PRESIDENTS LETTER 2019

Dear fellow Football Officials,

First, on behalf of myself and the entire football board, we wish you and your families a very Healthy and Happy New Year.

We enjoyed, in my opinion, a very successful season and as for me, I learned a great deal about running our great organization.

We started off the season on a very positive note in our meeting with Boces and the section eight coordinator. Not only did they entertain our proposal for a revamping of the ratings, they also set up a meeting with the coaches association for our presentation. This was also a success due directly to the efforts of Joe Gottesmen and his committee. Although we do not yet have a system in place, we are on our way. We have requested that the new ratings system be made part of our contract negotiations with Boces.

The assignment of fill ins for each week, was handled through a joint effort of Jay and Frank Sammartano. It was a momentous task considering that most weeks we were missing upwards of ten officials, but they got it done.

It seems that our move to the Green Turtle was well received and now that we have a system in place, we will continue our after game get together at the Green Turtle in East Meadow.

Our continued efforts for fund raising went very well due to the efforts of Tim O’Neil, Jim Hopper and Pete Siegmann, and all of you for making the commitment to support our organization.  With Tim at the helm the dinner and journal were a phenomenal success.  The Modell’s coupons brought in over $400 and the 50/50 was successful, but we can do better!  We look forward to this year and some other options for fund raising.

The reason for our continued (and sometimes annoying) push for funds is to prepare for many different opportunities and situations.  Some possibilities:

-         Purchase of field radios/headsets for each crew.  We all want them and should have them, but short of each crew purchasing the head sets, which will not work for many reasons, we need to raise funds to purchase them.  Can we get BOCES to pay for them?  Doubtful, and if we did, who owns them at the end of the day?

-         We would like to keep monies set aside to help our officials with the turn backs of disputed games, especially the playoffs.

-         We would also like to improve on our year end gift (how many shoe carriers can we have?).

On our agenda for this year is the OCC contract and the inclusion of many points and issues thought to have already been included.

For years we have all been told that the postseason assignments are made by BOCES and they do not abide by the agreement between LIAFO and BOCES.  The fact is there is no written agreement other than what is in the contract.  Our focus this year is to change that and make our By-laws, SOP’s, Contract, BOCES and Athletic Council agree to the same procedure or at least set the stage to bring all of them together.  We have begun the process by forming a committee that will be led by Tom Smith to review our By-laws and SOP’s, and make recommendations for changes.  We will also be finalizing the contract requests to be presented by the OCC in the spring.

I cannot stress enough the importance for our membership to understand, adhere to and follow our By-laws and SOP’s.  Many of the perceived violations for which we continually blame BOCES are not violations at all, and we need to update our By-laws and SOP’s to be fair and reasonable, and coordinate better with BOCES and the Athletic Council.

If you believe a By-law or SOP is incorrect or unjust, let us know and we will consider a change.  Any action we take has to be for the betterment of the association as a whole.  The most important part of this is protection of our fellow officials.  We have many policies and procedures in place to deal with ethical issues, but self-control is the most important part.  If you have an issue, bring it to our attention.  If you do not want to present it to me, bring it to one of the board members.  It will be investigated and dealt with appropriately.  Now, more than ever, we need to stand together and united.

If you have issue with anything, bring it to our attention. If you do not want to present it to me, bring it to one of the board members. It will be investigated, and a resolve will be reached.

My phone is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Never, ever hesitate to call me. 516-582-3560 or email at uncotis@aol.com or bdethomasis@enclos.com. If you need immediate assistance, it is better to call me or email my work address, (bedethomasis@enclos.com) or contact Frank Sammartano (Laxman813@aol.com) or Peter Siegmann (p1ziggy@aol.com), respectively if you feel more comfortable.

We will be posting the upcoming board dates and meeting dates on the web site. Please read them and feel free to attend a meeting of the board. My only request is that you let me know at least one week in advance and if you would like to speak, let me know at least two weeks in advance so we may prepare for your requests.

Happy 2019 and see you in the summer!

All the best,

Bob DeThomasis