Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

January 26, 2005

The meeting was held at Hamburger Hamlet in Bethesda, Maryland.

In attendance: Barbara Ames, Richard Ferrin, Fred King, Steve Forsythe, Steve Robinson, Dick Wegman, Ron Zucker, and non-voting members Nadine Wood and Donna Rogall.

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

Preliminary Announcements and Comments

Dick Wegman thanked Nadine Wood for a terrific January sectional tournament. He is pleased to report that the Schweinhaut Center wants the WBL back for future events.

Dick reported that Michael Chelst is again willing to have Fidelity & Trust Mortgage sponsor the round robin tournament.

Dick received a note from Cassandra Smith regarding a joint activity with the ABA. The local ABA unit suggested a joint event on Saturday, April 16, 2005 at “The Hut”, in conjunction with an ABA tournament. Dick observed that that date would occur at the same time as the Gatlinburg Regional. The local ABA unit also suggested reciprocation through a joint event at one of the WBL’s sectionals.

Dick noted that Mark Rosen has started a bridge program at the Tilden Middle School. The program is a 70-minute after-school program, with up to 15 children currently participating. He said the WBL would enthusiastically support this program.

Secretary’s Report

Without objection, the board approved the minutes, as amended.

Treasurer’s Report

Steve Robinson reported that the WBL had $7,592.26 in its checking account at the end of 2004, and the checking account balance as of today is $12,677.09. Nadine Wood noted that the WBL has prepaid the Newport Mill Middle School for rent for three future tournaments. Hopefully, the WBL will use that facility for only one or two tournaments, assuming satisfactory arrangements can be made at the Schweinhaut Center for future tournaments. If the WBL does not use the facility for these prepaid dates, the school will refund the rent money. At this point it is unclear whether the Schweinhaut Center will be available for the WBL’s April/May tournament. The Treasurer’s report was approved without objection.

Unit Game March 24, 2005

Dick Wegman stated that on Thursday, March 24, the WBL cannot use the facility at Christ the King church because it is Easter week. The Washington Bridge Center is a possible alternative location, but it can accommodate a maximum of 36 tables. Richard Ferrin asked whether the Schweinhaut Center was a possibility for that date. Nadine Wood stated that it would be impractical to use the Center for one event, because the WBL would have to move tables and chairs to the site, just for one night. Ron Zucker said that Ohr Khodesh might be a possible location for that one night. The WBL would have to bring tables, but not chairs. Barbara Ames asked whether it was possible to switch the unit game to Wednesday that week to avoid the problem. Dick said that was inadvisable for several reasons, including the fact that he suspected Christ the King would be unwilling to rent out the facility any night the week before Easter. Dick suggested that the Ohr Khodesh location be considered as the first possibility for the March 24, 2005 game, with the Washington Bridge Center as an alternative if the Ohr Khodesh option did not work out.

Charity Game

Dick Wegman explained that because of ACBL rules regarding sanctioning of charity games for local charities, since the WBL recently held a charity game to benefit Indian Ocean Tsunami victims, the WBL has to have another ACBL charity game to benefit an ACBL-designated charity. In addition, during discussions with the Schweinhaut Center, a Center representative suggested that the WBL make a charity contribution to the Center. If the WBL holds a charity game to benefit the Schweinhaut Center, it would have to schedule yet another charity game for an ACBL-designated charity. Steve Robinson noted that March 17, 2005 is already scheduled for a WBL charity game (in favor of the ACBL charity). Steve suggested April 14 for another. The rest of April is already set, with two sectionals (NVBA and WBL) and a District 6 charity game. Dick suggested March 31 instead of April 14, in order to avoid four unit games in a row with a nine dollar entry fee. The Board agreed to scheduling a charity game on March 31. Dick also suggested another charity game for May 12 (the date of the WBL membership annual meeting), to benefit the Schweinhaut Center. The Board agreed to the May 12 date as well.

January Sectional

Nadine Wood reported that the January WBL sectional drew 382.5 tables, the largest attendance at a WBL sectional in several years. Steve Forsythe asked if there was a room at the Schweinhaut Center for expansion space, if needed. Nadine said that there is an additional room that could hold 30 tables, plus other potential spaces at the Center. Donna Rogall asked whether parking at the tournament was satisfactory. Nadine said that there was plenty of space in the parking lot.

Profit Sharing

Steve Robinson explained that the WBL has a profit-sharing arrangement with the NVBA with respect to the Thursday night games held during WBL and NVBA tournaments. In February 2003, the WBL had a tournament and due to inclement weather, the NVBA actually lost money at the Beth El site for the Thursday night event. The NVBA’s Margot Hennings contends that but for the fact that there was a WBL tournament, the NVBA would have canceled the Thursday night game on that occasion because of the weather, and therefore would have avoided a rent charge at Beth El. Margot Hennings proposes that the NVBA subtract $150 from what the NVBA owes the WBL, to recoup the loss that night. Steve Forsythe noted that the profit-sharing agreement (60/40) does not apply in this situation, because the agreement involves the splitting of profit and there was no profit to split. Steve Forsythe also questioned whether the profit-sharing arrangement with the NVBA is advisable. Steve Robinson pointed out that the profit-sharing arrangement benefits the WBL as well, because the WBL gets a share of the proceeds from the Thursday night game of NVBA tournaments as well. Without the profit-sharing arrangement, the WBL would get no profit from the Thursday night game held at Christ the King when it is part of the NVBA sectional. Dick Wegman noted that the NVBA currently owes money to the WBL for the NVBA’s share of the bridge brochures that were printed and distributed last year. The $150 requested by the NVBA could just be offset from what NVBA owes for the bridge brochures. After discussion, the Board approved a $150 offset in money that the NVBA owes to the WBL, pursuant to Margot Henning’s request.

On a related subject, Donna Rogall reported that the NVBA has not been including ads for upcoming WBL sectionals in the NVBA bulletin, even though there is a mutual agreement on ads and the WBL has put in the NVBA tournament ads in the WBL’s bulletin. Donna said that the NVBA claims that the problem has been meeting the NVBA’s press deadlines, but in fact she has met the NVBA’s stated press deadlines. Dick Wegman said that he would confer with Leo Cardillo (NVBA President) regarding this subject.

March Sectional

Steve Forsythe reported that he has flyers for another “Instant Bridge Player” event to be run simultaneously with the Saturday of the WBL March sectional. Dick Wegman inquired as to the number of players from the Instant Bridge Player event that later come to WBL events. Steve Forsythe estimated that the Instant Bridge Player event generates about one to two tables of new players to WBL events. Dick said that we should try to get the students from Ron Starr’s high school program to come to the Saturday events at the March sectional. Ron Starr will be out of town that Saturday, so Dick asked who should coordinate the event that Saturday for the high school players. Steve Forsythe suggested that Mark Rosen would be a good candidate for that task.

Dick asked whether there was a workshop scheduled for the March tournament. Nadine Wood said that Charity and another person to be named later would run the workshop.

Nadine observed that the Friday events currently are scheduled for 10:00 AM and 1:30 PM. That is too tight a break between games. Nadine suggested moving the afternoon game time to 2:00 PM. Donna Rogall pointed out that a time change is too late, because the 1:30 PM start time is already in the advertising for the March sectional. Nadine suggested that moving the event back 30 minutes may not necessarily be “too late”, as opposed to moving the event up 30 minutes, because unlike moving the time up 30 minutes, moving the time back 30 minutes does not risk people missing the start of the event. Nadine then agreed that perhaps it may be too late to change the Friday afternoon start time for the March sectional, but it should be changed for the April/May sectional. Donna then stated that she would try to change the advertising to reflect the change, in both the March sectional and the April/May sectional.

Richard Ferrin reported that he had heard several complaints about the fact that the number of boards for the Saturday events had been cut from 26 boards to 24 boards. He noted that the first Saturday event in the January sectional was a particular problem for one pair, because there was a sit-out table and so one pair played only 22 boards. Dick Wegman noted that the change to 24 board was designed to accommodate more convenient start times, and suggested that we adhere to the 24-board format for the Saturday events for the next one or two tournaments, and survey the views of members who come to the tournaments. Barbara Ames suggested that a quick survey could be done through Steve’s e-mail list.

Nadine Wood stated that we need people to fold tables and chairs at the sectionals, and suggested a free play as an incentive for a volunteer. Steve Robinson said that offering a free play as an incentive was acceptable if it involved work of one person for an extended period of time, but it was unacceptable if there were several such volunteers who worked 10 minutes each folding tables and chairs. He said that we should first just ask for as many volunteers as possible, without the free play incentive.

Steve Forsythe suggested that we need to have some visual signal for volunteers who are prepared to be partners for people who come to the sectional without a partner. Donna Rogall added that Charity Sack could use some help on the partnership desk for the sectionals. Dick Wegman said that he would talk to Barbara Shaw about the matter.

Partnership Guarantee Program

Ron Zucker expressed concern that although the WBL purportedly guarantees partners for individuals who come to the Unit Game, at least four times in the last three months we sent away people who did not have a partner. Charleen Brand has a list of potential partners, but those persons are not always reachable at the last minute on a given Thursday night. Ron proposed that we have a standby partner available every week, with the standby receiving a free play whether or not he/she is needed. Fred King made a motion to authorize a free play for a standby partner. The motion carried unanimously.

Fred King asked who calls potential partners when a single person calls the partnership coordinator on a Thursday night asking for a partner. He said that he heard a complaint that the partnership coordinator just gives a list of people to call and their numbers. Dick Wegman agreed that it is better for the partnership coordinator to do the actual calling of people on the reserve partner list, rather than the person requesting the partner. Donna Rogall suggested asking Ram Sarangan if he might be willing to pitch in on the partnership desk. Barbara Ames agreed to ask Ram. Dick suggested that in the next month’s Board meeting, we should discuss ways to update the online partnership desk.

D&O Insurance

Barbara Ames reported that the WBL has written a $370.50 check to cover the WBL with D&O insurance with USG for the next six months. The policy provides $1 million in coverage.

Lighting

Barbara Ames stated that for $30 each, the WBL could get halogen lamps. Ron Zucker said that the problem with halogen lamps is that they are too dangerous. The lamps reach 900 degrees in temperature. It would be bad if a director knocked over a lamp. Dick Wegman stated that knocked-over lamps should not be a problem if we put the lamps along the walls. Ron Zucker said that he thought the idea was to put the lamps in the aisles. Ron Zucker then discussed the alternative of using compact fluorescent lamps, and promised to bring one to an upcoming Unit Game.

Bridge and Bowling

Ron Zucker noted that to date, he had received 13 RSVPs. Rose Berman found two places to eat: one buffet, and one pizza place. We have a bridge sanction and a director for the bridge part of the event. We plan to play bridge at Laurel, but the Laurel club holds a maximum of 12 tables, and we can play at the WBL if more space is needed. This Saturday, I will drop off flyers at the NVBA sectional. Ron reported that he had reserved 15 lanes for bowling. Fred King asked about trophies. Ron agreed to arrange for trophies.

Round Robin Dispute

Dick Wegman referred the Board to an e-mail sent by Leo LaSota, complaining about use of Lyle Poe as a last-minute substitute on Steve Robinson’s team in the Round Robin final. Steve Robinson stated the following. First, he noted that the Round Robin rules state that the rules can be interpreted by the coordinator in the best interest of all. In this case, Peter Boyd had to go into the hospital. Bill Cole looked all day for a substitute. Steve thought that the substitution of Lyle Poe for Peter Boyd did not violate the rule against strengthening the team. He also checked with other members of the Round Robin Committee to determine whether his decision was reasonable. Steve said that he checks with other Committee members as necessary for his decisions as Coordinator. Specifically, he conferred with Earl Glickstein, and Earl approved Lyle as a substitute. In the Unit Knockout last year, Steinberg was approved as a substitute for Klein (on another team), even though Steinberg had played in the event.

Ron Zucker stated that there is a perception that Steve Robinson “runs” the Round Robin Committee, and questioned why all members of the Committee were not consulted. Steve Robinson conceded that he should have called Barbara Doran (a Committee member). Richard Ferrin asked who comprises the Round Robin Committee, and asked whether Committee members are elected every year. Steve Robinson said that people with experience with the event should be on the Committee.

Dick expressed his concern that there is a perception that the Round Robin Committee is stacked with members of one of the Round Robin teams. Donna Rogall asked Steve Robinson who on the Committee he calls when there is an issue. Steve Robinson said that it varies. He commented that the most controversial decision made in the Round Robin event for 2004 was to have 3 groups of 4 teams, instead of 2 groups of 6 teams.

Dick asked when the next Unit Knockout and Round Robin events will start. Steve Robinson said that the Unit Knockout was about to start, and that the start would depend on the number of teams. Dick said that in order to address the perception of a “stacked” Committee, we should add a few new members to the Committee and take off a few members of the current Committee. Dick volunteered to respond to Leo’s e-mail.

Next Meeting

The meeting adjourned at approximately 9:30 PM. The next WBL board meeting will take place February 16 at Winston Edward’s house. The March meeting will take place March 23 at Donna Rogall’s house.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Ferrin, Secretary