CLIPPERS BASEBALL CLUB MEETING
Thursday, July 18, 2019
Opening:
Clippers Baseball Club meeting was held on Thursday, July 18, 2019 at Tiffin City Hall in Tiffin, IA at 6:00pm.
Club Members Present: Wade Good (Vice-President), Golda Monohon (Secretary), and Adam Zupancic
Others Present: Bryan Monohon, Derek Thomas, Amy Albert, Bill Isham, Brandon Schrock, Ryan Haughey, Kristi Haughey, Jeff Vogel, Dan Stotler, Bridgette Schares, Jamie Etscheidt, Dan Etscheidt, and a few more. There were ~18 in attendance.
Finances:
At 6pm, Golda started the meeting by discussing finances. A spreadsheet of current club debt/expenses was printed and placed on a table as well for viewing at the meeting. The club is still gathering individual team information.
*Please see board to view additional meeting minutes due to the sensitivity of the information.
Ballots and Voting Results:
The members present were issued ballots with the following questions:
- Do you want the current members of the board (Wade Good, Adam Zupancic, and Nick Pfeiffer) to be removed from the board? Circle One.
Yay Nay
- Golda Monohon’s 3-year term as Secretary is now complete. Do you want her to remain on the board as a Trustee? Circle One.
Yay Nay
- Who do you nominate to the Clippers Baseball Club Board? Ideally a representative from each team will be nominated. Past board members are eligible for nomination (including Wade Good, Adam Zupancic, and Nick Pfeiffer). Write 1-2 nominations please.
Wade and Adam Z. tallied the results:
- Do you want the current members of the board (Wade Good, Adam Zupancic, and Nick Pfeiffer) to be removed from the board? Circle One.
- Yay – 4 Nay – 13 Mixed Results – 1
- Golda Monohon’s 3-year term as Secretary is now complete. Do you want her to remain on the board as a Trustee? Circle One.
- Yay – 15 Nay – 3
When Wade began to announce the individuals who had been nominated for the board, there was concern by the members present that those nominated would not want to commit until they knew their player was on a team for the 2020 season. It was decided that the club would host another parent meeting. Since Golda would not be in attendance for an August 15th meeting. Golda stated that she would contact the City of Tiffin to see if the meeting reservation could be moved to August 22nd instead. Golda stated a concern about waiting another month to nominate board members and decide officers since there currently are only 4 board members. The club really needs 7 board members to divide out responsibilities. A member in attendance also stated that it is difficult to commit toward becoming a board member when they don’t know what is required. Wade, Adam Z., and Golda stated that board members serve a 3-year term, need to attend monthly meetings, have responsibilities as defined in the by-laws, assist with Clipper Classic tournament planning, etc. Golda stated the by-laws are posted on the website, but the club could provide board member information on the next club email.
Tryouts:
Golda stated a board member needs to be present at tryouts. There are 5 tryout dates and 3 of the current board members are coaches, leaving Golda to run the registration table. She will be out of town for the August 10th tryout date and will need volunteers to cover registration on that date. In addition since Golda will be out of town, rosters will not be posted on the website until Monday or Tuesday, August 19th or 20th after she returns. Coaches should have their rosters submitted to the board by Friday, August 16th.
Members present stated that the Clippers Baseball Club needs to be more competitive with the Tigers tryout dates. Golda stated that tryouts used to be held at the end of August and that the club already moved it up one month. She also stated that if the dates are moved up any sooner, the club would begin to conflict with state tournament dates and the July 4th holiday. A member asked, “Why do we need to wait for state tournaments to be completed before holding tryouts?” Golda stated it may become difficult to cover tryout registration if board members are preoccupied with the players at state tournaments. It was decided that once the 2020 USSSA state tournaments are scheduled/announced in January, the club will schedule tryouts for the first week/weekend afterwards. This will conflict with the Tigers, however players/families won’t feel forced to commit to the Tigers before even attending evaluations for the Clippers.
Derek Thomas suggested that once tryouts are complete this year, the Clippers should coordinate with the other clubs such as Tigers, Bolts, Regina, etc. to see if they have any players that were not placed on a team. This will help make sure all kids get a chance to play baseball.
Membership Dues:
Golda stated that during the coaches’ meeting on July 10th, the coaches recommended that membership dues should be raised to $350/year, but keep the 7U and 8U teams at $300/year. Therefore the new membership dues for the 2020 season will be:
$125 for 14U
$300 for 7U & 8U
$350 for 9U-13U
Members present stated that they want to know where their membership dues are going. They want to see a breakdown of expenses for the teams. Adam Z. provided a general breakdown:
The club would give $3000 to each team to cover field rental ($10/hour for practice and $20/game), gym usage ($10/hour for practice), tournaments, league fees, and umpire fees. The club would then need to take care of USSSA Registration, Insurance, and Banners. Each team would need to report back to the board each month to show their income and operating expenses.
Fundraising:
*Please see board to view additional meeting minutes due to the sensitivity of the information.
Some other fundraising ideas mentioned were promoting a can drive for recycling. Kristi Haughey and Amy Albert mentioned that the Tiffin Fareway needed someone to maintain the can return in front of their store. Amy stated that she could send the club additional information. Members of the club could volunteer to help Fareway and in return raise money for the club. Adam Z. stated that he would check on this. Another idea is a 50/50 raffle in conjunction with a fundraiser at Throttle Down. Bryan Monohon stated that he could organize the raffle.
Another idea was hosting a Fall Ball League/Camp/Clinic and ask the high school baseball players to help. This could be held in the fall on a Sunday from 3-5pm. Golda stated that an email could be sent to Coach Henry to see if he’d be interested. This same idea was brought up approximately 2 years ago, but the hope then was to provide a camp in late April, right before the high school boys start their season. Although Coach Henry thought it was a good idea, the club and the high school teams never did get anything planned.
Scholarship:
The club has not been contacted yet, but it is assumed the 2019 Clippers Baseball Club scholarship recipient, Quentin Gisleson, has not been awarded his $500. It is believed that Adam Henderson had been trying to schedule for him to receive his scholarship during the June 24th board meeting.
Action Items:
- Golda
- Post meeting minutes on website
- Call City of Tiffin to move next board meeting to August 22
- Adam Z.
- Check on can return fundraising opportunity at Fareway in Tiffin
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 7:20pm. The next meeting will be Thursday, August 22nd at 6pm at Tiffin City Hall in Tiffin, IA.
Minutes submitted by: Golda Monohon, Secretary