December 2013

The meeting was called to order at 4 PM by Brian Samuels, President. Present were Board members Brian Samuels, Valerie Baldwin, Todd Mackler, Margot Livenspargar, Kevin O’Leary, Steve Barasch, Bob Horowitz, Sue Griswold, and Lee Haze. Absent were James Stuart-Smith and Sue Barkley.

Also attending: Elected Members of the 2014 Board Leslie Altick, Jim Harris, and Jody Williams; Kevin O’Leary, who is a 2013 Board Member, is the fourth person elected for 2014. The Board has been downsized by vote of the 2013 Board to nine members. John Schwartz, Club Owner, and Elinor Tanck, Kibitzer Editor, were also in attendance.

President Brian Samuels welcomed the new Board Members. He told the new Board Members that only the 2013 Board Members would be able to vote on motions, but that the 2014 Board Members, incumbents and newly elected would vote for the officers for 2014.

Brian then thanked the retiring Board Members Sue Barkley, Steve Barasch, Sue Griswold, Lee Haze, and Margot Livenspargar.

The minutes of the November 21, 2013 Special Board Meeting were approved (Todd).

The following were elected as Officers for the 2014 Board: President, Brian Samuels; Vice- President, James Stuart-Smith; Secretary, Leslie Altick; and Treasurer, Todd Mackler. Jim Harris will be Unit Game Chairman.

Brian announced that Jean Flocks had left a bequest to the Unit in her will. The new Board will decide how to spend the bequest in an appropriate manner.

Brian noted that he had approved the fee for the five-hour Learn Bridge in a Day (LBIAD) would be $3 per person, in spite of the five hour time for the class. The amount had to be submitted with a request to ACBL to hold the class.

Brian thanked Paul Davis for generating some positive comments from some of the neighbors of the Bridge Club. Brian and Paul will meet with these two neighbors in the new year. He also thanked Steve Barasch and his committee for deciding on the Service Award, recipient Val Baldwin, and the Sportsmanship Award, awarded to Kevin O’Leary. A special award is to be given to a person involved with the Bridge Club. Todd moved that a $40 expense be approved for the plaque for this award. Passed.

The invitation from the Diablo Valley for a Club Tournament was regretfully declined.

Treasurer’s Report: Unit Funds, $89,411, and Education Fund, $4445. Todd also gave a short explanation of the Treasurer’s complete financial reports for the benefit of the new Board Members.

Brian agreed to find a qualified accounting person to conduct a year-end examination of a few key items of our financial records.

Bob announced that the Unit has purchased a $1,000,000 D&O insurance policy which includes the duty to defend up to that amount and has a deductible of only $1000.

Val reported that Larry Cohen has been engaged to present two full days of instruction and/or play in July of 2015. It will be held on a Friday & Saturday. His fee will be 75% of the door receipts.

Lee distributed the Director’s Manuals to Members of the 2014 Board.

Elinor reported that the next Kibitzer will be six pages.

Fred Chaslow, President of Unit 498, Burlingame, has approached the Unit about holding a joint NLM tournament May 17 & 18, 2014; one day there and one day at our Bridge Club. Kevin moved that a committee be appointed to see if the details of this could be worked out. Passed.

Kevin reported that a City Health Inspector had visited the Bridge Club. The recommendations he made will be implemented. The major complaint was players entering the kitchen. Kevin moved that a small refrigerator be purchased at a cost of less than $150 to be placed in the food service area for members to use for occasional items. Passed.

Sue G. moved that the Unit subsidize the SiVY (Silicon Valley Youth Bridge) use of the Bridge Center for the year 2014. This would include an event for the youth participants as well as a board meeting and a teacher training meeting each month. Brian amended the motion to run for six months. Passed. Amended motion passed.

The bid box mounting on the corners of some of the tables has received good reviews. These tables will be deployed in a more crowded area to see if that is viable.

Val reported that there has been no movement on the cost of installing HDMI for the Audio/Visual equipment. Alan Templeton has said he will make an effort to contact the company that originally installed the current equipment.

The next Board meeting will be Thursday, January 9, 2014, at 4 PM at the Bridge Center.

Respectfully submitted,
Margot Livenspargar, Secretary