March 24, 2022
East Texas Bridge Association
Unit 225 Board Meeting Minutes
The Board of Directors met virtually, via Zoom,with all members present: Rathnam, Sandy O’Bannon, Susan Ford, Carol Kinsey, Ginny Jones, Bonnie Magee, Jo Booth, Mary Ramsey, and Tom Spradlin.
Prior to this meeting, the Board had voted by email to change the date of the May Unit Game from the 3rdSaturday in May to May 14.
The minutes of the January 21, 2022 Board meeting were approved by voice vote, as were the Treasurer’s Reports for January and February, 2022.
Sandy O’Bannon pointed out that we have a good supply of the pens we purchased for the Ace of Clubs and the Mini-McKenney awards. The Board agreed to present a pen to each of the top 3 places in every category at the Awards Lunch in April.
The Unit 225 Membership Directory was last updated in 2019, and the Board agreed that a new update should be undertaken. Sarah Niemann was instrumental in the last update, and Bonnie Magee agreed to contact Sarah and find out what needs to be done. The Board will consider this again after we learn more details from Sarah.
Since this year’s sectional tournament was cancelled, the Board needs to focus on our Regional tournament in April, 2023, and on the Sectional/NLM tournament in July, 2023. While Mike Graham and Shirley Shelton have agreed to serve as tournament directors for the regional, we need to think about leadership for the sectional as well. Mary pointed out that it is unreasonable to expect attendance figures like in the past, but it is still the responsibility of the Board to provide opportunities for members to play.
Our annual award ceremony for the Ace of Clubs and Mini-McKenney awards will be held at 11 AM on Saturday, April 9, prior to that day’s unit game. Sandy O’Bannon will ask the club directors for head count for ordering food, and will procure tea. Rathnam has the certificates for the first place winners of the Ace of Clubs award.
The nomination committee has not yet submitted a name for the replacement of the departing board member in the Summer, and Sandy will check with Charles Ford on this.
Susan Doty is organizing bridge lessons for some of her colleagues at UT Tyler. Sandy O’Bannon will do some of the teaching, and will direct a game if it needs to be held in the evening. Several members in several clubs are also working on lessons. Carol Kinsey suggested that we look in churches and senior centers to try to find students for the classes.
Sandy O’Bannon mentioned that we receive an in/out report monthly from ACBL, and that it includes names of people who have moved into our unit area. Sandy suggested that we try to contact these people and welcome them.
The meeting ended at 11:10 AM.
Submitted byTom Spradlin, Secretary
