ACBL Unit 503 Minutes 1/15/08
Greetings from your new secretary. Dave will be a hard act to follow but I will try and give you an account of all the proceedings that are fit to e-mail.
Those present: Elinor Tanck, Nita Girand, Martie Moore, David Wheeler, Trina Bowman, Lori Spaeth, Eric Mayefsky, Mike Atherton, Alan Templeton, Susana Krulevitch and Alan Cummings.
Elinor mentioned that there is an excess number of Kibitzers in circulation and the number was cut to 450. New container will be installed by the convention cards.
Eric was commended by everyone for the great job he did on the Forum article.
Alan T. handed out a treasury report and mentioned the the Unit has a $40,552 balance, ahead by $5600 but has not been charged for trash yet. Made $5000 to $6000 on education.
$33,000 in assets for the Bridge Center – Twisters holds a $10,000 deposit. Table count of 7902, with a 3% increase over the previous year.
Projecting for next year: Unit profit of $6000; Bridge Center profit of $4588. Increase in table count of 3%, possible Firecracker intake increase of 3%. We have 3 months’ expenses in the bank.
Considered a late fee for director(s) not paying on time. Payment expected the first 7-10 days of the month.
Nita gave a membership report. We currently have 776 members, 2.24% increase over last year. ACBL fee not paid by all members. Alan C. suggested a new member packet, to stress value of ACBL membership. Average age of members is 67.16 – we need more young ones!
We are interrupting for up to the minute news: Heater has been replaced/repaired as of this afternoon! At a cost of $9000 which is Twister’s responsibility. Hope to get refund within two to three months.
Congrats to Alan Templeton for being voted one of District 21 Goodwill Award recipients. He will be honored at the District Meeting in Sacramento on Sunday, February 17th.
A nice letter has been received for toy donations. It has been posted.
Alan C. 503 Education Fund exceeds $15,000. Possible uses: library and librarians; contact high schools; guest lecture series. The Fund welcomes volunteers Geeske Joel, David Bernstein, Gabriella Bowling and Yoska. Alan would like to head up the Fund. There is no timeframe for spending. All funds are to be used to promote the game and its enjoyment.
Steve – Firecrackers – 1200 flyers printed. 800 taken to Monterey. Calvin Harper will distributethem at other tournaments. Flyers will be posted on bulletin boards and put on websites. Hotel rep ready to talk about 2009 reservation later in the year. This year’s dates are July 2nd to 6th. No down payment was required for Firecrackers. Full payment due by June 15th. Only two people can write checks, president and treasurer. Martie suggested putting tournament chair’s name on the account. Tournament account is very complicated but Alan T. has it all figured out.
Alan C. – A good friend of the unit has donated some very nice furniture – computer work area 2 bookcases and 2 white boards.
Lori feels that the new furniture is a great improvement but center needs more, such as new carpeting, painting, new linoleum in kitchen area, new dishwasher, etc. A wish list will be passed among board members to state their improvement priorities. Alan C. can get us choices of floor coverings.
Lori’s beginner’s class has 76 paid students, with another 8 coming. Her class cleared $5000, after expenses. Easy Game is 12 ½ tables, is growing, has agreement with Claire to use up to 15 tables. Suggestion to get rid of boat table and get a folding table for more flexibility. Same with table outside men’s room.
Beginners’ class too large for two people to handle. Volunteers have helped with the game. The board voted to give 3 volunteers one free play per week and make it retroactive. A free play voucher will also be given to players who graduate from Lori’s defense class as an incentive to continue playing.
Mike – January 20th unit game will honor Hansa, who will be introduced by her friends. Open director at game will receive $5.00 per table or $75.00 minimum. Limited director will receive $5.00 per table or $50.00 minimum. The above was voted and agreed on.
Next month’s unit game will be on the 24th of February, type to be announced. Mike will schedule games into June.
Martie – since dealing machine does not work with Braille cards, this has become a problem for Fred our blind player. To remedy this situation we (or Fred) will get 2 new sets of ACBL Braille cards. The directors will make them and get an extra $10 for this service. If this cannot be accomplished, go back to “shuffle and deal”. The above has to be with the agreement of the owners.
This being the first meeting of the New Year and the new board, a substantial amount of business was covered. Therefore the long minutes. When the meeting was adjourned, some business was tabled until the next meeting because of the late hour.
So be sure to tune in again next month.
Susana Krulevitch
Secretary