MONROE - The Monroe Area Swim Team took a major step toward dissolving the 57-year-old summer institution Tuesday night.
A sparse turnout of parents and the three board members present voted to begin the process of disbanding the non-profit organization unless there is a full nine-person board in place by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
The vote was 11-3 in favor of moving forward with dissolving. About a dozen people attended the meeting at the Monroe Public Library.
Also on the agenda was entering into a financial agreement with the Monroe Parks and Recreation Department to make changes at the city-owned pool that would keep the MAST program viable there.
But MAST Treasurer Betsy Keith and Vice President Teri Ellefson made it clear early in the proceedings that the current board would not move forward in making a $10,000 commitment without a full board seated.
The group is seeking to fill two high-profile positions - president and vice president - for two-year terms. Anyone who takes those jobs also would be asked to shadow current MAST President Dawn Mulligan and Ellefson for the upcoming summer before beginning their terms.
Keith said the MAST board has operated with as few as four full-fledged members at times in recent years, but added that's not feasible with the added financial burden facing the club.
Keith said a big part of board activities in the coming years will be to raise funds to pay for the pool changes so the group doesn't have to dip into its fluctuating operating fund.
"This pretty much tells me there's not going to be parents to step up and be on the board," Keith said of a small group that included the husbands of two board members. "We have 70-some swimmers (74) with 52 families and there's no more than a dozen people here. Without the support of the families or people to volunteer on the board, (MAST isn't) going to survive."
Three people offered to help at Tuesday's meeting, but none volunteered for the president and vice president positions, which Keith said require 15 to 20 hours per week during the summer season.
Keith made the motion to dissolve immediately during the meeting and Ellefson seconded it. But before a group vote was called, Keith's husband Brian, a member of the Monroe Board of Education, suggested amending the motion to give MAST a week to make a final appeal to the community for board members. That motion passed.
Betsy Keith said next Tuesday at 5 p.m. is a hard deadline because the Monroe Parks and Recreation Board is meeting Wednesday. The park board has been holding off on scheduling other events at the pool until it hears a final decision from MAST. The organization also has put off beginning its 2012 meet schedule as long as possible, Betsy Keith said.
The issue of seating the entire nine-person MAST board, a stipulation in the group's bylaws, took on added significance after one of its swimmers suffered a broken vertebrae after diving from the starting blocks during a practice last summer. That led to a recommendation by the city's insurance carrier, Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance Co., that the city not allow diving from the starting blocks unless all eight lanes had a depth of 5 feet. The water depth at the east end of the pool currently ranges from 4 feet, 6 inches to 5 feet.
That left the option of converting the diving well to a competitive swim course, with an estimated price tag of $25,000. The Monroe Finance and Taxation Committee has committed $17,000 to the project, asking MAST to provide $10,000 over the next five years.
But facing a potential leadership gap, Ellefson said the current board would not go forward with that expenditure until future leadership is in place.
"As hard as it is for me to think about this program coming to an end, it's even harder to think of the City of Monroe investing $17,000 in good faith and then we leave them hanging (for MAST's portion)," Ellefson said.
Betsy Keith, whose voice broke with emotion when she made the motion for immediately dissolving MAST, said it's hard for her to believe the situation will change in a week.
"You feel so sad that this might not be here for the community," she said.
A sparse turnout of parents and the three board members present voted to begin the process of disbanding the non-profit organization unless there is a full nine-person board in place by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
The vote was 11-3 in favor of moving forward with dissolving. About a dozen people attended the meeting at the Monroe Public Library.
Also on the agenda was entering into a financial agreement with the Monroe Parks and Recreation Department to make changes at the city-owned pool that would keep the MAST program viable there.
But MAST Treasurer Betsy Keith and Vice President Teri Ellefson made it clear early in the proceedings that the current board would not move forward in making a $10,000 commitment without a full board seated.
The group is seeking to fill two high-profile positions - president and vice president - for two-year terms. Anyone who takes those jobs also would be asked to shadow current MAST President Dawn Mulligan and Ellefson for the upcoming summer before beginning their terms.
Keith said the MAST board has operated with as few as four full-fledged members at times in recent years, but added that's not feasible with the added financial burden facing the club.
Keith said a big part of board activities in the coming years will be to raise funds to pay for the pool changes so the group doesn't have to dip into its fluctuating operating fund.
"This pretty much tells me there's not going to be parents to step up and be on the board," Keith said of a small group that included the husbands of two board members. "We have 70-some swimmers (74) with 52 families and there's no more than a dozen people here. Without the support of the families or people to volunteer on the board, (MAST isn't) going to survive."
Three people offered to help at Tuesday's meeting, but none volunteered for the president and vice president positions, which Keith said require 15 to 20 hours per week during the summer season.
Keith made the motion to dissolve immediately during the meeting and Ellefson seconded it. But before a group vote was called, Keith's husband Brian, a member of the Monroe Board of Education, suggested amending the motion to give MAST a week to make a final appeal to the community for board members. That motion passed.
Betsy Keith said next Tuesday at 5 p.m. is a hard deadline because the Monroe Parks and Recreation Board is meeting Wednesday. The park board has been holding off on scheduling other events at the pool until it hears a final decision from MAST. The organization also has put off beginning its 2012 meet schedule as long as possible, Betsy Keith said.
The issue of seating the entire nine-person MAST board, a stipulation in the group's bylaws, took on added significance after one of its swimmers suffered a broken vertebrae after diving from the starting blocks during a practice last summer. That led to a recommendation by the city's insurance carrier, Cities and Villages Mutual Insurance Co., that the city not allow diving from the starting blocks unless all eight lanes had a depth of 5 feet. The water depth at the east end of the pool currently ranges from 4 feet, 6 inches to 5 feet.
That left the option of converting the diving well to a competitive swim course, with an estimated price tag of $25,000. The Monroe Finance and Taxation Committee has committed $17,000 to the project, asking MAST to provide $10,000 over the next five years.
But facing a potential leadership gap, Ellefson said the current board would not go forward with that expenditure until future leadership is in place.
"As hard as it is for me to think about this program coming to an end, it's even harder to think of the City of Monroe investing $17,000 in good faith and then we leave them hanging (for MAST's portion)," Ellefson said.
Betsy Keith, whose voice broke with emotion when she made the motion for immediately dissolving MAST, said it's hard for her to believe the situation will change in a week.
"You feel so sad that this might not be here for the community," she said.