Minutes
Ohio HBPA Board Meeting
11:00 am, Thursday, November 16, 2017
Sanese Center, Columbus, OH
Members Present:
President: Joe Poole Directors: Bobby Cline, Doug Cowans, Jeff Jarvis, Mark Kuntz, Bonnie Rogoff, Mike Rone, Bruce Ryan, Robin Schuster, Kristina Tumblin
Members Unable to Attend:
Randy Blevins, Mark Doering
Others Present:
Executive Director Dave Basler, Hunter Wright from Pappas and Associates, John Engelhardt OTBO, Tom McCann OTBO
Call to Order/ Approval of Minutes:
President Poole called the meeting to order. After review Director Rone moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the September 19, 2017 meeting of the OHBPA board of directors. Motion passed.
Special Order of Business
Hunter Wright of Ohio HBPA lobbying firm Pappas and Associates gave a rundown of the potential state political races for 2018 complete with a handout showing contributions and cash on hand for each of the candidates at the end of the last reporting period in September.
Executive Director’s Report:
The executive director led a discussion about the Thoroughbred Advisory Board meeting he attended on behalf of the Ohio HBPA earlier in the month and the recommendations that the OHBPA board had made to the advisory board at its previous meeting.
Following discussion Director Jarvis moved and Director Schuster seconded a motion that the Ohio HBPA make the following additional recommendation to the Thoroughbred Advisory Board at its upcoming December meeting for the 2018 Ohio Thoroughbred Fund Program that the second to last sentence in condition 11 of the program be changed to read as follows “If an Ohio-funded overnight race draws 14 or more entries the race shall be split.” Motion passed.
To address a potential problem with Ohio-bred races being closed early in order not to meet the required number of entries for them to have to be used Director Kuntz moved and Director Jarvis seconded a motion that the Ohio HBPA recommend to the Thoroughbred Advisory Board that all Ohio-Bred races shall remain open until at least 10:30am or when entries close for the day, whichever comes first. Motion passed.
Following discussion Director Rone moved and Director Jarvis seconded a motion that in order to maintain the Ohio Thoroughbred Fund program at its current levels for 2018 the Ohio HBPA will contribute an additional $300,000 from the Industry Initiative Fund to the Ohio Thoroughbred Fund in addition to its contractual obligations in 2018. Motion passed.
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. Discussion was also held regarding certain variances at Belterra Park and Thistledown with the executive director explaining that the variance at Belterra Park between 2017 and 2016 was that credits to the purse account for export handle had not been made through the end of October this year. Basler stated that he was working with members of the Belterra Park accounting team to insure that the issue was rectified.
The variances at Thistledown were due to the fact that the track is approximately 3 weeks behind where they were last year in making required payments for VLT revenues to the purse account.
The executive director provided handouts detailing VLT results at each of Ohio’s seven commercial race tracks for October showing that both Mahoning Valley and Belterra Park had significant year over year net win increases for the month while Thistledown showed a slight decrease in net win in October from its October 2016 net win figure.
Benevolence, Policies and Organization
Tom McCann president of the OTBO and Jon Engelhardt the executive director of that organization provided the board updates on its upcoming horse sale to be held on the first Sunday in December and answered numerous questions about the sale and certain other budgetary questions.
Following discussion Director Rogoff moved and Director Jarvis seconded a motion to make a $25,000 contribution from the Industry Initiative Fund to the OTBO to help finance their operations. Motion passed.
Budget and Finance
The executive director went through a 4 page handout provided to the board which contained the proposed 2018 Ohio HBPA budget which had been previously reviewed and approved by the Ohio HBPA Budget and Finance Committee.
Following the review and discussion Director Jarvis moved and Director Rogoff seconded a motion to approve the 2018 Ohio HBPA budget as presented. Motion passed.
No action was taken on a personal benevolence request as the board requested that the petitioner provide receipts for the services which she was requesting to be repaid for.
Discussion was held regarding the date of the next Ohio HBPA board of directors meeting with the board members determining the date for the next meeting would by Thursday. January 18th beginning at 11am at the Sanese Center.
Adjournment:
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to adjourn. Motion passed.