Hingham Little League
Board Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
7:00 PM
Meeting Facilitator: Ed Anderson
Attendees:
Ed Anderson, Laurie Berlinguet, Tim Driscoll, Melissa Flanagan, Bill Ford, Skip Jenkins, Rick Linehan, Bob Madden, Owen McConville, Kevin McNally, Tony Viola

Other Guests: Rich Magner, Patrick McCullom, Andy Wheeler
Meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm
Approval of minutes from last meeting
• One minor change needed to include Minors in pitch count rule revision. Motion made to accept minutes and approved.
Approval of New Board Members
• Joe Higgins - Motion made for the nomination and appointment as a non-coaching Board Member - Approved
• Patrick McCullom - Motion made for the nomination and appointment as a Coaching Board Member - Approved
• Andy Wheeler - Motion made for the nomination and appointment as a Coaching Board Member - Approved
• This brings the number of Board Members to 15. Welcome aboard Joe, Patrick, and Andy!
League Business – Ed Anderson
• Filing of new officers completed with National Little League
• Ed met with former President Rob Blomberg for a ‘transition’ meeting
• Papers also filed with District
• Ed will attend District Meeting tomorrow evening and report back next meeting
Treasurer’s Report – Rick Linehan
• Rick provided an overview on 05/06 expenses and income with more details. Highlights
• Current Balance ~ 25k, leaving us a healthy amount to continue investing in the program. Last year’s major expenses included
• 18k Equipment
• 15k Fields
• 8k Fees and insurances
• 11k Umpires
• 90,750 expenses in total
Umpire Update
• Rich Magner has volunteered to oversee the Umpire program as a non-Board Member. We are very grateful to him for this, as he is responsible for this hugely successful and popular program with the older kids (65 last year!)
• Rich will manage the umpires, conduct trainings, schedules, and manage the entire crew and work with the Umpire Committee and the rest of the Board. No major changes in mind (/game, etc.) to be considered and re-established. Thank you Rich,… also note that Mark Igo and Rob Blomberg have offered assistance.
• We need to reserve the Rec on a weekly basis once the season is underway for payment and assignment. Weds 8:00 pm worked well last year.
• Expenses – We will need 30 – 35 Umpire Shirts to outfit the newer crew. Mark Igo has contact information for the order (Holloway’s). Approximately 0 to buy 35.
• Some clickers, cards needed. No changes for the rulebook of 2006, so we won’t need large order. Could use copies of The Right Call book. Will need Hingham Local Rules once they are complete.
• Discussed idea of having base umpire assist in counting pitches, but this process still needs to be ironed out as to how we’ll do this fairly
• Will need to post in The Journal as we have in the past, expect in March. Also posting to the website will be done. Will contact Rich in February, check on equipment inventory in the winter.
• A Motion was made to allow Rich to proceed with the shirt order, to allow expenditure not to exceed 00 or 35 shirts. Approved… Rich will confirm to Ed via email this week.
• A Motion was made to retain same fee per umpire per game – Approved
League Structure Review and Registration Fees for 2007
• Number of teams in Majors: 16 teams, 2 divisions, 12 players per team, all 12’s and 11’s eligible; remaining spots for 10 year olds.
• If all 11s and 10’s last year stay on, we are right on the mark with 193 kids.
• Discussed the issue in some detail, as well as options. Tentative to keep the status quo on the Majors level, pending the outcome of the registration process
• Minors – 9 and 10s – 254 kids, 234 last year played. Issues with the fields will impact us. 8 year olds eligibility to be determined based on numbers at registration. It is imperative to get the process underway.
• Farm – 6,7,8 s .. need to wait for registrations, T-ball veterans if they played 1 year already and are ready to move up based on availability
• Last year fees 0 for 9-12, 7-8, and 5-6. Family maximum 200 per immediate family.
• Motion made to retain the same price structure for 2007 season - Approved
• We can begin work on the Active.com registrations and enable a link from the website. Various notification avenues will be used to announce availability for signups – email to membership, website, Journal articles.
• Determined that date for in person registration will be January 20th , and then one evening that week to coincide with Board Meeting.
• Agreed to establish a deadline for registrations as January 31st, and to include a late fee and wait list option. Motion was made and Approved.
• Include communication that we need all registrations in earlier this year because of fields and to assist in our planning. Tony mentioned good opportunity to ask for further volunteers at that time.
• Also discussed a checkbox for 8 and 10 year olds to declare eligible for the ‘next level’ should space be available to be filled. Check with Elliot if this option is available on Active.com
Sponsorship Fees for 2007
• Almost all sponsorships are available in the renewal year. Letters to be sent to existing sponsors with the first opportunity before deadline (to be established). We have prospective sponsors asking us for slots, so expect to be in good shape.
• Fees - Majors 500, and 3 years at 1250. 300 for minors and farm, 100 for Tball.
• Discussed various options for setting fees, and came to the following conclusion:
• Motion made to establish that
• Majors 500, discounted for 3 years 1250
• Minors 350, 600 for 2 years
• Farm 250, 400 for 2 years
• T-ball – 100
• The Motion was Approved on the above fees.
Open Issues
Review Committees and Identify Committee Chairs
Executive Committee – Ed Anderson is Chair
Nominating Committee – Tim Driscoll is Chair.
Membership Committee – Andy Wheeler is Chair.
Finance – Rick Linehan is Chair
Buildings and Properties – Elliot Sherman is Chair. JoeHiggins and Andy Wheeler added to the Committee.
Grounds – Bob Madden is Chair. Patrick McCullom is added
Playing Equipment – Bill Ford is Chair. Joe Higgins is added.
Managers – Skip Jenkins is Chair
Umpire – Ed Anderson is Chair
District Committee – Ed Anderson is Chair
Sponsor/Auxiliary Committee – Melissa Flanagan is Chair
Major League Committee – Tim Driscoll is Chair
Minor League Committee – added Joe Higgins as Chair
Farm League – Bill Ford is Chair. Patrick McCullom is added
Summer Travel – Melissa Flanagan is Chair

New infield for Haley Field
• It was previously agreed to look into this matter further and request quotes. It is agreed the material in place is very hard, prone to puddling/poor drainage, and somewhat of a safety issue (definitely not fun to slide on it!)

• Rec got quote from Diamond to till, excavate, replace clay, lines, etc 5200 quote (not clear if we’d need to pay for the clay)

• Bob Madden worked with and received quote from Herzog Landscape (amount not available at this time)

• Rick suggested looking into attempting first to till the field, and possibly buying a machine or to hire out to do so periodically during the season if the expenditure is expected to be over 5000. We have sponsors and other contacts locally that might be able to do this, and the DPW is another option.

• Agreement that this would be a good choice. Contacts from Cohasset may be helpful as they have been dealing with a similar issue, and are known to be adding materials into the mix during the tilling. Should check with them to get input.

• Playing Fields for 2007 – known issues – use Kress, Central/Powers, Plymouth River, and Foster? Other locations are needed. Permitting process should begin as soon as possible. Will be tricky with Farm and TBall as we had all day Sat and Sun in previous years for scheduling. Will have to discuss this matter further as a top priority at the next meeting.


Player and Coach Training
• No contact has been made yet with Steve Cosgrove and Boys of Baseball program yet; as previously agreed, we would seek some options with program to come earlier and to discuss a possible flat fee.
• Ed has some materials from Little League available that were distributed. With bulk it would cost 00. Can get movie on it as well, all good options to supplement our training program. Ed will put together numbers and report next meeting.
• Volunteer Opportunities
New Business
• Team Photos for Next Season (Indoors vs. Outdoors)
• Vendor proposed indoors, aids logistically for them, but we discussed what are the potential benefits to us? There is a lot of work involved administratively in this program.

• May want to look at some of the other vendors? Agreed to look into this further. The outfit that does Hingham Youth Hockey has done a good job and is very flexible and accommodating (Tim). Also will look into outfit that does Hingham Soccer (Tony)

b) New CORI Process for 2007
Ed to forward to Rick as to the changes, mandated by LL that they need to review National database.

ASAP for 2007 – Owen has this under control.

Upcoming Meeting Schedule Proposal

• Monday December 18th, 7:00 pm.
• January 8th and 22nd
• Feb 5 and Feb 26th
• Adjournment --Meeting adjourned 10:05 p.m.