May 2016

Dave Puryear, President, called the meeting to order at 3:53 pm. Other directors present included Leslie Altick, Gill Barsley, Paul Davis, Jim Harris, Marolyn Imaoka, Todd Makler, and Jody Williams. The Board approved the minutes of the April 14 meeting as submitted.

Firecracker: James Stuart-Smith, Tournament Chair, reported on the plans for the sectional. He noted that if we can attract players to fill 850 tables, the Unit will make a small profit. If we achieve 1,000 tables, we stand to make over $8,000. A major effort to entice our Unit members could make the difference. More players from other units attended last year. Steve Lubeck, our parking chair has everything well under control. Valerie Baldwin and Carolyn Chaney have agreed to chair the 2nd Harvest Food Bank drive. We still need volunteers to set up and take down the rooms. All volunteers with receive a free coffee voucher. Expenses are being tightly controlled – there is only one director who will require a hotel room. It appears that as many as 100 chairs in storage can be repaired at relatively low cost. Jody will work with some other volunteers to arrange this. All catering will be by IFES. During the week, pairs will be held in the IFES hall, and teams in the Bridge Center. This will reverse on the weekend. Board members will be meeting with the City of Mountain View to obtain approval using the patio with casual table and chairs for lunch.

Reports:

President: Spring Cleaning will be on the 28th. Lori Spaeth will oversee the outside cleaning team and a few Unit volunteers. The board discussed having outside teams clean more than once a year. This will be re-evaluated after the Memorial Day effort. Volunteer Recognition Sunday will be at the May 15th Unit game. The winning and runner-up teams from the Bay Area high school bridge tournament (Palo Alto and Gunn, respectively) also will be recognized. The Board passed a motion to give them free plays. The Unit needs to precisely define “non-life master” for purposes of year-end recognition awards. The Board agreed that “non-life masters with fewer than 500 points” is appropriate. There was further discussion of how best to use the back room. A Unit member has offered to loan us some of his art for the Bridge Center. Dave will accept on behalf of the Unit.

Technology Committee: Jody has drafted a document detailing the steps directors need to follow to enter information after a game into Pianola, the system that will put our directory online as well as provide members with feedback on their games. She will vet it for clarity with Paul. Then a director will try to use the instructions to do an actual upload. James Ward from Pianola will do an interactive demonstration of Pianola for club owners and other interested parties on May 17. Jody will draft an email blast explaining the benefit of Pianola for members and the Unit as a whole.

Finance Committee: Leslie and Todd reviewed the history of the club’s use of “cost center accounting.” Since then, the original reasons for converting to it have now been addressed by formal policies for the Unit. Essentially, this method of accounting adds a layer of complexity no longer necessary. The Board agreed to return to more standard accounting and asked the Finance Committee to handle the proposal for transition.

Education Funding: Paul reported that the new foundation board has been appointed. The President is Valerie Baldwin, Todd Makler is Treasurer, Paul Davis is Secretary, and Dave Puryear and Alan Polish are members-at-large. There are still questions the new Board has about the foundation that must be addressed. The next official step is to obtain official recognition as a 501(c)3 from the federal government. The Board expressed its thanks and offered congratulations to Paul for all the work and progress he has made with the foundation.

Unit Games: Gill reported she has almost completed the format for the spreadsheet she plans to use for reporting the Unit games financial contribution. She noted the April and May Unit games were larger than expected. As a result, the table count year-to-date 2016 is the same as it was last year.

Carpet: Dave reported for Peggy. Lori Spaeth has offered to help Peggy with the carpet replacement. She has identified a laminate/tile material that will replace the material in the food court area, as well as another potential carpet for the main room. The Board has several questions about the new option and expressed an interest in keeping the old carpet for at least another year. Dave will follow up with the appropriate parties.

First Annual 503/507 Championship Games: Jim reported that he and the San Jose Unit have identified a weekend in October for the tournament. We have the ACBL sanction. We still need to hear back from IFES. Also, we need to identify a volunteer willing to be responsible for weekend games and next year’s championship.

Treasurer: Todd reported that the Unit has a comfortable cushion above its required reserves. This is principally because revenue from the Non-life Master and North American Pairs were well ahead of budget. Slightly lower than expected capital expenditures and maintenance expenses also contributed to the positive variance.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30. The next meeting will be at 3;30 PM on June 9th.