Westbrook Little League Board Meeting
Meeting Minutes
March 05, 2018
Attendance:
Randy MacWhinnie Lori MacWhinnie
Kristen Damon Bryan Harvie
John McCarthy John Clark
Melissa Remington Jennifer Wescott
Amanda McLaskey Joe DeRoche
Sasha Johnson Heather Seavey
Anne Harvey Hillary Damon
Paul Dalrymple
Guests:
Tricia Spinney
Phil Petry
2/11/2017 Meeting Minutes accepted by board
Open discussions:
Treasurer Position
Rick Knight will not be returning as coach or manager – Brian Harvey will be taking his place. He is
currently filling in as treasurer - no report for this meeting – Randy advised taxes are completed -
- need to fill treasurer position - Phil and Tricia (both present at meeting) reached out to Randy to
volunteer for treasurer positions - Randy advised treasurer will need to know quick books and
complete reports for all meetings and noted this is a huge time commitment and needs to be
taken seriously.
Phil & Tricia provided introduction/background to board
Phil Petry-
- has lived in Westbrook since 2002
- SP is teacher
- trying to get involved with Westbrook little league again.
- children have grown out of leagues.
- he is an umpire and would like to stay focused on umpiring at the high school level.
- would like to be involved and also do umpiring.
- has helped with the league in the past in other ways
- has worked with softball finances in the past.
- has the time commitment and loves detailed things.
- has worked with Bill (previous treasurer) to get an understanding of the position.
- feels he has the time to put in and "give it a shot"
- states he is an excellent communicator.
- does not have a CPA.
- Has a business degree at Husson.
- minored in sports management.
- knows excel well.
- has not worked with quick books but has taken software classes and has worked and will
continue to work closely with Bill to get an understanding on what is needed.
- Non profit experience? No
Tricia –
- has lived in Westbrook since 1990,
- son Charles has gone through all leagues,
- daughter is currently in softball,
- has owned and operated business handling 30-50k month,
- currently works at a title company handling large amounts of money
- knows QuickBooks,
- is not as familiar with baseball but has financial skills.
- does not have a CPA,
- has bachelor’s degree w/ specialty in accounting.
- current treasurer for girl scouts
- also did treasurer for boy scouts until she became chairperson and had to give up treasurer
position,
- Non profit experience? No – but has had to do reports for boy scout/girl scouts.
- has done tax files in the past and payroll.
position would entail - snack shack money, making out checks (double checked by randy), treasurer is
signer on checkbook, currently only Rick & Randy are signers, Anne & Randy have debit cards, money
in shack is double counted before going to the bank. Would like deposits done every other night. There
are bills to pay and money from tournaments that needs to go in. TD Bank - need to produce treasurer
report monthly for meetings. It is a yearly position - September to September - there is a league binder
that tells us what will be needed when.
Phil & Tricia left the meeting
board discussed both candidates and voted -
phil - 11
Tricia- 0
abstained - 2
Around the Table:
Brian Harvie –
- need to consider joining minors and instructional - numbers aren't there -
majors have 58 registered - still need 19 more to carry 7 teams w/ 11 on each team
board agreed we need to make decision after 1st tryouts –
if by chance we have to drop a team, the kids will need to try out for picks on new teams
- we will hold a special tryout for them if needed
- Lori reminded everyone that last minute registrations is normal, and people will come to new kids
clinic and try out dates and register then,
- All VPs will make sure managers know to get kids registered-
recommend kids cannot attend batting practice unless they register after this next week
Sasha –
- confirmed instructional is age 6-9 - players can chose to play instructional instead of minors
- requested email list of people from last year to send out to everyone at the instructional level
- at registration a mother advised parents were not happy w/ communication at the instructional
level -
Sasha has reached out to a few families in regard to their concerns.
girls are moving from instructional to softball and not doing minors
- Current numbers
instructional – 13
minors - 20
John M –
- are we going to get to a point where we have majors age 10-12?
discussion - softball is doing that this year - same league just 2 teams of 10-12 and 2
teams of 9&10s
- can someone call the city for the road sign - Randy will call/email Doug Eaton tonight
- Current number:
Major baseball - 58 - 21 returners not signed up yet
Major softball - 36
Minor baseball - 20
Minor softball – 17
Instructional – 13
Tball – 26
total registered 170
- keep pushing sign ups – board agreed we need another registration night -
will take registrations during evaluations
new kids clinic
Friday the 23rd - 530-630 baseball 630-730 softball –
Friday 23rd registrations at community center 530- 730 - during clinic
Saturday 24th - registration at community center 8 - 12 pm - during evaluations
- Have we thought about combining instructional & Minors?
Discussion:
mixing 6 and 11 year olds?
how would pitching work?
would kids be ready for majors if they are playing with instructional kids?
- recommendation of minor league being 8 & 9 year olds - - may have to look at this for next year
8 & 9 year olds could work on learning how to pitch the right way
instructional didn't have practices so they didn't have time to learn
softball is minors age 6-8 - after 7 or 8 pitches coaches step in to pitch - they play 5
innings. girl grow faster this way. new 9 year olds can play minors.
have to follow little league international rules
- This year there will be no games during the week for minors or instructional
Practices only during the week-
they will play up at the fields on Saturdays.
- coaches clinic? majors used to do one with the majors and go over drills - recommend doing this
again
- fields are available for t-ball, instructional and minors and maybe even some night games
advised to let parents know practices during the week and games on weekends
will attempt for night games under the lights for instructional and minors
Jenn –
- cables being donated- how much do we need? 550 ft 1/4 inch - can pick it up anytime -
Joe would like by April 1
st – we need to get logo for banner
Amanda- nothing
Sasha – nothing
Hillary/Anne –
- cleaning lady - need to make a checklist for her
lower shack - floors need to be included, need to include skyboxes,
should not have to pay more –
send list to board for review/additional recommendations.
she never had a list before. need to make a list to ensure everything is done.
club house should be included - annually gets stripped and waxed. she submits bill for
cleaning. will meet with her to discuss what is needed
Heather-
- email re donation/brewery? they cannot donate anything for the league but can donate to the
homerun ball. they can donate money but we can't do a logo/announcement for the fields.
John M –
- spending money- bats, uniforms (same as last year 50/55) working with softball on uniforms.
balls - all leagues, boys get 6 balls every game, girls need at least 2 for every game. getting
pitching mound for softball - $125 for each base,
Anne- Nothing
Lori-
- background check forms, if given to Randy - need to refill out if given to Randy Mitchell –
- usually we are going through opening day stuff- need ideas for 1st pitch baseball & softball -
national anthem - need someone to do this - come with ideas for next meeting
- VPs of each level- as you start combining teams let Lori know coaches and sponsors –
- sponsors are the same from past years - may need to adjust team/sponsors
- need to look at field signs to see what ones are needed updates
- Joe asked if major softball sponsors matter? Phoenix welding is 11-12s, Cavallaro, Twin and
Extreme - can pick
Paul –
- Asked for clarification - minors, instructional and t-ball will play all Saturdays and/or Sunday -
confirmed - post office field will be used for practices - still will be using Obrien field - will bat 2
rounds each inning - need coaches who are committed - will try to get snack shack open for
games
- is there anytime softball field is available? - only on Sunday afternoons – however, there is
another league here on Sunday afternoons
Joe D –
- Alicia Beckner is willing to be manager of junior girls softball if Joe is VP of junior softball
- would be VP of majors and juniors - currently no one signed up - reached out to Denise for roster
and Alicia is going to email for registrations
- nominated Joe- 2nd - John Clark - approved -1 abstained
- 2 majors 2 minors teams- Ryan Campbell as manager for 9/10 year olds - needs back ground
check done -
3 pitching mounds to be bought
- batting cages- hoping to complete by April 1st - wants to create something for people who
donated for the batting cages.
- Home plate signs - still getting donations from people. the poles are a great place to display
logos/banners.
- bolts- need to figure out where to get them
- fundraising - coming up with a calendar for minors to do a fundraiser- sell for $10 and each day
for a month something is drawn - will try for minor softball and baseball to sell. use cash donated
to buy gift cards for the calendar - has donations for calendar already - needs to cash checks to
get gift cards - doesn't need any additional money or donations for calendars.
- evaluations - breaking up age groups - doesn’t have enough kids to fill 11/12 teams and may
need to pull up 10 year olds - paperwork needed if they go down to 11 person team, will not be a
strong league - this will be a learning year - some 10 year olds will have to move up - may need
to pull up 6 kids.
- Discussed family rule- sisters get to play on the same team - will be breaking that this year d/t
difference in age groups - if in the same age group the manager has the chance to pick them for
the same team.
John Clark - nothing
Melissa-
- invoices are done - need Randy to review; some people were invoiced last year but not paid;
- sold 10 adopt a bats (sign to goon pole or baseball batting net)
- Convenient MD- wants a meeting to go over field signs - Melissa emailed him to pick a date for
the meeting
Lori –
- recognized a family in past year, would like to recognize Josh Rowe (SP?) this year, same as we
did for David
Kristen -
- raffles? What do we need to be doing? Randy will call to figure out information from providers -
Hannaford, dicks,
Joe D –
- confirmed softball redrafts- girls need to go to evaluations if they are being redrafted -
Next meeting-
Sunday March 25th - 6pm