Fairfax Little League
Board Meeting Minutes, October 8, 2014
8:30pm LL Board Room, Thaiss Park, Fairfax

Attendees:Scott Peirce, Karen McGee, Carl Maahs, Kevin Shook, Jim Krahulec, Dave Peters, Gary Hall, Michael Pritchard, Tom Scott, Marian Littleton, Randy Darrow, John Main, Darric Milligan, Jay Haley, Chris Lawrence, Lou Mannella, Will Macht, Colin Grote

Quorum present?YES

Proceedings:
Meeting called to order by Karen McGee, secretary, at 8:40pm.

  1. All Board members returning as well as newly elected were introduced.
  2. August Meeting minutes were unanimously approved by Board vote.
  3. Execution/Treasurer Report – Carl Maahs reported that this is the last month of the Fiscal year for the League. All revenue and expense accounts will close as of the end of the FY.
  4. 2014-2015 Election of Board Members to positions – The Secretary provided the names and recommended positions for the newly elected Board members. All newly elected Board members were unanimously approved to their requested positions listed here: Scott Peirce – Board President; Jay Haley – Player Development; Chris Lawrence – Coaching Coordinator; Mark Davis – Director of Scheduling; Lou Mannella – Director of Equipment; Colin Grote – Volunteer Coordinator
  5. Review of August Action Items
  6. Lisa is working with the telecomm company on leasing the Fxll-owned land on Braddock
  7. Dave Peters found a new volunteer coordinator (Colin Grote)
  8. Renee Tajudeen is continuing to work on alternatives to the raffle.
  9. Scott Peirce has talked to one of the 4 travel organizations about why they aren’t playing fall LL. Scott will continue to talk to the other 3 and present his findings. Will Macht also mentioned that losing these players has a negative impact on the number of umpires available in the fall.
  10. Carl Maahs has fixed LL’s tax exempt status issue.
  11. Randy Darrow reported that only one parent evaluation from the summer Robinson LL camp mentioned any kind of perceived bias. Jim Krahulec said that the Fairfax HS coaches are interested in conducting similar camps.
  12. Randy Darrow updated the capital campaign information on the website.
  13. Board Vote: Discontinuation of Raffle in the Spring – Board voted unanimously to discontinue the spring raffle and reduce the registration fee by $5. Social events and possibly other fundraisers need to be determined. Renee Tajudeen will come up with some alternatives.
  14. Fall Ball – Gary Hall said fall ball was running well. Gary and Randy will work together to upload the kids who did not play last spring but are playing this fall to the LL International website. PPRs are being inconsistently entered. Darrow will see if there is any way to limit a manager to only see his/her PPR data. Scott Peirce ordered trophies today and received 3 “unpaid” invoices from the trophy company. Carl will check to see if the invoices were previously paid or need to be paid. Board needs to start considering the LL age cutoff change due to occur in 2018.
  15. Sale of FxLL-Owned Land on Braddock – we are expecting a proposal in the next 4-6 weeks from the telecommunications company. Marian Littleton will get with Scott Peirce to offer her assistance.
  16. League Updates
  17. Juniors/Seniors/Intermediate – no update
  18. National League – 2015 charter is due. We have no issues with boundaries.
  19. American League – 2015 charter is due soon. There needs to be a focus on pitchers and catchers for all stars.
  20. Challenger - Bob Sotille requests feedback on including the 18-26 year olds in the Challenger division. Dave Peters will contact Mike Kimlick.
  21. Subcommittee updates
  22. Field Development – Fairfax County knows we want 2 batting cages at BB. We also will work on the dugouts at Providence and the Fairview Elementary field.
  23. Coaching Initiative – Chris Lawrence will take this over in his new Board role.
  24. Intermediate – We had 3 fall teams which is pretty good but pitching and catching is really hurting them. Most of the pitchers and catchers are playing fall travel ball instead.
  25. Functional Reports
  26. Public Relations – no report
  27. Scheduling/Registration – Darrow reported that registration will be turned on soon for the spring. He will work on language for volunteer opt-out and volunteer roles. Pritchard suggested that all Single A/AA games start no later than 6pm on weeknights even if under the lights since these kids are young and parents are complaining about the late nights.
  28. Safety – Scott will get the existing Safety Plan from Ryan Buchanan and give it to Darric.
  29. Coaching – The feedback from the coaching clinics is being reviewed. Scott will look into the Woodson tball clinic for the spring. Chris Lawrence will talk to Ryan Buchanan about winter training at VBC, etc.
  30. Volunteer Coordinator – Discussion surrounded how to ensure that folks who signed up to volunteer actually do so. Suggestion was made that the volunteer coordinator review the registrations of folks who have signed up to volunteer and send out messages maybe once a month saying “here are some opportunities”. Darrow will remove the “photo” volunteer and add umpire and game coordinator to the list of volunteer roles on the registration.
  31. Sponsors – Bob Roberts, Scott, and Marian need to meet to talk about sponsor role.
  32. Umpires – Rules committee will meet in January. League presidents will send out a note to managers requesting any suggested rule changes.
  33. Equipment – The League ran out of Wilson Single A balls. An inventory will be performed over the winter.
  34. Information Officer – Lisa is still using that email address in case anyone needs to contact her. Scott will find out from Lisa how to pay the “user fees” and when they need to be paid.
  35. Meeting was adjourned at 10:27pm.