Board of Directors Meeting
Attendees:
Jim Allen Bob
Bell Don Berman Frances Burke Barbara Doran
Lee Jensen Kathy Kruskal Steve Robinson Barbara Rothkin Dave Ruderman
Ted Ying
The December board meeting was held at
the home of Frances Burke. Jim Allen
called the meeting to order at 7:41 PM.
The minutes were reviewed. Berman moved and Doran seconded accepting the
minutes. Passed unanimously with 10 in
agreement, 0 in dissention, and 0 abstentions (10/0/0) Later in the meeting, one correction
to the minutes was noted. From the
treasurer’s report, the amendment to the Constitution should read that “…All
checks drawn on League funds shall bear the signatures of the Treasurer and
either the President or the Secretary.”
The board voted unanimously to correct the previous month’s minutes and
accept the minutes as amended.
TREASURER'S REPORT –
ROBINSON:
Robinson reported that there was $9106.04
in the WBL account. Robinson reported
that this was up approximately $4400 from January 1999. In January 1999, we had several outstanding
expenses that had to be paid (including advance rent on the Kensington
Community Center (KCC)
to facilitate rennovations of the
facility). We are slightly over our
December 1998 balance. This is in part
due to the $1 entry increase that was implemented in September at the
sectionals and Unit game. Robinson
reported that we have no major outstanding expenses other than rent (which is
only for one month this time). The only
outstanding income to be collected will be the income from the December Unit
game. The income from the December
sectional has already been collected.
Robinson also requested that for the
future all receipts and requests for disbursements or reimbursements be accompanied
by a description on an 8½” x 11” sheet of paper. This will make the Treasurer records easier
to keep.
Doran moved and Kruskal
seconded accepting the Treasurer’s Report.
Motion passed (10/0/0).
PRESIDENT'S REPORT - ALLEN:
Allen reported that one player had donated a supply of computer paper to the WBL for use at its functions. This player was informed by Steve Czecha that we could use such a donation. Allen contacted the player and thanked her for her donation.
Allen discussed our current relations with the Kensington community government and the major. Allen reiterated that our relationship with the Kensington council was very strong and that he was learning to work with the mayor and council. The mayor had expressed interest in raising our rent for use of the KCC facilities. The most likely area of increase would be to increase the rent on the tournaments for using 2 rooms downstairs instead of just 1. Allen estimated that it would be an increase in the approximately $87 range. Allen opined that he didn’t think the rent on the Unit game would be increased.
Robinson moved and Doran seconded that we authorize Allen to extend holiday bonus of up to $20 per person to the KCC facilities staff and Baker’s Union staff that have supported us throughout the year. Allen is going to contact Shirley on the KCC staff and consult with her about appropriate holiday gifts for her staff. The motion passed (10/0/0). Jensen suggested that we get Shirley a gift instead of a monetary bonus. The board agreed and recommended Allen take appropriate action.
Allen started discussion of the Grand Nationals Teams event. He reported that District 6 had decided to keep the Flight B and Flight C Unit finals for this year. Additionally, the NVBA has reported that due to availability of playing sites (the KOCH), the NVBA would have to move their Unit final to Sunday, 13 February 2000. The WBL has cooperated and agreed discuss moving our Unit final to Sunday, 6 February 2000. Since the Flight A teams are not required to compete at the Unit level and a Unit final would only be for seeding points and not for qualification, the NVBA unit has suggested running a single Flight A Unit final for both units at their game on Sunday, 13 February 2000, and splitting the profits from such an event. The WBL also needs to decide whether to run the WBL Unit final at the KCC which would be very expensive but can accommodate more teams comfortably or to continue as we have in the last several years of holding the Unit final in one of the unit full-time clubs, e.g. the Washington Bridge Center (WBC) or the Laurel Bridge Club (LBC). Allen asked board members to consider and to come back to this topic later in the meeting under New Business.
Allen announced that he had received good responses on the topic of thank-you gifts for key volunteers to be announced and given at the holiday party. He had solicited suggestions from the board for candidates for these gifts, and he and Doran reviewed the list of potential receipients, selected three recipients, and handled gifts. Allen said that he had acquired very nice gifts for those volunteers and that they would be announced at the holiday party on Thursday, 16 December 1999.
Rothkin started her report on the novice program
by commenting that she was questioning the success of the EZ Bridge program at
the Unit game without Leslie Shafer at the helm. Since Shafer stepped down from teaching the
EZ Bridge program at the Unit game, attendance has decreased. She commented that she now was more cautious
in recommending the board to purchase too many EZ Bridge books.
Rothkin mentioned that the local education
programs were going smoothly. Steve Czecha is running the program at
Rothkin reported that Standard had said she
would start a new EZ Bridge course in January.
Rothkin said that she would talk with Stanard about coordinating the EZ Bridge program in 2000 to
try to find ways to stimulate attendance again.
Rothkin moved and
Bell reported that the CNE committee was meeting to review Les Bart’s recent behavior at the Unit game’s GNT club qualifier game. Bell is considering trying to convene a CNE committee hearing on Saturday, 22 January 2000, in Richmond after the evening session at the site of the NAP district finals.
Berman
reported that starting with the December sectional, the WBL directors were
starting to award penalties for rude
behavior at WBL events. Each time such a
penalty is awarded, a note is given to Berman as the Unit recorded for
tracking. If any player receives a
significant number of such penalties, the recorder could submit this player to
a CNE hearing.
Kruskal discussed the current Grand National Teams (GNT) Unit event. The date of the unit final has been changed to accommodate scheduling problems for the NVBA unit final. We have switched dates with them; ours will now be on Sunday, 6 February 2000, and the NVBA unit final will now be on Sunday, 13 February 2000. Also, the district was considering changing the format but has resolved for this year to hold a qualifying unit final for both Flights B and C. The Flight A game will continue without requiring qualification at the unit level and awarding seeding points for teams that do well at a unit final. Further discussion about the GNT unit final was postponed until New Business discussion.
Ruderman reported that we had started to post the scores from the previous week at the Unit game. We have the bulletin boards necessary, but need to coordinate to ensure that they get posted each week. Ruderman will work with Michael Carroad to ensure these get posted each week.
Ruderman also reported that we still need more food for the annual Christmas party. Even if players had not made arrangements with Kitty Gottfried beforehand, they should feel free to bring food to the party. The committee was also looking for a few more people to come early and help setup for the party.
Berman reminded the board that we have only one Charity event in the 2000 calendar year instead of the former 2 (the Christmas party has become a part of the MABC STAC and is no longer a charity event). Berman is soliciting suggestions for the Charity to sponsor for our May Charity event. He will accept suggestions and make a presentation to the board at the February board meeting to decide on the Charity.
Ying reported that as discussed at the
October board meeting, hard copies of the minutes of all board meeting this
year were brought. Board members should
feel free to review the minutes and forward any corrections to Ying via e-mail.
Ying reported that starting in December,
he would be updating the web site once again.
The results from the Sectional and the Unit games would be posted on the
web. Additionally, the annual
subscription for the web site was due and he wanted confirmation from the board
to renew the site since the amount was over $100.00. The board approved the renewal unanimously.
Robinson reported that the Round Robin
was nearly completed. Two matches remain
to be played, the finals of both the A and X flights. Although most of the Lovenberg points have
been credited to the players, including points up to the finals. The winning team will get the remainder of
the points added to their Lovenberg totals when the match is played. Fortunately, the final match will not affect
the Lovenberg standings for the trophy.
Jensen reported that the December
sectional had 447 tables. The tournament
was up slightly over the December 1998 sectional. Attendance in general was up
significantly. The main area where we
lost attendance was in the novice/intermediate games. The turnout for these games was very low
(abnormally low). There was some
discussion by the board on ways to stimulate attendance by the
novice/intermediate players. General
discussion then followed about starting times for all events. No board action was taken.
Jensen stated that all plans were running
smoothly for the sectional tournament in January and that hopefully the
novice/intermediate attendance would be up again then. If not, the board can reconsider the issue of
novice attendance at a future board meeting.
Robinson suggested starting an e-mail
mailing list for regular WBL unit game participants. He proposed asking the players at the unit
game to record their e-mail addresses on their entries and he would collect
these entries from the directors at the unit game and start up a mailing list. Robinson also proposed using the e-mail
distribution list to help advertise novice events and games sponsored by the
unit.
Jensen reported that copies of the 2000
unit game schedule were available.
Jensen stated that if he continued to coordinate and print the schedule
next year, that he would make some changes.
The first would be to have a clear-cut and announced deadline for when
corrections or additional information for the schedule must be submitted. After the deadline, any information not
provided would be marked “TBA” on the schedule.
This would alleviate the extra time and problems associated with a floating deadline and the inconvenience of
having to make special trips to Northern Virginia to deliver copies to NVBA
board members for their events. It would
also help to ensure that the calendars were out earlier.
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT – DORAN
Doran announced that she had drafted an amendment to the Constitution regarding the required signatures on WBL checks. However, the amendment wording and her notes did not match the wording recorded in the minutes. The board discussed and decided that the proposed amendment was correct and that the minutes of the meeting should be corrected. Additional changes were proposed. Doran stated that she would make the suggested changes and forward the fully amended paragraph to Bryan Coleman for publiciation in the Bulletin for membership review. She would also carbon copy the board on the message for board members to review the final submission.
Robinson moved and Doran seconded revisiting the topic of how to amend the signature requirements. The motion passed (5/2/3). In the discussion, Robinson proposed changing the requirements to any two out of the three parties’ (President, Treasurer and Secretary) signatures. After discussion, the board decided to leave the change as decided last month, with the Treasurer and either the President or Secretary’s signature required.
NEW BUSINESS
The board discussed the upcoming GNT unit final. Robinson moved and Kruskal seconded that we hold a joint Flight A unit final with the NVBA unit at the KOCH on Sunday, 13 February 2000 at the NVBA’s unit final. General discussion followed concerning two topics: combining the Flight A unit final with the NVBA, and whether to hold the Flights B and C unit finals in the clubs (Washington Bridge Center and/or Laurel Bridge Club) or at the KCC as a unit event. After significant discussion, those board members with vested interests in the full-time bridge clubs excused themselves and the remaining board members continued the discussion. The motion on the table was abandoned and a new motion was made. Robinson moved and Jensen seconded that we hold unit finals for all three flights, A, B, and C, at the Washington Bridge Center on 6 February 2000. Details to be coordinated by Kruskal as the GNT coordinator. The motion passed 6/0//0 with 4 members recusing themselves from the vote.
Allen and Kruskal confirmed that the District GNT final would be held 1-2 April 2000 at the KCC in conjunction with the WBL non-LM sectional tournament.
NEXT MEETING
The next board meeting was set for 19 January 2000 at the home of Don Berman.
The following meetings have been tentatively set and will be confirmed at future board meetings:
23 February 2000 home of Lee Jensen
22 March 2000 home of Kathy Kruskal
26 April 2000 home of Jim Allen
Allen thanked Burke for her hospitality. The meeting was adjourned at 10:27 PM.
Directions to Don Berman’s home:
Berman resides at 13707 Engleman Drive, Laurel, MD 20708. His phone number is 301-776-3581.
From the Beltway: Exit North onto 95 (toward Baltimore). Go to second exit (Route 198) and take East toward Fort Meade. Stay on 198 for a few miles. After crossing Route 1, proceed over the bridge and make a right turn at the first traffic signal onto Route 197. At the fourth light, turn right onto Briarwood. Follow Briarwood about .5 mile and turn right onto Engleman to the third house on the left (white mailbox has house number on it).
Respectfully submitted,
Ted Ying, 6
November 1999