01 November 2012
Present: Larry Holden, Cari Bradshaw, Jason Cook, Dizzy Fukutomi, Mike Owen, Tom Froslain, Dave Lilly, Sean Thompson, Mike Edwards, Jay Terry, Steve Hoffman, Mark Gardner, Jason Thain, Dave Holmes, Andre Barashkoff
- Call to order 8:04pm.
- Minutes from last meeting not available for approval, and will be reviewed and approved at the next meeting in December.
- New board positions announced, with all in attendance introducing themselves.
*3.1Motion and second to bring Mark Hume onto the board to handle Player & Coach Development for softball. Passed.
*3.2Motion and second to have Heidi and Steve Hoffman to handleco- Ffundraising position as one position, exercising only one vote on the board. Passed.
*3.3Motion and second to have Tim and Megan Clarke, and Cari Bradshaw handle the
co-sSecretary position, exercising only one vote on the board. Passed.
3.43 Major positions still need to be filled including:
Umpire in Chief: Manage umpires, umpire schedule, juniorJr. umpires education. Paying for out- of- league umpires is a potentialn option, but we have never done this. We only use D9 umpires at the tournaments. Out going umpire in chief UIC may be willing to use his expertiseassist BTLL to train umpires.
Player/Coach Development: Mark Hume may come on as VP for pPlayer and Coach Ddevelopment forof softball. Jay Terry and Mark Gardner suggested that the baseball VP’s could work together to do player development forof baseball by putting similar age groups together. The VP’s will develop a plan together. It was strongly suggested that softball get a pitching coach to train players.
- Stod’s Training
4.1 The board continued discussion of using Stod’s for free winter training for our league. Stod’s has offered that we can use the facility on Sunday afternoons/evenings, from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. Last year, we had conflict during our scheduled time slot with Stod’s select team(s). This year, Bob Stoddard has said we have the facility 100% during our paid time. The Sunday slot will also most likely result in increased attendance, due to fewer conflicts with basketball and skiing.
4.2 Motion and seconded to pay Stod’s at the rate of $100 per hour, with the schedule of 3 hours per week for 8 weeks for a total of $2400 (January 6 through March 10, skipping Sunday February 3 (Superbowl Sunday) and Sunda February 17, Presidents Day weekend). Passed.
- Treasurer’s Report: Michael Edwards
4.1. Waiting on data from Debbie Romero (former Treasurer) to get a better handle on the numbers. We will be using QuickBkbooks software. Michael may need to purchase the software.and possibly switching banksThe subject of switching banks from Bank of America to another bank, possibly Chase, was discussed. We are nowseem to be roughly $14,000 in the black (i.e., under budget for the year) and need to budget bettermore effectively for 2013, and use the excess money for the League’s benefit. A One suggestion is to use the money foron more training.
*4.2.Motion and second to reduce the board members who are authorized to sign checks for the leaguesour League to Larry Holden (as pPresident), Michael Edwards (as TTreasurer) a and Scott Collins (Pas past President). Passed.
- Website: Larry and Sean
5.1. The proposed website hHas a new,touched upenhanced logo, very similar to old one, just sharper and more bird-like, with new font.
5.2. In addition to the current commitment to Bonzi Sports, there was discussion around adding the Looking at new Bonzi scheduling software, costing $500 per year. This software adds ability to schedule both fields and officials. Sean willto check in if Bonzi does text or e-mail alerts about team schedules. The boardWe felt that online scheduling is a must. There were some potential child safety concerns about public access to team rosters combined with,player schedules, and photos of the players. However, with the correct security, Hhaving team information and scheduling available throughu our website could potentially really help our team sponsorship by drawing our families to the web site on a constant basis.
5.3. We need board feed back on what they would like to see on the new website. SSome suggestions were included team specifics, league schedule, approved volunteer list, and coaches information. There will be 15 tabs max. Larry asked the bBoard toasked to think about it and come back with suggestions.
5.4 We also discussed that the new website could be used as a tool to get more sponsors because we can offer them more exposure. Possibly get sponsors on the uniforms (see later discussion).
- Registration
6.1. Registration opens in one month. Our fees are lower than most leagues in our area for many levels.
6.2. Tom Froslain felt that our team sponsorship requirement for the T-ball through -AA levels was often not being used as it was supposed to andunderstood by new families or coaches entering our league is a hinderance to our newest coaches. Majority The majority of younger-age teams just paidtend to pay for it themselves. This sponsorship historically was explained to cover uniform costs. It wasis suggested that potential we raise registration costs price increases for other (more senior) levels couldto help replace the lost income if we were to eliminate the sponsorship requirement for the lower levels, while still pay for the uniforms but staying within the range of cost with other neighboring leagues. We could still ask for sponsorship, in case parents or parents’ businesses were willing to step up.
6.3 We also discussed that the new website could be used as a tool to get more sponsors because we can offer them more exposure. Possibly get sponsors on the uniforms.
*6.34.Motion and second to make T-ball thru AA sponsorship for baseball and softball voluntary not mandatory. Passed.
6.45 There was discussion about the previous discount for early registration. This had been presented to our membership as registration, with a “late fee” for registering after year-end. The boardWe felt that offering a discount to early registration, particularly presented in this way, was no longer working, nor necessary, and only causing causing potential conflict, so it will be eliminated the board decided to eliminate the early registration discount,and replaced withand leave things with just one price for registration. To encouraged registration we need to advertise better.
*6.6Motion and second to leave the rates alone (same as 2012) for T-ball through AA, and increase the rates toraise the rates to $100 for T-ball thru AA, $160 for AAA thru Majors, and $200 for Juniors and up. Passed.
- VP’s Reports
7.1. Jay Terry wants suggested that all levels, baseball and softball, to start recruiting coaches now and so that the board can have start approving them approved by in January.
7.2. Mike Owen needs to submit to District 9Bellevue how many teams we will have playing. One aspect of this is Little League and the new 50/70 division. The board discussed this, and 50/70 baseball. The discussion con concluded that we feel playing 50/70 at this time cwould drastically hurt our sign up in cCoast and Majors levels. teams and Currently only two fields in Bellevue would be able to handle this kind of play, though we had asked the city to install 70’ base configuration at the new Tyee field.. We do not want towill most likely not participate this year. Field requirements and requests are due by November 19th.
- Proposed boundary change
8.1. The proposed new boundary changes in Newcastle (affecting Renton Little League) would bring us about 30 kids from the Newcastle areaelementaryfrom and Eawest of Coal Creek Parkway. Whether this goes through is most likely dependent on what happens between Renton Little League and Kent Little League. We do not know at this time if Renton will be offering softball this year.
- Motion to Aadjourn 10:07. Passed.
/submitted by Cari Bradshaw