March 2017

Call to Order & Approval of February 9 Minutes: President Dave Puryear called the meeting to order at 3:35 pm. The minutes of the February 9, 2017 minutes were approved as submitted. Other directors present included Leslie Altick, Gill Barsley, Marolyn Imaoka, Todd Makler, Alan Polish, John Schwartz, Jody Williams, and Susan Zhang.

Firecracker 2017 Update – Gill reported that she will be having a logistics meeting with Bruno Avila, the new president of IFES to talk about what changes to make from last year’s Firecracker. There will be an ad for the sectional in April’s Forum and all the flyers have been printed. SiVY wants to hold a pizza party between sessions on Saturday. Their concern is that at last year’s Firecracker, newer players did not get the hoped for acknowledgement. The Board agreed to the pizza party and trying to provide more attention to the youth players.

Walter Miller Recognition – After discussion, the Board passed a motion to have a one-time plaque memorializing some of Walter’s memorable quotations, such as “welcome to our table,” “be nice to your partner,” and “think slam.”

Animal Policy – Michelle Musy is hoping to get a new puppy (miniature poodle). However, she feels it unwise to leave a young puppy home alone for its first few months while she continues to play bridge. She asked the Board to consider her temporarily bringing the puppy, crated, with her to games. She assures the puppy will be quiet and not a problem for people with allergies as poodles are considered to be “hypo-allergenic” dogs. The Board thanked Michelle for her request. Many directors suggested taking time to think about this request, gather input from Unit members with allergies, and consider what policy would have to be created to cover this and future requests to have pets at the Bridge Center (BC). The issue will be on the April agenda.

Reservation System – Dave described the Unit’s opportunity to adapt the reservation system used by John Schwartz for all regular games at the BC. By all accounts, it would save directors many hours and improve the player experience. Paul Davis has been testing the system for his Friday game and would like to move forward, suggesting that a single BC system would be easier for players. The developer has not provided a price, but Dave very roughly estimates it could be as high as $2,050/year to customize the existing system and subscribe for all BC games. The discussion covered the non-intuitive nature of using the wait list to sign in for different sections, whether the Unit should pay for the system vs. having directors pay, and the cost relative to other types of online applications in the market. All directors were reminded there is a Unit precedent of providing directors with services they need to run games. John said he had only looked at one other system before deciding to develop this one, and it was not acceptable. But, there has not been a thorough evaluation of other online reservation systems. Some directors feel some urgency in moving forward because of the hours spent on emails requesting reservations. The Board ultimately passed a motion to authorize Dave to negotiate with the developer to reach a price not to exceed $2,000 per year. We will move forward if he successfully negotiates a price under the cap. The motion passed with one abstention and one no vote.

Reports:
President: The Annual Meeting will be before the Unit game on April 22. We have hired Trish Steele to provide food for the Unit games. Josephine Ventura may volunteer for some of the games as well.

Storage space update: Thanks to some volunteers, the Unit’s rented storage space is much neater. Shelving has been installed. The clean up process will continue.

Claire’s Celebration expense: The celebration for Claire’s birthday took place on March 3rd. The Treasurer and past President reminded Dave that he was authorized to spend up to $500 without prior Board approval, so the expenses were not an issue.

Bidding box cleanup: Dave reported that 5 volunteers came in on March 4th to help make sure all the bidding boxes were complete. Thanks to all! The Unit may need to replace some of the bidding boxes. The issue will be on the April agenda.

Mentor Program update: There are several new mentor/mentee pairs, with more in the works.

Unit Game Awards and Ace of Clubs Awards: The Unit Game award is for the most master points earned at Unit Games during the year by a non-life master and a life master. The Ace of Clubs Awards are for the master point leaders in each ACBL category at Club games. These awards will be presented on 3/18. There is a scheduling conflict for some upcoming Unit Games. Two Unit Games had been scheduled for Memorial Day weekend. This may be a conflict with IFES, exactly what is unsure. Dave is not yet sure whether the issue is only parking. There is not an obvious date to which these games can be rescheduled.

Technology Committee: Jody reported that the committee’s next focus will be on the platform for the Unit’s website. Alan Templeton had reported that the new platform being used by the Corvette Club might be an attractive option. Jody will check with Alan to get his current assessment.

Treasurer: Todd noted that another game recently qualified for the 2nd director discount. But, the owner did not use a 2nd director and did not apply for the discount. This was deemed appropriate as the policy states the discount is only applicable if a 2nd director is actually used. Todd has checked with a number of banks and found that they will not open a higher yielding money market fund account for a 501(c)4. Directors suggested other names to investigate. Todd still needs input on the line item breakdown of the income statement.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 5:22 pm. The next meeting will be on April 13.