Unit 143 Board Meeting Minutes

        May 27, 2009

President Suzi Shymanski –Moore called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM. Present were Board members Bob Wheeler, Booby Riggs, Jennifer Luner , Carole Benkelman, Steve Zenk , Carl Clyne , Debra Romero, Bill Bunn, Jane Ettelson , Bob Janis and Ed Hale. Absent were Donna Pedrotti and Jackie Baker. Also present was Mike Carmen.

April Minutes

The April meeting minutes were approved.

Corresponding Secretary's Report

The database was downloaded on May 5 th from ACBL to replace the Unit 143 database. This is done monthly.

The 2009 POTY standings will be updated after the May 10 th Unit Game and a report will be e-mailed to Milt Zlatic to post on the unit website.

Prepared and e-mailed a file to Mary Hruby with Unit 143 member master point totals. Mary will use this information to match people needing a partner.

Ordered 10 Life master pins from Baron Barclay and prepared list of new Life Masters for Suzi Moore.

Mary Maguire's obituary notice was mailed to ACBL.

Treasurer's Report

Bob Janis provided a copy of the Unit 143 balance sheet as of April 30, 2009. This showed a balance of $9,077 in the checking account. The unit has $40,955 in current assets. The report shows a net income of $2,008 for the period of October 2008 thru April 2009.

The Treasurer's report was approved.

Bob asked that the board members provide their inputs for next for next year's Unit 143 budget at the June 10,2009 Board meeting.

Standing Committees

•  Awards/Nominating

No report

•  Club Liaison

No Report

•  Charity/Hospitality/Caddies

No report

•  Education

No report

•  Membership

Steve Zenk reported a loss of 22 members. Board held discussion on how to welcome new members and on how to retain members after the first year. Among items discussed were pens for new members (rejected) and providing date books to new members (accepted). The Board also discussed the calling new members and introducing them at the club games. This item was tabled for the next meeting.

•  Website

Jennifer Luner provided a proposal to upgrade the web page software because the system is more than 5 years old without any major upgrades and to allow the use of other browsers. Two copies of the Dreamweaver software will be updated to the latest version. Four copies of Contribute will be updated to the latest version. Andy Finkenstadt would be hired to write required software to allow club owners to update game results. The estimated cost is $1500-1600 with a maximum of $1800. The proposal was approved.

•  Publicity

No Report

•  NAP/GNT

Ed Hale said that the dates for the NAP qualifying games must be published of the unit website. Ed will check game results held on the published dates to determine qualifiers for the NAP. Games held on other dates will not be reviewed.

•  199er Tournament

No report

•  Vice President

No Report

•  Tournament Chairman

Mike Carmen said the May Sectional tournament made about $1,598. The budget had projected a gain of $561. The increase is a gain of 51.5 tables over last year's tournament. The table count was the largest ever for a Unit 143 sectional Tournament.

The Board held a discussion on how to speed up the Sunday Swiss Team game. Suggestions included having seven 8 board rounds and seven 7 board rounds. No conclusions were reached.

Mike provided a copy of the schedule and budget for the August Regional Tournament. It shows a projected profit of $4,536. The Board discussed raising the fees from $12 to $14. The Board decided to leave the fees the same as last year. Mike indicated that because of rising tournament expenses, the fees would likely have to be raised next year.

Mike attended the District 8 Board of Directors meeting held on May 23, 2009 in Champaign IL. The results of that meeting are:

•  Proposal for a 2013 St Louis Spring NABC will be presented to the National Board of Directors at the Summer NABC. No additional information is presently available.

•  The Junior and Youth Ambassador Program needs nominations by June 1, 2009.The primary qualification is the ability to promote bridge. Ambassadors are wanted for 25 and under and 19 and under groups

•  Nominations for National Good Will and Charity Committees are due by September 2009.

•  ACBL sent a memo to club Presidents about the formation of the “Foundation for Preservation and Advancement of Bridge” This is a charitable 501-3C organization. This can be a charity supported at the local level once the National Charity Foundation commitment has been satisfied.

•  The North American Pairs will be a one day event held in Riverton, IL at the Eagles Club on Nov. 14 2009. The club owners must send their list of qualifiers to the Unit Coordinator. The Unit Coordinator will combine the lists into one list and send to the District coordinator, Mike Tomlianovich .

•  The District wants to know how the units and players feel about changing the Grand National teams to a one day event.

•  Bragging Rights Match

Bill Bunn indicated that the St Louis teams can be made up of Unit 143 and 223 players. He has received conflicting statements from ACBL on whether teams will be bracketed by average MP's or by the player with the highest number of MP's on the team. E-mails announcing the event have been sent to 373 players. No postcards will be sent. Fee for the game will be $48 per team per round. Bill estimates that 34 tables will be required for the unit to break even.

Old Business

Jennifer Luner and Janice Van Buren of the ABA have agreed an ABA unity game on Saturday June 27, 2009. The game will be held at Olivette community enter starting at 12:30PM. Mark Ehret will be the director. Both ABA and ACBL points will be awarded. Cost will be $7.00

The Unit 143 Board voted to require club owners wanting to host a 199er or 299er silver point tournament to submit their request to the Board by July 1. The Board would vote allow or disallow the required sanctions. Those receiving approval would have their games listed in the Date Book. Games which interfere with the Unit 143 games or where there is a history of problems could have their sanction requests denied. Need to check with ACBL to dates of other special games in 2010 for inclusion in the Date Book.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:44