Chairs Corner: January 2019 2

Greetings fellow Masters swimmers,

Happy New Year!  We have an exciting year ahead of us in 2019.  This year the OMS Association Championship will be held May 17-19, 2019, at Tualatin Hills in Beaverton, Oregon.  This event will be billed as a “Last Chance” meet to get in some fast times before the end of the Short Course Yards season.  Due to pool access and scheduling conflicts we had to move the event to the month of May.  The Pacific Northwest LMSC will be hosting their Association Championship April 13-14, in Federal Way, Washington.  Aside from our two meets in January, this PN championship event will be the only Short Course Yard meet before the 2019 U.S. Masters Swimming National Championship in Mesa, Arizona.

This summer we have a full line up of Open Water events including the 2019 U.S. Masters Swimming Ultra-Marathon National Championship and the Northwest Zone Open Water Championship.  The Portland Bridge Swim will be hosting the National Championship on Sunday, July 7, in Portland, Oregon, and the Cascade Lakes Swim Series & Festival will be hosting the Northwest Zone 1500m Championship on Saturday, July 27, at Elk Lake.

The Oregon Masters Swimming board is looking for volunteers to serve on the Board of Directors.  The two (2) year terms of our principal officers are up for election.  We are seeking candidates for the offices of Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer.  If you are interested in serving on the OMS Board of Directors, direct all inquiries and nominations to our interim Secretary Kristina Franklin: Kristina.l.Franklin@gmail.com.  Nominations must be submitted by Friday, January 11, 2019.

You can find the OMS Bylaws and Policies here: https://swimoregon.org/member-services/.

Per OMS Bylaws:

Section 1.  The principal officers of this corporation shall consist of a chair, a vice chair, a secretary and a treasurer, each of whom shall be elected by the members (i.e., teams).  The principal officers of the corporation shall have two (2) year terms, with the election of all principal officers in even numbered years.

Section 2. Nomination of principal officers shall be solicited in the newsletter.  Candidates for office must provide to the Secretary written notice containing the candidate’s interest in serving, qualifications for the office to which the candidate has been nominated and any other information the candidate may wish to provide to the voting members.  This notice must be provided within seven (7) days of the date of request by the Secretary, or the candidate shall be removed from the ballot.  The written notice shall be provided to each voting member at the time of the election.  The election of principal officers shall take place every other year by the members.  If, however, there is an unopposed candidate for an office, the candidate may be elected by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Directors.  Each principal officer elected shall be a member of the Board of Directors.

The OMS Board is actively seeking a Membership Promotion Chair.  This person will be responsible for promoting U.S. Masters Swimming and Oregon Masters swimming events.  If you would like more information regarding this position, please contact OMS Chair Tim Waud: timpwaud@gmail.com.

Upcoming events include the 15^th Annual Canby Animal meet on Sunday, January 13, and the Chehalem meet on Sunday, January 27 in Newberg, Oregon.  The Chehalem meet will be hosted in a brand-new state of the art swimming facility.  The Oregon City Spring Ahead (dual sanction) meet will be held March 9-10.  The One-hour ePostal swim begins January 1 and concludes on February 28.  This is a great event to compare yourself to others swimming the same event.

Hope to see you around a pool soon,

Tim Waud/OMS Chair