Present: Board members Bonnie Bagley, Jerry Fleming, Connie Freeman, Jerry Gaer, Karin Griffin, Paul Ivaska, Ginny Johnston, Carolyn Newcomb, Marianne Spanier, Dale Sweetwood, Vickie Thomas, Jim Truitt and John Van Ness.
Absent: Selina Whitworth
Attending a portion of the meeting was: Director in Charge, Gary Zeiger.
President's Opening Remarks
Election Report
Seating of New Board Members
Secretary's Report
Approval of 10/07/06 Minutes
Treasurer's Report
Current Regional (Albuquerque) Report
National Board Report
Board of Governors Report
Western Conference Report
Executive Committee
Unfinished/Old Business
Allocation of District 17 Representatives Jerry Fleming and his committee, Darryl Helton, Carolyn Newcomb, Selina Whitworth and John Van Ness (who as president is a member of all committees according to the Bylaws) met via email to discuss the issue of the size and geographical allocation of membership on the District 17 Board. Their recommendation is if it is not broke, do not fix it, in other words no change in allocation or number of District 17 representatives is needed. A motion was made to accept the committee's recommendation. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. John Van Ness stated that the Bylaws require a review of the allocation at least every five years and if there is a substantial change in the membership of an area a review can be made at any time.
Bridge Bulletin Advertisement John Van Ness noted this was tabled from the meeting in El Paso. After much discussion of the pros and cons of advertising in the Bridge Bulletin, a motion was made that the District does not advertise in the Bridge Bulletin, but it would be up to the sponsoring unit to do so if it wished. The motion was seconded and defeated. Another motion was made to place a 1/6 page ad in the December 2007, March 2008, June 2008 and September 2008 Bridge Bulletins, for a total cost of $1,280. The motion was seconded and passed with eight affirmative votes, five negative votes and one abstention. Bonnie will place the ad.
New Business
2008 Tucson Regional: John Van Ness reported District 17 will have an additional tournament in November 2008 at Tucson. A sanction belonging to the United States Bridge Federation will be used for this tournament.
Completed Tournament Reports
El Paso: In Selina Whitworth's absence, John Van Ness stated there were 1,061.5 tables compared with 802 at the last El Paso Regional, a 32% increase. All players had a great time and the tournament realized an $819.53 profit for the host unit.
Future Tournaments
I/N Regional (February 22 - 26, 2007) Connie Freeman said everything is ready and urged board members to encourage their newer players to "come to Tucson."
Mesa (April 16 - 22, 2007) Dale Sweetwood reported everything is going according to schedule 75% of the room quota has been met already and the hotel will allow 100 over. The hotel is interested in 2008 and will waive fees as they have for 2007. The Pavilion still has to be used and it is very adequate as long as it is not too windy. Dale noted ACBL will charge 50 cents a table for boards and table mats. Jerry Gaer said Phoenix would be willing to lend supplies to Mesa.
Denver (May 22 - 29, 2007) Ginny Johnston reported Denver is ready and there might be a space issue concerning the GNT games but the tournament committee and the hotel are meeting in February to make sure there is adequate space for all the events.
Las Vegas (June 18 - 24, 2007) Paul Ivaska stated Tom Shulman is doing his usual job of organizing a great tournament and hopefully Las Vegas can maintain their edge over Palm Springs.
Phoenix (August 13 -19, 2007) Marianne Spanier reported the new tournament chairman, Leslie Davis, is very enthusiastic and is doing a great job.
Tucson (October 8-13, 2007) The proposed budget contained incorrect district and WC sanction fees, with those corrected, a motion was made to approve the budget as corrected. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. The Regional Tournament Committee met via email and recommended eliminating the Senior Pairs on Friday because the NAPs will be starting Friday and eliminating the Fast Pairs on Sunday as there were only five tables at the last Tucson Regional, the stratifications should be A = 2,000+, B = 750 - 2,000 and C = 0 - 750 for stratified events and for strati-flighted events, A = 5,000+, X = 0 - 5,000, B = 1,250 - 5,000 and C = 750 - 1,250 and D = 0 - 750 and the afternoon 199er games start at 1:00 p.m. not 1:30 p.m.. A motion was made to approve the schedule with the Regional Tournament Committee's recommendations. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to offer Tucson the Baldwin Plan.
Albuquerque (January 21-27, 2008) Karin Griffin stated the tournament will be moved to the Pyramid Hotel and there is a two-year contract.
The I/N regional in Tucson (February 22-24, 2008) and the regionals in Las Vegas (February 25 - March 2, 2008), Mesa (April 7-13, 2008), Denver (May 22-26, 2008), Phoenix (August 18-24, 2008) and Tucson (November 10-16, 2008) all have contracts with the same hotels. The Colorado Springs Regional (October 6-12, 2008) will be back at the Sheraton because the room rates at the Hilton in October were too expensive.
Committee Reports
GNT - Jerry Gaer reported there seems to be some confusion as to the dates of the GNTs. The District Finals will be held at the Denver Regional on Friday, May 25th, Saturday, May 26th and Sunday, May 27th. Flights B & C will be Friday and Saturday and Flight A and the Championship Flight will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday as stated in the Conditions of Contest.
NAP - Selina Whitworth sent a detailed report of the District Finals which were held at the El Paso Regional. There was a decline in the number of tables at the District Final. There were 83 tables in Albuquerque in 2005 and 83 tables in Ruidoso and only 56 tables in El Paso. Selina feels the NAPs should be promoted more by ACBL. Selina also sent the 2007 Conditions of Contest for approval. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to approve the District 17 Conditions of Contest for North American Pairs 2007 - 2008.
Bylaws - No report.
Charity - Karin Griffin reported there will be a District Charity game Tuesday afternoon, February 13th. Karin has proposed the September Charity game be expanded to a week. Karin is waiting for the details to be finalized with ACBL and when they are she will put an article in the Scorecard.
Regional Tournaments - Paul Ivaska stated everything has been covered previously.
ScoreCard - No report
Sectional Tournaments - Marianne Spanier noted the schedules for 2007 and 2008 are in the folders. Jerry Fleming stated we are the only district in the WC that does not have its sanctions through 2009 and he urged the units to get their sanctions.
Finance - Jim Truitt noted that finance matters have been reported by the treasurer. Jim will audit the books for 2006.
Baldwin Plan - No report
Education - Vickie Thomas reported that a lot of people are working at the unit level to attract and retain members.
Unit Affiliations - No report
Appeals - Jim Truitt reported there is one appeal pending, which is moving very slowly. Jim has been in contact with Joe Harris to get matters underway.
Election of Officers - Jerry Gaer moved the present slate of officers be reelected. The motion was seconded, and passed unanimously. The slate is: John Van Ness, president, Paul Ivaska, vice-president, Bonnie Bagley, secretary, Carolyn Newcomb, treasurer and Ginny Johnston, election secretary.
There being no further business a motion was made, seconded, and carried to adjourn at 11:05 a.m. The next meeting will be May 26, 2007 in Denver, Colorado at 8:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
John Van Ness welcomed the board to Albuquerque and complimented the Albuquerque unit on hosting a great tournament.
Ginny Johnston reported Karin Griffin, Albuquerque, John Van Ness, Colorado-at-Large, Carolyn Newcomb, Denver, Jerry Gaer, Phoenix, and Vickie Thomas, Wyoming ran for reelection unopposed. Dale Sweetwood from Mesa won the election there. Maxine Poulton did not run for reelection. All terms are two years. Ginny asked those who will be up for reelection this year to notify her as soon as possible if they will be sitting for reelection.
A motion was made and seconded to certify the results of the elections and to seat the reelected and newly elected board members. The motion passed unanimously.
Bonnie announced that stationery supplies and free play coupons are available. Bonnie noted that the emailing of the minutes to all unit board members was well received and will continue. Unit Presidents who do not have email will receive the minutes via US mail. A paper copy of the previous meeting's minutes will be in the D-17 board member's folders at the next meeting. This is a time saver for Bonnie as well as a cost saver for the district.
A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to approve the minutes of the October 7, 2006 meeting.
Carolyn Newcomb presented the Treasurer's Report and noted there was a surplus for 2006 of $6,538 compared to a budgeted surplus of $266 for 2005. The STaC income was up and some expenses were less then budgeted. A $25,000 CD was purchased for a two year renewal with 4.785% interest. A motion was made and seconded to approve the Treasurer's report. The motion passed.
Carolyn presented the 2007 budget John Van Ness noted there will be no Spring STaC income in 2007 which he will explain during the Western Conference Report. The 2007 Budget includes the decrease in sanction fees from $5 to $4.50, thus a lower budget surplus; an almost break even budget, a $200.50 surplus. A motion was made to approve the 2007 budget as corrected; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously.
Karin Griffin stated the table count is up 125 tables as of Friday. John Van Ness complimented Karin and the tournament organizers for a very well run tournament and thanked Karin for the dinner/reception Friday night and for making arrangements for the Friday lunch. Paul Ivaska asked Karin how the Senior Pairs at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. are doing. Karin said she has not heard any negative comments and people like the 9:00 a.m. start time. Ginny Johnston played one day and she did not like it - there was some confusion about the number of boards being played. Paul Ivaska noted there is little time for lunch.
Jerry Fleming reported he will chair the ACBL Finance Committee for 2007. ACBL will probably show a loss of $360,000 for 2006, partly due to the closing of the ACBL store which occurred in September but the employees were kept on the payroll until the end of the year. The only significant differences in the 2007 budget are that the tournament director's fees are increasing approximately 8% and regional sanction fees will be decreased 26 cents a table and sectional sanction fees decreased 18 cents a table. These changes will be effective April 1st. The 2006 table count ACBL-wide for regionals was up 1,668 tables from 2005, the sectional table count was slightly up, the STaC table count was slightly down, due to the fact there were fewer STaCs held.
The 2006 Fall NABC in Honolulu held 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. games at 9:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., as an experiment. Jay Baum, ACBL CEO, reported he heard almost no negative comments. The NA Swiss Team games were seven matches of seven boards each day, which was well received.
Jay Baum and Jerry Fleming will be going to Las Vegas in February to meet with the Las Vegas board to discuss the 2008 Summer NAB to be held in Las Vegas. A tournament chairman has yet not been selected.
The Board of Trustees of the Education Foundation and the Charity Foundation will meet at the St. Louis NAB in March to determine the possibility of merging. There is presently no vehicle for a substantial tax deductible donation to ACBL except by going through one of these foundations, which allows the foundation to determine where the donation would go. Jerry, along with others, feels the problems that would be created by such a merger would be more significant then any problems at hand.
Jerry noted there is disgruntlement with the GNTs because of residency issues. Some professional players are using the GNTs as a vehicle to generate income. A credentials committee has been created consisting of six board members, of which Jerry is one, to review residency claims.
Jeff Johnston has replaced Nancy Foy, who resigned in September, as the NAB meeting site's coordinator. There have been no new NAB recommendations beyond 2012 and there is no ACBL scheduled in District 17 other than the 2008 Summer NAB in Las Vegas.
Ginny Johnston did not attend the Board of Governors meeting at the Honolulu NABC but will be attending the one in St. Louis.
John Van Ness noted that Jerry Fleming was elected Western Conference (WC) president at the last WC meeting in December at the Palm Springs regional. John stated that he and Jerry are District 17 representatives to the WC board and Tom Shulman from Las Vegas is the WC treasurer. The WC is a break-even organization, with the largest expense being the production of the monthly newspaper, the FORUM, which cost about $180,000 per year. The WC had a loss of $7,000 in 2005, which was a budgeted loss. In an effort to return to break-even status, the WC board voted to eliminate the rebate to the districts for the Spring STaC in lieu of raising ad rates for the FORUM, or raising the per page charge to the district or raising sanction fees. John pointed out that the revenues received from the three WC STaCs keep the WC alive, but there are discrepancies in the revenue and the table count. Jerry Fleming is auditing the three STaCs held in 2006. He noted that in the July Swiss StaC, the smallest of the three, there is a difference of 375 tables.
The Executive Committee met Friday morning and went through the agenda. Specific recommendations will be made when the item occurs on the agenda.
Ginny noted that there are more new restaurants within walking distance of the hotel, including a barbeque restaurant that is not a chain. She said Denver is happy to be having the District board meeting at their tournament.
At this point in time, Gary Zeiger, Director in Charge, joined the meeting. Gary reported last year's table count of 1,522 will be passed by this afternoon, and there will be a substancial increase in table count from 2006. The fact that this tournament will hit 1,800 tables without the NAPs when the Albuquerque Regional has often hit 1,700 with the NAPs indicates the NAPs may not be the strong positive influence on regional attendance he thought. Gary knew Monday night, the first night of the tournament that the table count would be up as the knockouts were up 10 tables. The Senior Pairs is the event that has been strange. The table count has been like a yo-yo, as few as 9 _ tables and as many as 23 tables. There have been two sections twice and one section twice. John Van Ness noted the morning knockouts have been huge, the morning Compact Knockout was 58 tables. Gary was asked his opinion of holding the Senior Games at 9:00 a.m. and one p.m. He responded that it is an absolute boon for the directors, it makes staffing much simpler and it is more economical as long as players are not lost.
I/N - Connie Freeman stated she is still sending postcards to I/N players after each regional. Gary provides her the list.
John asked Gary what could be done better, Gary noted that three people came to him and said they saw the evening start time of 7:30 p.m. on their computer. They had googled the tournament instead of going to the Unit, District or ACBL websites and had gotten information from a previous year when the evening start time was 7:30 p.m. The important point is that once a tournament is over any reference to that tournament on the web must be eliminated. John Van Ness now asked what is being done well. Gary said he has learned to appreciate District 17 since they say, 'Here is the tournament, you run it and come talk to us". John thanked Gary for the terrific job he is doing, not only at this tournament but at the other tournaments in District 17.
Bonnie L. Bagley