Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

August 7, 2002

In attendance: Barbara Doran, Steve Robinson, Barbara Shaw, Ben Laden, Fred King, Don Berman, Wei Bao, Dave Ruderman, Lee Jensen, Dick Wegman, and Bulletin Editor Donna Rogall.

The meeting was called to order by President Barbara Doran at 7:15 P.M.

The Minutes were approved unanimously.

Treasurer Steve Robinson submitted his complete report via E-Mail. The balance in our checking account is $8464.52. The detailed report is attached to the minutes. The report was approved unanimously.

Old Business:

Steve Robinson reviewed changes to the WBL Policies which will be re-reviewed and updated at the next meeting. The 2002 Policies will be distributed once the Board has approved the final changes. Fred King suggested that a list of the Standing Committees be included in the Policies.

Donna Rogall reported on the membership survey which we wish to conduct. She and Don Berman met Tuesday night August 6 and discussed the possible content of the survey. The following suggestions were proposed. Name, ACBL#. How often do you play? How many sectionals do you attend and what flight? Both Fred King and Steve Robinson suggested E-Mailing the survey to the Board for comments. Donna asked about including Pros & Cons about certain issues with the survey. Lee Jensen warned against slanting the survey. King and Ruderman were concerned about presenting biased opinions. Ben Laden proposed allowing people to include comments if they wished with their vote. Donna wanted the following question included. How important are these issues to you or how much do you care about these issues? The deadline for the next bulletin is September 5th. Fred King asked if there could be a mini-lesson Ad in the next Bulletin. And it was suggested that we have a column perhaps called "Focus on Volunteers".

Don Berman again discussed the possibility of sending our bulletin by E-Mail. He said that the NVBA uses E-Mail and the Adobe Acrobat Reader is free. Don also mentioned that the area clubs, particularly the Washington Bridge Center, asked it they could piggyback on our WEB site. Don said that we have plenty of space available. Any area clubs that have club news they wish to include on the WEB site are welcome to submit the news to Don and he will include it. Rose Berman is in charge of Laurel Bridge Club news, Millie Larkin the WBC News and Lee Biggs the Senior Center news. However, since we share the WEB site with District 6 we may need their approval. This subject will be brought up at the next District 6 meeting. Dick Wegman wanted to use the WEB site for arranging partnerships at the Unit games and Sectionals. The information submitted would include a phone number. We need a Flight A coordinator. Barbara Rothkin said that she would be the B/C coordinator. Madge Gallant would still do partnerships at the Unit game and sectionals.

Lee Jensen reported about Nationals. Bridge At Schools did receive an additional $80,000 from the Educational Fund. The Caddy room worked well. Fred King said that each caddy paid $5.00 per night to stay in the room. We had 14,656 tables. Dick Wegman thanked everyone who worked on or at the tournament. They all did a great job.

 

New Business:

Ben Laden reported that there will be a C&E Committee hearing on July 11. Kathy Kruskal will be the chairperson. Bob Bell, Ben Laden, Lee Jensen and Andrew Kaufman will be on this Committee. Laden said that he needs a written referral which provides the official charges. The defendant is Leo LaSota.

He also said that he and Dick Wegman attended a seminar at Nationals. He reported that there will be revised guidelines after the next Nationals concerning the sanction of private reprimands.

Dave Ruderman said that he contacted both Giant and Safeway about providing Subs for lunches on Sunday at our Sectionals. They will need a 2 day notice and will provide them at a reduced price. Dave feels that the logistics are workable. This issue has been tabled and will be included on the membership survey.

Ben Laden suggested that we have a trophy pairs game at both the October and March Sectionals for the 0-49 game. He will talk to Bill Cole about adding this to the Sectional Bulletin Ad. The Board OKd this unanimously. He will also talk to the Novice Chairman about announcing this game at the Unit games and in area clubs. It was also suggested that Ben call Ron Kral from the NVBA about announcing this game at his Easy Bridge classes.

Fred King said that he went to a seminar at the Nationals about how to increase local membership in the ACBL. There is ACBL money to help increase Unit size. We can receive $450.00 which is $.25 per member (1790 members) from the ACBL. We need to work with membership and advertising to achieve this goal. Lee Jensen thought that this was not viable right now. Perhaps in 4-5 years.

Fred King said that there will no Easy Bridge classes for the fall. We have no teacher interested in committing themselves.

The Board decided to contribute $50.00 to the American Diabetes Association in honor of Jeanne Stenger.

Steve Robinson reported that the KO phase of the WBL Round Robin has begun.

Barbara Doran thanked Fred King for hosting the meeting. The next meeting will be Wednesday, September 18th at Dick Wegmans. The October meeting on the 16th will be at Lee Jensens.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara Shaw, Recording Secretary