Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

July 12, 2005

The meeting was held at Barbara Ames’ apartment.

In attendance: Barbara Ames, Don Berman, Winston Edwards, Richard Ferrin, Fred King, Clyde Kruskal, Jane Sturgis, Dick Wegman, and non-voting member Donna Rogall.

President Wegman called the meeting to order at 8:00 PM.

Secretary’s Report

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

Executive Session

Whereupon, the Board adjourned briefly to Executive Session, then returned to Open Session.

Alexandria Regional

Fred King reported that attendance was approximately 2,278 tables, compared to approximately 2,450 tables last year. Dick Wegman asked why the table count was lower this year than last year. Fred replied that a number of factors worked against us. A regional in New York was held this year during the same time, as were the European Championships. Also, the Cherry Hills regional was held later than usual this year, and the Summer Nationals in Atlanta would be held in the same month.

Fred reported that beginning two years from now, when the WBL runs the Washington regional, it will be held at the new Marriott hotel on Rockville Pike. During the years that the NVBA runs it, it will be held in Reston. Richard Ferrin commented that Reston would be a long distance to attend for WBL players, particularly for people who live in the District. Fred countered that Reston is not too much of a drive from Montgomery County.

Dick queried whether Nadine Wood thought that the early start times worked well. Fred replied that there will be a scheduling meeting in August, and in anticipation of that meeting, encouraged the Board members to let him know if anybody had strong feelings about the starting times. Fred also observed that in the Atlanta Summer Nationals, the start times for national events would be 10:30 AM. Donna Rogall commented that there are different considerations for the start times for regionals, as opposed to sectionals. Don Berman agreed, noting that afternoon/evening games are better for people who commute and work. Fred added that hospitality is more of a challenge where most of the events have early start times.

Regarding hospitality, Fred reported that hospitality was generally good, particularly the turkey served the first night, but the hotel short-changed us on the Mexican meal Saturday night. Fred stated that except for the Saturday night food situation, the service from the hotel was good.

Barbara Ames proposed that the WBL do something nice for Nadine for her hard work as tournament chair. Dick suggested a gift certificate for two for dinner. Fred suggested a gift certificate for $100 for Roy’s in Baltimore. The Board agreed to this suggestion and asked Fred to purchase a certificate for them.

Player of the Year Award

Dick Wegman stated that the WBL and NVBA had no discretion regarding the WBL/NVBA Player of the Year Award for the past year, but going forward, the NVBA wants to change the requirement for the award to require that the winner be in good standing with the ACBL at the time of the award. The NVBA has proposed language. Clyde Kruskal suggested that that language be reviewed by counsel. Richard Ferrin added that the WBL Board also should review the language. Clyde suggested that the rule should be that if the prospective winner is involved in an irregularity in an event relevant to the award, that person should be ineligible. Winston Edwards cautioned that any such rule should not prejudge a potential recipient in advance of action by a Conduct and Ethics (“C&E”) Committee. Dick felt that it was impossible to write a rule that “covers all the bases”. Richard reiterated that actual proposed text be proposed first, and then the WBL Board should review the text and suggest revisions. Winston and Don Berman volunteered to work with the NVBA Board on the language of the proposal. Dick cautioned that draft language should be circulated to the WBL Board by August 10 so that there is sufficient time for the Board to review the language before the next WBL Board meeting.

WBL Policies Regarding C&E Appointments

Dick Wegman proposed that the WBL policies be clarified to make clear that the WBL Board has the flexibility to appoint members to an ad hoc C&E Committee who are not on the WBL’s standing C&E Committee. Dick asked Fred King to look at the WBL policies and have counsel review them.

Lighting

Barbara Ames reported that Overstock.com is shipping eight lamps to the WBL for $202.

Saturday Sectional Starting Times

Dick Wegman reported the results of the survey taken at the Unit Game regarding the start times for the Saturday game at the WBL sectionals. The results, by flight, were as follows:

Flight A Flight B

11:00 AM and 3:30 PM starts 43 38

12:30 PM and 5:30 PM starts 15 3

Dick commented that the results of the survey suggest a clear mandate for continuing with the 11:00 AM and 3:30 PM start times.

Washington Post Frank Stewart Bridge Column

Dick Wegman noted that the Washington Post is considering dropping the Frank Stewart bridge column, at least for Saturdays. He urged the WBL Board members to write to the Post to express their opposition. Donna asked Dick to write about this for the next issue of the WBL Bulletin.

WBL Bulletin

Donna Rogall noted that the editorial deadline for the next WBL Bulletin is August 5. She asked Fred King if he would draft a paragraph reporting on the July Regional.

Other Matters

Donna Rogall stated that Barbara Israel has expressed her willingness to volunteer for various WBL events. Fred King noted that she would like to publicize her bridge club. Fred asked what is the WBL’s policy for inserting such publicity in the Bulletin. He said that he thought our policy is to do that for free. Dick Wegman stated that if we do such publicity, we should notify all of the clubs. As for Barbara Israel’s offer to volunteer, Dick suggested that Donna refer her to Barbara Summers and Clyde Kruskal.

Richard Ferrin observed that the NVBA does a much better job than the WBL on posting club schedules and results on the internet. Don Berman stated that Unit 110 has written a program to do that. The program makes it easy for club managers to use. Dick suggested that Barbara Summers and Don Berman should discuss a strategy for publicity of club games, and we will put it on the agenda for next month’s WBL Board meeting. Don stated that in the past when we have suggested internet-based publicity, few clubs have taken advantage of it. He added that expanding the WBL web site costs more money, approximately $2 or $3 per month.

Next Meeting

The next WBL Board meeting will take place on August 24 at Don Berman’s house. The Board thanked Barbara Ames for hosting the meeting.

Whereupon, the meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Ferrin, Secretary