Cincinnati Bridge Association: Board of Directors Meeting

 

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 13, 2009

  

Board President Potter Orr called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

  

Members present: John Burpee, Debbie Cummings, Patti English, Betty Hurst, Gayle Keaney, Barb Levinson, Adrienne Netherwood, Potter Orr, Mike Purcell, AJ Stephani, John Stoppiello, and Jean Sturtevant. Members Absent: Everitt Kitchen, Chris Schwartz.

  

The September minutes were approved. A single minor correction was made to the minutes after their distribution to the Board, and John Burpee requested that the corrected minutes be sent out. [Action Item: Everitt Kitchen should send out final corrected September minutes.]

  

Adrienne Netherwood presented a super-boring financial report (her words, not mine). Net operating income was up slightly, reflecting small but continued increases in table fees. [Action Item: None.]

  

Adrienne noted that she will meeting in December with our new Treasurer, Anirudh Pandit, to facilitate a smooth transition. Also, the Board is now well-practiced in their pronunciation of  Anirudh’s first name. [Action Item: Adrienne Netherwood will meet with Anirudh Pandit in December.]

  

The repairs to the parking lot have been largely completed, though we are still waiting for the parking lot lines to be painted. Potter Orr reports that we should expect a bill for our prorated portion of the repairs. [Action Item: None.]

  

We are dirty, dirty people. Accordingly, additional hand sanitizer has been purchased and is located at the front desk. A large bottle of hand sanitizer in the kitchen area has been virtually unused since its purchase. We are dirty, dirty people. [Action Item: None.]

  

We discussed a proposal to adopt a Playing Director policy for CBA-sanctioned games. We did not reach a consensus on the issue, and referred the issue to the ad hoc Director Relations Committee. [Action Item: The Director Relations Committee (Chair: A.J. Stephani) will consider the issue.]

  

What do the Cincinnati Octoberfest Sectional and Levi Johnston have in common? The advertisement for our sectional has appeared in the centerfold spread for the current Midwest Monitor. Other promotional activity and plans for the sectional are also on track. The Board’s assistance was requested for both Saturday evening cleanup and with snack/goodie provision on both Saturday and Sunday. [Action Item: All Board members should bring a food item on either Saturday or Sunday of the Sectional.]

  

Gayle Keaney provided an update on the status of Extra Point games. She will author an article on the topic for the next ALERT, and is working on a questionnaire to determine the support level among the membership and club directors for adopting these games. Potter Orr will recommend to the club managers/directors that they support future Extra Point games held to raise money for the Louisville Spring National in 2011. [Action Item: Gayle Keaney will produce an article and questionnaire, and Potter Orr will send an e-mail to club managers/directors about the Promotional Games.]

  

After testing the sample chairs, the Board reached a consensus that our tookuses (tookies? tookusi? our collective tookus?) were happier in the more expensive chair. The lack of a straight back was a problem, however, and more research/information was needed. An upholstery guy was recommended to determine if the costs of repairing the tears in the gray chairs would be cost-effective. [Action Item: Potter Orr will work with Debbie Cummings and Larry Klein to ascertain if appropriate chairs are available, and Barbara Levinson (I think) will contact her guy about the upholstery.]

  

Debbie Cummings provided an update on the electronic scoring machine question. The BridgeMate 2G is due to be released at the end of November. Additional discussion on the issue was referred to the ad hoc Electronic Scoring Device Committee, and a specific recommendation from the Committee was requested for the next Board meeting. [Action Item: The Electronic Scoring Device Committee (Chair: Debbie Cummings) will consider the issue.]

  

John Burpee reminded us of our individual responsibilities as Committee Chairs and  Board tasks we have agreed to take on. He will turn his attention to compiling the policies and procedures collected earlier in the year and translating them into a compatible and usable form. [Action Item: Committee Chairs will be diligent in their duties; John Burpee will begin putting together a Policy and Procedures Manual.]

  

Holiday Party Plans continue apace. A scheduling conflict with one of Nancy Sachs’ classes was identified, and the situation will be addressed. [Action Item: Chris Schwartz will continue the Holiday Party planning and work with Nancy Sachs to resolve the scheduling conflict.]

  

A motion to appropriate up to $500 for the installation of a projector mount in the main classroom was approved. Adrienne expressed the wish that the installation be performed by someone other than Homer the Street Urchin, and she was reassured that Homer does, in fact, have his electrician’s license (viz, Mike Purcell will make sure that the job is done right). [Action Item: Mike Purcell will communicate the approval to Joe Fisher and oversee the installation of the projector mount.]

  

Current methods for addressing inappropriate conduct during club games were discussed. A.J. Stephani will seek clarification from the ACBL on the respective roles of the Unit Disciplinary Committee and the Club Managers in this arena. He also suggested that the Unit Disciplinary Committee be offered to the Club Managers for assistance in determining the factual grounds for any complaint and to recommend a course of action. [Action Item: A.J. Stephani will contact the ACBL and Potter Orr will communicate with the Club Managers in this regard.]

  

An excellent report summarizing the results of the Mentor-Mentee program was distributed by Betty Hurst and Jean Sturtevant. By all accounts, the program was very successful. Total costs of the program were under $200. At least one Board member (me) regrets that we did not have more time to process the report. [Action Item: None.]

  

The meeting was adjourned at 6:48 pm.

 

A.J. Stephani

Ad Hoc Recording Secretary