July BFOA Board Meeting – Minutes
7/26/09
Meeting took place at the residence of Larry Simpson.
Start: 3:00 pm Present: Taglienti, Epstein, Gazzano,
Simpson, Baker, Bowen, Davis, Sager, Craven
FHSAA Patches: 50 patches were ordered and current
and past members who have extra large patches will be
asked to bring in so we have plenty before the 2012 change
to the smaller FHSAA patch.
USA Football: There was considerable discussion
again about USA Football. Larry Simpson has attempted
contact with them however he has not received any reply as
of yet.
Honigs: Will try and get them to an upcoming
meeting. However, there has been a problem with Honig’s
availability as he is one of very few officials vendors in
the area.
Coaches Meeting: Public Schools Coaches will meet
with Taglienti & Sager on August 5th @ 6pm at
Lockhart. Craven will set a meeting with the Private
Schools.
FHSAA Officials Advisory Committee: Epstein advised
that there will be an opening on the Officials Advisory
Committee for our region and suggested we nominate one of
our members. He and Taglienti suggested McKinney for this
spot. After discussion, Epstein made a motion that we
nominate Bob McKinney to be our nomination for the
Officials Advisory Committee. Seconded by Bowen, all in
favor, motion passed.
Suspension: Charles Hunt has failed to
comply with the board and the booking commissioner’s
requests and will be suspended from assignments until he
presents himself to the board for explanation of his
situation.
Meeting Attendance/Excuses: After receiving his
notice of suspension of his preseason assignment,
Buffington asked the board via email for excusal from
attending general membership meetings due to his work
schedule. He will still be suspended from his first
assignment, however now that he has asked and the board
approved his request, he will be excused from meetings for
the remainder of the 2009 season. Tye was advised to send
notification to those members who are missing the last two
meetings in a row.
Committee Staffing: Discussion were had about each
committee and the need to get this done as soon as
possible. Once decided, it will be posted on the website.
Shirt/Banquet Online Survey: 84 members responded
to the survey, 49 voted for the shirt, 35 for the banquet
58% to 42%.The polo shirts (dry-fit) will cost in the area
of $15 each.
Evaluations Committee Report: Davis talked about
having each Referee on their off day go and evaluate at
least one other crew which will attempt to get
several evaluations for each member.
Constitution and By-Laws Review: Simpson and
Epstein brought up the point that some of the information
in the By-Laws and Constitution are outdated and need to
reviewed/updated annually.
Varsity Crew Picks – Draft: Sunday, August 9th
@ 4pm. Lottery will be done at next general meeting for
selection order.
Next Board Meeting: August 30th, 2009 @
Bryan Baker’s residence.
JV Crews: According to Sager, right now we have 11
JV crews and will need to add a few more to cover all the
sub varsity games this year. Sager will mention this at
the next general membership meeting to try and gage
members interest in becoming JV white hats.
Varsity Promotions: JC Craven was promoted to full
varsity status and J. Kasen, K. Maurer and J. Pennington
were promoted to alternate varsity status.
Varsity Crew Pick List: Those members that didn’t
register with the FHSAA as of this date will not be
eligible for the varsity crew pick.
Number of Crews for the 2009 Season: There was
considerable discussion on this topic, each board member
stated their opinion on whether or not we should increase
to 16 crews or 17 crews. Sager advised the board how many
eligible varsity officials are available to be picked and
how going to 17 crews affects the booking commissioner.
Sager advised it wouldn’t be a problem for him if we to 17
crews and that was his recommendation to the board. The
board voted on going to 17 crews and it came to a 3-3
(Epstein –No, Gazzano – Yes, Davis – Yes, Simpson – No,
Bowen –Yes, Baker – No) tie. Taglienti broke the tie by
voting No to 17 and going with 16 crews.
Member Issues: Sam Hirsch sent an email request to
Taglienti about his status for this season asking about
middle school and freshman games. The Board
is standing by original decision made on 6/15/09 with this
member and will advise him of his rights as a member with
respect to filing a grievance. The board decided to
suspend him from all assignments due to his lack of
officiating ability and poor evaluations based on his
years of experience and lack of improvements.
Also Mark Heinish’s father passed away, our
thoughts and prayers are with him. Taglienti will mention
this at the next general membership meeting.
Joe Foley advised Epstein that he is willing to do
what he can to help the association this year off the
field.
Steve Torres floated the idea that he would train a
new white hat this year if it was needed. In other words a
training crew. Steve advised the board he is selling his
house and would like to at least train someone who can
take over his crew. Although this was a nice gesture by
Steve, it involved too many variables and questions, like
who would pick the crew? Torres or the new official. Also
Steve wants to be the Referee for some games as well, so
the new guy would have to work the Umpire position as
well. The Board has decided to leave Steve and his crew
alone.
Crew Pick Meeting (Draft): Sunday, August 9, 2009 @
4pm @ South Plantation HS.
Referee Selection: (Gazzano excused himself at this
point). Considerable discussion about each
candidate and a vote was had. The board voted on their top
two candidates. McKinney and Gazzano selected as new
Referee’s.
Meeting Adjourned: 5:25 pm