Board of Directors Meeting
Attendees:
Jim Allen Bob
Bell Don Berman Michael Carroad Barb Doran Lee
Jensen
Steve Robinson Barbara Rothkin Dave
Ruderman Leslie Shafer Charlie Williams Nadine Wood
Ted Ying
The September board meeting was held at
the home of Barbara Rothkin. Jim Allen
called the meeting to order at 7:51 PM.
Allen announced that the following board members were excused: Bryan Coleman has classes on Tuesday
evenings, Kathy Kruskal was feeling ill and cancelled that day. Allen welcomed three additional people to the
board meeting: Michael Carroad, our unit game club manager and Director in
Charge (DIC) of WBL general events; Leslie Shafer, our unit novice coordinator
and EZ Bridge teacher/coordinator; and Nadine Wood, the district 6 Director on
the ACBL Board of Directors.
NOVICE
COORDINATOR REPORT - SHAFER:
In order to allow her to present her
report to the board and then leave early, Allen suspended the regular agenda to
greet Shafer and hear her report first.
Shafer opened by confirming that she would like to remain the novice
coordinator for the unit, but was trying to withdraw from teaching the EZ
Bridge classes. Among the reasons was
the desire for a break and interest in playing at the Unit game. Shafer has spent the last few months training
Barbara Stanard to assume the teaching of the EZ Bridge class. Allen agreed with placing Stanard in the role
with the caveat that this would be a trial period and that in several months,
the board would ask Shafer and Carroad, the unit game director, for a report on
the status of EZ Bridge and possibly revisit the issue.
Shafer had also spoken with Carroad about
establishing a separate director(s) specifically hired to run the 199er game at
the Unit game. She had noticed and heard
from players that a major problem with the game is that the game needs more
attention than standard games (e.g., encouraging slower players to play faster
to keep the movement running smoothly).
Shafer recommended Millie and Rick Larkin as a team as they would be
able to work together and at least one would be available each week. Carroad, as the club manager and DIC, will
determine how to implement this and will report back to the board at a later
date. Robinson pointed out that as the
unit game club manager and unit game director-in-charge (DIC), Carroad had full
authority to decide on the course of action that he thought best. The board concurred. Shafer responded that she was informing the
board of all discussion as a courtesy and that she had already spoken about all
of the above details with Carroad and the two of them would set the course of
action.
After Stanard completes the current
EZ-Bridge classes, Shafer and her husband, Charlie Williams would resume
teaching the mini-lesson for the 0-20 group before the unit game. However, for a while at least, Shafer is
retiring from the EZ-Bridge/directing path.
Shafer made special note to thank Rothkin for her dedication and hard
work in helping the novice program. She
has provided more work as liason than any of the past Novice liasons and Shafer
wanted to make special note of that.
On the topic of declining memberships,
Shafer mentioned that the numbers of memberships from the previous year that
had not renewed were distorted. Last
year, Shafer taught some Audrey Grant Club series classes to some people in
Montgomery County College. These were
non-duplicate and non-ACBL members and she encouraged them to join the ACBL at
the end of class, much like most of her classes. However, as non-duplicate players, they were
interested in learning bridge, but not participating in duplicate events. These players did not choose to renew their
memberships (they had no paricular reason to do so) and they were a large
portion of the members that did not renew their membership. When Shafer found out that this was not good
for the ACBL or WBL, she discontinued encouraging these players to join the
ACBL. Thus, we had a noticeable
distortion of the membership numbers.
Shafer outlined some future projects that
she would be working on as Novice Coordinator.
She would still be writing and distributing the novice newsletter. She would coordinate the novice newsletter
with Stanard and the Larkins. ACBL would
be subsidizing 40% of the cost of the newsletter and this money would come back
to the WBL. Shafer was planning on
working to coordinate a meeting with the ABA novice and education program
coordinators to set up a teacher’s workshop.
Allen asked Shafer to put together a proposed budget for such a workshop
by next month’s meeting. Allen thanked
Shafer for attending the meeting and for her hard work.
SECRETARY’S REPORT/MINUTES
– YING
There were no additiona/corrections for the minutes this month. Doran moved and Bell seconded accepting the minutes as presented. The motion passed unanimously.
TREASURER’S REPORT -
ROBINSON:
Robinson reported that the Unit checking
account has a balance of $8536.87.
Robinson commented that this was
comparable to what we had in the account last year at this time. However, as a caveat, he mentioned that at
this time last year, the NVBA ran the STAC and had to pay us our portion of the
profits. This year, we ran the STAC and
would have to pay the NVBA their portion of the profits. Thus, the next month or two, our account may
not be comparable to last year. Since
last month, we have paid the sanction fees and directors fees for the
STAC. We still have left payments to the
NVBA (profits), and expenses and other payments to Doug Grove, our DIC and coordinator
of the STAC. The payments to NVBA and
Grove will amount to approximately $3,000.00.
Doran moved to accept the treasurer's
report; Berman seconded. Motion passed
unanimously.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT - ALLEN:
Allen opted to post the President’s report
until later in the meeting. He wanted to
take this opportunity to discuss an old business item. Allen wanted to revisit the issue of the
differential fee for non-members and non-Service-fee LM’s, hereafter referred
to as non paying players (NPP). Since
the board had passed the original motion in April 1999, the current board had
not had a chance to review and comment on the issue. Wood reviewed the recent history of the
differential fee issue. She discussed
her original opposition to the proposal in 1996 (the 1996 Task Force for the
Future of Bridge). However, she cited
that at that time, the ACBL had no clear implementation plan for the discounted
rates. However, now, most external
reviews comment that we are one of the only membership organizations that do
not charge a differential fee for members.
Another distinct difference between now and 1996 is that the
computerized records for membership are more accurate and easier to maintain
and confirm. So now the ACBL has
reconsidered the effect that this would have on management and the
membership. ACBL has exempted the clubs
from the differential fees, however, once the players become accustomed to the
differential in tournaments, very few people will have a problem with the
differential fees.
Robinson moved and Rothkin seconded that
the WBL would charge a higher entry rate for WBL unit events and would then
adhere to the ACBL policy of discounting the entry rate 50 cents for member
non-LM and Service-fee paying LM’s. (paying players, or PP). Discussion on the topic ensued. After some discussion, one group of
dissenters commented on one excluded group.
Ruderman moved and Rothkin seconded a motion to amend the above motion
to include ABA members in the list of
playings accorded the discounted rate.
Robinson agreed to the amendment and claified the original (amended)
motion as follows: The WBL would raise
the entry fees to $7.50 per player per session for WBL unit events and would
then adhere to the ACBL policy of discounting the entry rate 50 cents for
member non-LM, Service-fee paying LM’s, and ABA members. The amendment passed with 5 agreements, 1
dissention, and 3 abstentions. The
motion was called and the revised motion was passed with 6 agreements, 2
dissentions, and 1 abstention.
Jensen reported that the scheduling
committee had met and that a 2000 schedule had been drafted and would be
presented at the next board meeting for review by the board.
Jensen moved and Robinson seconded that
the board should revisit the entry fees for the WBL Unit game. Jensen proposed that the Unit game entry fee
be raised to $8 per player per session for all North American Pairs (NAP) and
Grand National Teams (GNT) club qualifiers, Instant Matchpoint games and
Sectional Tournament at Clubs (StaC) events; and the Unit game entry fee be
raised to $6 per player per session for all other events. The board voted 8 in agreement with 1
abstention. The board decided that this
would be effective as of 15 Sept 1999.
Jensen moved and Doran seconded that we
increase our discounted entry fees for PP’s to WBL Sectional events to $8 per
player per session. This would also be
effective 15 Sept 1999. The motion
passed with 6 in agreement and 3 abstentions.
Allen reported that the Alexandria
regional report had been submitted and the tournament was an excellent
success. The tournament turned a great
profit and the turnout and results were also great. Alexandria remains one of District 6 and the
MABC’s most successful regional tournaments.
Ying reported that he had been cast in a local community theater production. Due to his rehearsel schedule, he would not be at the Unit game for the remainder of September and the month of October. He would return to directing at the Unit game in November.
Ying reported that the web statistics were about the same as the rest of the summer. The complete results for August and the partial results for September were comparable to the earlier months.
Updated officer slips were presented. These had the corrections from the previous month included on the slips. Ying asked board members to please take extra copies to the Unit game for him.
Ying presented updated Conditions of Contest (CoC) for the Fast Pairs event. The board had no further corrections and the current version of the CoC would be presented for future Fast Pairs events.
Rothkin reported that the turnout for the
0-49 games had been great. She had quite
a number of pairs qualified and was already sending out qualification letters
to those 49er pairs inviting them to the Unit event to be held 9 Oct 1999 at the WBL Sectional. Rothkin reported that the 0-49 club level
games had a good turnout in general.
Rothkin had already acquired the trophies for the Unit level event and
wanted to take them to the KCC to display for the next few weeks at the unit
game; she also wanted to store the trophies in the directors’ cabinet until the
Unit level event. Rothkin was proposing
that we charge $6 per player per session for the Thursday night qualifier on 23
Sept 1999 when the Thursday night Unit game was part of the NVBA Sectional
tournament. Rothkin reported that she
had amended the CoC for the Rookie NAP event.
Non-qualified pairs would be allowed to play the Unit level event and
would be allowed to win Section awards (including Section tops) but would not
be eligible for Overall awards..
Ruderman reported that there were
approximately 1150 tables in the STAC.
Most of the trophies had been sent out to the winners.
Ruderman made a request of the Unit game
directors. He asked that the Unit game
directors make an announcement at the end of the night to ask the players to
please help clean up the areas around the tables of trash.
Bell reported no outstanding or reported issues from the Conduct & Ethics Committee (CNE). Only one case was reported and that was referred to Beth Palmer as in the jurisdiction of the District 6 CNE committee.
Bell mentioned that the St. Elizabeth’s game needed a director for their game on Monday, 20 Sept 1999.
Allen
reported that he had received a letter from St. Elizabeth’s thanking the WBL
for their recent donation to the St. E’s game.
.
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT – DORAN
Doran requested the results from the June-August Unit game qualifiers for the NAP event. Doran had no additional report to present.
BOARD REPORT - ROBINSON
Round robin was progressing well and according to schedule. Only one issue was an outstanding protest. The committee had the appeal well in hand and was already in progress resolving the protest.
BOARD REPORT – BERMAN
Berman reported that the Convention Review committee had been in discussion via e-mail concerning the issues raised by Robinson. Robinson wanted to come up with a policy to enforce more proactive rules on alerting by unusual methods. The problem the committee had was that the WBL would put into effect different rules from the ACBL standard which would only be in effect for WBL events. Thus the players would have one set of rules for WBL-sponsored events and another set of rules for all other events. The committee felt that the WBL should not have a separate set of alert rules and procedures from the ACBL.
UNIT GAME CLUB MANAGER’S REPORT - CARROAD
Carroad raised the Fast Pairs event up for discussion. He pointed out that the current format fo the Fast Pairs event was setting up the game for failure. The game was currently only scheduled opposite of a regular Stratified Pairs event (it won’t run well opposite a Strati-Flighted Pairs event). Unfortunately, we currently only have regular Stratified Pairs events opposite out-of-town regionals, NABC’s and other special events. Hence a significant number of players would be out-of-town and attendence in general would be down. Carroad mentioned that the WBL needed to reconsider how to schedule the Fast Pairs in order to allow attendance to prosper. Doran volunteered to help review the situation and consider options.
The recent STAC held a Stratified BAM teams on Thursday evening. This had a noticeably decreased attendance for the session. Carroad recommended replacing the BAM teams with a Swiss teams or returning to a pairs game format as the BAM was not as popular as other events.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT – ALLEN
Allen reported that Clyde Kruskal was again running his games theory class at the University of Maryland. Kruskal had enlisted the help of Shafer to teach EZ-Bridge in the class. Allen suggested that the board consider subsidizing the cost of the EZ-Bridge books for the students. Robinson moved and Bell seconded that the board aubsidize the cost of the books. Bell, with Robinson’s consent, amended the motion to grant Allen the discretion to spend up to $90 to subsidize the cost of EZ Bridge books for the UMD students. The board asked Allen to discuss with Shafer, the concerns of the board in subsidizing college students earning college credit for college courses. The motion passed 4 agreement, 1 dissension, and 2 abstentions.
Allen presented the KCC review. So far the Kensington community residents all appreciate the WBL as a tenant of the KCC and feel that the WBL is a good functional use of the KCC. As the WBL works on the issue, there have been fewer parking problems over residents’ personal parking places and the residents all appreciate that. There are currently still electrical problems with the facility, e.g. lights blowing circuit breakers. Allen will work with the KCC maintenance personnel to resolve the problems and come up with solutions for the dark areas of the playing areas. Allen reported that the last coat of fresh floor finish would be applied the weekend of 17-19 Sept 1999. There was no contractor selected yet by the KCC facility management to rennovate the bathrooms, so it was unlikely that the bathroom rennovation would be completed in October 1999 as previously anticipated. Allen was scheduled to meet with the KCC facility management soon regarding the issue of curtains on the windows and around the walls. Allen mentioned he currently had a proposal/idea submitted ot the KCC management to review. Since this was an issue that was very significant to the WBL, Allen commented to the board that the WBL should be willing to help if necessary in defraying the costs of curtains, but that he had not yet mentioned the offer to assist to the KCC management. He was awaiting their response to his proposal before offering to assist.
NEW BUSINESS
The Par Game had been removed from the Unit Game schedule. The Washington Bridge Center and the Laurel Bridge Club were planning to host a joint Inter-Club championship Par Game event on Saturday, 30 Oct 1999. Carroad and Kathy Kruskal would be directing the event. After the event, a report would be presented to the board by either Carroad or Kruskal.
Ying requested that the Unit acquire some defense Yellow Books for the players in the Unit game. The response was that Millard Nachtwey had some and would be able to provide yellow books for the Unit game.
NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 12 October 1999, at Barbara Doran’s house, 1107 Dale Drive, Silver Spring, MD. Barb’s phone number is 301-608-0347.
Directions from East:
Take the Capitol Beltway, I-495, to exit 30, Colesville Road. Follow Colesville Road south to the second traffic light at Dale Drive. Turn right onto Dale Drive and go 2.5 blocks. 1107 is on the right just over a small hill.
Directions from West or North:
Take the Capitol Beltway, I-495, to exit 31B, Georgia Avenue, South. Follow Georgia Avenue south to the second traffic light at Columbia Road. Turn left onto Columbia Road. Follow Columbia Road about 1/10 of a mile. Columbia Road will bear off to the left and Dale Drive will bear off to the right. Bear right onto Dale Drive. Go about one mile and 1107 will be on your left as you near the crest of a small hill.
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The November meeting is currently set on Wednesday, 10 Nov 1999 at Dave Ruderman’s house.
Allen thanked Rothkin for her hospitality. Jensen moved and Ying seconded adjourning the meeting; the meeting was adjourned at 10:29 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Ted Ying, 10 October 1999