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Sonoma Valley Youth Soccer Association

Minutes for the January Board Meeting

7:00pm, January 6, 2010

At Common Bond, 172 West Napa Street, Sonoma

Directors Present (13): Lynn Abaté-Johnson, Jaime Evina-Galindo, Jean-François Ducarroz, Vikki Griggs-Demmin, Camerino Hawing, Sam Honey, Colleen Paul, Edwin Richards, Dino Rossini, Jim Van Sickle, Greg Volker, Deidre Verdu, Phylis Wakefield

Absent: Adolfo Contreras, Marc Sloop (see Apologies)

Also Present: Sam Keechler, Sue Keechler, Renee Caruso, Jennifer Rochlin, Teri Miller, Scott Miller

Apologies: Adolfo Contreras, Marc Sloop

Public Comment

Sam Keechler, a student at Sonoma Valley High School, gave a presentation, including a video, concerning his Spanish class project. Sam has collected some 300 soccer balls (including 280 donated by the SVYSA). He is planning to send them to Peru, where he hopes people will use them to play soccer and thus improve their health. He also intends to send four pumps. He remarked that he still needed a way of shipping the balls to Peru. Phylis said she had a State Department contact who might be able to help. Sam Keechler’s presentation was well-received and applauded.

Mission Moment

Sam Keechler’s presentation was felt to be suitably uplifting to qualify as the Mission Moment.

Approval of Minutes

A motion to approve the minutes of both the December 2 Board Meeting and the December 6 Annual Meeting was proposed by Jean-François, seconded by Vikki and carried without a dissenting vote.

Old Business – Review of Action Items

Edwin ran through the action items and their status was updated as follows.

Action Items from 12.02.09 120209

1) Checks to honor the memory of the Maloney family

(a) Jennifer to issue two checks of $125 each, one to go to the Sonoma Community Center

(where Susan Maloney was a Board Member), the other to go the Molly (Maloney?) college

fund. [Done. Thank you letter received from Sonoma Community Center.]

(b) Lynn to write a note to accompany the check to each fund on behalf of the Board. [Done]

2) Sam and Vikki to meet with Jennifer to discuss and resolve various bookkeeping issues.

[Pending]

Action Items from 11.18.09 111809

2) Sam/ Vikki/ Greg to get estimates from bidders for cost of annual upkeep and maintenance of fields in years following the initial work. [Maintenance bid received from Scott Anderson, additional bids to be solicited. Because of the timing of the initial work (later than ideal) the degree of maintenance may be higher in the first year than in subsequent years. Soliciting of bids may be delayed until scope of work required is clearer.]

3) Having obtained the bids, Sam and Vikki to meet with Justin Frese (School District) [Sam and Vikki were due to meet with Justin Frese and representatives of the football community (Bob Michelini and Troy Donahue) on 01.07.10]

4) Rick and Vikki and any other interested party to craft a memorandum of understanding between the SVYSA and the School District in the event the SVYSA undertakes to work on the fields. [Wording of memorandum to be refined subsequent to 01.07.10 meeting – (see 111809- 3 immediately above)]

Action Items from 10.07.09

17) Jen to merge Jimenez U14B and Jimenez U15B into one account. [Done]

23) Greg to find out which schools need some goals. [Revised and Done – on review the goals were deemed unsafe and sold as scrap for $100]

Additional Discussion Arising from Action Items

It was noted that the initial work on the High School complex playing areas (High School, Prestwood, Adele) had been done. The School District currently has $0 to maintain the c. 52 acres of fields under its jurisdiction. The School District last performed end of season maintenance on the soccer fields in 2005.

There was also a question on general guidelines for meeting procedure (some sort of reference volume). Jim and Dino said they would find out what was available.

Action Item: Jim and Dino to investigate guidelines for meeting procedure.

President’s Report

Sam welcomed new and returning members. He gave an overview of the board meeting process and remarked that email discussions prior to board meetings were encouraged to maximize the effectiveness of the actual meetings.

Secretary’s Report

Edwin reported that the election at the Annual Meeting had raised a theoretical issue that needed resolving in the by-laws. Presently the by-laws give no guidance about what to do in the event there is a tie for the final position on the board. (There are 15 directors to be elected at the Annual Meeting, what happens if two or more candidates get the same number of votes for the final available position?)

Another issue was that of how to fill a vacated board seat (for example if a board member resigns). The by-laws allow the board to fill the vacancy by a vote. In 2009, the board had decided that in the event of a vacancy, the position would go to the person who had finished 16^th in the election (i.e. the person with the most votes who hadn’t been elected). If that person was unable or unwilling to assume the role, then it would go to the person with the next most votes (and so on). It was decided that rather than have a protracted discussion on these issues, the secretary should post some proposals for online debate.

Action Item: Edwin to summarize election issues and email them to board members.

Election of Vice President

Vikki said she would be willing to be vice president, but thought it would be possible to share the role with somebody else. Colleen volunteered to assist Vikki. Proposal to appoint Vikki as vice president, proposed by Lynn and seconded by Greg. Carried unanimously.

Treasurer

Jennifer said she was happy to be treasurer again. Sam pointed out that as treasurer, she would be an officer and as such might be involved in discussions between officers (president, secretary, vice president, treasurer). Jennifer said she was willing to do this. Motion to appoint Jennifer as treasurer proposed by Vikki and seconded by Phylis. Carried unanimously.

Registrar

The registrar’s contract currently runs from February 1 to January 31. Renee was asked if she thought the contract start and end dates were appropriate. She did. Motion to appoint Renee Caruso as registrar subject to board approval of contract was proposed by Deidre and seconded by Colleen. Carried unanimously.

Penalties, Appeals and Discipline (PAD) Chair and Committee

Edwin indicated that Rick Hicks had expressed willingness to continue as chair of the PAD committee. Dino proposed that Rick be re-appointed chair of the PAD committee. Jaime seconded. Carried unanimously. In addition Teri, Edwin and Phylis were appointed to the PAD committee, with Deidre and Colleen appointed as alternates.

Positions and Appointments

The board then reviewed other positions and made appointments/ recommendations where possible. Appointment to paid positions was subject to vote. Appointment to unpaid positions was by consensual appointment.

Bookkeeper (paid position) Jennifer Rochlin re-appointed subject to board approval of contract. (Motion proposed by Deidre, seconded by Jaime carried unanimously.)

Coaching Coordinator – Mike Verdu

Equipment Coordinator – Greg Volker

Field Development and Long-Term Planning – Greg Volker

Finance Committee Chair – Sam Honey

Fundraising and Scholarships – Greg Volker with Lynn to assist.

Outreach and Communications – Lynn Abaté-Johnson, Camerino to help.

Referee Scheduler (paid position) - Alison Johnston re-appointed subject to board approval of contract. (Motion proposed by Jim, seconded by Dino carried unanimously.)

Risk Management – Deidre Verdu (with Phylis as a trainee)

Select Teams Coordinators – Vikki Griggs-Demmin and Teri Miller

Tournament Coordinator – Scott Miller

Waste Management (paid) – Tom Young re-appointed subject to board approval of contract (Motion proposed by Phylis, seconded by Vikki carried unanimously.)

Webmaster – Jean-François (Jean-François said he would ask Marc Sloop if he was interested in getting involved)

Other Positions were not filled

Fields and Insurance – Action Item: Phylis to approach Dave Diamond (The position will cover all fields used by the SVYSA)

Field Preparation – Gaudencio to be contacted, Jaime to consider applying

Photo Day Coordinator – Greg to confirm Tracy Reynes is still willing to do this

Game and Field Scheduler – Sam to approach Tracy Walthard

Souvenir Program Coordinator

Arnold Field/ Field of Dreams Board of Directors

Jim reported that he had accepted the offer of a position on the board of the Sonoma Valley Athletic Club (SVAC) to represent soccer. SVAC controls the use of Arnold Field. Jim said he would keep the SVYSA board informed of what happened at SVAC meetings.

Any Other Business

At the meeting, the board had been the grateful beneficiaries of a gourmet food donation from Sheana Davis’ The Epicurean Connection. Lynn had coordinated this. Lynn said she wanted to get a different business to contribute food each month to board meetings. In return, Lynn suggested the donating businesses get recognized on the website and in the end of year souvenir program. Lynn said she would approach additional businesses for the coming months and asked for suggestions. Most board members thought this was a good idea, an additional way to strengthen ties with the community.

The deadline to apply to receive a portion of funds raised by the Sonoma Valley Vintners and Growers Alliance auction is January 15, 2010. Lynn and Sam were working on the application.

Edwin reported that a member requested that the SVYSA budget be posted online. Board members felt this was an unusual action for non-profits and there was general consensus that the request should be declined. Edwin pointed out that the by-laws (Article XII, Section 3) stated “minutes and accounting books and records shall be open to inspection on the written demand of any member, at any reasonable time during usual business hours, for a purpose reasonably related to the member’s interests as a member.” It was agreed that abiding by Article XII, Section 3 gave members sufficient opportunity to review what they might reasonably want to review.

Sam reported that despite signs and requests, some people have been playing on the fields at the High School complex which are currently “closed” to allow the repair and maintenance work to take effect. In addition to making personal appeals, he had approached the Sonoma Police Department to keep an eye on the fields. The Police Department will make passing checks on the fields and will respond to any calls alerting them that fields are being improperly used. The number to call is 707 996 3601.

The meeting adjourned at 9.20 p.m.