Sonoma Valley Youth Soccer Association

Minutes for the June Board Meeting

7:00pm, June 2, 2010

At Common Bond, 172 West Napa Street, Sonoma

Directors Present): Lynn Abaté-Johnson, Adolfo Contreras, Jean-François Ducarroz, Vikki Griggs-Demmin, Sam Honey, Edwin Richards, Dino Rossini, Marc Sloop, Greg Volker, Phylis Wakefield

Also Present: Renee Caruso, Teri Miller, Jennifer Rochlin

Absent: Jaime Evina-Galindo (see also apologies)

Apologies: Camerino Hawing, Colleen Paul, Jim Van Sickle, Deidre Verdu

Public Comment

None

Mission Moment/ For the Good of the Game

Edwin noted that World Cup games would be screened on a giant screen near City Hall in San Francisco. Privately-funded, the screen seemed likely to increase interest in soccer.

Renee reported receiving a letter from teenage girl, registering for her final year of soccer. The girl had played for a number of years and wanted to thank everybody for the fun that she had had.

Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve minutes from the May 5 board meeting. Proposed by Marc, seconded by Jean-François. Carried unanimously.

Action Items Arising From 05.05.10 (reference 050510-).

1. All available Board Members to help out with registration. Saturday May 8, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at La Luz  17560 Greger Street, Sonoma. Done.
   
2. Select Committee to discuss uniform colors and jersey numbers in relation to their significance as gang symbols versus their significance as common soccer colors and numbers. Pending.
3. Any edits to the “Team Financial Management” document to be submitted to Phylis by 05.15.10. Done.
4. Phylis to then email copy of final document to board members and relevant parties, and to post on website. Needs to be posted and emailed.
5. Lynn to email 2009 copy of “Coach and Referee Guide” for general review and editing suggestions. Done.
6. Interested parties to attend meeting on sports complex ballot initiative with Arden Kremer and others, including Valerie Brown/ her representatives Wednesday May 12, 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 810 Grove Street, Sonoma. Done.
7. Vikki to continue working on Referee Scheduler, Waste Management and Field Preparation contracts. Ongoing. See Vice President’s Remarks.
8. With regard to Field Preparation contractor Gaudencio Beceril, Jaime to become point man for communications with Gaudencio. Any lining requests to be submitted to Jaime at least one week in advance. Vikki to help establishment of this policy. Done, though more publicity/ compliance is needed.
9. Sam and Dino to investigate banks with a view to maximizing the SVYSA’s banking relationship. Pending.
10. Sam to talk to SVYSA’s insurance company regarding the use of SVYSA property (i.e. goalposts) by other groups. No use of SVYSA goals by external groups until a policy has been formulated based on what Sam learns from the insurance company. Done differently. Sam didn’t talk to the insurance company, but did talk to District V Commissioner Bruce Weaver. Bruce recommended that the adult men’s team that uses the goalposts name the SVYSA as an additional insured. This has been done, opening up new avenues of communication with the men’s team.
11. Renee to send out email notifying people that late-fee free registration is being extended to May 31. Email probably best sent out after current deadline 5.15.10 has passed. Done.
12. Renee to send out update on Sam Keechler’s soccer balls to Peru project. Done.
13. Board to mull over proposal to purchase $110 worth of “Temporary Tattoos” at 11 cents each. No evidence of action.
14. Sam to talk to Martin Chourre about SDC field improvement plan (the board is not in a spending mood). “Taking care of itself,” Sam.
15. Interested parties to help with registration data entry at Lynn’s house on Tuesday May 11 (contact Lynn). Done.

Ongoing Action Items from 04.07.10 (040710-)

040710-1 Following the motion: Renee should apply for a debit card to use in her capacity as registrar. Renee to apply for debit card. On hold pending 050510-9 Had been on hold pending possible change of bank, but decision tonight was that this needs to be done. The card will be used by the registrar/ treasurer to facilitate transactions for the benefit of the League.

040710-4 Scott to look into how to acknowledge those who have allowed the SVYSA to hang banners on their property (i.e. who are the owners? would they mind if we acknowledged them? etc.). Ongoing.

040710-7 Select Committee to look into T-shirts for select coaches. Pending.

Ongoing Action Items from 03.03.10 (030310-)

030310-05 Deidre to recruit Age-Group Coordinators (AGCs). Done.

030310-11 ACTION ITEM: following on from 020310-2 Sam, Vikki, Greg to discuss new field layout for High School field to accommodate Bob Midgely’s request, then to get back to Bob Midgely. Not yet done. It seems unlikely that there is enough field space to accommodate Mr. Midgely’s request. Not done yet.

Referring to an April action item, Mark noted that Mary’s Pizza would not be screening World Cup games. However, Greg said that Mondo would be screening a number of games and that Big 3 might be also.

President’s Remarks

Sam thanked everybody for their work. He said his own business was getting busier, which left him less time for presidential work.

He related that he had been contacted by parents from the Kenwood league. The league was having difficulty with team formation and some players wanted to join the SVYSA. They had warned Sam earlier of the possibility of wanting to join and asked if the late fee could be waived due to their special circumstances. Sam was advised to give a new deadline especially for these players, after which they would have to pay late fees.

ACTION ITEM: Sam to set a deadline for those who had hoped to play in Kenwood. Applications received after this deadline will be subject to late fees.

Vice-President’s Remarks

Contracts for Referee Scheduler, Waste Management and Field Preparation had not been finalized. Regarding the Field Preparation contract, the board requested that Vikki insist that provided they were staked goalposts could be put in position on Friday night and moved back into the storage location on Sunday night. Excepted from this stipulation were the U6 goals which need to be put away each evening. As an aside, the board felt the 2009 field layouts had been very effective and did not need changing.

Vikki remarked that Greg Tatton was going to trial July 2, 2010. It was requested that Edwin send out a general reminder that Vikki was the official media spokesperson for the SVYSA on this matter.

ACTION ITEMS: Edwin to email relevant parties reminding them that Vikki is the SVYSA spokesperson for the Tatton case and that any media inquiries should be referred to her.

Vikki to remind select committee of the same.

Treasurer/ Bookkeeper’s Remarks

Jennifer said she had discussed disbursement of Halloween tournament money with Scott Miller (tournament director).

She had a question regarding the flow of the money at the end of the financial year. If money was left over in a select team account did it stay with the team or the age-group or the coach? (For example, if the U14 Select team had money in its account at the end of the season, did the money move up with those players to U15/ U16 or did it stay with the U14 age group or go with the coach if he went to a different team

Dino said that traditionally distribution at the end of the season had been at the discretion of the coach. It was agreed the select committee would discuss the matter and set a policy.

ACTION ITEM: Select Committee to determine how money flows at the end of the financial year for select teams.

Jennifer also said that she was receiving requests at random times from select team representatives. Jennifer has a set time for dealing with SVYSA matters and set guidelines and those guidelines need to be respected. (Since February it has been the policy that Jennifer sets aside Thursday afternoons to deal with SVYSA matters. Requests received Thursday morning will ordinarily be dealt with Thursday afternoon, requests received Friday morning may not be dealt with until the following Thursday afternoon.)

ACTION ITEM: Select Committee to forward details on Jennifer’s modus operandi for the SVYSA.

Jennifer reported that the accountant had filed an extension for the tax return.

Secretary’s Remarks

Edwin didn’t have anything to report as secretary. He did have a question regarding the outgoing message on the hotline. In late July and August, the hotline tended to receive messages from people complaining that they hadn’t heard from their coaches. Edwin wanted permission from the board to leave a message explaining that it was quite normal not to hear immediately from the coach (who might be on vacation) and also stating that requests to transfer players to different teams could not normally be honored. There was general consensus that it would be okay to incorporate this information into the outgoing message.

ACTION ITEM: Edwin to update outgoing phone message at a suitable time.

Registrar’s Report

Renee announced that as of close of business June 1, 1,177 children had been registered, up from this time last year. Of these, 208 had paperwork “in the mail”.”

Some people were requesting the ability to pay in installments. There were also some additional requests for scholarships. Some older boys have written in saying they are having difficulty making payments, since they no longer receive parental support. Also, some older boys delay registering till they know they have made the select team, since they don’t want to play rec soccer.

ACTION ITEM: Renee, Lynn, Sam and any other interested party to hold an additional meeting to discuss scholarships.

Renee said that a total of $1,930 had been received thus far in donations (Note: $925 for fields and $1,005 scholarships for scholarships).

$111,905 had been received from registration.

$11,870 had been allocated to scholarships (the budget was $11,500).

The value of sibling discounts amounted to $2060.

Scholarship/ Fundraising Update

Lynn announced that the Sam Morphy, owner of the Red Grape, had sent in a check for $1,500 for the Joe Flajnik memorial scholarship, but declined a photo opportunity.

Larson Family Winery will have a “Dog Days of Summer” on Sunday July 25. A professional photographer will give their services for free. People are invited to book an appointment to pay $25 to be photographed with their dogs. Half of the proceeds will go to Pets Lifeline, the other half to the SVYSA.

Lynn said 266 scholarships had been awarded, up from 239 last year. Next year, the plan was to make all scholarships be fixed at the same value.

Greg announced that Scott Anderson (Scott Anderson Landscaping) was planning to have a float in the July 4 parade. He would be giving out tree seedlings and wanted as many soccer players as possible to follow behind the float in uniform. Everybody felt this was a great opportunity for the SVYSA. It was suggested that a banner be purchased.

Greg also said he was awaiting a check from Jazz Plus following their festival. The organizer of the event had been on KVYSA radio and Greg had called in to thank him for his support of the SVYSA.

Any Other Reports/ Business

Lynn noted that the SVYSA banner at the corner of Napa Road and Broadway had gone missing. In its place a Bear Flag banner had appeared. It was hoped the SVYSA banner would reappear after the weekend, when the Bear Flag event would be over.

There was a discussion of the League manual, the annual Coach and Referee Guide. Opinions and edits/ suggestions for edits should be forwarded to Lynn. There was consensus that the guide needed to be posted online when completed; the online document could be easily updated. Phylis wondered whether printing many copies of the guide was appropriate when it could be placed online. There was definitely a case for a guide, but we didn’t want to waste paper and print something that might be little read.

ACTION ITEM: Adds, edits and guide-related comments to be submitted to Lynn.

The meeting adjourned at 8.30 p.m.