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Sonoma Valley Youth Soccer Association

Minutes for the Annual Meeting

7:00pm, December 7, 2009

Room 110, Sonoma Community Center, 276 East Napa Street, Sonoma

Voting

Voters were able to vote from 7 p.m. onwards. The Registrar (Renee Caruso) had prepared a list of eligible voters. Voters were checked off and ballots distributed. Per the by-laws parents/ legal guardians with two or more registered players were given two votes, all other members got one vote.

Candidates

There were twenty-two candidates and two “write-in” candidates on the ballot for the 15 available positions.

Candidates listed on the ballot were as follows: Lynn Abaté-Johnson, Rudy Bryson, Adolfo Contreras, David Diamond, Jean-François Ducarroz, Jaime Evina-Galindo, Vikki Griggs-Demmin, Camerino Hawing, Sam Honey, Troy Marmaduke, Teri Miller, Colleen Paul, Randy Peterson, Nilda Pizano, Edwin Richards, Dino Rossini, Marc Sloop, Matthew Tippell, Jim Van Sickle, Deidre Verdu, Greg Volker, Phylis Wakefield. The write-in candidates were Scott Miller and Gaudencio Beceril.

Welcome

The secretary outlined the voting procedure and the agenda and verified that all write-in candidates had been declared. He acknowledged gratefully the help of the registrar and expressed appreciation for the presence of the two independent observers, former board members Pamela Wiley and Eamonn Fay.

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

President’s Remarks

President Sam Honey gave a brief overview of the season and said he was looking forward to 2010. He thought 2009 had been a great year with 1,270 players registered despite the difficult economy. He expressed optimism for 2010, a World Cup year.

Candidates' Introduction and Speeches

The secretary introduced the candidates alphabetically as they appeared on the ballot and one by one they gave speeches in support of their candidature. The recommendation was that candidates speak for not more than one minute. Most candidates were briefer. Some absent candidates had people speak or read statements on their behalf.

After the speeches, the secretary asked if anybody had any questions. There were none and so voting proceeded. Voting closed at 8 p.m.

Ballots Counted

78 ballots were counted. In addition two ballots were disqualified by the Independent Observers (the disqualified ballots had 16 votes, the limit of votes was 15).

Complaint

A male parent registered a complaint with the secretary after voting had closed.  The male parent and his wife had separated.  The wife had been given two ballots for his family, with the result that he, when he arrived later to the meeting, had initially not been given a ballot. The registrar had subsequently given him a ballot.  The parent felt that his wife’s second ballot should not be counted.  Unfortunately, there was no way of identifying the wife’s second ballot, so it could not be removed from the ballot box.  Following ballot counting, the registrar called the wife to obtain information which verified that the way she had voted did not affect the overall results of the election.  On hearing a summary of the conversation relayed by the registrar, the independent observers determined that the results of the election were valid.

One observer suggested that in future, only one ballot be given out per parent, in which case if a family was entitled to two votes, both parents (/legal guardians) would have to be present at the meeting in order to get the total of two votes for the family.

Elected Candidates

Pamela Wiley read the names of the elected candidates in alphabetical order. They were as follows: Lynn Abaté-Johnson, Adolfo Contreras, Jean-François Ducarroz, Jaime Evina-Galindo, Vikki Griggs-Demmin, Camerino Hawing, Sam Honey, Colleen Paul, Edwin Richards, Dino Rossini, Marc Sloop, Jim Van Sickle, Deidre Verdu, Greg Volker and Phylis Wakefield. .

New Board of Directors Meeting

The new board then met briefly to elect a President and a Secretary. Deidre proposed the election of Edwin as Secretary. Phylis seconded. The vote was carried unanimously. . Deidre then proposed election of Sam as President. Jean-François seconded. The vote was carried unanimously.

The Secretary gave provisional notice that the next meeting of the Board would be held January 6, 2010, though warned this might be subject to change if the usual meeting space was not available.

The meeting adjourned around 9.15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Edwin Richards, Secretary.