Hingham Little League Board of Directors Meeting
September 12, 2005
Hingham Recreation Center
7:30 pm

Meeting Agenda

The 37th meeting of the Hingham Little League Board of Directors was called to order by President Rob Blomberg at 7:42 pm.
Present: Rob Blomberg, Steve White, Joe Craven, Bruce Corwin, Bob Keyes, Melissa Flanagan, Rick Linehan, Elliot Sherman, and Tim Driscoll. Owen McConville joined later.
Absent: Paul LeBlanc, Mike Letorney, Tia Mastromatteo, Mark Igo, Rick West, Rich Magner, Joe Granatino, Cliff Boyle, Tim Zyrkowski,

Secretary’s Report
· Approval of Meeting Minutes from 8/8/05 Meeting
o A vote was taken and the Minutes of the 8/8/05 were approved with no changes. Tim Driscoll will post to the website.

Treasurer’s Report
· Current Balance
o 19,510. Recent miscellaneous payments made to Rockland Sports and Beacon (equipment), 00 donation for batting cage at Cronin, 5 clay and dirt expenses, fee for outside accounting work, bbi Marketing, etc.
· Outstanding Expenses – Nothing significant at this time
· Other Issues?

Business Related Issues

· Local Little League Business Filings and Topics
o Public Charity Filings
§ Status of 501(3)c Form
· Joe reported only a few finishing touches needed, will get necessary signatures at next Board Meeting. One action item, Joe needs information from the Website from Mark Igo, Mark has on a CD.
· Audit of 2003/2004 HLL Financial Results
o Status of Audit
· Underway, nearly complete. Joe Craven and Bob Keyes have been working with Alan Gladstone on all the paperwork. Bob forwarded balance sheet to Joe.

New Business

· Player Registration-Membership Committee Report & Team Schedules
o Rick Linehan and Elliot Sherman are Co-Chairpersons
o Outstanding Issues?
· Nothing to report at this time

· 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
· Getting closer as above. Joe will follow up on this item once the papers get filed after next meeting.
· Distribution of Sponsorship Plaques
· Melissa reported that the ‘corrections’ to several of the sponsor plaques are completed and the set of remaining plaques are ready to go. At this point in time, agreed that we should distribute the plaques via mail instead of trying to coordinate hand delivering. Melissa will follow up with Carol Ryan for the mailing.

League Rules and Local By-Law Issues

· Player Agent Report
o Mike Letorney is Player Agent.
· Outstanding Issues?
· Nothing to report at this time


· Major League Committee Report
o Joe Granatino is Chairperson
· Revised Major’s Rules
· Posted to the HLL Website
o Completed
· Outstanding Issues?
· Nothing to report at this time


· Minor League Committee Report
o Paul LeBlanc is the Chairperson
· Revised Minor’s Rules
· Posted to the HLL Website
· Outstanding Issues?
· Nothing to report at this time

· Manager’s Committee Report
o Joe Craven is Chairperson
· Training dates for Managers, Coaches and Players
· Boys Of Baseball-9/05 Recap
· Rob reported that the events went very well despite the conflicts of early September. Thirteen managers/coaches attended on Friday night, very positive comments from all in attendance. On Saturday, 38 ballplayers enjoyed the clinic, many of them our younger aspiring stars which was good to see. A couple of kids from surrounding towns also attended.
· Overall, the program was a success. The Board will pay for the managers in attendance as previously voted. It is expected that we will invite Steve Cosgrove again next spring and fall – next year target the 3rd weekend in September as there is likely to be less conflicts with other town sports groups. In the spring, lets hope for no rain. Rob will be seeking feedback from participants.
· Outstanding Issues?
· Nothing to report at this time


· Equipment Committee Report
o Rick West is Chairperson
· Status of Equipment Return
· Outstanding issues involving equipment or other items
· Uniforms-missing sponsor names and patches-will wait until end of the season
· There is still outstanding equipment to be collected and catalogued. We may want to contact coaches or offer a drop off hour at our next meeting. Rick and Mark will follow up. Several shirts found their way to tonight’s meeting, Rob will arrange to drop off to Mark Igo. Melissa commented that Lapels is ready to take care of the shirts, need an inventory soon.
· Status of batting cage at Haley/Cronin
· Our contribution has been paid, and the batting cage is in storage for the winter, unfortunately didn’t get to take advantage of it this season, but we’ll have available in early spring 2006
· Outstanding Issues?

· Umpire Committee Report
o Rich Magner is Chairperson
· Outstanding issues?
· Nothing to report at this time.

· Safety Committee
o Owen McConville-Chairperson
· Approval of ASAP Program (A Safety Awareness Program)
· Other outstanding issues?
· Nothing to report at this time


· Challenger Division Report
o Chairpersons are Rob Blomberg, Joe Granatino and Tia Mastromatteo
o Tabled until Fall, 2005 or Spring, 2006
· Brief discussion regarding this program and the desire to still try and line something up for 2006.

· Buildings, Property and Grounds Committee Report
o Cliff Boyle and Tim Zyrkowski-Co-Chairs
o Outstanding Issues?
· Several points of discussion regarding the fields
· Potential that work on PAL/Lynch field will begin this winter and bump into next season, so we need to start work on contingencies if we should not be able to use the fields.
· Need to investigate possibilities of repairing back field at Hersey, Plymouth River, South, possibly Middle School field, Kress Field, East School, Hull Street field, Notre Dame Academy, High School etc, for alternative venues. This is obviously an important issue that must be monitored and addressed by this and the future Board.
· Elliot agreed to follow up with Bob Spirito to look at some ideas for improvements at the Hersey back field. Bob has previously looked at some options.
· There have been requests/complaints from neighbors regarding dust on the field; we have an estimate in for less than 00 for a sprinkler system that would address this issue. No action taken on this time, must be considered by the Grounds committee.
· A storage shed has been purchased for equipment for Hersey.
· A question was raised regarding the status of the dugouts at Haley Field that could use replacement, in line with the terrific job on the dugouts at Hersey. There is money left in the budget that was allocated for this purpose. Elliot will follow up with Rich Magner to inquire regarding possible labor and effort. Elliot and Melissa will take on an action item to facilitate with the Recreation Committee.

· Social Committee Report
o Chairpersons are Melissa Flanagan and Tia Mastromatteo
· Identify potential fundraisers
· Golf tournament is 9/28/05-Status
· Unfortunately having a difficult time in getting enough players to commit. A recommendation was made by Mike Letorney to cancel the event this year, and those in attendance agreed. Mike will return all checks received so far, we’ll consider an event in the spring. Thanks Mike and crew for your effort in organizing the event to date.
· Other suggestions?

· Publicity Committee/Opening Day/Fourth of July Float
o Melissa Flanagan is Chairperson
· Outstanding Issues?
· Float must be moved from Melissa’s garage to the Storage site.

· Calendar of Events
o Post updated Calendar on the website

· Sandlot
o Cliff Boyle is chairperson
· Recap of Sandlot Program
· Outstanding Issues?
· Bob reported positive feedback from participants. The program unfortunately ran over budget this season, but was well attended and received. Lesson learned that for next season the Board needs to organize this extra attraction with more up front planning if we are to sponsor the program.

· Summer Travel Baseball
· Update on Travel Teams

· Discussion on Earlier Selection for 2006 Travel Teams
· Discussion regarding possibility to name coaches earlier in the season so they can get a preview of the kids earlier for the Suburban teams. It was also noted that there is a time crunch for the tryouts and we should try to hold them earlier to better prepare for the Sub and South River programs. Agreed to discuss further, and to continue to monitor with the next Board so we can have better preparation and communication next season. It was generally agreed that this is a difficult and sensitive issue, and we must be firm in our approach and process.

· New Business
o Hingham Little League-Use of Mailing List
· Hingham High School Baseball Club
· Joe Craven discussed some ideas being considered from the HHS Booster club for potential fundraising efforts. There was general agreement that we should vote on whether the Board could/should provide a mailing list at some point, and that we could do this at a later date, likely for the next elected Board to consider. Further discussion will take place regarding potential for a town wide ‘baseball advisory’ board to help promote the sport across all levels. There may be some restrictions with Little League rules and recommendations that would need to be investigated further.
· Hingham Hull Babe Ruth
· Status of HLL 12 year old list for mailing to Hingham/Hull Babe Ruth. As above, the group decision is to wait to address until the 2005/2006 HLL Board is elected.

o Other New Business
· There have been inquiries regarding potential for a “Fall Ball” league. This is something we agreed to consider for next season.
· Planning for the Annual Meeting needs to begin. There will be a mandatory election by the Membership for a new Board of Directors. Elliott and Melissa will draft a letter to be mailed to the Membership for the purpose of notification as required by Little League.
· In order to complete the letter, need to determine the Membership fee which was . Some discussion ensued, and a motion was made to retain the fee at . Vote was taken and passed.
· Melissa will follow up to inquire if we can again use the Plymouth River School cafeteria for the Annual Meeting.

· Schedule for Upcoming Meetings
o Monday 10/3/05 – 7:30 pm Recreation Center
o Monday 10/24/05 (Annual Meeting)

The meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m.