MELFORT — Jamie Placsko has stepped down as the Melfort Mustangs president after two years in the role and eight years on the team’s board.
She has been on the board since 2011.
“I’m comfortable stepping down because I know who I’m leaving behind and I know they’re very capable and with everything we put in place they would be fine. I would still like to see them in playoffs.”
Chad Elliot, who was vice president, was selected as the new president. Jordan Lee is the new vice president and Connie Carter is the team’s corporate secretary.
Reflecting back on her time with the team, Placsko said when she came in, it was a heated time, as Darrell Mann had just left as coach.
“A few of the board members were left so there was nothing to go by, there was no one to give any direction so you were kind of flying by the seat of your pants. Equipment, just trying to learn everything, just trying to find everything.”
She said now the team has taken steps to keep efficient records and have strong bookkeeping.
“If you were to come on, say, ‘Here’s the office manager book,’ you go through it and it takes you step by step through everything.”
Trevor Blevins, head coach for the team, said he can’t say enough about Placsko’s leadership.
“Phenomenal, just phenomenal leadership coming from her as president. You can lump in the whole board of directors, just great to work with,” Blevins said. “I just can’t thank her enough for what she did for this organization and she’ll be missed.”
Blevins credits the positive financial state of the team to the work of volunteers.
“You have to give credit to the board and all the work that they have done, they are the leaders of this organization and we’re very happy and pleased to be in a position where things are successful and it’s been an excellent franchise for many years and years to come.”
The team’s account is currently in their $50,000 overdraft. Placsko said this is a good financial state for the team, and it isn’t as bad as it initially appears.
The money the team made last year was put in a term deposit so they could have an overdraft to make sure they had everything paid.
“We are in a good financial state, if you could see where we come from. Our corporate [sponsorship money] is not all in, once all that is in… We’ll be out of that. And that was basically just to make sure our bills were paid and we didn’t owe anybody anything,” Placsko said. “We’ll be out of it, for sure.”
She said during the beginning of the season, it's always a good time financially for SJHL teams, with fresh sponsorship money coming in.
“Then January hits, February hits and there’s a low. That’s when you need the overdraft, for us, to get through the playoffs, or an online auction, or big fundraisers to come in. Now we got steps in place, hopefully when January, February hits we’re not in our overdraft and we don’t need to be.”
Placsko said she feels good stepping down in the team’s current financial state.
“It’s saving for a rainy day and trying to make sure we can pay our bills on regular season and not depend on playoffs. We’re really working towards that and that feels really good.”
