District 7 Meeting Minutes:
Hilton Head, SC February 7, 2004
President
Barbara Heller called the meeting to order at 10:15 AM and recognized Bruce
Reeve as the new ACBL President.
Introductions were done with the
following in attendance: Sandy Barrow-Unit 114, Emily Bittman-Unit 202 VP,
Judith Bloomer-Unit 119 rep and MABC Secretary, Richard Brown-Unit 160 rep,
Nannell Burford-Unit 160, Louise Burns-Unit 160, Eldon Clayman-Immediate Past
President, Susie Clayman-Unit 244 rep and MABC Governor, Ray Coleman-Augusta
Co-Chair and Unit 202 President, Tony Devereaux-Unit 160 President, Tony and
Denise Gambone-Unit 171, Barbara Heller-President, Bob Heller-MABC Governor and
Unit 114 rep, Nancy Hetsko-Secretary and MABC Governor, Wayne
Hollingsworth-Vice President and NAP Coordinator, Pat Jankovic-Unit 165
President, Edwin Johnson-Unit 202, Patty Johnson-Supervising Director, David
Klein-Wilmington Chair, Unit 118 rep and MABC Governor, Mike Kovacich-1st
Alternate to ACBL Board of Governors, Josie Mitchell-Unit 114 rep, Walt
Murphy-Unit 171 rep, Betty and Dick Myers-Unit 114 reps, Joanne Newby-unit 165, George Nichols-Unit
160 rep and MABC Governor, Judy Nolan-Treasurer, MABC Governor and Gatlinburg
Co-Chair, Alec Price-Unit 119 President, Bruce Reeve-District 7 Director and
ACBL President, Larry Rich-Unit 114 President and MABC Governor, Veronica Ruggles-Unit 202 rep, Pat
Seiler-Unit 160 rep and MABC Treasurer, Janet and Joe Sherwood-Unit 114 reps, Liz Swanson-Unit 114 Rep and GNT
Coordinator, Harold Triplett-Unit 118, Bob White-Unit 119 rep and MABC
Governor, Carol Winecoff-Unit 153 rep, Harold Winecoff-ACBL Governor, and Bill
Wisdom-Unit 169 President. Also present
was Guru Shyamsundar to discuss the proposed District 7 web site.
Minutes: Mike Kovacich moved that
the minutes from the Greenville meeting be approved as submitted, Judith
Bloomer seconded and the minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report: Judy Nolan presented a
report showing the account balances as of 1-20-04 and a detailed listing of all
fiscal year-to-date transactions. Tony Devereaux inquired about our CD
strategy; Judy responded that we don’t really have one, but all CD rates are
quite low right now. Judy asked for
suggestions on getting a better return on our funds. Bob White suggested ING Direct which is currently paying 2% on
money market funds. It was requested
that anyone with suggestions contact Judy and/or George Bloomer (Finance
Committee). Mike Kovacich moved to
accept the treasurer’s report, and Eldon Clayman seconded. The Treasurer’s report was approved.
Committees: Barbara Heller requested
that everyone review the tentative list of committee members so we can finalize
the committees. The final committee
listing will be attached to the Hilton Head minutes and posted on the web.
Finance Committee: The Finance Committee will
meet Thursday evening in Gatlinburg.
Tournament Coordinator: Bob Heller handed out the updated tournament
schedule and reported that there have been a couple of changes in the
schedule. Attendance in 2003 was up
about 10% and was the highest since 1998.
Several locations set attendance records. Regarding STaCs, Bob commented that we participated in 4 last
year (1 for the MABC National fund, 1 for Bridge at Schools, and 2 sponsored by
District 10) and pointed out that District 10 has been extremely supportive and
cooperative in our STaCs. District 10
participation in the MABC STaC was almost as much as District 6 participation. Bruce Reeve noted that the MABC STaC used
computer hands vs shuffle and deal hands for the Bridge At Schools and District
10 STaCs and asked for the Board’s thoughts on that. Nancy Hetsko indicated that players in her club much prefer
shuffle and deal hands. Barbara Heller
commented that computer hands reduce the profits; Eldon Clayman pointed out
that from the recent MABC STaC, the 3500 tables in play generated revenue of
about $25,000, but we had to pay $10,400 of that to the ACBL and $5800 to the
director. Wayne Hollingsworth stated
that computer hands do not eliminate random results and we should do whatever
raises money. David Klein felt that
clubs should be given the choice of using shuffle and deal or computer
hands. Richard Brown said that the STaC
committee would review this.
Tournament Oversight
Committee: No report
Patty Johnson: Patty commented that we have super directors in
District 7 and she has enjoyed working with them.
Regional Site Selection
Committee: Bob
Heller indicated that we are totally sanctioned through 2008 except for one
“hole”. Asheville is now out of the
picture leaving Chattanooga as the only interested location for the mid Nov. or
1st week of Dec. 2008 slot.
Bob wanted to know if Augusta might be interested in that slot.
Education Liaison: Donna Compton is the ACBL
Education Liaison, Sandy Barrow is the new District 7 Education Liaison and she
will be in contact with the liaisons for each unit. The ACBL coop advertising program now reimburses clubs and
teachers 75% of certain advertising expenditures. Each unit should set goals and address items such as unit growth,
teacher accreditation, EasyBridge accreditation, Director update seminars and
new player services.
Website Committee: Wayne Hollingsworth
introduced Guru Shyamsundar, who was chosen as the District 7 webmaster and who
put together a prototype web site for us to review. Reactions to the prototype were generally favorable. There was some discussion of potential
features such as an on-line roster, on-line partnership desk and chat
room. Wayne pointed out that the web
site committee is still in force and will be working with Guru and Larry Rich
(MABC Webmaster) to get the site in place.
GNT Report: Liz Swanson reported that
since NY will be expensive we will want to give the winning teams as much
subsidy as possible, so we need to raise as much money as possible.
NAP Report: Wayne Hollingsworth reported that the attendance at the District
final was great but the conditions were not and people were pretty upset about
the conditions. Wayne has mailed an
apology letter to all participants. He
is now working with Columbia to find an appropriate site for this year’s
district final. The club level
qualifying will start in June. The ACBL
has reduced the sanction fee for club qualifiers this year and is allowing
clubs to run twice as many qualifiers.
Wayne hopes that this will help District 7 win an extra trip for all 3
flights of the NAP. Also, people can
play in any of the area finals.
Bruce
Reeve commented that District 7 participation is always great and commended Liz
and Wayne for their good work with the GNT and NAP.
Entitlement: No report.
STaC Committee: Richard Brown asked for any and all input from
members before the committee meets.
MABC Report: Eldon Clayman reported that
they were working on the schedules for Charlotte and Greenville regionals.
MABC Study Report: David Klein reported that the committee has done all of their
work by email which has worked well.
The status report was presented by email to voting members prior to the
meeting. The committee’s
recommendations are:
·
Term
of office should be 2 years
·
The
term of office should begin in January to match the tournament calendar
·
We
should continue alternating districts (as the source of MABC president)
·
The
Vice President should not necessarily be the President-Elect
·
The
at-large reps should be on a calendar year term, with 10 reps per district (to
be elected or appointed)
Bruce
commented that the MABC should not dictate to the districts how they choose
their reps. Mike Kovacich said that the by-laws specify that each district have
10 reps at large with the selection to be determined by the district. Janet Sherwood asked whether we have
considered having the # of reps be proportionate to the # of members in each
district? Judith Bloomer said that we
always have a quorum of District 7 reps at meetings in District 6, but there is
not always a quorum of District 6 reps at meetings in District 7. She moved that we accept the committee’s
recommendation as the sense of the Board; Wayne seconded. Bruce Reeve reiterated that the districts
should be allowed to select reps however they see fit. Liz Swanson commented that since the MABC
ties the 2 districts together, we do have an interest in what the other
district does. Mike Kovacich mentioned
that the District 6 board consists of the unit presidents. The question was called and the motion was
approved.
Bob
Heller took the floor and observed that District 7 is on the short end of the
stick with respect to money. In 1989 D7
had 15% more members; in 1995 D7 had 23% more members and as of 1-1-04 D7 had
36% more members than D6. Revenue
sharing is based on membership and regional table count. According to Bob, D7 has 50% more regionals,
96% more regional attendance, 103% more sectionals and 123% more sectional
attendance than D6. Regarding the MABC
STaC, past policy has been a 50/50 split of the proceeds to benefit Nationals
in D6 and D7. Bob feels that this is
not in D7’s best interests for several reasons:
·
Our players do not travel much to District 6 Nationals,
and in fact are more likely to go to District 10 Nationals
·
District 7 had 68% higher participation than
District 6 in the latest MABC STaC
In summary, the current treatment of MABC STaC
proceeds basically has District 7 contributing significantly more than District
6 but District 7 receives significantly less benefit. Bob suggests that District 7 should receive more than 50% of the
STaC proceeds. Bob made a motion that
based on the relative contribution to the MABC STaC for MABC nationals, District
7 should receive 40% more than we are currently receiving. Liz Swanson seconded the motion. Bruce Reeve offered the friendly amendment
that the proceeds of the STaC fund should be distributed pro rata based on each
district’s % participation over the last 3 years. Bob accepted this amendment to his motion. The motion carried with 1 opposed. Bob then moved that this go to the STaC
committee for further action; Bruce
seconded and the motion was approved.
Bob Heller next mentioned that effective this year
District 7 has a 6th regional and he suggested that for 1 of the 6 regionals the
hosting should be turned over to the District 7 board rather than the
MABC. David Klein asked whether we
would prevent District 6 people from coming to the District 7 suite if we did
this? Bob White pointed out that the
MABC suite is intended for committee meetings, not for socializing, and if
District 7 wants their own separate suite for socializing, we should pay for a
separate suite. Bob Heller withdrew his
original suggestion and made a motion that District 7 have their own (separate)
suite for the benefit of grassroots workers once a year. Eldon Clayman seconded. Bruce Reeve was perturbed by the tone of
Bob’s comments and asked us all to remember that the MABC is greater than
anything else in the League. David
Klein said that Cape Fear has extra comp rooms that could be used for a
District 7 suite, and Pat Seiler pointed out that comp rooms are under the
discretion of the MABC. Bob’s motion
was approved.
District Director’s
Report: Bruce
reported that wherever he goes, everyone always asks him why the MABC is so
successful. Bruce then mentioned
several items that are under consideration and asked the Board’s input on, such
as:
·
Having
an ACBL-Wide STaC for Bridge Week
·
Finding
another site for the World Championships (rather than Istanbul); should we pay
to have the World Championships in the US?
·
How
are we spending money on the Junior programs?
·
Do
we want to raise the age for seniors?
Bruce
also mentioned that the new ACBL Marketing Director is doing good things to
promote bridge and that the new format for the Bulletin is very popular.
Website Committee: After Guru Shyamsundar
left the meeting, the following motions were made, seconded and approved:
1.
That District 7 go forward with their own website
2.
That Guru continue as the District 7 webmaster
3.
That the Website committee determine/negotiate
compensation for the webmaster and make a recommendation at the Gatlinburg
meeting
Old Business: None
New
Business: The meeting schedule for the remainder of
2004 is: Gatlinburg, Atlanta and Charleston (breakfast on Thursday).
There
was a rising motion to adjourn.
Respectfully
submitted,
Nancy
Hetsko, Secretary