Minutes

 

WBL Board Meeting

 

July 21, 2004

 

In attendance: Barbara Ames, Don Berman, Winston Edwards, Richard Ferrin, Fred King, Steve Robinson, Dick Wegman, Ron Zucker, and non-voting members Kitty Gottfried, Donna Rogall, and Ted Ying.

 

President Dick Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:38 PM.

 

Following suggested amendments proposed by Dick Wegman, the board approved the minutes, without objection.

 

Treasurer, Steve Robinson, reported that we have approximately $12,500 in our checking account, and between $18,000 and $19,000 in certificates of deposit.  The board approved the treasurer’s report, without objection.

 

Dick Wegman reported on a recent incident at the Washington Bridge Center (“WBC”).  Apparently a player who attended a WBC club game on the morning of Saturday, June 26 alleged that he witnessed one player “assaulting” another player.  The complaining party filed a report with ACBL headquarters in Memphis, which report was, in turn, forwarded to Don Berman as WBL Recorder.  The complaining party lives out of town, and was visiting the Washington area at the time.  Fred King stated that he had spoken to Jim Allen (owner of the WBC, who was not present at the time of the incident but who had gathered information after the fact about the incident), as well as persons who had actually attended the June 26 morning game and witnessed the incident.  Fred stated that all of the witnesses with whom he spoke recalled that there was shouting involved, but no physical violence.  Richard Ferrin reported that he was present at the June 26 morning game, and also reported that the incident involved shouting, but no physical violence.  Jim Allen reportedly had spoken with the parties to the argument.  Neither party has any history of disruptive behavior at the WBC.  Both parties involved have been warned and placed on probation.  Fred King will draft a response to Memphis, with permission for Memphis to forward the response to the complaining party.  The board agreed that no further measures were necessary.

 

The board discussed the July-August WBL Sectional.  In light of Jeff Roman’s absence, Steve Robinson will make the workshop presentation, between the two sessions on Saturday.  Kitty Gottfried will make sure that a separate room is available for the workshop.  Dick Wegman reported that the school will provide chairs for the sectional.

 

The board again discussed options for locations of upcoming sectionals. 

·                    According to Dick Wegman, Nadine Wood has not yet held any further discussions with 4H. 

·                    Dick reports that Nadine has, however, spoken with the Newport Middle School about reserving Saturdays and Sundays for the WBL sectionals in October 2004 and January and March 2005.  The school reportedly is amenable to an agreement whereby the WBL reserves the right to cancel up to 30 days in advance. 

·                    Barbara Ames reported that another possible sectional location is Summit Hill Farm at Gaithersburg.  This site is not available in the winter, but it is available at other times of the year and they have expressed interest in hosting the WBL for sectionals.  Richard Ferrin commented that the WBL needs a permanent space, so any space which is unavailable for winter is undesirable.

·                    Barbara said that another possible space is the site of the “Rescue Squad”, which is located on Old Georgetown Road and Battery Lane, or Cedar.  The Rescue Squad has not yet provided any details about the dates when the space would be available.

·                    Barbara said that prospects for a better, permanent space for WBL sectionals would improve greatly if the WBL could budget $7,000 to $8,000 for rent.  That might be possible if the WBL could sell sponsorships for the July regional.  Barbara and Charity Sack will draft a model letter to possible sponsors.  Winston Edwards will review the draft.

·                    Ted Ying commented that sites in northern Montgomery County are undesirable, because the commute time is bad for anybody living outside Montgomery County.  Ted said that he would look at potential locations in Prince George’s County or beltway locations for $2,000 to $2,500 for five sessions.  Dick Wegman noted that any potential location would have to have 6,000 to 7,000 square feet of playing space, plus plenty of parking.

 

The board considered the location of the unit game.

·                    Dick Wegman said that he and Barbara Ames spoke with Christ the King Church to improve the lighting and the condition of the facilities, possibly with the assistance of some up-front money by the WBL.  A meeting is scheduled for this Saturday, but it may be postponed.

·                    Dick reported that St. Michael’s Church, which is near the old Silver Spring Armory (at the intersection of Wayne and Pershing), may be available.  The lighting and space is good, the Church has kitchen facilities, and parking is ample.  The downside is that the Church is asking for $500 per night.

·                    Ron Zucker asked how much profit the WBL earns on the unit game.  Fred King estimated $1,000 per month.  Ted Ying estimated $400 to $800 per session, not including rent.

·                    Ted noted that when the WBL moved from the Silver Spring Armory to Kensington, it lost about seven to nine tables.  The WBL lost a similar number of tables after the move to Ohr Kodesh, and again after the move to Christ the King.

·                    Fred King asked if the St. Michael’s location has a facility for Steve Forsythe’s newcomer game.  Dick said that it may be possible to run that game on the stage of the meeting room where the main game would be.

·                    Dick proposed setting up a visit by as many WBL board members as possible, perhaps on a Saturday morning.  Dick will send invitations to WBL board members and certain other people, such as Millard.  He will try to schedule the visit for Saturday, August 7.

·                    Dick also noted that we need new tables for the unit game.  Ted commented that new tables might pose a space problem, because tables made these days are bigger than the old tables.

 

The board discussed partnerships, including the Partnership Guarantee Program. 

·                    Kitty Gottfried noted that when Charlene has to call up a partnership volunteer at the last minute, she usually has to borrow somebody’s cell phone.  Is it possible for the unit to purchase a cell phone so that Charlene does not have to borrow a cell phone?  Ted Ying commented that another reason for the unit to get a cell phone is so that persons who are stuck in traffic or otherwise are delayed getting to the unit game have somewhere to call and warn of the delay.  Dick Wegman said that the idea of a phone number for the unit is a good idea, but expressed concern that a cell phone might disappear.  He also asked how much this would all cost.  Don Berman volunteered to look into it and report his findings to the board.

·                    Dick reported that Michael Carroad suggested the following persons as volunteers to fill in as partners for the unit game: Mike Henderson, Jason Meyer, Michele Cantave, and Sandy Forsythe.  Ted suggested that the WBL offer them a free play for volunteering for partnership duty, whether or not they actually play on the night that they volunteer.  This will encourage volunteers.  Ted will provide a further report next month on the Partnership Guarantee Program.

 

The board considered recommendations to the Mid-Atlantic Bridge Conference (“MABC”) for tournament co-chairs for the 2005 July 4th regional.  Dick Wegman stated that Nadine is willing to run the regional, with the assistance of Fred King.  The last time that the WBL ran the July 4th regional, Kathy Kruskal was co-chair, and he was concerned that Kathy might be expecting to chair or co-chair the next time.  Ted Ying predicted that Kathy would not mind if someone else were selected to chair the tournament.  A motion was made, and passed unanimously, to recommend Nadine and Fred as co-chairs.  Dick agreed to talk to Kathy about the situation.

 

Steve Robinson noted the continuing difficulty in getting reimbursement from the MABC for the last 4th of July tournament that the WBL ran, because of issues regarding reporting of the financial statement.  Steve Robinson suggested that he draft a letter to the MABC explaining that the WBL attempted to obtain a financial statement from the then-tournament co-chair.  Steve believed that at this point, the MABC would agree to reimburse upon receipt of such a letter from the WBL.  The board agreed to have Steve write such a letter.

 

The board deferred further consideration of recommendations regarding liability insurance until the next meeting.  The board will also look at workmen’s compensation insurance.

 

The board discussed the upcoming scheduling meeting for the sectionals.  Dick Wegman asked if the board was comfortable with holding only four sectionals next year, as they did this year.  Fred King noted that the board would not be in a position now to determine whether to have another July-August sectional until the attendance results were in from this year’s July-August sectional.  Steve Robinson commented that traditionally, cold-weather sectional tournaments have better attendance than summer sectional tournaments.  He suggested that the schedulers set five dates, and later delete one of those dates to get the number of sectionals down to four.  Ted Ying suggested that the schedulers should identify six slots, and then prioritize those slots.  Fred recommended definitely not scheduling a sectional in December.  January, March, and October should be definite times for sectionals.  The fourth sectional should be in either May or July/August, depending on how the upcoming July/August sectional goes.  In addition, the schedule should provide at least a three-week gap between a WBL sectional and any NVBA sectional.  Following further discussion, Dick Wegman noted that the majority of board members agreed with Fred’s suggestion.  Ron Zucker asked about the Washington Bridge Center sectional.  Ted Ying said that there was no need to discuss that sectional in the scheduling meeting, because it was not a Washington Bridge League sectional.

 

Dick Wegman raised the issue of Larry Galvin’s club suspension.  Mr. Gavin has three sanctioned clubs.  He has not been filing the necessary reports and fees, so the ACBL has suspended all three of these clubs.  Dick said that Barbara Summers believes that the WBL should do what it can to help Larry bring his clubs back into ACBL compliance.  Dick noted that six months ago, Barbara Summers put up the money necessary to bring Larry current on ACBL fees.  Now Larry is again delinquent.  Ted Ying asked if anybody at these three clubs would could be a liaison with Larry.  Dick suggested Barbara Summers.  Ted agreed to look into the matter.

 

Dick Wegman discussed the club brochures, asking if there were any ideas about distribution.  Ron Zucker suggested distributing brochures to a support group for spouses of Georgetown Medical School students.  Ted Ying suggested distributing brochures to embassies for spouses of diplomats.

 

The board considered compensation for Donna Rogall’s services.  Steve Robinson suggested a new compensation package for Donna that would add spouse free plays.  Dick said that he was uncomfortable expanding free plays to spouses.  Dick asked Steve and Fred King to discuss the matter further and make recommendations to the board.  Mindful that Donna’s request for a raise has been pending for some months, Winston Edwards suggested that any increase in compensation be retroactive.  Dick agreed.

 

Don Berman raised the issue of computerized images of the flyers for WBL sectionals.  He stated that the WBL should post the flyers on the WBL website in PDF format, instead of the bitmap format currently being used.  Ted Ying objected that PDF format is unfriendly to the handicapped.  Don said that anything is better than bitmap.  Donna Rogall commented that PDF is too time-consuming on a page-by-page basis.  However, if the WBL were to purchase the full Adobe PDF package, it would be workable.  Don estimated that the full Adobe PDF package software costs approximately $500.  He will inquire further with the MABC webmaster.  Don also said that he would look into other options for improving the WBL web site.

 

Kitty Gottfried said that Millard Nachtwey should be mentioned in the list for the annual meeting and holiday party.  For some reason he was not mentioned last year.

 

Ron Zucker reminded the board that the volunteer party will take place August 29 from 3:00 to 6:00 PM.  He urged as many board members as possible to attend.

 

The next WBL board meeting will take place on August 25 at Steve Forsythe’s house.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Richard Ferrin, Secretary