Minutes

WBL Board Meeting

February 20, 2008

The meeting was held at Carole Banks’ home.

In attendance: Don Berman, Carole Banks, Ellen Cherniavsky, Fred King, Clyde Kruskal, Linda Marshall, and Steve Robinson; non-voting members Donna Rogall, Nadine Wood, and Ted Ying. Margot Hennings, Vice President of the NVBA, also attended a portion of the meeting.

President King called the meeting to order at 7:58 PM.

Secretary’s Report

The Board approved the minutes, without objection.

Treasurer’s Report

Steve Robinson reported a balance of $18,791.08 in the WBL’s checking account. The WBL has $37,779.41 in an investment account. The building fund account now has $51.30. Last year, the WBL reported a $5,142 surplus. Fred King noted that the WBL obtained revenue of $5,768.64 from sectionals, and $12,314.82 for the unit game. The Board approved the Treasurer’s report, without objection.

Nationals 2009

Margot Hennings discussed the proposed budget for the 2009 North American Bridge Championships, to be held in Washington, DC. She also discussed with the board various promotional activities, including t-shirts and cards.

Bridge and Bowling

The Bridge and Bowling event had 30 bowlers, and 40 bridge players. Fred King expressed concern about no-shows, since it disrupted the formation of teams. It was agreed that the Board would discuss at a later date ways to improve running of the event.

Sunday Game

Fred King pledged to take an active role in restarting the Sunday novice game. Three people have expressed interest in running the game. Fred will contact those persons to present ideas to the Board.

March Sectional

Nadine Wood expressed concern about attendance, since it runs opposite the baseball draft. Clyde Kruskal suggested making sure that the sectional is scheduled to avoid a similar conflict in upcoming years.

The Board asked Nadine if there is anything that it could do to help her with the sectional. Nadine suggested having board members volunteer for one task for one session. She will bring a roster, with slots, to the next board meeting.

August Sectional

Nadine Wood reported that the August sectional will possibly feature a compact knockout on Saturday, along with a stratified pairs game for the first session, and a stratiflighted pairs game for the second session. Sunday will be a board-a-match for A/X. Friday night will be IMP pairs.

Bulletin

Donna Rogall reported that there is a problem with space in the next bulletin. Currently, there is more material to be included than can fit within the standard 32 pages. The Board agreed to expand the Bulletin to 36 pages for this issue only, as long as the cost is no more than $300.

Unit Game

Ted Ying reported that attendance at the unit game is down slightly. He passed out a spreadsheet with attendance figures. He also noted that Don Berman procured new 1-club bidding box cards to replace the current over-worn ones. Fred King noted that the paint indicating board number, direction and vulnerability has worn off many boards. There was some discussion of whether to have the boards re-painted by hand, or instead to order sticker labels that provide that information. Ted Ying will check with Baron Barclay on the cost.

Bridge in Schools

Ellen Rosenthal sent an e-mail update to board members, in her absence, apprising them of the progress of this program. Nadine Wood noted the upcoming Youth nationals event in Atlanta, and suggested using Bridge-in-Schools funds, and/or a WBL subsidy, to defray some of the expenses to send area pairs to that event. Ted Ying explained the problem was how to limit the number of pairs that we would sponsor to a reasonable and affordable level. He suggested an interschool championship with the winners earning the trip. However, this needs to be set up at the beginning of the school year, and it is too late this year to make a local qualifying event successful. Nadine suggested that we figure out a way to send somebody to Atlanta to represent the area.

Year-End Report

Fred King asked the Board to review the President’s Report, which will be inserted into the next Bulletin.

Calendar of Obligations

Don Berman noted the upcoming elections in May. We need to confirm that Jim Allen will chair the meeting. Don will work on getting a membership list. Fred King reported that the Mini-McKinney and Ace of Clubs awards have arrived, and these will be distributed at the annual meeting.

Supermajority for Building Fund Issue

The Board discussed a proposal by Steve Robinson that, in order to encourage donations to the Building Fund, that it be protected by a requirement that funds be dedicated to that purpose, reversible only by a supermajority vote of the Board. Linda Marshall expressed concerns that this would require a change of the WBL bylaws. The Board decided to defer this issue until the next meeting.

Next Meeting

The next WBL Board meeting will be held March 19, 2008 at Don Berman’s house. Richard Ferrin will host on April 23.

The Board thanked Carole Banks for her hospitality.

Whereupon, the meeting adjourned at 10:25 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard Ferrin, Secretary

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