Hingham Little League
Board Meeting Mintues
Monday, February 26, 2007
7:00 PM
Meeting Facilitator: Ed Anderson
Attendees:
Board Members: Laurie Berlinguet, Tim Driscoll, Melissa Flanagan,
Joe Higgins, Skip Jenkins, Rick Linehan, Bob Madden, Patrick McCullom, Kevin McNally, Elliot Sherman, Tony Viola,
I. Call to order at 7:25 pm
II. Approval of minutes from last meeting –Thank you Elliot for taking the notes in Tim’s absence! Minutes approved
III. President’s Report – Ed Anderson
• Application for Divisional Format
o Approved for the 2 division format, we are in good shape with LL.
o Little League Road Show in Warwick RI – Saturday March 3rd
o Al & Al clinic March 4th in Woburn
o Background Checks – Choicepoint is up and running and information on the process distributed
IV. Treasurer’s Report – Rick Linehan
• Current Balance - 679.87. Compared to last year we are in better financial shape, likely due to earlier registration timing
• No word on IRS followup, awaiting mail from them
• Verizon Sponsorship check is on the way for previous sponsorships. Followup with Elliot for Bill Colpoys/Colin Pomeroy
• New Revenues – Finance committee to meet to review budget items and report back to Board
• Current Expenses – Uniforms, equipment, facility rentals are upcoming..
V. Umpires Review –
• Review of last years meetings (March 15th)
o Rich Magner, Rob Blomberg, and Mark Igo will assist the program this year
o Melissa will follow up for Rec date for first meeting and will post to websites once plans finalized
• Recruitment – thru the Babe Ruth players, Elliot will assist in distributing information
• Registrations – eligible if they are “baseball” 13 as of April 30, 1994
• Background Checks – good idea, need volunteer forms approved for all umpires as per Little League
• Training -
• Equipment – will need 2 new sets of umpire gear
• Shirts – 30 are on order, will follow up for clickers, rulebooks, etc.
VI. Registration Update
• All Registrations to Date
o 801 as of yesterday
o Printed out list of those registered distributed
o Is registration still open? Yes, but with waiting list based on numbers as expected.
• Remaining Slots in Each Level
o Majors
o 71 – 12s, 82 11s. Still 5 kids expected (12s); total of 154 registered, (158).
• Determine number of teams for each division
o We don’t have enough kids to register 16 teams in Majors
o 14 teams, 12 kids per team = 168
 Proposal to reduce number of Majors teams from 16 to 14 discussed. All agreed that the numbers dictate any flexibility, so we have to contract 2 teams from this season (1 in each division)
 Motion made and Vote taken on reducing Majors teams to 14 Passed
o One American League team has only 1 player coming back (Stoddard). Not renewed sponsorship, 1 player will be put back into the eligible pool.
o Gilbert has – 3 registered/1 on fence (Gilbert)
o Rules reviewed regarding Supplemental Draft to place these players first
o Vote taken on removing Gilbert and Stoddard as above, PASSED
o Minors
 104 10s, 118 9s = 222 (minus about 10 tens go to Majors) = 214
 Could stay with 18 teams of 13 kids each = 234 players
• Motion made and PASSED to have 18 teams in Minors
• Will be room for over 15 8 year olds, many have expressed interest and will need to tryout
o Issue with one player requesting to be released from a Major team
 Vote taken and Passed to allow player to be placed back into pool
 Player will be put back into the supplemental draft
VII. Managers/Coaches Report - Skip Jenkins
• Managers Appointment and Approval
o Majors and Minors list reviewed by Coaching Committee and recommendations were discussed and made accordingly.
o Majors
 9 returning Managers are recommended for return
 22 candidates expressed interest in Managing at Majors level
 7 new candidates discussed, only 5 spots available
 Final list was determined and 14 managers were chosen
 Vote taken and PASSED on nomination 14 managers subject to acceptance and CORI check
o Minors
 22 Candidates, several are returning Managers and Coaches
 List reviewed for 18 spots available based on number of players per team.
 Vote taken on Coaching Committee recommended final candidates and PASSED.
o On both Majors and Minors levels, we were very fortunate to be in the situation where we had more candidates than open slots, and unfortunately not all who had expressed interest were selected as Managers due to the circumstances. It is expected that those not selected will all take on the role of Coaches.
o Candidates will be notified and verified, subject to background check

Discussion now focused on determining make-up of the Major League teams and the new Manager placement, as to the previous vote of contracting 2 teams. Issues were thoroughly debated and processed as follows:

Names were drawn out of a hat to determine which new coaches would retain which existing teams/players which did not have Managers/Sponsors interest retained, in the following order:

Joe Haley Club players – Steve Glenzel (new team name)
Jack Diamond Law players – John Ferris
Sullivan Brothers players – Skip Jenkins

*Due to affiliation with Verizon, newly appointed Manager Bill Colpoys will manage the Verizon team.

Name Changes –Team names were adjusted according to new sponsorships, Manager in Parentheses
G&C becomes Joe Haley Club (Driscoll)
Ryder Development becomes Gilbert Trash (Carlson)
Joe Haley becomes Glenzel Spatz (Glenzel)
WB Mason becomes Cold Stone Creamery (McCarthy)

VIII. Player Try-Outs – Kevin McNally
• March 10 & 11 from 8:00 AM to Noon at South Shore Sports Center
• Major League 8 – 10 am, Minors 9:30 to 12:00 both days
• Evening for Make-Up Try-Outs
o Basketball court at SSSC is available Tuesday 3/13 – reserved 7:30 pm to 9:30pm. Discussed alternatives, will stick with this plan
o Need volunteers to assist, sign ins, on field management, etc. Any guidance for Kevin is greatly appreciated as this is his first tryout.
o Need to order tryout numbers (preassign), 2 numbers per kids, different colors, safety pins.
o Need to identify the 10’s in the mix for eligibility to Majors.
o Notification of the process for tryouts forthcoming
• Draft Dates are set as follows:

o PRS March Mon 19 7-10pm Majors
o PRS March Weds 21 7-10pm Minors
o PRS March Thursday 22 7-10pm Farm and TBall
o Need volunteers to help out particularly at the lower levels… this is what we signed up for!


IX. Playing Fields Update
• Rec Department Fields
• School Fields
• Practice Fields
• Storage for Hersey, Kress, and other fields
• New PAL/Lynch Fields
• Kress discussion with SS Baseball to allow them to use field after Memorial Day, in exchange for SS Baseball training clinic. Agreed in principle, as long as we don’t short ourselves – win win situation. Bob Madden has done the legwork on this one, thanks Bob..
X. Sponsorship Update – Melissa Flanagan
• Existing Sponsor Renewal
• New Sponsors
o Majors are all set
• Minors – 11 of 18 are committed; couple more moved down from Majors, couple others need to be approached for renewals, plus some new ones needed. The letters of interest are coming in!
• Farm – 3 of 18 or 20 teams so far, word is now spreading out
• T-Ball – 6 of ? teams – as above, these tend to fill in just prior to season.
• Melissa and Laurie are busy with the necessary work to keep on top of this…thanks both.

XI. Equipment and Uniform Update – Bill Ford
• RFP for New Uniforms and Equipment
o Sent to 3 vendors (Beacon, Rockland, and LL sponsored)
o Local vendors fared better in price, pretty much expected
o Report next meeting on where orders will go, but likely both vendors as in past
o Agreed to get new uniforms for Spirito as colors are faded; there will also be sponsor changes as noted above
XII. Other Topics
• ASAP Update – Owen McConville – no report
• Team Photos for Next Season – Melissa Flanagan – no report
• Playing Rules Review for each division – no report
XIII. Adjournment
• Upcoming Board Meetings
o March 12
o March 26
o April 9
o April 23
o May 7
o May 21

Meeting was adjourned 10:08 pm.