October 2013

The meeting was called to order at 3:45 PM by Brian Samuels, President. Present were Board members Brian Samuels, Valerie Baldwin, Margot Livenspargar, Todd Makler, Sue Barkley, Kevin O’Leary, Bob Horowitz, and Lee Haze. Absent were Sue Griswold, James Stuart-Smith and Steve Barasch.

Also attending: Elinor Tanck, Kibitzer; Jody Williams, Bylaws Committee; and Alan Cummings, NLM Sectional and Education Fund Chairman.

The minutes of the September Board meeting were approved (Sue B.).

Guest Business Items:

• Alan Cummings reported that he had brought the reports to the Education Committee of the ACBL up to date. He asked that the Board consider sending an email solicitation letter to those who have attended a lecture series presentation in the past to raise funds to support the lecture series. Todd moved that this be done. Motion passed.
• Alan also reported that the NLM Sectional tentatively scheduled for February 15-16 was on hold pending negotiations with IFES.
• Jody reported that the revised Bylaws are nearly ready for presentation to the Board of Directors for further disposition. Text of the revision has been sent to all Board members for review and comment.

Brian approved the use of the Bridge Center at no rent for use by SiVY (Silicon Valley Youth Bridge) for a Youth Pizza Party Bridge Event on 9/27. A policy will be developed to cover this type of use.

The parking lot will be sealed and re-striped on Thursday, 10/31, and Friday, 11/1. The Bridge Center will be closed on these 2 days. Todd moved that the owners of the games that have to be cancelled be reimbursed for the cancellation of their game. This was done because it was a convenience to the Unit to have it done at this time. The loan to IFES was made and will be repaid at the rate of $2000 per month rent deduction.

The Convention Center booking for the Firecracker Sectional is delayed by the Convention Center until December.

Treasurer Todd reported a balance in the General Fund of $83,451 and in the Education Fund, $3877.

Bob reported that the October Unit game will be a Swiss format and the November and December Unit games will be pair format. The November game will not serve the traditional turkey dinner but will instead have dessert. The December game will be the annual catered dinner Holiday party. Elinor will provide the decorations for the October Unit game and asked for help.

Bob said that he had submitted our unit’s application for Directors’ and Officers’ (Member Directors and Officers of the Unit Board) insurance. The application was submitted to the same broker that provides the “blanket” D & O Insurance that the ACBL provides to units.

Valerie said the Kevin O’Leary would replace nominee John Schwartz, who had to withdraw his name from nomination.

Elinor said that the photos and bios of the candidates for the 2014 Board had all been submitted. She also remarked that if there were questions about the history of the Unit, the answers were in the article she wrote for the celebratory July 2013 issue.

Steve Barasch was announced as the Chairman of the Awards Committee, which selects qualified recipients for the Sportsmanship and Service Awards. Nomination boxes will be put out as soon as the election boxes are withdrawn.

The Unit will again sponsor a food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank during the Thanksgiving season.

A Unit email list of those members and friends who have provided their email addresses will be available for urgent notices, not for regular (e.g. monthly) updates as the website provides this information. This will not replace the printed directory. Brian so moved and the motion passed. A policy will be developed for the use of this email list. Barbara Shukov has agreed to be the Administrator of this list.

Val reported that a quote has been solicited from the contractors that put in the original AV system to upgrade the system to HDMI.

Sue Barkley moved for adjournment at 5:15 PM. Carried.

The next Board meeting will be at 3:45 PM on Thursday, November 7.

Respectfully submitted,
Margot Livenspargar