DISTRICT 6 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

17 January 2004

The District 6 Meeting was called to order by the President at 10:50 AM at Williamsburg, VA. Present:

Officers: President: Bill Cole

Treasurer: Steve Robinson

Secretary: Bette Dudka

Unit Presidents: Lynn Rattinger (231), Krus Kristiansen (146), Kathleen Ritchie(110),

Margot Hennings (Proxy 218), Mike Fine (109), Ed Tomlinson (139)

Representatives: Michael Carroad, Rae Dethlefsen, Millard Natchwey (147), Gloria

Brown (146)

Guests: Mac Jackson, Co-Chair Williamsburg Regional, Charity Sack, Anne Duty

Opening Remarks by the President: We contacted the Mid Atlantic a few meetings back and discussed a one-time disbursement of $5,000.00. The MABC changed their formula for disbursing money back to the Districts and we now have a permanent increase of about $37-$3,800 per year. That seems fine right now, we do not need any more money. But if we need more money, we can go back to MABC with a request. The MABC has approximately $382,000 in CD’s, and $56,000 they have advanced to various Regionals, with the knowledge they are going to get it back. So, they’ve got around $440,000 depending on how you count it. It seems like a tremendous amount of money, and something I have been critical of in the Finance Committee meetings. In defense of the MABC, they had to raise the entry fees from $9 to $10 because they needed money. That $1.00 increase over all the tables is a tremendous amount of money, and that’s how they ended up with so much money. The way Districts 6/7 get money is off the profits of Regionals. Since Districts 6/7 have an agreement with the Mid Atlantic, the profit center for Districts 6/7 is the Mid Atlantic. That is where most of the money is and they disburse money back to the Districts every year. There are different ways to disburse this money -- they can do it by table count, total memberships, or different combinations thereof. The current policy is primarily by membership. They do not disburse by profits off Regionals because of pressure on the tournament chairman to have profitable Regionals. Right now, the money is disbursed primarily on membership. In the last 6 years, District 7 has received about 60% of the money, mainly because of their membership growth and the table-count growth of the District 7 Regionals being bigger because of Gatlinburg. D7 gets approximately 60% of the money and D6 gets 40%. The net amount of this is that approximately $43,000 more is going to D7. The reason I bring this up is because it’s one piece of insight as to why the D7 people aren’t as concerned with getting more money back from the Mid Atlantic. They are getting so much more than we are to begin with that they don’t need the money as much as we could potentially need. There are no complaints -- the money is well taken care of in the Mid Atlantic. I spent hours looking over six years of financial reports. The reports are thorough and well organized with a vast amount of information. And with only a few exceptions, the money has been well taken care of.

1. Minutes: The minutes of 25 October 2003 were approved as presented.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Steve Robinson distributed a written Treasurer’s Report indicating a checking account balance of $16,771.01. There are two outstanding items yet to be paid -- the $5,000 for Table Talk and about $6,000 to be paid in Reno for the NAP. Also, Rod Spieker put the money left over from the Nationals into a CD. Since there is going to be a 2009 NABC there is no reason for District 6 to track this money.

3. District Coordinator’s Report: No report.

4. Finance Committee Report: No report.

5. GNTs Coordinator’s Report: Rae Dethlefsen stated we were getting close to the District Finals. Flts B & C will begin the last week in February. She has not heard from too many of the coordinators, and cannot contact them because she has not been notified who they are. She asked Unit Presidents to please send her the names of their current GNT Coordinators (raed8240@comcast.net)

6. NAPairs Coordinator’s Report: Rae Dethlefsen reported for Barbara Doran. Conditions of Contest (CofC) have been sent out; however, there was an error in the compensation package and that has now been corrected. The compensation for 2d place finishers is going to be cut to $200 a person (ACBL pays airfare), and the 3^rd place is a max of $300 a person. The CofC have to be approved at this meeting since our next meeting is in July. At this point, Bette Dudka reminded the President that a motion was made and seconded at Hunt Valley to review the compensation for the 3^rd and 4^th place pairs. This has not happened. The President stated that since Darwin Afdahl who made the motion was not present at this meeting, he would put it on the July agenda. It was moved and seconded that the Conditions of Contest, as amended, be approved. Motion carried.

7. District Director’s Report: No report.

8. District 6 Charity Repot: Gloria Brown reminded the Board that the District Charity Game for 2004 would be held Wednesday, 10 March 2004, for the AM game, and Thursday, 11 March 2004, for the PM game. After discussion about rotation of the games, Steve Robinson made a motion that in 2005 the AM game be held on Monday and the PM game remain on Thursday. Bette Dudka seconded the motion. Motion carried.

9. STaC Report: Michael Carroad stated he had sent out invitations to all clubs in D6 and clubs in Delaware announcing that the StaC would be 23-29 Feb 2004. We are doing something different this year, we are taking in the money and giving the clubs something back. It will make administration much easier. We are charging the clubs $8 per table instead of $6 a table and the clubs can just automatically keep back $2. Last year, about 51% of the profits went to the clubs and 47% to the District. It’s going to be a little higher this year -- about 55% of profits to the clubs and 45% to the District.

OLD BUSINESS:

Roanoke Regional: Lynn Rattinger reminded the Board that in Ocean City, Roanoke was promised a Regional when the District got another National. The District has now been awarded the 2009 Summer Nationals. The 4^th of July Regional has traditionally been held in D6 and Ms. Rattinger believes it should be kept that way. She would like to get approval to hold a 4^th of July Regional in 2009. She has discussed this with the hotel and they are amenable to hosting it again and have assured her that at that time the room rates will be reasonable. Michael Carroad suggested that when going to the MABC for approval, D6 states that pending getting acceptable room rates, etc., that D6 requests that the July 4th Regional in 2009 be awarded to Roanoke. Steve Robinson so moved. Motion seconded and carried. Tentative dates are June 29 through July 5, 2009.

NEW BUSINESS:

National “Bridge at Schools” StaC: Michael Carroad said he had heard that a National “Bridge at Schools” StaC was going to be held that he knew nothing about. Millard Nachtwey said there is indeed one and it was scheduled for the week between Hunt Valley and Atlanta which is not a conflict from a scheduling point of view. Last year, District 6 voted at the 5 July 2003 meeting not to participate in the “Bridge at School” StaC held in September because it would interfer with the Maryland STaC. This year it is being held on a completely clear week in District 6 and Mr. Nachtwey didn’t see any reason for the clubs not to participate in this StaC if they wished to do so. The President said he was surprised to be hearing about this now, and he didn’t think the Board could revisit something that had been brought up in the past and voted on if the subject was not on the agenda. The President stated that at the meeting in July 03, it was a District decision and we voted not to leave it up to the Units. In July 03, we had a lengthy discussion on this and the District as a whole voted not to participate. Now, we are bringing this same subject up again for discussion, even though it is not on the agenda. He stated that Maryland was the Unit most affected and they were not present. He emphasized that this procedure did not seem right to bring up the subject again. Michael Carroad said that the dates of this StaC were 3 weeks apart from the Baltimore StaC. This is not a District 6 sponsored StaC, nor an ACBL sponsored StaC. (Secretary’s note: This is an Atlanta GA Unit sponsored StaC). After much discussion, Steve Robinson made a motion that District 6 permit its Units to decide whether its Clubs could participate in this StaC. Rae Dethlefsen seconded. Motion carried.

Table Talk Magazine: The President said that in the last issue of Table Talk magazine, the yellow highlighting and the background on some of the ads were too dark. The major reason that this happened is when choosing colors, they look different on the computer than they do in print. We think we have solved the problems. In the new issue, the print is larger, the back-ground for the Regional ads and other ads has been made lighter, and the Sectional ads are much clearer to read. The President said that at the July meeting, we would have discussion on what, if anything, needs to be done to make Table Talk a better magazine. The President had a copy of the latest magazine and had received positive comments from everyone he had showed it to. Two more magazines will be issued before July, and he planned to have a critical discussion at the July meeting. In the meantime, contact Lucy McCoy (lucymccoy@starpower.net) or Bill Cole (301-602-9024) if you have any comments, suggestions, complaints, etc.

The President thanked and congratulated Wyatt Mapp and his staff for hosting a Regional packed full of hospitality which pleased the players. It was a great success!

Date of Next District 6 Meeting: The next meeting will be the Annual Meeting. A breakfast meeting on Saturday, 3 July 2004, at 10:30 AM. Please notify the Secretary if you plan to attend.