Present: Board members Bonnie Bagley, Evelyn Colson, Jerry Fleming, Connie Freeman, Jerry Gaer, Diane Graese, Karin Griffin, Darryl Helton, Ralph Liguori, Carolyn Newcomb, Jerry Ranney, Marianne Spanier, Dale Sweetwood, Vickie Thomas and John Van Ness.

Attending a portion of the meeting were: Dan Williams and Director in Charge, Betty Bratcher.

President's Opening Remarks
President John Van Ness called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. He welcomed the newly elected members to the board and expressed his gratitude to the retiring board members: Jim Truitt, New Mexico at Large, Paul Ivaska, Las Vegas, Selina Whitworth, El Paso and Ginny Johnston, Denver.

Election Report
John Van Ness gave the election report, which he had received from Election Secretary Ginny Johnston: Bonnie Bagley, Connie Freeman, Darryl Helton and Marianne Spanier were reelected or ran for reelection unopposed. New board members are: Evelyn Colson, New Mexico at Large, Diane Graese, Las Vegas, Ralph Liguori, El Paso and Jerry Ranney, Denver.

Seating of New Board Members
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.

Approval of 10/13/07 Minutes
A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2007 meeting.

Treasurer's Report
Carolyn Newcomb presented the Treasurer's Report and noted there was a surplus for 2007 of $3,553.07, which is well over the $200.50 budgeted surplus. Expenses were in line and sanction fees were up due to increased tournament attendance. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to approve the treasurer's report. Carolyn presented the 2008 budget. A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to approve the 2008 budget.

Current Regional (Las Vegas) Report
Diane Graese reported the table count is slightly down which was expected due to the change from June to February.

National Board Report
Jerry Fleming reported ACBL membership is 158,269, an increase of 963 members from 2007. Baby boomers are retiring and with more free time are returning to the bridge table. For the first time ever, there were more than 3,000,000 sanctioned tables in play in 2007 Ð 464,573 tables in tournaments, breaking the record set in 2004, and 2,536,600 tables in sanctioned club games. ACBL is no longer looking at relaxed rules for club games and there will be no sanctioned rubber bridge games. The ACBL Bridge Bulletin should be available on-line within a year. Since the ACBL building has been sold a move, ACBL will eventually have to move Ð consideration is being given to staying in Memphis or relocating to Atlanta, Orlando or Dallas. 2007 was a good year financially - $1,500,000 excess revenue over expenses, due to increased tournament attendance, the sale of the building and some management positions vacant. As a result, no dues or fee increases are necessary for 2008. There was a change in the masterpoint awards for bracketed knockouts effective January 1. Traditionally the awards were based on the size of the field, there was primary agreement it would be fairer to base the awards on the strength of the field. This significantly increased the awards for the top bracket but not necessarily in the other brackets. STaCs will be run centrally with 3 directors running all the StaCs. All designated STaC directors can dun more then one STaC at the same time. Betty Bratcher, who is the Western Conference STaC director, is one of the designated STaC directors. In Shanghai, the USA Venice Cup winning team displayed a small political sign during the awards ceremony. It was well publicized and became a touchy and controversial matter. ACBL was criticized for doing nothing, but no action could be taken at the San Francisco board meeting until the USBF took action. There will be a motion at the Detroit meeting that "The ACBL acting as the WBF Zone 2 Authority, expresses its disapproval for all non-bridge related public statements and demonstrations by any Zone 2 federation representative participating in an international bridge competition."

John Van Ness informed the board that Jerry Fleming will be running for 2009 ACBL President.

Board of Governors Report
Jerry Fleming reported in that Linda Mamula has been re-elected as Board of Governors president. This is her second year and last year as there is a two term limit.

Western Conference Report
John Van Ness stated for the new board members that the primary function of the Western Conference is to publish the Western Conference Contract Bridge FORUM, which advertises Western Conference tournaments, which is considered to be a major factor of the excellent regional tournament attendance in District 17. A major source of Western Conference income is STaC income from the three Western Conference STaCs in May, August and December.

Executive Committee
The Executive Committee met Friday morning and went through the agenda. Specific recommendations will be made when the item occurs on the agenda. Since the October 2007 meeting the Executive Committee approved the Tucson schedule via email so the flyer could be printed and available.

Unfinished/Old Business

Pre-duplicated Boards
At this time Dan Williams, who provides pre-duplicated boards for District 17 regional tournament pairs games, joined the meeting. He reported that he has added a few decks of cards with large numbers for vision impaired players and is constantly replacing worn our decks of cards. John Van Ness stated the pre-duplication of board has been very well received as games can get started earlier and all movements can be played but communication at times has been a problem. Dan gave his address, phone number and email address and stated he would try to be more responsive but at times it is difficult as he travels to other districts to pre-duplicate the boards. He would like to receive a staff room rate at the hotels. The book concessions are essential if Dan's service is to be financially feasible.

New Business

Board Member Compensation
John Van Ness explained that each D-17 board member receives $350 compensation when a board meeting is attended. John does not want anyone to feel they cannot afford to be on the board and attend all meetings and suggested an increase in the compensation to reflect the increased costs of hotels and transportation.. A motion was made to increase the compensation for District 17 board members to $400 for each meeting attended to be effective with the Las Vegas 2008 board meeting. The motion was seconded and passed with one nay vote.

Las Vegas NABC National Board Gift
Bonnie Bagley requested the board contribute $650 to purchase gift baskets to be given to the National Board Members at the 2008 Las Vegas NABC in July. This is a courtesy done by most districts which in the past District 17 has not done and Jerry Fleming, District 17 National Board Representative, has done himself. A motion was made and seconded that District 17 provide $650 to purchase gift baskets for the National Board Members at the 2008 Las Vegas NABC. The motion was seconded and passed with one nay vote.

Youth Championship Compensation
A request was received from Errol LeCesne that the District 17 Board provide some monetary compensation for his grandchildren to attend the Youth Championships in Atlanta in July 2008. A motion was made and seconded and passed unanimously that $500 be given to Errol LeCesne to help with the expenses of taking his four grandchildren to participate in the Youth Championships in Atlanta in July 2008.

Bidding Boxes
Diane Graese presented a letter from Bill Johnson, the Las Vegas Unit Property Chairman, which stated that 153 District 17 bidding boxes have been lost or broken and there seems to be problems shipping the boxes from one regional to another. John Van Ness noted there is a procedure for the care, maintenance and shipping of the bidding boxes. Six hundred bidding boxes are to be shipped from one tournament to the next Ð an additional six hundred is shipped only between Mesa and Las Vegas. The District 17 representative is responsible for checking the bidding boxes for damage and or lost cards and for cleanliness Ð the easiest way to do this is to get a committee together and the job can be done in a couple of hours. John Van Ness asked Diane Graese and Dale Sweetwood to inventory the bidding boxes to determine the amount District 17 has and a determination will be made as to how many are needed. Dan Williams, who does the pre-duplication of boards and drives to the tournaments, said he would be willing to transport some of the boxes. Jerry Ranney said he could transport some also.

Retiring Board Member Recognition
Ralph Ligouri presented a resolution the El Paso Unit wanted the District Board to pass expressing appreciation to Selina Whitworth for all of her diligent work as a District 17 board member and expressly as the District 17 NAP Coordinator. After much discussion, the board decided that all departing members should be recognized for their invaluable contributions and a motion was made, seconded and passed that a letter of appreciation be sent reflecting this.

Completed Tournament Reports

Albuquerque
Karin Griffin reported Albuquerque had a successful tournament with a table count of 1,763 and a surplus realized of $11,089.08. The new location was well received by mot players and plans are to remain at the Marriott Pyramid.

Tucson I/N Regional
Connie Freeman reported the table count was down 43 tables and the tournament lost money. She felt there was less enthusiasm from the players as in previous years. She suggested if gold points could be awarded there might be better attendance. Jerry Fleming stated an event must have Life Masters for gold points to be awarded but he would check into the possibility.

Five Year Schedule
John Van Ness explained the District 17 Regional schedule to the new board members. He told them there are five annual regionals: Albuquerque in January, Mesa in April, Denver in May, Las Vegas in June, Phoenix in August plus a sixth in October which rotates among Colorado Springs, Tucson and used to be El Paso but is currently Ruidoso, NM. This year District 17 has a bonus regional in November at Tucson which is co-sponsored by the USBF. The Colorado Springs Regional is this year, 2009 is Ruidoso, 2010 is Tucson, 2011 is Colorado Springs and there might be a vacancy in 2012 as it is unclear whether Ruidoso will have another regional. Ralph Liguori mentioned that by then El Paso might be ready to host another tournament. John Van Ness also noted that negotiations are underway to move the August Phoenix regional to October which would move the rotating regional to August. Jerry Gaer reported a location has been found Ð the Casino Arizona at the Salt River Indian reservation in Scottsdale. The Casino Arizona is under construction and will have a 500 room hotel as well as a 50,000 square foot convention center. It is easy to get to, is fifteen minutes from the airport and the room rate of $125 would be a steal in Scottsdale that time of year. Contract negotiations are underway.

Mesa (April 7-13, 2008)
Dale Sweetwood reported 835 room nights have been reserved which is more than the guaranteed 735. He is optimistic that the tournament will be larger than 2007. The pavilion has a new floor and new air conditioning but additional lighting still has to be provided. The new tournament chairman, Richard Katz is well organized.

At this point in time, John Van Ness welcomed Betty Bratcher, the DIC, to the meeting. Betty reported that, as Diane had noted, table count was down from last June but the final count should be close to 3,700. She also stated the pre-duplicated boards have been perfect, there has not been a single fouled board and the pairs games start more quickly and smoothly.

Las Vegas NABC (July 17-27, 2008)
Bonnie Bagley, assistant chairman, said that reservations are being made at a record pace; if you want to stay at the Hilton be sure to make your reservations quickly. It is possible ACBL can obtain more room nights. Bonnie stated that Ken Monzingo, the chairman, is planning on making the tournament a great big party and that Elvis will be there. There is a possibility of breaking the NABC table count record of 24,221, which was set in Las Vegas in 1991. Most predictions are between 20,000 and 22,000.

Phoenix (August 18-25, 2008)
Marianne Spanier reported there is concern the attendance will suffer due to being a month after the NABC in Las Vegas, but tournament chairman, Leslie Davis, and her crew are working hard to be positive and convince people Phoenix is the place to be in August.

Colorado Springs (October 6-12, 2008)
Bonnie Bagley presented the budget (the schedule was approved at the October board meeting so fliers could be made early). A motion was made to approve the budget and offer Colorado Springs the Baldwin Plan. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously.

Tucson (November 10-16, 2008)
John Van Ness noted the Tucson schedule was approved by the Executive Committee so the Tucson fliers could be printed and ready for distribution at the Las Vegas Regional. Connie Freeman presented the budget. A motion was made to approve the budget and offer Tucson the Baldwin Plan. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. A motion was made that District 17 pay the $2.00 per table fee the USBF is charging. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Albuquerque (January 19-25, 2009)
Karin Griffin stated the tournament will remain at the Marriott Pyramid Hotel. Karin noted that Albuquerque is going to request no seniors' pairs games for their 2009 schedule.

Committee Reports

GNT - Jerry Gaer reported there were 42 tables in the GNTs: five in the Open, ten in Flight A, seventeen in Flight B and ten in Flight C. He noted that in spite of the shortened District qualifying period more games were held and therefore there was more money to distribute for mileage supplements

NAP - John Van Ness reported that Selina Whitworth put a lot of time and energy into her job as District NAP Coordinator and her efforts were well appreciated. The 2009 District 17 NAP Conditions of Contest were approved by the Executive Committee as the ACBL deadline was before this board meeting.

I/N - Connie Freeman stated she was pleased with District 17 I/N attendance at District 17 regionals but also says she is disappointed with Junior attendance.

Charity - Karin Griffin proposed the proceeds from the District 17 Charity Game in September go to a District 17 charity instead of the ACBL charity reported there will be a District Charity game Tuesday afternoon, February 13th. She suggested anysoldier.com which supplies soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan with supplies like lip balm, suntan lotion, socks, etc. Karin has proposed the September Charity game be expanded to a week. Jerry Fleming noted that the charity has to have a 501c3 designation. A motion was made that the September District 17 charity game proceeds go to a District 17 charity to be named. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. Karin will check on the designation of anysoldier.com

Regional Tournaments - discussed previously.

ScoreCard - Bonnie Bagley noted Jared Johnson, the ScoreCard editor, regretted he was unable to attend the meeting but he sent a letter and copies of some of his most notable articles from the Denver Post.

Tournament Coordination - Marianne Spanier noted the schedules for 2008 and 2009 are in the folders Ð there are a couple of conflicts to be resolved.

Education - Vickie Thomas reported she contacted Marilyn Pulis from Fort Collins and asked that she submit an article for the FORUM explaining her program for newer players at the Fort Fun club. This article was in the December FORUM and parts of it were reprinted in the Palm Springs Regional Daily Bulletin.

Appeals - John Van Ness stated the appeal against the Pueblo unit has not been resolved by the District Disciplinary Committee and he would contact the committee members to try to expedite a ruling.

There were no reports from the By Laws, Baldwin Plan, Finance and Unit Affiliations Committees.

Election of Officers - The following were nominated and elected unanimously:

President Ð John Van Ness
Vice President Ð Jerry Gaer
Secretary Ð Bonnie Bagley
Treasurer Ð Carolyn Newcomb
Election Secretary Ð Karin Griffin

Respectfully submitted,
Bonnie L. Bagley