Deepak Dighe, Secretary SOMBA Board Minutes of the SOMBA ... Jan. Minutes.pdf · From: Deepak Dighe, Secretary SOMBA Board Subject: Minutes of the SOMBA Board meeting, January 13,

Date: January 28, 2019

To: SOMBA Board Members

From: Deepak Dighe, Secretary SOMBA Board

Subject: Minutes of the SOMBA Board meeting, January 13, 2019 - DRAFT

Attendees: Satish Shah, Kathy Twomey, Deepak Dighe, Dave Cleveland, Lori Briscoe, Sook

Wilkinson, Scott Miller, Lakshmi Vora, Diane Kosuda, Dave Dursum, Subhash Gulati, and via

teleconference Tony Savant, George Christian

- Guests: Club Directors Dave & Judy Buskirk, Fred Goodell & Dolores Bright.

- Susan Woodrow - Youth Bridge Camp Co-Ordinator

Meeting was called to order by Satish S. He welcomed two newly elected Board members,

George Christian and John Piljan to the Board. Board thanked outgoing Board members Lynn

Root and Jerry Hasenjager for their outstanding services to the Board.

SOMBA Election Results:

In absence of the Chairperson Dave Fletcher, Subhash Gulati. was requested to conduct the

election of the President of the Board. Satish Shah was nominated and elected as President

unanimously.

Following Board members were also nominated and elected unanimously:

• Kathy Twomey – Vice President

• Deepak Dighe – Secretary

• George Christian – Treasurer

Discussions, Comments, Decisions and follow up actions on the items discussed were as

follows:

• Approval of the last Board Meeting:

Minutes of the September 23, 2018 meeting were approved as presented.

• Treasurer’s Report: -

• George Christian presented the financial results for the fiscal year Oct 1, 2017 to

Sept 30, 2018 which showed a small net gain of $2,700 derived primarily from

the new memberships and from cost-effective management of the tournaments.

• George Christian presented the Profit/Loss statement and the Balance sheet

which was accepted and approved as presented.

• To increase SOMBA membership, a suggestion was made to offer 50% discount

to the new members toward ACBL membership. A proposal was made to

allocate up to $1000 toward this initiative. Membership Committee to address

this proposal.

Appointment of Committee Chairs:

• Unit Disciplinary Chair - Subhash Gulati was nominated and accepted as Chairman of this

committee.

• Unit Recorder - Jerry Hasenjager accepted this position replacing Satish Shah who was

working as a temporary Recorder during 2018. All units must abide by the Code of

Conduct of the ACBL.

• ACBL Tournament Co-Ordinator - Bill Goodman agreed to continue.

• Zero Tolerance - Dave Fletcher to continue as Chairperson of this special task force.

• Web Site Management- Tony Savant agreed to continue to manage the website

• Web Editor – Dave Fletcher and Subhash Gulati will be the co-chair and work out the

details.

• Chair persons for all other Committees remain same as during

Committee Reports:

Public Relations – Lori Briscoe:Valentine Sectional tournament flyers have been distributed to all

SOMBA clubs.

ACBL Tournaments & Relationship Bill Goodman- Satish Shah reported that Bill Goodman

has obtained ACBL sanctions for SOMBA tournaments for the next 5 years. Also, Certificate of

Liability for each tournament for this year has been obtained and will be provided to the

appropriate venue venue/facilities.

SOMBA Web Site - Tony Savant- Web Site hits are minimal. All Board members requested to

visit website regularly. Need to promote more awareness about SOMBA website to all members.

All Club Managers requested to announce the benefits of the SOMBA website and to post their

weekly game results on the website.

A small flyer is needed to promote SOMBA website which should be handed out at the each

SOMBA tournament.

Other suggestions. Consider publishing SOMBA Quarterly Bulletin and a monthly News Letter.

This to be handled by the Website Editors.

Membership – Sook Wilkinson: Sook reported that there are approx 204 SOMBA members in

0-5 categoryand 573 members in 0 – 100 categories. SOMBA needs to focus more on these

players to encourage them to play regularly in the club games and to participate in the

tournaments. Sook W suggested that SOMBA subsidize part of the first year’s ACBL

membership fee to the members who wish to become an ACBL member.

Newcomers - This committee was managed by Lynn Root, Board needs to appoint a NEW chair

person or dissolve the committee. Kathy Twomey will address this need.

CLUB Relationship – Scott Miller: Need more Game Directors.

Committee needs to find a way to encourage non-active SOMBA members to participate in the

club games.

Manage Bridgemate program to shut off % results after each board in order to speed up the

games.

Thursday game at the Unitarian church is officially closed. None of the other club Directors

interested to take over.

Scott Miller suggested that SOMBA should encourage Club Directors to brush up their

directorship skills. He suggested that SOMBA offer $100 to any Director who takes a course

offered by ACBL for Directors.

Committee to study the above issues and bring proposals for consideration at the next Board

meeting.

Awards - Dave Cleveland: Nothing new to report.

Goodwill - Lakshmi Vora: Nothing new to report.

Education – David Dursum: 2 Educational seminars were conducted in 2018 with assistance

from VickieVallone and Satish Shah. Next event scheduled on Jan 26th.

Pro-Am game planned for Saturday April 13th. Educational Committee will be working out the

details.

Board Commended Dave Dursum for doing a great job to promote the goal.

Management of Upcoming Tournament - Satish Shah:

Chairperson and co-chair for the 2019 SOMBA tournaments were nominated by Satish Shah as

follows:

Valentine Sectional - Satish Shah and Deepak Dighe

Wolverine Regional - Satish Shah & Naresh Kapila

Spooktacular Sectional - Kathy Twomey & Lakshmi Vora

Apple Cider Sectional - Scott Miller & Subhash Gulati

Joint SOMBA/MBA Sectional - Satish Shah and MBA rep

All Board members requested to assist Chairperson and co-chair in conducting the

tournaments. Chairperson is responsible to seek volunteers to handle various tasks associated

with conducting the tournaments

Special Task Forces:

• Zero Tolerance policyand penalties: –Dave Fletcher will present his report at the

next Board meeting in April 2019.

• Club Directors suggested that a disciplinary action implemented by one club needs

to be honored by all SOMBA club Directors.However privacy issues need to be

addressed. Dave Fletcher to follow up.

• Election of the SOMBA Board Members for 2019: Dave Fletcher reported that only

115 SOMBA members out of total 1000 members voted. Dave Fletcher will present

his findings and make proposal at the next Board meeting

Other items:

2019 Youth Bridge Camp - Presentation by Susan Woodrow -

Susan Woodrow presented the 2nd Youth camp to be conducted during July 7-13, 2019 in Holly

Michigan. She stated that the grant offered by the ACBL this year falls short of needs to conduct

the bridge camp.

Board members are encouraged to assist in this educational program. Satish Shah and Dave

Cleveland assisted last year. SOMBA agreed to distribute the camp flyer to its clubs.

Suggestion was made: (1) to seek donation for this event at the club games and tournaments.

(2) to conduct a special charity event. Susan Woodward to follow up on above suggestions.

Decision on the monetary support by SOMBA for this event was tabled until the next Board

meeting and review by the SOMBA Executive Committee.

. Next Board Meeting: Tentatively scheduled for April 2019.

Deepak Dighe

SOMBA Secretary

West Bloomfield, MI 48322 Phone: 248 345 1444 e-mail- [email protected]