduction letter
from the VSWGA office stating: The
Team Captain will be contacting you to schedule a course rating date.
They should be served complimentary lunch, and receive golf vouchers.
Motion:
A motion was made for the Board to keep the position of Rating Chair as
a management position that would oversee two Team Leaders for the North and
South and is responsible for data input.
The Team Leaders will have assistants and be responsible for scheduling
ratings and establishing course-rating teams.
Motion Carried.
Rutland must to be rated this year; it is the only
course that is on the 3-rotation list.
Harriet Parot stated she needs the rating information
in a more timely fashion. A
reasonable turnaround time would be one week.
Meet the USGA Course Licensing requirement:
To meet the USGA Course Licensing requirement we must send a VSWGA
member to the National Calibration Seminar.
It’s always good to see how we measure up to the other states.
The Board would like to send two members, Harriet Parot and Carolyn Barbieri.
New Chair: The Board hopes that Carolyn Barbieri will accept the
position of Course Rating Chair and continue maintaining the system data.
Tournament
Operations: Shari Pfannenstein prepared a new tournament operations
proposal. She sent surveys
to 20 states similar in size to Vermont.
Of the seven responders, most have procedures much like ours but want
to elevate their tournament level. New Hampshire has a policy that its Board
Members must be tournament officials if they do not play.
Review
Shari’s proposal:
Shari proposed that all VSWGA Board Members be required to be a
non-playing Tournament Official for one of the Major Tournaments each season.
As an official they would determine tee locations, mark the course,
determine pairings, one person would act as a starter, two people on the
scoring table, four members would work as Pace of Play Check Point Officials.
In addition, Board members could check hole locations and the condition
of the bunkers (if they felt comfortable doing that and/or were properly
trained), and make sure there is a defined Scoring Area in close proximity to
the 18th green.
Discuss
Options:
Mary Corey stated she thought this was too extensive
for an Amateur Tournament, that Board members were not qualified to check pins
or set tee locations, etc. She
would be uncomfortable doing these tasks without training. She felt that our Tournament Chair, Kathy Allbright, was
doing a marvelous job and preferred leaving those duties up to the
professionals.
Suzanne Neville sends out the letters, and although
Kathy Allbright does not have a VSWGA Tournament Committee she does meets with
the Course Tournament Chair and her Committee, ensuring that the Tournament
Chair has selected someone to be responsible for each recommended Committee
Chair position. Kathy asks if
they have any questions and do they understand their duties.
She makes sure the Club Pro and Course Superintendent are aware that we
want a good balance of pin placements that must be fair to the participants.
She lets them know the yardage needed for the tournament, which holes
should be lengthened and checks the course conditions.
Shari Pfannenstein said that it was not good to have
a Tournament Chair without a VSWGA Tournament Committee.
What would happen if Kathy got sick?
Yes, most of our tournaments run well but there are always Pace of Play
issues and not everyone goes to the Scoring Table when they finish their
round. They complete their
scorecards in the parking lot then drop them off.
If they were playing in the US
Amateur they would be disqualified. The only suggested duties that would
require prior training would be the Rules Official and whoever determines the
pin locations. We should give our young players
a real tournament experience. Anyone
can check a pin placement with a Break Master,
if the course has a green that the Break Master reads at higher than 2 or 2.5,
they should not cut the green down.
Mary Corey thought this was asking too much from a
small state like Vermont and who really cared if participants did their
scoring in the parking lot. It
would be nice to have more professional tournaments but she felt the added
expense did not justify the change.
Deb Warner disagreed; she said that our State
Tournaments should be taken more seriously and brought up to the next level.
She does not play in the Major Tournaments and would be willing to be
on the VSWGA Tournament Committee and work as an official.
The Board did not agree that all Board members and
Committee Chairs must be non-playing official at one tournament per season.
They also felt that marking the course, setting the tees, and checking
pin placements should be left to the grounds crew under the more experienced
watchful eye of our VSWGA Tournament Procedures Chair.
Everyone liked the idea of using a Break Master for setting the pins
and thought it was good to ask that one be used.
All officials can work and play except the Rules Official, which would be a conflict of interest, and the Gate Keepers on (1, 9
and 18) or (1, 6, 12 and 18), they would
have to be at their stations during play. The Officials that could play would be at the Starters Table,
the Scorers Table, or act as directional advisors escorting groups from the 18th
and 9th holes to the Scorers Table. The ideal situation would be to have a roped off path from
the 18th and 9th holes that directs all players to the
Scorers Table, which should be located in close proximity to those holes. The
player must check and signed her scorecard prior to turning it in.
Once she leaves the Scorers Table
the card cannot be changed.
Another option that would help to get more officials
on board for this would be to bring on old Board Members or Support Staff to
help. The officials would wear existing Tri-State Shirts as their uniform for
the Tournaments.
Having two different sources trying to run things
would be difficult and cause conflicts. The
Tournament Chair will be in charge and all decisions must be submitted to her
prior to implementation.
Motion: A motion was made to try a portion of Shari’s Proposal at
the Senior’s Tournament in Neshobe, by asking the VSWGA Board Members and
Committee Chairs to work as officials at the Starters Table, as Gate Keepers
on 1, 9 and 18 or 1, 6, 12 and 18, at the Scorers Table and if qualified, and
not playing, be a Rules Official. Motion
Carried
The new procedures will be implemented at the Seniors
Tournament at Neshobe. If all
goes well and the VSWGA can afford the added expense, the process will be
tweaked and used at the Amateur and Mid Amateur.
Schedule:
The State Amateur is currently scheduled for August
25 - 27, 2009. By the end of August schools and colleges have started, those
dates would eliminate some of our top competitors. Kathy Allbright has asked if Burlington Country Club would
switch the tournament to August 18 -20, 2009.
Seniors = Neshobe, July 22 - 23, 2009
State Amateur = Burlington, August 18 - 20, 2009
Mid Amateur = Haystack, September 12 - 13, 2009
Tri-State = New Hampshire, June 23-24, 2009
NEWGA = Rhode Island, Date TBD
Final State Day = Woodstock and Quechee, September
22, 2009
Fall Scramble = Lake Morey, October 6, 2009
Expenses: All tournaments derive from a zero base budget.
Normally projections are based on 80 players.
New trial
tournament procedures: The VSWGA will pay lodging
and mileage expenses for all non-playing
VSWGA tournament officials. The non-playing officials will be asked to room
together whenever possible. This
proposal has the potential of increasing our deficit spending in 2009 by 1 to
2 thousand dollars per tournament.
State
Day Tournament:
a. Calendar for
next year:
Suzanne Neville distributed the proposed 2009 State Day Calendars.
Proposed
changes:
1. Kathy Allbright asked Suzanne to try to switch
Rocky Ridge with Montague; we should not
have two courses in the same location scheduled on the same day.
2. September 15, 2009 is being held open for a
potential rain date.
3. If
Burlington agrees to change the State Amateur dates to August, 18 - 20, 2009,
the State Day scheduled for August 18, 2009, Jay Peak, CC of Barre and Bakersfield, should be switched with the
courses scheduled for August 25, 2009, Blush
Hill, Farm Resort, Prospect Bay, Bradford.
Jeanne DiBattisto mentioned that she observed they
had 119 players at Green Mountain National while Cedar Knoll only had 56 and
Farm Resort had to cancel their State Day.
Initially Green Mountain National had 140 that signed up but many
participants cancelled.
She felt we should have the participation levels set at 100 players.
Suzanne Neville and Kathy Allbright both said the level was 120. This
would not change because standbys do not want to play another course.
The Board recommended that Suzanne should not be
spending her time calling standbys; it should be the standbys’
responsibility to keep checking for an open slot
b. Clubs with
no Reps:
There are 7 clubs without Club Reps:
Jay Peak
had a legitimate excuse they have one active member and she was not playing
due to having scheduled surgery.
Sugarbush was a problem, they had two members play
Sugarbush and 5 members play Jay Peak. The
Course charged our ladies $30 for a cart then entered their names in skins and
gave them a sleeve of balls. They
were running a $36 special for golf and cart for the public.
When asked about the tee gift and skins we were told the carts are $30
they just threw in the balls and skins at no charge.
If the club has members, Phyllis Simon will contact
the members individually, making every possible effort to get one of them to
be the Club Rep. All they have to do is run their State Day and go to the Annual
Meeting.
Motion was made:
A Motion was made for all clubs that do not have Club Reps, if any members are
active, Suzanne Neville will write them a letter, asking if anyone will accept the Club Rep position, if no response,
then Phyllis Simon will contact the members individually making every possible
effort. When all options are exhausted and we need to send a Board member to
act as Club Rep, there will be a 20% fee deducted from their gross for running
the tournament. There will be a follow up phone call with club Pro prior to the State
Day. Motion carried
c. Slow Play: Everyone should read Shari Pfannenstein’s article “You
might be a slow player if” which can be found on the VSWGA website.
Most slow players do not realize they are slow.
Please be aware, when your group thinks it was a great day with no one
in front of them all day they probably should have been looking back.
Turtle Flag: The Pace of Play Committee will be looking at activating the
Turtle Flag for 2009. There
are some glitches, which Nancy Myers’s Committee is working on.
Examples being: If you are
an individual and Chelsea places you in a slow group or if the Chelsea places
a slow player in your group, how can this be handled fairly?
Record Time
System:
Each State Day group would be responsible for recording their start
time on the first hole, time at the turn on the 9th hole, and time
finished on the 18th hole. Using this system, it would be mandatory for all groups to leave the 18th hole and go
immediately to the Scorers Table, so that your time finished could be
recorded. The Starter
should ensure all groups tee off timely, every 8 to 10 minutes depending on
the course. This is a built in
spacer and sending groups out too soon can cause the course to be backed up
all day.
Jeanne Morrissey said that her group had been playing
middle to late tee times this year and overall it seemed to move faster than
previous years.
Stableford: The Executive Board Meeting voted to play the Stableford
format on two of our more difficult courses on State Day during the 2009
season, with the understanding that the Stableford format point system will
continue to be refined.
Mary Corey suggested that it would more fair to the
field if we used the USGA Rules Stableford scoring system of:
More than one over fixed score …. Double Bogey
……. 0 points
One over fixed score …………...... Bogey
………….… 1 point
Fixed score …………………...….. Par
…………..…… 2 points
One under fixed score ………...…. Bird
….………...… 3 points
Two under fixed score …………… Eagle
………...…... 4 points
Three under fixed score ………….. Albatross
…….…... 5 points
This system should be adjusted to receive points for
Double Bogies for the D and E flights, maybe start with 1 for Double, 2 for
Bogie, etc. The 2008 net
Stableford calculation would still apply.
Kathy Allbright said she wanted to resign her
position as Stableford Committee Chair, the research and trial phase have been
completed and future questions should be directed to the Club Reps for the
courses that want to play that format.
Courses playing
the Stableford format for 2009: With
their approval, Shari Pfannenstein and Harriet Parot from Killington and Tater
Hill elected to play the Stableford format on their State Days in 2009.
e. Committee to
review equal flights vs. handicap divisions:
Suzanne Neville has agreed to run some comparison charts for the Committee
from her 2008 State Day data.
f. Accuracy of
results:
The original results posted on the website were calculated incorrectly,
flights were determined by using the combined team handicap. The Final State
Day data has been recalculated using the correct format of placing the team in
the flights of the lowest handicap of the team.
The results will be published on the VSWGA website.
Cindy will post a note on the home page regarding the revision of the
Final State Day results.
g.
Reporting results to media outlets: Suzanne Neville does not get the State Day cards she only
gets the summary sheets. She has
made 39 changes to State Day results, 24 errors were made from the field and
12 from the VSWGA office and 3 others.
Phyllis Simon suggested that if we wanted to lower
the error ratio, all Tournament results should be tallied by one person then
double-checked by someone else, prior to mailing to the VSWGA office.
It’s difficult to catch your
own mistakes.
Jeanne Morrissey mentioned how the membership seemed
to be more understanding of mistakes made by volunteers but got frustrated
with mistakes made by the VSWGA office because it’s a paid position.
The Board agreed that 40 errors were too many - we
should get it down to 3 or 4. For
2009 the Board is on a mission to eliminate errors.
It would help to have someone accountable at each State Day.
Addition to the
State Day Book: There will be a note
added to the State Day Book that snacks are a perk. Several clubs will not
allow their members to bring in food; everything must be purchased through
their contractor.
Points:
Each week when Chelsea selects the courses all players are
weighted by their cumulative points. Chelsea rates the players by course points; the better courses
you play the fewer points you receive, and participants who play often accrue
more points.
6.
Financial Report:
a. Review
budget to actual for 2008: Tracy Sloan gave a complete, line-by-line analysis of the Budget.
She explained the Memberships Outside Association is the NEWGA
membership fee.
Jeanne Morrissey asked what our Computer Technician,
John Neville, did and who was he accountable to? Suzanne replied that John was a valuable asset; any time she
had system problems he was always there to help her out. He installs new systems, upgrades, and is an overall
troubleshooter. If the
VSWGA had to hire a computer geek it would cost $80 per hour.
He was accountable to the USGA and was required to complete detailed
weekly time sheets. She also
asked about Joanna Taylor’s training? Suzanne
explained that the Boatwright Scholarship requires and pays for the Intern to
attend the training. This
position was advertised in several newspapers in the Brattleboro area; also
articles were run in southern and central Vermont publications.
b.
Proposed Budget for 2009:
The new Tournament Policies of having Board Members and
Committee Chairs work as officials at our Major Tournaments has the potential
of increasing our deficit spending in 2009 by 1 to 2 thousand dollars per
tournament.
The VSWGA will not
receive the funds for the Intern Position for 2009. The $10,000 Boatwright Scholarship had been awarded to the
VSWGA since 2005. This will be
difficult for the office because they have come to rely on that position.
We may need to remove some of the tasks that have ended up at the
office level; maybe the volunteers should be doing more of those duties.
The Board will form an Evaluation Committee to research this issue and
determine how many hours we will need to hire the administrative assistant
for.
c.
Review mileage reimbursement amount: The Board agreed that the mileage reimbursement rate for
VSWGA official travel of .50 cents per mile was adequate.
7. Administrative Office:
a. Hiring
assistant to replace intern position: The
Director of Administration works 24 hours per week and she is not interested
in going full time. The VSWGA
office will be hiring an Administrative Assistant for 30 hours per week during
the season to take care of some of the Intern’s duties.
A major problem with the office is that none of the computer systems
are compatible; data must be entered in five different areas.
During the day they have to use the office computer and the laptop.
The assistant will need to work with the Chelsea System and the TPP
program and must attend all major tournaments with other duties as assigned.
b. Evaluation
Committee:
The Evaluation Committee will be Tracy Sloan, Phyllis Simon, Sarah Lee,
Jeanne Morrissey, Ellen Sheffer, and Dora Pealer. They will perform an in office evaluation, determine if the
administrative assistant should cover all of the Intern’s duties. Maybe more jobs could be assigned to volunteers. Money
may be needed to pay another person’s or volunteer’s travel expenses.
c. Developing
manuals of procedures: Suzanne Neville has
started a Procedures Manual and would like all the Board Members and Committee
Chairs to complete job descriptions and send them to Suzanne.
8.
Boards and Staff Performance: The Board would like to form a partnership between the
Members and the Board to make everything run smooth.
9. Communications:
a. Survey Says: There will be surveys available on decisions made or
implemented, a basic survey sent via e-mail. Cindy
will use the Survey Monkey web tool to help analyze this information.
b. More
meetings with Club Reps: Suzanne Neville is
planning to have two Club Reps’ training sessions during the 2009 season.
10.
Junior golf:
a. First Tee:
The First Tee program is an introduction to golf program for children who are
taught at schools and many of these kids have never seen a golf course.
Sometimes a local Pro will go to the school and take these children to
a golf course in the area to show them what a real course looks like.
If anyone is interested in helping with these field trips please
contact Suzanne Neville.
b. Girls Junior
Golf Program: The Program keeps
growing. If anyone would like to
help Mary Ann Levins please contact her.
11.
Rules School 2009: Kathy Allbright would like to attend the Rules Seminar again
this year at her own expense. As
the RAC Rep she is entitled to go every other year but she went last year.
12.
RAC meeting 2009 Report: This was on the agenda but not discussed.
13.
Miscellaneous:
a. Refund
policy / no shows for tournaments: Beginning in 2009, if a woman cancels for any
reason, if her spot can be filled a percentage
of the entry fee will be refunded. All
other cancellations are not
refundable except for special circumstances that will be considered at the
Fall Meeting of the Board. Going
forward we should put this on the State Day book cover page.
b. Tri-State
Shirts: Phyllis
Simon brought in her Tri State shirt, which was nice looking, but the old type
fabric. The team needs new
shirts. Last year Phyllis bought
the shirts and was reimbursed, they had a colored VSWGA logo.
She would like to purchase new shirts made from the self-wicking fabric
for those that want them, they would cost around $40. The old shirts would go to the volunteer committee.
Phyllis made a request that the Tri-State process be
moved up one month. It would give
the committee time to select the team and order the shirts
Motion: A motion was made to move the date up one month for Tri-State
Selection. With a May 1st
deadline, Postmark date by May 1st.
Motion Carried.
Motion: Everyone must buy a new shirt for the Tri-State team.
Motion Carried.
c. Reimburse
Enosburg $115 for skin error: At
Enosburg there was a computer glitch; the system registered 3 net skins at
$115 each when it should have shown 4. Rick
said the Pro Shop would just absorb the cost.
Motion: A motion was made to reimburse Enosburg.
Motion Carried.
d. Polly’s
request for refund from Annual Meeting Scramble:
Motion: A motion was made to pay Polly Gadbois and her Partner a
refund for Final State Day, with a
letter explaining this is an exception for this year only Motion Carried.
e. Chits:
reissues and expiration dates: Phyllis Simon asks if the expired gift certificate
funds were escheated to the State. Jeanne
DiBattisto said that had not been done in the past because the VSWGA gift
certificates had expiration dates. Deb
Warner is doing more research on this issue.
Tournaments:
USGA Team: Jeanne Morrissey asked how the USGA Team was selected.
They start by asking the Major Tournament Champions, if they cannot
attend, they asked the runners up. The
Board tries to select low handicap players that have done well in tournaments.
The teams play on courses that
are 6,132 yards.
Major
Tournament Fees: A
motion was made to increase the Mid Amateur fee to $120 ($10
increase), leave the Seniors at $120, and increase the State Amateur to
$150 ($20 increase).
Motion carried.
NEWGA:
Kathy Allbright is looking for a NEWGA Tournament
Chair. Vermont will host the 2010
tournament and whoever accepts the Chair position will assume the position of
NEWGA Vice President in 2009, and then become President in 2010. Phyllis
Simon declined the Chair position because of another commitment.
Kathy said that Elizabeth Walker told her if she could not find anyone
that she would accept the NEWGA Vice President Chair position.
At the VGA meeting Kathy was approached by Pros
offering their courses for the NEWGA. The
courses were Jay Peak, Glen Eagles, and Green Mountain National.
The Green Mountain National was selected.
VSWGA Tee
Markers:
Suzanne Neville would like the organization to purchase VSWGA Tee
Markers for our Major Tournaments. This
needs to be researched and revisited at some future date.
14.
Other new business:
Air Card:
Cindy Paquet needs to purchase an air card for her
computer. The expense will be
offset by the cancellation of her DSL service.
Board Mini
Meeting:
We need a deadline for Mini Meeting responses.
Suggestion: when opening the session for a Mini Meeting enter a
“please respond by” date in the subject line.
Club Reps Mini
Meeting: The
Club Reps only meet once a year, we need to do a survey, would they like to
meet more often. At the beginning of the year they could have a Mini Meeting
by e-mail.
Transparency:
Jeanne Morrissey has been taking comments and
suggestions from the membership to bring to the board.
One of the major concerns seems to be that the Board should work for
the good of the organization and be more transparent.
Apparently the concerned members
must not visit the VSWGA website. When
I joined the Board, Minutes were available and read at the meetings, only
historic or information of interest was posted on the website,
which was still evolving at that time.
During Elizabeth Walker’s Presidency, the Board wanted the members to
be more informed and asked Cindy Paquet to post the Minutes as written on the
website. When Sue Ginnett became
President there were multiple issues pending with no resolution in sight
without having multiple Board meetings.
Sue introduced the e-mail Mini Meetings that
proved to be a big asset to the organization but a lot of work for the Board
& Committee Chairs; Mini Meeting Minutes are posted on the Website.
With Sue and the Board’s approval, Mary Corey researched and prepared
the “Major Decision,” a summary of all Board’s Major Decisions from 2003
through the current date, which is posted on the website.
Cindy always posts everything that affects the organization to the
website. We have dedicated Board members and Committee Chairs who work hard
for the organization without any compensation, feedback is good and there is
always room to grow but transparency is not one of our faults. This
is an editorial written by Mary Corey.
Jeanne
Morrissey’s response to Transparency: As
Jeanne explained, “I do not think that the issue is with a failure to
document what is discussed. I
think it is a greater lack of understanding of how things happen such as
hiring, pay scales, oversight and things of that nature.
I think all of the progress that the Board had made in opening up
communications through e-mail and the website is great and can only get
better. I have benefited greatly
from the steps that have been taken. A
greater share of the information burden no doubt must fall to the Club Reps
and the individuals. I think the
Board’s job is to make sure that penetrating questions are asked and
answered so we are transparent in how we deal with such things.”
Meeting
Adjourned: 4:15 p.m.
Next
meeting scheduled: Thursday, May 7, 2009 at 10:00 a.m.
Place:
Lake Morey
Minutes
completed October 19, 2008
Minutes revised October 21, 2008