Today, let’s start by giving a shout out to those umpires volunteering their time in the new Shepherd Program. It’s still very small as we are only providing ‘shepherds’ for first year officials, but our list of first year officials is growing substantially, so if you can help out, please let Bob Nasser know. You can reach him at [email protected]. I’m hearing great feedback from those folks who are in the program right now! Keep it up guys!
Next, let me give a shout out to our training teams who have had two outstanding mid-season training sessions. The first was back on the 18th of May and the second on Memorial Day, both at Langley High School. We had more than fifty new umpires being trained at those two sessions. Great work, Paul Porto and all the trainers!
Next, I want to say a few words about the vote this fall to ratify the association constitution and By-Laws. I’d like to remind everyone that the deadline to submit any question or response is June 30th and the address you send those responses to is [email protected]. We will make sure that each message is made available to the entire organization and that if any message has an attachment, we will make the attachment available as well. If we need to make any changes, based on the responses, we will consider them.
Regarding the Constitution and By-Laws, during the board’s discussion, two major issues became apparent. The first is whether or not NVBUA is a labor union or a labor association. I must confess I don’t know the difference, but members of our board have strong opinions about this. You will not find the term “labor union” in the current constitution as presented. That is by design. My plan is to ask the board for funds to seek a legal opinion on this matter in the future. We will report on that issue once we know more. The second major issue we faced is “what kinds of things belong in a constitution and what kinds of things belong in the by-laws”. By looking at the document you will see where we landed. One significant difference is the process required to amend these documents. A constitution requires two-thirds vote while by-laws require a simple majority to amend. Some things about these documents I want to bring to your attention are that the process for requesting an appeal to your rating is better defined, as is a definition of the various levels of membership, and finally a clarification of the responsibilities of members regarding the payment of dues and attendance at meetings.
We will have an in-person “meeting” in July at Capitol One Park in Tysons Corner. The date will be confirmed very soon. Weather permitting, there will be a Potomac College League game going on at the time. If you haven’t been to Cap One Park, I highly recommend you join us. The agenda includes war stories, good times and beer. Remember, attendance at meetings is expected.
More details to follow soon. Check out the state assignments and get to a state game if you can.
Have a great day.
Dave Maher
