Minutes of the Unit 194 Board Meeting

Truro Sectional

April 29, 2017

Present: Lydia Prange, Linda Tuff, Bill Halliday, Liz Legacy, Mike Tanner, Brian DeLong, Jim Kirby, Brenda Gouthro, Boyd Wells, Marjorie Wandler, Bill Knoll, Maureen Donovan, Karl Hicks

Regrets: Marilyn Bennett, Joan Gillam, Sandra MacPherson, Paulette Mitchell, Kathie Macnab, Gerry Callaghan

Call to Order 1:40.

Proposed agenda was approved without any additions.

Minutes from the Executive meeting Halifax November 2016 were approved without changes.

· Action: Bill to post minutes to web site. Bill to also post Nov AGM minutes as

Reports:

1. Lydia presented “Presidents’ Update” (see details attached):

·      By-law revisions in progress. Subcommittee working on this. Goal is to send to Executive by end of July, discuss at September meeting, and ratify at AGM in November.

o Action: Lydia to update board by July at latest.

·      Director training. Denis is no longer interested in directing. Trisha and Victor have completed training. Board asked why Trisha was directing in Truro.

o     Karl said it’s his decision to add directors as needed. Board agreed that extra work for Trisha/Victor was OK for this year as they gain experience.

o     Karl shared that Charles (NB) and Trisha both have ACBL ratings. Charles is expected to someday take over as DIC. Trisha may be working some at the Nationals in Toronto (but not on the work list that Karl had).

o     Karl: Trisha aced her exams, he was told “best he’s seen in the past five years”.

·      Tournament coordinator handbook is completed and available on Unit web site (at bottom of main page, or click here). Positive response so far. Comments that this was a good idea and should be a growing/changing document as ideas or improvements come up. Maureen says she has CanAt binder (which has been shared with Moncton) and would be great to get this online.

o     Action: Board members to review document.

o     Action: Future task to look at how to get CanAt binder online.

2.    Bill H. presented Treasurer’s report (attached):

·        Reviewed financial statements as of 25-April. Discussion around how best to handle outstanding/unclaimed “free plays” currently valued as $1662 liability. Comments Unit 194 Executive Meeting – Minutes Apr 29, 2017 (Truro) 2 included: can we track down who has them and tell people (we do have a list), they legally can’t be cancelled/expired.

o   Action: Jim and Mike to consider and update board at next meeting.

o   Motion: accept Treasurer’s report = Boyd, Jim seconded. All approved.

·        Bill summarized HST issue, that being: if the Unit’s total revenues exceed $50K/year then we are supposed to collect HST. And with new $12.50 fee this will happen.

Solution is to have Truro and Bridgewater clubs “own” their Sectionals so they aren’t on Unit books, keeping our revenues below $50K.

o     Several board members wanted more info. Initially we hoped to have Gerry at this meeting to explain but he was unavailable. Maureen wondered how decision was made and who recommended, and was this OK. And could we could get letter from Gerry. Mike had similar concerns about whether this was legit practice. Jim suggested that worst case (if we had tax audit some day in future) is we would be on the hook for all back HST from today onward.

o Action: Mike to invite Gerry to Sept meeting. Mike to research and provide longer explanation of issue to the board.

Agenda Items:

1. Compensation schedule. Bill explained that Unit has a “Compensation Schedule” that provides details (and history) on various financial arrangements, perks, and prizes. He had recently updated and provided a copy. Many on board were unaware this existed and didn’t know some of the details. Some discussion of Ron’s tolls and young players’ incentives.

· Agenda item to increase Edgar’s fee for boards already decided at previous meeting.

· Action: Bill to update and circulate document to board (see attached).

· Action: Bill to make recommendations on changes/improvements by next meeting.

2.    IMP Pairs. Karl commented that he continues to get complaints about IMP Pairs game and some people not understanding. Idea was floated about having two sections: one IMPs and one MPs. But event details are up to the tournament organizers.

3.    STAC invites. Linda explained that each District has its own STAC and only clubs in that district can participate. And changes to policy have to go through the District President and/or Board Member (Leo). She said some clubs would like to participate in STACs from other districts. Some board questions (e.g. Mike) about how STACs work and why this was a Unit concern.

· Action: Linda to email board with info on “how STACs work” & issues, by Sept meeting.

4.    Rookie-Master and Gold points online. Linda said she had received some feedback from players about “why was Rookie-Master on Easter Sunday” and was passing that along. All agreed this is CBF issue and not Unit issue. Both Halifax clubs had high table counts so it seemed successful. Mike/Linda explained the new opportunity for “Gold points online” through ACBL and Common Game. Unclear how this affects our Unit/clubs.

5.    Lagan/MacLeod – how to handle ties. (Bill H and Liz recused themselves from meeting for this agenda item since they were the winners.) Lydia summarized issue: that we had a tie in 2016 for first time in memory, there was no clear policy. This came up at Halifax Sectional and cowinners all got free entries in Halifax and Truro until board could discuss issue. Karl commented that he had looked back through old Bridgelines for details on previous ties, and that there had been a potential tie many years ago (Ian and Balon) and his recollection was the board had decided in advance that they would split the prize (but they ended up coming second). Board agreed they should address this as two separate issues: what should the policy be for 2018 onward? What to do about 2017 tie? Comments that it was the right decision to allow winners to all play free in Halifax and Truro until board could decide. No further discussion.

· Motion: from 2018 onward the policy should be that that the prize is limited to one free entry per event (so if there are co-winners and both want to enter an event they would need to split/share). Moved = Bill K, Seconded = Boyd, all approved.

· Motion: for 2017 the new policy above would take effect at the end of the Truro Sectional. Moved = Boyd, Seconded = Marjorie, all approved except Jim abstained.

6.    Electronic payments at tournaments. Mike reminded everyone that this issue was raised from the floor of AGM. Board agreed that no action was appropriate at this time, but this topic should be revisited annually (and perhaps keep an eye on if/when other Units do this).

7.    Tournament budget/loss tracking. Mike explained this also arose from AGM discussion/questions about tournament revenues. Board agreed it sounded worthwhile. · Action: Mike and Jim to draft/propose something for Sept meeting.

8.    Tournament coordination with Unit 230. Lydia said she had spoken to Richard (Unit 230) about conflicting schedule and he agreed the Units should coordinate schedule. And we had removed the Unit 230 tournaments from our web site (and Unit 230 doesn’t have web site to reciprocate). Unclear how/when to do this coordination.

· Action: carry forward to September agenda.

9.    Skype/conf calls for board meetings. Several people liked this option if it was feasible.

· Action: Mike to investigate and update board by Sept meeting.

10. Items that weren’t discussed (due to time constraints or lack or urgency) and will be carried forward to a later meeting:

· Succession planning for tournament supplies (ie what’s our plan for when Ron doesn’t want to do tables or Edgar doesn’t want to do boards)

Meeting adjourned 2:50pm.

Next meeting: Saturday Sept 23rd, 2017 at Valley Sectional (between sessions