MINUTES FOR LBA BOARD MEETING 9/18/10

President Rex Swauger called the meeting to order at 4:50 PM. The meeting was held at the Barren River State Park, KY, in conjunction with the Barren River Sectional Tournament.

Officers/board members present:

Jane Wininger, Betsy Blakeman, Rex Swauger, Frank Nelson, Jan Fishback, Carolyn Carpenter and Diane Huguenard. Sandy Spears sent her proxy to Rex Swauger.

Officers/board members absent:

Sandy Spears, Madeline Pfeiffer, Joe Dye, Bob Phelps, Joan Lepping, Ellen Schmidt Phyllis Costello, and Hannah Davis.

Attending non-voting:

Bert Washer, Vangie Smith, Kit Overpeck and Marilyn Swauger.

The minutes of the previous meeting, June 25, 2010, were accepted. One typographical error was noted, there is only one “r” in Baron Barclay.

President’s Report:

Nominations are in place for the upcoming election. There are five directors up for re-election: Madeline Pfeiffer, Jane Wininger, Ellen Schmidt, Joe Dye and Sandy Spears. Jane Wininger and Ellen Schmidt declined to run again but Judy Banks has agreed to run from downstate and Keith Overpeck has agreed to run to replace Ellen Schmidt.

Rex reported that the contract for our Regional Tournament at Horseshoe Casino is signed through 2012 and he is sure that they will come to us soon and ask him to sign for 2013. There was a survey taken last year which showed that the members of the Louisville Bridge Club would prefer it be held somewhere else. There are many reasons given but the one most often mentioned is the distance and travel involved. Rex said that he had investigated the possibility of moving the tournament to another venue but has had no luck finding such a venue. The Galt House and Marriott are available in downtown Louisville, but the parking situation makes them problematic. The location of our Sectional Tournament would work, but has no “curb appeal”. The site is run down and has been sold, making its future availability questionable.

The Lexington unit has indicated that they do not want to move the location and if Louisville insists upon moving, they will consider splitting the partnership between the two clubs apart, which would only allow each to hold the Regional Tournament every other year. This tournament has been generating approximately $10,000 a year every year since its inception, with the numbers being up last year.

With all of the above in mind, Rex said that he would not make a change on his watch and when the contract is presented to him, he will send it to Scott Cox for approval and will then sign it.

Treasurer’s report:

Carolyn Carpenter was asked to audit the LBA books. She reported that she had reviewed them. 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.

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 gave this as the reason for the recent raise in fees from $5.50 per game to $6.00 per game. It was noted that for the most part there has been no complaint from the rank and file members. Only one person has vigorously objected.

Frank continues to post the most recent Treasurer’s Report on the Bulletin Board and keeps a binder at the Director’s desk with past reports. The net income was down this year, a modest amount.

Old Business:

Ellen Schmidt offered to look into the possibility of purchasing cup holders to help protect the “Bridge Mates” that we purchased. Since she was not in attendance, the matter was tabled until the next board meeting.

New Business:

1. Bert Washer brought up the size of the games being held at the bridge center and how the numbers compared to those allowed by the fire code. No one knew what the fire code

allowed and Rex said that he would check on that to make sure there was no problem

2. Jan Fishback read a report prepared by Madeline Pfeiffer:

At a recent out-of-town tournament I picked up 16 sectional and regional flyers. Only

one (other than Louisville) had a game as late as 7:30pm. The flyers overwhelmingly

had 7:00pm for the evening games and were evenly divided between 1:00 and 1:30 for

the afternoon games.

Our last sectional had poor attendance on Saturday night. The KO teams elected to play earlier than 7:30. Many of us who played “pairs” bemoaned the late hour when we finished.

Since most of us are 45 minutes from our regional at Horseshoe, the 7:30 games run very late. I would like to discuss and consider changing the times of evening play at our sectional and regional tournaments.

During the discussion, some note was made that at one time people had desired a longer dinner break at Horseshoe so that people could gamble longer. There was also discussion as to whether the flyers for our February Sectional had been printed or not. There was also discussion of having the Swiss teams on Sunday at 10:00.

Jan Fishback made a motion that the times be 9:00 am for morning, 1:00 for the afternoon session and 7:00 for the evening session for our Sectionals. The Swiss game on Sunday would be at 10:00. If the flyers for February are already out, the new schedule would begin in June, otherwise it would begin in February. Betsy seconded the motion and it passed.

The regional schedule would have to be discussed with Lexington.

3. Rex said that for two of the last three district meetings, no one had been available to represent the LBA and he had asked Vangie and Kit to attend. After the second meeting the two attended, Vangie suggested that it might be a good idea if the two of them be the representatives to the district board. Rex said that during his term of office that would be the case. This would give continuity to the representation.

4. Kit reported that at the district meeting, people from other clubs were still not clear on the role of volunteers for the NABC and would like more guidance.

At the district meeting the board adopted the use of Mid Chart conventions at all regional tournaments. In order for them to be used, however, the notice that they are allowed must be printed on the material that is handed out for each tournament. A Lexington representative was also at the board meeting and is aware of the new ruling.

Bill Higgins, the district board chairman for the GNT and NAP, announced that the date for the regional qualification to the NAP will be held in Cincinnati, on October 30, 2010. He hopes that each club will work to encourage participants.

Having no further business, Frank Nelson moved that the meeting be adjourned, Betsy Blakeman seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 6:45.