Bond Hour Opportunities

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The intent of the Bond Program is to support maintenance of our facility, which was built and is maintained by the association and its members.  It belongs to all members, and it is expected that all members take ownership and pride in maintaining it.  The bond policy is viewed as a win-win proposal to support this effort as an alternative to raising league fees.  If all teams participate, then work gets completed and the facility improves and teams get their bond money back.  This keeps their league fees down.  If teams don’t participate, the league receives more funding because a forfeited bond is effectively an increased league fee.  The teams have the choice of paying more or putting in a little work to support the facility.

1.  The Amounts:

• The season bond amount will be $400 per team.
• The bond rate will be $25 per hour.
• The target volunteer time per team is 16 hours.

2.  The Program:

• The bond payment is due with the league fees and is cashed at the beginning of the season.
• The bond refund per team will be the bond rate times the number of volunteer hours the team has accumulated over the season, to a maximum of the season bond amount defined in 1 above.
• At the end of the season, and at the discretion of the executive, if the total number of hours is less than what would have been required for all teams to receive a full refund, then the bond rate may be recalculated as the bond amount times the total number of teams divided by the total number of bondable hours.  In this case, the bond rate will be higher than defined in 1 above.

3.  Forfeits & Fines:

• In addition to the above, the League Operating Guide outlines certain financial penalties and fines (for example, forfeits), which should they be incurred by a team will be deducted from the bond refund for said team.

4.  Refunds:

• Bond refund cheques will be distributed to all teams at the Fall meeting.
• Any refunds not picked up within 30 days following the Fall meeting will be forfeited by the team and will be assigned to the general league funds.
• It is the team rep’s responsibility to ensure the Fall meeting is attended and to get their refund cheque at the meeting, and if not, to make arrangements to pick up their refund within the 30 days following the meeting.
• If the bond hour opportunities are very limited in a season, at the discretion of the executive, the volunteer hour component of the program may be deemed void, in which case all teams will receive a full refund minus any fines.
• Bond funds will not be carried from one year to the next, but amounts still owing will.

5.  Tracking:

• At each bondable event, a specific individual will be designated as the bond coordinator and will be present to take attendance and to verify the hours put in by each team.
• It will be up to the team reps (or delegates that are present at the work event) to ensure that their team’s hours are recorded with the bond coordinator DURING the event (not after).
• The bond coordinator participates in the work only after completing their primary goal of tracking attendance.
• The bond coordinator is accountable for counting and managing the hours for each team – all documented hours must be verifiable.
• For meetings (like spring meeting), 2 hours per team in attendance will be counted regardless of the number of individuals present for that team.
• For work events, hours for each participant are counted for each team.

6.  Communication:

• Email is recommended as the best way to get work event information to as many people as possible
• The information will also be distributed via the league web site as well as call-outs from Div Reps.
• Team reps are still responsible for coordinating the participation of their teams in bondable events.