PINE LAKES TENNIS ASSOCIATON SPRING ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MARCH 18, 2019 The meeting was called to order at 3:02 pm by President Randy Markham. Board Members in Attendance: Randy Markham, Sharon Thomson, Bob Anderson, Ron Garcia, Rick Shaw, Bob Dowd and Sandy Milley The commissioner, Maggie Garcia was also present. Randy wished to send best wishes to Mary Ann saying she was in all of our thoughts. This was supported and our wishes went out to Mary Ann, which was shown with a round of applause. Randy stated that communication is key for the PLTA and that e-mails are the primary way of communication. He shared that he was expecting that the members were getting and reading the e-mails that are sent out. He requested that If you were not getting them, see Stu to ensure that you get what is sent out and that your are able to review the correspondence. It was determined that 3 people, who were present at the meeting, were not getting e-mails. Kathy will follow up. A quorum was met for the meeting. 42 members were present and 4 absentee ballots were completed. TREASUER S REPORT Bob reviewed 2018 Annual Financial Report: The 2018 Opening Balance was $6,391.80 The total Income for 2018 was $3,732.15 The total Expenses for 2018 was $4,622.31 The balance as of December 31, 2018 was $5,501.63 Bob then shared the Financial Report from January 1, 2019 to March 18, 2018: The opening balance on January 1, 2019 was $5,501.63 January expenses were $912.35 February expenses were $3,094.67 ( Broadway Palms, money collected and went through the account. March expenses were zero (0) Therefore, as of March 18th there is a balance of $ 7,462.45 Bob offered to give anyone a complete break down of any and all reports.
Bob thanked everyone for their support and that he had enjoyed his role of treasurer for the past two years. The reports are attached to these minutes. A motion was put forth by Stu to accept the Treasurer s Reports. Kathy P seconded the motion and all were in favor. MINUTES FROM THE WINTER ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF January 21st, 2019. Randy shared that he had sent out a communication requesting that the membership read the minutes which were posted on the website. Randy put a motion forward to accept the minutes as written. Bob Dowd seconded the motion. All were in favor. OLD BUSINESS Randy addressed the item tabled from the winter annual meeting. This item was to change the Summer and WInter Season dates. He reported that more information was gathered, and PLTA members provided their comments. The results of these discussions concluded that the dates don t need to be changed in order to accomplish the intent of the motion. Therefore there is no need to do anything with this proposed by-law that was tabled. Under the Court Usage Committee the Whatever group hours will be scheduled on the Monday to an earlier time. This is possible as the teams practices will have wrapped up. VOTING Randy provided some background as to how the 2018/2019 Board arrived at the proposed language regarding the team selection. He shared that Rick and Ron headed up a committee; a meeting was held; one on one discussions took place with many PLTA members; draft one went out to the Board and other committee members and responses requested and given; draft 2 was written in which the Board went through word by word. He stated that when it came down to it, it was Swift Team selection which was difficult. The men s language was not as difficult as they have 3 teams. Therefore most of the change in Language was mostly in regard to the Swift (women.) Randy hoped that everyone had a chance to review the proposed changes. He then inquired if any one had any one comments or questions. This resulted in a discussion which the following key points were made regarding item #4 on the ballot;
- concern that under 2 b) would not solve any issues and would only bring the issue back full circle - the language was different and possibly more flexible At one point a few suggestions were put forward to maybe change the wording or adapt the ballot, but in the end Randy requested that the membership either vote for this change or vote against this change. If the proposal passed then he hoped that tweaking of the language would be made before the next team formation selection, in order that it would satisfy concerns expressed. The ballots were completed and counting began. Results appear later in these minutes. The meeting continued. ELECTION Ruth Sarno, chairman of the Nominating Committee addressed the membership. She stated that the four names were going forth for election for two year terms. These people were, Randy Markham, Sandy Milley, Jill Brush and Joan McGrath. The three other Board members would be completing the 2nd year of their terms and they are Sharon Thomson, Ron Garcia and Rick Shaw. A motion was made, as there were no other nominees the seven people named above will make up the Board for 2019 / 2020, by acclimation. Bob Anderson motion made a motion. As there were no other nominees the seven people named above will make up the Board for 2019 / 2020, by acclimation. Bill Crawford 2nd. All in favour. New board was selected. TEAM UPDATES Red Team - Pete reported that they were Ok and getting a little bit better as the year goes on. They have had a lot injuries. They are looking forward to next year. White Team - Irwin reported that they are in 5th place (out of 6) and have recently gone down to 6 players from 7 players. They have had a lot of fun and have brought up Blue players to sub. Thanks to all. Blue Team- Bill Crawford reported they are in 5th place out of 9 teams. Overall they did very well for the season. Panthers - Nikki reported that they had a good strong year, with a lot of fun. They appreciated those who watched them play. Honey Bees - Diane reported that they were still on the bottom rung. She said they were competitive, but haven t taken any body down yet.
Whatever - Bob Dowd reports that they have had great participation all year and continues to be very popular. Whoever - John Seiler reported that it has been very good and they always had enough to play. COMMISSIONER S REPORT Maggie reported that the men s Red and White Teams and the two Swift Teams have completed their respective processes for team selection and that the Blue team will meet on Thursday. Once that has been completed she will submit the lists. PRESIDENT S REPORT Thank yous went out to the organizers of February s ELS tournament, who were Judy Judge, Mary Jane Harris, Sandy Milley, Bev MacNeal and Sue Markham. Randy thanked Rick and Dixie Shaw, Steve and Mary Ann and Sue Markham for their organization of Broadway Palms. Dixie, Sharon and Sandy were thanked in advance for the Spring Dance. Maggie and Ruth were thanked for their organization of the FED UP CUP. The nominating committee members of Ruth, Kathy and Lucile were thanked. Special thanks went out to Bob Anderson and Bob Dowd whose two year terms will now be up. The membership showed their appreciation with a round of applause. Maggie was thanked for her role as commissioner. Stu was thanked for looking after the PLTA Website and for all of the communications that he gets out to the membership. Sharon Thomson, the Whispering Pines reporter, was thanked. HIs final thanks went out to Julie Flake from ELS. He shared that her support given to the association has been great. She supports our ELS tournaments and has recently agreed to purchase three new nets. He felt that Julie is really good at accepting whatever we go to her with.
BY LAW VOTE RESULTS- see the attached ballot Item 1a) 32 for 5 against (re: adding the acronym for SWIFT) Item 2c) 36 for 3 against (re: new player who is new to Pine Lakes) Item 4) 28 for 10 against (re: new Team Formation language) Item 5b) 40 for 1 against (re: co-captain, assistant captain) Item 6) 39 for 2 against (re: Exceptions) OPEN TO THE FLOOR Sandy shared that there was a need for people to offer to write articles for the Whispering Pines and that volunteers were needed to help with the entertainment events. Morgan brought up earlier in the meeting to begin the organization for a trip to Broadway Palms next year. Linda Dowd would like it not to fall on a Tuesday night. Lenny spoke about a possible new 80+ league forming out of Six Lakes, with all of the games being played at Six Lakes. He shared that it would be a fun league and something for men to consider. Right now they have four our five teams, but he didn t know the number of communities that were involved. Joanie made a request to replace the balls in the ball machine. She also thanked Randy for being level headed and good guy to work with. Cam requested a home to store the DJ equipment which has air conditioning for the summer months. Pete volunteered to take the equipment. Motions were made and seconded and all in favor to adjourn the meeting at 3:58. Respectively Submitted by, Sandy Milley Secretary
ATTACHMENTS Pine Lakes Tennis Association Ballot For Proposed Changes Which Fall Under the Heading of Inter League Play in the Handbook Please Mark an X, either FOR or AGAINST FOR AGAINST ITEM # PROPSED CHANGE RATIONALE FOR THE CHANGE 1 a) SWIFT Senior Women In Fun Tennis 2 c) c) A New Player arriving at Pine Lakes after the teams are formed will be considered for a team as a substitute player. i) To determine the team on which the new member should be placed, he or she will meet with and play tennis with the captain and players of the team of interest. If there are two teams within the same division or league then both captains will consult with one another to determine which team the player would fit best. -provides the acronym for SWIFT -provides a clear and simplified method of adding a player, new to Pine Lakes, as a substitute player on a team. What is currently written was difficult to follow and hence was not followed and what is proposed has worked well for the past few years. ii) It will be up to the c a p t a i n ( s ) i n consultation with the Commissioner(s) to either accept the player or suggest another team.
4 To replace the entire section, TEAM FORMATION and replace it with what was e-mailed to all PLTA members. Copies of the Proposed Changes to TEAM FORMATION, accompany this ballot. -provides language that is less restrictive and addresses the issue of the Pine Lakes By-Laws that have often conflicted with Leagues Rules and Regulations. It also address the fact that there are three levels in which men have an opportunity to play league tennis and only one team opportunity in which women may play league tennis. 5 b) A team captain may appoint an assistant captain or cocaptain. 6 Requests for exceptions to any of the above processes can be brought forward by any PLTA member to the Commissioner(s) and/or the Board of Directors for consideration. -provides for the appointment of a cocaptain or an assistant captain, which commonly occurs. -provides for any PLTA member to request an exception, not just a captain of a team. 4. TEAM FORMATION a) Teams need to be formed in accordance with their respective League Rules and Regulations / Requirements. Please note: As there are differences between the Men s and Women s League Rules and differences in the opportunity for men and women to play competitive tennis, there are two different processes for team selection.
MEN - BLUE, WHITE, RED The team selection is as follows: 1) All players, excluding associate players, who have signed up at a team level that are qualified to play at that level will vote on whether there should be 1 or more teams. 2) This list of players, excluding associate players, will then self rank. The procedure for the self rank, is as follows: The Team Self-Ranking Process a) Players from each existing team will be listed alphabetically on a ballot including all substitutes at this team level. b) All these players for the team will participate in the ranking process. c) Any player that doesn t have knowledge of all players on the ballot will exempt themselves from the ranking exercise. No partial ballots are allowed. d) Players will rank best player #1, second best is #2 etc. e) All self ranking exercises will be conducted and reviewed by the Commissioner(s). f) The top players form the Team, if the vote was for two teams, see g) and h) g) The 4 top-ranked players will be divided into 2 teams. Normally players ranked 1 and 4 will be on team A, and players ranked 2 and 3 will be on team B. However, if each of the top four players and the Commissioner(s) agree, they can divide themselves among the two teams in a different manner. h) These 4 players on teams A and B will alternately select the remaining 4-6 players for each team using the Self Ranking results as a guideline. Team B will normally select first. WOMEN - SWIFT The team selection is as follows:
1) For all of the qualified women, based on the SWIFT Rules & Regulations, who sign up to play in the Swift League, every effort will be made to provide them an opportunity to do so. 2) If there is to be more than one team, then the teams will be formed by; a) first, following the SWIFT Leagues Rules and Regulations, b) and then after consulting with all players, choose a method for the formation of the teams. This is to be determined by a majority ruling. The method for choosing teams may include, but not be limited to: keeping an existing team intact, balancing teams, having a draft, forming a competitive team, forming a developing team as long as the method complies with 2a) above. Schedule for Team Formation This process will be used to form all competitive teams. The schedule for team formation is as follows: Red Team(s) White Team(s) SWIFT Team(s) Blue Team(s) March 1-7 or sooner March 8-14 or sooner March 8-14 or sooner March 15-21 or sooner