Washington Bridge League Policies

June, 2007

Advertising

A voting Board member must approve all advertising at any WBL-sponsored event.

Appeals

All WBL members have the right to appeal any decision of a Unit officer, Board member, or committee.  When exercising this right, the member must submit a signed, written notice of appeal to the President.  This notice must state the basis or reason for the appeal.

Upon receipt of the notice, the President may either schedule a formal hearing before the Board or consult with the Executive Committee to ascertain its views on the merits of conducting a formal Board hearing.  If the Executive Committee unanimously believes there are insufficient grounds for appeal, the President must report their findings to the Board at the next regular meeting.  A copy of the appeal should be provided to each Board member.  The Board retains the right to hold a formal hearing regardless of any Executive Committee action.  

Board Meetings

Board meetings are currently held approximately once each month.   Typically, Board members host the meeting in their homes and are reimbursed $100.00 for  dinner/refreshments. .

All Board members are expected to attend each meeting.  In addition, the Tournament chairperson, the Bulletin editor, the head director of the Unit Game, the club manager of the WBL and the Membership Secretary are encouraged to attend.  Any Board member who is unable to attend a meeting is responsible for informing the host, Secretary, or President.  Missing either three consecutive meetings or four meetings between annual meetings will constitute grounds for review for impeachment.

Board meetings are open to any member of the Unit as long as the President, Secretary, or host is notified in advance to ensure adequate space.  Executive Sessions, however, are limited to members of the Board.  Special meetings will be scheduled if necessary. Email discussions prior to a meeting are encouraged; voting by email or phone will be avoided unless decisions need to be made before a meeting can be held.

An agenda will be sent by the Vice President to all board members before each meeting.  Approved minutes will be made available for members on the WBL web site.   Sensitive remarks may be recorded in the executive session minutes, which are part of the WBL archives, but not available to members or published on the web site.

At the conclusion of each Board meeting, the President will state the precise date and location of the next meeting.  The Secretary should notify any absent members of the location and date of the next meeting within ten days.  The President and/or Secretary will insure all Board members are informed of any changes.

The Board extends a standing invitation to the District Six representative to the ACBL Board to attend a WBL Board meeting before each ACBL meeting.  The President will notify the District Representative of the date and location of the meeting and request the representative’s attendance.

Committees charged with making recommendations to the Board should notify the Board members of findings in advance of the Board meeting so as to facilitate intelligent discussion and to give Board members an opportunity to provide additional input.

Bulletin

The WBL will publish a Bulletin six times per year.  The exact publication dates will vary in order to coincide with major events such as tournaments and the annual meeting.  The Bulletin is mailed to members at no cost.  Subscription rates for non-WBL members are $21.00 for three years.

The Bulletin staff consists of the editor, the bulletin liaison (a voting board member), the treasurer, the historian, and may include an assistant editor.  The editor shall be compensated for coordinating and compiling advertising, data and articles, typing, layout, design, compiling the 2 mailing lists and working with the printer to get them all the files in a timely fashion, review proofs, pickup overs, and pick up copies of the stamped postal forms. The Bulletin Editor shall be a nonvoting member of the Board.  The Editor shall be compensated at the rate of $17.00 per page plus $156.00 and be granted free plays to all WBL sponsored games.  

Advertising in the Bulletin will be accepted, as a rule, only when accompanied by payment in full.  The rates are:  full page $75.00, half page $50.00, quarter page $30.00 and eighth page $20.00.  An ad appearing in six consecutive issues will be run for the price of five.  The treasurer will bill advertisers and also pay the printer, the editor and maintain a three issue balance at the post office.  The editor will fill out the yearly postal form of an accounting of the postal year’s mailing statistics.  The job of labeling and mailing the bulletin is currently done by the printer and the fee is included in their bill.

The content of the Bulletin may include:

One of the outside pages of each issue will be reserved exclusively for advertising WBL special events. Such events are to be determined by the Board or the Bulletin committee no later than one month prior to issues deadline.

All columns in the WBL Bulletin may be reviewed by two of the following (not including the author of the column): the Bulletin Editor, the Bulletin Committee Chairperson and any member of the WBL Executive Committee.

Cheer and Sympathy

Seriously ill members should be sent a card.  The Chairperson is responsible for mailing such cards.  In the case of the death of an active WBL member or anyone deemed appropriate by the Chairperson or the Board, the choice of a tribute not to exceed $50.00 should be left to the discretion of the Chairperson. Congratulatory cards are also sent to active WBL members or anyone deemed appropriate when brought to the attention of the Chairperson, i.e., weddings, new arrivals, etc.  

Clubs   

The WBL will be supportive to area clubs whenever possible. When requested, the Unit Game Chief Director will announce major changes to the schedule and charity events for local club games.  Any WBL club can advertise, in an approved manner, their games and activities at WBL events and our website.  (See Bulletin section for additional polices concerning reporting and advertising in the Bulletin).

Area clubs may give promotional free plays for their own club at our Unit Game as long as this causes no problems or delays in the operation of the game.  These may be mailed with our “welcome” letter.

Committees

The current standing committees are:

Conduct and Ethics

The WBL Conduct and Ethics Committee will have full power to make decisions as set out by the ACBL .  The committee will consist of six non-board members to serve two-year staggered terms and three Board members who serve a one-year term.  A committee to hear and consider conduct and ethics complaints shall consist  of at least five members, at least one should be a board member.  Panel members are expected to be familiar with relevant provisions of the ACBL’s Code of Disciplinary Regulations.  All members of the committee will be informed of all hearings.  When the Conducts and Ethics Chair deems it appropriate, he may ask WBL members who are not on the C&E committee to hear and consider a specific complaint. In no case will such outside members make up a majority of the panel.

The WBL standing C&E committee will be selected at the first regular Board meeting following the Annual Meeting.  The selection process is conducted by the President, using secret ballots.   Two negative votes of the Board can disqualify a candidate for appointment to the committee.

Actions that may be cause for a C&E hearing are contained in the C&E guidelines.   Players who pass bad checks to the WBL, that are not made good, will be reported to ACBL.

All Tournament committees hearing C&E matters at WBL events will consist of at least five members.  It is desirable that two of these be Board Members.

Conflict of Interest

Whenever possible, Directors or Committee Members should not be placed in a position (either positively or negatively) which would affect themselves, their spouses, or significant others.  In addition, Board members should recuse themselves if there could be a conflict of interest, either financially or of a direct personal benefit, in the outcome of a motion.

Constitution

The “Constitution of the Washington Bridge League” embodies the principles for the government of the WBL.  The procedures for initiating a Constitutional amendment are:

Motions to be brought before the WBL membership to establish or change the “Constitution” must be published in the WBL Bulletin in advance of a duly convened meeting of the membership.  

Director’s Certification

The Unit game chief director or his designee will monitor club director’s tests requested by any WBL unit member.

Executive Committee  

The Committee shall consist of the President and the three most senior members of the Board.  Seniority is determined by the number of consecutive years of membership on the Board.  The executive committee is empowered to act when a full board meeting would be impractical.  

Elections

General elections will be held at the annual membership meeting in accordance with the procedures indicated in Article VI (Elections) of the “Constitution”.  In addition to these procedures, all candidates have the opportunity to speak to the electorate for a maximum of two minutes.  Also, no WBL official or employee may electioneer when functioning in an official capacity. The procedures for counting ballots are:

The Elections Chairperson, by tradition a WBL past President, will be appointed by the President each year.  He will be responsible for conducting the election and will perform specific duties as follows:

Entry fees

In accordance with ACBL policy, the WBL will charge an additional $.50 per session at tournaments to all non-ACBL members, non-dues-paying non-life-masters, and non-service-fee-paying Life Masters.  Members in good standing of the American Bridge Association (ABA) will not be charged the additional fee.

Full time students 25 and under will pay fifty percent of the regular entry fee.  In addition, juniors playing as a member pair or first alternate of a Junior International Team will be given free entries.  Players 16 and under, who do not play professionally, play for $1.00 at the Unit game and at WBL Sectionals.

Tournament entry fees effective  January1, 2004 will be $9.00 for dues-paying non-life Masters, service-fee-paying Life Masters and members in good standing in the American Bridge Association (ABA).  Entry fees for non-dues-paying non-life-masters, and non-service-fee-paying Life Masters will be $9.50.

Effective  January 1, 2004, the Unit game entry fee for all Unit Game events will be $7.00 plus any additional sanction fee imposed by the ACBL, such as for North American Pairs (NAP), Grand National Teams (GNT), Instant Match Point games, charity games and Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STAC). (Currently these will be $9.00.)  

Round robin and KO matches played at Unit site will be charged a fee of $2.00 per person.

Finances

The WBL Board of Directors should review the current bank and financial statements of the Unit at each monthly meeting.  As a matter of policy, the monthly bank statements will be sent directly to the Vice-president for review and then forwarded to the Treasurer.  In addition, an annual review of the books is to be conducted by the Ways and Means committee and the results made available prior to the annual membership meeting.  The Treasurer is expected to render a detailed report at the monthly Board meetings, and prepare an annual report.  The Treasurer shall send copies of the annual reports to District Six.  A budget for the coming fiscal year will be presented to the Board during the January board meeting for its approval.

Board members shall submit vouchers and/or paid receipts when seeking reimbursement.  Vouchers should normally be issued by the committee chairperson and should indicate which committee is involved and to whom payment is to be made.

Free Plays

Free plays to WBL-sponsored events are granted as prizes, as publicity, or as token rewards for services rendered to workers according to the following schedule. In addition TCs, D/Cs or Volunteer Coordinators may issue free plays for exceptional service.  It is the goal of the WBL to keep total free plays to less than 12.5% of total entries.  In all cases the charity portion of any  game will be paid in addition to the free play.

Publicity:

Prizes:

Work:

The Tournament Chairperson, Director in Charge, Volunteer Coordinator, and the President have the discretion to issue any additional free plays warranted by circumstances.    

In general free plays are not transferable with the following exceptions:

    A Tournament chairperson who doesn’t play during the tournament in order to work on the event and thus doesn’t use the allotted free plays will receive free plays for an equal number of sessions at the Unit game.  In addition, the NVBA Tournament Chairperson or co-chairs will receive free plays, maximum of seven sessions, for all WBL tournaments.  Also free plays issued at the tournament are valid for use at the Unit game and expire at the conclusion of the following tournament.  

Guaranteed Partner Progam

To encourage new players to come out, the WBL has developed a “Guaranteed Partner” Program for our unit game.  It consists of two components.  If someone calls the person in charge during the week they will be put in contact with anyone else who calls or registers at the web site.  In addition the Unit will have a standby partner available on Thursday nights in case an odd number of people show up without partners.  This program normally will not allow any person to utilize the Thursday night standby more than once every quarter.  

Insurance

The WBL will purchase “Directors and Officers” insurance to cover any possible liability claims against board members or other officers acting in their official capacities.  This may be purchased through the ACBL if offered, or from outside insurers.  

Membership

The Membership Secretary shall be a member of the WBL.  The secretary will be given an honorarium of $100.00 per quarter plus free entries to all WBL sponsored events for performing the following duties:

The WBL shall refuse to accept transfers of membership from other Units when the individual requesting transfer is under disciplinary investigation or appeal.

The membership committee is responsible for the issuance of a membership directory approximately every three years.  Copies will be made available at tournaments, Unit game, area clubs and to members on request rather than via a general membership mailing.  Advertising will be available in the membership directory for $225.00 for a half page and $350.00 for a whole page.

Motions at annual meeting

In order for binding motions to be brought before the WBL membership, they must be published in the WBL Bulletin issued in advance of a duly convened meeting of the membership.

Novice Program    

Purposes of the program are to:

The WBL will consider funding written proposals presented to the Board to defray advertising and other costs for the purpose of offering free lessons to new bridge players.

Ombudsman

The President, with the approval of the Board, will appoint an ombudsman who is authorized to discuss with the Unit game director, Sectional director-in charge, or the Board all issues raised by the membership pertaining to directors. These discussions will remain confidential.

Policies, Amendments 

These policies may be amended by a majority vote of the Board of Directors.

Recorder

A Recorder will be selected by the WBL Board to serve during all WBL-sponsored events.  As stated in ACBL policies, the Recorder is an official of the Unit and is therefore covered under the ACBL liability policy. Guidelines from the ACBL, and the  WBL will be the basis for the Recorder’s responsibilities.

The duties of the Recorder are in the C&E guidelines.    

The Recorder may recommend to complainant that another type of action (Conduct & Ethics, Appeals, nothing) is more appropriate than filing a recorder form.  In all cases, the Recorder will use their  own judgment (and/or request assistance from the Board) as to seriousness of the complaint and the appropriate actions to be taken.

Regulations re play

The following policies are in effect at all WBL-sanctioned events except those sessions held in a club or private home.

1.  Behavior:   The WBL is strongly committed to fostering good behavior and eliminating rude behavior at all WBL sponsored events.  The WBL Board has instructed its directors to strictly enforce Rule 74A of the Laws of Duplicate Bridge, which provides as follows: A player should maintain a courteous attitude at all times.  A player should carefully avoid any remark or action that might cause annoyance or embarrassment to another player or might interfere with the enjoyment of the game.  The WBL has instructed its directors to give penalties as warranted for infractions of Rule 74A with penalties becoming more severe for repeat offenders.   

2.  Slow Play:  In order to keep bridge a fun game for everyone, the following slow play policy has been adopted by the WBL.  Directors are encouraged to assess a slow play penalty as needed or as warranted by the circumstances.  After players have been warned about their need to catch up, if they do not do so in a timely manner, penalties will be automatic.  

3.  Smoking:  All events sponsored by the WBL will be non-smoking with appropriate hospitality breaks.  Playing rooms are completely non-smoking before, during, and after sessions.    House rules apply for round robin matches in private homes, but players must be informed in advance if smoking is allowed and they may refuse to play under such circumstances without penalty.  

4.  Systems & Conventions:  The conventions included in the ACBL mid-level Convention Chart are authorized for use in all WBL Unit games and sectionals.

5.  Cell phones:  An announcement should be made at the start of each session advising players to turn off all cell phones or other telecommunication equipment.  After that, penalties will be automatic if a cell phone goes off during play.  

Round Robin

The WBL will conduct an annual round robin.  The round robin committee will consist of a minimum of five members.  Its responsibilities include: developing the conditions of contest, seeding the field, and acting as the first route of appeal of all rulings.  In addition, this committee will also be responsible for the Unit Knockout

The entry fees for the round robin are:

All round robin matches will be non-smoking unless both teams agree otherwise.  Smoking breaks will be allowed.

The prize structure is as follows:  Spring round robin – Flight A $50.00 per team for first, $25.00 per team for second, Flight X $50.00 per team for first, Flight B $40.00 per team for first, and Flight C $40.00 per team for first.  

The duties of the coordinator include: Advertising, receiving applications, handling deposits, ACBL paperwork, prizes, receiving match reports.  The Coordinator is also responsible for referring to the Round Robin Committee problems involving lateness, substitutions, augmentation, and failure to reach agreement on dates for matches.  In addition, the Coordinator is responsible for reporting results and current standings through the WBL Web Page.  

The Coordinator should consult the RR committee to  rule upon addition or replacement of team members, use of substitutes, lateness penalties, adjudication of failure-to-agree-upon-date/location/time-of match situations, plus responsibility of setting up knockout brackets.

Telephone

The WBL has a mobile phone that can be used both for general messages, questions or concerns during the week and will also be available at the unit game and sectionals for calls from participants who will be late or face other difficulties.  

Tournaments

The WBL sponsors four  Sectional tournaments per year.  The tournaments are:

Special events that are to be scheduled during the tournament include but are not limited to:

Records:

The tournament chairperson and Treasurer are to retain their respective tournament records indefinitely.

Caddies:

The minimum age of caddies should be twelve years; however, at the discretion of the Caddy Master, a mature caddy under twelve may be hired.  Caddy payments are $25.00 per session. In order to resolve the discrepancy between caddy wages on regular Thursday Unit games compared to Sectional Thursday night games, regular Unit game caddies at Thursday night games during sectionals will receive their usual Unit game wage, which may be more than sectional only caddies receive.  In addition caddies working on Sundays may be paid a bonus for helping to clean up and pack.

Novice events:

 Events with a master point limit of fewer than 50 master points, will in general be awarded trophies or physical prizes with script being an option.  

Snack Bar:

If there is a snack bar, personnel receive $25.00 per session.  Additional services such as making beer runs, staying through dinner hours, early arrival or staying very late earn $30.00 per session.  Exceptional service, which includes all of the above plus packing, unpacking, transporting food and supplies, receives $35.00 per session.

Swiss teams:

Swiss team irregularity caused by two teams sitting in the same direction will be resolved by assigning zero victory points to each team.  If the irregularity is the fault of the directors, each team will receive an average plus.

Trophies

Four traveling trophies will be awarded each year to the WBL members who win the most master points in WBL events and are in good standing throughout the calendar year. Anyone who wins two or more categories gets the awards for all competitions won. In case of a tie for any player-of-the-year competition, the prizes will be divided and the trophy shared.  

The trophies are:

For the trophy races, the events to be counted are:     

Points excluded:

Points counted in trophy competitions are limited to those won while a player is a member of the WBL.  Points will count from the date an individual joins the WBL unless he has never been a member of another unit or similar organization in another country in which case points will count from January 1.  Nobody will be penalized for administrative delays, which may occur when they transfer into the Unit.

Players eligible for the Clyde Woolridge may not have as many as twenty ACBL master points as of January 1 or an equivalent total from any other bridge organization.

Beginning in January 2002, in addition to the trophy, the prizes awarded will be the same for all four  categories.  Free plays will be awarded as follows:

These free plays will be valid for the “City of Washington” sectional (the second sectional of the calendar year) but may be used at another sectional at the discretion of the tournament chair.

In addition the WBL will award the Jerry Machlin trophy each year to the member who is judged to have displayed exemplary sportsmanship and conduct during the year.  The recipient of the award will be chosen by a committee appointed by the WBL President.  The award will not go the same person twice.  

Unit Game

1.  Guidelines

The Unit game is held Thursday evenings starting at 7:30 P.M.  The starting time will strictly be enforced.  The game schedule will be agreed each year following a joint scheduling meeting with the NVBA.   The Game will be stratified or strataflighted, NLM stratified and a new comer game.  (Strata will be determined by sanctioning or club manager.)  The Chief Director will be responsible for the movements and scoring systems to be used.

Prizes in the form of free plays will be awarded to winners.  These free plays will expire after three years.  Free plays are awarded for section tops in each direction for each section.  If there are less than 7 tables in a section, then only one free play will be given for the higher of the EW or NS scores.  In a team game, each member of the winning team will receive a free play.

2.  Chief Director    

The chief Director of the Unit game shall be a nonvoting member of the Board and will act as club manager for the Unit game.  As club manager, the Chief Director will receive an additional $25.00.  His pay will be broken into salary and traveling and other expenses.  The responsibilities of the Chief Director include:

If a substitute director is needed to fill in for the Chief Director, the Chief Director is responsible to ensure that the substitute director is informed of current WBL policies governing the Unit game.

The monthly report will be filed with the Treasurer no later than the 10th of the following month.  

3.  Directors        

Directors, other than the Chief Director will be paid between $65.00 and $90.00 per session at the discretion of the Chief Director and the concurrence of the Unit Game Committee.. An additional $10.00 per session will be paid if only two directors are working that evening.

4.  Club Manager    

The club manager is responsible for filing new memberships, communication between members and ACBL regarding unit reported master points, paying unit game costs including hospitality, caddies, clean-up, purchasing and coordinating hand records, and arranging for transportation of hand records and duplicated boards, duplicating boards, proctoring director exams for WBL members if requested, maintaining the WBL unit computer including arranging for regular updates of ACBLSCOR and the player database, providing banks of change on Thursday night to ensure that there is sufficient change for entries (currently $350, $200 in fives and $150 in ones), handling scoring corrections within the approved scoring correction period (typically until 2 hours before the next unit game session the following week), coordinating posting scores from unit games to the web site and filing the monthly club report with the ACBL. (The chief director is an employee of the WBL.  The club manager is an appointed volunteer position like a committee chair.)

5.  Caddies

Unit game caddies should be at least 12 years old and mature enough to handle the job.  The caddies work for and will receive instructions from the directing staff.  The caddies receive $35.00 per session for working the Unit game and will be paid by the Chief Director or his designee.  Less experienced caddies may receive $25.00.  A single experienced caddy working on a smaller night is paid $50.00.  The difference between rates for the Unit game and tournaments is accounted for by the extra work expected on Thursday nights (assisting with refreshments and clean-up, closing and storing bid boxes and unused expendables, and the extra time pressure.)  The Caddy master or the Chief Director is authorized to reward a bonus to any caddy for service above and beyond the call of duty.

6.  Conditions of Contest    

The WBL Board of Directors will be responsible for developing conditions of contest for any special events (fast pairs, par games, etc).  These conditions of contest will be written and made available at the Unit game.

7.  Inclement Weather   

The Unit Game Chair and the Chief Director will be responsible for determining if the weather conditions necessitate the cancellation of the Unit game.  The Unit Game Chair is responsible for notifying the facilities manager and the web master of the closing.

Washington Player of the Year

The WBL in conjunction with the NVBA has created a Washington Player of the Year trophy and Non-life Master Player of the Year trophy.  These competitions are based on the total number of master points won in the WBL and NVBA sectionals during the time period of July 1 to June 30. To be eligible, a player must participate in at least five sessions at each tournament site excluding Thursday evenings and be in good standing throughout the time of the competition.  Traveling trophies will be awarded to the winners during the 4th of July regional tournament.  In addition, the winners will be presented with a replica trophy to keep.  No free plays will be given in addition to the trophies.

Web Page

The WBL will maintain a Web Site for the use and benefit of the membership at www.WashingtonBridgeLeague.org.  It shall contain information to include at least: