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STATEN ISLAND YANKEES
BOOSTER CLUB
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
MINUTES
3/3/08
Randy Bence opened the meeting at 7:00 PM and reviewed
the meeting notes from the 2/4/08 General Membership meeting.
Randy announced that just before tonight’s meeting Mike
Dutz decided that he should remain Vice-President and not move up to
President after the previous president resigned. Mike felt that his
decision was in the best interests of the Club for the following
reasons, living in New Jersey makes it difficult for him to cosign
Booster Club checks, the President should attend more games than he is
able to attend, and that he had enough to handle with the Scranton trip
and the Welcome Dinner.
Mike suggested Bill Klapach run for the position of
temporary President. Joe Ricciuti and Jane Rogers from the Front Office
felt this was a good idea. The Board all agreed that Bill, already
Honorary President, should take over as temporary President. Randy
noted that the current by-laws state that the Board could appoint a
replacement, but felt that if the members at the meeting wanted to, an
immediate election would be held. Everyone voted unanimously by a show
of hands to accept Bill Klapach as President until the election of a new
Board next year.
Bill thanked the members for accepting him in the
position of President. He reminded the members that the Booster Club
activities at the stadium, using the stadium to hold meetings, run the
Autograph Table, hold Meet and Greets, allowing the team to attend the
Welcome Dinner, etc., are all privileges, not rights, afforded
the Club by the Staten Island Yankees. The Booster Club is supposed to
be fun. Members are not supposed to attack the Front Office or each
other. Bill turned it over to Randy to explain why this issue had come
up.
Randy told the members at the Feb. meeting that he and
Robert Pimpsner had put together fundraising proposals and would be
meeting with Jane Rogers and Joe Ricciuti in the Front Office to discuss
them. In that meeting, Joe and Jane indicated to them that all
proposals and activities had been put on hold until they could discuss
with Randy a problem they had. They related to him the following
problem and resulting new rules:
The first was club member’s written attack on the Front
Office. It was brought to Randy’s attention by the Front Office who was
very upset. He informed the Board which acted to resolve this problem in
order to save the club. The Front Office approved and they considered
it over.
The second was a verbal attack on Jane Rogers by a member
after the Feb. meeting. Staff members like Jane put in long days and
then stay even later to help the Club. Attacks on her or any Yankee
staff member will not be tolerated. This incident would have
ended the Club if not for the respect the Front Office has for Bill,
Mike, Randy, Robert, and Bob. However, no matter how much respect there
is, if there another such attack, the Booster Club will be ended by the
Front Office.
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The
Club will no longer have use of the large luxury box for March
meetings. The conference room will be provided for Club
meetings, but only from 7:00 to 8:30.
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No one
from the Front Office will attend the meetings, at least for a
while.
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The
Board must take control of this problem so the Welcome Dinner,
fundraising proposals and other Club plans can be put back on
the table for discussion with the Front Office.
-
A code
of conduct should be added to the added to the By-Laws and
membership must be informed of it and the reasons for it.
Randy Bence said that he and Robert apologized to Jane
and Joe on behalf of the club and assured them the Board would handle
this problem. The requested code of conduct would be added into the
bylaws. Bill and he would inform the membership of the new rules and
that any more attacks would end the club. A couple of members said that
they thought this issue was finished with at the last meeting. Bill
responded that the Board and the Front Office had thought so too,
however, the attack on Jane after the last meeting caused this subject
to come up again and put the club on thin ice.
Bill had Randy go over the suggested new additions to the
bylaws; the wording had been approved by the Front Office in subsequent
discussions:
·
Sections 1.2 and 1.3 have been
amended to clarify the Club’s
relationship with the Staten Island Yankees who
extend the
privilege of operating at the Ballpark to the Club.
It is not a right.
·
A membership code of conduct was
added in section 2.7.
None of the members present had any comments or
objections to the amendments or the new By-Laws as a whole. A vote was
taken to accept the new By-Laws and everyone present signed the original
copy. The By-Laws are available online at the www.baby-bombers.com.
Members will be e-mailed the current minutes with a link to the new
By-laws. Those that do not have e-mail can pick up a copy of the new
bylaws at the next meeting or by mail.
Mike Dutz announced that we now have 40 people paid up
for the Scranton bus trip, which is enough to cover the cost of the
bus. There is still room for more people on the bus, so anyone
interested should contact Mike at 372-316-5263. We are hoping for two
ex-Staten Island players for a Meet-and-Greet, and everyone will get a
Scranton hat. The Club will be sending payment for the bus and the
tickets next week, so anyone who has paid will not be refunded their
money if they cannot attend unless their spot can be sold to someone
else.
The Welcome Dinner is 90% approved, as long as there are
no more strikes against the Club. Almost seventy people have already
signed up and there is room for 10-15 more. Call Mike Dutz if you are
not signed up and want to attend the dinner. Randy Bence recently
talked to the restaurant owner, Joe Gulino, who was enthusiastic about
the Welcome Dinner.
He discussed having Randy and Robert do a commercial for
the restaurant using the same slogan, “Pride, Pasta, Pinstripes,”
that was used for the dinner last year. Randy, Robert and Jane Rogers
will meet with him to iron out the details of the dinner and the
membership will be informed with the Club’s E-Newsletter.
The Board announced that, since the Scranton trip is paid
for, the Club could now discuss trips to Trenton and to the Cyclones for
Opening Day. There is an exhibition game on 4/1/08 between Trenton and
the Scranton Yankees that several members want to attend. That is a
Tuesday night game. There is also a Sunday afternoon game on 4/13/08.
The Cyclones owe the Club several tickets from last year and several
members said they would like to attend Opening Day on Tuesday 6/17/08.
Contact Randy at 718-448-3064 if you want to attend any of these games.
Mike Dutz reminded everyone that if any Board member
calls and leaves a message asking if members want to attend a particular
function, please call us back with a yes or no answer.
Randy Bence passed around the prototype of the new
Baby-Bombers.com Magazine that Robert and him are putting together.
They plan to have a free copy available to anyone who joins the club.
Bill asked if there were any other issues. There were
none. The meeting was closed at 7:40 PM.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, 4/2/08 in the
meeting room at 7pm. |
