District 19 Representative
on the ACBL Board of Directors
Donald Mamula
One of the duties of serving as District Director is to make appointments
to various positions. Each year, I can appoint four people to serve
on the ACBL National Goodwill Committee. This year, I am proud to appoint
Dan Jacob of Vancouver, Bryan Maksymetz of Port Moody BC, Pat Dunn of
Bellevue WA and Polly Dunn of Bellevue WA. All combine the qualities
of being fine bridge competitors while demonstrating the positive personality
of our bridge players from District Nineteen. They are worthy ambassadors
of our region. In addition, I have appointed Peter Morse of North Vancouver
and Kimberly Johnson of Olympia WA to the ACBL National Charity Committee.
All of these are lifetime appointments. Congratulations.
In addition, the District Director is given the authority to issue grants
within his district on behalf of the ACBL Charity Foundation. This annual
grant from the foundation is for $1000. This year, I have given one
grant to a Canadian charity and one to a USA charity. The Canadian charity
is Canadian Interuniversity Sport. This organization is instrumental
in assisting the participation of a Canadian bridge team in the World
University Games. This grant is to express our appreciation for their
continuing support. The USA charity is the Northwest Kidney Foundation.
As you all know, we have recently lost Paul Soloway. This grant is made
in his memory.
San Francisco BoD Meeting
Among items of interest to the members of District 19 was a motion
that I introduced to amend the NAP Conditions of Contest. As a result
of this motion, district boards will now have full authority to decide
whether qualifying unit finals will be required in their district. With
our large number of units, the district board has decided that qualifying
unit finals will not be required for the 2008-2009 NAP cycle. Any unit
may still hold a unit final if they wish, say for fundraising or social
reasons. However, these will not impact qualification from the club
stage to the district final.
Another action of interest is that management will now work to implement
a procedure whereby the membership dues for new Canadian members will
reflect current exchange rates. Previously, new member rates were determined
in July for the entire next year. This new procedure will help to make
for a more accurate exchange for new members. The current procedure
of monthly exchange rates will continue for membership renewals and
other ACBL charges, including sanction fees.
The Finance Committee worked long and hard with ACBL management to
develop a budget for 2008 that will both show a surplus and have no
increase in membership dues. There will be a revised formula for STAC
director charges which should make STAC budgeting more accurate, as
well as making STACs more appealing to smaller units. I was proud to
serve on the Finance Committee and am quite pleased with the financial
position and management being pursued at headquarters.
The new masterpoint program was ratified on its second reading. The
main change is to have KO team masterpoints be based on the ‘strength
of the field’ rather than just on the number of teams in the various
brackets. This will have the effect of equalizing masterpoint awards
for equivalent brackets, regardless of the size of the event. In general,
this will be beneficial for District 19 tournaments. In addition, there
will be a reduced decay for overall awards in pair games. This will
help to bridge the gap between awards in team and pair events.
The board also decided to eliminate the board member benefit of spouse/companion
airfare to one NABC per year. I was a strong supporter of this action,
as it holds no genuine business purpose for the Board of Directors.
Unfortunately, the board then decided to raise the annual cash compensation
to board members to $3000 per year. I was firmly against such an action,
voted against the raise, and the motion barely passed. I will be introducing
a motion to reduce the ‘stipend’ in 2008 and hope that the
board will reconsider the raise they just voted for themselves.
Procedures were adopted for disciplining clubs and club management
for behavior that includes egregious conduct detrimental to the ACBL,
unsuitable venues, discriminatory practices and violating ACBL regulations.
Clubs and club management may be disciplined by the ACBL for detrimental
conduct by the club. On the subject of discipline, the board defeated
a motion that would expel all convicted cheaters for life. There was
sentiment for viewing cheating as a grievous offense, but most board
members felt it was too harsh an approach.
A committee will be established to study the requirements for Life
Master and other ACBL rankings. There are no current plans to change
any of the requirements, but a review is definitely in order.
District 19 notes
The DINO Board of Directors will be holding one of three meetings for
2008 during this regional. If you have any issues relevant to bridge
that you feel are deserving of DINO or ACBL attention, please let me
know what you are thinking and how I can best represent you and our
members.
January 2008
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