DISTRICT 6 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

DISTRICT 6 ANNUAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

3 July 2004

The District 6 Annual Meeting was called to order by the President at 10:30 AM at Alexandria, VA. Present:

Officers: President: Bill Cole

Kay Afdahl: Vice President

Treasurer: Steve Robinson

Secretary: Bette Dudka

Unit Presidents: James Hooven (Proxy (231), Mike Fine (109), Barbara Moomy (Proxy 146), Toni Rosenblatt (135), Fred King (Proxy 147)

Representatives: Michael Carroad, Barbara Doran, Nadine Wood, Millard Natchwey, Don Berman (147), Darwin Afdahl (146), Andre L’Heureux, Margot Hennings, Kathryn Kiley (218), Patricia Wilson (135)

Guests: Eldon Clayman (Pres Elect MABC), Nancy Witschey (VPres Elect MABC)

Jack Diskin

1. Minutes: The minutes of 17 January 2004 were approved as presented.

2. Treasurer’s Report: Steve Robinson distributed a written Treasurer’s Report indicating a checking account balance of $23,006.55. Approximately $8500.00 of that amount is obligated to send the Grand National Teams to the New York Nationals. Mr. Robinson said we were doing okay -- not poor, but not rich. The GNTeams made about $3200.00 and the NAPairs are going to lose about $5000.00. The President said part of this loss was due to the weather when the NAPairs had to be cancelled because of a hurricane. The Pairs were moved to Williamsburg, a decision which cost about 33% of the Open, 75% of the C flight, and somewhere in between for the B flight. That turned out not to be a good decision, plus we did not vote for the reduction in the compensation package for last year. Now that we have a reduced compensation for the NAPs, we don’t expect to incur a loss.

3. District Coordinator’s Report: Millard Nachtwey said we were closing in on getting our dates in place for 2005, but are still doing a little fiddling with GNTeams dates. Plans are to run a qualifying GNT and NAP as we did the last two years which was very well received. This will probably be scheduled some time in February.

4. Finance Committee Report: Andre L’Heureux stated that the President had appointed a Finance Review Committee (FRC) to review the books for the past year. The members of the Committee are Nadine Wood, Steve Robinson, and Andre. As in prior years, no problems were found with the state of the Treasury. However, the Committee had some recommendations for the Treasurer. (1) The FRC recommends that the Treasurer send an e-mail to the Finance Committee Chair each month explaining the reason the checks for the month were written, to whom, and what for. (2) Currently, only the Treasurer writes checks and maintains ownership of the checks. The FRC recommends that the D6 Secretary and the D6 Director both have access to D6 bank accounts in case the Treasurer is unavailable. (3) The FRC recommends that the Treasurer write a job description and procedures for maintenance of the D6 bank account. (4) The Treasurer files a Form 990 with the IRS every year. The form re-confirms that we are a charity organization and is used to report our non-profit status. This form is due 4 and ½ months after the end of the fiscal year. The Committee recommendations were approved by the Board. After discussion and a recommendation that the other signers be the President and the Secretary. Mr. Robinson said since the D6 President changed so often, that the signers be himself and the Secretary. This change was approved by the Board.

5. GNTs Coordinator’s Report: Bill Cole reported for Rae Dethlefsen stating we had 16 teams in the Open, 22 teams in 0-5000, 35 teams in Flt B, and 15 teams in Flt C. This is one of the largest GNTeams in the country -- if not the largest. We were very successful in the teams; we got a very good turnout.

6. NAPairs Coordinator’s Report: Barbara Doran said we were just starting the NAPs, so she did not have much to report. She asked that all Unit Coordinators notify her or Don Berman so they could be listed on our website. This year we are trying an experiment to parallel what we’ve been doing in the Teams. We are having 2 sites for Flt B and Flt C. The District Finals for all flights is November 13-14. Flt A will be held at the KOCH in Arlington. Flts B & C will also be held there, with a concurrent site at the Williamsburg Marriott.

7. District Director’s Report: Nadine Wood said that a Committee of the Board was studying ways to help and possibly improve the GNTeams and the NAPairs. She stated she was on her way to New York where she hoped to get the first official passage of the new Bylaws that her Committee has been working on. The Bylaws should be ready for a vote by the membership at the Atlanta 2005 NABC.

To clarify who from District 6 are voting members of the MABC Board: The D6 President, the D6 representative to the National Board, the D6 lst and 2d alternates, the 3 BoG members, and the 10 members at large from the District. These individuals will receive 3 days of free plays from D6 when they attend a District 7 Regional and attend the MABC meeting at that Regional. (See Article IV of the MABC Bylaws). Nadine Wood put this in the form of a motion. Darwin Afdahl seconded the motion. Motion carried.

8. District 6 Charity Repot: No report.

9. STaC Report: Michael Carroad stated that at the present time the District 6 StaC is scheduled for April. We’ve found that February is better received by the clubs and we are trying to change it back to February. It has been suggested by a significant number of people that we eliminate hand records for the StaC. They are expensive and we could save a lot of money. Presidents were asked to talk to their clubs and we will revisit this subject in Hunt Valley.

OLD BUSINESS:

NAP Compensation: The new compensation package for NAPairs: ACBL compensates

1^st place pairs for room and airfare. 2d place pairs -- ACBL pays airfare, D6 pays $200 per person for room nights (cut in half from what it use to be). 3^rd Place Pairs receive $300 per

person maximum from D6 (previously $600 per person). There was some discussion in the past that we should cut the compensation even more. Our GNTeams make money every year and compensates for the loss in the Pairs. Darwin Afdahl said he had made a motion several meetings ago that we not pay anything to the 3^rd place Pairs. He so moved again. Mike Fine seconded the motion. Barbara Doran (NAP Coordinator) said she was not in favor of the motion and it would be a terrible thing not to compensate our 3^rd place Pairs. Kay Afdahl said we should give the new ACBL dictum a chance to see if it increases our revenue and then discuss this again if it does not. Nadine Wood asked that the motion be tabled until the Richmond Regional to see how our upcoming NAPs prospers money-wise. Seconded. Motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS:.

Enforcing the D6 Bylaws: Patricia Wilson stated she would like to address the Board about an incident that occurred at the Williamsburg Regional this past January -- an incident she felt was regrettable and unfair. Ms. Wilson then read from a statement she had prepared (a copy given to each member of the Board). The gist of the statement was that the D6 Board had violated Article VI, Sec C, of the Bylaws when they re-voted (and changed) a motion that was passed previously not to hold a 5^th StaC in D6. This subject was not an agenda item nor was the MBA advised it would be brought up again. The Maryland Unit would be affected by this change since the MBA StaC was in the same time frame as the new StaC. Ms. Wilson proposed a resolution that in order to promote and maintain fairness and harmonious working relationships among the members, it is the sense of the Board that Bylaw Article VI, Sec C, should be followed faithfully on all future occasions. Bette Dudka seconded. Resolution passed.

Dual Votes: Bette Dudka said she had talked to Doug Grove, our Parlimentarian, about this issue and he, in turn, consulted Roberts Rules of Order. Since a number of people on our D6 Board “wear two hats” they are still only permitted to cast one (1) vote. No individual may cast more than one vote even if that person holds a dual position (Robert’s Rules of Order). Ms. Dudka said she hoped this would end the confusion when a person is asked to be a proxy for someone else who already had a vote in their own right by virtue of his/her position. Barbara Doran said she didn’t think this reasoning was right -- if a person has a “personal or representational vote” (Ms. Doran’s wording, i.e., VPres, BOG member, Treasurer, etc.), then it is permissible to grant that person another vote as a proxy vote, thereby allowing them 2 votes. Discussion ensued and the President was asked to appoint a Committee to look into the matter.

The MABC: The President informed the Board that his recollection from the last meeting was that there was some question about the total amount of money in the MABC Treasury and whether it was going up or down. He said he had talked to Pat Seiler, MABC Treasurer, and certainly the amount of money is not going down. The figure now is $478,000+ and some free plays have not yet been cashed, so it is a little less. He advised the MABC Reps that they should add the money in CDs and the money advanced to the Regionals to get a true figure. Every year the Mid Atlantic gives money back to the Districts from their profits on Regionals based on attendance. Between 1998 and 2004, District 7 has received $63,000 more than District 6, plus an additional $30 to $40,000 for additional postage. The President stated he wanted to bring this up so that our Mid Atlantic reps understand. In the foreseeable future we will not need more money. But if we do, and if the Mid Atlantic said, “Well, District 7 doesn’t need any extra money.” The reason for that is because they have received so much more money over the years than we have. The President said he had no problem with how the money is disbursed, he just wanted to get the subject in the minutes.

Annual Election of Officers and MABC Representatives:

Nadine Wood, Elections Chairman (Members: Gloria Brown, Andre L’Heureux) asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There being none, she presented the following slate for D6 officers. Two candidates have expressed a desire to run for the office of Vice President (Margot Hennings and Lynn Rattinger). Officers running unopposed are: Kay Afdahl, President; Steve Robinson, Treasurer; and Bette Dudka, Secretary. Bette Dudka made a motion that weighted votes be used. Seconded. Motion carried.

Ms. Wood said since the offices of President, Treasurer, and Secretary are unopposed. She would entertain a motion that these officers be elected by acclamation. Seconded. Carried.

Ballots were distributed for the election of Vice President. After tallying the votes, Margot Hennings was elected as Vice President.

The MABC representatives are: Margot Hennings Wyatt Mapp

Kathryn Kiley Patricia Wilson

Barbara Moomy Lynn Rattinger

Fred King Charity Sack

Barbara Ames Lucy McCoy

Ann Duty Jack Diskin

Each representative present was given the opportunity to address the Board while ballots were being counted. After the count, all representatives listed above, with the exception of Jack Diskin and Wyatt Mapp, were elected. In the past, the term of office has been 1 year. Now that the MABC Bylaws have been changed, the term this year only will be from the September 2004 until January 1, 2006 at 8PM.

TABLE TALK MAGAZINE: The President said the last two or three issues of the magazine have been much better, more readable. The colors will be staying the same from one year to the next, so this latest issue will be the same color next year, i.e., the colors for Feb-March will be the same next Feb-March. We plan to discuss the tournament ads with the chairs to make sure they are happy with the font and also other little things they would like done to improve the magazine.. Bill Cole said he had put out 150 magazines in Raleigh and they were picked up very quickly -- same thing here in Alexander. The Board thanked Bill Cole for all the work and effort he expended toward making the magazine a success.

The President thanked and congratulated Margot Hennings and Kathryn Kiley and their staff for hosting another GREAT 4^th of July Regional -- one with hospitality plus!

Date of Next District 6 Meeting: The next meeting will be on Saturday, 21 August 2004, between sessions, at the Hunt Valley, MD Regional. As in past years, the Maryland Bridge Assn. has invited the District 6 Board for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres right after the afternoon session in the McCormick Suite.

There being no further business, Barbara Doran moved that the meeting be adjourned. Kay Afdahl seconded the motion. The meeting stood adjourned at 12:30 PM.