Notes from the 2005 Governing Council Meeting
Columbus, Ohio
May 6-7, 2005

1. Approved Exhibit F. Separated the Singles/Pairs Committee into a Singles Committee and a Pairs Committee.
2. Referred to committee Exhibit G. The definition of who can serve as a group coordinator.
3. Did not approve Exhibit H. Establishment of a new permanent committee named the Presidents' Council.
4. Approved Exhibits L and M. Establishes an Audit and Compensation Committees as permanent committees.
5. Approved Exhibit J. Changed the governance structure of U.S. Figure Skating, merging the two tiers of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee into one, smaller Board of Directors. The board will be reduced from 29 voting members to 15 voting members, consisting of the president, three vice presidents each representing a different section, secretary, treasurer, four group coordinators, two coaches and three athlete members.
6. Approved MR 5.01. Increased annual dues of member clubs based on the total number of persons registered, with the following amendment: the dues change will only apply to active and inactive clubs, and NOT collegiate clubs. Dues will be based on club memberships as follows:
   Fewer than 100: $50
   100, fewer than 200: $100
   200, fewer than 300: $150
   300, fewer than 400: $200
   400 and higher: $250
7. Approved MR 5.10. Raising registration fees for members of member clubs and collegiate clubs effective 2006-2007. In that first year, the first family member will pay $35, and second and subsequent members will pay $10. In 2007-2008, first family members will pay $35, second and subsequent members will pay $12; in 2008-2009, first family members will pay $40, second and subsequent members will pay $15.
8. New judging system. Approved for use in the U.S. with only minor modifications to the implementation plan presented to the meeting. During the 2005/06 season the new judging system will be used at the Novice level and above at Sectional and National Championships. An attempt was made to limit this to Nationals only, but failed. There was some discussion prior to the meeting to go the other route and to expand the implementation to include Regional Championships next season also, but a vote on that choice never made it to the floor.
   Approval of this requires many changes throughout the rule book to incorporate the new terminology.
9. Approved Rule 3730. Permits adult events to be open to competitors who are 21 years of age or older at the close of entries.
10. Rescinded Rule 3212. Board approved, GC rescinded, amending entry deadline to change to August 18^th. That is, it will remain at September 1^st.
11. Free dance tests times (all are ± 10 seconds).

    Test	Old time	New time
    Novice	2:30	3:00
    Intermediate	2:15	2:30
    Juvenile	2:00	2:15

12. 2006 Synchronized Championships. February 22-25, 2006. Grand Rapids, MI.
13. Rule 3660. Changed Novice singles short program from a maximum of 2:15 to 2:30 (± 10 seconds).
14. Well balanced program. These programs were defined, redefined for most levels including synchronized skating.
15. New synchronized team names.

    Current name	New name
    Junior Classic	Open Junior
    Youth Introductory	Pre-juvenile
    Teen Introductory	Open Juvenile
    Adult Introductory	Open Adult
    Collegiate Introductory	Open Collegiate

16. Rule 4790 - time for Open Collegiate. Changed the time of Open Collegiate from 2:30 to 3:00 ± 10 seconds.
17. Rule 4720 - size of collegiate teams. Synchronized committee wanted it to go from 12-20 to 16-10. Board rejected this. It stays 12-20.
18. Rule 4700 - Juvenile team age requirement. Changed the age requirement from 11 and younger to 12 and younger.
19. Rule 4680 - Novice team age requirement. Synchronized committee wanted novice age to change from 14 and under to 16 and under. This was defeated by the Board. Next year it will be 14 and under as it currently is.
20. Rule 4720 - MIF requirements for synchronized teams.

    Rule	Level	Current	Proposed
    4660	Senior	Intermediate	Novice
    4670	Junior	Juvenile	Intermediate
    4680	Novice	Pre Juvenile	Juvenile
    4690	Intermediate	Preliminary	Pre Juvenile
    4700	Juvenile	Pre Preliminary	Preliminary
    4730	Adult	None	Preliminary MIF, Adult Bronze, Preliminary Dance
    4720	Collegiate	None	Juvenile Preliminary
    4750	Open Junior	None	Preliminary
    4770	Open Juvenile	None	Pre Preliminary

21. Fee to attend Governing Council. Referred to committee. It will be back.
22. Ron Herschberger was elected president. Joan Rozolis remains Eastern VP.

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