April 2018

April 12, 2018

Call to Order and Approval of March 8th 2018 meeting minutes: President Dan Thatte called the meeting to order at 3:42 pm. The minutes of the March 8, 2018 meeting were approved as submitted. Other board members present included Leslie Altick, Kip Kado, Anne Keyser, Geri MacDonald, Alan Polish, Dave Puryear, John Schwartz, and Susan Zhang. Alan Cummings also attended the meeting. The minutes of the February 8th meeting were approved as submitted.

Visitor presentation: Alan Cummings asked the Board to make the position of Tournament Chair for the Non Life Master (NLM) permanent. Over 60% of the Unit’s members are non-life masters. The last three 2-day NLM sectionals have averaged 85 tables. The Unit can offer an unlimited number of 2-day NLM sectionals, but only three 1-day NLMs per year. Alan has been the chair and has helped teach others how to fill the role. Alan has created a template for chairing these tournaments and is willing to work with a new volunteer to set up the next event currently scheduled for November 3. Susan Zhang has volunteered to run that NLM. The Board agreed that these sectionals are a good addition to the Unit’s roster of events. Dan and others will begin searching for a new chair or co-chairpersons.

Alan stated that he is retiring from doing many active projects for the unit.   The board members expressed their appreciation for Alan’s effort in starting and driving the NLM sectionals for our Unit.  His work on the template in particular, will make it significantly easier for new volunteers to manage the NLM sectionals. The Board thanked him for his many contributions to the Unit over the past years, including the lecture series. This year the Lecture series celebrates its 10th anniversary this year: the Board is actively looking for volunteers to move this great tradition forward.

Status of Action items from previous meetings: As requested at the annual Unit meeting, game results for the last week are now posted at the Bridge Center each Friday. A set of instructions for fill-in directors on how to post results to Pianola and the Common Game are in draft form. There was a discussion on better ways to source volunteers, but there was no consensus on an action plan.

Finance report: Per the Board’s plan, Susan prepared a report on the first quarter’s results. Fortunately, table fees are tracking against the monthly estimated budget. This means the decline seen last year did not seem to continue into the first quarter. At this time, no action to reduce expenses or otherwise make a reforecast is deemed necessary. Susan will prepare some year-over-year comparisons for the next meeting.

Parking Lot Lights status: Alan Polish reported that IFES has fixed all the lights and timers for the parking lot. They say they are in the process of adding more cameras. Alan has asked them to post more signs announcing the security cameras.

Update on the firecracker sectional: Dave reported that this month was a dormant period for Firecracker tasks.

New Business: As of this writing, a bulletin board has been located inside the front door. Two-thirds of it will be allocated to posting notable achievements of Unit members (e.g., Master Point advancements, tournament successes, etc.). The remainder of the board will have news about Unit members who are ailing or members (or their family members) who have passed away. The Board also addressed the issues involving lost Unit mail by authorizing a Post Office box rental (in Mountain View) for $96 per year. This will reduce the Unit’s risk of missing insurance payments and tax documents.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 pm. The next meeting will be May 10th.

Respectfully submitted,
Leslie Altick