CENTRAL OHIO BRIDGE ASSOCIATION

BOARD MINUTES

TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m. at the Columbus Bridge Center in Columbus, Ohio, by the treasurer, John Westinghouse.

Members present were:

Suman Agarwal, Mark Bullimore, Robert Jiobu, Linda Rice, Lenore Smart, John Westinghouse.

Absent:

John Fleeman, Steve McCafferty, Russell Peffers, Kathryn Pyant, Jack Rice, Cheryl Schneider,

Minutes: Lenore Smart moved the minutes for the February 27, 2007; March 27, 2007; and April 24, 2007, meetings be approved as corrected, and John Westinghouse seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report: The May 22, 2007, statement shows a balance of $32,564 with hidden assets of $10,600 for prepaid items, for a total of $43,164. The Columbus-Dayton Match 2007 had a loss of $488, which we expected.

Status of Officers and Members: Jack Rice has resigned from the Board for personal reasons. With only one month to go until a new Board is elected, we are carrying on as we have been.

2007 Inter-City Championship: It was held May 12. John Westinghouse reported Columbus won by two points. Dayton worked hard to field a team and got all but one person. We cut the A level strata from 2000 to 1500 at Dayton’s request.

Elections: Several suggestions were made for possible candidates for the Board, and Mark said he would seek members from throughout our Unit. We have five openings to fill.

2007 Flying Buckeye Regional Tournament: No report.

June 8-10 Sectional Tournament: Suman Agarwal is tournament chair; Bob Jiobu will be partnership chair; Mark Bullimore will be Caddy chair; and Kathryn Pyant will be hospitality chair. Lenore Smart will bring a lot of the food. Tom Fletcher and John Westinghouse will do the cooking for the picnic, and the church people will help with the distribution. Lenore Smart will ask for help with desserts. John Westinghouse will run the General Meeting at the tournament and present the state of the Unit. Suman will distribute the flyers.

October 19-21 Sectional Tournament: Mark Bullimore will be tournament chair; Lenore Smart will be hospitality chair; Linda Rice will be partnership chair; and Mark Bullimore will be Caddy chair.

NAP: Mark will distribute more information. Linda Rice moved we again subsidize the clubs for the supplementary dollar fee, up to a maximum of 12 sessions per club. Lenore Smart seconded the motion, and it passed.

Card Machine: Mike Hill came to the meeting present a proposal. He plans to purchase a card machine himself and would like to negotiate providing us with pre-dealt hands at tournaments and special events for a price. His initial suggested price is $100 per tournament. He would like a 4-year commitment from us at fixed times and fixed cost.

The card machine he plans to buy is a Bridge Room Dealer built in Australia. It is the size of a shoebox. The machine deals regular cards and puts them in the boards. It can deal 250 hands per hour. It is reliable in that it will notify the operator if a card is missing from the deck. The machine could be used for special events, barometer games, and for teacher presentations. Using it would give directors more time to run their games.

Mike would buy the boards, and we would have to buy the cards, though he wants to use the cards in his games at the Columbus Bridge Center--about 3 times a week.

Questions were raised about whether it can deal the hands ACBL provides and how it would affect our arrangement with Jay. We would still use Jay’s cards for team games. Mike suggested we contact Cincinnati and see how they handle it. Mark and Mike will check with ACBL and others and report back.

The Board was generally favorably impressed with the proposal.

Linda Rice moved the meeting be adjourned, and Lenore Smart seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Respectively submitted by Linda O. Rice, Recording Secretary.