October 2016

Call to Order: Dave Puryear, president, called the meeting to order at 3:40pm. Directors Peggy Chen, Paul Davis, Gil Barsley, Jim Harris, Todd Makler, Jody Williams, and Marolyn Imaoka were also present. The board approved the minutes of the September 15 meeting as submitted.

Weekend/Evening Usage Committee: Jim Harris & Paul Davis are getting approval dates from Will Watson. Allison Bennett is willing to take on this responsibility next year. Kathy Harper and Debbie Rosenberg have been advised. Dave Puryear mentioned that we need to get dates on the 2017 calendar for carpet cleaning.

Amendment from September 15 meeting: $250 toward class for IFES – Introduction to Bridge – Kathy Harper is willing to do a class for up to 20 people. This is not just for IFES people but also for retirement communities, and places. Jim Harris is working on this opportunity.

Firecracker 2017 Update: Gil Barsley is making sure the dates (6/28-7/3) for the Firecracker are confirmed with the ACBL. Gil will be working up a budget. Here are some discussion points:

• Parking – Buddhist Temple & Hetch Hetchy easement as backup parking – Gil has a contact who is amenable to allowing us to use the easement at $285 plus $110-$120/day for the additional parking.
• Feedback – the starting times – some people have requested later start time of 10:30 & 3:30 due to traffic issues. It was suggested that we should leave the time as it was last year (10 & 3).
• Budget – Gil is waiting to speak to James to get his input on the budget.

Unit 503/507 Challenge Results: J im Harris reports that there were 88 tables over 4 sessions. Will Watson owes $3202.00 – there is a net profit of $2800 or a profit of $1400 for each unit. The challenge was a success and both units claim victory!

NLM Tournament Update: The sign ups are not as robust as we hoped. We may have only one NLM tournament next year if the attendance does not warrant two,

Preliminary Budget: Todd Makler presented the figures for the budget for next year. He is putting the $50/week for Gilbert back in the budget since we do not think a permanent table placement is feasible at this time. Will Watson and Marolyn tried to arrange the tables to see if we could add a fifth row of 4 tables (or so) and found that the arrangement would be too crowded and allow people to see hands from other tables too easily, Todd also factored into the budget the lowering of the minimum for the second director fee to 20 tables. The preliminary budget approval is set for the November board meeting.

Reports:

President:

• Elections – Judy Gentry will do the bios and Roy Robinson will take pictures of the candidates. There are 6 people running for 5 seats on the board, Peggy Chen is resigning after one year for health issues.
• Carpet – Peggy Chen recommends we do not replace our carpet yet as it is very good carpet and still not worn out. The recommended carpets will cost approximately $13-18K. We thank her for all her efforts in that endeavor and she will leave all the information for the next person in charge of carpeting next year. The board voted to table the decision on carpets until the new board is in place in 2017.

Technology Committee – Jody/Marolyn – Jody said that Pianola is being used by most of the clubs except the Monday game. People are still not aware of why they need to sign up for Pianola but are being told that it enables us to have a directory and gives the participant information on the games they play that will help them improve their game. An email blast was sent twice to the list of members to join Pianola. There is a concern that Comcast will not allow our unit’s email address to send mail to our customer base with Comcast addresses. Jody will ask James how to determine the percentage of member sign up.

Education Funding – Paul Davis said Pianola is being used as website for the foundation and thanked Jody for her help.

Unit Games – Gil presented her spreadsheet and explained that the numbers are trending up nicely.

Treasurer’s Report – Todd Makler states that we are $40K above our break even and still have the capital reserve of $25K set aside. Jim Harris has requested income by club for the year for P&L information.

Annual party – Marolyn has agreed to spearhead the party. This will include renting the IFES hall, arrange for additional parking, and getting volunteers to help for the toy drive and the pot luck to accompany the main course the unit will provide. The annual party will be on December 18.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:15. The next meeting will be held November 10.