LCIHA BOD Meeting Minutes

 

Time/Place:  11/18/03, 6:30 P.M., Jett Hall Rm. 283, NMSSU

 

Present: Chris Burnham, Chris Christeson, Cynthia Clark, Pat Coughlin, John Jacobs, Tom King, David Rockstraw, Hugo Vilchis Jr., Patty Walters.

Minutes:

v    The following proposed by-law changes and additions were discussed and voted on:

 

Proposed changes to the LCIHA By-laws:

 

1.         Article 5, section 2, paragraph 2:

 

Strike the 2nd to last sentence –

 

“For Board of Director meetings a quorum shall be a majority of the elected members of the Board.”

 

This sentence is in direct conflict with Article 5, section 4, Quorum paragraph –

 

The presence in person or by proxy of one-third of the Board Members shall be necessary to constitute a quorum at a Board of Directors meeting.”

 

After discussing this further, the BOD felt that it was best to strike the second to last sentence in Article 5, section 2, paragraph 2.  Moreover, they felt that the  "or by proxy" phrase in Article 5,

section 4 should be deleted. The new Quorum paragraph (Article 5, section 4) shall read:

 

“The presence in person of one-third of the Board Members shall be necessary to constitute a quorum at a Board of Directors meeting.”

                                                                          

A motion was made to accept this change, was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

2.         Article 7, section 2. President

 

Modify paragraph 7 from

executes all contracts or agreements as authorized by the Board of Directors.”

 

to read:

 

“executes all contracts or agreements as authorized by the Board of Directors. This shall include, but not be limited to,

(a)    ensuring that the LCIHA stays in good standing with the USAHIL (sanctioning agreement) (see Article 9, section 1)

(b)   monitor and ensure currency in the Directors and Officers Liability insurance policy is in effect and renews on an annual or bi-annual basis

(c)    fulfills the City Parks and Recreation League/Organization Documentation Requirement History on an annual basis as it remains relevant

 

A motion was made to accept these proposed changes verbatim, was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

3.         Article 7, section 3. VP

 

Add the following paragraph

 

“Responsible for obtaining and distributing team and individual awards at the end of each LCIHA season. Awards must be approved by a majority vote of the LCIHA Board of Directors. Awards are to include, but are not limited to,

a.       Team sportsmanship for all youth divisions

b.      1st and 2nd place awards to end of season tournament champions and runners up

c.       Individual awards in each division (O17 optional) for

                                                   i.      Total points

                                                 ii.      Goals

                                                iii.      Assists

                                               iv.      Best goalie save percentage

                                                 v.      Most saves by a goalie

 

A motion was made to accept these additions/clarification of Vice Presidential duties to the by-laws. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

4.         Article 7, section 5. Treasurer

 

Add the following paragraphs

 

“Attend the annual Financial Training seminar required by the City of Las Cruces Parks and Recreation Department as relevant”

 

prepares the following annual reports unless LCIHA retains the services of an accountant whereby these reports would be produced by said accountant:

a.       a non-profit corporate report and submits to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission by the 5th month after the tax year end date of 6/30.

b.      Prepares the tax return for LCIHA and submits to the IRS by the 5th month after the tax year end date of 6/30.

 

A motion was made to accept these changes as written. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

5.         Article 7, section 6. League Manager

 

Add the following paragraphs

 

a. “monitors the City of Las Cruces’ PAYS program for youth parents/guardians”

b. “keeps a list of all youth players and the PAYS training dates for their parents/guardians”

c. “provides a list of players to individual coaches who require PAYS training completion by their parents/guardians a month in advance of the PAYS expiration date”

d. “ensures that all players participating in LCIHA events are PAYS compliant.”

e. “has the authority to declare a forfeit for any team who plays an ineligible player (one whose PAYS training has expired)

 

Dave Rockstraw pointed out that duties a-c involve manipulation of our database, which is logically a function of the Registrar. He suggested adding these responsibilities to the Registrar's job (Article 7, section 9). Once the Registrar has provided these reports to the League Manager, the League Manager can enforce the rules (duties d and e as listed above). A motion was made to accept Dave's proposed changes, was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

6.         Article 8, section 1. Head of Referees

 

            Change paragraph 2 under “The Head of Referees shall:” to read O17, replacing 16O

 

All this does is use the proper terminology for this age classification, based on our current brackets. A motion was made to accept this change, was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

7.         Article 10, section 7. Fiscal Year

 

            Change the paragraph:

“The fiscal year of the Local League shall begin on the first day of August and shall end on the last day of July.”

 

To

 

“The fiscal year of the Local League shall begin on the first day of July and shall end on the last day of June.”

 

The reason Tom King asked for this change is because the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission has on their books that the LCIHA fiscal year end is 6/30. This got in there somehow during the initial filings of the non-profit corporate reports during the LCIHA’s first year in existence. It would be a big hassle to get it changed with them. Kevin McNelis (former Treasurer for the league) said that getting the change in to the IRS will be less painful and he’ll handle it when it comes around. A motion was made to accept this proposed change, was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

8.         Article 11. Team Formation

 

            Change the division brackets to match our new age divisions:

 

            10U changes to U10

            12U changes to U12

            14U changes to U14

            17U changes to U17

            17O changes to O17

 

            Add in the O17w division as:

            “17 years of age and over, women (O17w)”

 

Again, all this does is match the bracket terminology in the by-laws to match what we are currently doing. A motion was made to accept these changes, was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

9.        Add the following to Article 7, Section 7 --League Commissioner:

 

"Conducts abuse screening as mandated by USAHI for all coaches, referees and     adults that have contact with the youth of our league."

 

A motion was made to accept this addition to the by-laws, was seconded and passed unanimously.

 

v    Cyndy Clark reported that she had done some research and that $17/hr. was the federal standard for the value of an in-kind volunteer. It would behoove the league to track the hours of our volunteers, because it is beneficial to show the value of this support when applying for grants, etc. Moreover, it may be of personal benefit to each volunteer as a tax write-off. We will look into ways of implementing a tracking system during the Spring season, perhaps by having a volunteer sign-in area on the Website that will perpetuate to a database.

v    Whether or not to have a pre-Spring season Fun Tournament was discussed. It was decided to have one with at least a skills competition, and perhaps some games if there is enough interest. Saturday, Feb. 7th, 2004 was thought to be a good day for both the tournament and the last day of registration. Cyndy Clark, Chris Christeson and Tom King volunteered to work on the tournament, tentatively agreeing to meet and hammer out details after the first of the year.

v    Some ideas for improving our referee pool were discussed. We have lost some refs because they did not turn in their tests for (re)certification. Chris Christeson suggested that the league start to recoup the money they have paid for referees to take the tests and get certified if they do not follow through. The concept of multiple "deputy" head of refs was again brought up. Whatever structure is ultimately decided upon, there will need to be greater attention paid to the administrative responsibilities inherent in the Head of Refs position. There will be a USAHI sponsored Ref Clinic in January of 2004.

v    At this point the BOD Meeting was adjourned, and the General Membership Meeting convened.

 

LCIHA General Membership Meeting Minutes

 

Time/Place:  11/18/03, 7:30 P.M., Jett Hall Rm. 283, NMSSU

 

Present: Owen Boberg, Chris Christeson, Cynthia Clark, Pat Coughlin, Caitlin Flynn, Sean Flynn, Wendy Hamilton, John Jacobs, Tom King, Michele Marshall, Nancy Peckham, Jeffrey Rabe, Hugo Vilchis Jr., Patty Walters, Peter Whitney, Steve Whitney, Jill Williamson, Philip Zakahi.

 

Minutes:

 

v    Tom King introduced the Board and Officers present to the rest of the league attendees.

 

v    Nancy Peckham briefly presented the Registrar's Report. We currently have 180 individual members of the LCIHA, about 30-35 new members. This is a total of about 10 more members than we had in the Spring 2003 season. There are 23 teams. Nancy also discussed the work she has done toward making registration possible online through our Website. All information will post from the Website directly into our database. We will eventually have credit card payment capabilities through PayPal. It is believed that the convenience of having this service will outweigh the 2% service charge. There will still be a form that registrants will have to print out, sign and mail in.

v    The Treasurer's Report up through 11/18/03, which had been prepared by Treasurer Chris Burnham, was distributed and discussed. This report will be posted on the Website once Dave can get an electronic copy.

v    Possible dates for the Spring season were discussed. Tentatively, February 21st through May 8th will be the regular season, with a couple of weekends off for Spring Break and the Gus Macker tournament. That will leave us two weeks in May for our tournament once the regular season concludes. We will need to take as much care as possible not to conflict with end-of-year school field trips or outside hockey tournament opportunities.

v    Tom ran down the list of possible new facilities. They are:

o       A site on the East Mesa under development by the County.

o       NMSS, a proposed private facility to be housed in the old Hayden's Hardware building on North Main across from Lowe's.

o       We can continue to play on the slab at Meerscheidt and build our membership and financial base until we are able to build our own facility.

v    The league is always looking for volunteers to help with the running of our league, including the numerous organizational & administrative details. We are always in need of coaches as well as members willing to help in fund-raising (perhaps someone to set up and Chair a Fund Raising Committee). Additionally, it always helps to have new faces and points of view among the Board and Officers of our league.

v    Tom King reported that Sonya has put in a work order to acid wash and repaint our slab, and hopefully this will happen during the break between our Fall and Spring seasons. We will also be taking out the buttressing boards at the ends of the court to enlarge the court a bit.

v    Jeffrey Rabe brought up the possibility of going to a draft for team formation. Although this is certainly an option, many issues will need to be addressed before a draft will be viable. Some of these concerns include how to assess the capabilities of new members, kids who won't play unless they can play with their friends, parents who are set in carpools with other team members' parents, etc. We must continue to look at new ways of team formation that meet the needs and goals of the league while still taking into consideration the needs of individual members and their families.

v    It was suggested that the league needs to be a little more diligent in recognizing and giving credit for assists. This can be accomplished by talking to the refs, coaches, and Holly (our scorekeeper).

 

 Respectfully Submitted: Patty Walters, Secretary, LCIHA