APPROVED
MACA Board Minutes of May 7, 2000
The
meeting at the Kennedy Senior Center was called to order by Vice President
Harvey Reed at 1:20 p.m.
Attendees
(alpha list): Donna Alarie, Stephen
Dann, William Gennert, Franklin Herman, George Mirijanian, Harvey Reed and
Peter Sherwood. Mark Kaprielian was
also present.
At
Peter Sherwood’s suggestion the July, 1999 balance sheet that was presented at the
April meeting will be included in the minutes and are to be posted on MACA’s
Web site. It was agreed that standard
terminology, i.e. “in favor”, “against” and “abstention”, should be used to
describe action taken on Board motions.
The minutes for the April meeting have been amended accordingly. (Member Robert King joined the meeting at
1:30 p.m.).
Motion
0063: (Alarie moved, Herman
seconded) The motion to accept the
minutes for the meetings of April 2, 2000, as amended, was approved without
dissent.
Treasurer
Donna Alarie distributed copies of the MACA balance sheet for October 31, 1999,
our stock investment summary and her detailed report on the continuing problems
in establishing our financial condition.
This information showed MACA’s total assets at the end of October, 1999,
as $51,177.39 and a year-to-date income loss of $1,519.64.
The
report showed that there are still discrepancies between the information
provided by the previous Treasurer and recorded transactions. Details for the Living Memorial Chess Fund,
the Life account and our stocks and bonds portfolio are also lacking. MACA has 30 different investments, of which
17 have declined in value.
Therefore
it cannot yet be determined whether MACA is showing a profit. Under the previous Treasurer funds for
MACA’s various accounts were commingled.
The investment portfolio needs to be restructured. Donna said that future tournaments should
have an advance prospectus and that all tournament income should be reported to
the Treasurer within 7 days after the event.
(Board member Walter Driscoll joined the meeting at 1:50 p.m.).
A
policy of reimbursing volunteers for incurred expenses was suggested (Alarie)
as an agenda item for consideration by the Bylaws Committee. Another proposed
agenda item (Sherwood) was for an Investment Committee of 3-4 members to
evaluate future investment choices.
In
her Tournament Committee report Donna Alarie mentioned a tentative date of
August 12 for the Danvers 30-30 tournament.
Larger prizes and higher entry fees are being considered. The fee schedule for all future tournaments
was mentioned as another agenda topic.
Motion
0064:
(Alarie moved, Herman seconded, Sherwood amended) The motion that all tournaments charge $10. for first-time
“Scholastic” USCF memberships and $38. for Adult memberships, new and renewal,
was approved with 5 in favor (Herman, Sherwood, Driscoll, Alarie, Gennert), 2
against (Mirijanian, Dann) and 1 abstention (Reed).
It
was proposed that the sale of “discount” MACA memberships and Chess Horizons
subscriptions be eliminated, effective immediately. Before taking this action Chess Associations that might be
affected will be consulted.
Motion
0065: (Dann moved, Herman
seconded) The motion that the Clerk
send letters to the Chess Associations of Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire
and WMCA, advising them that we are reviewing our policy regarding any discount
arrangements for MACA memberships and Chess Horizons subscriptions, and
soliciting their comments, was approved without dissent.
Motion
0066: (Herman moved, Dann
seconded) The motion to amend Motion
0065 to include all New England states and WMCA was approved without
dissent.
Harvey
Reed left the meeting at 3:00 p.m., and Clerk William Gennert assumed the
chairmanship. The role of MACA’s
representation on the NECA Board of Directors was discussed. Stephen Dann and Steven Frymer are our
representatives, subject to change after the election.
Editor
Peter Sherwood would like to find both another printing company and an
Advertising Manager for Chess Horizons.
He asked that the subject of members who have first class mailing for
their subscriptions should be an agenda item.
Motion
0067: (Alarie moved, Herman
seconded) The motion that Chess
Horizons be published bimonthly (6 issues per year) was passed without
dissent.
In
the discussion about an Advertising Manager it was suggested that a notice be
posted on MACA’s Web site about this position.
Peter Sherwood would like a review of the magazine subscription rates,
the possibility of increasing the advertising charges and the availability of
postage rate savings. Walter Driscoll
was asked to explore the advisability of using “address service requested:” in
mailing the magazine.
In
a discussion of MACA’s delegation to the U.S. Chess Federation it was mentioned
that Gus Gosselin and Steven Frymer are our representatives. Delegates are not required to attend the
USCF convention.
MACA
will not be sponsoring the New England Open tournament. This possibility was the subject of Motion
0061 at the Board meeting on April 2,
2000.
The
corporate address for MACA will be changed after the election, in time for the
annual report to the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The address to be used has not yet been determined. (Peter Sherwood left the meeting at 4:00
p.m.).
Motion
0068: (Alarie moved, Herman
seconded) The motion that MACA pay
$250. to Julie Kerr for her participation in the Pan-American Youth Festival
tournament in Brazil was approved without dissent, providing that she writes an
article for Chess Horizons about the tournament.
The
meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
William
R. Gennert, Clerk