Minutes of LVOTSL 3 March 2003
Meeting at the Jeff's Demos

Attendance: Tim Gilman (Gold), Alfredo Pérez (Cementeros), Joe Dueh (ASC), Jeff Hixson (RCN), Bill Wagstaff (WL Strikers), Paul Feher (WL Strikers), Fred Farbod (Cementeros), Jeff Clark (WL Seniors), Aldo Ormeño (Inca-Perú), Adam Florkowski (Deep Run I), José Mendez (Olimpia) and Hamdija Todorovac.

Absent: HFA, Phoenix, Jeff's Demos, WL Kickers and Deep Run II.

Meeting was called to order at 8:10 PM.

Previous meeting minutes

Minutes from 21 October 2002 meeting were read and accepted as written. Special thanks to Alfredo for doing my job.

Vice President's Report (Bill Wagstaff)

1. Everyone was reminded that No Alcoholic Beverages are to be consumed at certain game venues. Players and teams are urged to be respectful and careful of other teams' home fields. When permitted, the consumption of alcoholic beverages (beer only, please) should be done with discretion and in a respectful matter in regard to the playing facilities and any members of the public who may also be at the facility. It is imperative that players and teams CLEAN UP after any such fraternizing and do not leave behind any evidence (cans, etc.) at the site. Best thing to do is to put empty cans in cooler and cart them away.

Treasurer's Report and Web-Site Manager (Fred Farbod)

1. The league's checking account contains $XXXX and the savings account stands at $XXXX. A copy of the financial statement is attached to the minutes.
2. Phoenix owes $50.00 fine to league for forfeit vs. WL Seniors on 19 October. In addition, WL Seniors paid the refs $44 for that game. Phoenix needs to reimburse the Seniors that $44.
3. Fines for missed meetings were noted. hostwindows, Phoenix and HFA owe $5. hostwindows paid their fine at the meeting.
4. Remember, game scores must be reported to Fred by Sunday noon following a Saturday game by the HOME team. The league would also requests the visiting team to call in the score as a backup measure. This can be done through the website or via telephone 610-837-1146.
5. Fred handed out a copy of the current league standings. At the end of the Fall season, A division leaders are ASC, hostwindows and Olimpia, while for the B division its Deep Run I, WL Strikers and WL Seniors.
6. Fred reminded us that the website (http://home.netcom.com/~ffarbod/lvotsl.htm) has now the cards issued during games from which we have game reports are now on the web-site and it also has a link to minutes of league meetings.

Games Commissioner (Tim Gilman for Dave Leidig)

1.- Just a reminder, all cards issued during the Fall season carry over into the Spring season.
2.- Please remember that games on are unless you are notified otherwise. The Games Commissioner has until noon on Saturday to call off games due to inclement weather. If the Commissioner has not cancelled games, but your field is unplayable, the referees can cancel the game at the field.
3.- Tim reminded everyone that players with a third yellow card in one season must sit out one game. Also, a second yellow in the same game renders a one game suspension, not two. Referees need to be clear when showing the cards. For the second yellow, it has to be shown first and then red needs to be shown. If red is shown first (without a second yellow) then it is a two game suspension, pending the refs report.
4.- Jose asked about the possibility of a game cancellation "hot-line". The idea would be to put a recorded message at a given telephone number (Leidig's answering machine?) indicating games were cancelled. The idea can be further discussed next meeting.

Registrar's Report (Alfredo Pérez)

Alfredo made the following reminders:
1. Ensure team rosters are accurate and up-to-date. Please send corrections to Alfredo.
2. Make sure that new registration forms (with co-signer) are used for new team additions.
3. Ensure that all new players for the Spring season are registered. Remember, it is not required for a player to sit out one game if a player transferred during game stoppage between the Fall and Spring seasons.

Referee Assignor (Hamdija)

1. The referees' reports should be getting to the League OK as far as Ham knows.
2. Hamdija brought up the possibility that some refs may no longer call our games since our league is not sanctioned by the USSF. Some area refs are being pressured to call only games in USSF sanctioned leagues. Hamdija will update us on the situation at the next meeting.
3. Currently, there is a pool of about 40 referees who are called every week to cover all games. Most games are covered with two refs and very few with only one.
4. Hamdija asked everyone to make sure fields are in good shape and ready for play ahead of time.

Over-40 Update (Tim Gilman)

The LVOTSL Over-40 program is starting their Spring session on 8 April with 10 teams competing. Games will be played at either Air Products (2 fields) or Lehigh County fields (3 fields) at 6:30 PM on successive Tuesdays until 10 June 2003. Interested parties need to contact Jorge Camacho (610-250-1107) or Bryan Snapp (610-774-4397).

Old Business (Tim Gilman)

Owing to the uncooperative weather, significant changes must be made to the original Spring 2003 schedule. Many area fields are not available until late March or early April. The following decisions were made:
1. League will start on 5 April vs 22 March.
2. Postponed games (cross-division games) from the Fall season (16 November 2002), will not be made up.
3. Drop currently scheduled games for 14 June 2003 (cross-division games).
4. Play Easter weekend (19 April 2003).
5. We will end up with 20 games vs originally scheduled 22 games by elimination of two cross-division games.
6. All games count in final standings.
7. Final make-up games currently scheduled for 28 June 2003. There was discussion about ways to avoid this situation in future including 1) playing only in your division and 2) playing in two different divisions followed by a play-off format to determine the league championship. These discussions will be tabled for future meetings.

New Business (Tim Gilman)

1. The LVOTSL will be celebrating 15 years of existence this coming Spring/Summer. The 15th anniversary committee was of Milton, Adam, Jeff Clark, Hamdija, Fred Farbod, Alfredo, Tim Gilman, Bill Wagstaff and Jim Bus will meet shortly and provide the league with a report next meeting.
2. The LVOTSL was again involved in the Lehigh Valley Scholar Athlete program. Chris Bastidas was the recipient of this year's award and the league contributed its usual $300 to the cause. The league is also reminded that it can nominate candidates for the Lehigh Valley Soccer Hall of Fame.
3. Fred noted that we might soon lose our "free space" for hosting the league web site. Everyone agreed that the league web site has been a great for the leagues operation, visibility and credibility. Fred indicated that if we have to host our league web site with an external host, the cost is typically about $35/year to register our name and a cost of about $12/month to host the site (total of about $180/year). Jeff made a motion that league allocate Fred $250 to externally host the league's web site if the need arises. Hamdija seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
4. Next league meeting is scheduled for Monday 12 May 2003 at the Lehigh Saengerbund at 8:00 PM. Meeting adjourned at 10:16 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Tim Golden