CENTRAL OHIO BRIDGE ASSOCIATION

BOARD MINUTES

TUESDAY, AUG 14, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. at the Columbus Bridge Center in Columbus, Ohio, by the secretary, Linda Rice.

Members present were: Suman Agarwal, Pat Bacher, Mark Bullimore, Jeanne Griffin, Robert Jiobu, Steve McCafferty, Nancy Moore, Russell Peffers, Linda Rice, Lenore Smart, Cheryl Schneider, John Westinghouse. Absent: John Fleeman, Kathryn Pyant.

Minutes: Cheryl Schneider moved the minutes for the July 16, 2007 meeting be approved, and Bob Jiobu seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report: The August 14, 2007, statement shows a balance of $26,628, with hidden assets of $16,350 for prepaid items, for a total of $42,978. The profit from the Flying Buckeye Regional will add between $4,000 and $5,000 to the total.

John Westinghouse signed the contract for the 2009 season with Haimerl Center and gave a copy to Linda Rice. Mark Bullimore worked on the schedule for our Sectionals with the District. January and October are fixed dates each year, and we have to adjust the other date according to holidays and events. Bob Jiobu moved the Treasurer’s Report be approved, Russell Peffers seconded the motion, and it passed.

Elections: New Board members, Pat Bacher, Jeanne Griffin, and Nancy Moore, were welcomed. Mark Bullimore conducted the elections.

President: Suman Agarwal nominated Linda Rice, Cheryl Schneider seconded.

Vice President: Cheryl nominated John Fleeman, and Steve McCafferty seconded. Treasurer: Cheryl nominated Jeanne Griffin, and Linda Rice seconded. Corresponding Secretary: Cheryl nominated Suman Agarwal, and Linda seconded.

Recording Secretary: Cheryl nominated Nancy Moore, and Suman seconded.

Voice votes were taken, since only one person was nominated for each position.

Ballots for District 11 District Director: The Board members said they had received promotional material from each of the two candidates. Linda Rice encouraged everyone to return their ballots with their signature and ACBL number written on the envelope as soon as possible. Because the new Board members were not elected prior to June 1, 2007, they were not eligible to vote, according to Mark Bullimore.

2007 Flying Buckeye Tournament: Cheryl reported it was a successful tournament. She did say that the people from Dayton do most of the work and we need to find ways to help more. She suggested we could do the breakfasts and help with the name tags and signage. We will discuss this more at the next meeting. Some suggestions were made for more fruits and vegetables in the Hospitality Room. It was better to have the room near the playing area rather than in a room upstairs. The bus from Columbus was not full, but the people who rode it were grateful it was offered. Subsidizing the bus is one way for the Board to encourage people from Columbus to go to the tournament.

Cheryl Schneider reported that David Tsui, a well respected Bridge player from Dayton, who produced the daily bulletins for the Flying Buckeye Regional, died suddenly on the last day of the tournament. Linda Rice brought the eulogy Gay Miller, another Bridge player, gave at the funeral.

District 11 Meeting at Flying Buckeye Regional Tournament: Suman Agarwal attended and reported to the Board IRS has changed some rules about non-profit organizations having to file tax reports. Cheryl Schneider and Jeanne Griffin will check with Bill Lipton to see if we will have to file a report.

A change of the points awarded for certain events at tournaments is planned.

We need one person to check all the ballots for the District president election to make sure they are done right, as one mistake could cause all of them to be rejected.

The District wants to expand the education program with more events like Larry Cohen. Anyone wanting to participate should contact Rob Weidenfield, the coordinator.

Our unit needs two people to go to the District Meetings which are held at the Regional Tournaments in our District every quarter, and we need to notify Nancy who they will be.

Suman will fix the unit web-site. He requested electronic flyers from Mark Bullimore.

Midwest Monitor: Betty Madison contacted Linda Rice and Mark Bullimore about the Midwest Monitor deadline of September 1 for the October issue. Mark and Suman Agarwal will work on it together, for September anyway.

COBA Tables for Sectionals: Though Mark Bullimore is no longer on the Board, he will continue to store our tables in his garage. Because he is having back problems, he will need someone else to help transport them to the tournaments.

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 will be Caddy chair. Lenore asked if all we needed at the Sunday session was coffee and water, and Suman Agarwal volunteered to make the coffee. We will talk more about the tournament at the September meeting.

Card Machine: Cheryl brought an advertisement from a UK company that has a representative in the United States for a card machine similar to the one Mike Hill has proposed to buy. It would use electronic records sent by ACBL. We would use Jay’s computer to receive them. Cheryl was not at the meeting when Mike gave his presentation, and she had a lot of questions. Steve McCafferty made the motion to have Mike and Cheryl talk and each give us a written proposal for our consideration at the next meeting. Suman Agarwal seconded the motion and it passed.

NAP: The District 11 finals will be held Saturday, November 3, in Cincinnati.

The next meeting will be at the Columbus Bridge Center on Tuesday, September 11, 2007, at 5:30 p.m.

Suman Agarwal moved the meeting be adjourned, and Russell Peffers seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Respectively submitted by Linda O. Rice, Outgoing Recording Secretary.