April 2016

Dave Puryear, President, called the meeting to order at 3:48 pm. Directors Leslie Altick, Gil Barsley, Peggy Chen, Paul Davis, Todd Makler, and Jody Williams were in attendance. The Board approved the March 7 minutes as submitted.

There was no new information about the status of the 2016 Firecracker per se. Jody reported that Tom Quinlan has volunteered to help with space optimization for the tournament, as he has experience doing this. She will make sure that James Stuart –Smith and Tom meet to have a walk-through of the Bridge Center, a pre-requisite for optimization planning. Jody will also work with James to organize volunteers to assess which stored chairs can be fixed and used for the Firecracker. This year, the shortfall will be rented.

Some Unit members have expressed a preference tor having another limited section for Unit games. This will be tried for the May Unit pairs game. Dave will contact Kathy Harper and ask her to promote these lower limited games in her beginning classes.

Dave asked the Board to prepare ideas for the May meeting at which a strategy for weekend activities at the Bridge Center will be discussed.

President’s report: Dave will arrange for an outside cleaning service to do the spring cleaning of the kitchen and bathrooms. He will send out an email blast to recruit volunteers to help with lighter cleaning tasks, such as cleaning the bidding boxes, etc. A new issue with parking has been brought to our attention. IFES rents 15 parking spaces to the building at 451 Shoreline, which our members have been filling. As the building is about to be rented, IFES will probably put greater restrictions on our use of those spaces, which we will have to monitor.

Jody reported on the next steps the Technology Committee recommends with Pianola. It will fill our needs for an online directory (for the same price it costs to print our directory). But, Unit members must opt-in to having their information included. There are also changes that directors/club owners must make to how they send in game results. The next step for the Committee is to reach out to the club owners to explain the changes and get their feedback. The Board took this opportunity to belatedly thank Jody for all that she accomplished for the Unit during her presidency and her continuing contributions.

Paul reported that the Peninsula Bridge Education Foundation has been incorporated! He has drafted by-laws based on the guidelines specific to California. He proposed that he, Dave, and Valerie Baldwin (as chair of the Education Committee) be the initial board members of the foundation. Their first task is to approve the by-laws (which will be submitted to the IRS to approve tax exempt status) and appoint the other directors (a total of 5). He will be checking with an attorney to see if the Unit 503 Board can appoint the new board, and if a majority can be members of the Unit 503 Board. The Board approved opening a checking account for the Foundation with the funds remaining from the ACBL Education Fund. The Board thanked Paul for driving this effort so successfully.

Gill reported that the Unit Games are contributing slightly less year-to-date than they did in 2015. However, the Unit did dedicate one weekend to the Non Life Master sectional, which distorts the comparison.

Peggy reported on her ongoing research about potential flooring choices we might use. She checked on the material used for children’s playgrounds. That seems not a viable option as the recycled tires used to manufacture it are strictly for outdoor use. The commercial builders with whom she talked said that for sound proofing and safety, carpet is the best solution. If a hard floor solution is used, it will require the installation of acoustic tile to dampen sound levels.

Todd reported that there are no major variations in the Unit’s financials. He asked concurrence from the Finance Committee chair to open a savings account for the Unit. She agreed and Todd will proceed.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:08 pm. The next meeting will be held on Thursday May 12, at 3:30 pm.