Mid-Florida Officials Association
FROM: Ralph Messer, Secretary
SUBJECT: Executive Board Meeting of February 8, 2009
The monthly meeting, which was held at the Ocala Star Banner in Ocala, was called to order at 5:05 PM by the Vice President, Al Summers.
Attending: Board members attending were Al Summers, Ralph Messer, Jeff Pole, Paul Gery, Wade Clayton, Ted Bedford, Carlton Dill, Dan Cannon, Saul Speights, Bob Leahy, James Law, Richard Sullivan, Reid Sergent, Jeff D’Amelio, and Terry Lee. Also attending was Richard Wilson.
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Not Attending: Bud Holt could not attend due to family business.
Old Business:
The minutes of the November 2008 meeting was read by the secretary. Motion by Ralph Messer and second by Jeff Pole to accept the minutes as posted. The motion passed.
Jim Law stated that a field clinic was conducted at Forest High School. Jim also stated that several scrimmages were held and they were well attended.
Paul Gery stated that 29 members attended the baseball field clinic.
New Business:
Bob Leahy discussed members not reporting for game assignments (4) and members who were late arriving at the game site (5). Each of these members was fined and will be notified by the Inspector.
The board discussed an incident with assigned officials which occurred at St. Johns School on 12/16/2008. Motion by Ralph Messer that the 1st official, who is a new official, be fined for not arriving at game site to work his scheduled game, the second official repay the fees he received for a game he did not work and the third will be given a letter of reprimand as it was felt he created much of the problem. Second by Dan Cannon. Wade Clayton made a motion to amend the original motion by removing the fine from the first official and giving him a letter of explanation on how to view the MFOA’s policies on reporting for a game. Second by Terry Lee. The amendment passed. The original motion, as amended, passed.
Discussed a letter received from a new official who felt that he was unduly critisized on his game mechanics by a senior official. It was recommended that the basketball director from these officials’ area speak with both officials and advise them on the proper manner to handle matters of this type. Dan Cannon will speak with both officials.
The board discussed officials being booked for basketball games that have not paid the entire MFOA fees. Wade explained the reasons he used these officials. After much discussion, no action was taken.
Jeff Pole stated that all invoices for basketball have been sent to the respective schools. Jeff also stated that all outstanding pay requests for basketball regular season games should be in by 2/15/2009.
Dan Cannon discussed having paid evaluators for each sport which require additional fees from the membership. Jim Law recommended that the directors of each sport meet and devise a plan for the use and training of evaluators. Jim will contact each director and set up a meeting.
Reid Sergent advised that he had met the new Citrus High School Football Coach. He also stated that Seven Rivers School will be starting a football program and also met the football coach. It was noted that Alex Castaneda will be the new head football coach at Vanguard High School.
Carl Dill advised the board that the problems with receiving evaluations in a timely manner in basketball was due to problems with the Arbiter booking program. He also noted the new district for the schools contracted with the MFOA and advised that they could be found on the FHSAA web site.
Ralph Messer advised of correspondence received from the FHSA regarding our nomination for the Fred Rozelle Outstanding Sportsmanship Award for football and basketball. In both instances Forest High School was selected as the nominee.
Discussed receiving the paperwork for requesting to hold FHSAA sponsored field clinics for football and basketball. The schools and Denarvise Thornton at the FHSAA will be contacted regarding this matter.
Al Summers discussed a letter from the Villages High regarding one of our basketball officials.
Discussed a letter from Reid Sergent regarding a basketball member who had created problems with one of the schools. Dan Cannon will discuss the matter with the officials.
Discussed the composition of the Assignments Committee. Jim Law requested that the three non baseball/softball officials who are on the committee be replaced with three baseball/softball members.
Wade Clayton discussed the basketball booking and the number of bookings for all officials.
Richard Sullivan discussed a letter from the Citrus County School Board regarding compliance or re-compliance with the provisions of the Jessica Lunsford Act. This letter had previously been discussed by the board and no change to the previous decision was made.
The board appointed Ralph Messer as the Chairman of the nominations committee.
Adjourn:
There being no further business to come before the Board, a motion to adjourn prevailed.