Board Meeting, November 8, 2007
TCLL Board Meeting
November 8, 2007
Hyde Middle School
1. Meeting was called to order by Steve Cousins at: 7:43PM.
2. In attendance were Jeff Oliver, Max Dunn, Perry Farnum, Ted Roberts, Steve Cousins, Anthony Yanez, Joe Mardesich
3. Reviewed minutes from previous meeting.
Minutes will be on website and available to public.
MOTION to approve minutes passed unanimously.
4. President’s Report
a) Rule changes for 2008
i) It is time to update TCLL’s Constitution and Bylaws with San Bernardino. The TCLL membership approved to change banks at end of last season. We have opened two new accounts at Bank of America. We now need to update our Constitution and Bylaws to refer to the accounts. Little League says that we need to specify a bank in the Constitution and Bylaws.
ii) There was a discussion of the rules regarding waivers for people technically living outside TCLL boundaries. Conditions for waiver are set forth in the Green Book
- waivers are granted if the player if lived within TCLL boundaries and moved away
- if a player never lived within TCLL boundaries, then approval is needed from the other league and from the district.
- waivers must be done before the season starts
- Cupertinobaseball.org shows boundaries.
- We would like to move our boundaries alittle to capture some area across Lawrence that is still part of the Cupertino school district.
ACTION ITEM: Jeff Oliver volunteered to look into the boundaries for that part of the Cupertino school district.
ACTION ITEM: Max Dunn will put on the TCLL website the dates that kids are expected to play through during the season.
iii) Pitching Regulations. Little League requires additionally a pitch limit of 50 pitches per day for players ages 7 and 8. A pitcher who is removed from mound, can’t play catcher for the rest of the day. There must be at least one day of rest for a pitcher before he/she can pitch again.
Automatic intentional walks have been removed. A pitcher must actually throw the four balls and those balls count toward the pitch count.
iv) All candidates age league 12 must be drafted to Major or Juniors level, unless the board of directors, parents and district manager agree otherwise.
b) Fall Ball
Fall Ball this season had one team, one level based on interest. Mainly 10 and 11 year olds attended and approximately 18 kids participated. It consisted of meeting once a week for three hours. The time was divided evenly between a practice followed by a scrimmage. The season was extended by a week due to rainouts. As of the date of the board meeting there were two more weeks left in the Fall Ball season.
There was a suggestion that Fall Ball be held in the afternoon rather than the morning, so that it doesn’t conflict with soccer.
There was discussion about an organization called Coaching Alliance that trains coaches. It was mentioned that Cupertino Hoops uses Coaching Alliance. During the training, Coaching Alliance talks about Sports Psychology and growing kids as people. Last year we considered using them, but it was too expensive. Now they have a less expensive program. We could do this as a trial this year. Perhaps we could do this with other leagues and have a get together for the coaches prior to the training.
5. Reports
a) Treasurer Report – Barun was not present. Steve reported that we opened two Bank of America accounts. There is about $18,000, not counting the snack shack. ACTION ITEM: Steve will ask Barun to send a written budget report to the Board.
Steve asked for requests for the budget so that Barun can compile a draft budget. ACTION ITEM: In addition to sending a written budget report, Barun will also send the board a draft budget.
We will be doing an audit of last year’s snack shack account. The snack shack makes about $6000 in profit (there is a $20 fee built into registration costs that is reimbursed after working in snack shack). For 2008 we have a snack shack treasurer. Her job is to work out the forms and deposit slips, so that when someone checks out, they fill out a form and a deposit slip, print a cash register receipt, and deposit the money at the bank. Steve reported that last year the Snack shack made $12,000 and spent $9000. This year Steve and Barun propose that we do not do any capital improvements to the snack shack, but rather work on the efficiency of the snack shack and assess the profitability of the snack shack. If anyone wants to participate in the snack shack meetings (pricing, economics…) let Steve know.
Perry Farnum suggested using the back wall of the snack shack to display messages to the community to deliver mood/spirit to the community. It could convey positive messages. Jeff suggested that one of the messages that could be relayed to parents is that the snack shack is a fundraising entity and when you purchase from there you are sponsoring Tri-Cities.
The three days where the snack shack made a lot of money were Opening Day (Outback)($1500), Pancake breakfast ($800) and Panda Express Saturday.
Anthony suggested that the snack shack could provide healthy snacks (veggie, fruit). Jeff recommended that there be a way for parents to pre-order with the snack shack so that the snack shack could offer more options. Snack shack lists could be loaded on the system and reminders could be sent, indicating that pre-orders could be done at the snack shack.
b) Snack Shack Report – not present
Other than the previous discussion on the snack shack, there was no additional snack shack report.
c) Equipment Manager Report and Budget Request - not present
Steve mentioned that there was a budget request from the equipment manager for $4000. We also need new break-away bases for Minors and Farm so we should budget an additional $1500 for these.
ACTION ITEM: Joe will take a look at the pitching machine which Anthony mentioned was broken.
Joe mentioned that the Juniors’ pitching machine doesn’t work. We need a new one and an L-screen. The Seniors’ level also needs a new pitching machine. The machine at the High School should be locked up over at the Juniors field at end of season for storage.
Anthony mentioned that a helmet rack is needed. Steve cautioned that our dugouts may not be big enough. Perry suggested that the rack be weather resistant. ACTION ITEM: Anthony will make helmet racks.
There was a discussion about flooring in batting cages. ACTION ITEM: Joe will look into it.
d) Field Manager Report - Joe –
Joe mentioned a budget request for $1000. Other than regular field maintenance, anything we work we do to the fields has to be cleared through the city, especially at Hyde. Tell Joe. Cupertino handles the mowing of the lawns.
Anthony requested a good format to use for snack shack signups, etc… It was mentioned that team parents can help with this.
e) Uniforms and budget – Deirdre not present.
Joe mentioned that the Juniors uniforms should be replaced.
Steve mentioned that 25% of last year’s budget was spent on uniforms.
f) Fundraising Report – Charles not present.
Steve mentioned that in previous years, we built into registration a fee for fundraising and did raffle. Last year, we brought in a bounce house and novelties for Opening Day. We made a lot of money in the Snack Shack.
6. 2008 Planning
a) Fees/Budget
Steve is working to finalize a budget next month.
Jeff mentioned that it is hard to tell how long a Sponsor is benefiting from sponsorship to know when it is time to go back to the Sponsor for renewals. H recommended having marketing packages for restaurants and businesses. These could be posted on the TCLL website under Sponsors. He further suggested that we let the Sponsors know how many people visit the website.
Steve mentioned that for the last two years we had overruns in the budget ($ at end of year was lower than start of year) by design because we had a surplus from prior year. Steve recommended that it would be good to keep the account in the $15,000 - $20,000 range.
Anthony suggested having sponsors for teams. Steve says that picture day takers offer sponsor plaques. Jeff suggested that we could set a dollar amount at which a Sponsor would receive a plaque.
ACTION ITEM: Jeff and Charles will put together some proposed sponsorship packages for potential Sponsors.
b) Marketing
Steve suggested that we do what we did last year, e.g. flyers, banners, emails, … We can send emails to the TCLL interest list and to those in our database.
Jeff recommended that we do some direct marketing. He suggested that we find one person in each school and figure out events of school (e.g. back to school nights). We could then set up a table at the restaurant to recruit at those events.
Action Item: Steve, Max and Jeff will work together will work together on recruiting.
Steve mentioned that we need to decide fees for this coming season.
MOTION to raise fees 10% if necessary to balance budget passed unanimously.
7. Goals for 2008
There was discussion about the goals for 2008. A balanced budget and
200 kids in the league were mentioned as goals.
Jeff suggested a goal of improved scheduling and planning and mentioned that the wiki helps with this.
ACTION ITEM: Steve will make calendar for 2008.
It was also mentioned that we could let people sign up for volunteer jobs in online registration
Max suggested that we clarify what we are trying to accomplish with the kids, e.g. growing and learning. There is more than just winning. How do we measure what we are doing in that area and how well we are doing? Perhaps we measure it by giving kids surveys at end of season and setting target of “satisfied with season” results. We should consider personal development (making it fun) as a goal.
Perry recommended updating the safety manual and having coaches set personal goals for each kid.
Joe suggested that we bring in coaches from Midi and Valley Christian to do clinics for coaches and make it mandatory at all levels.
Perry mentioned having a manual that sets forth expectations and lists meetings that need to be attended.
Jeff stated that the Al & Al clinic should be mandatory for new coaches.
8. New business
What is budget number for safety? Perry made a request for reimbursement for $99 for reuseable ice packs and $20 ice packs and $40 misc. medical supplies for kits (no receipts for this $60). MOTION for reimbursement to Perry for $60 without receipts passed unanimously.
Perry recommended that we budget $300 for safety for 2008 to restock first aid kits. ACTION ITEM: Perry will work with Tom to make sure safety kits are in the bags before distributed to coaches.
Perry mentioned that the ice packs in first aid kits are used up quickly. He asked whether we can put frozen packs in the snack shack freezer. Chemical ice packs can be put in the umpire room.
Steve suggested that we combine safety training and team management with the coaches training.
Perry mentioned that volunteer forms need to be filled out and should be done at registration. Before Feb/March when teams form, have volunteer forms filled out and 1 hr. safety class given.
Steve suggested that we could have an open house in January to get volunteers signed up and fill out forms. We could post the volunteer form on the TCLL website, so people can download and fill it out ahead of time.
It was suggested that we develop a mission statement.
Perry mentioned that we need some new extension cords. We should inspect them all. ACTION ITEM: Perry will inspect the extension cords and buy more if necessary.
There was discussion about the safety manual. We should adopt the mnual we think is better. How can we keep medical information up to date? Could have other references that are mandatory reading as well. If little league has sample manual, then we should adopt it.
9. Meeting was adjourned by Steve Cousins at: 9:45PM.
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