2/7/08  TCLL Board Meeting

Steve C., Max Dunn, Barun, Anthony, Deirdre, Tom, Perry, Suzanne, Joe

called to order at 7:35PM

1. Talked about goals:

a.  168 players today -- goal is 200 players- may not reach it but we'll keep it a long-term goal

-  Majors teams are full 

-  keep signing up t-ball, farm, seniors,

-  Sat. March 1 - juniors tryouts

- PCA Training confirmed for 3/8 here at Hyde (update calendar)

-  at next meeting or two we should think about what we did this year and how we can do better next year. 

-  talk to coaches to recognize kids who are too good for their level and recommend them for next level.

b.  balanced budget

- need to decide whether to cut back to balance budget or get more sponsors or have unbalanced budget

c.  better coach training and support

- we have PCA, Al and Al, and Anthony may do another coaching seminar as well

-  district safety training session this Saturday

2.  Reports

a.  President Report: (Steve C.)

-  review of calendar

-  we are behind on umpiring, so we will probably have to hold our own umpire clinic (Ted and Mike) - we should encourage more parents to become umpires. -- for next year add umpire to list of volunteer jobs.

-  should put dates for all-stars on the web-site

-  ACTION ITEM:  Max should add to website: mid-june tournament of champions, July is all-stars.

-  other leagues have a level between t-ball and farm

-  must be league age 5 by cut-off date

-  ACTION ITEM:  Max will transfer calendar on wiki to Google Calendar

-  ACTION ITEM:  Max - Could link minutes to action item list OR add date created or meeting they are from

-  in addition to the action list, we need a culture to check the action item list.  

-  should set "to be completed by" date for an action item

-  minors and majors managers already approved

-  for farm and t-ball

Steve C. proposed the following:

T-ball:  Dave Hunsinger, Steven Azar, Don Phillips, Mark Pappis

Farm:  Jano Banks, Paul Mifsid, Todd McNair, Eddie Porta, Eric Hersch

Juniors:  Albert Lum, Mark Cabrales and Paco Gomez

Seniors:  Joe Mardesich, Scott, Johnny Mardesich, 

MOTION: To approve this slate.  Passed 

b.  Players' Agent Report

-  Major's draft held last night

-  Managers will get in touch with players

-  will be web page for each team

-  suggestion to have fewer on team in farm and have more teams:   we could have 6 teams of 7 with current enrollment, but need 2 more managers -- target 8 per team.  Farm should be 10 on a team.  Current numbers

-   ACTION ITEM:  Steve C. will send email with link to:  www.tricitiesbaseball.org/+cousins - has links to all quick pages.

c.  Safety Report (Perry)

- safety manual is half edited

-  this year we will have a team safety officer - identified person on each team must be designated as this

-  district assigned a safety guide - Howard Dickson 

-  one adult in dug out at all times

- no bat in player's hand until ready to bat

-  100% part. 

-  background checks for volunteers

-  district staff will show up some times at games to monitor safety

-  anything you see as a safety issue you should step in and tell them it isn't safe

-  coaches should be receptive when people point out potential safety issues

-  board member on site for all games

-  increased safety awareness for coaches, managers, players, board members

-  manual, TSO's, weekly reminders, notices displayed in the case at field, emails, etc... reflects importance of safety to Board

-  goal is to finish manual within 10 days - will email a pdf version

-  volunteer forms - even thought little league doesn't specify a timeframe, other leagues mandate all are in prior to first game  - our goal is to get the forms in by the next Board meeting and then see which ones are missing and try to get those prior to Opening Day.

d.  Treasurer Report (Barun)

-  Expenditures on par except for training program costs

-  Income is $3000 under what was budgeted

-  Hasn't yet seen income from Sponsors but we estimate current commitments at $3800

-  could also ask internal to the league for people to donate and ask their companies for matching grants.

-  we may end up with budget that unbalanced by around $5000, but may be lower

-  discussed uniforms

-  do we want distinct hat/shirt for board members-  Hat

ACTION ITEM:  Suzanne will get hats.

e.  Coaching (Anthony)

-  need to have coaches meeting -  will do on March 8 at Field Maintenance Day

-  PCA -  all coaches will have done a PCA class and an Al and Al and safety training (Manager has to attend if haven't attended in 2 years and must be one representative from each team).

g.  Equipment report (Tom)

- break-away bases on order and should be here soon

-  policy on batting cages is:  Farm, Minors and then Majors

-  bags are ready

h.  Fields report (Joe)

-  all good

3.  Board Changes

-  Trevor is not going to be doing Farm/T-ball Director

-  We should look for someone to do that

-  we need snack shack treasurer

-  we need to find umpire-in-chief

4.  Opening Day Plan

- Last year we didn't do raffle and it worked out better.  We had the bounce houses and kids liked it.  We had activities for kids as well.

-  We need each team to have parent volunteers to monitor the bounce houses.

-  Proposal:  Let's do it like last year again. It worked well.

5.  ACTION ITEM:  Jeff will reserve Country Inn for Board Meetings.

6.  ACTION ITEM:  Steve will find date earlier in March to hold next Board Meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 8:58PM