ACBL Unit 503 Meeting Minutes 3/05/07
The meeting was called to order by President Alan Cummings. All board members were present except for Liz Blum and Gabriella Bowling. Elinor Tanck was also present.
Administrative
February’s minutes were approved.
Elinor gave the Kibitzer report. It will be a six-page issue with Marion Kelly taking over for Lori.
Maria mentioned that she will feature 90 year olds in her forum article. Also, she said she needs info. No rumor will be ignored.
Alan T. gave the treasurer’s report. The Unit has a balance of $34,165.89, and the Bridge Center has a balance of $29,955.30. The table count, which Alan also reports on, is still going up. It is a little like global warming. If this continues, we will be in serious trouble (with regard to space). As it is, Mondays and Tuesdays are stretching our seating capacity. Since now there is no parking next to the rock climbing room, perhaps we can put a few tables out there.
Since Liz was absent, Alan C. gave us some membership info. The unit has 510 members who are not yet Life Master, 52 who are Life Master, 94 who are Bronze Life Master, and 118 who are Silver Life Master and above for a total of 774 members.
Alan T. and the board discussed the audit that Tom Stevens did for us. We decided to leave the treasurer reporting as it is. That is, we will have two separate entities – the Unit and the Bridge Center.
Alan C. gave the between meetings report. Since we have several games which use pre-dealt hands, he thinks we should get a dealing machine. He has done some research on the subject. The machine plus cards and boards (15 sets) would cost about $7000. The cards which cost $2.50 a deck last about 1-2 years. The pros are obvious. The time saved would be significant. However, the major con is that having a lot of people using the machine is not a good idea. So there would be someone experienced in the use of the machine to make the hands. And this person would be paid as function of how many sets of boards he does. Most directors will not be happy to pay this fee. So …
Alan C. is not going let this go quietly. Stay tuned.
Old Business
Martie reported that the unit game on April 15th will be a Swiss-team game. There will be two directors and 1 caddy. The game will be a potluck with appetizers and desserts (finger food). The game will start at 12:45 so the ravenous hordes can devour the goodies. It will be a charity game and will cost $9.00.
Our storage area upgrade has ground to a halt due to Duane Coleman’s brother’s illness. He has since passed away. Our condolences to Duane and Claire.
Our sublease with Mr. and Mrs. Twisters has been extended 3 years – until August 2011. There will be a 3% per year rent increase over that period. We currently pay $6234 a month. One unfortunate fallout due to the new Mr. and Mrs. Twister is that the back room will probably not be available very often.
Alan C. is pursuing making donations to the unit tax deductible. The donations would be made to the ACBL who would give our unit the money for worthwhile educational projects. There was to be a meeting at the nationals in St. Louis to discuss this.
New Business
Ginger has volunteered to help out at the last day of the National. She will need 30 volunteers.
The artwork will change soon.
Alan C. is looking into the incorporation of our unit as a non-profit corporation. Apparently this will limit the liability of the officers. More coming soon.
The parking wars continue. Twisters cannot block the handicap spaces on the side. There is some question whether they can block the other spaces on the side. Further discussions will follow.
Eric told us more about the Stanford bridge club. It is very informal, but may try duplicate soon. He also is investigating bridge outreach in high schools.
Alan C. cautioned that there will probably be some turnover in game owners in the future. He wants to have us offer a director’s course available to people from other units. Eric will check on this.
We then adjourned.
Dave Wheeler
Secretary