RABA BOARD MEETING – October 18, 2005

PRESENT: L. Ackerman. L. Allen, A. Booke, J. Bridges, D. Folwell, W. Marsland, L. Meacham, G. Ride, L. Sanders, and M. Spence.

ABSENT: D. Bradley and M. Griffin.

Before the meeting Jim Bridges distributed tickets to the December 11 RABA Open Pairs event. Extra tickets were given to Gerry Ride to be used at Sue Gaffney’s classes to encourage 99‘ers to attend. Tickets were given to others as they arrived.

Lois Sanders reported that Betty Kascher had given her several bridge trophies with the name plates removed to be used as we wished. Margie Spence agreed to examine the trophies to see what condition they’re in and plan to give them at 99’er events if they’re useful.

Alex Booke suggested that we form a publicity committee.

Lois Sanders suggested that we resume giving RABA coffee mugs to event winners – we would need 16 per year. Margie will see how many we have and determine the cost of purchasing more.

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m.

The minutes of the July 20, 2005 meeting were approved as distributed.

Warren Marsland provided two reports; a detailed treasurers report for the minutes and a spreadsheet with data on sectionals for the last six years. The summer sectional made a profit of $1,128.33 and the fall section netted $320.67. Non-tournament related expenses were $378 for the newsletter and ~$400 for software for the website.

Election of Officers: Gerry Ride and Dick Folwell were welcomed as new members of the Board. Officers for 2005 – 2006 were elected:

President - Jim Bridges

Vice-president- Margie Spence

Treasurer- Warren Marsland

Secretary- Lew Allen

Executive Committee Member at Large- Liz Meacham

Jim Bridges reported that Doug Bradley has resigned from the Board for personal reasons. The Board agreed to appoint Bill Foster to fill the vacancy because he was the next highest vote getter in the elections. Jim agreed to ask Bill if he’s willing to serve.

Spring Sectional, March 24 - 26: Lois Sanders reported that the Unit has decided to return to standard starting times for the first part of 2006. This means that Saturday games must start at 1 and 7 p.m. with a 9 a.m. session optional. The unit Board will vote on this issue at its January meeting. Jim proposed that we have sessions at 9, 1 and 7 and the Board agreed by consensus. Warren pointed out that those times are contrary to the preferences expressed in the informal survey.

There was discussion of the playing site. For now we will stay at the India Community Center and continue to look for alternate sites. Margie agreed to chair the Spring Sectional with Lynn as co-chair. Dick and Warren agreed to co-chair the summer sectional; Jim will get dates from Bruce Toder.

Warren reported that the web site is receiving 295 hits per day as of September. There has been continual increase since the start in July 2003 when there were 15 hits per day. The Rochester Regional this summer was a turning point when the number of hits went up substantially. Warren has met with Ed Reppert (webmaster) weekly since August. They have found a place to do scoring fairly inexpensively. They have also identified a person who is willing to do web design at no charge. She just requests that we provide a link to her site.

Discussion has begun with the India Community Center regarding a storage area and possible office space. Similar discussions have begun with the Lakeville Fire Department. The objective is to find a place to store tables and other tournament supplies so that we don’t have to rely on Board member volunteers. It was suggested that we might try to raise funds to help defray the cost of adding the necessary space at the place selected. This effort could help both RABA and the host institution.

Warren has been thinking about a reorganization of the playing areas within Unit 112. While any decisions would be made by the Unit Board, he requested permission to discuss his ideas with the Finger Lakes area to see if there is interest in merging with RABA. The Board agreed. The idea is that the current ten playing areas are too many and that consolidation into fewer areas would be an improvement.

Committees were staffed with volunteers as follows:

Sunshine Lynn Ackerman

Newsletter Alex Booke

Awards Margie Spence

Nominations and Elections Warren Marsland, Gerry Ride, Liz Meacham and Lew Allen

Audit -------------- (Jim will check with Norm Gath)

Publicity Alex Booke, Jim Bridges, Dick Folwell (Ed Reppert to be involved.)

RABA Representatives to Unit 112 should have been included on the election ballot. That was not done. Warren moved that Lois and Jim continue in their current roles and that an election be conducted via the next newsletter, offering the possibility of write-in candidates.

In order to select the Goodwill Player of the Year, nominations were made by the members present. The eleven players nominated were Ricky Briggs, Sally Hill, Dick Wilson, Janet Flanagan, Betty Ann Schmitz, Bob Cannizzaro, Bill McCoy, Suzy Hill, Ann Hoylman, Kathy Kruggel and Nancy Trabold. Each Board member cast five votes, with multiple votes for one individual permitted. The leading vote getters were then subjected to a second round where each member had three votes. Then the winner was decided in a run off between the two leaders. As a result of this process, Ricky Briggs was named Goodwill player of the year. This information is to remain confidential until the announcement is made at the RABA Pairs event on December 11. The suggestion was made that we start this selection process one meeting earlier next year and to try to determine a way to include players from outside the Rochester metropolitan area.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 at the Allens Creek Valley Service Building.

Respectfully submitted,

Lew Allen, Secretary