June 7-8, 2014
Crowne Plaza Sacramento
Annual Meeting Minutes (pdf)
CONGRATULATIONS
Tori Carter
Hall of Fame Superior Performance
Diddy Watts
Hall of Fame Meritorious Service (posthumous)
Scott Poddig
Proprietor of the Year
Tre Webber
Star of Tomorrow $1000 Recipient
Morgan Cunneen & Charles Sandfer
Youth State $500 Scholarship Winner
By Phyl Knoll
Sacramento – The USBC California Association hosted a full weekend of events for the delegates attending the 2014 Annual Convention, which was held at the beautifully refurbished Crown Plaza Hotel (formerly Holiday Inn) on June 7-8. The affair was kicked off with the CUSBC Board of Directors meeting from 8:30-11.30 am., immediately followed by the Youth Delegate Meeting/Lunch from 12:15 to 1:30. After catching their breath for 15 minutes, all Adult and Youth Delegates gathered for the USBC Jamboree, moderated by David Prange, USBC Western Regional Manager, from l:45 to 3:30. Prange brought forth numerous plans all the associations can instill to improve membership with an attitude of “TOGETHER WE CAN”.
This year, California USBC and the California Bowling Writers partnered to bring a coming together of bowling leaders and guests for a first ever joint evening Awards Banquet. 125 delegates and guests attended “An Evening to Remember”, which was held Saturday night. Sponsoring the event was the El Dorado Hotel Casino; National Bowling Stadium, and Storm Bowling. The keynote speaker was Jennifer Cunningham, Executive Director of Marketing of the Reno Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority responsible for developing and coordinating the communications, public information, website and social media, creative and all marketing aspects of the RSCVA as well as special events. Cunningham is no stranger to bowling via her dealings with National, State and Local associations and has also been part owner of two restaurants. The agenda for the evening included all Award winners to be honored: Hall of Fame – Meritorious Service (Posthumously): Diddy Watts, Pacoima, (No L.A. County USBC); Superior Performance: Tori Romeo-Carter, Laguna Hills, (O.C. USBC); Proprietor of the Year – Scott Poddig, Bowlium Lanes, Montclair, (San Gabriel Valley USBC/ So. LA County USBC); Star of Tomorrow: Tre Webber, Rohnert Park, (Central Sonoma County); and, this year two Scholarship awards were presented from the Youth Committee, Morgan Cunneen, Vista, (No. County USBC); and Charles Sandfer, Twenty-nine Palms, (Citrus Belt USBC).
The BVL Committee Co-Chairs Rosie Parker and Mabel Sheasley noted that California was recognized at the USBC Convention in Reno for first place in 2012-2013 contributions of $129,766.33 and second place for State Contributions per Member. The top contributions by our associations, based on their membership, were recognized. Nine representatives were in attendance to accept on behalf of their respective association. Current standings of contributions is at $9,055.89 with Citrus Belt USBC leading with $18,000 and Orange County USBC at $10,000.
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Wrapping up the awards ceremonies was Marianne Evans, Secretary of the California Bowling Writers who also had chaired their annual Marijane Viat Writing Award Contest. Each entry had been reviewed by a team of judges who had selected the “best of the crop”, the decision kept secret until this event. “And the winner was… Bette Addington, Bakersfield, (Golden Empire USBC) for her article “Getting Stronger Every Year”. The evening came to a close a bit after 9:00 and much socializing ensued.
Sunday morning found all the registered delegates and guests up bright and early for the 9:00am Annual Meeting. With her term of office expiring July 31, 2014, President Linda Johnson-Pilios would, with much emotion, be presiding over her final CUSBC Annual Meeting. She greeted the delegation and special guests with grace and brought the gavel down at 9:09 am, calling the meeting to order. Lynn Graves, Sgt-at-Arms was asked to present the Memorial and lead the delegation in the Pledge of Allegiance. Officers and Directors answered to the Roll Call by Association Manager Larry Peppers. The Credentials Committee reported 133 Delegates registered and eligible to vote. The 2013 Annual Meeting Minutes were approved as amended. The Rules of the Council of Delegates were approved. The President called on several Committee Chairman to briefly touch on their functions since each Delegate folder contained a written report. However, to allow the state association to be more productive and better serve the bowlers, the Legislative Committee presented four proposals of change in our State By-Laws, all with a recommendation of a Yes vote.
(1) Article V, Sec. A: Board ‘Composition, Authority and Duties – Currently reads: “The management and governance of the association is vested in the Board of Directors that includes the Officer and Director positions. The delegates representing adult membership, Youth Delegates, and Board determine the number of positions on the Board of Directors and their term. The total number of Board members is 24, with 29 total directors. The number of Youth Directors is 8.” The committee moved to adopt. “The management and governance of the association is vested in the Board of Directors that includes the Officer and Director positions. The delegates representing adult membership, Youth Delegates, and Board determine the number of positions on the Board of Directors and their term. The total number of Board members is 18, with 23 total directors. The number of Youth Directors is 6.” APPROVED.
(2) Article VII, Sec. B: Board Meetings Paragraph 2 – Currently reads: “Quorum 16 Board Members constitute a quorum. The delegates representing adult membership, Youth Delegates, and Board determine the number. The committee moved to adopt. “Quorum 12 board members constitute a quorum. The delegates representing adult membership, Youth Delegate, and Board determine the number”. APPROVED.
(3) Article VII, Sec. B: Board Meetings, Paragraph 4 – Currently reads: “Actions(s) Without a Meeting. Actions that are deemed necessary to conduct business/operations of the association may be taken outside of a board meeting by use of mail, e-mail or teleconferencing. This type of action must be permissible by state law and approved by the delegates representing adult membership, Youth Delegates and Board. The procedures found in the USBC Association Policy Manual, Chapter Eight, Section D, Item 4 must be followed. “ The association does allow the Board to vote via mail, e-mail, or teleconference” The committee moved to adopt. APPROVED.
(4) Article IV, Membership and Dues, Paragraph 3 – Currently Reads: “The delegates representing adult membership, and all officers and directors by a two-thirds vote determine and adopt adult dues, if any. The annual state adult dues are $l.00; The annual state youth dues are $0.50. The committee recommended to adopt. “The delegates representing adult membership, and all officers and directors by a two thirds vote determine and adopt adult dues if any. The annual state adult dues are $2.00; The annual state youth dues are $0.50”. After much discussion the proposal was WITHDRAWN and returned to the committee for review.
There was no unfinished business.
Under New Business, President Johnson-Pilios called on Al Hoffmann, Novato, a member of the Nominating Committee to present the slate of the eligible candidates to serve on the CUSBC Board of Directors for the next two years. Since the slate presented offered only one candidate in each office and with no objection, the President declared each elected by “Acclamation”… President: Rosie Parker, Azusa; 2nd VP: Kathy Bruegeman, Cameron Park; Sgt-at-Arms: Lynn Graves; Chula Vista; Dir. #2 Larry Peppers, Petaluma; Dir. #6: Cheryl Huntington, Anaheim; Dir. #8: Larry Campbell, Oroville; Dir. #12: Darvis Lee, Sonora; Dir.#14: Eugene McCown. (The Nominating Committee had been notified by Dir. #4: Melissa Ade, she had submitted her resignation due to moving to Nevada; and Dir. #10: Phyl Knoll and Dir. #16 Chuck Shock, were not seeking re-election.).
President Johnson-Pilios invited reports from the California Bowling Writers, California State Seniors Bowling Association, The California State 600 Club and the California 500 Club.
With no further business, Larry Peppers, Association Manager, on behalf of the entire CUSBC Board of Directors, presented President Johnson-Pilios a beautifully engraved Golden Gavel Plaque. At the same time, David Prechtl, Past President of the San Gabriel Valley USBC and on behalf of the association Board of Directors presented the President, with an engraved Clock Plaque.
With no further business, and although teary-eyed, the President managed to declare the meeting adjourned at 12:15 pm.
CUSBC State Convention Recap — Jamboree Notes
by Bette Addington, California Bowling Writers
The annual CUSBC (California United States Bowling Congress) State Convention took place June 7-8 in Sacramento. Here is a recap of what was discussed at the Saturday afternoon Jamboree that was conducted by David Prange of USBC:
The USBC Jamboree was conducted by David Prange, who is the USBC Western Regional Manager, and someone who we are thankful has remained at this capacity and is known by CA delegates. He started off the session with “What’s Your Story” asking various attending delegates to share with everyone their story of what got them into the sport of bowling and has kept them in the sport. The amazing thing that came out of the few that gave their story was that there was no mention that the awards you got were something that drove you to stay in the sport! Most said it was the friends and family and how important that aspect was to them. Prange enforced that it is important that we “can’t forget where we came from.”
Next up, Prange gave a short recap on what took place at the recent USBC Convention that was held in April at the Silver Legacy in Reno. He shared the fact that there was discussion to remove the caps on dues. Local associations now have the ability to increase their local dues as the cap is removed. State associations can now charge up to $5 if it is approved.
This brought us into the heart of his presentation which was “Together We Can” and he showed a short video that explained the benefits of bowling which was just recently made and featured pros like Parker Bohn to collegiate bowlers to youth bowlers all talking about why bowling is important to them.
He then introduced us to some new USBC membership products. Starting this August 1st, USBC will offer a new youth membership (basic) that is for new sanction youth cards that costs, for example, $10 ($4 of this fee goes to USBC and $6 goes to the local association!). So $4 is the set fee and then the local association can adjust their take to whatever amount they want. There are also upgrades for the youth like for $3.50 more if they want Bowlopolis or $10 more for Jr. Gold, etc.
For the adults starting august 1st, their basic membership fee is just $10 (for a 16-week-or-fewer session) which will be great for new summer league bowlers for next summer. Then if the new basic adult bowler decides to continue in the fall in a winter league, they just upgrade to the $17 sanction card. The only provision for these new bowlers to join as a basic at the $10 fee is the league needs to be set up at the start to accept basic memberships. Prange said summer leagues this 2014 season can still convert to this basic membership but the deadline to do so is July 31st. Prange added the basic for youth fee is $5 for summer leagues 12 weeks or less. This is also another option for local associations to explain to leagues that don’t wish to certify.
Next up is the USBC performance standards for 2014-15. Prange stressed that local association managers need to update their association info timely. He also reminded everyone that local associations need to file their 501(c)(3) by Dec. 31st with the IRS. Filing with the attorney general is every year and Corp. State is every two years. He then showed some pie diagrams showing how different associations across the US rank with things like memberships being processed in a timely manner. Surprisingly, CA ranked 51 percent in this pie chart of getting an “A” grade for processing memberships!
USBC wants to know how associations across the US are doing for their local city tournament participation. Prange suggested if your participation is declining, maybe think about changing the format, like maybe just run a team event, or just doubles and singles?
He then went on with some discussion on providing coaching clinics. He posed the question…”why do people leave bowling? They don’t improve!” He then suggested if your local association has 499 or less members, you should provide one clinic; 500 to 2,499 members for two clinics; and 2,500 or more for three clinics.
USBC provides board education for local association boards. Every local association board member is supposed to watch this video online and take the test afterwards. This is supposed to be done by Sept. 30, 2014.
Next up, social media. Prange said, “If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest!” And, the fastest age group growing on Facebook is 55-64 year olds with a 79 percent increase since 2012.
He left us with the challenge which was to “Pick one thing and do it this year.”
David Prange, USBC Western Regional Manager
817-385-8327
[email protected]