Hingham Little League Board of Directors Meeting
June 20, 2005
Hingham Recreation Center
8:00 pm

Meeting Minutes

President Rob Blomberg called the meeting to order at 8:10 pm. Present: Rob Blomberg, Steve White, Rick West, Joe Craven, Bruce Corwin, Bob Keyes, Melissa Flanagan, Rich Magner, Rick Linehan, Joe Granatino, and Tim Driscoll. Cliff Boyle, Tim Zyrkowski, Owen McConville, and Elliot Sherman joined later.
Absent: Paul LeBlanc, Mike Letorney, Tia Mastromatteo, Mark Igo

Secretary’s Report
· Approval of Meeting Minutes from 6/7/05 Meeting
o Motion passed to accept minutes from 6/7/05 meeting. Thank you to Joe Craven for filling in. Tim Driscoll to post to website.

Treasurer’s Report
· Current Balance
o ,5654 is the current balance
· Outstanding Expenses
o Expected for equipment from Rockland, shirt replacements, etc. Not expected to be a large bill.
o See below for User-Fee
· User Fee Issue-Hingham Rec
o Status of .00 charged per player per team for Little League season
§ Discussed that we owe approximately ,000 for all the registered players. Noted that Rec has seen to it that the fields have been in excellent condition all season.
o Status of .00 charged per player per team for summer travel season
§ Further discussion on whether this additional fee applies, most of the kids in the summer teams participate in Little League and have already paid. We will make sure any players in summer ball not registered in Little League (there are a few) will also pay the fee.
· User Fee Issue- Hingham School Department Fields
o Status of .00 per player user fee will be imposed by Hingham School Department
§ No report

Business Related Issues

· Local Little League Business Filings and Topics
o Public Charity Filings
§ Status of 501 (3) c Form
· Joe is working on, has set a September date
o Insurance Fees and Options
§ Status of filing revised version
· Audit of 2003/2004 HLL Financial Results
o Status of Audit
· No rush at this point, to be worked on in the September/October timeframe. Bob is in touch with the CPA.

New Business

· Player Registration-Membership Committee Report & Team Schedules
o Rick Linehan and Elliot Sherman are Co-Chairpersons
o Status of Refunds
· A couple of refunds have been issued for various circumstances, no more expected.

· Sponsorships and Donations-Committee Report
o Chairpersons are Melissa Flanagan and Tia Mastromatteo
o Outstanding Issues
· 501 (c) (3) form required for Verizon sponsorship remains outstanding
· Discussed arrangement with one of our sponsors Lapels Cleaners. In lieu of payment, they have agreed to clean uniforms, apply Little League patches for those shirts without them, and box the shirts. This will be a huge help for the program and keep the shirts in good shape.
· We’ll need additional Little League patches. Agreed that Rob will put in order for 300 patches so we’ll have plenty in stock (.00 each).
· Checks received from two sponsors for past due and the last outstanding sponsor for this season.

League Rules and Local By-Law Issues

· Player Agent Report
o Mike Letorney is Player Agent
· Playoffs
· Any issues?
o Going well. Schedules posted to the website
o Due to Williamsport team, the Majors Championship schedule needs to be adjusted accordingly. This is posted on the website as follows: Note: The Hingham Little League Williamsport Team has its first game on Sunday, 6/26/05 at 3:00 vs. Canton in Sharon.
As a result the second and potentially the championship Hingham Little League Major’s World Series games will be scheduled around the Williamsport Team’s games.
For now Major’s Games Twelve (the second game of the World Series) is tentatively scheduled for 6/27 at 6:00 pm at Haley and the potential Game Thirteen (the Major’s championship game) will be 6/28 @6:00 pm at Haley. However the dates of these two games are subject to change. The Williamsport Team and its games take precedence
· All Star Game
· Selection
o Not all teams have put names in as yet. Joe / Mike to follow up.
· Home Run Hitting Contest
o To take place between Minor and Majors Games.
o Two minor leaguers hit homers over the fences and are eligible to participate. Same format as last season with 4 rounds to determine the winner. Trophy will be awarded to the winner
· Road Runner Contest
o Will need to have a stopwatch – Mike Letorney please follow up. Last year we used one from Rec?
o Trophies to be awarded, Mike has on order.

· Discussed arrangements for cookout. We have some items in stock in Melissa’s freezer, and will plan to bring up to the amounts we had scheduled for Opening Day, expecting a larger crowd. Melissa could use some help with this.
· Need to follow up with Paul LeBlanc/Coca-Cola for beverages.


· Major League Committee Report
o Joe Granatino is Chairperson
· Status of Posting Revised Major’s Rules on the website
· Joe will forward to Tim for posting.

· Minor League Committee Report
o Paul LeBlanc is the Chairperson
· Any outstanding issues?
· No Report

· Manager’s Committee Report
o Joe Craven is Chairperson
o Outstanding Issues
· Upcoming training dates for Managers, Coaches and players
· First Aid session
o Will be held Wednesday, June 22nd at the Rec at 8:00pm. Joe will follow up with letting managers know.
· Catching clinic
o JP Craven will conduct a clinic for interested catchers playing in the summer leagues – targeting 2nd weekend of July.
· Status of practice manual for HLL
· Status of CORI checks for managers and players
· Completed.
· Approval of coaches at all levels
· Outstanding issues
o None reported

· Equipment Committee Report
o Rick West is Chairperson
o Outstanding issues involving equipment or other items
· Uniforms-missing sponsor names and patches-will wait until end of the season
· Bill expected from Rockland as noted above
o Status of batting cage at Haley/Cronin
· Foundation is there, no clear date for installation as yet, unfortunately have missed most of the season. HLL will contribute 00 for the cage.
o Status of mound at South School
· Mound was not ordered this year. Also reports of vandalism issues with the South School equipment box and generally poor conditions of the field (ie no trash barrels available). Rob suggested for next year we organize a clean up of the field in early April to improve playing conditions.

· Discussed need to set up a “Equipment Return” date in first week of July, after playoffs, for all non-summer league equipment. Rick Linehan suggested an inventory sheet for all bags so we have a better accounting of equipment on hand. Rick West to follow up on setting date. Agreed to continue to contract with the storage company in Weymouth, worked out well last year.

· Umpire Committee Report
o Rich Magner is Chairperson
· Outstanding issues?
· Final meeting scheduled for this Weds at 8:00pm at the Rec.
· 3 Umpires will be scheduled for the Championship series for Majors and Minors, as well as the All Star Games.
· Continued high praise for the performance of the umpires across the board this season. Excellent job Rich and Mark.
· Rich will compile a list of available umps for the summer teams, should not be a problem as there is a lot of interest and a lot of good umpires.

· Safety Committee
o Owen McConville-Chairperson
o Further discussion of details of ASAP Program (A Safety Awareness Program)
· As above, First Aid clinic to be held June 23rd 8:00pm at the Rec, Owen has a volunteer to conduct.
· Outstanding issues
· Ice bags need replenishing in the boxes at the field
· As part of the program, we need to conduct field surveys prior to season.
· We put in to host a Williamsport District Tournament game in Hingham. For us to host a later round game, we need to be ASAP approved, we don’t have that approval yet.
· Challenger Division Report
o Chairpersons are Rob Blomberg, Joe Granatino and Tia Mastromatteo
o Tabled until Fall, 2005 or Spring, 2006
o

· Buildings, Property and Grounds Committee Report
o Cliff Boyle and Tim Zyrkowski-Co-Chairs
o Status of order of dirt/clay for all fields
o General maintenance issues
· Tim has done a terrific job with the fields all season and deserves a lot of credit for the upkeep.
· Haley is looking good, Diamond came last Friday with new clay; Bob will look into getting additional dirt.
· Tim is planning to re-line at Hersey, Haley, and Pal this week for the playoffs.
· We need to look into getting some kind of extension netting for the backstop at Hersey, as lots of baseballs now live in the woods. Open issue for this committee to look into for next season.
· We need additional Speedy Dry in stock, Bob to order.
· Suggested that it would be good idea to trim the tree behind the Haley backstop, it’s creeping in to the playing field. Bob will follow up.
· Briefly discussed need for a shed at Hersey for storage.

· Social Committee Report
o Chairpersons are Melissa Flanagan and Tia Mastromatteo
o Identify potential fundraisers
· Golf tournament is 9/21/05
· Other suggestions

· Publicity Committee/Opening Day/Fourth of July Float
o Melissa Flanagan is Chairperson
· Volunteers to create this year’s Fourth of July Float
· Additional details?
· Discussed logistics in detail. Parade on July 4th, will need to prepare float on Sunday the 3rd at Hingham Lumber. Rich will coordinate, and Dave O’Connor will be helping out again.
· Materials from last year are in storage, Rick Linehan and Melissa Flanagan will coordinate, need volunteers to help out. Last year worked really well, signage for sponsors a plus.
· All outgoing 12 year olds, and Major and Minor Championship teams will be invited to ride on the float, along with members of the Board, some of whom will be walking alongside. A motion was made and passed to invite Joey Granatino to ride on the float – Joey had a terrific year in Minors and Joe Granatino expressed his gratefulness to the board for affording this opportunity.
· Melissa will follow up on final logistics, ie where and when the kids should show up (9:00am is plenty early)…
· Melissa will send notices for the parade and the All Star games to the Hingham Journal. Also to post on website and email.

· Calendar of Events
o Post updated Calendar on the website
· No discussion

· Sandlot
o Cliff Boyle is chairperson
· Status of request by Hingham Rec for Hingham Little League to run this program
· Agreed to manage the program, co-sponsoring with Rec.
· Status of volunteers, costs, equipment and other details
· Cliff has board approval to set this up. Discussed a question regarding insurance, whether we are covered by Rec or Little League. Elliot suggested we are covered under Little League for all registered players, and players not registered in LL show up, we will put them in and pay the fees
· Cost will be per player, includes fees, t-shirts for all players. 8-11 year olds eligible.
· Will need adult volunteers to sign up of oversight, in addition to 2 High School age kids to run the games; agreed to pay them .00 per day, need to run CORI.
· Games on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Hersey, discussed possibility of also using Haley.
· Cliff will follow up with previous Rec employees who ran the program in the past to see if their still interested.
· Cliff will put a more formal plan together and share with the Board on getting the program up and running.


· Summer Travel Baseball
· Update on Travel Teams
· Williamsport team
o Team has been selected and will be posted to the website by Rob. Leo Peloquin, Rich Magner, and Ron Driscoll will coach.
· Suburban teams
o Selections being made and should be finalized this week. Coaches are Peloquin, Pomroy, White, and Carlson for 12, 11, 10, 9’s respectively.
· South River teams


· New Business
o Little League District 8 Meetings
· Recent meeting held, discussed formation of Williamsport team. Paperwork packet needs approval. Meeting scheduled for 6/22 to continue with reference to Williamsport related issues.
· Discussion regarding trophies for all levels, as a follow up from some feedback from a coach. Decided to use the same approach as last year, with trophies going to All Stars, Championship teams, and Contest winners.

· Schedule for Upcoming Meetings
o Monday 7/11/05
o Monday 8/8/05
o Monday 9/12/05
o Monday 10/3/05
o Monday 10/24/05 (Annual Meeting)

The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 pm
Submitted by Secretary Tim Driscoll