Regular Monthly Meeting of the Western Connecticut Youth Hockey Association Board of Directors Date: May 12, 2016 Call To Order at: 7:18 PM Present: Brendan McCollam, Co-President Isabel Boulanger, Co-President John Browne, Vice-President Luisa Britton, Treasurer Cynthia Stango, Secretary Brien Merrill, Registrar Dana Colwell, Communications Matt Dutton, CHC Representative Absent: Old Business: Item Discussion Action/Motion April Minutes Open Session To be approved along with the May minutes at the June meeting A parent attended the open session to respectfully request a full tuition refund. Timeline of events: 3/14-3/16 Western Tryouts 3/24 Received confirmation of team placement 3/26 Committed to Western within allotted 48 hours Beginning of April Received information regarding supplemental tryouts and reached out to Isabelle and Brendan requesting more information on the team. Brendan informed them that the board was confident more kids would sign up (especially considering we were having a supplemental tryout) and that the team was viable. April 16 tried out for another team April 18 requested release April 24 Release received (timeliness much appreciated) 1 - Brien to send the family a copy of their commitment letter.
CHC Report Financial Report April 25 Committed to another team The family was worried that there will be no team for the season and want to make sure they were able to play. The family is upset with the communication, or lack of communication, that took place. They requested a call which was never received. In addition they requested more information on the contingency plan should they not have enough kids to field the team. They never received the requested information to their satisfaction. Brendan and Isabelle have email support showing they were in constant contact with the family but confirm that no, they never actually spoke to them on the phone. They felt they had answered all of their questions and didn t believe, based on the emails received, that a call was what the family was waiting on or that it was time sensitive. Brien expressed concern over a different release request he received from the family prior to Western tryouts regarding a clinic for another team. Brien reached out to the contact for that organization and granted a permission slip. It is his understanding that the new coach was at the clinic and that the two are related. John Brown asked the parent if she read and understood the commitment letter that was signed. Brien agreed to send a copy of the commitment letter to the family for their files. The family request a full refund of the fees paid to date less the tryout fees. For 2016/2017 season the Mite As will have 6 full ice games along with the tournament at the end of the season. Only 7 and 8 year olds will be allowed to play full ice. 2017/2018 will most likely be all cross-ice. We may see increased CHC expenses in the 2016/2017 season as a result of new goalie initiatives. Updates to the CHC model are emphasizing more training for the coaches on how to coach and recruit goalies. It will be more of a certification class. Mandatory concussion training courses for all coaches this season. Brendan suggested we bring in Dr. Ben to perform the training courses earlier this season. The President of the CHC expressed concern over the parents at the Tier 1 and 2 Bantam level tailgating in the parking lot before the games. This season there is a proposal to do away with the tiers at the squirt, pee wee and bantam levels during the season. A ranking system will be put in place during the season which will determine the tiers at the CHC tournament. This will be in effect for only mixed or all boys teams. Matt believes it is going to pass. Matt thinks it is a positive change. You will know exactly where you stand. Account balances communicated Bills outstanding: - Pro crease $1,120 2 - Brendan will vote yes on behalf of Western by this Saturday for the proposed ranking system for the 2016/2017 season - CHC emails are not getting to the two Presidents. John Brown s email may still be attached to the Western account on file with the CHC. He will change. - Brien to reach out to the processing company to see what
- Balance of CHC tournament fees approx. $5,200 - Total outstanding approximately $6400 Feeds are coming in automatically to the bank account when tuition is being charged on a monthly basis. Luisa is not getting any settlement report. She can see the money in the account but no report of who has paid in the batch that is deposited. Amounts paid are listed on the Western website under the admin functions. types of reports he can have sent to Luisa. Some people are complaining about the hardship of the new system. Those situations are being reviewed on a case by case basis. No update from Kathy regarding outstanding receivables. No one with a balance has requested a release. New Business: Item Discussion Action/Motion Team Commitments 4 Mite B committed 3 open spots to fill in order to field a team 11 Mite A committed - 2 additional spots offered but not currently accepted. 7 Squirt B committed - 5 players/2 goalies need 3 more to field the team 16 Squirt A committed - 14 players/2 goalies 14 Pee Wee A committed 13 players/1 goalie 12 Pee Wee B committed 11 players/1 goalie 17 Bantam A committed- 16 Players/1 goalie If there are any long term goalie injuries at the Pee Wee or Bantam levels CHC rules allow for us to pull a Squirt goalie up as needed. Mite B If we don t get enough players we can combine the teams. Squirt B - If we don t have enough players to field a Squirt B team we can t combine the teams because the max is 18 players and 2 goalies. You can only double roster players for 9 games. Once a player has played 9 games on the A team they will not be allowed to play on the B any longer. That will only get us to about December. Bantam goalie being contacted and offered a practice only spot at a reduced price for the season. 3 - Brendan and Isabelle to send out information to the Squirt B team explaining the situation and the plan going forward. - Advertise the open Mite B and Squirt B spots available on the CHC website, Western FB page, Western website and flyers placed at the arena and Wesco. - Brendan to speak with Coach Danny about possible in-house Squirt B players that are able to come over and play for Western. - Contact the Bantam practice goalie regarding the agreed upon reduced rate.
Supplemental Try outs/offers Fundraising 2016-2017 2016/2017 Budget All players who tried out at the supplemental tryouts have been notified via email or phone call. Mite B 2 offers (1 looks good, other possible) Squirt A 1 offer and acceptance Mite A 1 offer not accepted yet Pee Wee B 1 offer still pending thinking of taking another look at him in September to see if his skating has improved. If so he will be offered a spot on the Pee Wee B team. 6 more emails came in from Bantam level kids 2 are attending the skills clinic next week. They are not happy with their placement at their current organization so they want to check out Western. Midget team should we start a midget team age 15-18? The team would play from August to late November. The players would use the team as an opportunity to prepare for their upcoming high school team season. Before proceeding down this path we would like to have the high school coaches to buy into the program. During the 2015/2016 season we had one midget team. Usually 1 practice and 2 games a week for the season. Get Bobs Stearns involved to get coach buy in. John will chair the fundraising committee for the 2016/2017 season. He hopes to raise at least $12,000 in fundraising this season. Planning on the raffle, Two Step, and team photos. There is a new family entering the program who has expressed interest in helping out on the fundraising committee. John pulled together a preliminary budget based for the 2016/2017 season based upon projected costs and prior year costs. Current budget is showing expenses of $195,654 and player receivables/tuition of $168,900. No fundraising income has been included yet. We currently have an approximate $27k deficit. The goal is to secure 10 more player spots which will bring in approximately $20k of tuition income. The remainder will be made up with fundraisers. If the budget shortfall cannot be met we have the ability to tweak the schedule so that we have more away games which will save on fees for ice time. John is anticipating at least $2k - $3k more in expenses in the next draft of the budget. Reasons: Referees are going to charge an additional $1/$2 per game and we will have to pay an additional $1 to utilize the referee scheduling tool per game. 4 - Update the Board on the Bantam players who came to skills clinic at the next board meeting - Contact the Pee Wee B player regarding our intention to take a look at him again in September to see how his skating is progressing. - Brendan to speak with Bob Stearns regarding the Midget team and getting support from the local coaches. - John to set a date for his first fundraising committee meeting - John to contact the new family interested in joining the fundraising committee - John to provide a copy of the budget to the rest of the board for review. - Inform the managers and schedulers during their initiation meeting that they need to document late game times this season to the BOD so we can alert the arena. This will ensure we are not charged extra for ice time.
Committee Updates Promotions/ Advertising Initiatives Tuition We hire them through an independent company. Fee is based on level and goes up as the age group goes up. Current fee is based on 19 home games per team. DIA arena charges Western for extra ice time when the games run over. Managers and schedulers will have to document when the games are starting late this season due to the DIA staff/programs not getting off the ice on time. Western Wear/Uniforms Jen Faircloth & Bridget Amy Sturdevant Fill in where needed (Two Step, raffle and Jersey Mikes) Melissa Tunno Marketing Some suggestions: - Hockey day in Danbury Potential season kick-off event on a Saturday in September. Host an opening ceremony and then have each team play a game. - Organize more cross over events with DIA in the beginning of the season (i.e. hockey day). This way the inhouse teams would become familiar with our program and the DIA would pay for the ice time. We would then start our official games the first weekend of October. - Training week the week of the 6 th. Still on? - Ana Grace project date to be determined. - Get Dana more involved in updating the Twitter, Facebook, Western website to get information out to families. According to Kathy at the CHC they will be playing a split schedule. They are essentially playing the same teams that our B team is playing. Kathy said it was our choice to give them the release and our choice on how much we refund them. Email correspondence was very clear. John Brown expressed concern that the family was thinking of leaving the program early on. In accordance with our standard contract a family is bound to pay the full tuition amount once they commit but can be released at the discretion of the board. It was agreed that a precedence needs to be set with this case so that future cases can be handled accordingly. Most issues such as this have been at the Bantam level in the past. Players will participate in ½ of the season and then leave to go to their high school team which is not CHC. At which point they stop paying. John motioned to hold them to the whole amount of their contract and refund all their money, less the tryout fee, should we not have a team for the 2016/2017 season. Four approved, two opposed. The BOD is not concerned with losing the case 5 - Cindy to reach out to Jen F and let her know she and Bridget are in. - John to reach out to other committees to get started - Brendan to reach out to Jody at DIA this week about cobranding - Passwords for Twitter, FB and the Western Website to be handed over to Brendan ASAP so he can start updating - Brendan to contact the family in writing detailing the BOD decision as approved. - Brendan and Isabelle to reach out to the families that have already committed to the Mite B and Squirt B teams to explain the current situation and what steps will be taken should Western not be able to field a team in the 2016/2017 season. In addition information on recruiting efforts will
By-laws General should the family choose to take Western to court to reclaim any or all of their money. BOD to look at the by-laws that were previously distributed and provide comments to Cindy next week. Cindy to circulate a new draft prior to month-end. After one more round of comments the newly proposed by-laws will be distributed and voted on at the June BOD meeting. Once approved the bylaws will be posted on the Western website. Manager and Schedulers need to be picked ASAP and meetings need to commence. Coach social to be planned in the next month or so in order to explain what all CHC requirements are. This will allow the coaches to complete the training requirements prior to the start of the season. Mite tournament in October/November to be planned. Potentially hosting at DIA. Brendan to speak to Jody about fees. Cost per team analysis to be completed. be provided. - All BOAD to provide comments to Cindy on proposed by-law changes by the week of May 23 rd - Cindy to provide update to the BOD by the next meeting for approval. - Cost per team analysis to be completed - Brendan to speak with Jody about potentially hosting a Mite tournament. - Coach social to be planned - Isabelle to send out email to families regarding manager and scheduler volunteers. Coaches to have input where necessary. Next Meeting Date: Wednesday June 8, 2016 7:00 PM 219 Greenwood Ave, Bethel Motion to Adjourn by: Brian ; Seconded: Isabel In favor: 7 Opposed: 0 Meeting Adjourned at: 9:27 PM Respectfully Submitted by: Cynthia Stango, Secretary Miscellaneous Notes: 6
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