President, Glenda Calkins, called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m. Board members in attendance were:
Glenda Calkins, PresidentI. Arnie Bergen e-mailed Rebecca Schwartz requesting that the Minutes of January be amended to include his thanks to Tod Thorgersen for his help on the Web-page Committee. Andy Lohan made a motion that the Minutes be accepted as amended, seconded by Elaine Meyers. Motion carried.
Tod suggested that future Minutes be saved and e-mailed as, "Text" documents, which would enable them to be read/downloaded by any software.
II. PRESIDENT'S REPORT:
Glenda noted that some of our members attended the Unit Growth seminar and found it quite informative. Kay Roelke pointed out that much of the session was directed toward club owners and that it would be most beneficial for owners to be present at the next one. Glenda said that Cheryl Garofalo was giving thought to beginning a Thursday night 199er as a direct result of this seminar.
Harris Schenker, reporting for the committee appointed at the last Board meeting, stated that a few people have expressed interest in joining the Board. The committee recommended Al DeLio as a replacement for Andy Muenz, and Mary Giannella for Ros Abel. Harris moved that Al and Mary be elected to the Board, seconded by Helen Wallach. Discussion followed. Motion was carried. Al's position will be up for re-election in 2001 and Mary's in 2002. Harris noted that Ari Eisenberg would like to become a Board member as well, and that Ari had submitted a letter to that effect. The letter will be turned over to the Nominating Chairman for next term's consideration. Harris has notified Ari of this action.
Glenda informed the Board that Arnie Bergen has officially resigned due to an insurance problem as it relates to his current business. Glenda will give Arnie copies of our insurance policies and our by-laws to present to his carrier for examination. The Board is temporarily tabling Arnie's resignation in the hope that the insurance issue can be resolved. In the interim, Arnie will provide Al Delio with the job description and instructions for Player of the Year, since Al has agreed to take over that function.
Glenda asked if any committee chairperson is in need of assistance with his/her current job. Kay Roelke said she would like a co-chair for the Membership Committee, and Mary Giannella will fill that position.
TREASURER'S REPORT
Frank distributed copies of the financial report noting that, "We're in good financial shape". Andy Lohan moved that the Treasurer's report be accepted as presented, seconded by Jerry Goodman. Motion was carried.
ADMINISTRATIVE SECRETARY'S REPORT
Nothing to report.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
TOURNAMENTS
Jo Ann Van Delft reported that the Allendale Sectional went smoothly. Attendance was good, as was the food, thanks to Abby Brawer. Jo Ann is doing her best to get Guardian Angel to approve the Sectionals dates for 2002. Jo Ann, with a committee of Al Pagan, Al DeLio, and Barbara Fingerhut is researching a facility to replace the Guardian Angel.
It was at this time that new Board members, Mary Giannella and Al DeLio entered the Boardroom. Glenda welcomed them and introductions were made.
CADDIES
Ruth Bernstein stated all is well, but that she can always use additional people. Marilyn Marion has several to suggest.
SPECIAL EVENTS
1. NAOP/GNT
Joe Adamo advised that the NAOP will be held on April 21st and 22nd in White Plains with a new 5000 group, i.e., "A's" are up to 5000 points. The GNT will be held at Woodbridge on May 19th and 20th. The NAOP unit finals will be on September 16th in Westchester. Our Unit Final will be on September 22nd at Bergen.
2. Reitman Double Knockout Teams
Tod Thorgersen reports that the Reitman is moving along nicely.
3. Bi-Unit Wide Games
Helen Wallach stated that she has submitted new directions for reporting the scores. This will, hopefully, afford more rapid calculating.
4. Bob Johnke Team
Tod praised Ruth Bernstein for all her work. The Johnke will be held on April 28th at Immaculate Conception in Mahwah. Flyers have been distributed to the clubs and Ruth has made arrangements with the caterer. There are 10 teams to date, comprising roughly 50 players. Jerry Goodman will direct the event and has indicated that a computer will not be necessary due to the unusual scoring.
Life Master Event
Andy Lohan distributed beautiful flyers of the Life Master game, which will be held on May 6th at Bergen.
6. Annual Dinner
Andy said that everything is in place.
7. Pro/Am
Elaine Meyers has nothing new to report
NEWSLETTER
Editor, Betty Price, thanked everyone for getting information to her on a timely basis. She especially thanked Marilyn Marion for her wonderful help. The deadline for receipt of materials for the July 1st Newsletter is May 20th.
Club Coordinator, Marilyn Marion, is very pleased with club owners' cooperation regarding scheduling and score results of special games.
WEB-PAGE
Tod indicated that all is going well.
CHARITY
Geoffrey Manis noted that the ACBL has not yet designated a new charity. Jerry Goodman, however, advised that it's Hospice USA. This was apparently determined after Geoffrey had contacted the ACBL. Geoffrey recommends that, for the time being, we continue to support Dystonia.
NOVICE PROMOTION
Jean Mazouat thanked Kay for taking care of the last Novice promotion and asked her to update the flyer for the next one.
For the upcoming Allendale event, Jean suggested that shopping circulars might be the least expensive and most effective means of advertising, and is considering dropping costly advertising in the Record. She requested that Board members send her e-mail with suggestions of circulars and small local papers. Helen Wallach noted that many newspapers offer free community publications. Jean will research that and also asked Al DeLio to work with her on the next Novice promotion.
Kay Roelke thanked Neale Van Delft for scoring and Martha Troxell for moving things along smoothly in the last Novice game. She thanked Arnie, as well, for providing labels for mailings. Jean requested additional copies of the Newsletter, which she will distribute to promote future Novice games.
Betty Price noted that the cap for the Novice game has to be 200, not 199. This number appears incorrectly on the back of the Newsletter.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Al DeLio will be taking over from Arnie Bergen, who will assist Al with the software.
CONDUCT AND ETHICS/RECORDER
Neither Tod Thorgersen nor Andy Lohan had anything major to report.
MEMBERSHIP
Kay Roelke announced an increase of 25 members compared to this time last year. The ACBL reports several "transfers-out". Kay will contact the ACBL. She believes these transfers may be "Snow Birds" and, therefore, only temporary transferees.
Glenda noted that Membership is a very critical job since each new member provides additional income to our unit.
VII OLD BUSINESS
Glenda spoke with members of the District #3 Board regarding the ACBL's running of web-site tournaments in competition with the clubs. The ACBL feels that they must run games on the web in order to compete with other web-sites, i.e., OK Bridge.
Glenda also contacted club owners for feedback as to what they believe the ACBL can do to help the clubs. Unfortunately, she received no definitive answers.
NEW BUSINESS
Ruth Bernstein noted that the World Bridge Federation International contest is scheduled for Friday evening and Saturday afternoon of the Allendale tournament, at which Peter Marcus will be the head Director. Glenda reported that the ACBL advised that the dual scheduling is fine. Solly suggested eliminating Open Pairs on Friday evening and running the WBFI contest instead. The Saturday afternoon IMP pairs will not be stratiflighted as in the past, and we will have a second section for the International contest.
WBFI information may be found on the ACBL web page.
Ruth suggested contacting Peter Marcus to discuss the scoring. Helen Wallach made a motion that this event be included in Player of the Year. Elaine seconded the motion. Discussion followed. Motion was carried.
Jerry Goodman wondered if entry fees would be affected. Glenda stated that the additional entry fee of $ 4.00 is indicated in the April Newsletter. Jerry also asked what color points WBFI will award, and Glenda believes there will be an explanatory sign at the entrance. Jerry will research this.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Rebecca Schwartz,
Administrative/Recording Secretary