BOARD OF DIRECTORS - MEETING JUNE 21, 2000
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Peter King, General Chairman, at Hackneys Restaurant in Lake Zurich. Board members present were Peter King, Tom Kinkelaar, Jim Bernardi, Bob Brown, Dave Beller, Kent Desormey, Paul Kaufmann, Dave Lang, Rocky Nelson, Fred Swanson and John Widmayer.
SECRETARYS REPORT
The minutes of the March 22, 2000 Board of Directors Meeting were read by Peter King in the absence of Troy Whalen. The most recent "Whistling Zebra" was published and sent out in late April. There was no issue published in January. The next "Zebra" will need to be published and sent out in August to kick off the 2000/2001 season.
TREASURERS REPORT
Tom Kinkelaar expressed his concern that we will have less dollars in the treasury at the end of the year, mainly due to fewer members. We have dropped total members in all three sports. This trend also matches the one the state has been experiencing this year. Fortunately, due to not hosting a joint NOA/AOS dinner, we will have the same final balance on July 31, 2000 as we did on July 31, 1999, approximately $2,000. A detailed summary of the fiscal year will be available to all members at the first football meeting.
Tom also questioned the large banquet expense and wondered whether we should still sponsor one each spring. This years banquet turnout was small, the service was poor, and the night (Saturday) was a poor night for many members.
FOOTBALL PRESIDENTS REPORT
Paul Kaufmann, the new Football President, presented his complete schedule for the fall with the first meeting beginning on August 23. The Board was concerned that this was too late of a start, and Paul explained that he could not get Carmel High School until August 15. It was decided to hold the first meeting at Ivy Hall School in Buffalo Grove (where Peter King is Principal) on August 9. The overall meeting schedule was considered very good, as was the agenda for each meeting. After the August 9th meeting and the following weeks IHSA Rules Meeting, the August 23rd and all subsequent meetings will be held at Carmel High School.
BASKETBALL PRESIDENTS REPORT
Kent Desormey, Past President, said this past season was excellent with good attendance and many lively meeting discussions amongst members. Most sessions were attended by over 40 members which was a good sign for the growth of the group. The new Basketball President for the 2000-2002 term is Don Swanson. The first meeting this fall will be October 11, the week after the combined NOA/AOS dinner. Rocky Nelson indicated he and Don were planning on having a few more meetings and stressing regular attendance. The meetings may also be moved to a larger room due to some problems last year with big attendance nights and no space.
BASEBALL PRESIDENTS REPORT
John Rottman is the new Baseball President, while Dave Beller continues to be the spring Assignment Chairman and Dave Lang the assignor for summer baseball. Dave reported that the season was successful even though the spring rains did cause many assignment changes. He said that the attendance was at the 35 - 40 member mark with many new members coming aboard to work games. The meetings started in February and ran through the middle of April.
MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMANS REPORT
Randy Steen was not able to attend the meeting, but his detailed report was read by Bob Brown and follow up comments were made by Peter King. Randy has been very aggressive in securing the names of new members in the area in all three sports the NOA has groups. He has sent out updated flyers, contacted officials by phone, and has checked with the state on potential officials. Randy will be doing even more recruiting come this fall.
ASSIGNMENT CHAIRMEN'S REPORT
Bob Brown said that this is the dead time for his assigning purposes in football and basketball. He will be sending flyers out in August and will return to assigning games then when additional schedules are completed.
Dave Beller indicated the spring baseball season was very successful and all games were covered even though there were many rain outs. He also indicated that eight new members joined the group this spring which really helped in covering games and that two of the officials were high school students. During the spring, four members worked semifinal and final baseball regional games. The baseball summer league was just getting started and should be successful as always.
I.A.C.A.O. REPORT
Jim Bernardi said the IACAO Football meeting is scheduled for August 12th at Naperville North High School. The 1st Annual IHSA summer officials clinic will be held in Peoria on July 14 & 15 and will emphasize recruiting, local officiating associations and training, and the new playoff selection rating system for officials.
BANQUET COMMITTEES REPORT
Neither Paul Goeldner nor John Schaefer were able to attend the meeting, but a lively discussion was lead by Jim Bernardi who assisted in this years banquet preparations. Board members questioned the need for the banquet, its expenses, open bar, food, day of the week it has been held, time of the year, present location in Mundelein, and the process for distributing awards. A suggestion was made to talk with Jerry Ming, a NOA member, who owns a banquet facility in the northwest suburbs. Board Members also suggested to have a good speaker, to send award winners prior notification so they would be at the banquet to receive their award, tickets for drinks instead of an open bar, a Friday night banquet instead of a Saturday night, and a no guarantee clause in the contract to protect the NOA from any unnecessary expenses like this year. After all of the positive and negative comments, a committee of Paul Kaufmann, Jim Bernardi, Randy Steen, and John Schaefer was appointed to review the present banquet arrangements and to recommend a revised format to the Board for next year. The committees final recommendation will be reviewed, discussed, and a decision made at the January 2001 Board meeting.
OLD BUSINESS
Discussion centered on members who were late and non payers. This continuing problem takes too much administrative time and effort and sets a bad example for our group. It was recommended to publish these delinquent members in the "Whistling Zebra" and on the NOA web site so as to encourage timely dues payment.
A review of the Norm Geske Scholarship committee was done, and Peter King will talk to both Tom Fryer and Tom Toman on the process and who will sit on the Board to represent the scholarship fund. The members discussed whether or not the Board should continue contributing each year, whether raffle tickets should be sold at the banquet for the fund, and how the fund amount has grown each year to maintain a certain balance.
Peter King shared that Rocky Nelson and he were in the process of reviewing the NOA constitution and will bring recommended changes and updates back to the Board. The constitution has not been revised on over 10 years.
Finally, Rocky Nelson discussed many ways in which to improve our training process and how to keep younger members involved. A mentor system, on the field and floor training programs/clinics, and a better communication system were discussed. Rocky will be working with the Sport Presidents on these ideas this year.
Discussion on the selling of NOA pins, shirts, and jackets was tabled due to lack of information. Peter will talk to Rene Pelletier on the pin distribution and will look into past minutes to determine what the direction of the Board was on the shirts.
NEW BUSINESS
Lifetime Member status for Ernie Gilroy, a long time baseball member who retired from umpiring last year, was reviewed and the Board voted to recognize Ernie next spring.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned