Clackamas County Junior Baseball Minutes
Area Heads Meeting
November 13, 2006 

Meeting called to order: 7:40 p.m.

Areas Present: Canby, Gladstone, Lakeridge, Milwaukie, Molalla, North Marion, Oregon City, Putnam, Redland, Sellwood, Silverton, West Linn-Seniors, Wilsonville, and Woodburn/Gervais.
Absent: Clackamas, Colton, Country Christian, Jackson, Lake Oswego, South Clackamas, Tualatin, West Linn-Juniors, and Whiskey Hill.

Treasurers Report: $1,032.10 remains in the account. A few Areas still need to be reimbursed for 2006 County Tournaments: Molalla is due $25 and will inform Paul where to mail the payment; Lake Oswego/Lakeridge are due $125 and will inform Paul which Area to reimburse.

State Meeting:

State raised the fees paid to umpires at State tournaments. Umpires will be paid $30 for Midget games, $40 for Junior, and $45 for Senior. The increased costs require increases to team fees and tournament entry fees.  Teams entering State Tournaments will be required to pay $125 per team for National and American levels, and $175 per team for Federal level tournaments.

State raised team fees to $25 per team (from $18 per team). A number of new or increased costs require increasing team fees this year. Note: CCJBA will need to increase team fees accordingly. Areas should inform their local Boards that fees will be increasing.

State set dates for the 2007 State Tournaments:
            July 19-22   All Midget levels, Junior National and Senior National
            July 26-29   Junior American and Federal, Senior American and Federal, and Cubs

Bids to host State tournaments are due in January, so Areas should submit their bids to Robert or Todd at the December CCJBA meeting. State is also looking for sites to host State pre-qual games since Washington County will not be able to host these games this year. As noted last month, State needs fields with lights for the pre-qual games so these games can be played late.

State is developing a new “Application for Participation” form (previously Application for Membership) and will post it on the State website in January. These forms are due to CCJBA in February.

Potential 2007 rule changes being considered by State were discussed. A vote was solicited from CCJBA Areas to determine if CCJBA should support or oppose the proposals:

·           Revert back to the minimum six defensive outs at the Senior level from the minimum of nine adopted in 2006 (proposed by Valley). CCJBA Areas unanimously oppose this proposal;

·           Revert back to the team matrix in place before 2005 (CCJBA proposal). CCJBA Areas support this proposal;

·           Modification to the rule prohibiting steals to home at the Midget National. Proposed language is for “…no steals to home on a pitched ball not caught by the catcher.” There was significant discussion of this language. As proposed, CCJBA Areas oppose the proposed language since it does not appear to meet the original intent of the rule. CCJBA prefers modifying the existing rule to add “…or a throw by a fielder to third base…” as one of the options that allows the runner from third to legally advance to home. It was noted that some coaches were instructing their pitcher and catcher to throw to third in an attempt to pick off the runner since there was no penalty of the throw was errant, and an errant throw would often cause the runner to advance to home and be called out; this strategy was used by some coaches when there were two outs to gain an “easy” third out.

Final decisions by the State Board on proposed rules will occur at the January meeting.

Board Nominations: The nomination process for the 2007 Board was reopened. The following individuals were nominated prior to elections:

President: Willie Fisher

Vice President: Tracy Gay

Secretary:  Jeff Boechler

Treasurer:  Paul Minter

District Commissioner (two year term): Todd Nichols

Member at Large (two positions): George Breazeale, Ken Burns, Chris Zimmerman, Reggy DeJoode

North Field Rep: Reggy DeJoode, Dave Gattuccio

South Field Rep: Jim Jones

2007 Board Election: Following the nomination process, elections for the 2007 Board were held. Area Heads voted on contested positions via secret ballot. The Member at Large positions were elected first, then a second secret ballot vote was held for the North Field Rep position. Finally, the remaining uncontested positions were elected unanimously by slate vote. Following are the results of elections for the 2007 Board:

President: Willie Fisher

Vice President: Tracy Gay

Secretary:  Jeff Boechler

Treasurer:  Paul Minter

District Commissioner (two year term): Todd Nichols

District Commissioner (one year term remains): Robert Schmuck

Member at Large (two positions): George Breazeale, Chris Zimmerman

North Field Rep: Dave Gattuccio

South Field Rep: Jim Jones

Umpire Coordinators: Willie noted that the Board also has two Umpire Coordinator positions that are appointed by the Board, and noted these members attend meetings when requested. He described the duties and responsibilities for these positions and distributed position descriptions to several Areas. Area Heads are requested to discuss these positions within their local Areas and submit nominations to the Board.  Cary Webster may be interested in the South Umpire Coordinator position.

Directory Updates: Jeff requests that each Area provide updated contact information for their new President and Area Head as soon as these officers are elected. The information needed for each officer is as follows: (1) name, (2) mailing address, (3) e-mail address, (4) home phone, and (5) work phone. This information is only used for CCJBA business and is not distributed to others. The information should be e-mailed to CCJBASEC@comcast.net

 Team Fees: CCJBA will need to increase team fees in response to the increase passed by State. Since player registration will likely start soon, Area Heads should inform their local Boards that a fee increase of $7-$10 per team is likely this year. The CCJBA Board will make a decision soon, likely at the December meeting.

Meeting Adjourned:  8:40 p.m.

 

NEXT MEETING:                        Monday, December 4, 2006, 7:30 p.m.