The location for the Provincials, and the pingolf open running alongside it, has changed to Luch’s place in Newmarket. Contact Adam Becker if you need the address.
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Byelection for TOPL President
With Chris resigning as president, we need to fill the vacancy. As per the rules, we’re opening up nominations to fill the position. In this case, I will be acting as the CRO (Chief Returning Officer) for the byelection. Any eligible member who wants to run for TOPL president should comment on this post announcing that they want to run. You may also post announcements/updates to the mailing list, Facebook group, or any other place you wish, but the official list of candidates will be determined from the comments to this blog post. Nominations are open immediately, and will close at 11 PM on Monday, February 9, 2015. If, at that time, we have multiple candidates for President, then voting will open on Friday February 13, and close on Friday February 27. The winning candidate will take over as league president until the end of 2015, which is when the next regular TOPL election is scheduled.
TOPL Rules updated
We’ve discussed some updates to the TOPL rules to document process and procedures for electing SLOs, removing SLOs, and filling vacancies. The rules page has been updated already, and the relevant sections are shown below. If you have any feedback, or want to discuss these rules further, please use the comments on this post, or contact me directly if you’d rather do so in private.
1.2. Elections
Elections are carried out by secret ballot online every two calendar years, and correspond with the nearest end of season playoffs. The current SLOs are responsible for appointing a Chief Returning Officer (CRO) to oversee the election. The CRO may not run for an elected position, but may be a current elected SLO should they decide not to run for another elected position or term. The CRO will notify all league members that an election is due at least three weeks before the playoffs of the season the election is happening in. Potential candidates for President, Scorekeeper, or Treasurer will need to make their intent to run for an elected position known no later than one week before the election date, after which voting will be open for a minimum of four days before the playoffs. Members may choose to proxy their votes to another eligible member if they so choose.
1.3. Eligibility
Any member who has a valid percentage for either of the two seasons directly preceding the election may vote, and may choose to run for any of the elected positions. Members may not run for more than one position in the same election. There are no limits on the number of terms one member may serve in a position, either consecutively or non-consecutively.
1.4. Removal of an SLO
If a situation arises where an SLO is found to be grossly incompetent, corrupt, or otherwise unfit to continue to perform their function, league membership may force their early removal. A petition signed by 50% of the current or prior season’s active members (i.e. members with valid percentages) presented to the other SLOs will trigger an immediate referendum on removal of the SLO. This will be carried out in the same manner as a regular election, albeit with one of the other SLOs acting as the CRO. The SLO will be removed from their position in the case of a vote in favour of removal by 2/3 of the eligible voters. Should this occur, the remaining SLOs will take over the removed SLO’s duties until a suitable replacement can be found via a byelection. Byelections proceed in the same manner as a regular election, with the exception that the CRO may choose to condense the timeframes in the interest of filling the vacancy more quickly.
If there is less than three months remaining in the current term, the remaining SLOs may choose to appoint a league member to fill a vacancy instead of holding a byelection, however every effort should be made to keep three SLOs active at all times.
If a situation arises where an SLO voluntarily resigns, then the provisions above for a byelection will apply.
Scores and standings-week 11
Thanks to Eddie for hosting everyone this week, and for keeping everyone well fed as usual. We had one new member join this week, so welcome to Glenn. Even this late in the season it’s not too late to join-remember that the $30 league fee also covers entry into the playoffs as long as you pay before week 15. After that, it’s a $50 entry for the tournament.
League management changes
Just a bit of business to take care of;
I am resigning from the position of president of the Toronto Pinball League at the end of the current season. I’m announcing it now so that the league can decide how they want to fill that position.
The terms for treasurer and scorekeeper go on until 2016, so they can organize the process. Alternatively, the position could be left vacant till the 2016 elections or if less than 2 candidates step forward, a new president can be named.
I’ll ensure a smooth transition, passing ownership of the topl.ca and topl.org domains. The website is currently hosted on my server, but I will grant ftp access to pull and transfer the site to a new server under league control.
I’ll continue as a member, paying my league fees and continue playing pinball.
Thanks for the opportunity of being part of the league and I look forward to what the future brings.
Chris
Scores and standings-Week 10
Thanks to Chris F for hosting everyone this week, and for giving everyone a chance to get a Mustang LE into league play. Of course, two league nights in there’s now a precedent for Chris having a new game every time he hosts, so we’ll see whether there’s any changes to the lineup next season. For now though, we have five more weeks to go in the regular season, which now counts for WPPR points, so the final points tally matters more than ever!
High scores this week went to:
Alive and flipping: Resurgence in pinball machines has players and collectors around the world on tilt
By: David Sanderson
Better than shady land deals and contentious severance packages: When the city council in Oakland, Calif., convened last summer, one of the items on the agenda was a proposal to repeal a bylaw that forbade residents of that burg from playing pinball.
Oakland’s ban, which council members voted unanimously to lift, dated back to the Dirty Thirties — an era when pinball was viewed in many circles as a form of gambling.
“Pinball was illegal in lots of places for years,” says Rick Exner, a Winnipegger who manages an online forum (www.wpgpinball.forumotion.ca), which caters to pinball aficionados in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. “Pinball wasn’t allowed in New York (City) until 1976, I believe, and Chicago, too, even though that’s where most of the machines were being built.”
New Tournament-PCS Pingolf open
The second annual Ontario Provincial Championship will be taking place in Newmarkey, Ontario on Feb 7th 2015!
In conjunction with this event will be a 9 Hole Pingolf tournament!
This is an objective based tournament which each ball that you play counting as a stroke.
The player with the lowest stroke count at the end of the tournament will win the PCS Pingolf tournament!
Even though this is running in Conjunction with the Ontario PCS, you do not need to be qualified in the PCS in order to attend.
The Pingolf tournament will be the first opportunity to get some WPPR points for the 2015/2016 Ontario PCS!
There will be no limit on how many times you attempt to play in the tournament, but only your lowest total score will count.
Each attempt will be $10
Prizes will be paid out as follows:
1 – 50% of Prize Pool
2 – 25% of Prize Pool
3 – 15% of Prize Pool
4 – 10% of Prize Pool
Machines and objectives are still TBD, but will be published ahead of time.
The event will start at noon on Feb 7th and end 1 hour after the completion of the Ontario PCS.
For more details contact Adam Becker, or check out the facebook page for the event.
Scores and Standings-week 9
Thanks to Luch for hosting everyone again in his now more spacious basement. Expanding into a second room means more space to move, but it also means more space for pins, which I’m sure Mike will be filling in the coming months.
Scores and standings-week 8
Happy new year to everyone, and welcome back to the second half of the season. Thanks to Andrew for hosting this week-it’s great to have him back as a host, and it was a good chance to play some really well restored games that aren’t as common for the league.