EVERETT UNIT 437 BOARD MEETING OF 3/29/15

(Includes the meeting of 3/11/15)

The meeting was called to order by President Ron Tracy at 7:25 pm. Present were JoAnn Smith, Marla Patterson, Ron Tracy, Turid Fredrickson, Carol Proctor, and Sharon Erwin. Matt Koltnow and Nick Tipton were the ACBL Tournament Directors present. Ron turned the meeting to Marla as this is the post sectional wrap up meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:

1. The brief meeting held at the club on 3/11/15 just confirmed all the details for the sectional. Who would be helping when and who was responsible for bringing what. We believed we were ready.

SECTIONAL:

1. Fantastically enough, there were no major complaints from the bridge players. They like the venue, the hospitality (which was absolutely awesome thanks to Sharon and all those who helped), and the formats that we are using. No one even complained about the temperature inside (mostly thanks to Julie for keeping a very close eye on things).

2. Changes we want for next year:

a. 12:30/6:30pm start on Friday; 12:30/6:00pm start on Sat--misses rush hour traffic; might persuade some people to stay for the evening, as it would not get over so late, keeps things moving.

b. Still need better sign at the entrance. Marla will work on a second pole to allow the sign to face the south arriving traffic lanes--parallel to the fence means that it is not seen until too late to safely make the turn.

c. We will work on the web page updates; honestly, I checked ACBL--the tourney trax still listed Arlington, but if you clicked on the whole view, the flyer information was correct. (Note: I have corrected all the years through 2019.) The one issue I will have to call ACBL about is that they insist on giving Joe an email address, even when he doesn't have one--it comes up automatically, so will have to see what I can do. In the tournament calendar and results page, Everett is correctly listed. On the D19 website; they do still list Arlington (I have asked at least three times that it be corrected--and have done so again this month), but they have some issues of their own, so don't know when that might be corrected. The good news is that, if you click on Arlington, it takes you to the ACBL webpage and the correct Everett flyer; so I don't really think anyone had an excuse not to know we were there.

d. We thanked all the helpers--Gail, Turid, Carol, JoAnn, Janet with extra BIG THANKS to Sharon for all the hospitality. We do not believe we want to add anything to what we do now.

e. We will put the web address on the flyer where they can find results.

3. We had 211/5 tables (down from 222), but I believe we still made money. JoAnn will finalize the tournament expense sheet and make a final report when all bills are paid and our deposit money is returned. No one had a complaint about the $10 entry.

4. We discussed free plays by David Taylor. After some discussion, it was decided that he could play for free on the two Friday Sessions, but pay the going rate for any others he chooses to attend.

5. Some discussion about Costco vs Alfys' pizza. Will check about price, but Costco is convenient and everyone loves it, so am reluctant to try someone else.

6. Next year, we will just list a team price for the Swiss Team--lunch will be included free. This will avoid "Opt out" questions and issues.

NEW BUSINESS:

1. Some question about need to raise the entry fee at the club by $1. At this time, that does not appear to be necessary.

2. Had some difficulty getting the new bank signature cards completed, but believe they are all taken care of now.

3. Some major issues with OPUS, the bank that holds our CDs. We will solve the problem and then move the CDs at our earliest opportunity to a financial institution we can trust.

4. Someone asked about Charity donations this year. I went back through the minutes and, in January, we authorized donations of $200 each for the Assistance League of Everett, the Everett Retirement Plaza, and Habitat for Humanity, Snohomish County. If those checks have not been written, they should be ASAP.

Meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm. Next meeting TBD

Respectfully submitted,

MARLA PATTERSON

SECRETARY