General Chairman Jeff Gray called the meeting to order at the High Plains Community Center in Orange, CT at 7:40 P.M.

Present:, Ed Doernberger, Dennis Flores, Dana Gnerre, Jeff Gray, David Heller, Mike Huffman, Chris Hug, Henk Jensen, Ellen Johnston, Rick Lewis, Barry Silver, Jeff Scobee and Judy Snow.

Not Present: Peter Boucher, Bruce Collins, Michael Ferraro, Susan Lecza, Christine Pelham.

Also Present: Nan Cooper and Lauren Solernou (CDOG) Incoming Junior Athlete Representative.

Approval of the Agenda: A motion to accept the Agenda as written was unanimously approved.

Approval of the Minutes: A motion to accept the minutes of the January 16, 2008 Board of Directors meeting was unanimously approved.

CT Swimming finally received a response from the CIAC Boys and Girls Swimming Chairperson regarding a meeting to be conducted by CSI and the CIAC. A meeting has been scheduled for a date in June, 2008 in Chesire at the CIAC offices. Nan Cooper to advise the CSI Board Members of the specific date of the meeting.

Nan Cooper reported that she spoke with Christine Pelham who has expressed an interest in working on the CSI OUTREACH summer program. Nine OUTREACH swimmers are registered with CT Swimming as of April of 2008. OUTREACH swimmers entry fee waiver questions to be addressed by each individual meet host for non championship meets. To qualify as an OUTREACH swimmer, a swimmer must meet the financial need requirements to qualify for the Federal Free Lunch program. An interested CSI Board member needs to be appointed as the CSI OUTREACH Coordinator for 2008-2009.

The USA Swimming National Top 16 policy changes discussion was tabled until the June 2008 Board meeting.

The CSI policy is that for a time to be considered as a valid CSI time, the swimmer must be registered with CT Swimming and represent a club from CT or compete as an unattached swimmer from CT. It was agreed not to make any changes to the current CSI policy at this time.

Finance Chair Jeff Scobee met with all groups and committees regarding budget requests for 2008-2009. The 08-09 Budget includes a proposal to increase the club membership annual CSI dues from $ 135.00 to $ 180.00 per year. Finance Chair Scobee discussed with the Board the income and expense budget proposals for 2008-2009 which resulted in the creation of a balanced budget.General Chairman Gray expressed his appreciation and the appreciation of CT Swimming to Finance Chair Scobee for all of his efforts and his hard work on behalf of CT Swimming. The 2008-2009 Budget was unanimously approved.

David Heller, Nominating Committee Chairman reported the following nominations for election to the CSI Board of Directors: General Chair: Jeff Gray (PSDY), Administrative Vice Chair: Chris Hug (BEAR), Program Development: Rick Lewis (SHKS), Finance Vice Chair: Bonnie Strittmatter (WRAT), Secretary: David Heller (NTSC), Senior Committee Chair: Henk Jensen (PSDY). A special thanks to the members of the 2008 Nominating Committee: Peter Boucher, Omar Cruz, Sean Farrell, David Heller and Sara Massa.

Barry Silver reported that various committees and coaches and meet hosts have reviewed and commented on the proposed CSI Warm-up Policy over the course of the past year. Barry Silver expressed special thanks to George Miles who created the initial draft of the proposal and to the members of the Technical Planning Committee. The revised policy better delineates and explains the responsibilities for swim meet warm-up activities and procedures. A motion was made to adopt the updated and revised CSI Warm-up Policy which was unanimously approved

A discussion was initiated by Senior Committee Chair Henk Jensen regarding the current status and condition of the electronic timing system at the Wesleyan University pool where CSI holds its championship meets several times a year. It was decided that a joint task force consisting of the committee chairpersons of Program Development, Program Operations and the Senior Committee would meet to review and discuss the Wesleyan timing system and possible CSI involvement with upgrades and improvements to the system.

The Spring 2008 House of Delegates Meeting will be conducted at the High Plains Community Center in Orange, CT on Monday May 19, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.

The Eastern Zone meeting will be conducted in Reston, Virginia on May 3, 2008. Nan Cooper and Dan Zeek are currently planning to attend the meeting on behalf of CT Swimming.

The USAS Convention will be conducted in Atlanta, Georgia from September 24 – 27, 2008. Any CSI Board members who are interested in attending the Convention should advise General Chair Gray prior to June 1, 2008.

Administrative Vice Chair – Chris Hug No Report.

Treasurer – Sue Lecza No Report.

Finance Vice Chair – Jeff Scobee No Report.

Age Group Committee – Peter Boucher No Report.

Senior Committee – Henk Jensen  Forty five coaches are registered to attend the Coaches Clinic which is scheduled to be conducted at Yale University on April 26, 2008. Speedo and Metro Swim Shop to provide raffle prizes for clinic attendees. Distinguished USA Swimming Coach Ernie Maglischo is the Guest Speaker for the Clinic.

Program Development – Rick Lewis The Program Development Committee will meet on May 6, 2008.

Program Operations – Barry Silver The Summer 2008 Long Course Meets are filling up quickly. One or two additional Long Course meets have been added to the schedule. Host teams are making every effort to accommodate all interested teams.

Technical Planning – Ellen Johnston A Technical Planning Committee Meeting was recently conducted and the Committee supports the USA Swimming Top 10 Recognition Program.

Coach Representative – Mike Ferraro No Report.

Athlete Representative - Dana Gnerre No Report

Coach at Large – Christine Pelham No Report

Safety – Bruce Collins No Report

Officials – Mike Huffman No Report.

Registration – Judy Snow Registration information to date shows 59 registered clubs, 256 registered coaches and 263 registered officials

Olympic Trials Qualifiers CT Swimming currently has ten swimmers who have qualified to swim in the 2008 Olympic Trials.

Next meeting to be conducted on June 18, 2008.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,