MINUTES FOR LBA BOARD MEETING 2/15/2008
President Jean Donoho called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. The meeting was at the Best Western Brownsboro Inn, Louisville, KY, in conjunction with the Louisville Sectional.
Officers/board members present:
Susan Cox, Gail Slater, Jean Donoho, Kit Overpeck, Charlene Daniels, Frank Nelson, Vangie Smith, Ellen Schmidt, JoEllen Amrine, Betsy Blakeman and Hannah Davis.
Officers/board members absent:
Ted Flach, Joe Dye, Elizabeth Rosenberg and Rex Swauger.
Attending non-voting:
Paul Coulter and Scott Cox.
President’s Report
Jean Donoho welcomed everyone to the meeting and said she had nothing to report so early in her term. She thanked the board for its hard work and support.
Minutes
Minutes of both the October 6, 2007 Board Meeting and the Annual Membership Meeting, November 13, 2007, were submitted to the Board. Ellen Schmidt made a motion that the minutes be approved as written. Hannah Davis seconded the motion, and it was approved by vote.
Treasurer’s Report
Frank Nelson reported that our treasury is up over from last year. We have $20,000 in saving, $20,000 in a certificate of deposit and $3,400 in cash, a total of $43,000 versus $34,000 last year. Income Statements and Balance Sheets for the twelve months ending 12/23/07 and the one month ending 1/31/08 were handed out and discussed. Our regional was down about $1,000 due to lower table count, but it was still fairly successful. Classes are doing very well with 30 students in some. This generates extra income as well as encouraging more players in our games.
Frank reported that money ear marked for Nationals in 2011, is being held in separate accounts, checking and savings. ACBL will be giving us $100,000 toward expenses at Nationals and the District will provide money as well. As we go forward, raising money from sponsors, we must remember to spend the ACBL and District money first. If we make a profit, over and above money advanced, we would keep a portion and give a portion to the District. Jeff Johnson is the person at ACBL with whom we will be working. Hannah Davis, Beth Reid and Frank Nelson are working on a budget for the upcoming event.
The board is encouraged to help in the search for sponsors. Should we find a large sponsor, they could put its logo on the material that is handed out.
Kit moved that we accept the Treasurer’s report and Gail Slater seconded the motion. The motion passed.
Vice President’s Report
Gail Slater reported that we had a contract with the Brownsboro Inn through our June Sectional, 2008, and we are 90% sure that it will be available until then. Apparently Fresh Market is interested in the property, but is having trouble getting the zoning that it wants. We are still looking for another site, should we need it.
Secretary’s Report
Vangie Smith reported that using e-mails to disseminate information was working well. She asked that she be given e-mail addresses for new players.
Special Projects Report
Hannah Davis asked for volunteers to chair committees for the Louisville National Tournament in 2011. Gail offered to contact brokerage firms to try to obtain some sponsors for the tournament.
Hannah reported that the table count for our November 2007 Regionals was down this past year.
Special Games Report
Kit Overpeck reported that he is working on a format for Special Games. Mike Sloan is going to have a Swiss Team game the fourth Sunday of each month. While that is not under the auspices of Special Games, it does give us an additional team game each month. Special Games will continue to prioritize the LBA game as one which makes the LBA money and is enjoyable for a large number of people. Kit would also like to try some IMP Pair games and perhaps a BAM game. We also have other ACBL wide special games in which we are participating.
Charity Games Report
JoEllen Amrine reported that the next ACBL wide Charity Game is March 12. The proceeds of our raffle with go to benefit the Kentucky Humane Society. Raffle tickets will be sold prior to games and will be $1.00 apiece and 6 for $5.00.
Education Report
Jean Donoho reported for Elizabeth Rosenberg, who was out of town. Elizabeth has mailed out 500 postcards and issued press releases to the paper giving times and dates of lessons. She has been busy updating the prospective student data base which is constantly changing. We have approximately 60 students signed up at this time. The new students are one reason that our table count is up.
New Business
Hannah Davis presented Rex Swauger’s report on the purchase of new chairs and his motion. The motion was to purchase 68 chairs from Munson Business Interiors of Louisville for a total cost of $15,329.40, which includes tax, delivery and installation. The motion was seconded by Kit Overpeck. There was discussion about the possibility of purchasing half the chairs with arms and half without. After weighing the pros and cons, the board left the motion as it stood. The motion passed. The chairs that are still fairly good in the front room will be moved to the back room, the new chairs will be installed up front. Any chairs not used in the front or back rooms will either be thrown away or donated to the downstate clubs.
The problem of inclement weather and shortage of director’s was brought to the forefront this past month. It was decided that as a matter of policy, if the weather was bad, a phone call to the bridge center that elicited no response would be an indication that the director was not there and found the roads to be unsafe.
The Barren River Sectional was again brought up as a problem in that the numbers are down. Several problems were identified as to why that was the case. A new tournament in Tennessee is drawing the Nashville crowd. St. James Court Art Fair in Louisville is drawing some Louisville players. The other problem is the cost of the rooms at Barren River State Park. We have investigated the possibility of moving the date, but that seems not to be possible. The managers at the Park have said if we would guarantee a number of rooms, they would reduce the rate that we pay for them. Charlene was going to check to see what number we would have to guarantee to improve the rate. We then would consider paying part of the room charge if we were not able to fill the required number. The matter was tabled until we have more data.
Paul Coulter asked that we visit the question of Director’s pay for doing Special Games. At the current rate for games in which boards are not duplicated, the minimum rate is $60.00 and the maximum rate is $100.00. For games in which boards are duplicated, the minimum is $70.00 and the maximum is $120.00. These rates were put in place when the special games, particularly the LBA game, were small. Now the numbers cause a lot of work for the directors and they are not being compensated in proportion to the increased work. The bottom line is that if they run games for themselves they earn $10.00 to $11.00 a table, where with special games they are getting $6.00 a table for games that do not have boards duplicated and $7.00 per table for those in which boards are duplicated. Vangie made a motion to increase the amount to $8.00 per table for non duplication and $9.00 per table for duplication. The minimums will remain the same, but there will no longer be a cap on the maximum. Kit seconded the motion and it passed.
Adjournment
Kit Overpeck moved that the meeting be adjourned and Hannah Davis seconded. The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 PM.
Respectfully submitted by Vangie Smith, Secretary Unit 117.