Lewis River Little League Board Meeting Notes for 4-12-15
Members Presents: Arwyn,Brian, Brent, Rhonda, Rick, Bruce, Christy,Angela
Guests:
Date of meeting: April 12, 2015, 6pm
Call to Order:Meeting called to order 6:13
New Business
Action Items:
Action / Who? / By When?Treasure:
As of March 31 the bank balance is $45196.31. Snack Shack balance is $1888.41
Snack Shack:
No money has been made yet. Snack shack has been stocked up from cash and carry so won’t have to go shopping for couple of weeks. Pretzels are a good price and deal. Snow cones are selling well. Jugs of syrup were on sale for $5 apiece. Raising prices for snow cones to $1.50 after spring break. Can still get a snow cone for a treat ticket.
The snack shack coverage schedule has been updated. If teams want to opt out, it is $50 for both days coverage.
Player Agents:
Nothing to report. Everyone is settling in.
Tee ball – On tee-ball game days, there will be drills done then play an inning. Will have two innings on the weekend games.
Information Officer:
Hit a thon money should be turned in by next Saturday. So far the league has collected about $2300 with another $2600 to go. Gift certificates handed out cost $250. Holding pictures until hit a thon money received.
Bag tags – Bell gives the league the bag tags. To purchase the whole team it is $15. Individual tags are $2. They were $1 last year. The old tags can be thrown away.
Fireworks – the league did get the permit for the firework stand at Walmart. Walmart brought in about $20,000 last year. Safeway brought in $40,000. We can have Safeway this year. Brent motions. 8 yes, 0 no.
Sweatshirts for next year – Can get sweatshirts at Athletes Corner but it is illegal to get Mariners or Baseball team shirts. Since the league is small scale, no one usually cares. This is the Athletes Corner in Vancouver. They have printed sheets of things they can do . . .like ¼ zip, etc. Can make a flyer order form. Can get pull overs and sweatshirts too, and they have a quick turnaround. When go to order Lewis River shirts, will get flyer. Need to check out different options. Maybe can get a company to do sweatshirts with a little kick back to the league.
Kalama merger – Need to have a meeting with Joe, the president and board of Kalama. Don’t really know how many kids are in the league, guessing 125, maybe. There are new fields at the port. Need to meet to talk through different options. There maybe lots who would like to move to Lewis River. This will get rid of the boundaries. Some, might not want to drive though. Can merge teams by division – majors, minors, soft ball and all star teams.
Fields and Maintenance:
Need another palette of turface. Should only be using one bag per game. It is $500 for the extra palette. It is used to get rid of puddles. Need to have a designated person on fields to report if the field is okay to play or not. If too wet, then a message will be sent out and the league will not allow anyone to play.
Talk with Paul at the High School about taking over the high school fields. Currently there is varsity softball, majors and above. Could do coach pitch and minors at the LRLL fields, and upper division’s at the high school fields. There is a snack shack there with limited offerings. Bathrooms are there.
Each field costs about $2000 a year in upkeep. More players are needed. The portable mound, 2 years ago, cost $1200. The league needs two softball fields, dug outs, batting cages and a new chalk shed. This would be key in possibly merging with Kalama too. The league has done well with building up the account. We have the potential to get more sponsors if have the value to do so. The vision for the next 5 years – need to talk about at future board meetings. If the league can get ½ funding from sponsorships maybe a 40x80 indoor area where the batting cages are currently. This can be used for team practices (could have 3 teams practice at the same time). Can have tee-ball games indoors. Need to get some bids but looking at a cost of around $50-$60 thousand. League can fund half and get other funds from sponsorships. Maybe can do this in couple of years.
The county has been contacted – looking to back fill ditches and put cross walk with signs and lights at LRLL fields.
Safety:
Umpire in Chief
Not Present
Uniforms & Equipment
Not Present.
Sponsorship Coordinator:
Not Present
Cindy will send out pictures – thank you cards.
Who has not paid this year, can do cold calling to those we know have not paid and try to see if can get money. Can also send out an invoice and see if they pay.
President:
Not Present
Misc:
Meeting adjourned at 7:14
Next Board Meeting: Sunday May 10, 2015 6pm
Old Business:
Generator:
The purchase price for a generator is $729 which includes tax. Someone needs to be in charge (responsible for) the generator. Brent has volunteered to make sure it does not get stolen. He could get it engraved and get the serial number registered with the Woodland Police. He will take it home and bring it back for use by the league. There would be sign-ups for use of the generator. This would only be used for team practice and only used at the little league facility. Brent motions, Misty 2nds. 8 y, 0 n votes. Further discussion continued – the price is for a 1000 watt generator. A 2000 watt generator would be better and might be able to be used for lights at the fields at night. A second vote was held to allow a maximum of $1000 for a 2000 watt generator to be used. Wednesday, March 11th, Bruce said the Pro Caliber in Longview will sell the league a 2000 watt generator for $945 which includes tax. Arwyn has changed her vote to a no vote. It will be hard to make sure this item does not get stolen.
Picture Schedule:
The picture schedule is online and will be emailed out.
Opening Day:
The hit a thon will be done in the morning. Opening ceremonies will be around noon with games after. Everyone needs to help out at the hit a thon. Need someone to get kids ready, someone to measure and someone to record. The big boys will be on the big field. Softball will be on the softball field. There will be a firetruck at the fields in the morning. Ashley is doing the anthem and Gessica will be the announcer at the opening ceremony.
Team Sweatshirts:
Sweatshirts can be ordered online and are being done by Pacific Screen Printers. Deadline for ordering is around the end of March. If orders need to be done into April, the cost will be higher. The whole team needs to have their order completed before they will process the order.
Possible merger with Kalama Little league:
There might be a chance for Lewis River Little League to merge with Kalama Little League. The board for Kalama is only one person. They lose every team/players after minors. There are about 75 to 100 kids at most. Lewis River Little League needs to prepare for a merger and possibly set up a merger committee. Some things to look at are logistics, finance, fields, culture. 2 to 3 fields are going in at the Port of Kalama. There will be no boundaries between Lewis River Little League and Kalama. It would stay as Lewis River Little League. The league would keep the name. Brian is proposing to create a Kalama-Woodland merger committee with Arwyn leading. This is to pursue putting in some plans and discussions for this merger. It will not start until post jamboree – April agenda.
Treasure:
As of March 5 the bank balance is $27761.00. This was later corrected to $47000.00 and change. $1000 needs to be deposited, outstanding is $1855. It will be $2500 for the topper. $1250 for snack shack purchases. We do not have Februarys’ statement yet.
We can get a credit card for Brian to use to make purchases. It will be Lewis River Credit Card with Arwyn and Brian approved for use. Gessica motions, Misty 2nds. Brian proposes a $500 limit on the card. 10 y, 0 n.
Snack Shack:
Snack Shack coverage will be assigned by teams. Once the schedule is out, the snack shack schedule can be done and emailed out.
Player Agents:
Most schedules should be done this next week. Interleague games start the 23rd, right after Jamboree. We want to consolidate the games to Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and to not have 75% of our games – away games.
We are looking for more players – and have been switching players around. Team numbers and counts got a little messed up. We have 5 minors’ teams and may need to go down to 4 minors. All divisions need more players. There would be more playing time with teams of 10.
The league is trying to make tee ball better for all. For games during the week, they will have two drills and then play together one inning. Saturdays to start with two innings. Also, can maybe have tee ballers hang out with the soft ball teams.
Fields and Maintenance:
Softball field topper will be done March 9th. Mound will be redone and plates will be able to be moved.
We need more people to mow. This needs to be done once a week before games start. Rick will focus on the west side. Scott should also be helping mow.
After the high school moves, the league can talk to the city about repurposing the fields.
Safety:
We need evaluation of teams.
10-12 spots are open for the positive coaching alliance. This sets expectation for us and liability.
Coaches and player clinic went well. Can ask them to work at practices and get their volunteer hours.
Umpire in Chief
Not Present
Uniforms & Equipment
Not Present.
Sponsorship Coordinator:
Not Present
President:
Not Present
Misc:
Meeting adjourned at 7:30
Next Board Meeting: Sunday April 12th, 6pm – at Casa’s