TCLL Board Meeting

June 6, 2008

Hyde Middle School

Attendees:  Jeff Oliver, Steve Cousins, Helene Workman, Joe Mardesich, Matt Waite, Anthony Yanez, Tom Lopes, Suzanne Dunn, Perry Farnum, and Steve Campbell

Informal Discussion Began at 7:50PM.

All-stars schedule has been posted.  We need umpires and directors.  All-stars teams can’t be announced until 6/15/2008.  TCLL will have a 9-10 year old All-star team and an 11-12 year old All-star team.  There will not be a 10 – 11 year old All-star team.

The snack shack was broken into the prior week, resulting in an estimated loss of about $500.  

Next year we should have an auxiliary committee manage the snack shack.

At 8:25PM, we had a quorum and official Board business began.

Jeff Oliver is in charge of the elections for the next slate of Board members.   An email was sent to the Membership stating that all Members are eligible to run for the Board and people interested in running for the Board should notify TCLL.  There was discussion about who from the Board intends to run again and also about others who have expressed interest in running for the Board.  [Note:  a draft list of 2009 Board Candidates can be found at www.tricitiesbaseball.org/2009-Board-Candidates.

Perry suggested that two people handle the Safety Manager and that coaches/managers should be required to attend Board meetings.  It was decided that coaches and managers are of course always welcome to attend Board meetings, but their attendance is not mandatory.

There was discussion about setting up committees to manage many of the functions of TCLL.  Committee signups should be part of registration.  The online form should be structured so that parents have to select committee membership as part of the registration process.  This discussion was designated for further discussion at the summer Board meeting.

Steve Cousins presented the Treasurer’s Report on Barun’s behalf.  The goal this year was to break even, but we are actually down about $7000 year-over-year from 2007 for the following reasons:  (1)  the initial budget for 2008 was not balanced;  (2)  sponsorship for 2008 was near zero; (3)  snack shack revenue is low (due in part to having less games at Wilson because of interlocking with two other leagues); and (4) TCLL did not hit its goal for number of players this season.  Given this year’s shortage, we will likely need to raise fees next year.  

There was discussion about ways to improve retention by focusing on improving coaching using resources such as the Positive Coaching Alliance and Al and Al.

There was a suggestion to have a survey to find our about the year and what could be done better.  The survey could be distributed via email.  Action Item:    Jeff, Max and Perry will draft the survey.  They will look at samples provided by PCA.

Steve took a straw poll as to who was in favor of (A) fielding a 10 – 11 All-stars team, provided a manager could be found;  (B)  having a camp for 10 – 11 year olds (e.g. providing practices for two weeks, but not participating in tournament games); or (C) nothing.  The results of the straw poll were 2 in favor of A, 3 in favor of B and 4 in favor of (C).  There is no 10 – 11 All-stars team this year.

There was a MOTION: to handle selection of the 9 – 10 All-stars team manager in the same manner as last year, namely the winning Minors manager has the option to manage the 9 – 10 All-stars team, and if that manager declines the manager of the second place Minors team has the option, and so on.  Passed unanimously.

There was discussion about the types of positions that need to be filled by volunteers for each Tournament Game hosted at Wilson Park:

Tournament Director

Announcer

Scorekeeper

Field Setup and Take-down

Handling Books, affidavits, and other administrative matters

TCLL has to cover 6 – 7 games.

Action Item:  Steve will schedule Tournament Directors.

There was discussion of comparison of TCLL Constitution and Little League’s Model Constitution.  Action Item:  Helene will send Steve potential changes to ballot.

There was further discussion about setting up a snack shack auxiliary.

Action Iem:  Joe Mardesich will request that the city place a deadbolt lock on the back door of the snack shack.

MOTION:  To adjourn at 9:10PM.  Passed.