LCIHA Board Meeting Minutes

Time/Place: 09/06/01, 7:00 PM, Meerscheidt Recreation Center

Present: Eli Best, Peter Kane, Chris Christeson, Dan Short, Derrick Wooten, Jimmy Rivera, Sonya Delgado, Tony Castelo, Cynthia Clark, Joe Short, Patrick Switzer, Jeff Narramore, Margie Narramore, Tammy Sprague, Joyce Martin, Robert Martin, George Sanders, J. P. Rodriguez, Wendy Hamilton, Danny Rodriguez, David Rockstraw, and Dennis Downey.

Minutes:

· Jimmy Rivera started the meeting by advising that the LCIHA was recognized as a non-profit organization by the State of New Mexico, and has membership in the National Inline Hockey Association from June 1, 2001 to June 1, 2002. He further advised that LCIHA has a working, interim board of directors, with by-laws submitted to the State, with final recognition needed from the City of Las Cruces. He advised that LCIHA is empowered to proceed as planned because of the by-laws and state recognition. He suggested that plans continue to open the hockey season on September 22, 2001 as scheduled pending recognition of the City of Las Cruces. He noted that all things have been done correctly, even though there may have to be revisions to the by-laws as time goes on. He also suggested including parents in sportsmanship training. The LCIHA is required to meet the regulations as is any other sports association affiliated with the city, and he noted these requirements have been met. He again reiterated there is no reason the current board cannot proceed, with the board and officers being elected and installed at a general meeting. Jimmy further advised that the city Parks and Recreation will not get involved in any controversy within the LCIHA as the mechanisms are now in place to fix any problem; that is, any problems will be brought before the LCIHA Board of Directors, with appeal available to the Parks and Recreation and further appeal to City Council.

· Dave Rockstraw noted that LCIHA has a contract with the city to use their facilities and equipment. The contract also gives LCIHA $2,000.00 per year for the next two years from the city, to be used for funding the youth groups only.

· Jimmy Rivera advised that the first responsibility the LCIHA is to the youth. He noted that there is an election regarding a gross receipts tax, of which 1/8% goes to the police and fire departments. 1/4% is to go to the Parks and Recreation to add to facilities, renovate/remodel, and possibly build new facilities, part of which could be a new indoor skating arena at a later date. He further noted that the city's hands are tied as to the disbursement of funds, that LCIHA as a separate entity is able to move forward much more quickly. 

· Dave Rockstraw noted that one of the short-term goals is to get the hockey into the schools, with the ultimate goal of a indoor hockey arena. 

· Joe Short said he had concerns as to who the actual board currently is.

· Dennis Downey made a motion to hear Joe's complaints.

· Joe said he wanted to know who he could take his complaints to, who could he talk to; the board needs to be active.

· Dennis told him the board was present at the meeting.

· Joe indicated that he had e-mailed Dave Rockstraw on August 31, 2001 that he wished to move his team, The Coyotes, to the 14-16 division if the parents of the team agreed. On September 3, 2001 he received an e-mail from Dave that he would "move the team around to spread equity" Joe said he read the by-laws to say that he could keep his team together. Dave said he had understood Joe from previous conversations that he was not going to coach, was playing in El Paso, that they would start balancing the teams, going to a draft. 

· Dennis Downey said that was the basis of the by-laws and LCIHA, to stop the driving force and domination of a few teams and have equity on the court.

· Joe Short said he understood that the "grandfather" teams could participate if they wished to, making a smooth transition from the old system to the new system.

· Joyce Martin commented that the purpose of the league was to teach the sport and sportsmanship, that it was not about winning or losing, noting that the kids should have fun.

· Tony Costelo noted that no matter what type of sports league there is, there is always a dominant team, even with a draft.

· Dave Rockstraw said that initially there were to be no teams in the first year, only a draft.

· Cynthia Clark suggested to keep the kids in mind, to schedule a meeting for the board and by-laws.

· Jimmy Rivera noted the LCIHA has 3 choices for a league: city, private, or nothing. He suggested that the current people stay together and have the first annual meeting, assigning positions (officers) and make decisions. He advised that having the board and officers in place, the by-laws can be adopted as to whether teams are kept together or not. The advantage of the draft is the league staying together.

· Dave Rockstraw noted that with the inequality of a few teams walking over the others, kids are being turned away with a bad taste in their mouth.

· Pat Switzer indicated there is an interim board of directors. He noted the kids' dedication and determination to have a hockey league, that they were always at practice. He suggested that maybe there could be a hybrid team that could play the better players. He further suggested that as this meeting was the first meeting called, the city should maybe run the league this year. He indicated he has 9 referees to be certified, 8 more from NMSSU and other parent volunteers. He also indicated that he cannot get them ready in 3 weeks. He noted that a city-run league does not have to have certified officials.

· Dennis Downey said he was opposed to the city running the league, that the first year in a private league of any kind would not be pretty nor perfect. He noted that there has been a lot of effort by a lot of people and suggested to keep charging on. 

· Jimmy Rivera said the LCIHA proposition is ready to go to City Council, and that LCIHA can make it work. He noted that there will always be a small core group that does the work. He suggested to adopt the by-laws and stick by the rules - always. The Parks and Recreation will be available for games, i.e. equipment, scorekeepers, goals, space, timers and scoring equipment. If the league goes back to the city, they have to hire a league director and find officials, which would delay the start of the season until at least mid-October. In addition, fees would have to be collected to pay officials. He advised that LCIHA could use the city equipment, but as it wears out the LCIHA will be responsible for replacing it. He noted that there are approximately 130 kids in the league and said adult players are not in this picture. He advised that everyone think about the good for all the kids, not just a couple of teams. He said the by-laws should be equal and fair to all.

· Dave Rockstraw said he would volunteer to officiate every Saturday, and is working with the NMSSU hockey club to perform their community service by officiating at the games.

· Tony Costelo suggested that everyone think beyond this current season, to focus 10 years down the road and see what is in store.

· Dave Rockstraw advised that NMSSU will match the university hockey club dues whenever they perform community services, which is an incentive for them to officiate.

· Joe Short asked that the board make the decisions regarding who can officiate, and that the board needs to have an active role.

· Robert Martin noted that LCIHA is just starting out and there will be lots of mistakes, but things can be changed to make corrections.

· Tammy Sprague suggested scheduling a meeting with Dave to make an agenda in rank of things to be done, bringing other parents in as well.

· Chris Christeson suggested a meeting be scheduled for Monday, September 10, 2001. The consensus was in agreement, the meeting to start at 7:00 p.m. in Jett Hall, NMSSU, room 283.

· Dave Rockstraw will supply his laptop computer to facilitate the meeting.

· The agenda agreed upon was: (1) appoint and install the Board of Directors; (2) elect and install officers; (3) adopt the by-laws. Further items were regarding the adult league and a no-tolerance rule for back talking officials, once being a penalty, twice ejection from the game. Also for discussion regarding younger kids moving up in age bracket, or into an adult league, depending on physical maturity, skills and parental consent. Also on the agenda will be a sportsmanship registration, with parents and adult league being required to attend.

· Also on the agenda for perhaps a future meeting is a proposed budget

· Jimmy Rivera noted that the LCIHA proposal will be before City Council on September 17, 2001 and suggested that as many cooperative, unargumentative people and kids attend as possible. He indicated that the proposal may be a consent item, which would pass through City Council as a "yes" with no discussion, LCIAH portion done. However, he said council members had the option to pull LCIHA for discussion, which could possibly be the last thing on the agenda.

· Dave Rockstraw said that for all intents and purposes from the beginning was to start the league this weekend, but was unable to do so until City Council approves it. He said this weekend would be a free skate, no games, to get a knowledge of talent on the court. He indicated that volunteer coaches would get together in the following week to put teams together and give coaches a week's worth of practice before the start of league. He said Tom King will be putting a sportsmanship meeting together, and that he himself would run it. He said he has a lot of information and printed material from the Inline Hockey Association to give to everyone.

· Joe Short said he was distressed as he had checked with the Inline Hockey Association and the league is not presently insured, nor was it insured for the tournament held August 25, 2001.

· Dave noted that the league is insured, that a certificate was issued by Inline Hockey Association. He further noted that to incorporate in the State of New Mexico an interim board had to be established and by-laws presented. He also indicated that in order to facilitate having equipment managers available on time to get gear and equipment ready for games that it may be in order to pay them $5.00 each, once for getting equipment/gear out and once for putting it all away.

· The meeting disbanded, with reminders for the formal meeting on September 10, 2001.

Respectfully submitted, Ms. Eli Best, Board of Directors, LCIHA Interim Secretary