FORKS TOWNSHIP ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION (FTAA)

MEETING MINUTES

5/22/07

 

ATTENDEES: 

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

Don Miller                                  Dana Guffy                    Fran Tone                      Doug Heater

Wayne Hultgren                         Leon Stull                      Chris Henry                   Dean McKee                

Scott Abert                                Stephen Semenak         Colleen Ziegenhorn         Scott Pennypacker

Greg Russell

 

Meeting called to order by Nancy Bonfanti.  A moment of silence was held in remembrance of  Tom Gruver, President.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT:

§         Reviewed and accepted with a motion from Fran Tone; seconded by Leon Stull.  Motion carried.

 

MINUTES:

§         Minutes from 4/16/07 meeting reviewed and accepted with a motion from Leon Stull; seconded by Kevin Wall.  Motion carried.

 

CORRESPONDENCE (Nancy Bonfanti): 

o        Received thank you for flowers from the Bush Family.

o        Received thank you from Linda Gruver and family for the flowers and donation with a reminder to the FTAA to keep it for the kids.

o        Received thank you from Easton Baseball Diamond Club for donation to Basket Bingo.

 

SPORTS REPORTS

 

GENERAL NOTES FOR SPORTS TEAMS: 

1.       BOXES AT BASEBALL/SOFTBALL FIELDS MUST BE KEPT LOCKED!  COACHES MUST LOCK BOXES AFTER USE!  Kids are taking the bases out to be used on the fields while unsupervised. 

a.       Can we get the lock fixed on the softball field?  Don says we used PA Lock Co. and they may be able to provide us with new keys.

2.       COACHES ARE TO REMIND PARENTS WORKING IN THE SNACK STAND THAT CHILDREN UNDER 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 by Chris Henry)

§         Playoffs for 9/10-11/12 are approaching and we expect several teams to be in it.

§         All-star tournament is scheduled for 6/28-7/1/07.

o        All 40 slots are filled with teams from New York to Philadelphia.

o        Some questions have been raised for all-stars.

1.       Numbers are low at the 9 year olds and 12 year olds so how do we get an all-star team together for those brackets if the quality of players is low? 

·         Use guidelines as guidelines but Chris Henry can make the decision on how to split the teams and the teams will be made American and National and not be known as “A”/”B” teams.

§         Chris would like to run a Fall Baseball program but would like to use any equipment that is extra or not in use anymore.  The FTAA would like to support this program with any equipment that it has purchased with its own budgets except for uniforms.

o        ACTION ITEM:  John Wieller and Colleen Ziegenhorn to research what the FTAA purchased and get back to Chris.

o        ACTION ITEM:  Nancy Bonfanti to send note to Rick Hartranft regarding this issue.

§         How will field cancellations be handled in the future.

o        Don said he has requested a committee be put together in the past but no one wants to do this so the field crew is making the decisions.

o        Problem with this is that decisions are being made too early and fields have the possibility of drying out in the afternoons.

o        The town can cancel games before 4PM.  Can these cancellations wait until 3PM?  Town workers leave at 2:30.

o        Committee needed:  This committee should be made up of 1 softball rep., 1baseball rep. and 1 field person.  In charge for softball and baseball will be the softball and baseball commissioners.  If the commissioners cannot attend themselves, they MUST appoint someone.  If someone is appointed, that persons name and phone goes to Don Miller and a meeting time is scheduled.

o        This decision must be made before 4PM as umpires are paid if they are not notified in time.

§         Don is waiting for the baseball schedule.  Chris posted the schedule at the Community Center office. 

CHEERING (Report by Dana Guffy)

·         Try-ons will be held June 8-9.

·         Cheering was invited to perform for Community Days and they will also have a fundraising stand there.

·         Background checks are being done.

FOOTBALL  (Report by Fran Tone)

·         Registrations for football are slow. 

·         Commit date for number of teams is the June Meeting.

·         The league will have a website this year.

·         There will be a coaches meeting in August at the league level and one coach from each team must attend.

·         August 1st and 2nd are team uniform distributions.

·         Practices begin August 6th.

·         There will be 8 games and 3 weeks of playoffs.

SOCCER (Report by Greg Russell)

  • Spring soccer is going well.
  • Team rosters aren’t due until July Meeting so late signups can be accepted until June 30th.  Late fee applies after May 31st. 
  • U6 sign-ups can be taken until Labor Day since that is an in-house program.  Late fee applies after May 31st.

BASKETBALL (Report by Don Miller)

  • No report

LACROSSE

  • No one in attendance to report.

SOFTBALL (Report by Leon Stull)

  • Softball would like to use equipment (not uniforms) for an extra 2 weeks to join in a tournament. Tournament is 7/13 – 7/15.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Butch to check with Rec. Board to see if they will approve the use of eqpt. for a tournament. 
  • Can Leon tell parents that their kids can’t play in a game if they don’t show up for their snack bar duty?  The board agreed to let Leon do this as long as Wayne has a list of coaches or people responsible for the snack bar duty and they get an opportunity to get there quickly.
  • Nancy Bonfanti mentioned that Field 8 is in need of repair at shortstop and left field.  There are huge holes which are dangerous.  She also asked that this field be cut out for softball since there are throw down bases which the kids can’t see in the grass.  Also, the backstop has a huge hole in it which is also dangerous. 
    • Butch noted that this field was scheduled for repairs for this season but they were never done and it will be put on the list for next season.

WRESTLING 

  • No one in attendance to report. 

 

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

DANCES (Report by Kevin Wall)

  • The softball dance was a huge success recording over 400 kids in attendance.  The list of chaperones was provided to Nancy Bonfanti, Sec.  23 chaperones were in attendance.
  • 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.  Next year’s dances will continue to be the 3rd Friday of the month of Sept. – November and January – May.
  • Wayne will stock the snack bar.
    • ACTION ITEM:  Kevin Wall to give Wayne Hultgren a list of what is needed for the next dance.
    • ACTION ITEM:  John Wieller to pick up water bottles to store in the snack bar.

SNACK BAR (Report by Wayne Hultgren)

  • Three or four rainouts and no shows for help has allowed us only 2 weeks of snack bar openings.
  • Saturday games are not played in the afternoon which means snack bar loses money for the lunch hours.
  • If rainouts are rescheduled, Wayne needs to know if snack bar is opening.
  • People are shutting down the snack bar early???  Why????
  • If Wayne doesn’t get the playoff schedule, the snack bar won’t open.  He will need volunteers list for this also.
  • ACTION ITEM:  Nancy will send out dates for playoffs and request volunteers for working the snack bar during the playoffs.

REGISTRATIONS (Report by Dan Martyak)

    • Nothing to report. 

RECREATION BOARD (Report by Butch Scerbo)

  • Lacrosse had requested to use equipment for a summer program but this was refused due to the one season, one sport rule.
  • New fields are going in to the west on the other side of the woods.   Four soccer and possibly 2 baseball fields.
  • Due to increasing numbers this year and the increase to lacrosse number expected for next year, Lacrosse will be required to follow the out-of-town resident rules for sports in Forks.  All present players that are considered out of town can be grandfathered and continue to play in Forks. 
  • The airport field is graded and will soon be seeded (fall).  Possibly a lacrosse field will go there.
  • The Rec. Board would like a representative from the FTAA to attend each of their meetings.

SCHOLARSHIPS (Report by Colleen Ziegenhorn)

  • All applicants received scholarships.
  • Would like to order plaques and have the annual dinner to be held in June but would limit to recipients, their parents, scholarship committee members and the FTAA board only. 
  • A motion to order plaques for recipients and hold dinner was made by Wayne and seconded by Greg Russell.  Motion carried.

BACKGROUND CHECKS (Report by Dan Martyak)

  • Upcoming football, soccer and cheering background checks should begin as soon as possible since seasons will be coming soon.

GUIDELINES COMMITTEE (Report by Nancy Bonfanti)

  • ACTION ITEM: Nancy to update lacrosse guidelines with the “out of town” residents guidelines as stated by the Recreation Board due to increasing numbers.
  • Football guidelines were reviewed and voted in “as is” but will be revisited to see if minimum plays should be raised to 4 in Forks Twp.  A change to 6 plays was previously brought to the league by Fran but voted down.  A vote to raise the plays to a minimum of 4 was held off since Fran Tone had already left the meeting.  Motion to approve football guidelines by Doug Heater, seconded by Butch Scerbo.  Motion carried.
  • Soccer guidelines were reviewed and changes were made.  Soccer to be re-addressed at next meeting.

 

WEBSITE

  • No one in attendance to report.

 

OLD BUSINESS

  • Community Days (9/15/07 and 9/16/07)
    • Colleen gave Nancy B. the form to fill out for the Community Days booth for the FTAA.
    • A vote to spend $1,000 on hackey sacks as prize for the FTAA Community Days booth.  Unanimous vote for yes.    ACTION ITEM: Nancy B. to order these.
    • Still working on what will be the game.  Some suggestions were a football ring toss or golf putting.
    • Daisy Dairy Bar will sponsor the glow sticks that will be sold during the fireworks.
  • John Wieller reported that the snack bar repairs will cost approx. $2,100 plus any other expenses associated with making these required updates.  Both estimates were the same.  A motion was made to make updates to the current fire safety provisions in the football snack bar by Steve Semenak, seconded by Scott Abert.  Motion carried.
    • ACTION ITEM:  John Wieller to have these updates made.

 

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

  • Scott Abert mentioned that we should consider sponsoring a “Night at the Movies” and open the snack bar as a way to increase FTAA funds.  This would be something we would consider for next year since it is too soon make this work for this summer.  If someone is interested in heading this up for next year, please come forward at the next meeting.
  • Impact Fee:  The township supervisors have approved an impact fee of $20 per sport, per child which increases total registrations to $40 for in-town residents who have already paid their activity fee.  The FTAA noted its displeasure with the late notification received from the town.  Nancy Bonfanti would like to come up with a family plan to submit to the town.  Don Miller agreed to bring this to the supervisors.
  • Eddyside pool is offering a discount if you get passes by July 1st.
  • FTAA President Vacancy
    • Dan read the by-laws.  The current vice-president shall assume the role of president.  Therefore, Dan Martyak will assume the President and the vice-president shall be filled.
    • Dan would like to wait until the October nominations to fill this position since we are not in session for July and anyone wishing to be considered must be an active member of the FTAA.  Nominations will be accepted at the October meeting. 

 

Motion to adjourn by Colleen Ziegenhorn and seconded by Wayne Hultgren.  Motion carried.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Nancy Bonfanti

FTAA Secretary