PINE LAKES TENNIS ASSOCIATION WINTER MEETING JANUARY 22, 2018 The meeting was called to order at 3:02 pm by President Terry Brush. Board Members in Attendance: Terry Brush, Randy Markham, Bob Dowd, Sharon Thomson and Sandy Milley Regrets from: Bob Anderson and Ken Stokes Pine Lakes Tennis Association Members Present: 29 out of 77 Treasurer s Report: Bill Anderson had given Randy Markham a copy of the Treasurer s Report which he read in Bill s absence. As of January 1, 2017 the balance was $5,559.29. Total income for the year was $9,304.71. Total expenses for the year was $8,472.20. The balance of December 31, 2017 was $6,391.80. Details of the PLTA Annual Financial Report for 2017 are attached to these minutes. Bob Dowd moved to approve the Treasure s Report. It was seconded by Steve Coy. Motion was carried. Minutes of Annual Meeting of March 20, 2017 : These were read by Sandy Milley. Bill Crawford motioned to approve the minutes and MaryAnn Coy seconded. The minutes were approved. President s Report: Terry Brush reported on the following; *Pickle ball - He provided a brief summary of what occurred since last spring when he meet with Julie Flake from ELS. At that time, he was advised that court time would be given to pickle ball. After negotiations, Pickle ball has its time slots which are currently blocked off. He stated that it is important to not go onto the courts until the pickle ball players have totally cleared the courts and have left the area. They have the time until 11:00 am and we should not be going on to the courts until that time. He shared that the times would remain until the (now approved by ELS) pickle ball courts are built. He believed that ELS is working on this process now. * Swift team - An issue occurred regarding subs moving up. Terry stated that with the help of commissioner, swift captains and the board, the issue was resolved. (Please note further discussion on this topic later in the minutes.) * The cancellation of the fall ELS tournament was explained. After discussion with Bill Judges at Lake Fairways and Ruth and Maggie from Pine Lakes they shared that it was a difficult time of year to run a tournament. Terry shared that were given the
same amount of money from ELS, but the amount of money given would be spread over two tournaments and instead of three tournaments. * Resignation of Ruth Sarno - With the resignation of Ruth from the board, Sharon Thomson was asked to join the board and she accepted. Terry thanked her and the members too showed their appreciation. * Crazy Tennis - Terry shared that there was no tennis due to weather but that everyone had a great time with the lunch and activities that followed. * Broadway Palms for Chicago - Terry said that a great time was had by all. Thanks Morgan. *Night at the Races - Terry reported that as ticket sales were way down and the fact that the film had not yet been ordered, it was decided to cancelled it. The date for next year would be kept. What we will do on this date will be decided later but it is important that we hold on to the date and not lose it to another organization. *The January ELS Tournament - A big thanks was given to Maggie, Randy and Bill. It was a great time. * Feb 9 and 10 is the next ELS tournament. Terry asked, that due to the Men s Home Show using the parking lot, that we park on the grass area outside of court 3. If you bring a car please park out on the road. *Pool Party- This is being organized by Dixie, Annette and Linda Dowd. * The Winter dance for this Thursday has 50 people signed up. * March 16th and 17th is the Spring Fling Tournament. Team Updates - as reported on by the team captains or a spokesperson for the team: Swift: Linda Neff shared that they were not #1 anymore, but are now #2 but that they will be back to #1 soon. Blue : Bill Crawford shared that they have had a decent season and are currently in 3rd place. They have a make-up game this week, and their regularly scheduled game, so the landscape could change. White: Ron Garcia shared that before the season started they were #1. They are now holding steady at # 6 and could be climbing or descending. Everyone is having a lot of fun. Red: Steve Coy shared that the red team is doing really well. They beat Herons Glen and are two games over 500. He added of note that Pine Lakes is the only park to only
have Pine Lakes players. He joked that he is still trying to bring along the new additions to the team. He stated that the tennis is competitive and that they are having a blast. Whatever Group: Bob Dowd shared that is going well, with a lot of people participating, adding that there have not been any problems. There have been as many as 26 players. Whoever Group: Linda Roberts shared that it is always well attended with three courts going with drops ins. She reminded everyone that you can come whenever you want even though some players start at 7:30. Come by at 8:00 or 8:30. The courts are booked until 9:30 for Whoever. Nominating Committee: Rick Shaw is this year s Chairman of Nominating Committee, so speak with him regarding positions and the process. Voting of the new (change in )by-law: Terry stated that as we don t have a quorum this would have to be deferred until the next general meeting in the spring. Terry s Thanks: Terry thanked the board, the commissioner and Stu and Kathy Patterson for all of their hard work. During Open Discussion: * Linda Neff, (captain of the Swift team,) took the opportunity to reiterate her understanding that, once a team is formed and we (the swift team) have submitted this, we are no longer governed by the commissioner or the PLTA board. She added that, once the team is formed it goes under the Fort Myers Swift league bylaws. This lead to a small discussion whereby Ron Garcia thought that it appeared that the selection process was still on-going and in progress. Maggie added that is a matter of interpretation when the selection process ends. * A suggestion from Cam Thomson was made. It was that pool noodles be placed around the poles for the safety of players. He stated that he was not making a motion, just a suggestion, that could be discussed at the next board meeting. *For the purpose of clarification it was shared that the Membership List for 2018, is on the PLTA Website and on the tennis bulletin board. *Maggie wished to add thanks to Irwin, Jim and Albert for their BBQ duties on Friday at the recent ELS Tournament. * Maggie shared the buzz about Karaoke Night (for clarification this is what was suggested instead of Nite at the Races.) Maggie and Ron Garcia, and Stu and Kathy Paterson are working on this. It was requested, if you want to either hear or perform
a song, to get the name of the song to Ron ahead of time. It was stressed that you don t have to sing. There will likely be a pot luck supper. * Maggie and Sandy have the idea of holding a Pine Lakes Olympics. Maggie shared that you don t have to play tennis to enjoy this event. Bring along your spouses, we will have teams and you don t have to participate in each event. With show of hands, interest in this event was evident. The date planned for this event is February 24th. * Court sign up procedure discussion. Bob Hayter wanted to address an issue. In summary, there is a concern that all three courts are being signed up by the same person every Sunday at 9:30. He read from the proposed by-law changes, which he stated does not address this issue. He presented that the right way is to have a representative for each court, sign up the court and not have one person signing up all three for the same date and time. Bob repeated his concern in a variety of ways but for clarification the concern is that one person should not be allowed to sign up 3 courts for the same date and time. A person should only be allowed to sign up one court, the one that he/she will be playing on. He believes that what was happening last year and has continued this year, is not fair. Terry stated that the court sign up-committee will meet again and post when the meeting is to take place, so that the issue can be discussed further by all those interested. * Jill requested help for the set up for dance on Thursday at 3:00pm * Linda Dowd wished to put forward the idea of spending some of approximate $6000, on towels or T-shirts. It was shared that the Board did look into this, but it was decided that rather than spending funds on towels, T-shirt, luggage tags, water bottles that the money go towards the tournaments in the way of prizes. Terry shared that this was investigated and discussed and that he did not wish to address the topic again this year. It was suggested by some that the idea be brought forward at the March meeting. Someone could come forward with a detailed proposal, as it does not have to be done by a board member. * A question regarding how much do we (the PLTA) put out to the greater Pine Lakes community? Do we support any charities? Terry responded in saying, yes we do and our most recent donation was given to the Beautification Committee in December. It was suggested that this type of information be included in the Whispering Pines. * On the topic of spending money either towards donations or T-shirts, Bill Crawford suggested that we go a little slow as membership is down and that our only fundraiser was cancelled this year. *Sandy read an e-mail from Kathy Patterson which read in part,
a number of us feel that we should not be using a band or live singer for the dances. Our club is half the size it was when I first arrived. With less than 80 members, many of whom do not attend the dance, and maybe only 20 die-hard dancers at the most, why not use a DJ. Both Ron and Cam have experience, and we have the equipment. Even if we have to lose a downpayment for March, it makes sense to go this route. Instead, spend the money on tennis... which leads to the second suggestion Why not bring a pro or two in to give one or two clinics. The club could either pay for them or subsidize payment for those who are interested. Morgan has a great contact, Kerry, who is excellent Linda Roberts suggested that we consider taking advantage of the clinics offered by Jack Dunmead. There were no other comments or discussion from the membership, but the board would address these suggestions, at the next meeting. At 4:05 pm Rick Shaw motioned to end the meeting which was seconded by Rick Coats. The meeting was adjourned. Respectively submitted, Sandy Milley Sectretary