Minutes From BO meeting on 2-27-12

• In Attendence: Tony Chaney, Craig Queen, Dan Underwood, Scott Suggs, Kelvin Reagan, Jeff Patterson, Eddie Horne, Christine Horne, Scott VanPelt, Rhonda VanPelt, Brian Pate, Hunter Armstrong, Kevin Bowman, Mark Yount and Sharon Gibson.
• Kelvin Reagan read through the duties of each officer and the role they play within the Belmont Optimist Organization and talked about the current Board members: Craig Queen, Dan Underwood, Tony Chaney and past presidents Kevin Bowman, Kelvin Reagan, Eddie Horne and appointed board members Mark Yount and Terry Robinson. He also discussed that there is a separate Athletic Board that is made up of the current BO president and past presidents, Kevin Bowman, Kelvin Reagan, Eddie Horne and treasurer of Belmont Little League Football(BLLF), Mark Yount.
• Rhonda VanPelt updated on Oratorical event. We discussed cash prizes and a motion from Kelvin Reagan that Rhonda can spend up to $500 on prizes and medals for the girls and boys winners. Eddie Horne seconded the motion and all were in favor.
• Craig discussed baseball and stated the draft will take place this upcoming Saturday and was looking for help to clean the concession stand and sell drinks and candy. Looking for volunteers to run concession this Saturday and encouraging all Optimist members to sign up for running the concession stand 2 times during the regular session. Craig will send out game schedules when it is available. Also discussed that we are down one cooler. Kelvin made a motion the BLLF will buy a cooler for the concession stand, it was seconded by Mark Yount. Christine Horne will also follow up with Giles the Sundrop Man to see if they will give us a cooler, if not BLLF will purchase. All were in favor. Scott VanPelt suggested that we put in a ventilation fan with thermostat to help pull heat out of concession stand and hopefully extend cooler life.
• Scott Suggs talked about football and possible changes to Great Gaston becoming Piedmont where we bring in Lake Wylie, Clover, Blacksburg and Hickory into our league. He will keep us posted. Also we may do away with Mighty Mite South and run a Mighty Mite team consisting of 9 thru 7 year olds. If we have enough we could possibly have 2 of these teams. This alignment would help us play more teams from Charlotte and other areas. Scott will keep us updated. Scott is going to take 50 helmets to get refurbished and we will purchase 30 new ones. Scott had Eddie closed his ears when he said we will be throwing away 60 helmets.
• Dan Underwood brought up whether we should sponsor a Baseball team for $300 after many opinions we decided to table this idea, since we in essence support the league.
• We all agreed that we should do something special for Ben Washam who got a $500 scholarship from Pop Warned for college, we will include this presentation in the March meeting.
• Craig brought up sponsorship for the Optimist Boys Home, Scott Suggs had a motion that we send them $300 and Kelvin Reagan seconded the motion. Scott VanPelt amended the motion that it should be donated in Memory of Red Painter. All were in favor.

• Next Meeting will be announced shortly for March which we will award Optimist of the Year and recognize Ben Washam and his award from Pop Warner.

Minutes from Jan. 30th Meeting at BFSC
Attending: Tony Chaney, Gil Aguirre, Dan Underwood, Craig Queen, Kelvin Reagan, Brian Pate, Jeff Patterson, Tim Painter, Anthony Canterberry, Terry Robinson, Kevin Bowman, Eddie Horne, Christine Horne, Scott VanPelt, Rhonda VanPelt, Sharon Gibson, Guy Dorfmeister, Mark Yount and Sirdal Bradley.
• Opened with a prayer from Scott VanPelt.
• Announced the 2012 Board for Belmont Optimist, Craig Queen- President, Dan Underwood – Vice President, Tony Chaney- Secretary/Treasurer.
• Special Message from Anthony Canterberry who has returned from his tour of duty and presented us with a framed flag that was flow on Christmas Day 2011 and his units ensignia. Thank you Anthony for your service.
• Discussed open positions that we are looking for volunteers, Fundraising and concessions.
• Reviewed upcoming calendar, March meeting will be Optimist of the Year for 2011, April 2nd Oratorical Contest at Belmont Foursquare Church, May “Belmont Police Officer of the year 2011.
• Tony updated us on our account balance and we discussed paying dues early this year to help cover our quarterly dues. Please call, email, text or send smoke signals to Tony to find out your status on dues. Rhonda VanPelt asked if we could send out notices to existing members. We will look into doing that.
• Our big goal this year is to get a hookup for septic so that we can build bathrooms and have running water. Kelvin is checking with Duke Power to see if we can hook on to them, if not Terry will start with Gaston County to survey for septic. Craig will follow up with Jill from “Garden Park Toll Road” to verify field is still not going to be affected.
• Update on sports- Basketball – Gil and Kevin B. said season going great had 380 kids participate. Coaches game this Saturday Feb. 4th, this is a fund raiser for Belmont Optimist so please come out and support. Baseball- Sign up start Feb. 1 and go through Feb. 11th. Football- Nothing new to report. Cheerleading – Nothing new to report.
• Everyone interested in coaching baseball or football needs to let me know so that the Athletic Board can start placing coaches and working on any certifications required by Pop Warner. We would like to have the coaches decided on by March.
• Open Discussions
• Gil suggested that we do a “Dunking Booth” a city festival for a fundraising idea.