Bridge Unit 131 Board of Directors Zoom Meeting Summary – March 20, 2020 Participants: Norman Kahn, Stan Coons, Robert Weaver, Max McGinn, Tom Cranshaw, Bar Kaelter, Richard Jones, Randy Klein, Becky Walker, Tory Billard, Aline Zimmer, Jim Dorman, Alan Hieresman, Vicki Muir, Kathy Breen, Beth Malone, Steve Crutcher; excused, Rajeev Bansal The meeting was called to order at 3:15 PM. Since the summary of the February summary was not available, approval of it will have to wait until the next meeting. Tournaments: The Sectional scheduled for April 3-5 in Overland Park had been previously cancelled due to the COVID 19 stay at home order in the greater Kansas City area and the state of Kansas. The Executive Committee, upon a recommendation from the Tournament Committee, recommended cancelling the Sectional scheduled for June 28-30 in Blue Springs. This recommendation was approved. Notice was sent electronically to Unit 131 on March 31. A recommendation was also made to cancel the I/N tournament, to be held at the Bridge Studio on May 2-3; that recommendation was approved. As of now, the summer Sectional scheduled for August 28-30, to be held at the J in Overland Park, is still on schedule. Richard and Alan gave a report on plans for the Holiday Regional, to be held Dec. 26-31, 2020 at the Sheraton and Overland Park Convention Center. With a few excellent suggestions accepted, and recognizing the significant increase in player amenities at this tournament, the three page gorgeous flier and schedule for this tournament was approved. The flier will be circulated to the entire board soon to make sure it is correct before printing and disseminating. Richard and Alan, on behalf of the tournament committee, recommended that $5 coupons for discounted play be available to Canadian players who attend the Holiday Regional (there were 8 in 2019). This recommendation was approved. They also recommended that discounts for youth be provided for players up to 25 years old, to attract college students. This recommendation was also approved. Richard and Alan are asked to come to the next Board meeting with suggestions about how to promote and publicize these two attractive play discounts. Election: Robert, Bar and Becky proposed a new schedule for the Unit elections, since the spring tournament was cancelled. Robert has about 50 ballots which were mailed to him after the previous recent solicitation was mailed to all unit members. It is expected that many unit members might have been waiting for the tournament to vote in person, as they usually do. Approximately 70% of Unit members have email addresses. It was determined that the best plan is to email new ballots to the 70% for whom we have email addresses and use the new on-line voting system. For those without email addresses, we’ll mail ballots with the Declarer, which will include pictures and bios of candidates, by May 1, with a deadline of returning them by June 1. Robert will be able to determine who has already voted so as not to duplicate votes. This proposal was approved by the Board. Norm talked with Rajeev. He will create the Declarer in the next three weeks. We need to get him bios and pictures of the candidates, a written description of the election process, and a President’s letter, all by April 21. Directory: The Board determined that since the new Directory needs to include the list of new Board members, it will have to wait until after the election. Therefore, the Board approved a plan that the new Directory will be published around July 1. The Longest Day: Scheduled for June 21, it is not yet clear whether the ACBL national event The Longest Day, to benefit Alzheimer’s, will be held or not this year. We will keep up to date so that we may actively participate this year, whenever it is held. Other business: Tom says that 25 people have contributed to the Directors, to support them financially during this time of closure. We will send another reminder in mid-April. We are reminded that we can play at BBO on-line to support our local clubs, too. Next meeting: The Board determined that the next meeting of the Board will be held Monday, June 8 at 3:30 PM, either in person, if possible, or by Zoom.