Suffield Little League Board Meeting Minutes Date: November 13, 2013 Location: Suffield Police Station Meeting Space Present: Chip Dyer John Kulas Gina Martin-Ryan Eric Remington Jennifer Bombard Lou Riccelli Michael Marmo Paul Fabrizi Jeanette Taylor Donna Dyer Mike Zolciak Diane Ferrari President Past President Vice President, Softball Player Agent, Baseball Player Agent, Softball Treasurer Secretary Equipment Manager Food Booth Coordinator Fund Raising Coordinator Information Officer Safety Officer Non-Board Members/Parents Present: Deb Leroux Majors Baseball Coordinator Heidi Crocker John Lipski Agenda Agenda items 1. District 8 Update 2. Baseball restructure or East Granby Interleague 3. 2014 Calendar Updates 4. Field Improvements a. Well/ Irrigation b. Farm field renovation c. Majors field renovation 5. Fundraising ideas 6. Volunteer Bond 7. New business
District 8 Update Chip reminded us Jeff Jablonski is the new District 8 president. There has been an added district in CT, District 12. Tolland, Stafford and Coventry are no longer in District 8. District 8 will now have a dedicated website and will include tournament play information. There was a vote taken as to whether or not have pool play in the first round of tournament play. It was voted that pool play will remain. Concerns arose with the tie breaker rules coming out of pool play in 2013. The 50/70 League; there still are 5 or 6 towns interested. Rumors continue to stir about the LL birthdate cut off from May 1 st to December 31 st. District 8 is asking for dues to be paid in January rather than summer. District 8 will be opening a bank account for formal accounting, whereas before it was run very informally (personal bank account). District 8 may be requesting for a donation for the exiting president of 28 years of service. Thoughts are $50-100. Baseball restructure or East Granby Interleague A meeting was held with the EGLL President (Shane Fairbairn) and Vice President (Chris DeJesus) to discuss ideas of East Granby possibly playing in our league. EGLL wants to be involved in BB-Majors, BB-AAA, BB-AA, BB-Farm as well as softball at all levels. It would not benefit SLLSB as we play them already in spring, but will need to be discussed further with EGLL. EGLL has (2)BB-Majors, (2)BB-AAA, (2)BB-AA, (3)BB-Farm teams as well as one team for all levels of SB. They currently have two fields for BB and two for SB. For BB the EG Farms field is in nice shape, the other is usable, not in as nice of shape. Used for make-up games. The partnership would add SLL ability to see new players from other towns and work with a single neighboring town vs. multiple. EGLL is hoping to combine coaches meetings, championships, standings, and wish to make this a long standing relationship. 2014 Calendar Updates Chip handed out a revised 2014 Suffield Little League Important Date list. The revised list includes many confirmations and revisions. Mike Marmo and Lou Riccelli have volunteered to attend the League Administration Clinic on Jan. 25 th & 26 th. The February Clinic 2/17 & 2/18 we have been given a no problem confirmation from Wayne Lancioni.
Field Improvements Overall progress has been stymied by the a few uncontrollable events. We still need final quotes on irrigation and well installations. Well/ Irrigation nothing to report. Farm field renovation Wayne Lancioni will begin the removal of the grass infield as well as enlarging the overall infield size this Saturday 11/16. Infield soil has been quoted @ $7291 including trucking. A motion set by Jenn Bombard to allocate $7500 for this material was seconded by Lou Riccelli. The vote was approved unanimously. Major s field renovation The new plans are to remove the infield grassed area only including the mound. Rebuild the mound, re-grade the infield and add sod. The existing infield soil to remain. To rebuild the mound one of two types of mound clay are available, decisions will be made closer to time of installation. Fundraising ideas Donna Dyer discussed fundraising ideas and was looking for feedback from the board. Ideas included having a League Night at a restaurant where the restaurant gives money from the proceeds back to the SLL. (i.e. Wild Wings, Moe s, chili s, Friendly s) Raising the Rock Cats baseball tickets as a possibility. From $6 to $8 maybe $10 per person. Other ideas, Sell your gold, Lake Compounce day, Six Flags picnic. The golf tournament could be enlarged and made even more profitable. Volunteer Bond Lou Riccelli recommended Heidi Crocker for the position of Volunteer Bond Coordinator. Heidi was introduced and approved as the SLL new Volunteer Bond Coordinator. Some revisions to the volunteer program are needed. A few early ideas were to have everyone pay a fee, the same fee up front as part of registration. No buy out program. At the end of the season, we have a few nights where parents can pick up their refund in cash where their volunteer hours are verified. Time in Chet s will be separate and mandatory. Open Discussion Gina Martin Ryan followed up with her contact at the high school regarding scholarships in the name of Joe Parise. She found it is still an active scholarship fund. Chip Dyer is to contact the family and discuss with them that the National Little League rules do not allow for tournament play in season and will need to end but will consider other ways to memorialize Joey Parise. Fall cleanup went well on November 9 th. We had 30 volunteers show up which made quick work of the task needing to be completed. Nearly everything done in
2 hours. A few stopped by after the work was completed. Next year, Chip will note the hours of work as 10am until complete. Still needed is the cleaning of the groomer, George Krar to manage. Per Chip Dyer at a previous BOD meeting, a vote was taken to redraft for both 2013 & 2014 seasons. This is an approved Plan B draft option and will be in use for the 2014 draft. Mike Zolciak & Mike Marmo to look into new website site software sources. League Athletics and Blue Sombrero. Both have useful utilities but would need to weigh the cost vs. ROI. Submitted by Michael Marmo Suffield Little League - Secretary