MINUTES

CLEVELAND WHIST CLUB

BOARD MEETING, UNIT 125, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2010

PRESENT: Barbara Bacon, Barbara Greenspan, Geraldean Jones, Harriet Kitay, Rosemary Kleis, Ellen Miles, Sue Pisanelli, Frank Scali, Ros Sukenik, Kermit Wolford, Jim Stahl, Mary Lou Vermerris

ABSENT: Ginny Young, Fleur Howard

GUESTS: Sharon Fairchild, Cathy Wolford

The meeting was called to order by the Vice-President Barbara Bacon at 5:45 PM.

Minutes of the June 23, 2010 meeting were approved with the following corrections.

The Committee to submit proposals to improve the Whist Club Unit Game will consist to Rosemary Kleis, Barbara Greenspan and Mary Lou Vermerris. Fleur Howard and Sue Pisanelli will form a committee to look for locations for the Unit Game.

Harriet Kitay’s name was omitted in the list of those present and will be added on the corrected approved minutes.

Motion to accept with corrections was made by Harriet Kitay and seconded by Ros Sukenik. The motion carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Cathy Wolford gave a written report to the board members present. She discussed salient points. The Treasurer’s books have been closed out for the year and are ready for audit. Dick Burgess audited the books last year and had suggested that a board member audit the books this year. The board feels that someone outside the board should be approached to audit the books in order to avoid possible bias. Who will audit the Treasurer’s books? Cathy will approach Dick Burgess again. If he is unable to do it, then someone else will be sought.

The total assets at the end of the year equaled $30,717 ($28,930 in CDs and $1,650 in other assets). The total liabilities were $952 leaving a net equity of $29,765. The Unit will end the year with a loss of $2,174 compared to a gain of $750 the previous year.

The loss is about $4,336 more than the budget amount that was projected at the beginning of the year, primarily due to lower attendance and increased ACBL fees at Sectional Tournaments. Therefore, Cathy will recommend to the Budget Committee that we increase the tournament entry fee to $9 per session. The last increase for sectional sessions was implemented in August 2001 when the entry fee went to $8 per session.

A great deal of discussion followed. Why are we having decreased income from the Sectional Tournaments. The attendance is decreasing, what can be done to increase attendance. The hospitality costs are fair and have not increased much. It was suggested that perhaps advertising is a problem. Some board members suggested that the flyers did not get out to everyone early enough. The Summer IMP league attendance was up last year and down this year. It was suggested that more events be planned for the nonlife master population.

Ros Sukenik and Sue Pisanelli will co chair the budget committee. Other members are Frank Scali and Cathy Wolford. Any ideas for improving attendance at our Unit tournaments and events and to increase the revenue for the unit should be sent to Sue Pisanelli at sueap@cox.net.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Prior to each meeting unapproved Unit Board Minutes are sent to board members. A request has been made to also have the approved minutes sent to each board member after the Unit Board Meeting. Sue Pisanelli will send out approved minutes to each board member. Unapproved minutes will continue to be sent to board members but the board consensus was that unapproved minutes should not be published on the website nor sent to those not on the board. Sharon Fairchild discussed the method that the ACBL National Board handles unapproved minutes. They have a method of submitting corrections prior to each board meeting. But no unapproved ACBL Board minutes are published.

Barbara Bacon, Tournament Coordinator, sends out Tournament Chairperson’s responsibilities (which include getting flyers out) and will do so again this year after Ginny Young is back and Tournament Chairpersons are selected.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Vichill League: Barbara Greenspan questioned who was on the Vichill League Committee with Peter Miller. Board Members discussed how board members have assisted in the past with calls to Unit membership to set up the Vichill League.

A question was raised about the handicapping to be used in the Vichill League. For purposes of handicapping in the Vichill League, no team whose average master point holding is greater than 5000 master points will receive any handicapping. When teams with an average of less than 5000 masterpoints play a team with an average greater than 5000 master points, handicaps will be awarded to the team with the lesser average using the 5000 master point figure for the team with the greater average. Once a team average is greater than 5000 master points, its average will be capped at 5000. When teams with an average less than 5000 master points play other teams with an average of less than 5000 master points, handicapping will be based on their respective averages.

Ros Sukenik, Barbara Greenspan, Jim Stahl, and Geraldean Jones have volunteered to help Peter Miller with the Vichill league calling this year.

Scholarship Committee: no report.

Unit Game Committee: Rosemary Kleis presented 2 proposals for improving the attendance at the Unit Club Game. Rosemary, Mary Lou, and Barbara discussed these proposals prior to this meeting. Rosemary made a proposal on behalf of the committee that the Unit start awarding prizes at the Unit Tournaments. The committee suggests that a prize consisting of a free entry for the Unit Game be given to all who place first in the overalls in a Unit Tournament Event (session). For the Pairs games, that would be a free entry to those who place first overall in A, B, C and AX (when it applies). Also for the Non Life Master games, a free entry should be awarded to those placing first overall in A, B, and C. For the Team Games, a free entry should be awarded for those placing first in A, B, C and AX (when it applies). For the upcoming tournament this weekend, 50 award slips will be needed. Rosemary Kleis (as an old prize chairman) volunteers to make the slips and make the awards at the upcoming tournament. Kermit Wolford volunteered to help Rosemary with the award slips. Rosemary made a motion that the proposal be adopted and the motion was seconded by Barb Greenspan. Suggestions were made that the free entries be clearly stated. They should state that they are for the Sunday Unit Game, that they are a nontransferable $6 value (cannot be used in any other Unit event and that extra fees for special games will be paid by the recipient), and that they expire 6 months after issue. The motion carried with these clarifications.

Rosemary Kleis is the Mentor- Mentee Chairperson. She finds it hard to get Life Master Mentors to volunteer for the program. She proposes that as a means to increase the Unit game attendance and as an incentive to Life Masters to participate, that the Unit offer the Mentors a free game and have the Mentee pay for their game (Mentee game) . She says, “Mention free and they are there”. She proposes that the offer be for 4 games only, over a maximum of 6 months. The Non Life Master Mentee should have less than 500 master points. The Life Master Mentor should be of Bronze Life Master status (as a minimum). Rosemary offers to handle the Mentor/Mentee Program with these proposals. Rosemary Kleis made a motion to adopt this proposal. Ros Sukenik seconded the motion. The motion carried.

BUDGET COMMITTEE: The budget committee has not met. Ros Sukenik and Sue Pisanelli have been drafted to co chair the committee. They will meet with Cathy and Frank.

NAOP COMMITTEE: In response to an issue raised in a previous meeting, Barb Bacon requested that Sharon Fairchild explain the reimbursement done for NAOP competition. Sharon stated that the national ACBL supports those A and B pairs that compete in the NAOP competition. They do not support the Teams that compete, so the Individual Units and Districts support their teams.

Barb Greenspan raised the question of who is the Unit GNP coordinator. Frank Scali is the Unit 125 GNP Coordinator. Barb voiced the opinion that the coordinator needs to find out when all of the GNP qualifying games are held, and have the information with dates and places posted on the Unit Web site.

OLD BUSINESS:

Vacant Board Position: Barb Bacon read the relevant section from the constitution. Ballots were passed out to the Board Members with the three candidates listed (Hope Ellis, Beverly McMullen, and Kathy Sulgrove). Board Members were asked to select a candidate. Ballots were collected and counted by a non board member. Kathy Sulgrove was elected to the board. Barbara Bacon will notify Kathy of the election results.

NEW BUSINESS: Stephanie Alexander is no longer a tournament director. She is now a qualified Tournament Assistant (same responsibilities but work under the supervision of a qualified Tournament Director). The Tournament Assistant is hired by the Unit. Fees and arrangements may be negotiated. The National ACBL sets Tournament Director Fees (cannot be negotiated). The Tournament Assistant is not paid a per diem amount or any travel expenses; therefore the rate is a flat fee per session worked. The Tournament Assistant could be asked to go if not needed for a tournament session with a low attendance. Barb Bacon discussed fees with Jeff Alexander and the possibility that Stephanie might be willing to work some of our tournaments. This could help with the cost of our tournament fees. Rosemary Kleis made a motion to hire Stephanie Alexander as a Tournament Assistant as needed, to be paid per session. Ellen seconded the motion. The motion carried. Barb asks that the budget committee sit down to draw up a contract for future use. It was suggested that Peter Miller might be a better choice to draw up the contract.

Jim Stahl asked if the board feels that a Holiday Game should be held on the Thanksgiving Weekend and Christmas Weekend. There was a consensus by the board that these games should not be held. He also asked if a side game would be held during the NLM tournament in October.

DATE AND TIME OF THE NEXT MEETING: Ginny Young will be back on September 12, 2010. The next meeting will be held on September 15, 2010 at Rosemary Kleis’ house at 5:30 PM. Rosemary suggests that you can bring your swimsuits.

HOSPITALITY FOR NEXT MEETING WILL BE PROVIDED BY BARBARA GREENSPAN.

ADJOURNMENT WAS AT 7:20 pm FOLLOWING A MOTION BY Rosemary Kleis and seconded by Frank Scali. The motion carried.

Respectfully submitted by

Sue Pisanelli, secretary.