When: Thursday, April the 1st at 7pm
Where: Knights of Columbus on Lewis Rd.

We will need all teams to top up their performance bond if they have not already done so.

On the Agenda:

We shall be reviewing any past meeting notes that were deferred.

We will also be discussing the tournaments.

We shall be inviting new teams, so there may be some extra discussion.

We need to have full attendance in order to proceed into the season.

In order to get schedules done and handbooks produced, we need confirmation from all teams by their presence at this meeting. We would like to put regular season as well as tournament schedule breakdowns in the handbook this year.

If you can not attend then send a team rep. If that is IMPOSSIBLE then you must be in contact with me in order to hold your spot in the league.

If you do not attend, do not send a rep or do not contact me, your team will NOT be included in the schedule.

The Final meeting will be Tuesday April 27th at 7pm.
At the final meeting, you will have to pay ALL league fees. You will also collect scorebooks, balls, keys and any other necessary items.

Thanks,
Bruce

Teams In Attendance: Friar Tuck’s, Ten Men Out, Thunder, Black Sox, Chiefs, Havana Blast, Misfits, Guelph Brewers, Full Throttle, DDG, Pour House, Sweaty Mitts, Long Shots, IC Tyle & Stone, Sandlot, Touch of Grey, Here 2 There Freight, Lyon Financial, Domino’s Pizza, Generals, Barzotti Masters, Rangers, Royal City Garage Doors, Powerline Electronics, Jose’s Noodle Factory

Absent: LockNuts, Swamp Donkeys

New Teams: Sharks, Larmer, Pembleton

Agenda:

1. Introduction of new league executive
2. Constitutional Proposals
3. Bat Rule
4. Opening Tournament
5. League Affiliation
6. Financial Report
7. Umpires
8. Website
9. Divisional Alignment

League Executive

• Introduced the new look League Executive (since there was no takers when the call went out, we juggled the existing group around to suit our talents and needs):

  President

  Jon Hebden

  Vice President

  Marc Bender

  Secretary

  Brad Mitchell

  Treasurer

  Bob Nelson

• Statistician / Webmaster – Bob Nelson will again be contracted to fulfill this role.

Constitutional Proposals

These are the Constitutional Proposals from the AGM that could not be voted on due to the fact that we didn’t have enough league representation to constitute a quorum.

Missed Meetings:

Proposal was made to penalize any team that fails to have representation at each of the 4 scheduled league meetings. Penalty will be $50 for ANY missed meeting, leveraged against a team’s Performance Bond.

- PASSED -

Playoff Format:

Proposal was made to change the playoff format from what we had last year (see Scheduling Guideline) to one big division where highest seed plays lowest seed in best of 3 series, best of 5 for the finals (broken down by seasonal divisions A/B/Masters).

- Deferred until we confirm total number of teams and divisional alignment -

Revise Playoff Eligibility:

Proposal was made that all roster players must play a minimum of 1/3 of the total season games to qualify for the playoffs (injuries and special circumstances considered at the discretion of the league executive when presented by the team in question).

- PASSED -

Remove Roster Limitations in Masters:

Proposal was made to Open Masters up to anyone, but players must play 8 full games to qualify for playoff eligibility

- Deferred to the next meeting in March -

Pitching Height:

Proposal was made to eliminate 20′ max height option and proceed as either 6′-12′ or 6′-Unlimited

- PASSED -

Proposed options were then put to the vote, with 6′ to Unlimited getting an overwhelming majority

Ban Rolled Bats

Rolled bats are classified as “Altered Bats” according to ALL associations.

Altered Bats are a definite safety issue.

Though there was some discussion at this meeting and a general consensus regarding the process, we will address this in more detail at a future meeting.

Bat Rule

We will continue to follow our own (hybrid) Bat Policy as outlined in the Constitution, which states:

Any bat that does not appear on BOTH the ASA Certified Bats list and the NSA Canada Approved Bat List will NOT be eligible for RCMSPL play in 2010.

Opening Tournament

The Opening Tournament is scheduled to take place on the 1st weekend (Sat & Sun) of May – the 1st and 2nd. Along with the refreshment tent that the league will operate (as we have in the past), we are looking at the possibility of allowing Guelph Girls Minor Softball to run the food canteen. This will allow us to offer a wider variety of refreshment as well as help out a good cause.

League Affiliation

We have benefitted in our partnership with NSA and see no reason to change.

Financial Report

We had another strong year financially in 2009, maintaining our costs in line with our budget – this in spite of ongoing difficulties with GG4 lighting and how our schedule was affected by it.

With future expenses expected to rise (potentially a dramatic rise following the city budget and their NEW approach to diamond scheduling!), but our current financial picture being of good health, the League Executive has decided to maintain our league fees for the 3rd straight year at $1800 – plus the performance bond of $200. Tournament costs will once again be absorbed by the League. In addition, all returning teams will again benefit by a $100 league credit to be put toward their league fees for 2010.

Umpires

Overall our umpiring quality seems to have improved since Dewy took over as Umpire-in-Chief last season. We plan to maintain our partnership with Dewy and his umpires.

Website

The Bulletin Board has been removed, but Free Agent lists are up and working. Some additional functionality has been added (Private Messaging) or is in the process (Polls, Role Definitions, Integrated Score Reporting) for the coming season.

Divisional Alignment

With the move of Generals to Masters 45, a decision was made to disband the Masters Division for the coming season and assign the remaining Masters teams into an appropriate competitive division. This, coupled with the addition of 3 new teams, has allowed us to create 3 Open Competitive divisions. The new look 2010 Divisional Alignment will see Divisions I, II & III and the same Masters 45 as in years past.

While a Proposed Divisional Alignment was discussed at the meeting and considered the preferences of all teams present, the uncertainty of some returning teams and the potential for adding another team suggest I shouldn’t say anything at this time about definite alignment. Divisional Alignment will again appear on the Agenda for the next meeting.

Future Dates:

March 24, 7pm Knights of Columbus (50% of league fees due)
April 21, 7pm Knights of Columbus (Balance of league fees)
Note: No Pay = No Play
May 1 & 2 – Opening Tournament
May 4 – Projected Opening Night – Regular Season

Welcome everyone to the 2010 ball season!!

An email has been sent based on the information I have from last season regarding the upcoming season, so if your team didn’t get the message please let me know so I can update the League Contact List.

Meeting Notification
When: Wednesday, February 17th at 7:00 pm.
Where: our usual spot at Knights of Columbus at 84 (the end of) Lewis Rd.

This is our first meeting of the new season at which teams are expected to top up or submit their $200 Performance Bond as a commitment for the coming season. If you have any questions about the status of your bond, just drop me a line or get in touch with Brad Mitchell and we’ll figure it out. We are currently expecting at least 4 new teams for the coming season and we are actually (desperately) hoping to generate some more interest in our Masters Division, so it could be a another good growth year for us.

This is expected to be a busy meeting since we didn’t have a quorum at the AGM in November!

On the agenda:

Constitutional changes not addressed in November

Introduction of our new look Executive

Opening Tournament

League Affiliation

Balls

Budget

Diamonds

The final agenda is yet to be hashed out at our Executive meeting, but this should be plenty to get us started. If you have any questions or comments, or if you’d like to see an item added to the agenda, please let me know as soon as possible.

Please make sure your team is represented.

I would like to CONFIRM that your team is returning for this coming year. I need an email from each team to express their interest. We are looking at possible expansion but want to know what we are working with first.

Please send this to me by Sunday February 7th!

If I have not heard from you by then, I will assume that you are no longer interested in putting a team in the league and your spot will be filled.

Thank you,
Bruce

Information Bulletin

To: City of Guelph Outdoor Facility Users
From: Murray Cameron– Manager of Parklands and Greenways
Department: Operations

RE: 2010 Operating Budget

We write to follow up on our information bulletin of November 25, 2009, wherein we advised that Council was considering a number of rate increases in an effort to deal with a difficult budget. We thank those who took the time to appear as a delegation, or to contact the Mayor and Council in this regard.

In preparation for the budget staff restructured our proposed rates and fees, and we are attaching a copy of the new rates and fees with this bulletin. In our view these new rates continue to represent good value and our very competitive with the rates in surrounding communities.

A decrease in the Youth Subsidy from 47.5% to 40% was considered by Council, but was rejected, so approved youth groups will continue to enjoy the youth subsidy throughout 2010.

Please be aware that although these rates come into effect on January 1, 2010, all existing signed contracts will be honoured at the stated rate.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,

Murray Cameron
Manager
Parklands and Greenways
Operations

Also attached to that message was a Fee Schedule that had some rather disconcerting information.

Upon first reading the updated fees, it appeared that we would be hit with a very substantial increase in our diamond costs due to a revision in how they made their calculations. More specifically, in years past we have always received a discounted rate when renting more diamonds – the cost for 1 diamond was about $60, while booking all 4 only came to about $110.

The new way of doing things is to rent each diamond individually and by the hour – with no allowance for a bulk discount.

While the League Executives have yet to get together and analyze the full impact of these changes, subsequent communications back and forth have eased some of our fears and I feel confident we can come out of this without feeling TOO much of an impact. Some changes will need to be made in our approach to diamond usage but, until we’ve had a chance to look at this a little more in-depth, we will continue to plan for the coming season as we have in years past.

More information will be available when we begin the League Meetings.