Ohio HBPA Board Meeting Minutes
11:00 am, Thursday, March 23, 2017
Sanese Center, Columbus, OH
Members Present:
President: Joe Poole Directors: Bobby Cline, Doug Cowans, Mark Doering, Jeff Jarvis, Mark Kuntz, Mike Rone, Robin Schuster, Kristina Tumblin
Members Unable to Attend:
Randy Blevins, Butch Nemann, Bruce Ryan
Call To Order/ Approval of Minutes:
President Poole called the meeting to order. After review Director Schuster moved and Director Jarvis seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the January 14, 2017 meeting of the OHBPA board of directors. Motion passed.
Special Order of Business:
OHBPA Lobbyist Tom Pappas updated the board on legislative matters including the current budget bill which has been proposed by the Governor. Discussion was also held regarding the joint efforts of Pappas and the executive director to get the OSRC to introduce and acceptable version of rule 3769-2-43 which will spell how the percentage of revenue horsemen will receive between 9 and 11% of VLT GGR will be determined.
Executive Director’s Report:
The executive director informed the board that the OSRC had scheduled hearing on both regulating ADW companies and Out of Competition Testing over the next month both of which Basler will be attending. These hearings are scheduled in order to receive input from industry stakeholders on how future rules, if any, on these should be drafted. The commission will also hold similar hearings on medication regulations later in the year.
Basler gave an update on the recently held National HBPA winter convention which he and several of the board members had attended.
Basler updated the board on the purse structures for the upcoming Thistledown and Belterra meets stating that there would be a $500 increase in all claiming race purses and a $1,000 increase in all allowance and maiden special weight races at Thistledown from 2016 levels when the meet begins on May 1st. Belterra Park will have an increase of $200 in all claiming races and $500 in allowance and maiden special weight races from 2016 levels at the track when the meet begins on April 28th.
Basler led a discussion about the Ohio HBPA FFA scholarships stating that 80 applications had been received for the 24 scholarships but 2 of the 10 districts did not have any applications. After discussion the board favored having Basler contact the FFA and request that the application period be extended in the 2 FFA districts which did not have applications so as to grant all of the scholarships and achieve the OHBPA’s goal of providing scholarships to students across the entire state.
New Business:
Purses and Wagering
Basler updated the board on the current status of the purse accounts at all three of the states thoroughbred tracks.
The executive director provided handouts detailing VLT results at each of Ohio’s seven commercial race tracks and discussion was held regarding those numbers with all three thoroughbred tracks showing year over year increases for the month of February.
Basler led a discussion regarding a request from Penn National to allow Betfair to offer exchange wagering on the Mahoning Valley signal. After discussing the proposed rates and the forecasted revenues from this arrangement as well as the precedent this would set going forward for percentages received from exchange wagering the board elected to have the executive director deny the request.
Benevolence, Policies and Organization
Director Jarvis led a discussion on his work with Mannix Marketing on the development of a new Ohio HBPA website. The process is expected to take between 3 and 4 months.
Following discussion Director Jarvis moved and President Poole seconded a motion that the Belterra Park Chapter Committee be made up of Doug Cowans, Butch Nemann, Mark Kuntz, Bobby Cline and Jeff Jarvis. Motion passed.
Following discussion Director Doering moved and President Poole seconded a motion that the Thistledown Chapter Committee be made of Robin Schuster, Kristi Tumblin, Mark Doering, Mike Rone and Rich Zielinski. Motion passed.
The executive director updated the board on a series of meeting that he and several board members had with members of Belterra Park’s management team including GM Chris Corrado and Director of Racing Joe DeLuca in preparation for the upcoming Belterra Park meet.
Director Jarvis moved and Director Doering seconded a motion to grant Director Blevins an excused absence from this meeting due to injury. Motion passed.
Budget and Finance
Discussion was held regarding Jack Entertainment’s proposal for a jointly funded backside improvement fund at Thistledown. No motions were made on this issue.
Following discussion of the Ohio Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners request for $100,000 to run promotional programs and operations Director Doering moved and Director Rone seconded a motion that the OHBPA make a $25,000 contribution from the Industry Initiative Fund to support the OTBO. Motion passed.
Following discussion Director Doering moved and Director Jarvis seconded a motion that a contribution of $2,000 per month from the Industry Initiative Fund be made to the RTCA for each month of the live racing seasons at Belterra Park and Thistledown to support chaplaincy services at each of those tracks. Motion passed.
Discussion was held regarding the date of the next OHBPA board meeting with the board deciding on Tuesday, May 16th, 2017.
Adjournment:
Director Jarvis moved and Director Doering seconded a motion to adjourn. Motion passed.