FORKS TOWNSHIP ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (FTAA)

MEETING MINUTES

8/22/07

 

ATTENDEES: 

Dan Martyak (Pres.)                   John Wieller (Treas.)     Nancy Bonfanti (Sec.)      Kevin Wall

Don Miller                                  Dana Guffy                    Michael Sykes               Ed Adamko

Butch Scerbo                            Leon Stull                      Chris Henry                   Tim Woodard                

Matthew Daud                           Stephen Semenak         Colleen Ziegenhorn         Linda Gruver

Greg Russell                             Ty Corallo                      George Shoolbraid         Scott Hardy

Jerry Stefanelli

 

Meeting called to order by Dan Martyak. 

 

TREASURER’S REPORT:

§         Reviewed and accepted with a motion from Greg Russell; seconded by Steve Semenak.  Motion carried.

 

MINUTES:

§         Minutes from 4/16/07 meeting reviewed and accepted with a motion from Colleen Ziegenhorn; seconded by Ty Corallo.  Motion carried.

 

CORRESPONDENCE (Nancy Bonfanti): 

o        Received thank you letters from scholarship winners Lindsay Gano, Laurie Briggs, Colin Goodnoff, and one which was unsigned.

o        Received letter of resignation from Linda Gruver and Dana Guffy as Commissioners of Cheering.

o        Received request for donation from the Easton Cheerleader Boosters

§         ACTION ITEM: John Wieller to send a $75 donation and cheering will donate some from their budget.

 

SPORTS REPORTS

 

GENERAL NOTES FOR SPORTS TEAMS: 

1.       COACHES ARE TO REMIND PARENTS WORKING IN THE SNACK STAND THAT CHILDREN UNDER AGE 16 ARE NOT PERMITTED IN THE SNACK BARS AT ANY TIME.  This is a huge liability for the town since all snack bars are now equipped with fryers and grills.

 

BASEBALL (Report from Chris Henry read by Nancy Bonfanti)

§         Shed roof at the school needs to be repaired.  EASD is okay with us fixing it since the FTAA built it.  Does anyone know anyone who can repair it for us? 

o        ACTION ITEM:  Nancy to send note out to email list to see if anyone can help out.

§         Chris would like a list from Butch Scerbo as to who still needs to return uniforms and/or equipment.

o        ACTION ITEM:  Butch to get a list to Chris.

§         Lock box at school was vandalized and destroyed – need to replace.

§         Lock box on Jr. Legion field needs to be replaced. (Field 5 box lock doesn’t work also)

o        Rec. Board pays for these. 

o        ACTION ITEM:  Don to have someone look at these and decide if new ones are needed.

§         With regard to last month’s action item about defining FTAA purchased eqpt. vs. Rec. Board eqpt. to fund off-season sports – Commissioners need to get together with Butch Scerbo to separate and mark eqpt.

§         Budget has been turned in to the Rec. Board bin in the Community Center Office

§         11/12 year old All Stars finished 2nd at Williams Tournament and first at Bushkill. 

o        Need to make room for 3 trophies + 1 from 9/10 Phillies for 2nd place in the GEABL.

§         Senior Legion teams from Easton (Forks has no Senior team), which is about 90% Forks kids, made it to the finals of NORCO Sr. Legion and State Playoffs. 

§         Jr. Legion made it to the playoffs of Junior NORCO.

§         Jr. Babe Ruth’s Blue Jays and Yankees made Blue Mtn. playoffs with Blue Jays advancing to semi’s.

§         Forks Mariners won GEABL championship -- 2nd year in a row a Forks Team has won this division.

CHEERING (Report by Dana Guffy)

§         Cheering clinic is going on now.

§         Cheering was invited to perform for Community Days but has decided to not have a fundraising stand there.

§         There are 5 teams.

§         Pee Wee Squad will alternate covering Thurs. games since there are 2 football teams.

§         Linda Gruver and Dana Guffy have resigned at the end of the cheering season as commissioners.

§         There was an issue with a parent violation of the code of conduct with regard to language and tone with a coach and that parent was issued a warning by Dan Martyak that another incident would force the FTAA to remove their child from the sport.  All correspondence should go through Dan if there is another incident it is to reported immediately.

FOOTBALL (Report from Fran Tone read by Nancy Bonfanti)

§         There are approx. 150 football players on 5 teams.

§         There will be 2 Pee Wee teams.

§         Schedules have been posted on the website.

§         First Pee Wee game is Thurs. 8/30 against Pen Argyl.  All others open 9/2 v. Bangor.

SOCCER (Report by Greg Russell)

  • Forks will participate in the Palmer tournament this weekend.  Palmer will be using some of our fields for Sunday’s games.
  • Signups went well.  Late signups are only a one-on-one basis and late fees apply.
  • 340+ kids playing soccer.
  • Fall schedule to be published this weekend.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Greg to send schedule to Ed Adamko for website.
  • Dan mentioned that if soccer wants to open the snack bar to notify Kevin Wall for inventory.
  • 2 nets were stolen so the budget may have to be adjusted to replace them.

BASKETBALL (Report by Don Miller)

  • First league meeting will be sometime in September.

LACROSSE (Report by Scott Hardy)

  • 24-28 kids at 11/12 level.
  • U13 made playoffs.
  • Had end of season picnic.
  • There is a clinic in the fall that Lacrosse would like to use fields for and will work with Greg Russell for use. 
    • Would like to use helmets but Rec. Board (Butch Scerbo) mentioned that they will not be allowed to use any eqpt. in their off-season.

SOFTBALL (Report by Leon Stull/Ty Corallo)

  • Leon Stull will be stepping down as commissioner but will see that uniforms and eqpt. are in. 
  • Ty Corallo (co-commissioner) will attend upcoming league meetings.
  • Leon thanked the Rec. Board for letting them use the eqpt. for tournaments.
  • 13-14 yr. old team won the championship (J. O’Neil’s team)
    • John thanked the FTAA for the $20 per child for the championship gift.  Trophy is in the case.
  • Field #8 needs to be fixed, lined and cut short for the upcoming season.  With so many teams, that field is becoming necessary in order to have playing fields for the games.
  • Ty thanked the Don Miller for keeping the rest of the fields so nice during the season after a shaky start, thinks improved quickly and everyone appreciated it.
  • Ty would like to consider having registrations at the Community Center done by him and coaches because he feels something is lost when you can’t answer parents questions and also get parents to help coaching.
    • Registrations will stay the way they are but it was suggested that softball put up tables on the weekends and advertise that coaches/commissioners will be there to answer questions like football did.
  • 3 of 4 of the 11/12 teams made it to the playoffs.
  • 13/14 – A team took the championship.
  • According to Butch only 4 kids have returned uniforms.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Butch to get a list of the kids who haven’t returned uni’s to Ty or Leon.

WRESTLING 

  • No one in attendance to report. 

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

DANCES (Report by Kevin Wall)

  • D.J. will be contacted soon.
  • There was some concern over the dances falling on Easton home football game nights but dates can’t change at least for September because the gym is being used.
  • Dance sport/volunteer schedule is as follows: Sept. 21st – Cheering, October – Football, November – Soccer, December – Wrestling, January – Basketball, February – Lacrosse, March – Baseball, April Softball, May -???.
  • ACTION ITEM:  Kevin Wall to provide Ed Adamko with a list of dances for next seasons and make sure commissioners are aware of which dances they are responsible for providing chaperones for.  
    • September Dance should probably have 3 police and 30 volunteers due to the history of a large turnout at the first dances.

SNACK BAR (Report by Kevin Wall/Dan Martyak)

  • Wayne Hultgren and his dad have resigned from taking care of the snack bar.
  • Kevin Wall will step in but will need help from other members.
  • Snack bars were cleaned by football volunteers who were doing the 3 required  hours of service.
  • Snack bar opens next Thurs.  Pepsi will stock the drinks.
  • NOTE:  Volunteers must come 1 hour early and stay one hour late to help cleanup.
  • Fire prevention fixes will be done next week.
  • 9-12 soccer will send some help over to the snack bar since they will have 30 volunteers there to prepare soccer fields.
    • ACTION ITEM:  John Wieller to pick up hot chocolate for machines.

REGISTRATIONS (Report by Dan Martyak)

  • September 1st begins winter sports signups (Basketball and Wrestling)
  • ACTION ITEM:  John Wieller to follow up with Jim Farley to find out where the late signup fees are since the FTAA did not receive those monies.
  • Baseball and softball need to report their non-volunteers so that can be recorded in the system before Winter sports signups.

RECREATION BOARD (Report by Butch Scerbo)

  • Tennis courts are repaired.
  • Sponsoring the 5K run on Labor Day Monday.
  • Would like to purchase 2 scoreboards in addition to the 2 the FTAA would purchase so that softball fields and baseball fields and the lit football field could all benefit. 

SCHOLARSHIPS (Report by Colleen Ziegenhorn)

  • Scholarship dinner was held July 9th with 23 people in attendance.
  • Plaques were awarded and each student received the Brad Weaver Memorial letter along with instructions to provide their grades to the FTAA Treasurer.
  • Award Winners:  Ryan Boyda, R. Lewis Briggs, Zachary Edmonds, Lindsey Gano, Collin Goodnuff, Stephanie Gray, Audrey Parry and Brandon Veres. 

BACKGROUND CHECKS (Report by John Wieller)

  • Football and cheering are done and soccer should be done by tomorrow.

GUIDELINES COMMITTEE (Report by Nancy Bonfanti)

  • Nancy updated the Lacrosse Guidelines with the standard out-of-town resident approval process as requested by the Recreation Board and the updated version is now posted on the website.
  • Soccer updates were read and a motion to approve as is was given by Greg Russell and seconded by Steve Semenak.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Nancy to send soccer guidelines to Ed Adamko to put on the website.
  • Basketball guidelines will be reviewed at the next meeting.

 

WEBSITE   (Report by Ed Adamko)

  • Everything is running smooth.  All updates are made as they come in.

 

OLD BUSINESS

  • Community Days (9/15/07 and 9/16/07)
    • FTAA will sponsor a booth and Dan put together a volunteer list for people to sign up to help.  More help is needed.
    • Daisy Dairy Bar will sponsor the glow sticks (600) that will be sold during the fireworks.
    • The FTAA will also have a membership drive while there.  People who pay dues will be entered into a drawing to win gift cards to local businesses.
    • Our game of chance will be ball toss game that Dan Martyak is making.
    • Everyone will win something.
    • Pepsi is making a banner.
    • The hackey sacks were received but the ink wears off very quickly. Nancy was able to get a 30% refund which should come soon.  The total refund is somewhere around $340.00.

 

NEW BUSINESS

  • Jerry Stefanelli mentioned that the All Star Tournament Volunteer Appreciation Night is August 30th.
    • Nancy Bonfanti put out a message to those who volunteered that she had emails for notifying them of the event.
    • The All-star tournament raised over $4,000.  Dan Martyak thanked Jerry and all the people who worked so hard and congratulated them on a great job.
  • Jerry Stefanelli also would like the FTAA to sponsor a Halloween Party on Saturday, October 27th at the Easton Eagles in Forks.  He is forming a committee and so far Colleen Ziegenhorn, Nancy Bonfanti, Cindy Gale and Sherry Barry have offered to help.  Jerry passed around a sample of the tickets and advertisement.
    • It was suggested to sell tickets to the dance at the FTAA stand at Community Days.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Jerry to send information to Ed Adamko for the website.
    • Dan Martyak suggested Jerry contact Steve Tone who sometimes has access to free printing.
    • The FTAA would like to see a contract from the Eagles.  This should go to John Wieller.
  • There was a parent behavior issue at a 9/10 baseball tournament game between Forks and Palmer in Bushkill Township that caused several emails to be sent to Dan Martyak and he mentioned to the Commissioners that a warning be issued before each game that there is a zero tolerance of code of conduct violations and any parent/coach/athlete will be removed if necessary. 
  • The Commissioners were notified by Dan Martyak of a parent/cheering coach issue and told that any further action by the parent would result in his child being removed from the team.
  • Dan Martyak noted that nominations for vacant Commissioner positions and Vice President will be accepted in October and to keep in mind that the persons must be active in the FTAA and be paid members.  Anyone wishing to become a co-commissioner can come to the next meeting to become a member or sign up at Community Days during the membership drive.  Open positions include the following:
    • Vice President, co-softball (1), co-cheering (2), co-basketball (1), co-baseball (1), co-wrestling (?)
  • Nancy Bonfanti created a feedback form for coaches/commissioners to use to give to their players to fill out.  This can be positive and/or negative feedback and coaches/commissioners will review the forms.  Commissioners can use the form to keep informed of how well their coaches are doing and making sure that kids are getting a good experience.  The form was reviewed and Dan Martyak suggested that “conditions of fields” be added as a category so that Don can even use them to see how people feel about that part of their experience.  Another suggestion to make the form a year-end feedback form was discussed.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Ed Adamko to create a by-sport “contact us” on the website so that people can give feedback directly to commissioners if they are uncomfortable with giving it to the coaches themselves.  This action item can wait until new commissioners have been appointed.   ACTION ITEM: Nancy to note this on the feedback form and the feedback form will go on the website after changes are made and the form approved.
  • Registration Fee Document review (Nancy Bonfanti)
    • Nancy Bonfanti presented a first notice of amendment to the by-laws regarding the one-time family activity fee.  It was suggested to change the reimbursable timeframe to 1 year from the date of last registration as opposed to 10 years.  Change will be reflected in the second notice of amendment to the by-laws which will be reviewed at the next meeting.
  • Impact Fee Document review (Nancy Bonfanti)
    • Nancy Bonfanti presented the Impact Fee Change Proposal which was given to Don Miller to take to the Finance Committee for review. 
    • ACTION ITEM:  Don Miller to bring back comments from Finance Committee at the next meeting.
  • Coaches, shirts, hats, jackets…
    • Once you’ve coached for 3 years, you can get a jacket.
    • Dan Martyak asked (ACTION ITEM): Butch to get prices on a generic golf shirt for all sports and these shirts can be given to each coach limited to one head coach and 2 assistant coaches for each team.  The shirts can be replaced every 3 years.   Dan would like to hear other suggestions on how to handle hats, shirts, etc.  Review again at next meeting.
  • First Aid kits
    • ACTION ITEM:  Butch to check to see if it’s Rec. Board or FTAA.
  • Budgets
    • Budgets are due to Rec. Board on September 16th when they will be reviewed at their meeting.  All commissioners are expected to attend. 
    • All budgets have been turned into Nancy Bonfanti except for soccer.  Nancy has made copies for Butch Scerbo.

 

Motion to adjourn by Ty Corallo and seconded by Kevin Wall.  Motion carried.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Nancy Bonfanti

FTAA Secretary