VILLAGE CARD CLUB BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
December 14, 2007

Meeting was called to order by President Irving at 2:00 PM

Attending: Ned Irving, Lois Schoenrock, Teri LaBove, Marilyn Biegler, Betty Schultz, Mabel Serpa, Fran Bazemore, Becky Rice, Ginna DeThomas and Andy Cosby
Absent: John Wild

Guests: Several members of the incoming board and 1 other member were in attendance

The agenda was approved

The minutes of the November 16 meeting were approved with no corrections or additions.

The minutes of the Dec 6 Annual meeting were accepted with no corrections or additions.

Correspondence: Ned read two pieces of correspondence, one about the membership games and the other about the nominating process. Lois presented a thank you from Vonna Fischer for the card and gift from the club.

Officer Reports:
Parliamentarian: Mabel is retiring after 12 years of serving the VCC Board as their Parliamentarian and will be greatly missed. She handed out copies of proper protocol for board meetings and how to make, adopt or reject a motion. She told what Ned’s expectation of the board has been and his directive for board members to poll the membership on issues before bringing them to the board. This was all intended in the spirit of cooperation and teamwork to assist the new board coming in.

Membership:
Teri reported that as of Nov 5 we have 106 new members for 2007. A website has been started with member’s names, addresses and email addresses. The membership books will be out by the end of Feb.

Treasurer:
The report is posted.

Game Manager:
So far in 2007 we have had 7713 tables in ACBL sanctioned games compared to 8521.50 in 2006 which is down 808.50 tables. There are 26 remaining games to be played for this year. The 26 remaining for this year will help with our total ACBL sanctioned game table count for 2007 and get it closer to the total table count of 2006.

Publicity:
Marilyn reported that the sectional plans are going well. The newsletter is out.

President: Ned reported that $835 was spent on the Christmas Party. The party seemed to be enjoyed by all. Thank you to all who worked on it. A thank you note will be sent to our Santa Claus.
He also urged that the outgoing board members meet with their counterparts on the new board and show good teamwork with the new board in the transition.

New Business:
Dealing Machine committee report---Ginna reported that the committee recommends the purchase of the Duplimate which would be at no cost to the club. Funds would be from Phyllis Tryon in memory of John Tryon and from member donations and perhaps a fund raiser. It would not be used for most games and only for situations where we duplicate boards as an aid to the directors and also for teaching purposes. There have been many requests from members requesting hand records in teaching sessions such as learn and play, the mentor game and mixer game. The reason is that they cannot remember the hands so with the hand records they can learn more from each session. The machine provides hand record copies for each hand and saves time by making the boards quickly and easily. The machine can also customize example hands for use in teaching specific subjects, thus saving teacher’s time.

A concern was mentioned that some in the club were voicing strong negative opinion about the machine including false statements that the board was considering spending the clubs money on this and that the club was considering using the machine in all games; threats were made to not use the machine if purchased. Opinions are welcome but false statements and threats are not.

This report will be given to the incoming board for them to evaluate and make a decision.

Game Survey—Becky moved and Andy seconded to give out a survey, on suggestions for games being added, to the members to find out what their desires are. Passed.

Nominating Committee guidelines Standing Rule—Lois read a statement from the nominating committee to preface the recommended changes in the guidelines:
Quoting from Roberts Rules which our bylaws indicate that we must follow unless specifically superseded by the bylaws say:
“The nominating committee should be elected by the organization whenever possible, or else by its executive board.
Although it is not common for the nominating committee to nominate more than one candidate for any office, the committee can do so unless the bylaws prohibit it. It is not usually sound to require the committee to nominate more than one candidate for each office.”
Our system is absolutely correct under our governing documents. No where in the bylaws does it say that the nominating committee should run more than one candidate. The guidelines do make mention of it but guidelines should not supersede the bylaws. It does not work because some of the members do not agree with it and each year it stirs up trouble that actually penalizes the candidates running on the slate. The “off the slate” idea is full of problems in that there are no restrictions on the bio except size, candidates campaign against each other and sometimes put forth things that are not accurate and are hurtful to other people, leave the nominating committee open to unwarranted criticism and causes a great deal of unpleasantness at the club. If the nominating committee is forced to put all candidates on the slate it is not a nominating committee but a candidate coordinator. No one should agree to be on a so called nominating committee and have to sign their names to endorsing anyone and everyone.

Ned mentioned that this revision is to the existing standing rules, consistent with the Bylaws. For those in the club that believe that revision should be made to the Bylaws on the nominating process or any other, the procedure to follow is: Write to the Constitution and Bylaws Committee with suggested changes and rationale. Alternatively, such a change could be brought to the Board to decide to bring to the membership in the same way. Although it is in the interest of teamwork it is preferred to work through the Constitution and Bylaws Committee or the Board, any member has the right to bring forward to the membership a Constitution and Bylaws change as provided in the Amendments article in both the Constitution and Bylaws. By posting the change on the bulletin board at least 2 weeks before a semiannual meeting, then the item would automatically be on the agenda for the meeting.

Lois moved to accept the revised nominating committee guidelines SR, seconded by Becky and passed by a 6 to 1 vote. The revision will be posted on the web.

Director Pay Policy Question---Andy presented this item, revision of the Treasurer Job Description, and Financial Security Policies, suggesting that they be postponed for the new board to discuss.

Next meeting will be Jan 11 at 2:00.

Adjourned at 3:00.

Submitted by Lois Schoenrock, Secretary Subject to board approval