Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors of Unit 364

Date: August 3, 2018

Homestake Peak School, Eagle, CO

There being a quorum of the members of the Board of Directors present at the Vail Sectional Tournament, a Special Meeting was convened on August 3, 2018.

Meeting called to order by President Keith Nichols at 5:39 pm.

Present: Keith Nichols, Bert Solomon, Diane Morgan, Leah Williams, Gretchen Bunnell, and Karen Kribs.

Absent: Don Squires and Helen Bledsoe

The reading of the Minutes and the Treasurer’s Report were waived for this special meeting.

Because Bert is the chairman of the Vail tournament and knew that he would need to tend to tournament details during the meeting, Karen took the minutes in his stead.

Keith reported that a letter to the Board was received by email from Sharon Snyder earlier in the day in which she withdrew her request for financial support from the Unit. Karen read the letter to those present. A copy is attached and hereby incorporated into the minutes.

The question of posting financial reports to the website was discussed. This has not been done in the past, but it was agreed that it could be done in the future. Keith will look into possibilities for the format for the reports.

We are presently short one director on the Board. A replacement could be appointed by the Board.

The question of financial support for beginner teaching programs was once again discussed. The board generally agreed that establishing a set of guidelines for granting financial support would be a good idea. However, it was recognized that teaching programs in different geographical areas might very well be quite dissimilar from each other, so one set of standards would likely be impractical. The following questions were posed and discussed:

1. Which materials and activities should be eligible for support?

.

2. Should there be annual maximums for support?

3. Should there be a difference in support for non-profit vs. for-profit

programs?

4. Should the same person/group be able to make a request more than once a

year?

5. Should a policy be in place before we disburse any additional funds?

Keith was less interested in the for- or not-for-profit issue, as long as we are only giving money to support lessons to attract new players. Anyone receiving funds should be able to demonstrate that the funds are being used for newcomer lessons. He thinks we should narrow the focus to lessons for beginners. More advanced students should pay their own way.

Gretchen and Leah have taught newcomer lessons and think that the expenses for the newbie lessons are low. They feel that people should present receipts for what they want reimbursed.

Karen thinks that the ideal would be to teach newcomer lessons for free. If we support programs for lessons, the teachers should not charge the students.

Keith wants the board to establish a policy for support for lessons and to incorporate them into the Unit Procedures manual.

Keith will work on a form for request

D17 has been giving $6000 in support each year recently. They divide the amount amongst newbie teachers who apply for support.

It was suggested that we should have a line item in the budget for support for newbie programs, but historically we have not operated with a budget.

Karen suggested the possibility of changing to calendar year instead of fiscal year and having the annual meeting earlier in the year, possibly at the first tournament of the calendar year. (Doc Holliday in Glenwood Springs) This could simplify and clarify our annual financial report. It would probably require an amendment to our bylaws. The discussion was inconclusive.

The Vail tournament is expected to be a great financial success Bert indicated that there has been a problem coordinating with the maintenance staff, but he is working on it.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:25 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Karen Kribs

For Sec’y Bert Solomon



Subject: Unit business

Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2018 07:00:14 -0600

From: Sharon Snyder <sharon7nt@gmail.com>

To: Keith Nichols <keith@paonia.com>, Berton J. Solomon <solostl@aol.com>, Karen Kribs <karenkribs@gmail.com>, Leah Williams <lbwilliamscb@gmail.com>, Don Squires <dasqui@frontier.net>, Helen Bledsoe <helencbledsoe@charter.net>

CC: John Grossmann <blackstone.co@comcast.net>, linda Scibienski <linscib@bresnan.net>

When I received your last group of questions they surprised me.  I wish I had not answered them because   it was obvious that there are other issues to be addressed. I think my point of asking for help was to identify that this is not an inexpensive program implement.  It takes a lot of volunteer hours and out of pocket expenses.  I am withdrawing my request for financial aid for our teaching program but I am replacing it with another request.  I would like to see the Board be pro active with financial support and a program for the entire Unit.  There could be a committee formed representing all of the teaching groups in western Colorado. Aspen, Vail, Grand Junction, Montrose and Durango.  They could help the Board put together guidelines for financial aid. One idea is if the Board sent one teacher to learn Easy Bridge they could then teach the others. I am sure we all have ideas that worked and did not work. Fairness has to be a concern to you!   I do not want to be the group that got money when no one else received any money just because I was more aggressive than the others. I’m sure some of the other programs are also successful. Some of the numbers are relative to the population.    I cannot find any minutes of your discussions regarding this topic at the last two Board meetings so I am writing this in the dark.   I could see Western Colorado developing a model program and would like to see it come  from the Board!  Let me know what I can do and  when we can further this conversation in person. 

Also, District 17 has another Grant coming up in Oct. Maybe some of the other programs would want to apply since we received  the Grant last year. 

Regards,

Sharon Snyder

P.S. I had no idea you were looking for people to run for the Board.    I’m also interested in the financial reports from the tournaments. Can you tell me where to find that information please?