Minutes
Ohio HBPA Board Meeting
11:00 am, Monday, September 12th, 2022
Ohio HBPA Main Office, Grove City, OH
Members Present: President Joe Poole Directors: Susan Anderson, Linda Carrera, Bobby Cline, Mark Doering, Bruce Miller, Mike Rone and George Sikora
Members Unable to Attend: Jeff Jarvis, Brian Poe, Robin Schuster and Kristi Tumblin
Others Present: Executive Director Dave Basler, OHBPA Lobbyist Tom Pappas, RTCA Executive Director Dan Waits
Call to Order/ Approval of Minutes:
President Poole called the meeting to order. After review President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the July 15th , 2022 Ohio HBPA board of directors meeting. Motion passed. Director Sikora abstained.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the July 22nd, 2022 conference call of the Ohio HBPA board of directors. Motion passed. Director Sikora abstained.
President Poole moved and Director Miller seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the August 8th, 2022 conference call of the Ohio HBPA board of directors. Motion passed. Director Sikora abstained.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion to grant Director Jarvis an excused absence from this meeting due to him being in Florida to take care of his ailing father. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to grant Director Poe an excused absence for this meeting as he had a previous conflict and the meeting date was set prior to his election to the board. Motion passed.
*Directors Schuster and Tumblin are granted automatic excused absences from this meeting due to racing at Thistledown on this date.
Special Orders of Business;
OHBPA lobbyist Tom Pappas updated the board that leadership of the Ohio legislature has elected to stay in recess this fall until following the mdi term elections in November. Pappas also provided the board a list of recommended PAC contributions for this election cycle along with the reasoning behind those recommendations.
President Poole moved and Director Cline seconded a motion that the executive director be approved to make the contributions recommended by OHBPA lobbyist Tom Pappas from the PAC fund. Motion passed. Director Miller abstained.
Race Track Chaplaincy of America Executive Director Dan Waits updated the board on his group’s efforts on behalf of the Ohio HBPA to find a new chaplain for Thistledown and Mahoning Valley detailing that while he had felt that the RTCA had a number of good candidates for the position over the past several months ultimately none of them had worked out and they were still in the search process.
Following extensive discussion President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion that President Poole and Director Doering have a conversation with Reverend Vince Harris to see if he is interested in the chaplaincy position at Thistledown and Mahoning Valley and to report their findings back to the boar. Motion passed. Director Miller abstained.
Executive Director’s Report:
The executive director provided the board with the results of the recent OHBPA board elections and welcomed new board members Linda Carrera and George Sikora presenting each of them with a directors pin.
Discussion was held regarding motions filed by the defense in the Belterra retroactive VLT monies lawsuit as well as the written response from our legal counsel to those motions written copies of which were given to the board. Belterra filed two motions one seeking a stay in having to respond to our motion for summary judgement in the case and a second seeking that the Ohio Supreme Court certify a legal question. Due to the sensitive and ongoing nature of all of the legal actions mentioned above no further details of the discussions will be provided in these minutes.
Basler updated the board on the current status of the four legal cases filed in Federal Court against HISA.
Purses and Wagering
Basler updated the board on the current status of the purse accounts at all three Ohio thoroughbred tracks. Showing that all three tracks were ahead of where they were on the same dates in 2021 but that the gap was narrowing at both Thistledown and Belterra Park due to two factors in play at each track, one the better races are going more frequently at both tracks leading to more purse money being spend per day than projected for the meet and two the decrease in VLT revenues year over year for three straight months. Basler detailed that Mahoning Valley would start the fall meet a few hundred thousand dollars ahead of where they were at last year beginning the meet. He also detailed that while the purse reports for Thistledown and Mahoning Valley were up to date he only had reports through the end of May at Belterra Park due to personnel departures in the accounting office at the track.
Basler went through handouts provided to the board showing VLT revenues for the state’s seven commercial racetracks which showed that the net VLT win at for all three thoroughbred tracks was down year over year in both the months of July and August. Thistledown had the largest loss of the three with a net win of $15,792,508 in July, 2022 down from the July 2021 net win figure of $18,255,228.
Benevolence, Policies and Organization
The executive director asked for floor nominations for President. Director Rone nominated Joe Poole and Director Anderson seconded. Director Carrera nominated Mark Doering and Director Sikora seconded. Both candidates accepted.
Following a written vote Joe Poole was reelected President for 2022-2024.
The executive director opened the floor for nominations for Vice President. Director Doering nominated Bobby Cline for Belterra Park with Director Rone seconding.
Director Cline accepted the nomination. Hearing no other nominations Director Cline was elected Vice President at Belterra Park for 2022-2024.
Director Cline nominated Director Doering for Mahoning Valley with Director Carrera seconding.
Director Doering accepted the nomination. With no other nominations Director Doering was elected Vice President at Mahoning Valley for 2022-2024.
President Poole nominated Director Rone for Thistledown with Director Cline seconding. With no other nominations Director Rone was elected Vice President at Thistledown for 2022-2024.
Following discussion Chapter Committees were appointed for each track.
Belterra Park- Susan Anderson, Nancy Adams, Bobby Cline, Bruce Miller, Jeff Jarvis
Mahoning Valley-Linda Carrera, Mark Doering, Joe Poole, Robin Schuster, Kristi Tumblin
Thistledown-Mark Doering, Mike Rone, Joe Poole, Robin Schuster, Kristi Tumblin
The following committees were named.
Benevolence, Policies and Organization
Directors Doering, Schuster, Sikora, Tumblin
Government and External Affairs
President Poole, Directors Cline, Doering
Budget and Finance Committee
President Poole, Directors Doering, Poe, Sikora
PAC Committee
President Poole, Directors Doering, Jarvis
Government and External Affairs
OHBPA Lobbyist Tom Pappas and the executive director led a discussion regarding three potential federal lobbyists which the Ohio HBPA could hire in the future and the potential merits of each were discussed.
Budget and Finance
Discussion was held regarding the main ice machine at Thistledown which included written estimates on both new crushed ice and cubed ice machines to replace it. President Poole moved and Director Doering seconded a motion that the executive director be authorized to spent $16,303 from the Industry Initiative Fund on a new cubed Ice machine for the health and welfare of the horses in the Thistledown barn area. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Doering seconded a motion to enter executive session. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Doering seconded a motion to grant a benevolence request in the amount of $554.80. Motion passed.
President Poole moved and Director Anderson seconded a motion to grant a benevolence request in the amount of $923.00. Motion passed.
No motions were made on a third benevolence request with the board requesting that the executive director seek more information from the applicant including proof of the expenditure.
The board exited executive session.
The date for the next OHBPA board meeting was set for Friday, November 18th, 2022 beginning at 11:00am at the main OHBPA office.
Adjournment:
President Poole moved and Director Rone seconded a motion to adjourn. Motion passed.