November 2014

Brian Samuels, President, called the meeting to order at 3:45pm. Other board members present were Valerie Baldwin, Jim Harris, Todd Makler, Kevin O’Leary, James Stuart Smith, and Jody Williams. Leslie Altick and Bob Horowitz were absent by prior notice. Marian Kelly, Nancy Layendecker, and Carolyn Chaney also attended.

The minutes from the October 2nd meeting were approved.

Reports

Kibitzer

In the wake of Elinor Tanck’s untimely passing, the Board decided to have an annual game in her honor, and create a memorial plaque. The first memorial game will be the November unit game; it was suggested that posters be created for the game. Carolyn Chaney and Jody will collaborate on the plaque.

As to the management of the Kibitzer, Carolyn volunteered to be co-editor with Marian Kelly. Elinor had been responsible for sourcing the content for the Kibitzer. Marian requested that people who have content contact her; she will send an email blast to members asking for topics. The Board will form a subcommittee next year to discuss the future of the Kibitzer as part of an overall review of Communicating With Our Members. This will include a review of our Email Blast capability and a recommendation on if it should be used as a regular part of our electronic communication. The committee is likely to do a survey to find out members’ preferences for communication, in part to determine if more electronic communications are desirable.

Guest Presentation

Carolyn requested that the Board consider offering a second Learn Bridge in a Day class in 2015. Since the funding for the 2014 class was a one-time grant, she asked that the event be approved with the understanding that it would run at a deficit of $700 – $1200, due to the fee charged by the ACBL instructor. Geeske Joel has agreed to pay for the transportation expenses for the teacher and Kathy Harper has made a $250 donation. There was discussion of a unit member being trained to lead the class, but no one has committed to do this. The motion to fund the event passed unanimously.

President’s Report:

Last month’s decision to approve transferring $6000 to the Education Fund, had not explicitly included funds for library. After discussing whether to create separate funding for the library, a motion to include the library under the allocation for the Education Fund passed unanimously. The San Jose unit was disappointed that we did not cancel our Friday day game during their sectional. The Board Brian will communicate to San Jose that we will not require closure as our unit would need to compensate the club owners if we did. Our club owners do voluntarily close Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday to accommodate their sectional. Some of our club owners have consulted their attorneys to determine whether there are liability issues for them if they take the defibrillator training and subsequently use the defibrillator. Some have been advised not to do so. Training will be delayed until this matter is settled. The Mentor/Mentee program has requested $1,000 budget for 2015. The Board requested that the program submit a proposal detailing its planned spending for a specific event and the Board would evaluate that on a case by case basis and then consider including Mentor/Mentee in the 2016 budget. Brian will inform Alan Cummings.

Treasurer’s Report: Todd reported the Unit will be in the black for 2014. He would like to see the funding of the Education Fund included in the finalized 2015 budget. Brian clarified that the motion approved at the last meeting was only for 2015 and only because of our sizeable cash surplus. It is expected that for 2016 the Education Fund will return to doing its own fund-raising.

Firecracker: James reported that with $11 table fees, the 2015 Firecracker would show a small loss. With a $12 fee, the sectional would earn roughly $3,000. There were complaints about the $11 table fee in 2014. James is graciously continuing to do the preliminary work on the Firecracker, but we need to find someone to be chairman of the event or we will not be able to host the tournament as it has be structured in the past. Brian will seek a volunteer via e-mail blast. Failing to find one, we will cancel the currently planned 2015 Firecracker. Costs for future Firecrackers as currently configured are projected to rise, necessitating a change in format independent of what happens in 2015. The Board will need to quickly form a committee to determine our sectional strategy for the future. James would like to have flyers available for the Monterrey regional.

Unit Games: The Thanksgiving unit game (a pairs game) is in 2 weeks. Lynn Yokel and Will Watson will direct. Beverly Nuding will help organize the pot luck. The charities will continue to be the Second Harvest Food Bank and Mountain View Community Service Agency. Jim reported that research shows that the unit does not need a liquor license to serve liquor, only to sell it. Thus, there may well be wine at the upcoming holiday parties.

Education: No Education report.

Old Business

AV Upgrade: The AV system documentation still needs to be completed. Alan Templeton made a great start. What needs finishing are laminated instructions and details about where the cables are.

2014 Initiatives

There were no updates on most of the initiatives.

New Business

Directing Swiss Teams: Kevin requested that all Directors get trained on how to properly run a Swiss Team game. Will Watson & Lynn Yokel will be directing the 2015 Unit Swiss Games and would like to train our Directors at that time.

Kitchen Shelving: Jody requested that Kevin get an estimate for installing the new shelves that he & Lori agree are needed. Kevin to report back at the next Board meeting.

Committees To Be Formed: It was agreed that committees will be formed by the 2015 Board for:

1. Proper Recognition of Elinor Tanck
2. How To Best Communicate With Our Members (i.e. future of the Kibitzer, possible use of our Email Blast, etc)
3. Future of the Firecracker & Sectionals

The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm. The next meeting will be on December 4 at 3:45 pm in the Bridge Center.