1 1 (Saugus Youth Hockey meeting called to 2 order at 7:38 p.m. on March 3, 2009.) 3 MR. BRAZIS: We'll call the meeting to 4 order. If we may, could we have a roll call 5 here, Mr. Secretary? 6 MR. GROARK: Scott Brazis. 7 MR. BRAZIS: Here. 8 MR. GROARK: Pat Norton. 9 MR. NORTON: Here. 10 MR. GROARK: Pat Groark is here. 11 Dwayne Oxley. 12 (Pause.) 13 MR. GROARK: Stacy Tait. 14 (Pause.) 15 MR. GROARK: Kevin Nigro. 16 (Pause.) 17 MR. GROARK: Anthony Bono. 18 MR. BONO: Here. 19 MR. GROARK: Rich Zabroski. 20 (Pause.) 21 MR. GROARK: Dana DeMatteo. 22 MR. DeMATTEO: Here. 23 MR. GROARK: Ken Patterson. 24 (Pause.) 2 1 MR. GROARK: Fred Moore. 2 MR. MOORE: Here. 3 MR. GROARK: Ellen Coccoluto. 4 (Pause.) 5 MR. GROARK: Joe Shrimpf. 6 MR. SHRIMPF: Here. 7 MR. BRAZIS: The first order is we 8 have the minutes from last month if anybody 9 would like to look at them. We'll wait 'til 10 the end of the meeting -- they're extensive. 11 We can wait 'til the end of the meeting to 12 accept them, but anybody that would like 13 them, please, I'll pass them out up here. I 14 only have so many copies. If somebody would 15 want a copy, I will get them to them, but 16 they are up here, and if you want, we'll 17 certainly pass them around. Like I said, 18 we'll wait until after the meeting so 19 everybody can have a chance who did want 20 them to go through them and we'll see if 21 we're going to accept them or not. Would 22 you mind passing around the attendance sheet 23 also? 24 As far as the report from the interim 3 1 president, I really don't have much. I 2 would turn it over to my colleagues here. 3 They have a lot of stuff that they would 4 like to present to the body here. Vice 5 President Norton will talk about the tuition 6 and Secretary -- my buddy over there -- Pat 7 Groark. Pat Groark's going to talk about 8 the sign-ups and also -- what was the other 9 thing -- tryouts. So without further ado, 10 Pat, if you wouldn't mind. 11 MR. NORTON: I don't know if 12 everybody's had a chance, we put the 13 estimated tuition for next year on the 14 website. Again, what we did is we -- last 15 week we finally wrapped up the negotiations 16 with Kasabuski, so we're able to stay at 17 Kasabuski. We're going to continue to have 18 at least two practices per team per week, 19 and we're going to continue to try to work 20 in the skills session. Also included in 21 here is we have -- we got the final ice rate 22 for the Valley for the games, which is going 23 to continue to stay at the same rate as it 24 was last year. Just so you know, the rate 4 1 we're getting per hour at Kasabuski is $205 2 an hour and that's up from 185. We thought 3 it was going to go up in steps. We thought 4 it might be a little higher than that, but 5 we were happy with where we ended up at the 6 205. The Valley League, they kept the ice 7 rate the same, 241. The one change from 8 this year to last year is we decided, you 9 know, given the economy and to try to keep 10 the tuition affordable, we also sought 11 feedback from the coaches, we moved from a 12 45-game schedule to a 30-game schedule for 13 this year. So instead of having 45 Valley 14 games, you'll have 30 Valley games this 15 year. You'll continue to have the same 16 amount of practice ice. 17 Also included in the overall number I 18 can give you a breakdown with that. We're 19 estimating for the Bantam -- for the Mites 20 through the Bantams the rate is going to be 21 $1,525 per player. For the Cross Ice it 22 will be $925 a player, and I believe it was 23 650 for the Midget team. And included in 24 that is if you're playing in the Midget -- 5 1 if you're playing in the Bantam through the 2 Mite level, we have to cover some of the 3 shortfall for this year and what that 4 translates into is each player is paying 5 $205 this year to reduce the debt. 6 You know, Dwayne can go into more 7 details as to where we are in the debt, but 8 we wanted to be clear that traditionally 9 Saugus has always had carryover balances. 10 It isn't new this year that it's anything 11 different, but what happened this year is 12 with moving from North Suburban and also 13 with losing control of the rink, we lost 14 flexibility in payments, so now everything 15 is due when everything is due. Dwayne did 16 have some flexibility before in the past to 17 stretch some certain things, but it isn't a 18 new phenomenon that we had a shortfall, but 19 this is the first time that, you know, we 20 really came to push and we want to make sure 21 that next year we don't have a shortfall. 22 So included in that for the Mite through the 23 Bantams is $205 per kid and what that 24 translates into is to pay off what's 6 1 estimated a $23,000 shortfall for this year. 2 The Cross Ice players are contributing 3 $100 per player and the Midgets are also 4 contributing $100 per player. So that's 5 sort of a breakout for each individual one. 6 We've also included in the tuition $40 per 7 kid for registration, $10 for socks, 40 for 8 equipment, and then we have some 9 miscellaneous costs that come up to $25 per 10 player, so that brings us to the 1,525. 11 This is an estimate based upon the 12 best numbers that we have now and that 13 assumes 125 players. Right now we're 14 skating with 155 players. We sensitized 15 that down just in case some kids decided to 16 leave the program. Last year we lost 12 17 kids, so we're trying to estimate. There 18 could be some movement in there, but we 19 don't see it being any more than $100, plus 20 or minus either way. Once we get the final 21 numbers and we have the kids at tryouts, 22 then we'll know how many kids, we can 23 allocate it and then we'll make an 24 adjustment so that you're paying actually. 7 1 I mean, at the end of the day we don't want 2 to have any money sitting in the account, we 3 just want to cover the expenses for the 4 program. So if anybody has any questions on 5 that, I know I went through a lot and I 6 speak fast, so I can repeat anything and 7 answer any questions you have. 8 MR. RUSSO: I just have one quick 9 question. 10 MR. BRAZIS: Could you just state your 11 name, please, so the stenographer can get 12 it? 13 MR. RUSSO: Jim Russo. So the 14 shortfall is covered in this year's tuition? 15 MR. NORTON: Yes. 16 MR. RUSSO: Somewhat of a likelihood 17 is that the real tuition going forward, once 18 we don't allow ourselves to carry balances, 19 would be a little less than that? 20 MR. NORTON: It could be, yes. Right 21 now -- then we can talk as a Board, 'cause 22 right now as we look at it, the shirts are 23 probably getting five or six years old. 24 We're not going to do anything out of the 8 1 ordinary this year given the circumstances, 2 but as we meet together as a group, we can 3 make decisions if we want to put some more 4 in the tuition to help buy shirts, which I 5 think are coming up on five or six years old 6 at this point in time. So there may be some 7 changes, but the run rate, you're right, if 8 it's 1,525, the run rate's probably closer 9 to 1,320 if 205 is being included to reduce 10 the debt from the prior year. 11 MR. RUSSO: I just -- 'cause a lot of 12 people don't understand. 13 MR. NORTON: The run rate for the 14 actual costs for next year are estimating as 15 1,320 and then we have 205 for the average 16 kid built in to reduce the deficit. Lynn. 17 MS. AIKEN: Lynn Aiken. Why was it so 18 much this year then if it's going to be less 19 next year? 20 MR. NORTON: There was a couple of 21 factors. Dwayne has -- he'll give us a 22 complete reconciliation. You've got 23 approximately -- my recollection was about 24 -- we lost about 12 kids who were built into 9 1 the budget for last year, so I believe the 2 impact was roughly $12,000. We also have 3 another $6,000 because we had a switch from 4 North Suburban, which is a cheaper ice rate 5 because the league basically collapsed and 6 we had to put those kids into the Valley 7 League, which is more expensive, so I think 8 there was two or three teams, so that was 9 roughly five or six thousand dollars that 10 wasn't expected. And then the other $5,000 11 is there hasn't been -- some tax returns 12 haven't been filed. We've reached out to 13 Bob McGowan's accounting firm. He's going 14 to do it for us at cost, so we're looking 15 into having to file the tax returns for the 16 entity. I think the last one hasn't been 17 filed since, like, 1999, so we have to go 18 back and he's reaching out to the IRS now to 19 find out -- we have the records since, like, 20 2005 forward -- for what we have to do. If 21 we have to file all those returns it could 22 cost as much as 5,000 to have all those 23 prepared, so that's sort of what's budgeted 24 into the 23 that was the shortfall right 10 1 now. 2 There could be some reconciliation 3 with the Valley that could bring the money 4 that's owed out still. That could reduce 5 some of the deficit, and also the tax return 6 money could be a little bit different that 7 we have to have prepared, so there's still 8 some flexibility on that side as well. If 9 that answers your question. 10 MS. AIKEN: So the 1,525 for next 11 year, it's not going to be any less than 12 that and it's not going to be any -- it 13 might be less than that, but it wouldn't be 14 any more than that? 15 MR. NORTON: I think that it could be 16 within -- it should be within $100 plus or 17 minus. If the number of kids -- that's 18 based upon 125 kids. If we have fewer kids 19 that register, then we have fewer kids to 20 pass the costs through. We sensitized it 21 down from 155 to 125 so that we could give 22 something we hoped was reliable, but there 23 could be some movement in that number. We 24 don't expect it to be more than plus or 11 1 minus $100, and we'll pass that on both 2 ways, whether it goes down or whether it 3 goes up. So once we have that number we'll 4 just plug in whatever it is that year and 5 rerun the numbers. So we're trying to get 6 -- I know everybody's concerned that it was 7 going to be a very, very large number. 8 We're just trying to get the information out 9 without having a lot of still-moving 10 variables that are still going. So we're 11 trying to do the best we can with that. 12 Bill, do you have a question? 13 MR. HEFFERNAN: No. 14 MR. NORTON: Anybody else. 15 MR. BRAZIS: Just state your name, 16 please. 17 MS. ALLEN: Fatima Allen. You guys 18 are going to hate this question, but is 19 everybody paid up? 20 MR. NORTON: Everybody that was 21 required to be paid has paid in full. There 22 was a couple of players that were granted a 23 payment plan earlier in the year and they 24 are in line with where they're supposed to 12 1 be with their payment plan. 2 MS. ALLEN: Now, will they be paid up 3 prior to the next registration? 4 MR. NORTON: They will be up as part 5 of registration. 6 MR. BRAZIS: They can't register if 7 they don't pay. 8 MS. ALLEN: So they'll also go on 9 another payment plan? 10 MR. NORTON: No, there will be no 11 payment plan. This was granted by the prior 12 Board earlier in the year, so we honored 13 those few. I believe there is three right 14 now. All of the other members, all the 15 other participants are paid in full. 16 MS. ALLEN: Is there anybody that's 17 left the program that hasn't paid? Is there 18 any money owed that people have left? 19 MR. NORTON: Not that left. We are 20 still working with the Midgets because we 21 had to close out that season unexpectedly 22 given the participation. There are still 23 some past-due balances from the Midgets that 24 we have to grab and I don't have that number 13 1 in front of me, but I want to say it's 2 within a couple thousand dollars of monies 3 that are owed. 4 MS. ALLEN: Now, will you go after 5 them in small claims court? 6 MR. NORTON: We haven't finished 7 collecting. We have to see what the costs 8 will be versus how much is outstanding, but 9 we have discussed the potential of going 10 after folks. 11 MS. ALLEN: There's only a fee of $25. 12 MR. BRAZIS: If I may, the other thing 13 is if you owe Saugus Youth Hockey money, you 14 can't go over to Lynn and play 'cause 15 they'll contact us and see if somebody's in 16 good standing and we'll say no. 17 MS. ALLEN: No, I'm talking about kids 18 that already left the program, they just 19 stopped playing hockey. 20 MR. NORTON: We have to get everything 21 together at that point and see who's 22 outstanding. We have talked about potential 23 -- we know it isn't a big fee to file, but 24 we have talked about that potential. We can 14 1 do that. We haven't made a definite 2 decision, but we can do that. It makes 3 sense. 4 MS. ALLEN: Thank you. 5 MR. NORTON: Anybody else? 6 MR. BRAZIS: Questions. Thank you, 7 Pat. That was good. Mr. Secretary -- 8 MR. AIKEN: Pat, I got a question. 9 MR. NORTON: Sure. 10 MR. AIKEN: The drop between the 45 to 11 the 30-game schedule, what is the cost? 12 MR. NORTON: Roughly, as we ran it 13 through, what it costs is about another 14 $200. The tuition would go up by $200 15 higher, approximately. I didn't run it at 16 the 125 number, so it could be a little bit 17 of flexibility there. 18 MR. AIKEN: How much did you run, 19 because not all our kids played a 45-game 20 schedule? 21 MR. NORTON: We ran it assuming that 22 -- the analysis we did, we ran it assuming 23 that all of the teams this year next year 24 would have played a 45-game schedule. We 15 1 didn't run it with certain teams playing 45 2 or certain teams playing 30-game schedules. 3 MR. AIKEN: That decision was made 4 by -- 5 MR. NORTON: We discussed it, we 6 talked to some of the coaches. All the 7 coaches seemed to feel that the 30-game 8 schedule was a sufficient number of games. 9 If they wanted to get more games, they were 10 open to do more tournaments and things like 11 that to make up the difference. 12 MR. AIKEN: What about the Cronin 13 Tournament next year, are we going to 14 participate in that? 15 MR. NORTON: The Cronin Tournament, we 16 will participate, and the teams that 17 participate, the participants will pay. 18 MR. AIKEN: A Level teams only? 19 MR. NORTON: A Level teams. I think 20 that's all that can play. All the A level 21 teams will play, and then each of the 22 participants will be required to pay 23 whatever that fee is to cover the cost. 24 MR. AIKEN: So that won't be included 16 1 in tuition? 2 MR. NORTON: That won't be included in 3 the tuition. 4 MR. BRAZIS: It will be treated just 5 as any other tournament that you join. 6 MR. AIKEN: What about the donation 7 from the league? 8 MR. NORTON: The donation from the 9 league, I think with the overall -- the 10 thought is if we're running it and he's 11 charging things properly, then it should go 12 back to the normal, to its normal -- the way 13 that it used to go where the net proceeds 14 from the teams participating will cover the 15 costs and it wouldn't require a cash 16 donation directly like we had to make last 17 year. Is that all right, Scott? 18 MR. BRAZIS: That's great. 19 MR. NORTON: Anyone else? 20 MR. SHRIMPF: On the Cronin 21 Tournament, are we going to have more input 22 on getting the teams involved? Last year 23 there was a shortfall in teams. 24 MR. NORTON: We're going to reach out 17 1 to make sure that Mr. Hartigan is aware of 2 the price that has to be paid and maybe some 3 of the things that he does and doesn't have 4 to include as gifts and potentially what the 5 true fee is going to be because we believe 6 that the overall tournament -- the 7 tournament was sort of underpriced for the 8 number of games that were played, and then 9 if it doesn't generate the teams and at the 10 end of the day we won't have a tournament to 11 play, but it won't fall on Saugus to make up 12 the difference; is that correct? 13 MR. BRAZIS: That's right. 14 MR. AIKEN: Do you have a true cost of 15 the actual tournament? 16 MR. NORTON: I haven't looked at that. 17 I know that we ended up donating, was it 18 $3,000 approximately? 19 MR. BRAZIS: Thirty-one. 20 MR NORTON: 3,100, but we didn't pay 21 for tuition? 22 MR. BRAZIS: That's correct. 23 MR. NORTON: As far as I know, it was 24 3,100. It could be different. I haven't 18 1 looked at that. 2 MR. AIKEN: But we weren't charged for 3 any ice time, referee fees, anything like 4 that? 5 MR. NORTON: Dwayne would know better 6 than me. He's going to be at the meeting, 7 we can ask that question. I haven't looked 8 at that. 9 MR. BRAZIS: If you're talking about 10 the kids, the participants -- 11 MR. AIKEN: No, the timekeeper fee, 12 the ice time. 13 MR. BRAZIS: Dwayne can probably speak 14 for that. I don't know if we were billed 15 for that. As far as the kids, everybody 16 skated for free. 17 MR. NORTON: Anybody else? 18 (Pause.) 19 MR. BRAZIS: With no further ado, Pat, 20 would you like to talk about the tryouts and 21 the registration? 22 MR. GROARK: Sure. For those of you 23 who haven't seen the website yet, the 24 registration and tuition information is up 19 1 there for the 2009-2010 season. I'll go 2 through it a little bit. Registration fee 3 is going to be 400 for the first player. 4 For multifamily you're going to have, second 5 player is going to be 200, third player 6 would be 100 if you have two or three kids 7 signing up. That's the registration fee. 8 We broke down the monthly payments. 9 Approximately 325 going April through 10 August 1st. So April, May, June and the 11 last payment would be due August 1st. That 12 last payment, we don't know what that number 13 is to going to be yet. Once registration is 14 complete, I believe we'll have that final 15 number. 16 Registration is going to be March 17 11th, 12th and 14th and the times are on the 18 website. Tryouts are scheduled for the last 19 week in March, the 23rd through the 27th. 20 All the info's on the website, and it's also 21 -- from what I'm told, it should be in the 22 Advertiser this week as well. 23 That's about it on registration 24 tuition. Does anyone have any questions on 20 1 that? 2 MR. BRAZIS: Did you give them the 3 hours for the registration? 4 MR. GROARK: The hours -- the 11th and 5 12th, which is a Wednesday and Thursday, 6 it's 6:00 to 8:00. Saturday, the 14th, is 7 -- what is it, 12:00 to 2:00? 8 MR. BRAZIS: That's right. 9 MR. GROARK: And 5:00 to 7:00. 10 MR. BONO: I think it might have been 11 12:30 to 2:30. 12 MR. GROARK: And 5:00 to 7:00 on 13 Saturday. 14 MS. AIKEN: I have a question. Why is 15 there $100 late registration fee if you 16 don't want to sign your kid up right away, 17 if you haven't made up your mind yet? 18 MR. NORTON: 'Cause we need to get 19 good numbers in order to make these numbers 20 realistic. Our concern is a lot of folks 21 that might want to hold out and not want to 22 register, and that doesn't do the program 23 any good. We're not going to be able to get 24 a good number and be able to best alicate 21 1 the kids per team to get the best 2 information so that we can get that out 3 'cause I know everybody's concerned about 4 the fact that they don't know what the 5 tuition is. We're trying to get this 6 information out early. The more people we 7 get to register, the better the numbers are 8 going to be, so we're trying to encourage 9 people to register so that we can have 10 better information and we can give a more 11 accurate number for the participants. 12 MR. AIKEN: What was the reason you 13 think there isn't going to be a good 14 turnout? 15 MR. NORTON: We heard a lot -- there 16 was a lot of feedback that folks were 17 concerned about the registration, about 18 joining the program, might consider going 19 somewhere else, might consider waiting 'til 20 August to sign up. If we have 50 people 21 register, it's going to be very difficult 22 for us to do any budgeting, for us to get 23 any kind of a good number. We might have to 24 make other decisions where we only have one 22 1 PeeWee team, one this team, and then when we 2 go -- 'cause we have to sign a contract for 3 the practice ice. It isn't going to be -- 4 we can't give this back, so if we sign a 5 contract for 300 hours, and then we only get 6 50 people to register and it isn't there, 7 we're going to take a bath, so we're trying 8 to get as many people to come in to register 9 as possible. 10 MR. SALVETTI: Two questions. Mark 11 Salvetti. The late fee, when does that hit, 12 if you register after tryouts or after 13 March 14th? 14 MR. NORTON: After registration. 15 MR. SALVETTI: Is any of that amount 16 non-refundable if you choose not to play? 17 MR. NORTON: If you pay your 18 registration fee, you're allowed to get back 19 -- 'cause I know some kids may be looking 20 for selects and they don't want to have to 21 commit. You'll get all but $50 per player 22 back by June 1st. After June 1st it's 23 non-refundable. That should give folks 24 enough time to figure what select team 23 1 they're on, if they want to make that 2 decision and then on June 1st we still have 3 sufficient amount of time to figure out the 4 amount of hours for ice. So if you have two 5 kids, each kid you lose the $50 registration 6 fee. If you had one child, you'd get 350 7 back. If you had the two, you'd lose 50 for 8 each child. That's refundable up until 9 June 1st so that the parents can still 10 register their children and if they decide 11 they want to play select hockey instead, 12 then they can get their money back by 13 June 1st. 14 MS. AIKEN: What kind of skills have 15 you picked for next year; who does it? 16 MR. NORTON: At this point in time, 17 we're open to anything. We have meetings 18 between now and the beginning of next year. 19 We haven't thought it through. I think that 20 the way that Dwayne has been running the 21 skills sessions and going through has been 22 beneficial. We may continue to try to do it 23 that way. If there's feedback that they'd 24 like to do things differently, we're open to 24 1 anything at this point in time. Hopefully, 2 we can get to some of the coaches a little 3 bit earlier from Saugus and Austin Prep so 4 we can try to do a couple more goalie 5 clinics. We had some positive feedback on 6 the goalie clinics, to give a little more 7 attention to the goalies who in those skills 8 sessions kind of just get dragged along. So 9 that actually got started a little bit 10 later, we'd like to apologize. We'd like to 11 get that going so we can do three or four of 12 those next year. 13 MS. AIKEN: Yeah, three or four goalie 14 sessions? 15 MR. NORTON: That would be goalie. 16 MS. AIKEN: Compared to how many 17 regular skills sessions does everybody else 18 get, once a week? 19 MR. NORTON: We haven't added it up 20 yet, but we're open to any feedback between 21 now and the beginning of next season from 22 parents. 23 MS. AIKEN: I think only two hours 24 allotted this year on certain ones for seven 25 1 goalies? 2 MR. NORTON: That's correct. 3 MS. ALLEN: It's not fair. We're 4 paying the same amount as the rest of the 5 kids and my son, to be honest with you, he 6 goes, "I just stand there. Nobody teaches 7 me anything." 8 MR. NORTON: You're absolutely right. 9 We're going to try to work on that and do 10 more than what we have. 11 MS. ALLEN: Even if we have to bring 12 in, as goalie parents, bring in our own 13 goalie coach, we should have it deducted 14 from, if it's approved from the Board, if we 15 pay $500, whatever the dollar is, and we got 16 four parents, we could split that, but that 17 should be taken off the tuition bill because 18 I really don't feel the Board has done 19 enough for the goalies. Every year it's the 20 same thing, "We're going to try" -- 21 MR. BRAZIS: Did you get more goalie 22 skills this year than in the past, Fatima? 23 MS. ALLEN: What? 24 MR. BRAZIS: More this year than in 26 1 the past? 2 MS. ALLEN: No, one. 3 MR. AIKEN: No. Jeff Mitchell did 4 more last year than he did this year. We 5 used to go on Saturdays at 4:50. 6 MR. NORTON: Who ran that? 7 MR. AIKEN: It was either Jeff 8 Mitchell or Steve -- works for the 9 undertaker. 10 MR. NORTON: I know the coaches were 11 very happy with that. We might be able to 12 get a third, so maybe we can get some more 13 in. We're open to that. We realize that as 14 the season went along the goalies don't get 15 the same amount, but obviously that's 16 something that we're open to. 17 MS. ALLEN: What are you going to do 18 for us if you don't? Is it going to be, 19 okay, we haven't come up to the plate yet? 20 If we decide that we want to get our own 21 goalie coach, can we work something out? We 22 don't want to wait another six months and 23 then three months, here it goes, next 24 season. 27 1 MR. NORTON: That's something that we 2 can discuss and we can talk about. We 3 haven't specifically spoken about that as a 4 group and we'd like to be able to talk about 5 that and we can talk about that next 6 meeting. I don't have -- we haven't given 7 that enough specific thought. We all agree 8 that there needs to be some more goalie 9 clinics or we're open to some suggestions. 10 I didn't know what was going on before, so 11 we'd all be open to suggestions that you 12 folks have. I don't think we're in a 13 position now to definitely say one way or 14 another what we're going to do, but that is 15 the goal and we'll work with you guys on 16 that. 17 MR. SHRIMPF: Goalies are very 18 important, but one of the most important 19 part of goaltending is skating. Don't these 20 goalies also attend the normal skill 21 sessions? 22 MR. NORTON: They do. I think, 23 unfortunately, some of them get stuck 24 playing goalie, you know what I mean, so 28 1 they don't get the skill in. Today I was 2 there and Nick Sanderson -- so there 3 probably needs to be, to that point, more of 4 a rotation so they can get some shots, but 5 they also should be out there skating. Nick 6 Sanderson started getting dressed as goalie, 7 Dante, and I believe there was another 8 goalie there I didn't see, but they're not 9 always participating in that. 10 MR. SHRIMPF: Basically they will get 11 other skill sessions that they need other 12 than normal goaltending as far as skating? 13 MR. NORTON: Yeah, like I said, they 14 attend it, but a lot of times they end up 15 dressing as goaltenders and don't get the 16 full skating. 17 MS. ALLEN: Yeah. 18 MR. NORTON: But we -- obviously we 19 can talk about that. We understand your 20 concern. We can try to work with you guys 21 on that. 22 MS. ALLEN: Like I said, again, I just 23 don't want to wait another six months until 24 the season and again, "Oh, yeah, we gotta 29 1 talk about that." 2 MR. NORTON: If you guys have any 3 ideas or folks maybe that have done it in 4 the past. I know Gary, I know Coach 5 Mitchell. If there's anybody else that we 6 can talk to, maybe we can get a dedicated 7 hour once a week and try to rotate some of 8 these coaches through, that's something we 9 can do. We just have to see if we can find 10 and get some folks to do that. 11 MS. ALLEN: We get people that say 12 they're going to show up and they don't show 13 up. "Oh, you're going to get a goalie coach 14 today," they don't come. 15 MR. AIKEN: That works both ways 16 because the reason why we stopped doing it 17 is that the goalies weren't showing up. 18 Anthony and David, for instance, were the 19 only two showing up out of eight goalies and 20 that's why they did away with the Saturday 21 session. 22 MR. NORTON: We can throw it out there 23 again. I mean, just see, we'll take any 24 input you guys have. You guys are the 30 1 goalies' parents. You've been through it in 2 the past. I'm sort of new to that. So we 3 can take that input and if we can get enough 4 that we can get a rotating schedule -- I 5 know that Coach Munsen and Coach Mitchell 6 probably take the responsibility pretty 7 seriously and if we get it at a 4:50 hour, 8 maybe we can work something in there. We'll 9 talk about that and we appreciate any 10 insight that you guys can provide. 11 MR. AIKEN: I think you should reach 12 out to the surrounding communities, Lynn, 13 Lynnfield, Melrose, and ask them if they're 14 interested and their kids could probably 15 actually pay to attend and our kids could 16 probably go free. 17 MR. NORTON: That's a good idea. 18 MR. AIKEN: I know Jeff will do it and 19 I know that Nick Hagerty and Brad need their 20 community service. Brad's there all the 21 time now. He's doing it for community 22 service. 23 MR. NORTON: Those guys would be sort 24 of acting as -- but you'd want a coach there 31 1 I'd imagine, too. 2 MR. AIKEN: Jeff would do it and I'm 3 sure Mr. Munsen would do it. 4 MR. NORTON: I can talk to Gary, maybe 5 try and get one more coach and we can try to 6 reach out. Now you have three guys, maybe 7 we can rotate them through. 8 MR. AIKEN: If you get the surrounding 9 communities, they'd pay for that hour of ice 10 and you'd probably make money. 11 MR. NORTON: That's a good idea. 12 Shawn. 13 MR. MURRAY: The goalies, I know we 14 actually had Brad stick around for a 15 practice of ours the other day 'cause he was 16 there. As a coach, if there's anyone that 17 wants to show up, I mean, we'll gladly have 18 a goalie coach, and I'm speaking for my head 19 coach, Fred Moore and Scott Whittredge, who 20 we practice with a lot. I've reached out to 21 the high school to try to get the kids down 22 here from the high school. Anybody who 23 wants to come out there and anyone who wants 24 to be there, we'll gladly have them come out 32 1 and work with our goalies, but you're in a 2 situation with goaltenders for skills, 3 they're skating and they're getting what 4 they're supposed to be getting out of 5 skills, and that's what we're teaching is 6 mostly skating. Goaltenders gotta be in the 7 net, so, you know, it's a difficult 8 situation for goalies. Goalie coaches, 9 they're hard to come by. They're very busy. 10 I spoke with Jeff Mitchell a couple of times 11 to try to get him at our practices, he's 12 very busy. 13 MS. ALLEN: We're willing to pay. I 14 mentioned this before, we're willing to pay. 15 MR. MURRAY: They have goalie clinics, 16 they have -- 17 MS. ALLEN: We also have a hockey 18 program in Saugus that should be able to 19 work together. 20 MR. MURRAY: Well, we have the ice. 21 If you want to get someone, I would gladly 22 put a goalie coach out on the ice with us. 23 We're always open for that. 24 MR. NORTON: We'll talk about that. 33 1 We're open to suggestions you folks might 2 have. We can try and see if we get some 3 commitment from some of the coaches to maybe 4 at least get once a month that we can commit 5 a half sheet of ice so that the goalies can 6 attend and we will reach to some of the 7 surrounding communities. If you guys know 8 anybody in the surrounding communities, you 9 want to reach out, we welcome your input as 10 well. 11 MR. AIKEN: One thing about goalies 12 that I -- past experience. Our Mite 13 goalies, there's two Mite goalies that do 14 nothing but play goalie, and that's wrong. 15 Joe said that they gotta learn to skate 16 before they stop the puck, and we gotta get 17 those kids out skating. I know their 18 parents probably don't want to hear that, 19 they probably just want to see them in the 20 net, but they gotta be out skating. Facing 21 50, 60 shots a day isn't doing any help for 22 them. Most of our coaches are teaching the 23 kids how to play net standing skills and 24 that's 100 percent wrong. A goalie should 34 1 never be standing still. 2 MR. NORTON: We can reach out to the 3 Mite coaches. I'm not sure -- I wasn't 4 familiar with that. I knew one of the Mite 5 goalies attended the session I was at. 6 MR. AIKEN: They were both there. 7 Garrett was there and Nick was there. 8 MR. GROARK: Anything else on the 9 goalies while we're at it? 10 MR. AIKEN: Free tuition. 11 MR. GROARK: Anything else on tuition, 12 registration? 13 Lucia, did you have a question 14 earlier? 15 MS. PLOUFFE: No. 16 MR. GROARK: All set. 17 MR. AIKEN: The $50 refund, what is 18 that? 19 MR. BRAZIS: It pays for tryouts. 20 MR. AIKEN: So it's not actually a 21 registration fee. When I think of 22 registration, I think of you getting me my 23 number from USA Hockey. 24 MR. NORTON: No, that's included in 35 1 the overall tuition. The $50 is the tryout 2 charge, if you decide to tryout. 3 MR. AIKEN: We should change that from 4 tryout charge to registration fee, 'cause I 5 think of that registration fee as my number 6 from USA Hockey. 7 MR. NORTON: So change it from 8 registration fee to tryout charge? 9 MR. AIKEN: Yeah, just to clarify it. 10 MR. NORTON: There is a registration 11 fee that goes to USA Hockey, that's included 12 in the tuition for every player. This is 13 more just a fee for trying out. If you 14 decide not to go, then you get the rest of 15 your money back. 16 MR. PATTERSON: The only thing that I 17 -- and I did hear this today and it kind of 18 strikes home a little bit is that some 19 people aren't out looking at select leagues 20 and some people are just worried about the 21 bottom line, the dollar amount that they'd 22 have to pay, coming to tryouts and paying 23 that chunk of money upfront, and I know that 24 you guys have worked hard to make it last 36 1 and try to make it more flexible, but some 2 people just aren't going to be able to 3 afford that payment come registration time 4 and what their feeling was -- what I heard 5 from a couple of parents tonight was, "So 6 let me get this straight, I can't afford to 7 pay my registration fee, so they're going to 8 whack me with another $100 because I can't 9 afford to put my kid on the ice at that 10 point in time?" So that's something I heard 11 tonight and I kind of went, "You know what, 12 yeah, I'll bring it up at the meeting or 13 come to the meeting." 14 MR. NORTON: Well, we reduced it to 15 last year's amount, so it's the same as last 16 year, $400. It's not $500 anymore, so it's 17 400 now. Lynn asked a little bit earlier, 18 but we heard there was a lot of rumors and 19 noise going around that folks just weren't 20 going to register. They wanted to see how 21 things played themselves out. We weren't 22 going to be able to get good numbers, you 23 know, we need to try to get the best numbers 24 we possibly can so that we can assure that 37 1 we're singing up for the appropriate amount 2 of ice, you know what I mean, and we have 3 the appropriate amount of teams. So we're 4 trying to encourage folks as much as 5 possible to register. So that was solely 6 the incentive behind the $100 fee, not to 7 punish people who can't pay on the 8 registration date. 9 MR. AIKEN: How much of this year's 10 registration is actually going to go towards 11 last year's shortfall? 12 MR. NORTON: Dwayne will tell you 13 what's in the bank. We talked about that 14 the other day. Dwayne is coming and he 15 knows what's in the bank, and he'll tell you 16 what's outstanding, and then we can figure 17 it out and that will tell you exactly what 18 is going toward that, but Dwayne is coming 19 and he knows how much is owed to the -- I 20 believe there's 18,000 owed to the Valley, 21 but he believes there's some flexibility in 22 that number 'cause he hasn't reconciled all 23 the hours yet. There's also some money owed 24 to each of the rinks and then he's got some 38 1 money in the bank, but he'll be able to 2 answer that question for you 100 percent 3 when he gets here. 4 MR. RUSSO: I heard clearly before it 5 was about $200. 6 MR. NORTON: The $200 -- 7 MR. RUSSO: -- is to clean it up so we 8 don't have carryover anymore. We're not 9 having the luxury of carrying over. So if 10 we're not having the luxury of carrying 11 over, then what you're doing is charging 12 everybody once. So you preclude ever having 13 to do it again. So theoretically the $200 14 is the carryover. 15 MR. NORTON: Some of that is also 16 inclusive of the 5,000 for the tax returns. 17 There's a couple of other factors between 18 what is owed and what is a potential 19 obligation. He can give an exact allocation 20 of what we owe for the Valley, what we owe 21 to Kasabuski, how much we have in the bank. 22 There's going to be a bit of a shortfall in 23 there, and then there's a projected expense 24 potentially of 5,000 for the tax returns. 39 1 MR. RUSSO: 'Cause what I was thinking 2 is if we rectified this problem so we don't 3 have carryover anymore, then next year at 4 this time if people wanted to pay around the 5 same amount, we might talk about getting the 6 45-game season back with relatively close to 7 the same amount of money. 8 MR. NORTON: Yes. 9 MR. RUSSO: That's a positive, I 10 think. I think a lot of people don't 11 understand that we're not in the driver's 12 seat. We don't have the luxury of carrying 13 the balances anymore. We have to rectify 14 the balances. We never did before. 15 MR. NORTON: Our goal, this is the 16 last year that we have a deficit at the end 17 of the year, and every year you're just 18 paying for the services you pay for for that 19 year. We don't like it anymore, but they 20 have to be paid. 21 MR. SALVETTI: I'm assuming that the 22 need to get all the money by August 1st is 23 really just because we want to make sure 24 that we know everybody is paid up before 40 1 anybody sets foot on the ice, because you 2 don't really need to have all your bills 3 paid by August 1st, there's other payments 4 that follow? 5 MR. NORTON: Right. There's a 6 detriment to pulling kids off the team. 7 It's not fair for other kids to be on the 8 ice and then other kids get on one team and 9 they don't get to another and they don't 10 play and they get pulled off if the balance 11 isn't there. We don't want to have to go 12 through having to take kids off the ice who 13 haven't paid their tuition. We wanted to 14 get everything paid up in front prior to the 15 beginning of the season this year. 16 MR. SALVETTI: What it does, though, 17 is it penalizes folks who do pay on time by 18 rushing their payments much earlier because 19 we don't want to take that step. In other 20 words, I know there's some programs that 21 have the same policy, but there's plenty of 22 programs that don't where, say, your last 23 payment is due in November. Have you 24 considered making the majority, you know -- 41 1 where we're talking, about 350 a month is 2 what we're saying after the -- 3 MR. GROARK: 325. 4 MR. SALVETTI: So if you were to 5 stretch it into September, October for the 6 last payment, people have still invested the 7 majority of their money before they set foot 8 on the ice and it -- I don't know. It just 9 seems to me that it may not be necessary to 10 just impose that -- I guess really August 11 1st is September 1st when it really gets 12 down to it 'cause we don't hit the ice until 13 September 1st, so you really have the whole 14 month of August to make your final payment, 15 but I guess I'm just suggesting that if you 16 -- you could consider stretching it into 17 October or November like a lot of programs 18 do and not penalize everybody, especially 19 families that have more than one kid in the 20 program to pony up all that cash needlessly 21 ahead of time because, honestly, it just 22 sounds like we don't want to deal with the 23 inconvenience of having to pester people. 24 MR. BRAZIS: It's not that. It didn't 42 1 work last year. Everybody was supposed to 2 be paid by November 1st and it came down to 3 thousands of dollars that we had to collect 4 by the end of January, thousands. 5 MR. SALVETTI: Part of the reason for 6 that is because we had never really drawn 7 that line in the sand. Every single year we 8 had always said, "Pay up by X amount of time 9 or else," and else never came. You know, I 10 was shocked the year before when, you know, 11 I made sure that we were paid up on time and 12 then I find out that in January 30 percent 13 of the people still hadn't paid. Yeah, I 14 mean that's -- 15 MR. BRAZIS: Else is here now. 16 MR. SALVETTI: -- pretty frustrating, 17 but nobody had really had to deal with that 18 line in the sand before. It was always "Pay 19 up or else," and else never came, so this 20 time around we were more insistent. I guess 21 maybe it was much more difficult than I 22 think it was, but it just seems like we end 23 up penalizing people and making it much more 24 difficult, especially for people who have 43 1 multiple kids when we really don't need the 2 money that fast, and a lot of programs seem 3 to manage fine by stretching that last 4 payment into October or November. 5 MR. WORTHLEY: Steve Worthley. I do 6 agree with you. It is hard and it is 7 penalizing the majority of the folks. 8 What's hard -- and I don't think people 9 understand it, the people in the room that 10 have done it can attest that collecting that 11 money when it's not available is very 12 heartbreaking and it's very hard for a 13 volunteer to tell somebody that they can't 14 be on the ice, and to have that adult say 15 "You're the reason why my child is not 16 skating." You can only take so many lashes, 17 you know. 18 MR. SALVETTI: But you're going to be 19 doing the same thing at the end of August. 20 MR. WORTHLEY: Yeah, but, you know 21 what, when you realize it, though, the 22 downstream impact of eventually having to 23 say "Or else," you realize that the ripple 24 effect is that kids are now -- have to go 44 1 through the movement process, like, it has 2 to -- the whole ship has to kind of change a 3 little bit, so it is a very large undertake, 4 and don't get me wrong, if everybody paid on 5 November 1st, then we wouldn't be having 6 this discussion. Plus on top of it, the 7 Valley League institutes interest for that 8 when you start bumping up against and it's a 9 pretty -- it's like $800 a month. 10 MR. AIKEN: 825 a month. 11 MR. WORTHLEY: So it's a lot of dough. 12 If we can come up with a cohesive collective 13 way to -- maybe as a parent, a parent 14 committee, to take some of that off the 15 Board, then maybe we can do something as an 16 organization together to make sure we have 17 most of those people pay because it is very 18 difficult to put a burden on one to four 19 people. 20 MR. SALVETTI: I agree. I understand 21 that. I wouldn't want to be in that 22 position either. I guess my point is 23 there's plenty of programs that manage that 24 way, including select teams that manage that 45 1 way, and I don't know if it's just because 2 of the previous culture in Saugus Youth 3 Hockey didn't enforce those requirements 4 enough or if it's just the financial 5 situation in the Town of Saugus, but it just 6 seems like there's gotta be a way of -- I 7 guess -- I don't know. If I had two kids in 8 the program, I couldn't do it by August 1st. 9 No way. And there's people that have three. 10 MR. NORTON: One second. 11 MR. SALVETTI: Just a comment. I'm 12 not in that boat and I probably could do it 13 by August 1st if Cat stays, but I just 14 wanted to make that point 'cause it seems 15 like there may be a way of stretching it and 16 accepting some of the extra burden 'cause 17 we're going to have that burden at the end 18 of August any way. There's going to be 19 people that will not have paid that have to 20 be told "Don't come to practice," and you'll 21 have teams -- you already have teams that 22 are made up relying on kids to have paid up 23 by that point, so you know, whether it's 24 November 1st or September 1st you're still 46 1 going to have to deal with teams not being 2 whole. 3 MR. WORTHLEY: But it's on paper. 4 It's not having a kid get on the ice and 5 having to pull, physically -- it's the most 6 unpleasant thing. 7 MR. SALVETTI: That's the heartbreak 8 side of it. I realize that, but whether 9 it's on paper -- the numbers are the same 10 whether it's on paper or whether you 11 actually step foot on the ice. If you start 12 out with 14 kids and you end up with 11 13 'cause three can't pay, it's the same issue. 14 You still have 11 on September 1st or you 15 have 11 on November 1st. 16 MR. NORTON: It's a difficult task to 17 pull a kid off the ice once he started. 18 It's not as difficult if he hasn't. I mean, 19 it wasn't easy to do that. I think maybe 20 the culture hasn't been there, and I think 21 this is sort of a year -- we want to get rid 22 of the deficit this year. We discussed this 23 quite a bit to try to push it out. I know 24 Dana's been an advocate of that as well. I 47 1 think we'd like to just get this this year 2 and then if things move smoothly, we have no 3 deficit, we might have people that are more 4 flexible next year, but it's not easy 5 pulling kids off the ice. 6 Lucia, do you have a question? 7 MS. PLOUFFE: I just had a comment and 8 I mean no disrespect to anyone, but 9 unfortunately I think this was a tough year 10 to decide to get rid of a deficit. I mean, 11 there's people that turn around every day 12 losing their job. My husband had layoffs 13 every week in his company, so what happens 14 to me if come July 1st he gets laid off, I 15 have two kids in the program, I've invested 16 money from tryouts, registration all the way 17 to July 1st, he loses his job, now what? Do 18 I get my money back because I can't afford 19 to keep my kids in the program? 20 MR. NORTON: It's not that we're 21 making a choice to get rid of the deficit. 22 We have no choice. We have to pay the bills 23 now. Before there was flexibility to push 24 off the North Suburban, to push off paying 48 1 Kasabuski. We have to pay the bills now 2 when their due. We have the Valley -- it's 3 not like -- we're not doing this 'cause we 4 want to. I would rather give everybody 5 terms, but we don't have that choice. I 6 know it's difficult out there. I was laid 7 off myself for a while, so I know it's 8 difficult, but I mean, at end of the day, 9 God forbid something like that were to 10 happen, all that's risked is the 11 registration money. I mean, you would -- 12 MS. PLOUFFE: So that is an option. 13 It's not that once after June 1st you no 14 longer -- if something happens and someone 15 cannot play -- 16 MR. NORTON: There's a difference 17 obviously if somebody decides to go to 18 another program or if they're in financial 19 strains, you know what I mean? We have to 20 make it on a case by case exception. 21 MS. PLOUFFE: I know you had 22 mentioned before, too, there wasn't going to 23 be financial hardships for people this year 24 coming up. I understand the position of the 49 1 program, but I think at the same time, 2 unfortunately, we have to take into 3 consideration everything that's going on 4 around the program for those people who may 5 not know. 6 MR. NORTON: The only thing -- they're 7 not giving us a break, that's the other 8 thing. Once we commit -- once we sign and 9 commit to that ice, and once we sign and 10 commit to play those games at Valley League, 11 those bills are going to come in once a 12 month regardless of whether half the program 13 is laid off or they're not, you know what I 14 mean? I know it's tough out there, but we 15 don't have a choice. You know, at least 16 last year there would have been some 17 flexibility to push back on ice hours, you 18 know what I mean? So if we were midway 19 through and we had to cut back some teams, 20 we had flexibility on practice ice 'cause we 21 didn't sign a contract. We are going to be 22 committed to these hours, they're our hours, 23 we can't give them back. As long as the 24 rink is open, we're responsible to pay 205 50 1 for that hour regardless, so we're not 2 trying -- it isn't anything that any of us 3 enjoy. We don't want to have to do this, 4 but every month that bill's going to come, 5 we're going to have to pay it. 6 MS. PLOUFFE: Like I said, I meant no 7 disrespect. 8 MR. NORTON: None taken. 9 MS. PLOUFFE: I was just expressing 10 some of the opinions, some of the comments 11 that some of the parents I've talked to have 12 mentioned, and I think their understanding 13 and mine, too, was that after the 60 days or 14 whatever it was that your money wasn't going 15 to be refunded if for some reason you could 16 not pay it. I understand if you're leaving 17 to go to select, that's a different story, 18 but I meant for people who may be in a 19 financial situation that cannot afford to 20 pay. 21 MS. AIKEN: I also just found it a 22 little shocking that I thought the payments 23 would have been the same as it was last 24 year, so we budget for that, and then we 51 1 look online and then all of a sudden you 2 want all this money in the next three 3 months, which is 650 for me each month, so 4 it would have been, you know, maybe a nice 5 little heads up that it was going to come so 6 quickly and not having September and 7 October, those extra months, to come up with 8 that money. I mean, you know, you're just 9 asking for all this money upfront and it's a 10 lot of money if you have more than one child 11 in the program. 325 is fine, but when 12 you're talking 650 at the end of every month 13 over the next few months, and then on top of 14 it, I've paid both children for this year -- 15 and I understand there's a deficit and I 16 know you have to pay your money, but you're 17 asking me to spend another $410 for a year 18 I've already played and I've already paid. 19 So there's more that factors into that than 20 just asking for money upfront quickly 21 because you don't want to be aggravated with 22 having to ask people for money or taking the 23 children off the ice. Next year if you 24 wanted do it this way, people would know 52 1 ahead of time. All of a sudden bang it's on 2 the website. I looked tonight and I'm like 3 "What the heck is this?" It's a lot of 4 money. 5 MR. DUNN: John Dunn. The 325 a month 6 seems to add up -- with April, May, June, 7 July, August it adds up to a lot more than 8 the 1,525 you're looking at. 9 MR. RUSSO: August is going be to 10 different. 11 MR. DUNN: I understand that, but with 12 400 upfront and then 325 a month, most of 13 the people with one player are going to be 14 paid up by the end of June. With people 15 that have more than one player, you're 16 looking at maybe extending the payments 17 longer since most of that money you'll have 18 upfront and you'll know, it gives you a 19 little option there. 20 MR. NORTON: 325 a month was projected 21 to be per player, that's three months at 325 22 a month, it's like 975 plus the 400, that's 23 1,375, and then whatever different balance 24 would have been the plug number for the 53 1 month of August to make up for that. 2 MR. SALVETTI: June, July, August or 3 May, June, July, whatever we want to do, as 4 long as we get it in by August 1st? 5 MR. GROARK: It was April, May, June. 6 MR. NORTON: Some people asked for a 7 payment plan. Between you and I, if 8 everything comes in on August 1st, at that 9 point in time as we talked about by 10 August 31st before the child gets on the 11 ice, there was some pushback in a prior 12 meeting that they would like to see a 13 payment plan put out there, so we kind of 14 broke it up. We'll accept payments, to the 15 extent that you want to. Our goal is to 16 have the balance paid off prior to -- 17 essentially, where using August 1st because 18 that will give us a month to be able to talk 19 to parents, are they still paying, so can we 20 make any adjustments we have to. You're 21 right, at the end of the day, they're going 22 to have to have that money paid by 23 August 31st. 24 MR. RUSSO: What it is is the 54 1 registration, April, May and June and the 2 July payment is different than 325 'cause 3 that's when we know the exact number by. 4 MR. NORTON: Right, and that will be 5 August 1st. 6 MR. SHRIMPF: Everybody has to realize 7 that once they get by August 31st, they have 8 12 months to budget for 2010 hockey. 9 MR. NORTON: We know that -- like I 10 said, this is going to be the tougher year. 11 To Joe's point, we do know that the rate for 12 next year, there'll be a slight increase. 13 We've locked in -- we don't know the Valley, 14 but we know that Kasabuski we will be there 15 again, and we haven't signed a contract, 16 we're still waiting for the final hours, but 17 it's going to be $230 an hour, so we've got 18 that locked in. We know there isn't going 19 to be some outrageous increase, so it 20 shouldn't be a tremendous increase in the 21 price. We understand your frustration. 22 This isn't anything that we enjoy doing, 23 but, you know, unfortunately, our hands are 24 tied as it relates to the bills coming in 55 1 every month. 2 MR. BRAZIS: Anything else? If I may, 3 I'd like to -- would you recognize 4 Mr. Patterson? 5 MR. GROARK: Roll call, Ken Patterson. 6 MR. PATTERSON: Here. 7 MR. GROARK: Thank you. 8 MR. BRAZIS: I'll go around with the 9 directors. Ice coordinator, Anthony Bono. 10 MR. BONO: All set. Nothing. 11 MR. BRAZIS: March looks good. Thank 12 you very much. 13 MR. DeMATTEO: Just a quick question 14 on the Midgets. I looked on the website 15 today, talked about the Midget half season. 16 I haven't really talked to anybody. Are we 17 going to try to do a Midget full season next 18 year? 19 MR. NORTON: We're going to do it 20 something like this year. We're going to 21 look at the turnout for the first half of 22 the season, and we'll try to get midway 23 through commitments for the second half, and 24 then roll it into the second half of the 56 1 season rather than try to get a full 2 commitment. Dwayne's concern was there's a 3 lot of kids, you know, coming back that are 4 sort of only half year type of players, so I 5 think once we're talking and the kids are 6 registered we want to get a sense right out 7 of the gate how interested they would be in 8 a full season, and then we can look to 9 develop that. 10 MR. DeMATTEO: That was it. I really 11 didn't have anything else on that. The only 12 thing when Dwayne does get here, I was 13 curious to get an update on -- 'cause the 14 Midgets, there's some balances out there, I 15 talked to some parents, sent out emails, I 16 just don't know if the money came in. 17 MR. BRAZIS: Mr. Patterson. 18 MR. PATTERSON: Learn to Skate, we got 19 one more week, I guess. That's great, you 20 guys squeezed out one extra week. That's 21 awesome. Everybody was expecting to be over 22 this Sunday, so they were happy to see one 23 more week. Things are going great. We got 24 the parents all excited about the What's 57 1 Next. I'm going to send you what it looks 2 like so that you can tell me what you think 3 and get your sign off on it 'cause you're 4 going to be the one that they're going to be 5 contacting. 6 MR. GROARK: Yup. 7 MR. PATTERSON: 'Cause you're the Mite 8 director; right? 9 MR. GROARK: You're going to bring 10 that the last session? 11 MR. PATTERSON: Yeah, I'm going to 12 bring that to the last session. I'm going 13 to post it on the website because some 14 people might not be able to make it and I've 15 already told everybody to check the website 16 and make sure that if they can't make it 17 they can get on there. What we're doing is 18 we're creating a What's Next letter because 19 I think there's been -- in the years past 20 there's been a lot of confusion when you're 21 leaving Learn to Skate, "What do I do? 22 Where do I take them? What happens next 23 year?" So I created a document that 24 basically just says, "There's Cross Ice, 58 1 there's Instructional. These are the 2 differences between the two, these are your 3 options. Any questions, contact Pat 4 Groark." So that will get some more 5 information. I also typically take a sheet 6 of paper with me and go around and get all 7 their information that last week as well to 8 try to get phone numbers and their ages and 9 stuff and pass them out to the Mite director 10 so we can get them as well. Talk to them 11 before the programs starts and get them 12 ready to roll with that. 13 Other than that, next year if you guys 14 to do have the ice, we might be better off 15 going back to the Saturday night because it 16 definitely had some effect on it. A lot of 17 people did show up. We got a pretty good 18 turnout considering the number of different 19 things that worked against it, but I think 20 the people that showed up were happy and it 21 was a successful year. Especially with the 22 coaches. Mike Moriello, probably one of the 23 most consistent coaches up there. Pat 24 Norton comes up and helps out. It's made a 59 1 huge difference having those guys up there 2 all the time, so I appreciate all the help. 3 Should I go into -- 4 MR. BRAZIS: If you wouldn't mind, 5 would you like to talk about the Texas 6 Holdem before we finish up? 7 MR. SALVETTI: Just one question, Ken. 8 One thing that you may want to mention if 9 you hadn't thought of it for the What's 10 Next. I really think there's a lot of 11 benefit for the kids to do a second year of 12 Learn to Skate. So, you know, somehow get 13 that in so it doesn't look like we're trying 14 to get another year of tuition out of them, 15 but that first year of Instructional -- 16 MR. PATTERSON: Some of them do both. 17 I don't know how that would work -- that's a 18 great point, Mark. I don't know how that 19 would work, but in years past we had tried 20 to find some way to say, you know what, if 21 you sign up for Instructional or Cross Ice 22 -- we didn't have Cross Ice back then, but 23 they would be able to still go to Learn to 24 Skate because it's just more ice time for 60 1 them and they would get that extra ice time 2 as part of their package. There was -- we 3 do actually try to tell them that Learn to 4 Skate is still a great program to come to if 5 they want to get that extra ice time, more 6 skating is more beneficial for them. That's 7 great. 8 MR. NORTON: Those players just happen 9 to be playing before us a lot of the games. 10 Mike's the coach of one, so he recommended 11 it to his team. Plus, we talked -- just 12 coincidently they had games always right 13 before us, so we talked to those kids coming 14 off the ice, "Why don't you go try to get an 15 extra hour?" But unfortunately, this year a 16 lot of them have practice in the morning, 17 right, Sunday morning, Mike? 18 MR. MORIELLO: I talked to a lot of my 19 parents about that and now that Learn to 20 Skate is on Sundays we -- pretty early on in 21 the year -- in the beginning we just had one 22 half-ice game. Pretty early in the year we 23 went to playing two games, a half-ice game 24 in the morning and then a full-ice game 61 1 later in the day, and a lot of parents say 2 two times in one day is definitely not -- 3 MR. NORTON: A lot of the parents when 4 I ask them, he goes, "He's already skated 5 twice today. He's going home to go to bed." 6 MR. MORIELLO: If you did go back to 7 the Saturday, then that might work better. 8 The parents might want to do both then. 9 MR. GROARK: We're going to make a 10 push for that. 11 MR. PATTERSON: That's the big 12 difference. It wasn't as bad as we 13 initially thought when Steve and I were 14 talking about it way back when. We were 15 like, "Sunday night, people are getting 16 ready for school." That really wasn't the 17 big issue for it. It was parents that were 18 coming in saying "We're exhausted. We're 19 going home. We've been here all day." We 20 kind of knew the feeling 'cause we've all 21 been there before. 22 MR. MORIELLO: If you do -- it does 23 still stay on Sundays, every other week we 24 either have the 3:40 hour for our full-ice 62 1 late day game, and then it's 6:00 for the 2 Cross Ice. There are some kids -- there's 3 quite a few parents that have kids that do 4 both. I'm one of them, too. So every other 5 week sometimes we have a 4:50, then the 6 following hour is Learn to Skate. It's 7 nice, it's back to back. So if it is still 8 Sunday, a lot of the parents complain about 9 when you have that 3:40, then there's an 10 hour in between 'til the 6:00, there's not 11 quite enough time to leave and go home, it's 12 suppertime hour, sometimes the kids are 13 little, sometimes the little sister or 14 brother is waiting, and bedtime, then 15 there's school the next day. A lot of 16 parents didn't like all that. 17 MR. WORTHLEY: That was a tough hour 18 to get. 19 MR. PATTERSON: We got it out of 20 necessity. It worked out pretty well 21 considering. I think we did pretty well 22 considering 'cause it wasn't just the hour 23 that killed it. It was the times and what 24 we had going on. Just the whole -- 63 1 everything played into that. 2 MR. NORTON: The Valley is not going 3 to have any hours there I'm told next year, 4 so we should be able to get a Saturday hour. 5 MR. MORIELLO: I'm not complaining. I 6 know it's hard to fit everything in. I'm 7 just telling the stuff I hear, trying to 8 help you. 9 MR. WORTHLEY: It's dead-on accurate. 10 MR. PATTERSON: The Texas Holdem 11 tournament, I have the flyer that we need to 12 just get to Steve. We need to really just 13 work out a couple minor details and get this 14 flyer out this week 'cause it's going to be 15 very important. The word is already out 16 there. We're already talking to a whole 17 bunch of people. I'm posting it on areas 18 where I know a lot of poker players go and 19 hang out, as far as that's concerned. We 20 just have to nail down whether or not -- I 21 don't think we want to put prizes or 22 anything on these things. I think we just 23 want to tell people what it's going to cost, 24 get them in the door, and then in the 64 1 interim we can decide on rebuys and things 2 like that. I don't think people are going 3 to care. Once they get in the door they 4 want to play poker and they should be fine. 5 Basically it's about $700 to get the 6 tournament off the ground as far as the 7 people that run the tournament. We will 8 have to have people who want to play. We 9 will have to have player dealers, so the 10 people who are helping out, like myself, 11 Pat, both Pats, Mark Mitchell has offered to 12 do it, if you want to do it, whoever can 13 deal and play at the same time it will be 14 beneficial because basically we'll separate 15 everyone at the tables. 16 MR. NORTON: You don't want me 17 dealing. 18 MR. PATTERSON: Whoever can do it will 19 be fine. I don't think we're going to need 20 a huge amount of tables, but that will keep 21 that cost right down to that $650, $700 22 mark. What that means is basically after 23 nine players or ten players, everything 24 after that is a split between what we give 65 1 for prizes and what Saugus Youth Hockey 2 makes. And then you have your rebuys, which 3 is a clear take for Saugus Youth Hockey and 4 the side tables, which is a clear take for 5 Saugus Youth Hockey. So we really have to 6 make sure that the rebuys do fit in somehow, 7 and we have to make sure that the side 8 tables work right from the get go. Also, 9 because we'll be in Bostonville, it will be 10 a good idea to have people who are working 11 the room that maybe don't play poker but 12 want to come and help out, maybe work some 13 of the bar area and stuff and talk to some 14 people and say "Hey, by the way, there's 15 some side tables opening up. Is there 16 anybody interested?" And someone might want 17 to come in and play a quick poker game at 18 the side tables and we make money off of 19 that stuff. 20 MR. MOORE: I'll work the room. 21 MR. AIKEN: What's the initial buy-in? 22 MR. PATTERSON: $80 is where we're at 23 right now. I mean, that's right around the 24 area. It used to be 100 bucks. Obviously, 66 1 times have changed. I don't know if 2 everybody has talked to people about that 3 $80 or not. That makes the most sense. We 4 can probably go to 75 and still do well. It 5 might sound like a better number. 6 MR. NORTON: What did Mark recommend? 7 MR. PATTERSON: He was around the $80 8 mark as well. They were doing about $80. 9 They weren't getting real good turnouts for 10 whatever reason for the couple that they 11 did, but they were still making money. I 12 think the idea is to get this one under our 13 belts and get it running and go and try to 14 make some money off of it. I think we'll do 15 fairly well for the amount of people I've 16 talked to so far, and then be able to say, 17 "Maybe we went wrong here. Maybe we were 18 wrong there," and be able to start another 19 one fairly quickly. We're going to need to 20 get the money into the program. 21 MR. NORTON: The other good thing is 22 it's a March Madness night, so when I talked 23 to Mark he said there's probably just going 24 to be -- you know, that will probably be a 67 1 busier night at Bostonville, so you might 2 get some walk-ins as well. 3 MS. PLOUFFE: Just two comments on 4 that one. You really need to get that info 5 out to people. 6 MR. MOORE: It's a tight time frame, 7 I'll tell you. From what I've talked to 8 people in those tournaments, they usually 9 want six weeks. 10 MR. NORTON: We talked to Mark the 11 other day and I asked him that very 12 question, he was comfortable with this. 13 MR. PATTERSON: I talked to a bunch of 14 people who were -- 15 MR. BRAZIS: March 20th. Second 16 question, Lucia, comment. 17 MS. PLOUFFE: Now I forget. The 18 other thing was the dealers, they don't 19 actually have to play. If you get some 20 dealers who don't want to play, you might be 21 better off because it's less confusion. 22 People who might be avid poker players 23 coming to this may not want to see their 24 dealer playing, trying to do two things at 68 1 once and multitasking. 2 MR. PATTERSON: Actually, I went 3 through that and it's a good point because I 4 thought the same exact thing and most of the 5 avid poker players like it because they 6 think they have the upper hand on the poor 7 guy who has to deal and concentrate on his 8 cards at the same time. So that actually 9 worked the other way for those poker 10 players. They liked that idea, but if we 11 can get dealers like we did that one time 12 where people donated their time and did it, 13 that would be great, but unfortunately, if 14 we can't get enough dealers that will sit 15 down and do, it becomes an issue. Again, we 16 can put this out tomorrow as long as we have 17 -- we all agree on just the basics. 18 Everything else can change up to the date. 19 MR. BRAZIS: We'll talk afterwards and 20 we'll finalize that. 21 MR. PATTERSON: I'll have to send it 22 to you 'cause I'm going to have to leave in 23 a little while. 24 MS. PLOUFFE: John would like a flyer 69 1 so that he can get it to the TV station. 2 MR. PATTERSON: Absolutely. I'm going 3 to put it on the -- I'm going to post it on 4 the website so it's printable and I'll give 5 you a bunch of them as well. 6 MR. DUNN: I can put it on the Saugus 7 TV. 8 MR. GROARK: Ken, maybe we should get 9 a list for volunteers going, too. Anyone 10 wants to volunteer. 11 MR. PATTERSON: That was the other 12 posting. I was going to put a thing on 13 there for an email and have volunteers just 14 send us an email right away so we know who's 15 going to come and help. 16 MR. GROARK: If anyone here tonight 17 wants to volunteer, we can just sign this. 18 MR. BRAZIS: Volunteer list up here 19 for the Texas Holdem night if you'd like to 20 help out. 21 MS. PLOUFFE: Will you have a sign-up 22 sheet? 23 MR. NORTON: We'll have a sign-up 24 sheet at registration. 70 1 MS. PLOUFFE: No -- yeah, at 2 registration to kind of get some sort of 3 thing to -- 4 MR. MOORE: Do we have a packet that 5 we have to give to families at registration? 6 Is there any type of paperwork or no? Do we 7 just have them sign the Player Commitment? 8 MR. NORTON: We can hand it to them. 9 We can make a bunch and hand it to them as 10 they come. 11 MR. MOORE: We can give everybody one, 12 maybe if they know anybody, you know. That 13 way you're hitting 100 people right there. 14 MS. PLOUFFE: You'll have the raffle 15 going, too; right? 16 MR. PATTERSON: That's what I'm going 17 to talk to you about, what we do for raffles 18 and stuff like that. Anything that we can 19 do during that. Also, push the wrestling 20 thing, which is the week after is going to 21 be huge. 22 MR. BRAZIS: We'll get to that. Are 23 you all set, Ken? 24 MR. PATTERSON: I'm all set. 71 1 MR. WORTHLEY: One last thing, sir. 2 If we could probably put on there, it's 3 Lucia's birthday that day. I think it's her 4 21st birthday, so I was just wondering if we 5 could get that on there. 6 MR. BRAZIS: Thank you. That's good 7 input. Mr. Secretary, if you would, would 8 you recognize the treasurer? 9 MR. GROARK: Dwayne Oxley, are you 10 present? 11 MR. OXLEY: I am present now. Sorry 12 I'm late. 13 MR. BRAZIS: Fred Moore. 14 MR. MOORE: Nothing. 15 MR. BRAZIS: Mr. Shrimpf, ethics. 16 MR. SHRIMPF: Nothing. 17 MR. BRAZIS: Dwayne. 18 MR. OXLEY: I don't know what you've 19 discussed. 20 MR. NORTON: I gave them sort of an 21 overview of how we got there. Maybe you can 22 provide a little more detail as to how we 23 got to the deficit. 24 MR. OXLEY: Yeah. It really came down 72 1 to just a couple numbers right now. I know 2 it was a painful process, but we actually 3 collected a lot more money than I had 4 anticipated from monies that were 5 outstanding, you know, going back a couple 6 months. We really have very little 7 outstanding right now. The money we have 8 will cover our practice ice for the rest of 9 the year. We're paid up through January. 10 We owe February and March and if we use any 11 ice in April. What goes into the deficit is 12 we have an outstanding bill at the Valley 13 for 18,000. I don't think it will be 18,000 14 at year end because built into that 18,000, 15 the way the Valley bills you -- they bill 16 you at the beginning of the year -- includes 17 the full Midget season and it ended up being 18 we had two Midgets with the Valley. One was 19 a half season, one was a full season. So 20 they billed us for a full season for one of 21 those Midget teams that ended up being a 22 half season team. And then whatever else 23 happens throughout the year, you know, they 24 do a year-end audit. I think that the 73 1 number will be less than 18,000. I don't 2 know what it will be. I haven't done that 3 calculation, but probably -- I won't even 4 speculate, but it will be less than 18,000, 5 but I figured the full 18,000, and then 6 there's $5,000 for taxes we're going to need 7 to pay. 8 MR. NORTON: I walked them through 9 that. 10 MR. OXLEY: That's what's left for the 11 deficit amount, and that came to 23,000 that 12 we built in. 13 MR. SALVETTI: Didn't we owe the Town 14 a bunch of money, too? 15 MR. OXLEY: We're negotiating that. 16 We didn't include that, which I think that 17 may be a favorable for us. It may end up 18 favorable. 19 MR. NORTON: We did look at our worst 20 case if we were required to incorporate 21 that, it's about $75, $80 a child if we had 22 to incorporate that. 23 MR. MOORE: There would probably be 24 some leeway with them on that. It's not 74 1 like we can't play Valley games or we can't 2 get in the rink at Kasabuski. 3 MR. OXLEY: Nothing is in jeopardy. 4 The Valley League, I've spoken to them 5 several times. We are not the only -- we 6 are, you know, more -- a lot of other 7 programs are in the same exact situation as 8 us. Everybody is struggling to collect 9 money, everybody is running behind, so the 10 Valley understands, you know, we will 11 register with them for next year, if that's 12 our decision. They know we have some 13 outstanding monies and they're being patient 14 with us. More so then -- I can tell you 15 I've dealt with the Valley now for five or 16 six years from an accounting standpoint and 17 they are much more lenient now and I think 18 they realize they have to be. Even though 19 they're the only game leagues in town, 20 they're the dominant league, but they still 21 want teams. When I talked to him about the 22 money, he was inquiring about the leagues 23 that are trying to resurrect themselves, 24 between North Suburban, there's a league 75 1 that FMC's starting. They're aware of these 2 other leagues and they're still trying to 3 recruit teams. The good news is that 4 they're being patient and they understand 5 that we're not the only ones. Like I said, 6 most towns are struggling. And practice 7 ice, like I said, we're paid. There's no 8 jeopardy of not being on the ice at all. 9 MR. BRAZIS: Thank you, Dwayne. 10 MR. OXLEY: Any other questions from 11 the tuition or whatever? 12 MR. BRAZIS: We've gone around through 13 the E. Board and around with the Board of 14 Directors. Is there anybody out in the 15 audience that would like to come out and 16 speak? Please, the podium is here, just 17 state your name if you have any comments. 18 Has everybody had a chance to take a 19 look at the minutes? Want to make a motion? 20 MR. NORTON: Motion to accept the 21 minutes. 22 MR. MOORE: Second. 23 MR. AIKEN: There's no attendance on 24 these. 76 1 MR. GROARK: I've got the attendance. 2 MR. AIKEN: They're supposed to be on 3 the minutes. 4 MR. NORTON: Are you okay if we have 5 that added to the minutes? Are you okay 6 with the minutes? 7 MR. AIKEN: Oh, yeah. 8 MR. NORTON: We'll make sure that all 9 these folks are added and we'll post those. 10 MR. MOORE: Should we make that a 11 motion, make a motion to add to last month's 12 minutes also and the previous month's 13 minutes whether that was done? 14 MR. GROARK: Do we need to make a 15 motion on that? 16 MR. AIKEN: The only thing, Pat, is if 17 you run your meetings by Robert's Rules, 18 say, Tony stepped out to the bathroom during 19 roll call and he wasn't here to say present, 20 and then he misses the right to vote -- I'm 21 just using you as an example, Tony. He 22 misses the right to vote by one meeting. 23 Once we approve the meeting minutes, you 24 can't adjust the attendance for that month. 77 1 MR. NORTON: You can't? 2 MR. AIKEN: The only one who can do it 3 is Scott. 4 MR. NORTON: I think the other point 5 is we're not going to be able to gather all 6 the folks in the audience because they're 7 not introducing themselves. We'll make sure 8 that all of the folks who have been at the 9 last three meetings are put on the minutes. 10 MR. MOORE: I guess we'd probably like 11 to ask everyone if they've signed the 12 attendance sheet. 13 MR. GROARK: Make sure you sign the 14 attendance sheets. 15 MR. SALVETTI: If you can pass that 16 around, Scott. 17 MR. MOORE: Maybe, Pat, when you see 18 someone come in, you can just pop them on 19 there, you know what I'm saying? 20 MR. NORTON: Do we need Scott to move 21 to change it or he doesn't have to do that 22 in front of everybody? 23 MR. AIKEN: He doesn't have to do that 24 in front of everybody. Tony would have to 78 1 put it in writing saying, "At this month's 2 meeting you had me as being absent, but I 3 have John who say next to me at that meeting 4 can vouch for me being there." It would 5 have to be a formal request and then you can 6 change the attendance. 7 MR. SALVETTI: The minutes may 8 actually record that person speaking and 9 they didn't sign the sheet. 10 MR. AIKEN: Last year at the July 11 meeting it was a big issue. 12 MR. NORTON: Was it? 13 MR. AIKEN: A lot of people thinking 14 they had voting rights and hardly anybody 15 did. 16 MR. BRAZIS: So we made a motion and 17 the minutes have been accepted? 18 MR. NORTON: The minutes have been 19 accepted and we're going to attach the 20 attendance for each of the last three months 21 just to make sure it's there. 22 UNKNOWN NAME: Another way, you could 23 also change the amount of meetings that you 24 need to attend so you don't have to back 79 1 date. 2 MR. AIKEN: You'd have to change the 3 bylaws and you can't do that. 4 UNKNOWN NAME: Why can't you? 5 MR. AIKEN: It's a long process to go 6 through the legislature to adjust bylaws. 7 MR. OXLEY: We're not going to change 8 bylaws. I mean, we have peoples' names. 9 MR. NORTON: We have sign-in sheets 10 for all of them. We're still holding the 11 sign-in sheets. We know who was here. It's 12 not like we have to -- we don't have to 13 recreate the wheel. 14 MR. WORTHLEY: Is it June or July? 15 I'm just saying, isn't the elections in June 16 and July is -- 17 MR. AIKEN: June. 18 MR. RUSSO: The May meeting is when we 19 do the count. 20 MR. AIKEN: Scott, is there a reason 21 why the November and December minutes aren't 22 posted on the website? 23 MR. BRAZIS: Not that I'm aware of. 24 I'll ask you, Ken. 80 1 MR. AIKEN: I emailed them to Ken and 2 Kenny told me he was told not to post them. 3 MR. PATTERSON: Yeah, there was -- the 4 meeting before that we were at -- and I 5 don't know if that was just in the private 6 meeting -- we struck the meeting minutes. 7 MR. BRAZIS: The December 18th meeting 8 there was a motion made to not accept the 9 minutes of the December 2nd meeting. 10 MR. PATTERSON: So it was December 11 that we shouldn't have accepted. 12 MR. BRAZIS: But the November, I don't 13 know why isn't on there. 14 MR. PATTERSON: November I'll post. I 15 have November, so I can post it. That's not 16 a big deal. But December, you still want me 17 not to post that because it was struck; 18 correct? 19 MR. BRAZIS: I was just here as a 20 spectator at that time. There was a motion 21 made not to accept those minutes. 22 MR. PATTERSON: Right. Not to accept 23 the December minutes. 24 MR. AIKEN: For what reason? 81 1 MR. SALVETTI: You can't just never 2 accept them. There's got to be some 3 revision or something made. 4 MR. MOORE: There was -- someone 5 disagreed. If I recall, someone disagreed 6 with just one little thing. I don't think 7 it was a major thing, just someone -- if I 8 recall, I don't know if anybody else 9 remembers that, someone just said they 10 didn't agree with something that was written 11 in there or something that was said. I 12 don't think it was the whole body of 13 minutes. 14 MR. NORTON: Was the 18th minutes 15 where -- the resignations were early 16 December of the Board, correct, so the 18th 17 minutes were the ones that got the new 18 interim Board in place. 19 MR. OXLEY: They were the same 20 meeting? 21 MR. NORTON: We had an early December 22 meeting. 23 MR. AIKEN: We had a December 2nd 24 meeting. Those minutes should have been 82 1 accepted. I didn't turn them in until 2 January, so I don't see how you could have 3 voted for them in December. 4 MR. NORTON: I think what we voted for 5 in January was the December 18th minutes. 6 MR. GROARK: Correct, I got it right 7 here. 8 MR. NORTON: That had the changes to 9 allow for the interim, and it also announced 10 the resignations of all the other Board 11 members. 12 MR. OXLEY: So we're going to need to 13 present the December minutes again? 14 MR. NORTON: Yeah, December 2nd 15 minutes, we'll have to accept those. 16 MR. AIKEN: I gave those to you last 17 month, Pat. 18 MR. SALVETTI: So the January minutes 19 should explain why we didn't accept the 20 December ones? 21 MR. MOORE: Unless we didn't discuss 22 it. Unless it was never brought up, so it 23 would have to be brought up either tonight 24 or the next meeting, but I would like to 83 1 know why, you know, there had to be a 2 reason. 3 MR. GROARK: We didn't have them at 4 that time. 5 MR. AIKEN: I gave them to Scott. 6 MR. GROARK: We did not have them at 7 the January meeting. We got them in 8 February. 9 MR. BRAZIS: I gave those to Pat. You 10 have the December ones? 11 MR. GROARK: Yes. 12 MR. BRAZIS: I do not have those. 13 MR. NORTON: We'll make copies and 14 distribute them for the next meeting and get 15 them approved; is that fine? 16 MR. MOORE: That's fine. 17 MR. NORTON: We'll do that. Sorry 18 about that. 19 Anybody have anything else? 20 MR. MOORE: Motion to adjourn. 21 MR. DeMATTEO: One thing. Lucia never 22 mentioned the banquet. Is it still on? 23 MS. PLOUFFE: I unfortunately am not 24 going to do anything until that contract is 84 1 signed, which means I need the check. 2 MR. NORTON: We can give you the 3 check, but we were told -- 4 MR, BRAZIS: Lucia, please stick 5 around afterwards. I'll talk to you about 6 that. 7 MS. PLOUFFE: I'm not worried about 8 it, I just don't want you guys to think that 9 I stopped. I have everything ready to go. 10 I just want to make sure that the contract 11 is signed and no one is backing out and I 12 can send out all the invitations. 13 MR. NORTON: Does anybody have any 14 questions on that, on the banquet at all? 15 MS. AIKEN: When is it? 16 MS. PLOUFFE: Friday, May 1st. 17 MS. ALLEN: Question. I know they 18 were looking into -- communications within 19 the Saugus Hockey family are terrible, and I 20 know you guys were working on getting 21 massive emails collected so that when we 22 have an announcement, send it all out when 23 these events are taking place or mark your 24 calendars, you know, just an email alert, 85 1 something. 2 MR. MOORE: I think that we talked 3 about it. I don't think anything was done 4 concrete. 5 MS. ALLEN: Don't be relying on 6 everybody going on the website, sometimes 7 you just don't get there. 8 MR. BRAZIS: I think we can accomplish 9 that at registration. 10 MR. PATTERSON: We talked about 11 getting as many email addresses as possible. 12 MR. GROARK: We have a lot of them. 13 MR. MOORE: The directors got all the 14 emails that they could from when we were 15 trying to collect money. So in other words, 16 if you were the director, you got all my 17 emails or the other Squirt coach's emails. 18 MR. NORTON: Does anybody want to 19 volunteer to compile all of those emails? 20 MS. ALLEN: How about during 21 registration, we can get somebody. 22 MR. NORTON: At registration we'll 23 have them write it down. I think we have 24 some, we should probably try to get into our 86 1 database now. 2 MS. ALLEN: Just start fresh. 3 Whoever's signing up this year. 4 MR. NORTON: Put the email address? 5 MR. OXLEY: I think we always ask for 6 it anyway. 7 MR. RUSSO: A quick way to do it is 8 most coaches have everyone's email. You 9 should pull your coaches and have them 10 all -- 11 MR. BRAZIS: We did that. It's just a 12 collecting process. 13 MS. ALLEN: Everybody has to register, 14 so put your kid's name right under your 15 email. 16 MR. BRAZIS: We'll compile them during 17 registration. 18 MR. NORTON: Fred, are you going to be 19 the email compiler for us? 20 MR. BRAZIS: No. 21 MR. PATTERSON: One quick positive 22 note. We did -- the PeeWee A's did go on a 23 tournament to Rhode Island and I did put it 24 on the website like we did for the last few 87 1 other things, and David Aiken shutout 2 everybody he faced in the goalie competition 3 to win the goalie competition, which was 4 pretty impressive considering some of the 5 kids that we saw in the shootout. He had to 6 do it the hard way because he faced all the 7 big wig kids. And the relay team, 8 Christian -- my son, Christian, Matty Shea, 9 Victor DeMatteo and Chris Sanderson won the 10 relay by a big amount. So they proved that 11 we got some good skating at least in the 12 program. They kicked all the kids' butts up 13 there in the relay race. 14 MR. BRAZIS: Would you email me that 15 information, please? 16 MR. PATTERSON: Absolutely. It's on 17 the website. 18 MR. AIKEN: It's going in the paper 19 next week. 20 MR. BRAZIS: The parents that are 21 here, congratulations. 22 MR. GROARK: Speaking of the paper, I 23 spoke to Joe McConnell today. He wants any 24 coaches, anyone, especially the coaches, any 88 1 articles or pictures or whatever, he's 2 begging for that stuff. I think he needs to 3 fill his -- 4 MR. PATTERSON: It has slowed down. 5 MR. GROARK: He mentioned the PeeWee 6 A's are going in this week and our 7 registration, but he wants more. So if 8 anyone feels like writing some articles 9 about your team. 10 MR. MOORE: I think the coaches should 11 talk to the parents. If someone is 12 interested in doing that, in the past we 13 usually have one or two parents that -- 14 MR. SALVETTI: Did anybody submit to 15 the publicity director and what does the 16 publicity director do? 17 MR. GROARK: No submissions/ 18 applications for that. 19 MR. SALVETTI: I almost asked it at 20 the meeting where we said we were going to 21 put it on the website because I don't know 22 if even any of us know what that 23 responsibility is. It's not on the website, 24 so I don't know what -- 89 1 MR. BRAZIS: Bear with me a second. 2 MR. NORTON: Some of the stuff we 3 talked about, getting information, whether 4 it be to give articles, it would be a 5 contact person. Pat had mentioned this 6 earlier about the gentleman, we can use him 7 as a contact person, he can reach out to the 8 coaches for more stuff. It's just a main 9 contact. 10 MR. SALVETTI: Unfortunately, I'm not 11 interested, but I think it would be good to 12 have some description on the website since 13 it's asking people to sign up for it, give 14 them some idea of what they have to do, 15 that's all. 16 MR. BRAZIS: If you'd like, you can 17 take a peek at it afterwards. 18 MR. SALVETTI: No. Like I said, I 19 can't do it, but it's hard to expect people 20 to sign up not knowing what they're in for. 21 So in addition to having a request for 22 volunteers on the website, we aught to 23 explain what they're volunteering for. 24 MR. AIKEN: What's the difference 90 1 between a publicity director and the web 2 director? 3 MR. BRAZIS: There is no web director. 4 MR. AIKEN: There is no web director? 5 MR. NORTON: There is a person doing 6 that, but there isn't a technical term for 7 web director. 8 MR. BRAZIS: There is no person on the 9 Board that's a web director. 10 MR. NORTON: There's a Cross Ice 11 director, there's an Instructional director. 12 MR. PATTERSON: I'm just a phantom. 13 Ignore me. 14 MR. NORTON: Anything? 15 (Pause.) 16 MR. MOORE: Motion to adjourn. 17 MR. DeMATTEO: One other thing, for 18 next year, you know how we talked about a 19 tournament, has anyone thought about, like, 20 the whole league going somewhere together? 21 MR. NORTON: We talked about that. I 22 know folks are struggling with money at this 23 point in time, so to try to force folks to 24 have to commit to a tournament. 91 1 MR. DeMATTEO: Not pay anything now, 2 but just put something out there so maybe we 3 can vote on three tournaments at some point 4 in the near future, and then we put it out 5 there and people gotta start saving for 6 that. 7 MR. SALVETTI: Someplace like Lake 8 Placid, you've gotta get your reservation in 9 so early that it almost needs to be done 10 before the teams are organized in the fall. 11 MR. OXLEY: Summertime. 12 MR. SALVETTI: So if we're going to do 13 that, I don't know -- what's it cost to 14 reserve a weekend there? You must have to 15 put a deposit down. 16 MR. MOORE: I think it was like 500 17 bucks. 18 MR. OXLEY: I think it was a couple 19 hundred. They open up in the summertime and 20 it fills up pretty quick. 21 MR. SALVETTI: We had a great time 22 when we went last year, but we had to go 23 Easter Sunday because that was what was 24 open. 92 1 MR. PATTERSON: Still did an Easter 2 egg hunt. 3 MR. DUNN: If it's the whole league 4 we'd have to start early to try to get a 5 whole hotel. 6 MR. DeMATTEO: That was the idea, 7 people who had multiple kids in the program, 8 it would just be one tournament and 9 everybody would be there. I don't know 10 anything about this, but I know you guys 11 probably have the resources or the contacts 12 to, you know, maybe we come back with a list 13 next month and then maybe we talk about it, 14 try to target a couple and just say this is 15 what we should do and make the decision now. 16 If you want to do it, we pick a weekend and 17 then it's out there. 18 MR. OXLEY: I think the problem you 19 might run into is, other than Lake Placid, 20 even like Waterville Valley, they have 21 different -- I don't think they have all 22 teams on one weekend. 23 MR. MOORE: That's the -- I couldn't 24 find one. They wanted me to do that early 93 1 in the year. 2 MR. OXLEY: There's very few of them 3 that have all levels on that same weekend. 4 MR. MOORE: I found that Worcester 5 one, but no one wanted to do it. 6 MR. OXLEY: There might be some if you 7 dig, but Lake Placid is honestly the only 8 one that I know of that we've gone to that 9 offers all the levels on one weekend. 10 MR. SALVETTI: One difficulty with 11 that is going to be we'd be asking people to 12 commit to that right in the middle of the 13 tuition payments. 14 MR. NORTON: That's what our concern 15 is, asking for more money at this point. I 16 mean, you know, we hear that this is a lot 17 of money we're asking for in this type of 18 economy. We don't have to mandate anything. 19 MS. ALLEN: Can you put up on the 20 website a Word doc. of registration or a 21 pdf? 22 MR. PATTERSON: For? 23 MS. ALLEN: Sign-up sheet, so we can 24 have it ready. 94 1 MR. PATTERSON: Absolutely. 2 MR. OXLEY: Registration forms? 3 MR. PATTERSON: We can put it there if 4 we want to. It's easy enough. 5 MR. AIKEN: You had everything last 6 year. 7 MR. PATTERSON: That's right, we did. 8 MS. ALLEN: Is it possible to put it 9 in Word? 10 MR. PATTERSON: I wouldn't put it on a 11 Word document 'cause then people can change 12 it. 13 MR. SALVETTI: You can make it one 14 that people can fill out. Are people going 15 to be signing, not really a contract, but 16 something that explains their understanding 17 of the tuition payments and the drop-dead 18 date and no skating without the money? Do 19 we need that? I mean, we talked before from 20 a small claims standpoint whether we really 21 had contracts, but you guys have dealt with 22 collection this year, so is the issue of not 23 really understanding what the consequences 24 of not paying, is that out there? Do we 95 1 need to make sure people understand that 2 when they sign up? 3 MR. NORTON: The thing is if they 4 don't pay, they won't skate, so they won't 5 owe. Technically there wouldn't be any -- 6 MR. OXLEY: I think Mark is saying "Do 7 people understand?" 8 MR. SALVETTI: Do people understand 9 that if you are not paid by August 31st or 10 whatever, don't come to practice. Is that 11 understanding clear and do we need to make 12 sure it's in the registration paperwork? 13 MR. DeMATTEO: That's probably not a 14 bad idea, but as a Bantam director, I do 15 intend to talk to every parent and I'll 16 catch them before now at some point and let 17 them know. I think they'll understand. 18 MR. NORTON: We'll put that right on 19 what they sign for the sign up. 20 MR. SALVETTI: I don't think you need 21 to make it seem like they're signing a 22 contract or anything like that. Although, I 23 think select teams or a lot of teams do 24 that, but just something that's clear in the 96 1 sign-up sheet that -- 2 MR. NORTON: We'll put that on there, 3 the refund policy and that if you're not 4 paid in full. 5 MR. AIKEN: The numbers that you had, 6 you said you based everything on 120? 7 MR. NORTON: 5. 8 MR. AIKEN: 125. How does that break 9 down to how many Bantam teams you think 10 you'll have, PeeWee teams? 11 MR. NORTON: Given that we kind of 12 looked at it as two pay groups, the first 13 team being the Cross Ice, we estimated one 14 team of ten kids based upon where the Learn 15 to Skate is and how many kids are moving up 16 this year. We just estimated one Bantam 17 team for this year, but with the numbers -- 18 the numbers will be what they are. We just 19 kind of threw those across. The Mite B's to 20 the Bantams were all -- we could have done 21 two Bantams and two Squirts, but we just 22 kind of threw it in there because all those 23 kids are paying the same money regardless, 24 we just have that number of kids in that 97 1 middle bracket. We said, what was it, 24? 2 MR. OXLEY: The Bantams, yeah. I 3 mean, we were conservative to say -- we hear 4 a lot of the talk that's out there and kids 5 might be trying out for select programs, so 6 we took a certain amount of kids in the 7 calculation 'cause we wanted to come up with 8 a good number, so it was more of a numbers 9 calculation first. 10 MR. AIKEN: Again, this is going back 11 to goalies. One bantam team, three goalies, 12 are they going to play one period a game? 13 MR. OXLEY: We won't know until they 14 sign up. We have in this calculation 15 factored one, but if there's two, there's 16 two. It's not going to change the tuition. 17 If anything, we factored in so many kids. 18 It's a high number of Bantams, but if 19 there's enough for two teams, we'll have two 20 teams. It's changed a little bit because of 21 kids going to play at the high school level 22 at a younger age now. Eighth graders at 23 some schools are playing varsity, and eighth 24 graders in Saugus -- seventh graders this 98 1 year playing JV. It's hard. I actually 2 initially started with two Bantam teams. 3 One being a half-season team. Thought we 4 might go that route. 5 MR. AIKEN: Would you be interested in 6 starting a Bantam half-season? 7 MR. OXLEY: If we see the numbers, 8 Dave, and they say there's 25, 26 kids and 9 we know that a lot of those kids are going 10 to be playing JV hockey anyway, I'd say a 11 half-season might be a route to go. 12 MR. NORTON: We can look at that. 13 MR. OXLEY: Years back we had a Bantam 14 half-season team, and for whatever reason 15 it's changed and we've been able to play 16 full-season, but I think with what's 17 happening in Saugus anyway, there's a lot of 18 kids playing JV level hockey or higher at 19 eighth grade. 20 MR. SALVETTI: JV kids would stay in 21 Bantams most likely. 22 MR. AIKEN: Next year is going to be 23 different. Eighth graders playing Varsity 24 hockey. 99 1 MR. MORIELLO: The high school coach 2 is asking me already 'cause he already knows 3 there's going to be seventh graders next 4 year. 5 MR. SALVETTI: You could end up with a 6 situation like we've had recently. We 7 started out with two teams, we lost so many 8 kids to high school, we went down to one. 9 We didn't start out with the intention of a 10 half-season team. Then when some of them 11 came back after high school they still 12 wanted to keep playing, so we didn't go back 13 to two teams. We ended up with a really 14 strong team that finished a regular season. 15 I don't think everybody necessarily comes 16 back. 17 MR. OXLEY: Hopefully the numbers -- 18 the Bantam and Midget levels have been very 19 tough numbers to work with the last couple 20 years. We just don't know. This year was 21 very tough with the Bantams. We had a huge 22 number of kids -- it ended up being okay 23 because either kids quit or whatever, you 24 know, the number ended up being okay. I 100 1 took kids up to the Midgets, maybe that's an 2 option again. Kids we know are going to be 3 high school level players, we can have them 4 play up at Midgets if it makes the numbers 5 better, so we'll know when we get the 6 registrations. 7 MR. MOORE: Motion to adjourn. 8 MR. NORTON: Second. 9 MR. GROARK: All in favor? 10 (Group agreement.) 11 MR. BRAZIS: Opposed. 12 (Pause.) 13 (Meeting concluded at 9:09 p.m.) 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24