SWPLL Board Meeting Minutes
September 13, 2015
Present: Mel, Jamie, Joelle, Rich, Lisa, Dave, Jason. Also present Brian Zimmer, Dave Roletto.
Meeting called to order 6:35 pm.
Dave to get June minutes from Lisa and then circulate.
Mel recapped postseason results from 2015.
Brian Zimmer is fall ball coordinator. We have five teams. Presently we can only offer one practice per week because of field shortage (Alpenrose use has been cut back). We are also desperately short on uniforms – roughly 30 from original set of 100 have not been returned. Entire 2014 7/8 fall ball team did not return any uniforms – Brian will follow up.
Uniform report - regular season uniforms being replaced this year; post-season uniforms expected to last one more year. Tee ball will be tee-shirts again. Single A will be dry-fit single color. AA and AAA will have uniforms similar to last year. Majors will be two-tone short sleeve uniforms. Expect uniform budget to be higher this year.
Jason said that we will need to buy baseballs, but otherwise thinks he can keep equipment budget low to offset uniform costs. Also he thinks equipment return from spring season has been lagging. Jason and Mel will get an e-mail out to all of the spring managers about getting equipment back to Jason.
All five fall ball teams need new baseballs. Jason will get them to Brian.
District 4 report: several new presidents taking over at other D4 leagues. Little League has tentatively adopted another age rule change – the eligibility date for baseball will change from April 30 to August 31. There is a proposal afoot to limit Alpenrose East to 50/70 only.
Mel reports that we are still in good graces at Alpenrose because we provide much more volunteer time than any other league. Our financial contributions to the field improvements have been at least on par with the other leagues that use Alpenrose on weekdays. She is not worried at this time that field time will be cut, but is continuing to monitor.
Mike Reilly has indicated a desire to return as fields coordinator and can get us the back room at Old Market Pub at no cost for a new board meeting location. Unless other ideas come forward, we will relocate Board meetings to OMP until further notice. Mel will contact Wilson HS about having the annual meeting in the gym November 15.
Motion to approve recognition of retiring long-time board members with thank-you gifts at annual meeting, total cost not to exceed $300 (JA/JR). Motion passed.
Brian and Dave R. led a discussion about providing more visibility for the lower levels, and bringing some consistency to the coaching “playbook” so that our players are getting consistent coaching throughout their years in the league.
Financial report – present balance is $14,821. Sponsorship revenues were way down from last year.
Umpires – we are running low. Need to recruit more umpires. 13 year olds can only be field umpires. High school players are, unfortunately, usually too busy as our season coincides with baseball season.
Scheduling – Mel said there may be more availability for baseball fields next season from Lincoln. She is meeting with Andy Lake next week to discuss.
Alpenrose Storybook Lane – will be December 4-6, 11-13 and 18-20. Motion to volunteer SWPLL to cover all day December 6 and 13 (DP/JR). Motion passed. Tracy Cadoneau wants to set up two daily shifts rather than three.
Adjourn 8:00 pm. Next meeting Sunday, October 11, 2015 at 6:30 p.m. at Old Market Pub.