Minutes of Unit 174
Board Meeting
September 10, 2007
Bridge Studio of
The board meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Board members present were Bert Onstott, Pres., Karen Nimmons, Sec., Ed Groner, Joyce Ryan, John Erickson, Pat Levy, Lauri Laufman and Jo Dene Bond. Also present were Jim Woodward, Treas., and Eric Snow, Pres. District 16.
Eric reported that the ACBL Memphis headquarters has been officially sold and they have an eighteen month rental lease while considering what to do. Our fee for the Scorecard ad for the June tournament has been waived because of the late delivery of the newspaper. Information will be coming out soon regarding the Oct. 25 District Charity game. He also reported there were no further clarifications of the Conditions of Contest on the GNT games.
Eric also presented to the board a balance sheet of what’s coming in, what’s been spent and the balance of funds in the NABC 2009 account.
MOTION: to approve the minutes of the August Board Meeting. It was seconded and approved.
Jim reported the unit remains in good financial condition. MOTION: to approve the Treasurer’s report as reported. It was seconded and approved.
Lauri reported the flyers for the NAP were distributed along with the October Sectional flyers to the various clubs. She will have more flyers printed up this week. She also has accrued a list of all tournaments with contacts so that she can send some to each event for display.
Lauri also reported all life master plaques were distributed for presentation.
Bert reported bridge will be taught at KIPP high school again this year. They will be using the ACBL program. They will teach two hour-long classes each day for four consecutive days during the fall intersession period.
He also reported they will not be teaching in the middle schools this year and it isn’t clear if they will be teaching at YESS.
Betty reported in an e-mail she is trying to stay on top of things and is asking her committee for reports.
Jolie was absent so no report was given
Joyce reported the Bridge Studio has begun the 299er Wednesday day game. She would like to see it posted on the Website. She would also like to have a mentor/novice game once a month and talks are underway but nothing to report on at this time.
Joyce also reported she sold 82 books to Lynne Graham, 6 to John Zilic and one to Billie Rose. She also reported she needed to place another order for Bidding books because she didn’t have enough in inventory.
Bert reported membership is up 4 from last month to 2298.
Ed reported he has not received the Conditions of Contest for the GNT. He also asked Pat if she has the date for the GNT. It should be sometime in February, but doesn’t have the exact date. Ed is collecting names of the qualifiers for the NAP; so, if anyone is in doubt, they can contact him.
Bert reported that the letters were sent out to all the clubs and it appears that Clear Lake DBC, Houston Bridge Studio and The Bridge Club of Houston will be the only participating clubs. He also has produced a flyer to be distributed to all the area clubs ASAP to help promote the game.
Karen reported she is waiting on Tom Whitesides to send her the file of hand records. Once received, she can start making copies and sending them out to the various clubs. On goodwill, she reported sending out 6 cards to various members.
John reported he and Lauri will be getting together to discuss what needs to be ordered as far as the supplies are concerned. There was a discussion on playing cards and Bert suggested we try to come up with a system for keeping track of how many times the cards have been used and when they need to be replaced.
Pat reported that the letters of insurance were received for the October and April Sectionals.
Ed said he found out after the tournament that there was a shortage of caddies and the board discussed ways to handle this in the future.
There was a lot of candy left over and it was recommended that guidelines be established on exactly what type to buy and how much and this needed to be put in the Procedures Manual.
Pat said she had a hard time recruiting players to take down tables and suggested a take-down committee be formed along with the set-up committee. It was discussed and agreed upon.
Joyce reported that New Player Services needs to be staffed Friday afternoon, evening and Saturday afternoon. She suggested getting badges for the volunteers. MOTION: Was made to spend up to $250.00 in the purchase of badges. Was seconded and approved.
JoDene reported that she has a flyer on a few restaurants in the area but she knows there are a lot more around and doesn’t want to use the one she has. John volunteered to make up a restaurant guide for the area. JoDene said she is still working on final negotiations with the site manager and the snack caterer and the Sunday meal caterer.
Karen reported she has not started and will work up a schedule for the tournament for the next board meeting.
· Hospitality – Jane Armstrong
· I/N – Joyce Ryan
· Caddies – Sandy Stevens
· Publicity – Dianna Gittelman
· Partnership – Karen Nimmons
TAP & Director Courses
· Betty Starzec has everything arranged. She will teach the TAP class; the cost will be $100.00 for first time teachers and free to previously certified teachers.
· The Director’s course will cost $75.00 and will be taught by Guillermo. The Director’s update will be $20.00
· Betty will hold people’s checks until she gets a minimum of 20 in each class.
· Bert has produced a flyer which will be printed up and distributed to area clubs.
· A cheaper source for a projector is needed – the hotel wants $1000.00 per day
· Bert also worked up a profit & loss for the classes, noting that a minimum of 20 is needed to break even.
Publicity
· The ad is final for the December Bridge Bulletin.
· Ira has a copy of our ad and knows we want a full page ad in both the Nov/Dec and Jan/Feb issue.
· Bert proposed using the Bridge Bulletin ad as the flyer. He also proposed printing them on his home computer to save on printing costs. They will be distributed to the various clubs as soon as they are printed, which should be soon. They will also be sent out to other tournaments/clubs outside our area.
Letters to Pro Teams
· Bert said he worked with Ed to prepare letters to about 45 pros inviting them to the tournament. He’ll send them out soon, along with the flyer and restaurant guide.
No report as Jolie was absent
Bert said he cancelled
Bert and Jolie met with the Hornberger staff and all is arranged for April 2008.
They also met with the
There were no revisions to it at this time.
The board met for 30 minutes in executive session.
MOTION: Was made to adjourn the meeting. Was seconded and approved. The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Karen Nimmons, Secretary