I’m sorry. I’m an utter failure. I’ve tried everything but put a gun to my head. I can’t seem to accomplish a simple task on your behalf. I can’t get the minutes from the USATF Masters T&F Committee meetings last November in Honolulu. According to USATF bylaws, minutes are supposed to be kept at such meetings, and I assume be made available to members. But not this year. Why should anyone care? Well, let me tell you.

USA Track & Field is a nonprofit, volunteer-based organization that supposedly operates in the best interests of its members — track athletes and officials from youth to geezerhood. It holds an annual meeting in late November and early December, where business is conducted and awards handed out.
It’s the one time of the year when serious decisions are made on governance and track and field rules, and masters delegates (along with others) from around the country shell out hundreds of dollars to journey to exotic locales like Indy (2006), Jacksonville (2005) and Portland, Oregon (2004). I’ve attended a few myself, and taken notes.
But I didn’t attend the Hawaii meetings in 2007, and if anything interesting happened, it’s known only to the folks who showed up. That’s because the minutes of the meeting — a basic function of every organization — are still unavailable. Lester Mount is the secretary of the USATF Masters T&F Committee, and he won’t respond to my requests. Gary Snyder is the chairman of the USATF Masters T&F Committee, and he has promised the minutes for more than eight months — and not made good.
I’ve CC’d notes to USATF President Bill Roe, communications czar Jill Geer and many others. The result? Zippo.
Why do I want the minutes? So I can post them here and keep you informed on the nitty gritty business of your sport. It’s your right as members to see them.
Why have I tried so hard to get them? Because nobody else seems to be making the effort, and I feel obligated to try. I’m the self-appointed masters nag, after all.
Here’s a chronology of my efforts:
On December 26, 2007, I sent email with a subject line: “Formal request to USATF Masters T&F Committee” I wrote Lester, Gary, Bill and several others:

Hi, Gary
Hope you had a wonderful and warm Christmas.
I’d like to tie up some loose ends from the Honolulu meetings.
This is a formal request for minutes of the USATF Masters T&F Committee meetings at Hawaii, plus your approved budget for this coming year.
I’d like to share this information with readers of my blog.
Thank you very much!
ken stone
http://www.masterstrack.com

I got this email in reply:

From: Gary Snyder
To: trackceo@aol.com
Sent: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 7:25 am
Subject: Re: Formal request to USATF Masters T&F Committee
Ken,
The minutes will be distributed after approval by the MTF Executive Committee. I’m not in Boston but will send you budget info in a format friendly for posting on your blog when I return home over the weekend.
Happy New Year
Gary Snyder

I got the budget (from Treasurer Joy McDonald), and posted it here. But no minutes. On March 26, I sent this note to Gary:

From: trackceo@aol.com
To: lyonssnyder@att.net
Cc: lestermount@yahoo.com ; FTLREDSKIN@aol.com ; tracknet@mac.com ; jill.geer@usatf.org
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 5:22 AM
Subject: Fwd: Formal request to USATF Masters T&F Committee
Gary,
In addition to the 2008 budget, may I also please see the minutes from Hawaii?
Many thanks!
ken

To which Gary replied:

From: Gary Snyder
To: trackceo@aol.com
Sent: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 6:15 am
Subject: Re: Formal request to USATF Masters T&F Committee
Hi Ken,
I don’t know what Joy sent you but internal budgets are sometimes confusing. The attached is a ‘simplified’ budget which I believe is easier for the majority to understand.
The minutes have not been approved by the MTF Executive Committee and will be posted to the USATF website after approval.
Gary Snyder

(I had forgotten that Joy had already sent me the budget, but I still wanted the minutes.) So I wrote again, and Gary replied on March 26:

They are being transcribed as some are recorded. My next Exec meeting (conference Call) will be mid April. Assuming the minutes are complete they will be voted upon.
Gary Snyder

On July 22, I asked again — but this time with an edge to my request:

Hi, Gary
I would appreciate a copy of the official minutes of the Masters T&F Committee at the 2007 Hawaii annual meeting.
You have promised them several times in recent months.
I would like them by Thursday, July 24.
Thanks for you attention and cooperation.
ken stone

To which Gary replied:

Executive Committee call tonight after which I’ll email you with the status from our Secretary.

OK, fine. Things were moving in the right direction, I thought. I got this note on July 23:

From: Gary Snyder
To: trackceo@aol.com
Sent: Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:17 am
Subject: Re: Final request for meeting minutes of USATF Masters T&F
Latest status is:
The minutes will be complete after the USA Youth Championships as the person assisting Lester with the compilation is involved with the youth meet.
Stay tuned!
Gary Snyder

But after another pleading note, I got this email from Gary on July 29:

me too, but they need to be approved by the exec committee which is meeting on Wed Aug 6th in Spokane.

But nothing came of the Aug. 6 meeting. Getting royally peeved, I sent Gary and Lester this final note on Aug. 21 — three days ago:

Hi, Gary
Please forward me a copy of the Hawaii convention minutes of USATF Masters T&F Committee by midnight Friday.

Why Friday? No reason, really. Just wanted to sound serious. But my bluff didn’t work. I got no response. Hence this blog post, exposing the issue to a wider audience.
Maybe I’m wacko, but I have this quaint, old-fashioned notion: When you’re elected to office, you deliver on the role’s rudimentary duties. These include giving members access to your minutes.
I shouldn’t be surprised that meeting minutes aren’t available. They rarely are. If you go to the meeting minutes section of our USATF site, you’ll see links to the minutes of the 2001 and 2005 annual meetings. Not another year. But back when Al Sheahen, Suzy Hess and Jerry Wojcik ran National Masters News, they covered the annual meetings in exhaustive detail. The current NMN folks haven’t. So we’re left with the minutes to learn what went on.
Most meetings are pretty boring affairs, I know. And I harbor no suspicions that anything scandalous occurred at the Hawaiii meetings. I’d just like our elected officers to do their effen jobs! It’s also a matter of decency and simple respect for the membership.
This year’s annual meeting is in Reno, Nevada. Elections for masters chair and secretary will take place.
I hope delegates keep all of the above in mind when they cast their ballots.
Your thoughts?

When word leaked that adult members of USATF would soon be paying $29.95 a year instead of $20, the natural follow-up was: What’s it mean for masters? Will we see a share of the loot? The answer came today — from no less a source than Bill Roe, president of USA Track & Field, who write to the Masters T&F Committee: “George (Mathews) pushed this (fee hike) the last two years just for the reason that his committee needed more funds, and Andy (Martin) has both committee support and office support for masters projects and programs built into the proposal. It will be substantial, but there’s no set percentage for any committee.”

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A serious problem for some elite masters athletes is whether they can affiliate with a track club outside their home association. Normally, it’s no problem. The home association and the target association give rubber-stamp approval to the request. But in at least one California association, an official tends to block such transfer of club allegiance. That led to a milestone vote Thursday that allows masters athletes just about complete freedom to compete for whom they want in any meet, including nationals.

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