Monday, December 26, 2016

QCPC Board Minutes, January 12, 2016

QCPC Board Meeting
January 12, 2016
1:00 pm
Kino Conference Room

Present:  Board Members David Kikel, Pam Martin, John Hughes, Ruth Maki, Rich Pokorski, Marie Still
Guests:  Karen Conner, Ron Grantz, Larry Hyde, George Mynatt
October 28, 2015 Board meeting minutes approved
Appointment of Chairs- The Board voted unanimously to approve the appointment of the following chars, who will serve as voting Board members:
          Court Management- Rich Pokorski
          Membership- Marie Still
          Communications- Jo-Anna Kikel
Treasurer’s Report- The report shows only 40 renewals, but more have come in in January.
          2016 Membership dues so far, $3420
Budget for next year will be reviewed at February meeting and then presented to full membership at February meeting.  We have $10,991.59 in the Club’s checking account, of which $3500 is in reserve.  We are in Business Plus checking at Wells Fargo where we have to maintain a $5,000 balance to avoid fees.  Pam is trying to change that account so that we can move the reserve to a separate account without having to pay fees on any account.

Proposal for new logo apparel- Kathy Myers, George Mynatt, and Karen Conner were on the  committee to select new logo apparel. Karen presented committee’s recommendation: 

Logo art- Quail and pickleball on front and mountains, saguaro, pickleball and quail on back.  The artwork was done by Kathy Meyers, and the Board thanks her for a nice design.
A motion was made to approve the logo and artwork.  All were in favor.

Cost of shirts are $14.95; committee suggests charging $18.00 to help cover the setup charge of $275 for the first shirt order.  If we sell 90 shirts, we would break even.  The minimum shirt order is 12 shirts, but can be any mix of styles.  The committee suggests that they take only paid orders (by check) in advance.  Then they will make the order.  Kathy will have examples of the shirts and committee members will be down at the ramada for 3 days to show samples and collect money (Jan. 20, 22, and 23).  Board members felt that 3 days was not enough time to order and pay for shirts.  They could be at the ramada for 3 days, and then others could write out a check, fill in a form, and drop it in a box.  We could make Jan. 29 as the final deadline.  After the first order is delivered, there may be more people who want to order later, but we will have to see if we can meet the minimum shirt order for a second order.. 


David prefers a club color so when we play tournaments, there is a set color.  But people may buy shirts but not go to tournaments.  After discussion, the Board agreed that the Club color is Tropic Blue.  Members do not have to order this color, but if they wish to participate in club-sponsored tournaments, members should wear the Club color shirt.  We will offer hats as well, but we still need minimum order of 12 hats.  Setup fee for the hats is $50, so we will charge $12 for each hat (cost $9.98) to try to recoup at least part of the setup cost.

Motion:  Club will front money for set-up charges for the shirts and hats.  Passed unanimously.

Proposed Round-Robin Play-  George Mynatt is interested in running more organized round robin play.  A minimum of 8 players are needed, and then players move around to play with different partners and different people.  They would play 6 rounds.  Players would be similar in rated skill levels.  George suggests that people would rate themselves using the US Pickleball guidelines.  He wants to use Courts 5-12, the open play courts.  Instead of open-play, he would run a structured round-robin.  He could run women’s 2.5 to 3.0 and men’s 3.0 to 3.5 with 18 in each group, using up to 4 courts for each of these. The Board agreed to try this with simultaneous men’s and women’s play on the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Wednesdays.  The first one will be on Wednesday, Jan. 27th.  We will re-evaluate the round-robin format after the January 27 event to see how it worked.  Players can just show up with 18 max on each side.  Play will start at 10:00 AM.  George and Rich have round robin charts for 8-36 players.  There is some expense for the charts, but for now George will use his charts at no cost to the Club.  Later the Club would have to buy materials.  This can either go in the next newsletter, or go as a separate e-mail to members. George will write something up for Jo-Anna.  George wishes to be on agenda for next meeting to report on Round Robins.  The Board agreed to this plan for trying Round-Robin play.

Mike Taylor joined the meeting-Rich should go directly to Mike if there are issues involving courts or facilities.  He will then come up with a plan to address issues.  The Board thanked Mike for getting the fence caps.   Mike will try to find a space to store about 30 ft. of left- over fence cap.  If we leave it where it is, pack rats may move in. 

Mike asked Board to start thinking now about what we want for capital requests.  The Call for Proposals will come up fast, so thinking about it now is a good idea.  We have $17,000 for additional lighting, and adding shade is also a priority.  For last year’s budget, he received requests in a timely fashion, but then he had to put all of those on paper.  He looked at the history of what’s been requested.  He couldn’t sell the shades because it didn’t have a history in previous requests, but he was able to sell the lighting because it had been requested in the past.  He needs more details about the shades- how much will they cost, what they will look like, etc., so he can make a better case for what we really need.  David would like to get pictures of the shade awnings at Saddlebrooke Ranch once they are installed so we have a better idea of the type of shades that have been approved by Robson.  David needs more information about the Saddlebrooke Ranch shade awnings:   how much did they cost, who was the contractor.  We haven’t used the lights much at night this past year.  Lighting isn’t needed because people don’t play much at night because of the bugs.  Having shades would prolong the playing time, especially in the summer.   Mike says he needs a good visual of what we want, and then we can move forward, buying the shades instead of the lights this year.

 We will probably come in with a request for a shed for the next budget.   Mike needs to know where it should be and what it will look like.  If he really understands what is needed, then he has a better chance of selling it.  David suggested a shed between courts 2 and 3.  The drop-off is farther back there than where the present storage bin is between courts 8-9.  The shed could be used to store a ball machine, among other items, which will need an outlet. Mike said that we need to have a good idea and show that we are doing a lot of work and contributing to the amenity, then Robson is likely to help.

Membership-  We have 359 members on the 2015 membership list, but only 155 have paid dues so far for 2016.  Marie will report running totals each month of how many are new members and how many are renewals.  In a few weeks, we will start sending out reminders for people to pay their dues.

On the website membership list, there is a place for ratings, but few members report it.  The Board agreed that we can remove the rating question from the form and hide the column on website. 

Communications-  There will be an article in the upcoming QC Crossing on the December party.  What’s Happening posts have been included for the Introduction to Pickleball event on January 24. 

Court Management-  Larry Hyde and Bob Horn will continue as volunteers.  Rich suggests that we give volunteers a gift certificate next year.

We need a policy about what committee chairs can purchase and what needs prior approval.  The Bylaws committee will look into this.

We will remove our balls from the ball holders before tournaments because the organizers of the tournaments should bring their own balls. 

Buying balls- $310.47 is the current cost of a box of 180 balls.  The Board authorized the Court Management team to buy another box of balls whenever necessary.  We can route orders through Lenny because he gets a better deal.  We have a backorder for more durable balls to test, but this may take a while before we get these.  Right now they are the same price as the old balls, but the price for the more durable balls may increase in the future.

Education- Intermediate class on Jan. 19, Introduction to Pickleball on Jan. 24 (2-4- Beginner’s class on Jan. 26th.  We should have Pickleball Central cards to give to beginners.  We do not have an Education Committee chair right now, but the Board agreed that various individuals can continue to run lessons and drills.

Bylaws- Committee hasn’t met yet, but will meet on Saturday, Jan. 16th.  They will send an e-mail to Board after the meeting to recommend changes for Bylaws. 

Pickleball Machine- An ad hoc committee had an extended meeting involving a diverse discussion.  There are serious questions about the reliability of the machines on the market.  These machines have only been out for about 6-9 months.  The committee made a unanimous recommendation to the Board: (1) send out a survey to members asking “ Who is in favor of buying a reliable machine assuming a  machine can be found;”and (2) if there is interest in purchasing a ball machine, we should submit a capital improvement project request this summer for a shed and a pickleball machine.  David prefers that we pay for the machine and the POA pays for the shed so that non-members cannot use the machine.  The Board discussed the need for a storage shed whether or not we buy a ball machine.  The Board voted on the committee’s recommendations as follows: 
Shall we conduct an e-mail survey?:  1 Yes Vote, 5 No Votes
Shall we present the issue (whether to buy a ball machine if a reliable one can be found) for a vote of members at the Annual Meeting after a presentation of the pros and cons of a machine? 5 Yes Votes, 1 No Vote

Next votes were taken on the Storage Shed.  The Board voted unanimously to submit a capitol improvement request this summer for a storage shed, but not to combine it with a pickleball machine.   

Upcoming Special Events
January Social Event—January 20
Intro to Pickleball & Beginner Lessons—January 24, 26
Firefighters’ tournament—March 4 (they may use all the courts they want)
Green Valley Senior Games—March 9-11


New Business:- John checked with Ken Holman about classes.  Ken suggested that 4-5 more advanced players could shadow his classes and then they could teach Beginning classes.  Rich and John will recruit some good players to shadow Ken’s Intermediate class on Jan. 19th and the Beginner class on Jan. 26th. 


Respectfully submitted,
Ruth Maki
Secretary












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