Theresa Gray (Treasurer) said that in the future, coaches need to write their own check for any and all tournaments. All checks should be made out to the Region/Area/Section that is holding the tournament.
Because of the number of returned checks, the region will start charging $20 for a returned check. The bank charges us whenever someone writes us a bad check. Returned checks also cause a lot of extra work trying to contact and collect the money.
There are still some budgets that need to be turned in to the Treasurer.
Liesl Harrison, Theresa Gray, Pat Burgess, and George Burgess have completed the second part of the regional audit. The second part was from November 2004 back as far as we could go. There are several items that need further discussion.

Tyina Barnes (CVPA) reported the region is 100% compliance for coaches volunteer forms. We have a few others that have not been cleared by National. Tyina and Mary are working on them.

Russ Woolard (Referee Administrator) reported a big decline in the number of referees that are signing up for games. He encouraged all referees to sign up for games.

Sandra Harbison (Registrar) made a motion for a fee increase. The region has not had a fee increase in over 5 years. What we pay National has gone up every year; the cost of maintaining the fields (mowing, paint, etc) has gone up. The motion was made to increase the registration fee from $35 to $50 per player. Late fee registration fee will go from $50 to $75. The $15 late fee we were charging did not seem to cut down on late registrations. The cost of registration for families with 3 or more players will be $125. A vote was taken (23 for, 2 against, 1 abstain), and the motion passed.
We will have several walk-in registrations, including one at last game of the season and online registration (after June 1) to help parents avoid the late fee.
The will be some guidelines set for scholarships. There will be partial, conditional, and full scholarships.

Russ Wise (U8 division commissioner) let the board know that in the U8 division that there would be no guest players unless a team did not have enough players. If a team has 3 players they can pick up U8 or U6 players to give them 5. If a team has 5 players they cannot pick up any guest players.
Under no conditions may a player from the U10 division play in the U8. Even if the player is a U8 playing up.

There have been reports that teams are using Lee Stewart fields for scrimmage games. This is NOT allowed. The fields may only be used for games or makeup games. There is not to be any practice, scrimmages, workouts, etc. at the fields. John Harbison (Field Manager) and Steve Gray (Asst. Field Manager) said we need to find ways to get volunteers to line the fields. The same folks are doing it each week. It we can get volunteers to help, it does not take long to have all the fields lined.

John and Steve are going to look for a storage building to keep the field lining equipment, paint, and field items in. They will try to keep the cost around $500, but to get a better building we may have spend more.

The first aid kits for coaches are available. Have them see Rick Parker (Safety Director) or Eric Jones (Asst. Safety Director).

Tyina Barnes (Soccerfest Coordinator) reported that they still need ideas for Soccerfest. Please email Ty or Mary if you have any ideas, or want to help out. Laura Walters (New Player Coordinator) suggested using a type of cakewalk, except that players have to dribble a soccer ball as the walk around.

Crystal Jones (Kid Zone Coordinator) said that kid zone forms are not being turned in. The board was reminded that Kid Zone is still a voluntary AYSO program and we cannot force parents to sign them and turn them in. We can try to convince and encourage the parents to sign the forms.

George Burgess (Regional Commissioner) informed the board that the Executive Staff would start holding monthly meeting to address some issues that have (may) come up. The Executive Staff is the Regional Commissioner, Referee Administrator, Coach Administrator, Treasurer, CVPA, Safety Director. The Registrar and Secretary will also sit in. The Regional board will be kept aware of everything that is being discussed. It is hoped that this will speed up the regional board meetings, so that they do not drag out for hours. The exact duties of the executive board have not been fully laid out. A couple of committees will be formed to look at team balancing, Regional guidelines, and getting back to and stressing the core AYSO philosophies.
Tyina Barnes is working on job descriptions for all the positions in Region 337. She will be working with the standard job description from National. Several board positions overlap and we need to clear up who does what. This is not a reflection on anyone, just clearing up some questions.

Do we want to look in to spraying or doing something about the bee problem we had last season? We also need to look in to spraying for ticks. Last Saturday several people reported finding ticks on other people. It was reported that a copper head snake was sighted near the creek at the corner of field 2C.

With nothing further to come before the board, the April Board meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted,

Pat Burgess
Regional Secretary
AYSO Region 337