Minutes
WBL Board Meeting
May 25, 2005
The meeting was held at Dick Wegman’s house.
In attendance: Barbara Ames, Don Berman, Winston Edwards, Richard Ferrin, Fred King, Clyde Kruskal, Steve Robinson, Barbara Summers, Dick Wegman, and non-voting member Donna Rogall.
President Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:38 PM.
Secretary’s Report
Without objection, the board approved the minutes.
Treasurer’s Report
Steve Robinson reported that the WBL had $13,772.35 in its
checking account. Dick Wegman asked if
the
Committee Assignments
Dick Wegman passed out a proposed list of committee assignments. Dick reported that Fred King has agreed to chair the Unit Game, and the Partnership Guarantee Program. In turn, Dick will chair the Unit Growth Committee. Clyde Kruskal agreed to chair the Education Committee, and be in charge of volunteers at the tournaments. Dick reported that Jane Sturgis will serve as chair of the Charity Committee. Steve Robinson stated that he would try to find a Flight C player as a replacement for Gloria Halstead on the Round Robin Committee. Dick asked the Board to let him know of any suggestions or changes to his proposed committee assignments. He would like for the committee assignments to be noted in the WBL Bulletin.
Barbara Ames reported that she has arranged for volunteers at the tournament. Fred King suggested David Hahn as an additional volunteer. Barbara Summers stated that one potential volunteer called her. She asked who has the volunteer list from last year. Barbara Ames replied that Lee Jensen has the list. Fred said that Nadine Wood, Millard Nachtwey, and he met with the hotel regarding food and other arrangements. He added that in the past, there were two sets of two-session pair games, but this time the two-session pair games have been consolidated to 10:30 AM and 3:00 PM, except for the Machlin Barometer Pairs. Prime time knockout sessions will continue to be scheduled for 1:30 PM and 7:30 PM. In addition, there will be side games and knockouts at 9:30 in the mornings. Barbara Ames commented that the overlapping schedules previously built into the schedule complicated the work of volunteers. Fred added that the previous schedule also complicated the hospitality program. Dick Wegman noted that Helene Bauman needs to have some questions answered regarding the restaurant guide. Fred volunteered to confer with Helene. Barbara Ames noted that she has two administrative assistants who could help with the tournament.
Schedule Adjustments for October 2005 and January 2006 Sectionals
Dick Wegman noted that Nadine Wood objects to holding a Board-a-Match (“BAM”) on Sunday of the October sectional. Donna Rogall added that according to Nadine, the BAM lowers attendance. She said that Nadine is particularly opposed to doing the BAM for the October sectional. Dick Wegman said that he would agree to striking the BAM from the October sectional.
Steve Robinson reported that the WBL has given the
Donna Rogall reported that the Friday night event will be IMP pairs, beer and bratwurst.
Dick noted that the first Saturday session will be a joint game with the American Bridge Association. He said that Winston Edwards will confer with Cassandra Smith about arrangements.
Partnership Guarantee Program
Dick Wegman raised the issue of persons who overuse the partnership guarantee program. In Dick’s view, the purpose of the program is to find partners for new players, or players who occasionally need a fill-in, not for players who need a partner every week. Barbara Summers stated that she spoke with a WBL member who overuses the program, and she understands the Board’s position. However, that person said that the WBL should not hold out the program as a partnership “guarantee”. Donna Rogall commented that the WBL does not search extensively for partners, but merely attempts to find a “warm body”. Barbara Ames stated that there may no longer be a problem with the WBL member who previously overused the program.
Don Berman stated that having the fill-in pair play in the A/X game skews the results of that game. The fill-in pair should play in the B/C event if the person who needs the partner is a C player, even if the fill-in partner is flight A (although no masterpoints may be awarded in that case). Steve Robinson agreed that having such a pair play in the A/X game skews the results. Fred King was of the view that the proper flight placement for the fill-in pair should be at the discretion of the director. Clyde Kruskal objected to having a fill-in A player play with a C player in the B/C game when they cannot compete for masterpoints. Winston Edwards doubted that there was a significant problem with skewing the A/X game, since the fill-in pair would give out tops to their opponents randomly.
Barbara Ames said that she would ask her intern, who plays bridge, if the intern would be willing to fill in from time to time. Fred King said that he may be able to fill in as well and take charge of lining up volunteers for the program. It was suggested to ask each WBL Board member to take a turn filling in as a volunteer.
Syndicated Column Notices
Dick Wegman said that he was trying to see if Frank Stewart or another syndicated bridge columnist would add a plug in the column to direct players to local bridge resources. Steve Robinson said that he has raised the issue previously with Frank Stewart, and will raise the issue again with him.
WBL Logo
Donna Rogall passed out a black and white logo for the WBL that she designed. The logo was well-received. Richard Ferrin made a motion that the WBL should adopt the logo Donna designed. Don Berman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. Richard Ferrin asked whether the logo would transfer to the WBL’s web site. Don Berman replied that it should. Dick Wegman asked for a volunteer to design a new WBL letterhead using the new logo. Barbara Ames said that she would arrange for one of her assistants to design the letterhead.
WBL Historian
Dick Wegman reported that Peter Boyd has agreed to serve in the new post of WBL Historian. He will note that appointment in the President’s Letter for the next WBL Bulletin. Dick urged that if anybody has anecdotal material for the Historian, please let him know. Barbara Summers asked if Peter would review WBL material accumulated by the late Carole Woods. Dick Wegman replied that Peter and Nadine Wood had obtained the Carole Woods files and Peter would review them.
New Business
Clyde Kruskal suggested that the WBL should hold an “unusual
game” at the unit game at least once per year.
Donna Rogall raised the issue of surveying the membership for the time on Saturday sectional pair games. Dick asked whether both surveys should be done at the same time. Barbara Ames queried whether the survey should be done at the regional. She offered to ask Nadine about having a survey at the start time of a game and at the dinner break. Barbara Summers replied that the survey should be conducted only during the Thursday night unit game. Steve Robinson offered to survey via e-mail. Winston Edwards suggested asking the membership whether they preferred Saturday start times at 11:00 AM and 3:30 PM, or 1:00 PM and 7:30 PM. Donna also suggested 12 noon and 5:00 PM as an alternative. Dick Wegman suggested that any survey should be done by a show of hands at the unit game, because the number of responses would be higher that way. Clyde Kruskal said that people should be free to vote for more than one alternative. Richard Ferrin disagreed, suggesting that each person should vote for only one alternative. Steve Robinson said that the goal is to determine if there is any significant consensus. Barbara Summers suggested that the alternatives be framed as an morning/afternoon game or an afternoon/evening game. Several persons disagreed, believing that the survey propose specific suggested times. Don Berman observed that attendance shows that Saturday evening games are not popular. Steve asked how many people have complained about the Saturday start times. Dick replied that the only complaints he has heard has been from people who want the start times even earlier than they are now. Richard suggested that the survey propose three options: (1) 11:00 AM and 3:30 PM, (2) 12 noon and 5:00 PM, and (3) 1:00 PM and 7:30 PM. Dick asked Richard to draft a script for the survey. We will do it two weeks from this Thursday at the unit game.
Next Meetings
The Board scheduled the next several meetings as follows: June 15 at Barbara Summers’ place, July 20 at Barbara Ames’ place, August 24 at Don Berman’s place, and September 21 at Donna Rogall’s place.
Whereupon, the public portion of the meeting adjourned at 9:12 PM. and the Board proceeded with an Executive Session.
C&E Matter
[Secretary’s Note: The following is a summary of minutes of matters considered in the Executive Session, which summary has been approved by the Board for inclusion in the publicly-available minutes.]
Dick Wegman reported that a Conduct & Ethics (C&E) complaint had been filed against by Terry Lavender on April 25, 2005, and asked that the Board vote on a resolution to establish a C&E panel to hear and act upon the complaint. Dick stated that Fred King, the chair of the WBL’s standing C&E committee, has recommended that the following persons serve on a panel to consider the charges contained in Terry Lavender’s letter: Rich Colker (Chairman), Bob Bell, Richard Ferrin, Roger Pies, and Ralph Turner. Dick explained that Fred recommended that these persons serve on this ad hoc C&E Committee to hear this matter in order to comply with the rules of the American Contract Bridge League (“ACBL”) requiring: (1) that the Chairman of the panel have broad experience in handling C&E matters; and (2) that each member of the panel be objective and free from bias.
A short discussion of the proposed C&E panel then took place in Executive Session.
Steve Robinson moved that the WBL Board establish the following C&E panel to hear the above-noted case: Rich Colker (Chairman), Bob Bell, Richard Ferrin, Roger Pies, and Ralph Turner. Winston Edwards seconded the motion. The Board adopted the resolution on a vote of 8 to 0, with Richard Ferrin abstaining.
In other Executive Session business, the Board also elected three new non-Board members of the Standing C&E Committee, plus an alternate, to replace those non-Board members whose two-year terms have expired. The Board elected Carole Banks, Bob Bell, and Ellen Cherniavsky, with Pat Foster as the alternate.
Respectfully submitted,
Richard Ferrin, Secretary