Minutes of MSSL Board of Directors Meeting January 11, 2022

Meeting called to order at 12:50 PM by Speaker Dan Krepich.

Bob Fuhrmann, Commissioner, and all board members except for Robb Braun were present. Two guests, Jeff Bockness and Frank White, Chief Umpire were also present.

1. The minutes from the previous board meeting have been posted on the website. The board discussed the new process for approving the minutes of board meetings. The minutes will be drafted and sent to board members for review as soon as possible after board meetings. After review by the board the minutes will be posted to the website, hopefully within a week of the meeting.
2. Bob gave his commissioner’s report.
   • Sal Navarro has volunteered to do the cooking for the picnic. Bob and Sal will check out the picnic area near the fields which have grills available. As a backup Jeff Millard will look into the possibility of holding the picnic at the Four Seasons development in Hemet.
   • The uniforms and new balls ordered have come in.
   • The draft is scheduled to be held tomorrow (1/12/2022) in the conference room at Wheatfield Park. There will be 10 teams with 12 people per team. We have 9 managers, so there will be 1 committee team. Each manager may have 1 helper during the draft.
   • Bob Fuhrman will take over as the scheduler until a replacement has been named for Bob Curley. Bob Curley will help Bob Fuhrman with the scheduling and will continue to do the publishing until the replacement is named.
3. Open Board Positions: Jeff Bockness and Frank White have volunteered for the 2 open board positions. Jeff and Frank discussed why they want to be on the board. When they were done the board asked Jeff and Frank to step out for a few minutes. The board then discussed the 2 candidates. Bill proposed a motion to accept both Jeff and Frank for the vacant board positions. Ted seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously (4 to 0) to appoint Jeff and Frank to the board. At this point Jeff and Frank rejoined the meeting.
4. Soliciting the League for new umpires: Frank told the board that he contacted various league members to see if they would be interested in umpiring. As a result, he had 2 volunteers (Jeff Bockness and Jerry Harkey). So, we now have a total of 16 umpires. Ted suggested that we still send out a solicitation for volunteers to all league members to see if we can get additional umpires. The board agreed and decided to include in the solicitation a brief description as to how the league will bring volunteers on board as umpires including providing any necessary training. Ted volunteered to write up the solicitation for the next board meeting.
   At approx. 1:30 PM Frank left the meeting.
5. The board also agreed to have a copy of the SSUSA rulebook and our league rules available on each field during our games. Bob Fuhrman will order additional rule books.
6. The board discussed potential rule changes regarding the 1 – 1 count and staying on the field for 2 defensive innings. Dan proposed a motion to have the managers survey team members to see if they prefer to stay with the 1 – 1 count or change back to the 0 – 0 count; and whether to stay with the 2 defensive innings or revert back to the single defensive inning for the spring season. Ted seconded the motion. The board voted 4 to 1 in favor of asking the managers to survey their teams when they call new team members upon completion of the draft.
7. The board discussed whether to adopt the SSUSA official score card. Dan motioned to adopt the score card and Jeff Bockness seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously (5 to 0) to adopt the SSUSA official score card.
8. The board discussed whether to continue the league’s Sportsmanship Award. Ted made a motion to eliminate the Sportsmanship Award and Jeff Bockness seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously (5 to 0) to eliminate the award.
9. The board agreed to schedule the next meeting for February 15, 2022, after the games scheduled for that day are complete.
10. At this point Ted motioned to adjourn. Jeff Millard seconded the motion, and the board voted unanimously to adjourn (5 to 0). The meeting adjourned at approx. 2:35 PM

Outstanding Action Items
Previous Items (11/04/2021)

1. Locate charts that use team maximum roster sizes to determine how many teams we should have in a season based on total number of players in the draft. Bob F
2. Solicit ideas from managers on how to make the manager’s job more appealing. Board
3. Write up procedure for online purchases of uniforms and tracking inventory. Robb

1. Ted to draft solicitation to league players for more umpires for consideration by the board. Ted