1. Approval of the Agenda.
   Agenda approved as presented.

2. Secretary's Report.
   No changes. Bill puts meeting notes on the council's website.

3. Treasurer's Report.
   Linda distrbuted a report. Money was taken out of the maturing CD in anticipation of upcoming expenses.

4. Old Business:
   1. Calendar updates - Bill.
      1. Snowflake Annual Invitational Competition: December 16-18, 2005.
   2. Northern Council reimbursements and awards.
      1. Regarding funding for GC attendees.
         • Anyone receiving funding needs to make a report back to Northern Council and be available to answer questions for council member clubs.
         • A maximum of 2 persons will be funded at $500 each.
           Note: if the meeting is drivable and several are are willing to drive together, share a room, etc., then several may be considered as one for funding purposes.
         • Northern Council delegates get priority for funding.
   3. Northern Council ByLaws update.
      No report.


5. New Business:
   1. Adirondacks.
      1. Both Clayton and Ogdensburg expressed an interest in hosting.
      2. Brenda will contact Colleen (Ogdensburg) to ensure they are still interested and report back.
      3. Bill will check on dates for Empire State Games.
   2. May meeting.
      1. Entrance fees to GC. Bill explained that there will not be a fee this year. Anyone who has already paid will be reimbursed.
      2. Splitting Singles and Pairs into two committees.
         • There are too many committees already.
         • The book indicates the financial impact to be $650. If this is to fund the chair to attend GC, that hardly pays for a room this year.
         • It will cost more than anticipated. Budgets are being cut throughout the organization; we do not need more expenses.
      3. Group coordinator is a committee member.
         • This seems like a bad idea.
         • Committee chairs and group coordinators are already busy. Adding the group coordinator's responsibilities to a committee chair seems like a bit too much.
         • Further, it will be difficult for a committee chair to avoid an appearance of a "conflict of interest".
      4. New judging system.
         • From all that is floating around, it seems like it is a done deal. We thought it was to be voted on at GC.
         • The book states $600,000 is committed to training officials. What about the costs individual judges will have to pay to get trained?
         • What impact will it have on our inter-club competitions? Many are not realizing much of a profit now - is this a case of an unfunded requirement?
      5. Dues increases - club membership as well as individual membership.
         • This seems like a double hit for larger clubs. They have more members so generate more revenue for HQs.
         • What is the fee used to do? Generate revenue. Offset the costs to register clubs? And, if so, does it cost more to register a larger club than a smaller one?
         • Should the membership dues be raised more slowly? $20 to $30 is a 50% increase - that is quite a bit. Maybe $5 each year for the next several years until they get it where they want it.
         • Should Northern Council isolate this?
           Note: no resolution to do this was made.
      6. Nominees vs nominee from the floor.
         • There is confusion about this. Some places state there cannot be nominees from the floor while other places say there can be. Does one hand know what the other is doing here?
         • Ron Pfenning has put out a great deal of information on his positions; more so than Ron Hershberger.
         • More people at the meeting had opportunities to meet with Ron Pfenning over the years. Bill was the only one who had met Ron Hershberger.
         • No resolution was made regarding casting proxy votes.
      7. Synchronized Team Skating:
         • The various changes proposed for teams were discussed.
         • The changes seem to strengthen the various divisions.
         • The impact on local teams was evaluated.
   3. Entering test chair data on-line.
      1. Some are hesitant to use the system for a variety of reasons.
      2. Could a training session be set up for practise?
         Note: Bill will contact HQs to get a reaction.
      3. A computer classroom/laboratory in the area could be used for this purpose. That way, each could help one another.
6. Announcements: 
   1. Northern Council's president and treasurer are up for election this year. If anyone knows of nominees, plese forward the names to Brenda, Linda or Bill.

7. Club concerns: 
   1.   None this month.
8. Next meeting: May 17^th - Potsdam.
9. Adjournment. 

Northern Council's Homepage