The Board met on Monday the 11th at the home of Scott Guhlke. The meeting began with a general discussion around a documentation project about to be undertaken by the Board. We discussed putting in writing all the duties and responsibilities for each member and in our roles as Directors of an activity, such as Training or Finance. While we have been blessed with outstanding support from those who have gone before us, with annual elections comes inevitable new Board members. We all agreed that having something documented (even at a high level) would be helpful for those considering a run and for those fortunate enough to earn election from the membership. There’s no timetable, other than we’d like to see this in full swing over next few months.

I kept my part short this month, which enabled us to reviewed the minutes from our March meeting before moving to one item on our new business agenda. You may recall that in the New Business area of my report from last month I mentioned a long list of High School Playoff eligible umpires was reviewed. Well, this month we got down to the nitty gritty and the Board reviewed and took action on our short list that will be used when the WOA comes to call for our umpires.

We then moved into reports from the various Committee Chairs. Here are few details from the Committees:

• Finance Director (Clough) and I presented the report from our recently completed Financial Review and discussed the three recommendations in the report. One recommendation of note centered on the importance of the Board Treasurer and suggested we have a solid person fill that role as well as a training plan for anyone assuming the duty. If you read between the lines of my opening, you’ll see that we’re taking this input seriously and applying it across the spectrum of our operation. Mark then reviewed our financial statements, including our budget to date, cash flow and accounts receivable. He reported that our cash flow is slightly ahead of 2015, but we noted that we have a few bills of our own to pay. And when we settle with one customer on what we’re owed, we will be able to close out 2015 for good. He also noted that several of our newest umpires have met the first hurdle for their incentives. Congrats to those and keep working hard folks.
• Evaluation Director (Granillo) was unable to attend the meeting, but provided a short note regarding the status of some early season formal evaluations. He also asked that we adjust the tier of a returning member to better match his skills and abilities.
• Training Director (Jensen) noted that he learned a lot in his first year as a Director as have many of us newly elected to the Board. In general he’s reviewing the steps and processes used for the off-season training and is seeking input from his committee and the membership in general. If anyone has a specific suggestion for how to improve training, please contact Eric. The Board shared some ideas for how to get more guys trained during a lively conversation at the meeting. He also reported (in concert with Directors Christie and Clough) on the progress of the second wave of trainees.
• Recruiting Director (Christie) initially tapped Director Jensen to give the update on the second wave, see above. He then moved into a review of a member who had met the minimum number of training hours, but was originally thought to have fallen short. There was a good discussion regarding the need for accurate record keeping, ensuring those attending training remember to sign in, and understanding the impacts to all involved when minimum hours are not met.
• Member Services/Communications Director (Neff) noted that the High School Coach of the Year nominations will go out in a couple weeks. Be thinking of who you’d like to nominate. Also, he shared that his committee has narrowed down the timeframe for the banquet to three weekend dates in late September/early October. The exact date will depend on facility (and golf course) availability. More to follow as plans take shape.
• Bylaws/Policies & Procedures Director (Coy) noted that his committee is still working on some suggestions shared by the Member Liaison (Reams Goodloe) for how to improve the By Laws and Policies and Procedures.
• Assigning Secretary (Fitzpatrick) noted that since schools tend to schedule their games on Wednesdays and Fridays, she’s feeling the pinch on those days. If you have time and can be available on those days, you will earn her gratitude. Since school ball lasts just a few (8 total), it gets intense trying to fit games in when we are weather dependent. Or as Leslie put it, please open up your availability!

The new business section was brief as we only needed to select our next month’s host. Thanks for stepping forward Leslie! For the good of the order, I reported that the Northshore School District will be adding a new High School (North Creek HS) in the 2016-17 academic year. That means one more school for us to service next season. Not sure I have to say this again, but yes, we are popular umpires…we deliver a good product, which makes it important that we continue to bring in outstanding new folks to our association. It is never too early to start recruiting for next year.

That’s about all for now folks, hope to see you all on the diamond.

Hank Margeson
President, Northwest Baseball Umpires Association
425-765-6975

See below for the school ball fees:

News from the WOA:

The accounting for school games has changed. Previously, schools paid the WIAA for the RTO program, and then the money was filtered to the WOA who administers the program. Also, an administration fee was billed as a percentage on top of the total assessed game fees. Now, the WIAA is no longer involved with the RTO payment process. Money goes directly to us, and then to the WOA. More importantly, the admin fee (percentage) was removed, so schools will pay one game fee for the entire crew. It is up to each sport and Board to determine how that game fee is split. If you would like more information, please contact Hank at [email protected]

For members of the NBUA, the bottom line is we are receiving an increase in our school ball game fees. Varsity games will increase by $2 per umpire and sub-varsity games will increase by $1 per umpire.