Minutes
Ohio HBPA Board Meeting
11:00 am, Monday, August 24 , 2020
Ohio HBPA Main Office, Grove City, OH
Members Present:
President Joe Poole Directors: Bobby Cline, Doug Cowans, Jeff Jarvis, Mark Kuntz, Dick McCall, Mike Rone, John Royer and Kim Williams
Members Unable to Attend: Robin Schuster, Kristi Tumblin
Others Present:
Executive Director Dave Basler
Call to Order/ Approval of Minutes:
Directors Schuster and Tumblin are considered an excused absence for this meeting due to live racing taking place at Thistledown during this meeting.
President Poole called the meeting to order. After review President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the March 19th, 2020 Ohio HBPA board of directors meeting. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on April 8, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on April 15, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Royer seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on April 22, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on April 29, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Anderson seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on May 6, 2020, Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to amend the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held May 13, 2020 to correct a date listed as June 15th to July 15th. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held May 13, 2020 as amended. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Kuntz seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held May 20, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held June 23, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Anderson seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on July 6, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHPBA board of directors conference call held on July 20, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Anderson seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on August 3, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Royer seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on August 10, 2020. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the OHBPA board of directors conference call held on August 17, 2020. Motion passed.
Executive Director’s Report:
The executive director informed the board that the packets for the upcoming OHBPA board election had been completed by the printer and the packets and ballots would be mailed out to our members by the end of the week.
Basler detailed that the OHPBA had spent an additional $1,550,000 above our contractual requirements from the Industry Initiative Fund to pay obligations of the Ohio Thoroughbred Fund through the end of July and he anticipated that total would grow to between 3 and 3.5 million by the end of 2020.
Basler updated the board on recent meeting of the National HBPA executive committee and the ARCI model rules committee.
New Business:
Purses and Wagering
Basler updated the board on the current status of the purse accounts at all three Ohio thoroughbred tracks which showed Thistledown slightly ahead year over year at the end of June, Belterra Park being ahead by over $300,000 from the year prior through the end of July based on recent purse reports but he detailed corrections needed to be made to the current year reports which would send that number nearly $500,000 ahead year over year. The Mahoning Valley purse account was down slightly over $1,000,000 year over year through the end of July which will necessitate a purse cut when the fall meet begins in October in line with the cuts made at both of the other tracks this year due to the loss of both pari mutual and VLT revenue for over three months caused by the pandemic.
Discussion was held regarding VLT results at the three thoroughbred tracks for July which showed Thistledown up significantly year over recording a net win of $14,705,111 in July, 2020 versus a net win figure of $12,271,499 during the year earlier period.
Mahoning Valley was up over $400,000 from July, 2019 while recording a net VLT win of $11,290,265 in July, 2020 while Belterra Park showed a slight decrease year over year while recording a VLT net win of $7,060,492 in July, 2020.
Benevolence, Policies and Organization
Extensive discussion was held regarding contract negotiations with Belterra Park.
Discussion was held on a request from the OTBO to have Thursday, October 15th racing at Thistledown moved to a different date as that is the date of their horse sale. The executive director detailed Thistledown had offered to move the date to the following Thursday, October 22nd but that would create a situation where there wouldn’t be any days off between the final day of the meet at Thistledown and the opening day of the meet at Mahoning Valley on October 23rd. The board asked Basler to go back to Thistledown and request the make up day be on Saturday, October 17th.
Director Kuntz led a discussion on a condition book index guide issue involving the listing of Ohio-bred races.
Budget and Finance
OTBO President John Royer made a presentation and led a discussion regarding that group.
President Poole moved and Director McCall seconded a motion to provide $25,000 from the Industry Initiative Fund to support ongoing operations of the OTBO. Director Royer abstained.
Discussion was held regarding the OSRC scheduling administrative hearings via zoom and how they may impact our members who are involved in those hearings.
Discussion was held regarding a claim form submitted by a member on our Claiming Insurance Program. Director Kuntz moved and Director Anderson seconded a motion to deny the claim as it failed to meet the program requirements in two different areas. Motion passed with Director McCall voting no.
Adjournment:
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to adjourn. Motion passed.