Cincinnati Bridge Association:  Board of Directors Meeting

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of April 20, 2010


Board President Potter Orr called the meeting to order at 5:37 p.m. Present were : John Burpee, Debbie Cummings, Mary Clifton, Patrick Hoffman, Gayle Keaney, Everitt Kitchen, Barb Levinson, Potter Orr, , Chris Schwartz, AJ Stephani, John Stoppiello, and Jean Sturtevant. Members Absent: Mike Purcell

The March minutes were approved.

The Mentor Mentee program for 2010 now has 48 pairs with an additional 15 mentees not yet having mentors.

Kickoff session is scheduled for May 13.

Plans for the awards party to be held on Tuesday, May 18 are proceeding on schedule. The board agreed to charge $5 per attendee for the evening with pre paid reservations. The Steurnagle awards committee expects to have an award recipient this year.

Gayle Keaney reviewed hospitality assignments and logistics for the Regional with the board members. Patti English reported that setup people on Mon will be provided free lunch at the convention center. Costs will fall within the minimum guarantee we need to provide to the food concession. Caddy fees will be $30/session. Bonuses will be provided at Patti’s discretion.

The board approved a $350 budget request for the Library committee.

Gayle also reported that ACBL has approved the schedule for Oct. 29-31 Sectional. Jay Albright will be the director- in- charge. More recommendations will be made next month. Plans include a $8/session fee except for Sunday when $20 for the 2 Sessions will include lunch. NAP coordinator for Sat and Sunday is Chris Schwartz.

The board thanked AJ Stephanie for his well written, informative, clear report from the Zero Tolerance/Disciplinary Committee about a recent incident. The board clarified that the committee’s reports do not require board approval. President Orr reiterated that the committee’s actions apply only to CBA games. The board agreed with his recommendation that an offer be circulated to sanction owners to encourage them to use the services of the committee for their games, including the information that this is the same group that deals with complaints raised about directors.


The board discussed the use of the Multi 2 Diamond convention being used by a few members at the Cincinnati Bridge Center. The convention is included on the ACBL mid-chart convention list. The ACBL allows its use in National tournaments for only the A and Ax strata and for Regionals for those strata if pre-requested. We understand the ACBL can not specifically prohibit the use of this or other mid chart conventions at other games. The convention is complex and its use requires pairs using it to provide potential defenses, typically taking 2 pages to explain.

A motion was made and passed to outlaw the use of the Multi 2 Diamond convention at club games sanctioned by the Cincinnati Bridge Club. Other sanction owners at the club will be informed of this action and can decide themselves whether or not to allow its use in their games.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 p.m.

Everitt Kitchen, Recording Secretary