March 2014

Brian Samuels, President, called the meeting to order at 3:45 pm. Other board members present were Leslie Altick, Valerie Baldwin, Jim Harris, Todd Makler, Kevin O’Leary, James Stuart-Smith and Jody Williams. Bob Horowitz was absent with prior notice. Elinor Tanck, Kibitizer Editor, and John Prior , a Club Owner, also attended.

Minutes of the prior meeting were approved.

President’s Report: Due to travel conflicts, the May board meeting was rescheduled from May 1 to May 8. Brian further investigated our blast email capability and found that it cannot include attachments. Thus, it will not be used to help reduce printing costs for the Kibitzer. Brian will investigate whether sending a hyperlink in the blast email is possible. Members interested in a digital copy now can contact Marion Kelly and ask to be added to her email distribution list.

Brian had contacted John Prior to determine if he would sell his Saturday game. He was not interested, and expressed interest in starting another game Tuesday evening — hence his attending this meeting. When asked his criteria for a successful game, John stated his goal is to reach 5 tables. Discussion revealed the fixed cost to open the bridge center is small and that a run rate of 5 tables per game would be a fair breakeven point. A motion passed to give John a 6-month period to build his table count to 5. In 6 months, the board will review the situation and either sign an agreement or terminate the arrangement.

Silicon Valley Youth Bridge asked to use our center Friday, June 20 from 6-9 pm. This is Will’s game time, but he has ok’d the request. Thus, the board agreed. Alan Cummings continues to investigate ways for members to make tax-deductible donations to our educational programs. The 2014 directory will be ready by the end of the month. It will cost more to print this year because of using a larger font, there are more names, and more copies to print to accommodate the larger membership. There was a lengthy discussion about the definition and merits of student discounts. The ACBL defines a student as anyone 25 years of age or less who is a student. Discussion led to a motion defining our youth discount as $4 for anyone 25 years of age or less. The unit will waive its $3.75 table fee to club owners, who would subsidize $.25 of the discount. It passed unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report: Owing to higher than expected table counts, the financials year-to-date are ahead of budget. Todd asked that the board approve a negative variance to the budget to cover the $600 higher cost of the directory and $400 for cards and flowers for members who are ill or grieving (a cost that came to light after the budget was approved). The motion passed unanimously.

Old Business: Jim reported the February unit game was a success and that he is optimistic about the March game. The Unit is allowed 24 unit games per year, which award higher points and provide revenue to the unit. As the Monday games have been small, Jim would like to try different days for unit games. Discussion clarified that a club owner does not benefit financially by having a unit game replace theirs unless it is a commercial for that club owner’s time slot. It was moved that Jim be allowed to cancel Monday unit games at will to move them to another day without requiring board approval. This would facilitate trying new formats to increase attendance. The motion passed unanimously.

Jody presented the revised by-laws and introduced a plan to communicate these updates to the members. Our current (and revised) by-laws require two-thirds of the members that vote approve these changes. The communications package that members will be able to access includes an explanation of why the Board is proposing the changes and what is included in the package. It also includes the policy associated with the by-laws, which is detail-oriented and contains things that could be changed with only a board vote (e.g., what is contained in the year-end financial review). Some excerpts from Robert’s Rules of Order will be included in order to clarify that the purpose of using Robert’s is to promote democracy and open communications. Lastly, the by-laws with the proposed changes are included, marked up to show the original and suggested text. The motion to approve the changes to the by-laws passed unanimously. This by-laws document is attached at the end of these minutes. The plan to give members access to all these documents will be finalized next month. The board did approve a motion ratifying the cover letter explaining what is included in the communications package. There will be member meetings to allow members to ask questions about the changes. The board’s intent is to have the changes ratified by the end of June.

James covered the outstanding issues pertaining to the Firecracker. Because Wednesday’s location is limited to the upstairs room, there will be two set-up days this year. James’ contingency plan if too many pairs show up on Wednesday (to which the Board agreed) is to offer free plays (for any other session or at our center). Last year’s sectional had 80 tables on Wednesday, and James expects the same this year. James asked for help publicizing the sectional both at other local units and our own. The tournament will be a “Nice Play” tournament. For the Saturday youth games, James needs two directors to volunteer to run them (with pay). As for next year’s event, the convention center will not talk with us until after this year’s event. James also asked that we look for a co-chair for next year’s Firecracker.

There will be a membership meeting at the March 23rd unit game at 12:30pm. There will be an opportunity for members to ask questions, both in advance and from the floor.

As for the candidate initiatives the board could address in 2014, Brian asked that each board member vote for their top three initiatives. In discussion, the board agreed several of the initiatives will happen by default (e.g., determine the future of the Firecracker, develop our relationship with Club Owners), and others have already begun (e.g., update the by-laws). Therefore, the vote focused on only 10 candidates. After the tally, the following five initiatives were accorded the highest priority and the cited board members will lead the efforts.

2014 Initiatives to Improve Unit 503

1. Increase member involvement in running the unit (Valerie Baldwin, Leslie Altick, Jody Williams)
– Conduct member surveys to help set direction and priorities.
– Manage Volunteerism more

2. Investigate options for us to allow additional tables at our Bridge Center (Kevin O’Leary)

3. Increase weekend attendance: What to do about low attendance games (Jody Williams)

4. BBO – get unit started in online bridge, online will get really big (Jim Harris and Leslie Altick)

5. Become a more pleasant and friendly place to play bridge (TBD)

The meeting was adjourned at 6:04 pm. The next meeting will be on April 3.
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Updates to the Constitution and Bylaws for Palo Alto Unit 503 of the ACBL