DISTRICT 6 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
13 August 2005
The District 6 Meeting was called to order by the President at 5:30 PM at Hunt Valley, MD
Present:
Vice President: Margot Hennings
Secretary: Bette Dudka
Fred King (Proxy 147), Mac Jackson (Proxy 110)
1. Minutes: The President informed the Board that the minutes of 2 July 2005, as written, are more of a narrative of what we think occurred. Any corrections or advice you might have, please pass on to the Secretary. At Va Beach we will formally accept the minutes of 2 July 2005 (Alexandria). Doug Grove added that if any Board member recalled a particular motion that was made and carried to get that information to the Secretary via e-mail.
The Secretary said she already had a corrections to the minutes. Bill Cole asked that under TableTALK the following sentence be added: “Andre L’Heureux asked if we needed a publication as elaborate as the present TableTALK.” The Secretary said she would rewrite the 2 July 05 minutes and include the 3-1/2 hand-written pages she had received from Bill Cole re TableTALK and any other information she receives. She apologized for the mix-up!
2.
Treasurer’s Report: In
Steve Robinson’s absence, Michael Carroad distributed a written Treasurer’s
report indicating a balance on hand of $28,910.63.
3. Tournament Coordinator: Millard Nachtwey said we were still trying to
get the 2006 Sectional dates in place.
Unfortunately, the two Units he needs to talk to do not have a
representative present at this meeting (Southwest and Piedmont) and he will call
them and try to have complete information
to attach to the minutes.
We have firmed up the GNTeams dates for next
spring. Flt B & C dates (both North
and South) will be February 18-19, 2006.
The second weekend for B/C and the 1st weekend for Unlimited
is March 11 & 12. 2d weekend for Unlimited is April 29-30,
concurrent with the NVBA Sectional that weekend. Flt 0-5000 is May 20-21 and June 3-4. Margot Hennings asked if the dates for Flt
0-5000 could be changed since they occur so late and a lot of players have
already made plans to attend the Summer Nationals. Millard
Nachtwey said he would look into it, but didn’t have much hope.
5. GNTeams Coordinator: Rae Dethlefsen said she did not have the Conditions of Contest ready for approval. We’re not doing a lot different. . The end date for qualification is April 3, 2006. We really don’t have that many clubs running “qualifiers” in April. Qualifying games start Oct 15 and will be put on the “net” with the changes high-lighted. Ms. Dethlefsen will send an e-mail to everyone regarding this. For those who were not in Atlanta and did not read the Daily Bulletins, the Directors in Memphis decided they would not do away with the GNTs just yet – they will be re-structured, they will actually enforce residency, they are going to have a Credentials Committee to oversee the GNTs. Although they cannot do anything about it this year, they are going to tighten things up next year.
6. North American Pairs Coordinator: Barbara Doran – we are betwixt and between periods while qualification is going on, so I don’t have much to report. It lasts until August 31 and I want to urge all players to come out and play “qualifiers” and go on to the District Finals.
7. District Director’s Report: Nadine Wood said one of the things she had to report on was the GNTeams. The Board has not voted on this and the vote will come at the Denver Nationals. The proposal is that you must play where you live – period, over and out! . I expect it to pass, and the only reason it wouldn’t is if there is enough flack or something. Also, the Board did not reduce the money given to the NAPs, but are now giving X amount of dollars to cover the room at the hotel. What this is going to be based on - however much the room is at the main hotel – you don’t have to turn in a receipt or argue about whether you had a roommate, etc. This will take effect in 2006 and will solve a lot of problems.
ACBL is going to enforce a rule that everybody must use ACBL-score. This has been passed. There are 2 problems. Problem 1: There are still a lot of clubs and people who do not use ACBL scoring. Problem 2: Some people are not using a current version of ACBL-Score and if you use an old version, it does not mesh with the current version. Starting in January 2006, these clubs are going to have to pay more money for games. ACBL-Score is free so club owners should seek help to get it on their computers.
Also, we have the King of Bridge in our District. David Banh was named at the Nationals as the new King of Bridge – Congratulations, David! Margot Hennings said much credit should go to Leo Cardillo for running the program at Thomas Jefferson School. David was encouraged to be a youth advisor on the NVBA Board. He was a non-voting member on the Board, very diligent, and deserves credit on a number of counts, in addition to his bridge play. His attendance was excellent.
Millard Nachtwey said that since we are doing accolades, one of our directors, Candace Kushner, has received the Professional Tournament Director’s Award (The Tom Weeks Award) for this year. It was awarded at the Nationals. Congratulations, Candy!
8. STaC Report: Doug Grove announced that we are distributing the profits from the June STaC, and it is a distribution to the Units. D6 earned $3400 this year and Units will be receiving a pro-rated share.
OLD BUSINESS:
TableTALK: Bette Dudka moved that TableTALK be re-visited before we approve the additional $100 for the year 2006 ($950.00 per issue). The President said he was going to make the decision as President of the District – we have already voted on it and I don’t have any issues re TableTALK. We had a very decisive vote on the amount of money at our last meeting. Bette Dudka said Bill Cole had sent her the number who had voted and he reported 20 people for, 1 against, and 3 abstentions. She stated, without weighted votes, D6 did not have 20 votes nor 20 eligible voters. Bill Cole replied he counted everyone who raised their hand, not whether they had a vote or not. The President said there was a clear, over-whelming preponderance of people who chose to stay with Bill Cole’s recommendation, and I don’t think it is appropriate or healthy for the District to re-visit things just because one or two people might have an issue with them. It was clearly discussed, clearly accepted. People who didn’t like it were able to express their opinions, the people who liked it did express their opinion, and the vote was totally in favor of Bill Cole’s recommendation. Bette Dudka said she would still like to re-visit it. The President said if there was not a second to her motion, it could not be re-visited. He said he was assuming there was no second.
District 6 Bylaws: Margot Hennings said she had copies to distribute of what we have currently, and reported that what we said we would do at the last meeting was to make the corrections that were pretty much pro forma. At the meeting in Alexandria, there were a number of issues about which there was a great deal of discussion. What this represents is “Margot’s take” on what was discussed based on her notes sent to Doug Grove. We apologize that we did not get this to you beforehand. We will try to get through the issues today that were a problem in Alexandria – hopefully, we can just close this out and it will be in effect. Doug Grove will take over from here.
Doug Grove: At the last meeting, we went through a lot of changes that were either clerical corrections, or just modernization, etc. What I will do, with the Chair’s permission, is to take a vote on 6 areas I think we should take a look at. I think what I will do is take a vote on each of the 6 issues, but the whole thing will be passed with a final vote at the end of the proceedings.
Article IV E (page 2):
The first sentence is not a change.
Margot and I for the first draft at the Alexandria meeting clearly had a
different thought of what the consensus of the meeting was. I suggest that everyone read Para E just to
get the sense of it, and then I will suggest a re-wording. The first sentence stands as printed, then
there will be two paragraphs underneath it.
No 1: If an individual holds more than one position enumerated in this
section, that individual is still entitled only to one vote. No 2: If an individual holds one or more
positions enumerated in this section, and also holds (temporarily or
permanently) the position of Unit representative, that individual will be
entitled to one vote for the enumerated position and one vote as the Unit
representative -- and, in the event of weighted votes, such additional votes to
which the Unit shall be entitled. The 11 people enumerated in the
1st para of E, if one person
holds more than one position, that person
still gets only one vote. If they
hold one or more of those 11 positions,
Article V, Para F: (Page 3): Para F should be eliminated. Approved.
ARTICLE VIII, Sec D: (Page 5) Mr. Grove suggested that the last sentence, “The Secretary is authorized …” be deleted. This should become Standing Rule 6. He agreed that someone should be authorized to sign checks in the Treasurer’s absence, but that authority did not have to be in the Bylaws. He also suggested that there be two signatures on checks. Approved.
ARTICLE X: Appellate Committee: A. At the last meeting, it was approved that we have a max of 15 members, no more than 3, but at least one from each Unit. We gave a general description of what we were looking for. Appellate Committees seldom meet as a meeting of 13 – groups from are drawn when a particular Conduct or Ethics appeal needs to be heard. The point is in D is that once in a great while you may need to appoint one where you can’t get some from the group of 15 for some valid reason.
B. When an Appellate Committee is convened in accordance with this process, its members shall normally be members of the Appellate Committee. If necessary, additional requirements of Para A, but not appointed to the Appellate Committee, may be impaneled for such specific appeals provided that a majority of the Committee hearing shall be Appellate Committee members. You can go outside the group if need be, but the majority of the group must be from the group of 15. Usually a Committee has 5 members. I would recommend moving the sense of D. into B. Approved.
ARTICLE XIII: Added: … and the notice is sent to each “… voting member of record of the Board of Directors and to each member Unit President …” Approved.
Doug Grove asked for a motion to accept the Bylaws and the 6 Standing Rules. A motion was made by Margot Hennnings and seconded by Nadine Wood. Motion carried.
Mr. Grove stated that the Bylaws are a framework by which we operate. It takes a 2/3 vote to pass or change the Bylaws and only with advanced notice. You can suspend or modify Standing Rules by a majority vote at any one meeting.
NOTE: A complete copy of the revised Bylaws have been sent under separate cover.
2005 December STaC: The President said there was some concern in D7 about why we are having Hand Records (HR) vs. shuffle, deal, and play in our December STaC. Margot Hennings gave some background. She said she attended an ad hoc meeting called by a couple of D7 members in Atlanta. This doesn’t have anything to do with what we do in other D6 STaCs. This STaC is supposed to be a fund raiser for the Nationals. In the past, ever since the Washington Nationals, D7 has been in charge of the STaC because it was a fund raiser for the Atlanta NABC. Now, it is run by D6, the money held by the Mid Atlantic, with a certain amount earmarked for the upcoming Nationals in Washington. When D7 was in charge, they said they had a lot of Units who apparently really don’t care whether they use HR or not. Instead of $8 per table using HR, it has been $6 per table for the last couple of years – not using HR. They did not provide HR so there was no duplication and no surcharge. That did not mean that clubs could not generate HR or use them if they wished. The overall winners were determined by a percentage game, whether the game was hand dealt or HR used.
Last year in Va Beach, we voted that we would use HR in our District STaCs. Doug Grove is in charge of the STaC in December. D7 said that a number of their clubs would not participate if HR were used at the cost of $8 per table. If we revisit this since we already voted in Va Beach last year, it would require a 2/3 vote of the Board.
Nadine Wood made a motion that for the Nationals STaC in December that HR be an option for the clubs. Barbara Doran seconded. Patricia Wilson said she was opposed because she had already told her clubs they would be required to use HR this year – and asked that everyone think about this seriously before it is passed. What was passed in the D6 meeting the next day was that we would use HR for the 4 StaCs in 2005 and revisit the issue after the 4, so this STaC is part of the trial period. We will not know whether it affects attendance in D7, D10, and other Districts unless we just accept their word that they don’t like it and are not going to participate. This is the only STaC we share with our sister District. This could be another political issue that could possibly push D6/D7 against each other. Margot Hennings said the STaC was run by D6 and they could participate or not, but if they do, HR will be required. Patricia Wilson said she had promised her clubs that HR would definitely be used this year, and she didn’t think we could rescind the vote at this point.
The motion is that for the Dec 2005 STaC which is a D6 STaC that the rules be amended to permit at club option whether to use HR at $8 per table, or $6 per table which allows the clubs to shuffle and play. The President asked for a vote. The motion failed, and HR will be used.
District 6 Charity Foundation: Andre L’Heureux stated that as far as where we are in getting a 501.3C, I have sent the Bylaws out to the 12 founding members. I got 6 ayes for the change and need 2 more before it becomes official. The second item is we are so far behind in getting the forms sent to the IRS. I have asked several people to help get that information out so we can push this as fast as we can. We have $20,000 coming to us shortly. Nadine Wood said they divide up all of the Districts and there are so many each year who get their share of the pie from the Charity Foundation to give wherever they want to. Of course, we would want to if we had our own Foundation in place. I assume we would want to give some of this money, if not
all, to them. But, we have to have an approved 501.3C before we can do that. Generally speaking, you have to make your wishes known before the end of the calendar year. It’s possible that we could get things together and get it sent in and get it approved. We need to pick other things to receive the funds that are coming to us. Mr. L’Heureux said he would spend a weekend to try to get it in – but the IRS definitely takes its own time. Ms. Wood said the two things the IRS would look to for approval is education and youth. Mr. L’Heureux said he did not think there would be a problem if we hold off on voting or where we would designate monies until Va Beach.
District 6 Goodwill Committee: Margot Hennings said it was her hope she could get this off the ground for Va Beach. But it doesn’t look like that will happen at this point even though we voted in Alexandria we would go forward with it. Doug Grove asked if the President wanted to empower Ms. Hennings as the Chair of a Committee to implement the July decision. Patricia Wilson said she knew someone who could design a Goodwill pin – he was very good at things like that and she had used him before to her satisfaction. Barbara Doran moved that the President appoint Margo Hennings to form a committee and implement the July decision. Seconded by George Lewis. Motion carried. Ms. Hennings asked if this included the District sponsoring a reception, because that was her original plan. The President said that if everything was done in time, D6 will hold a reception.
NEW BUSINESS:
MABC Representatives: The President appointed Fred King as Chair to solicit MABC reps for nomination and vote at Va Beach. The term is Jan 1, 2006, at 8 PM, thru Jan 1, 2007, at 8 PM. to comply with MABC policy. The current reps will continue to serve until December 31, 2005.
. The President thanked Patricia Wilson and her staff for hosting another BIG Hunt Valley Regional. He also thanked Doug Grove for serving as Parliamentarian – and coming in on his day off!
Date of Next District 6 Meeting: The next meeting will be a breakfast meeting on Saturday, 12 November 2005, 10:30 AM, at the Virginia Beach Regional.
There being no further business, Barbara Doran moved that the meeting be adjourned. Bette Dudka seconded the motion. The meeting stood adjourned at 7:15 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
BETTE DUDKA, Secretary