Minutes of the September 10, 2007 Unit 503 Board Meeting
Meeting was called to order by President Alan Cummings. All except Liz Blum, Martie Moore and Dave Wheeler were present.
Last month’s minutes were accepted.
Kibitzer report: Eleanor reports that this month will be a 6-page issue. Still not having any luck getting notification from some club owners regarding Special Games. She feels that more interest could be generated if advance notice were in the Kibitzer. Claire commented that we can do that on the website and that she did not feel it necessarily would generate any more traffic. Alan Templeton agreed to contact the owners of the clubs personally to entice them to submit these game notifications.
Treasurer’s Report: Alan Templeton gave a detailed report, noting that he moved monies from checking into a savings account where it will accumulate interest. We received our rebate check from the hotel (Firecracker deposit). We had expenses this month acquiring the dealing machine, new inserts for the bidding boxes, new chairs, and other miscellaneous items to improve and update the Bridge Center. The Bridge Center balance is $31,017.89. The Unit balance is $43,369.01.
District 21 Representatives Report: Alan C. reported that many bridge clubs in our district are “hand to mouth”, and that we are fortunate to have such a growing, interested membership to help our financial status remain secure. Alan also presented a survey of these clubs, regarding game fees, lunches, etc. At the national level, plans are under way to prohibit all electronic devices other than hear aids at tables to curtail cheating. Prices for food items at the NABC were exorbitant, $5 per apple, for example. Recruiting Tournament Directors remains a problem for ACBL nationwide.
Membership: Our current membership is at 775. We continue to grow and expect to enroll quite a few new members from the current class of beginners that began this month.
License Agreement: The annual license agreement between club owners and the unit are in the owners’ hands. Alan C. is asking for their prompt return so that insurance coverage, which will be provided for all owners and directors, unit members or not (via special rider) can be in full effect.
Forum article: It did not hit the presses this month. Eric Mayefsky showed some interest in writing for the unit, since he had not been asked to do much else in his capacity. He’ll write the articles for the remainder of the year.
Facilities report: Martie is looking into the right workstation that will meet the needs of the directors. It should provide room for our new dealing machine, all paperwork, the fax, the printer, etc. Martie is looking at Ikea and many other possibilities. The board was concerned about the longevity of the Ikea product line for the level of misuse it would receive on a daily basis.
Change of Game Ownership: John Prior is now the owner of Sherie’s Monday game, he also owns the Saturday game. Alan C. expressed continued concern regarding future directors, and the need to search them out so we have a goodly supply on hand if and when there is a change of ownership.
Charitable Donations: Our request to establish a charitable foundation with the ACBL has finally been approved. After working on it for over a year, Alan Cummings’ dream has come true. Now we need the funding for it. We will need to raise $10,000 in seed money to start it. Once funded, our unit alone can withdraw funds for education purposes, with the balance earning interest. We will “roll it out” in the coming months.
2008 Firecracker: To date, we have not found a hotel for our sectional next year for that weekend, but we are holding space at the convention center. Steve Lubeck continues to search for space.
Awards: Service & Sportsmanship Awards, Unit Championship, Under 200 Championship and Non-Life Master Awards: All of these were discussed, whether there would be a trophy or plaque for each. Nancy Cadwell and Marge Yates are working with Ginger on finding trophies and/or plaques.
SFNABC: Ginger reported on the needs of the SFNABC. Our unit has fulfilled the volunteer requirements, but the committee is still looking for volunteers for other days if anyone is willing. Partnership Desk is especially in need of help.
Bridge Pad: The Bridge Center continues to be the beta test site for the Bridge Pad. Although met with initial resistance by non-techie types most players are gradually accepting their use. We are continuing to evaluate them and tabled the discussion on their purchase or lease pending more testing.
Cell Phone Issue: At the National’s, if a cell phone rings, the penalty is ¼ board or 3 IMPS, at Regionals, a warning is given, followed by the same penalties. The board discussed asking directors to mention the possibility of imposing this penalty at the games, subject to the discretion of each director.
Holiday Party: In preparation for our Thanksgiving Pot Luck, scheduled for 11/18, we could purchase four turkeys, stuffing and gravy for $400. Roy will talk with Martie. Our Holiday Party, scheduled for December 9, also is being revisited. Martie wants to look at other caterers; perhaps Chef Chu’s has run its course for a while.
The Stanford Bridge Club: Ed Maefsky reported on the current status of the bridge club at Stanford. He will be teaching bridge for credits! Students have begun to sign up already. Unfortunately there is no place to store card tables and bidding boxes, the university is looking into providing square tables that can be used for other events, the process is ongoing, more later.
Raising funds for Charity: Gabriella presented ideas to consider for possibly raising funds for a local charity. These can be done at the unit and game level. Each director could volunteer to participate and combine monies in the Unit pool to go to a specific charity within a 10-mile radius of the Bridge Center or could give the monies earned by their club to a charity of their own choosing. Further discussion on how we intend to proceed on this will occur in the months to come. Board members were in support of raising such funds at the Unit level games.
Dealer 4: Special Guest Will Watson demonstrated the use of the dealing machine. To date, he finds no problems with it and was enthusiastic, as were all the board members, that it would be a welcome addition to the bridge center for use by all trained directors. The machine will be available for use only at the bridge center by our directors. Maintenance will be done by Will. He will also make boards for anyone who wants it for $10 per set.
The meeting was adjourned.
Gabi Bowling