Bellevue Thunderbird Board Meeting

Board Meeting

October 7, 2015

Present: Larry Holden, Fred Clarke, Jay Terry, Steve Wilkos, Dave Lilley, Steve Hoffman, Paul Santulli, John Fredericksen, Scott Collins, Ali Edgar, Kelly Wittman, Mark Gardner

Absent: Michael Edwards, Lea Monson, Ryan Mullenix, Mark Riley

Meeting called to order at 8:05pm

· Welcome & Introductions

· Business Items

· Approval of June 2015 Minutes

o Not yet available

· 2015/16 Board of Directors

o On 9/30 Larry sent the slate of proposed 2016 Board members to 245 210 BTLL voting members. Received 45 votes, 100% voted for the slate:

Fred Clarke

Scott Collins

Michael Edwards

John Fredericksen

Mark Gardner

Steve Hoffmann

Larry Holden

Dave Holmes

Dave Lilley

Ryan Mullenix

Mark Riley

Paul Santulli

Jay Terry

Steve Wilkos

Kelly Wittman

o Motioned, voted and approved to ratify Fred Clarke as President, add Ali Edgar as VP of Softball, and Lea Monson as Player Agent

· Jobs & Open Positions

o Critical position is Umpire in Chief

§ John F will consider/talk with last year’s Machine Pitch coaches

§ Other open positions (and positions to consider) include VP for Majors (baseball), VP for T-Ball (baseball), Player Agent (softball), VP for softball upper divisions, and Equipment Manager (Steve Wilkos?). We will also need an Event Planner for Opening Day, this does not need to be a board position this year.

o Fred asked everyone to think about suggestions for other Board members. Action to bring one or two ideas to Nov meeting.

o Larry will keep the lead for Registration, and continue as Big Diamond VP. Francine Wiest will continue to perform the functions of Player Agent for baseball t-ball and machine pitch (i.e., team formation).

· Financial Report

o Larry discussed in Michael’s absence. Currently $16K budget surplus. League sponsorship program continues to be successful, and corporate matching was way above budget this year, due in part to the addition of Boeing as a matching company for Little League.

o Draft budget for 2016 season will be presented at November meeting.

· Baseball/Softball Discussions

· Fields

o Use of new turf field at NHS should help with scheduling this year

· Challenger Baseball

o Jay and Michael will start discussions and coordination. Michael was not in attendance at the meeting, but has previously expressed interest in being involved with this program. Fred will obtain info/contact at October D9 meeting.

· Uniforms

o Although expensive, everyone liked last year’s softball uniforms

o For baseball, Board will consider ordering 15 jerseys per team (instead of 12) to accommodate more sizes

· Equipment

o Alan Wittman will coordinate equipment return from last year’s coaches. He will also purchase new baseballs for 2016 season prior to manufacturer price increase, and suggested purchasing 10 new sets of catcher’s gear (Larry suggested 20).

· Coach Training/Player Development

o Fall Programs

§ Motioned, voted, approved to purchase engage Mark Linden to run clinics at Bellevue Boys and Girls Club in Nov and Dec. Open to next season’s AAA (9+) thru Majors, baseball and softball. Mark G will coordinate, open to BTLL first, then BE and BW if still room.

o Winter Program

§ Motioned, voted, approved to pay Stods for facility rental for 2016 winter training program in January & February and 2 extra sessions, total of 8 weeks for $3,200

· Evaluations

o Fred and Jay will coordinate a meeting with interested parties to discuss. Bellevue College is reserved for January 30, 2016 for evals. Make up session(s) TBD.

o Mark G will send a note to all 2015 coaches who had players that will participate in 2016 evaluations. Mark will ask coaches to rate and rank their players as this was a critically helpful info for last year’s team selectionevaluations.

· Player Agents

o Lea will continue another year; Francine is no longer on the Board but has agreed to put together teams for younger leagues (t-ball and machine pitch)