July 2018

July 12, 2018

Call to Order and Approval of June 14, 2018 meeting minutes: President Dan Thatte called the meeting to order at 3:42 pm.  The minutes of the June 14, 2018 meeting were approved as submitted. Other board members present included Leslie Altick, Kip Kado, Anne Keyser, Gerry MacDonald, Alan Polish, Dave Puryear, John Schwartz, and Susan Zhang.  Alan Templeton, Jody Williams, Carl Baeuerlen, Jim Hulseman, and Stu Goodgold from District 21 also attended the meeting.   

Finance Report:  Susan reported that June and year-to-date results are tracking with budget.  She has been investigating the possibility of opening some type of higher yield account for the Unit’s cash balances.  The financial institutions have indicated that although we are a nonprofit, we must also be incorporated in order to qualify for such accounts.  Dave Puryear and Paul Davis will work together on the incorporation process.

Firecracker sectional results:  Carl and Don shared the preliminary results from the Firecracker.  Revenues were down from 2017 levels, but expenses were down more, still producing a profit   Carl, Don, and Susan will analyze the revenues and expenses line-by-line to more finely detail the expense discrepancies from 2017.  This analysis will determine the size of the profit  

NLM Regional:  Stu Goodgold as Tournament Coordinator for District 21 addressed the Board to describe the Non-Life-Master Regional being introduced by the District in 2019.  Gold and red points will be awarded at these Regionals.  If offered in conjunction with a sectional, the tables played in the Open sessions contribute to the calculation of the number of Gold points available.  As with our previous Non-Life-Master sectionals, online signups are permitted and, if held in conjunction with a sectional, might mean that Life Masters could be turned away if more NLMs are attracted to the format.  The Unit could assume all the revenues and expenses or share the risk with District 21.  The Board asked Carl and Don to provide information on how much excess capacity we had on the weekend at this year’s Firecracker (the Regional must be a 2-day weekend event) before deciding whether to hold a regional in conjunction with the Firecracker. 

Technology Report:  Jody and Alan Templeton said that all the critical things needed for the launch of the new site are in place.  They recommended and the Board concurred that several and different types of announcements about the new site should be made.  The directors will make announcements at their games and the Unit will send out an email blast.  Gerry will draft the email blast.  The site has been engineered so that if members continue to log into paloaltobridge.com (the old site), they will automatically be directed to the new site at paloaltobridge.org.  The tentative launch date is July 23^rd.  Alan requested that the Board name one person to be the arbiter of schedule conflicts on the Bridge Center calendar.  Dave has volunteered to take that responsibility for the rest of this year.  Gerry will teach the club owners how to post club closures, the North American Pairs (NAP), and other such events.

Mentor Mentee Program update:  Anne sent a letter in June asking existing mentors if they would “graduate” their current mentees and take on new ones.  Most of those who responded said they would.  She also has drafted an email blast to recruit new mentors among our life master unit members as well as mentees.  This will be distributed this week.

New Business:  Dave has volunteered to be the electronic contact for emails sent to the webmaster by people interested in finding bridge games on the Peninsula.

Celebrity Speakers:  Valerie Baldwin’s role as head of the Education Committee has been split into two jobs.  Bill Dougherty will be the Unit contact with the teachers to make sure their classes and events are on the calendar.  Agnes Lee will be the coordinator for celebrity speakers.  In that regard, the Unit needs a more defined process with IFES to be able to book dates a year in advance, as many of these speakers require, to avoid conflicts with IFES and resolve parking issues.  Alan Polish and Alan Templeton will set up a face-to-face meeting with IFES to see if an agreement can be reached. 

Adjournment:  The meeting was adjourned at 5:20 pm.  The next meeting will be on August 9.

Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Altick
Secretary