July 2013

The meeting was called to order at 3:45 pm by Brian Samuels, President.

Present were Board members Valerie Baldwin, Steve Barasch, Sue Griswold, Lee Haze, Bob Horowitz, Todd Makler, Kevin O’Leary, Brian Samuels and James Stuart-Smith. Board members Margot Livenspargar and Sue Barkley were absent. Also present were Allen Wolman, Firecracker Chairman and Marian Kelly, Kibitzer.

The minutes from the June 6 Board meeting were approved.

Firecracker – Allen Wolman

The Tournament was a success with 362 players having a lot of fun, facing good competition and earning master points. Thanks to Allen Wolman and his team of volunteers for their excellent work.

Allen’s current estimate is that the tournament lost about $2600 but the finances are still under review. Todd pointed out that it is important to also consider the lost income, which he estimated to be about $2,000 from the Bridge Center being closed during the Firecracker. The main reason for the loss is that our table count was 954.5, which is down 104 tables from last year. Interestingly we had the same number of people playing as last year (362); they just didn’t play as often. Allen will investigate several items related to the expenses including the cost of water, which was $1000 over budget. Allen, James & Steve will do an analysis of why the table count was down and recommend what we should do differently next year to attract more players.

President’s Report – Brian

Brian reprimanded the Board – with 3 exceptions (Val, Sue & Todd) – that they had not responded to his request for input to the “From The Board” Kibitzer article he is writing on the Board’s behalf. This article is planned to run in the next Kibitzer.

Barbara Shukov has agreed to lead a feasibility project to evaluate if and how we can construct a member email list which can be used for communicating with our members, and come back to the Board with a recommendation on how to proceed. Barbara will recruit several people to work with her on this evaluation. This project is not a replacement for our printed directory. Thank you, Barb.

Fran Bennett has agreed to be our new Education Fund Chairperson. Thank you Fran for assuming this responsibility and thanks to Val for recruiting Fran.

Brian is continuing discussions with IFES to get our parking lot re-sealed and re-striped. Brian will review our lease with Mike Atherton to determine if this is IFES’s sole responsibility or if we are somehow obligated to share the cost.

Brian responded to John Prior’s email expressing concern that our current table fees are unfair and have him subsidizing the larger games, which pay less per player. John Prior was advised that the Board has decided not to review the fees now but will review them as part of the 2014 budgeting process and John will be invited to participate in that process.

Treasurer’s Report – Todd

Todd reported that as of August 1, when we make our rent payment of $4,000 (of $6,000 total rent), IFES will have paid off the last $2,000 of the $50,000 we loaned them. Brian has sent an email to IFES to confirm this.

Todd reported that our table count is running slightly ahead of budget but our income from table fees is running slightly below budget because our budgeted income was $13.83 per table versus our actual year-to-date of $13.66 due to increased activity in our larger games.

Documents presented by email from Todd to the Board showed a balance of $72,819 of liquid assets in Operations and a balance of -$1,390 in our Education Fund.

Kibitzer Report – Marian

Marian reported that this month’s Kibitzer will be 6-pages. She also reminded everyone to be sure to read last month’s special 50th Anniversary Kibitzer. The Board thanks Elinor Tanck for all of her extra work on the Anniversary Kibitzer. Marian also commented that she is seeing a trend towards more interest in digital distribution of the Kibitzer rather than print.

Follow-up On Previous Business

Kevin reported that carpet cleaning and interior painting has been scheduled during the Bridge Center’s shut-down for the All Western Regional in August. Spot cleaning of the carpet has been done. Thanks to Sue Barkley for the extra work she had to do removing and replacing the art-work due to the painting having to be delayed until August.

The Board decided not to proceed with the Incorporation of Unit 503 because the risks did not seem high and the Unit has Liability Insurance and the ACBL provides Director’s and Officer’s Insurance.

Val reported that A/V system is still not working as it should but that it was satisfactory.

Kevin is continuing to investigate mounting our bidding boxes and hopes to have a trial with a few tables at some point in the future.

Steve reported that the trophies and plaques will be hung on the wall which is straight ahead after coming in the 2nd double door, after the painting is complete.

New Business

James reported that the Second Harvest fundraising at the Firecracker tournament was succesful. We actually raised $6,067 and ¼ barrel of food versus our goal of $5,000 and 7-barrels of food. This was a huge success for Second Harvest. Thank you to James & Lothar Klatt for leading our efforts and thank you very much to all our members who donated so generously. Lothar has agreed to lead this at next year’s Firecracker. Thanks Lothar.

The Board confirmed our decision to continue our Second Harvest fundraising at future Firecrackers and decided to only do Second Harvest at our Bridge Center once or twice per year around Thanksgiving and/or Christmas.

Lee reported that he is having trouble defining the structure and content of the Board of Director’s Manual that he is creating. It was suggested that he narrow the manual to contain all policy decisions made by the Board.

Sue reported that Youth Bridge is conducting their Teacher Training program (TAP provided by the ACBL) and expect to accredit 35-teachers, next week at our Bridge Center. Also, Youth Bridge is now affiliated with The Center for Bridge Education, a 501(C)(3) charitable organization, which will enable tax-deductible donations.

Brian suggested that the Board consider reducing its number of members to 7. People do not need to be Board members to agree to do important jobs at the club and the large Board has members who don’t have significant club responsibilities. The Board members agreed and a committee of Brian, Sue & Bob was formed to analyze this idea and report back at the next Board meeting. It was suggested that some “long-timers” be consulted for their perspective as well. BTW, the Bylaws already say “the Board should consist of a minimum of 7-persons” so no Bylaw changes would be needed.

The Board agreed to start future meetings at 3:45 pm.

The next regular Board meeting will be Thursday, August 1, at 3:45 pm at our Bridge Center.

Respectfully submitted,
Brian Samuels, filling in for Margot