MINUTES FOR LBA BOARD MEETING 9/26/09
President Jean Donoho called the meeting to order at 5:00 PM. The meeting was held at the Barren River State Park, KY, in conjunction with the Barren River Sectional Tournament.
Officers/board members present:
Jean Donoho, Vangie Smith, Frank Nelson, Ellen Schmidt, Hannah Davis, Ted Flach, Kit Overpeck, Jane Wininger, Betsy Blakeman and Joe Dye.
Officers/board members absent:
Rex Swauger, JoEllen Amrine, Diane Huguenard, Sandy Spears and Susan Cox
Attending non-voting:
Pat London and Bert Washer.
The minutes of the previous meeting, June 26, 2009, were read and accepted.
President’s Report:
Jean Donoho welcomed everyone to the Barren River board meeting. She thanked the board for all their hard work. She commended everyone for doing their job well and said that she could not have made it through without her board.
Nominations are in place for the upcoming election. The Kibitzer was at the printer and due to be mailed shortly. The annual meeting and the free game for paid-up members is scheduled for November 17, 2009. This is the last day for voting, and she asked that the board make every effort to attend.
The exterminators had been hired to try to alleviate the gnats or fruit fly problem. A specific course of action was recommended. Ted e-mailed the board of the exterminators’ suggestions and began implementing them.
The games owned by the LBA are all in decline. These are Tuesday evening, with the exception of the LBA game; Saturday and Sunday afternoons. There have been discussions as to how attendance can be improved. So far, no workable solution has been offered. There was a discussion of holding special games during the LBA owned games. The consensus of the Board was that the only special game held on a Tuesday evening should be the monthly LBA game. Director’s can hold special games during their regularly scheduled games, but other special games, other than national level games, should be held on Saturday evening.
Treasurer’s report:
Charlene Daniels was asked to audit the LBA books. She reported that she had reviewed them, along with the 2011 ACBL National Tournament Account as of the year ending December 31, 2008. This review consists principally of inquiries of organization personnel and analytical procedures applied to financial data. It is substantially less in scope than an audit in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, the objective of which is the expression of an opinion regarding the books and records. Based on her review, she is not aware of any material modifications that should be made to the Organization’s books and records in order for them to be in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
Vangie Smith made a motion that the audit be accepted and Joe Dye seconded the motion. It passed.
Frank Nelson reported that the LBA is basically in good shape with a reserve fund of $30,000, which could cover six months of expenses. It is not co-mingled with the general funds. While we are not in trouble financially, we do not have the excess that we had when we moved from the Del Frisco area. At that time we had assets of $85,000, which allowed us to move and make substantial improvements to the new facility.
Frank also reported that while we charge the directors $10.00 per table for table rent, the cost to the LBA per table is actually $13.67. The last raise to the directors was from $9.00 per table to $10.00 per table in January, 2008. He recommended a minimum 5% increase to the directors in January of 2010. The figure was included in his budget for the New Year.
Verna Goldberg had sent a letter with Bert Washer, who was representing the directors, along with Pat London. The letter said basically that she felt a raise in rent was counterproductive in these economic times and, along with Pat London, asked that we wait until next year.
Hannah Davis felt that we should wait until after the NABC in 2011, so as not to deter players in the interim. Ellen Schmidt suggested that we revisit the question at the June board meeting, 2010, and Ted said he felt that if the tournaments were subsidizing the expenses, he didn’t feel we should raise fees. Vangie Smith felt that putting the raise off until after the NABC was not prudent. Kit Overpeck felt that we should raise fees as of January 1, 2010. A motion was made by Ellen Schmidt to table the subject until June, 2010. Kit Overpeck seconded the motion. It passed.
Sectional Tournament
Since Susan Cox was not in attendance, Jean Donoho reported that a contract had been signed with the Inn Place on Hurstbourne Lane for the 2010 Sectional Tournaments. They have the space, the parking and the price was quite reasonable. They will allow us to bring in food and drink without any additional charge.
Special Projects:
Hannah Davis announced that the charity chosen for the NABC tournament in 2011 will be the Down’s Syndrome Society of Louisville. It will receive $5000.00 from ACBL.
She also presented a questionnaire that Rex Swauger had wanted to include in the registration package for the regional tournament in November. It was designed to ask how participants felt about holding the tournament at Horseshoe. She felt that Sondra Holt and the Lexington contingency would not want to include it. It was decided that we would include a questionnaire to the LBA membership, included in the Kibitzer, to help ascertain how the members felt about the Horseshoe location.
Education
Since Sandy Spears was not in attendance, Vangie Smith reported that a workshop to
encourage rubber bridge players to try duplicate was scheduled for October 17, 2009.
Sandy’s committee has worked very hard and it is anticipating over 80 participants.
New Business:
There was a discussion of free plays, given during the sectional tournaments. There had been quite a few during the June Sectional. Free plays, according to the Standing Rules, are to be given to the Treasurer and Secretary of the LBA. It has been expanded to include the persons setting up the venue for play. Any others should not receive carte blanche free plays. Ellen Schmidt made a motion to limit the free plays to only the aforementioned persons, with a $25.00 gas card for the person who is towing the trailer. Kit Overpeck seconded the motion. It passed.
Frank was asked to report on the details of the new education program with Verna and Mauri. Frank said that the income statement reflected the amount of income from lessons. Through 8/31/09 the amount is about one half of what it was last year. This was expected when the change was approved. Frank does not have a breakdown on the numbers of students. Jean requested that Verna and Mauri report the number of students when they pay their facilities rental fees. This report should include number of students, revenue and rent paid to the club.
Having no further business, Frank Nelson moved that the meeting be adjourned, Hannah Davis seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 6:45.
Respectfully submitted by Vangie Smith, Secretary Unit 117.