Little League elects new board

 Saipan Little League Baseball Inc. selected its eight-member board of directors for the upcoming 2012 season at their general membership meeting las Saturday at the Oleai Sports Complex.

About 35 people attended the meeting after which Ray Yumul, Juan I. Tenorio, Roman Reyes, Yvonne Tarope Camacho, Annie Flores, Peding Tenorio, Robert Magofna, and Remedios Celis were voted in as league officers.

The new board will meet in a separate internal meeting to determine their positions.

Positions include a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, safety officer, player agent, and managers and umpire’s representatives.

The group will also appoint a statistician.

The roles listed above will be announced upon confirmation.

Last year, Robert Guerrero was voted in as president, but resigned just before opening day. Then in an internal meeting, Flores was voted in as president about midway through the season.

Flores conducted Saturday’s election and announced that although the SLLBI is currently completely out of funds, she left the organization debt-free.

There was some confusion at the meeting, as the format of the election was not announced.

The majority in attendance was under the impression that the officers were to be voted in by position at the general election (like last year), however the group only voted in board members with the positions to be decided internally at a later date.

Amend bylaws

Before the election, SLLBI members suggested for some amendments to the current bylaws, which will be discussed by the new board in its upcoming meeting.

Such suggestions included three-year terms for elected board members instead of the current one-year format; restructuring the fundraising system so that the four age divisions can raise funds independently from one another; and annually hosting the CNMI District Tournament on Saipan to save money before the Asia-Pacific Regional Championships.

Expanding the terms was suggested to increase the level of commitment of the officers in an effort to hinder misuse of SLLBI funds.

Breaking up the fundraising pools was suggested in order for each age group to concentrate on determining more accurate budgets.

In the past, the SLLBI used to receive a large lump sum in government funds to pay for the teams competing in the ASPAC. Last year, the CNMI government only provided $10,000 for the teams to travel to the CNMI District event on Rota and did not dish any funds for the ASPAC event held in Guam and the Philippines.

If the amendment goes through, then from here on, the four age divisions would have to fend for themselves in regards to independent fundraising.

Perhaps if enough effort is illustrated, the teams can ask the CNMI government to help provide the remaining balance.

In the past, ASPAC budgets were routinely formulated late and follow up reports were hardly submitted after the events. Past teams also hardly raised any funds independently, which may be a reason the government recently refused funding.

Having Saipan host the CNMI District tournament would be another way for the SLLBI to save money. Saipan, Tinian, and Rota currently take turns hosting the event, however, Saipan has swept the district event for all 15 years of its entirety. The money saved from the travel expenses could be used toward the ASPAC events.

Overall, the assembly had a larger turnout than last season, where fewer than 20 people showed up.