San Luis Obispo Duplicate Bridge Club

Board Minutes for April 13, 2012

The meeting was called to order by Bill Ringbom, President, at 4:04 p.m. Board Members Mary Neal,, Bill Ringbom, Dolores Soll, and Jean Wilson were present as well as Barbara Weiss, Manager. Bill Donovan, Gene Edgerton, and Judy Obermeier were absent.

Minutes of the March 16, 2012 meeting were reviewed and approved..

Treasurer’s Report: The bank balance as of March 31 was $1,471.56. Expenses exceeded income by $304.91 due to the $500 payment for insurance. (Mary found an insurance policy for $500, almost $400 cheaper than the Hartford policy quoted by ACBL.) The March table count was up to 122 because of five Friday games.

Club Manager’s Report: (1) The recently purchased teapot is not satisfactory so Barbara will return it and purchase a coffee maker to use for hot water. (2) It would be beneficial to have a caller to help with partnerships for novice players as some of them seem to be dropping out for lack of partners. Jean will ask them to e-mail her if a partner is needed and Barbara will talk to Leda Fields about the possibility of making calls. Leda is going to continue the Wednesday night lessons in Torre’s absence. (3) If members discover an error in scoring after a game, they will need to contact the parties involved and obtain an agreement as to the correct score before Barbara can make a change. (4) The setting up and taking down of tables seems to be going okay. (5) George Sheffield is in charge of the paper supplies provided to us by the Unit.

Old Business: It was agreed to hold off for the time being on raising game fees to $5 per person because of Mary’s having obtained a less expensive policy. Evidence of insurance has been provided to the city but the policy has not yet arrived. The city has not yet given us the promised contract and permit.

New Business: Bill reported on the Unit Board meeting: The Unit has agreed to give us $100 as its share of insurance costs. The Unit is planning for a pro-am game in September with Leda Fields in charge. The Unit wants Barbara’s e-mail list so the secretary can e-mail everyone asking if they want to be on a web-site master list. Morro Bay has decided they cannot afford a dealing machine so the Unit would like to pay us $500 for Morro Bay to share in the use of our machine. Also, although the Unit had originally said they’d pay for maintenance, the maintenance costs will need to be shared.

Following Bill’s report, there was considerable discussion of how to proceed with the shared use of the dealing machine. Some of the issues were the need to develop a maintenance fund (as maintenance is required at the end of three years, may require shipment to England, and is likely to be very expensive), the need to have a person from each club assist with the board preparations on Wednesday evenings, and the need to pay for hand records by any club for which they are provided. We also would need to offer to return funds to our major donor if we accept the $500 for Morro Bay’s participation.

It was agreed that each club should be responsible for a $50 quarterly donation to a maintenance fund to be maintained by our Treasurer and that each club using hand records should pay for them at the same proportionate rate as the SLO club. Bill will write up a proposal for the Board’s approval and send it to the other clubs.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:56 p.m. The next meeting will be after the game on Friday May 11, 2012.

Respectfully submitted,

Dolores Soll, Secretary