LOLLL Board Meeting Thursday 9/18/2009 

All members were present.   Debbie Felts and Dave Redman have resigned due to time conflicts.  Dave Redman’s resignation leaves us with no Information Officer/Webmaster.

A decision about spring registration fees was made at this meeting.  Players in divisions which furnish paid umpires (Minor A and up) will be assessed $180 and players in divisions without paid umpires (Minor B and below) will be assessed $140.  The immediate family cap (siblings) is $400.  Here is the financial analysis (costs per 2009 LOLLL Spring player) we relied upon to set these fees:

The board decided to set fees below the actual cost per player.  We hope to make up the shortfall through cutting the amount of money we will spend on park improvements this year.  We also anticipate that a contribution of about $30,000 will be produced by our concession stand (compared to a loss of $4,000 last year).

Our budget for this fiscal year was discussed.  We realize that we will need to control park improvement costs this year.  We spent about $35,000 last year in this area and will need to cut that number down to $20,000 in order to make ends meet.  The Rec. Center’s budget was recently slashed and county employees will only cut the grass on our fields from now on.  The LOLLL budget should be finalized at the next board meeting.

LOLLL operated at a deficit of $31,000 last year.  Uncollected spring registration fees of nearly $16,000 were the primary cause of last year’s shortfall.  We realize that economic times are tough for some of our players, but we also see some cases where players not paying their fees are showing up at the fields with $300 bats.  After consulting with District 25 officials, we will craft a policy by the spring addressing these uncollected fees.  Under consideration are proposals to limit all-star team eligibility to players who have either paid their fees or have made a good faith effort to volunteer at our park.  Credit towards fees could be given for hours worked in field preparation or in the concession stand.  This is also a great way for students to earn credit for volunteer hours! The bottom line is this: if parents don’t pay their fees, we won’t have enough money to pay our bills and the kids will suffer.  This year, all of the money taken in by LOLLL is being used to directly benefit our programs . . . 

Marjann Smith and Stephanie Boulden are managing the operation of our concession stand.  They are volunteers and we ask that patrons give them the respect that they deserve since they are dedicating their time and effort to raise money for our kids.  If you have some constructive ideas, feel free to share them with Stephanie and Marjann; if you have a complaint, volunteer to help us fix what is broken!

The new Rules Committee will be comprised of Dave Herbert, Maria Brockway, Tim Henderson, Craig Custer, and Mike Peeples.  Our first order of business will be to compile and print clear, concise rules for our managers.  A binder of these rules will be kept at the concession stand.   This same committee will update the LOLLL Bylaws to ensure we are in compliance with LL Williamsport directives.

Craig Custer, our Umpire in Chief, is putting together a Volunteer Umpire Corps.  He hopes to get enough trained to umpire some of the games in our non-competitive divisions.  If you are interested, contact Craig.  This is another great way for students to earn volunteer hours!

The purchase of two portable pitchers mounds was authorized at a total cost of $600.  These were provided by Tim Schmidt.

The meeting was concluded at 8:15 PM.

Board Minutes – 08/24/2009

All members were present except for Maria Brockway.

Fall registration numbers are close to last year’s.  So far, we have about 650 players signed up.  There have been about forty complaints from parents regarding the board decision to place players randomly on teams within their respective divisions without regard to parent requests.  Player Agent Laurie Tipton said that there were so many requests for specific managers, teammates, etc. that it would have been mathematically impossible to honor them all.  She estimated that more than one-third of our registered players (over 200) had made a request.  Since all of the requests can’t be honored, it is not fair to accommodate just some of the players.

Uniform Update:  In a unanimous vote, we have awarded the Fall Ball uniform contract to SI Sportsware.  The board was impressed with the quality of the Alleson moisture wicking tops that will be provided.  The cost of a shirt and hat is our budgeted amount of $20.  Other vendors who bid on, but were not awarded the contract were Big Cats, Club Air, and OFP Marketing.

Concession  Update:   The board decided to use Pepsi products in bottles instead of  the fountain variety.  The primary reason for this is that it will be easier on the volunteers who will be working in the concession stand.  We will purchase a cash register and a drop safe to enforce our new cash management policy (under development).  The primary goals of the policy are to safeguard our league’s assets and to ensure the safety of our volunteers.   We will have a clean-up of the old concession stand this Saturday at 10:00.  It is a real mess and needs a good scrubbing.

Manager Selection Update:   Laurie Tipton said that we have had many new fall ball registrations and we will need to find some new managers.  She and Dennis will provide the names of the recommended managers at the 8/31 BOD meeting.  All managers will be notified by email about a mandatory coaches meeting scheduled for 8/31.  Mike Peeples is developing a team practice guideline for each age group and is working on field schedules.

Dave Redman will be our new webmaster.  The person who used to manage this for us abruptly resigned last week.  This is the reason why our website has not been updated lately.  Dave Redman will meet with Dave Smith and see what has to be done to address this matter.

A Rules Committee will be formed.  It is apparent that many of our managers were confused by the inconsistency with our Division Rules last spring and this will be fixed before games start in the fall.  This committee will also work on updating the LOLLL Constitution and bylaws.  Dave Herbert volunteered to head up this committee.

Minutes from the board meeting dated 8/17/2009 were approved.

Our next board meeting will be on Monday 8/31 at 6:30PM.

The meeting was concluded at 9:25 PM.

Board Minutes – 08/17/2009

All members were present except for Debbie Felts, Russ Holland, and Dave Redman.

Fall registration numbers are close to last year’s.  So far, we have about 600 players signed up. 

Concession Cmte. Update:  We renewed our contract with the Slush Puppy company.  A representative from Pepsi presented the pros and cons as to bottles vs. fountain drinks.  Due to ease of operation, we are leaning towards selling bottles.  We have many parents who have heard that we are going the “all-volunteer” way in the concession stand and most have given positive feedback.  We will be developing a way for volunteers to sign-up.  We are also recruiting area school kids who need to earn their service hours.

Manager Selection Cmte. Update:   Dennis has completed the background checks with no negative results.  Chosen for managers (so far) are Greg Nadeau, Kim Stinger, Steve Ramsey, Kim Herrmann, Daniel Broderick, David Culver, Sean Christie, Chris Cotogno, Mike Piltaver, Bryan Irvin, Jeffrey Diokas, Jesus Leal, Craig Truso, Steve Jones, Jay Black, Andy Winspear, Matthew Marzullo, Brent Williams, Anthony Haught, Dave Smith, Jeff Reynolds, Robert Forgas, Chris Lockler, Russ Holland, Jack Kovach, Bryan Carroll, Bill Baskind, Gabe Baez, Noel Alfanador, Charles Bennett,  Mike Gray, Anthony Politano, Jay Dusek, Shane Coughlin, Bob Armstrong, Frank Hegedus, Scott Ward, Anthony Saccomanno, Chris Schmelter, Rob Robinson, Jason Petry, Julie Ketterer, Ray Meunier, Fred Holtz, Jack Knowles, Terry Boulden, Gary Gwinn, and Craig Custer. These choices were made based upon factors such as the individual applicant’s baseball/softball knowledge, temperament, control, and communication skills.
Uniform Cmte. Update:  We have received interest from three uniform companies who are interested in supplying our fall uniforms.  Details are listed on our website.

Minutes from the board meeting dated 8/10/2009 were approved.

Our next board meeting will be on Monday 8/24 at 6:30PM.

The meeting was concluded at 9:00 PM.

Board Minutes – 08/10/2009

All members were present except for Debbie Felts who had an excused absence. Also present was Joe Fountain who is the LL Administrator for District 25.

Dave Herbert made the motion that Kim Walsh be dismissed from our board for being detrimental to the best interests of our Little League. The motion was seconded by Stacy Hill. A secret vote was conducted and there were 12 votes to dismiss Kim, one to keep her, and 2 abstentions. More than two-thirds voted to dismiss Kim and the motion was passed.

Stacy Hill asked that it made a matter of record that she is eligible to serve as a board member even though she does not live within LOLLL boundaries. She checked this matter with both District 25 and our regional office.

A discussion ensued as to whether LOLLL would give the 10-11 softball all-star team and the 11 baseball all-star team additional money to help parents to defray the costs associated with travel, hotels, and meal while playing in the State Tournaments. The motion was tabled so that additional research could be done on the state of our finances.

Player Agent Laurie Tipton advised that she is receiving dozens of requests for fall players to be placed with particular teammates or coaches. A motion was made to not honor these request due to the difficulty in accommodating everyone. That motion passed with the stipulation that requests for exceptions to this policy must be made in person to the board at the meeting scheduled for 8/17.

The executive Committee will be comprised of the Pres. (Dennis), VP (Stacy), Treasurer (Crystal), Sec. (Dave H), and the Player Agent (Laurie). If the bylaws are changed accordingly, the Information Officer (Dave S.) will be added at a later date.

Concession Cmte. Update: We will reduce the variety of candy we offer to save carrying too much inventory. We are looking into selling Pepsi products in bottles to eliminate maintenance on soda dispensers. Outside vendors will have to go through the concession stand; they will accept tickets sold by our stand and we will settle up with them at the end of the night. Our arrangement is that they donate 15% to the league and this donation has never been accounted for. Next meeting is 8/11 at 7.

Manager Selection Cmte. Update: We will have a shortage of managers for the real young kids. That is not unusual and hopefully we can twist some arms among the ranks of people who volunteered to assist the coach. Candidates for both softball and baseball are strong. Dennis will conduct background checks before final selection. Next meeting is 8/11 at 7:30.

Uniform Cmte. Update: Have finalized specifications as to what we want for fall ball. These specs. will be posted on the LOLLL web site and emailed to the entire league. We are ahead of schedule and anticipate awarding the bid in plenty of time to accommodate fall season games.

Our next board meeting will be on Monday 8/10 at 7:00PM.

The meeting was concluded at 8:45 PM.

Board Minutes – 08/03/2009

All members were present.

The Disciplinary Committee will be headed by Michelle Witt. Other members are Dave Millen, Debbie Felts, and Stacey Hill. The full board determined that it will be best if this committee is comprised of non-managers.

Russ Holland and Ken Witt will be the league’s liaison with the Parks Department regarding our facilities.

Craig Custer will be the Umpire-In-Chief.

Dennis Plaisted, Kim Walsh, and Tim Henderson will be on the District Committee.

Here is the approved timeline for the next month or so:

8/1 manager applications in;
8/15 background checks completed on managers, board members, coaches, and other volunteers;
8/17 Fall Ball managers presented/approved by full board;
8/20 players assigned to teams;
8/28 uniform bids to the Uniform Cmte.;
8/30 Fall Ball uniforms selected/awarded by full board;
9/8 start practice.

Dave Smith and Stacey Hill advised that our league’s constitution and by-laws need to be updated. A Rules Committee will appointed at a later date to get this done.

Stacey Hill advised that she has gotten an anonymous, threatening telephone call due to her research into the league’s problems associated with our concession stand. She asked that people refrain from such cowardly acts and speak to her face-to-face about this issue. She is happy to consider all viewpoints in this matter, but does not want any additional threats.

Our next board meeting will be on Monday 8/10 at 6:30PM.

The meeting was concluded at 8:15 PM.