Board Meeting Minutes
Present: Bill Locke, Kerry Hatcher, Andy Hansen, Dave McGlynn, Dick Prugh, Sue Manfredi, Jen Gummer, Terri Murphy, Chris Beausoleil, Bill Ryan, Dawn Sturman, Diana Cooksey, Bill Robinson, Britt Bodtker
1) Call to Order
2) Bill Ryan, member and parent of U-ll girl presented the following complaint to the board. Upon registering his daughter, Mr. Ryan paid $325 fee plus $100 post-dated check for volunteer hours. The $100 check has not been cashed and will be returned to him. In question is the remaining $325. Withdrew his daughter from the program and as the season has not yet begun, would like a full refund for the following reasons:
a. Level of coaching not what he considers “professional” as was represented to him at registration
b. Team schedule and travel distances are not what he expected
c. Was under the impression that referees would be provided -- not parents volunteers that take referee training clinic
d. Feels program is misrepresented
i. In the board discussion, the following points were made: Blitzz coaches are certified and paid, team schedule is quite close to what Mr. Ryan was told to expect with the exception of Missoula, there was a team meeting in January with detailed explanations of costs, volunteer hours, schedules, etc, and parents are referred to the web page for a detailed explanation of club policies. Board referred to club policy regarding withdrawal from the club, which states, “Between tuition deadline and start of season, voluntary withdrawal will result in a refund of half of tuition.” Motion to follow club policy was presented and passed 5-2. Club will refund Mr. Ryan half of $325 in question. It was decided to clarify the policy for future years, making it clear at registration the refund policy. Bill Locke will inform Mr. Ryan of the board’s decision.
3) Approval of February 22 Minutes
4) Introduction of Diana Cooksey, new Web Page Coordinator
5) Micro Report:
a. There will be approximately 600 participants this year
b. Suzanne Kaplin Jones is doing a great job as coaching director with innovative ideas
c. Team formation not yet finished
d. Gear will be obtained from Universal this year
e. There has been great interest with the high school kids in coaching micro
f. Sue wants input from board regarding registering kids that have dropped out from the traveling teams, to be discussed later in the meeting
g. Volunteers are still needed for field prep
6) Administrator/ Registrar Report
a. Referee Issue: all teams need to provide for referees, as it is possible for game to be cancelled if no referee is available. Question: Should the referee policy be made clearer at sign up? It was pointed out that having volunteer refs has not been questioned by anyone except Bill Ryan. A decision was made to make the referee issue clear to parents at sign up. Also presented was the idea that Board members be available at sign-up to explain club policy, etc, to new or interested parents.
b. Scheduling: should the board be involved? Jen wants input, and it was suggested that she could and should ask for help, etc. Also suggested was that she put in writing her hours spent, job description, etc. It was decided that this summer the board would assign people to work with Jen re: her job, hours, commitments, etc.
c. Field Assignments: Not good to have just one person do it, in case that person becomes unavailable. Think of better ways. Above decision re: scheduling also includes this issue.
7) President’s Report
a. City Parks: Foreman is Thom White, who has been very helpful with managing the fields. As we are partners with the city, we need to be good neighbors, citizens, etc. The city does not charge the Blitzz, which saves us thousands of dollars a year. We have a contract with the city, which includes first refusal.
b. There is a faulty fixture at one of the fields that needs and will be fixed.
c. Also one of the fields is not draining properly, of which the city is aware and wants to fix.
8) Head Coach Report
a. Meeting with coaches on Thursday March 23 re: defensive strategies, all coaches expected to be there
b. All coaches are E, D or C certified with the exception of 2 assistant coaches. There are approximately 6 E’s, the rest D’s or higher.
c. Coach Dinner at Bill Robinson’s house 6pm Sunday March 25. Board is invited to attend.
d. Teams short players: One girls U-11 team only has 9 players, and a boys U-12 team lost 2 bringing it down to 10 but just gained 2 to bring it up to 12 players. Reason probably competition with the Avalanche.
9) Finance Committee
a. New Software: 1st draft budget handed out, still working out a few bugs, but promises to be extremely helpful.
b. Budget: looks like we’ll be under budget, as we probably overestimated expenses, so we’re in good shape
c. Tracking those who haven’t yet paid: should code these by team, so easier to locate. It was brought up that everyone should pay up front, however some feel they don’t want to pay so many months before the beginning of the season. New software will make next year run smoother. Question: Is there a short-term investment plan for the money paid up front?
d. Referee Account: Why have a separate one? Should use cash instead, and use center refs to delegate. A motion was presented and passed to give Jack Dockery authority to work with cash with a paper track on the money. Money will be kept at concession stand, where it will be supervised.
e. Referee contract: contract with Jack Dockery signed, with 5% raise for Jack. Bill Locke can provide copy of contract for anyone wishing to review it.
f. Micro Account: Sue Manfredi can handle it separately. Will use the old referee account with name changed to reflect Micro. Sue will discuss with Finance Committee what she needs to make this work easily.
g. Scholarship Requests: approximately 20 requested, 18 budgeted for. Board needs to clarify when the scholarships will be awarded.
h. Should Budget be published? Too much info, let people ask to see it if they are interested.
i. Team Accounts: Teams keep own accounts for fundraising. If using tax-exempt status, money must go through Blitzz account and then right back to the team. It needs to be clear that the teams cannot give any unspent money back to the kids as cash. The money raised has to be used for direct soccer expenses. A written statement needs to be provided explaining how the money can be spent. Leftover money can be given to the next year’s team, split evenly between the teams (even though this may seem unfair to those who raised more money than others.)
10) Facilities and Equipment
a. Russ Walker will get fields lined, except for the state tournament. New liner has been purchased.
b. Bill Locke will pick up the sand bags
c. Net still needs to be put on at Sac.
d. Goals need to be assembled at Bronken
11) Tournaments
a. State Tournament Committee: Do we want to bid for next year’s state tournament? Deadline is July. Consider U-11/U-12. Also consider Bozeman putting on our own tournament at some point.
b. Committee should meet with chamber of commerce tournament committee
c. State Tournament: Hotels booked, fields organized.
12) Referee Liaison
a. Refs meet every Tuesday night
13) Policy
a. Issues to be resolved include: Corporate sponsorship and fundraising (Board needs to be informed of all efforts), registration, uniforms (are logos required?), Administrator’s role and scope
14) New Business
a. Club pins: are they in demand? We should sell them at slight profit. What is the cost? Should we obtain 250 – 500 pins to see as an experiment? They should be available at the concession stands.
15) Unfinished Business:
a. Bronken Building update: we should get teams to help with clean up. There is approximately 6-8 thousand dollars available for landscaping
b. “Good of the Game”: Is it appropriate to donate club money to an individual. Miles Bagley had snowboard accident as is now paralyzed from the waist down. Is a charitable donation part of our mission? Board decided that the right course would be to organize a donation jar for the concession stand and also put something on the web site indicating where people can donate money. A bank account has been set up for donations to the Bagley family. It was decided that this would be more appropriate and legal than using official club funds for a donation.
c. Micro: If people drop out of Blitzz traveling team, can they register for micro? We don’t encourage this.