August 2017

Call to Order and Approval of July 13 Minutes: President Dave Puryear called the meeting to order at 3:37 pm. The minutes of the July 14, 2017 meeting were approved as submitted. Other board members present included Leslie Altick, Marolyn Imaoka, Todd Makler, Alan Polish, and Jody Williams.

Candidate Statement: Stu Goodgold, a candidate for the District 21 seat on the National ACBL Board presented his reasons for running. Stu has served in a number of different positions at the unit, district, and national level (including the ACBL Board). He wants to focus on youth bridge; Debbie Rosenberg said she found him to be helpful in establishing a High School Championship. Stu would also like to bring some basic technological upgrades to the ACBL, e.g., using credit cards online to register for tournaments. The Board thanked Stu for visiting our unit. After his departure, the board discussed the voting process for the national board (each of our directors gets a vote, weighted by the size of our Unit), and briefly reviewed the qualifications of the three candidates.

Firecracker 2017 Preliminary Results: Gill conveyed to Dave that there was little to update. Todd noted that the final bills are almost in and there will still be a sizable profit, although not as much as in 2016 for reasons already identified. Marolyn will send an appropriate thank you to the preschool for allowing us to use their parking lot.

Acknowledging Player Ranks – Discussion: Todd had made a suggestion that to help our Unit be perceived as more friendly, we should acknowledge players as they achieve new master point ranks. The board discussed how this could be implemented and finally agreed that a volunteer is needed to champion this effort. Dave will start the process of looking.

Reports: President – It turns out that implementing last month’s proposal to move Saturday Unit Games to 10:00 am start is more complicated than anticipated. The motion passed in July will have to be amended. Dave will talk to the directors involved abut staggering the start times of the different sections.

Technology Committee – The Technology Committee met to discuss choosing a new web platform. Jody will distribute the minutes and requirements documents to the board. The first clarification was that game results will continue to be listed on the Unit website as well as on Pianola. Jody and Alan Templeton had discussed the merits of moving to the platform used by the Corvette Club versus evaluating a number of different platforms. They agreed it would be best to take a broader look. Bill Bailey has volunteered to research different platforms. One requirement may be to have each web page able to be resized for different mobile devices. Jody expects the process will extend into 2018.

Finance Committee – Leslie and Todd reported that the Finance Committee met to review and revise the first draft of the 2108 Budget. There were no big issues. The budget is still fairly conservative in that there are some known revenue generating events that have not been incorporated. However, the estimated cost of the project to implement a new platform for the Unit’s website similarly was not in the first draft. Nevertheless, the Unit will still be in good financial condition after these changes are added.

Unit Games – In her absence, Gill had Dave report that the July Unit games are below last year’s level. One suggestion was that the food might be varied from game to game.

Treasurer – Todd reminded the board that our policy is to keep an operating reserve that could cover 6 months’ of Unit expenses. Based on the first draft of the budget, he recommends that the amount be increased $4,000 in 2018. Dave will add this item for discussion at the September meeting.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 PM. The next meeting will be on September 14.