APPROVED MACA Board Meeting Minutes of October 27,
2000
The
meeting was called to order at 7:50 p.m. by President Harvey Reed at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in
Waltham. The attending members were
(alpha list) Donna Alarie, Robert Cruickshank, Steven Frymer, William Gennert,
Michael Hoffpauir, Mark Kaprielian and Harvey Reed.
Other
demands on her time have prevented Treasurer Donna Alarie from completing MACA’s financial reports. As Membership Secretary she has been able to
keep current in processing a large
number of memberships, but there is still a backlog of previous ones. Under the State Affiliate
Support Program (SASP) the U.S. Chess Federation will be paying MACA $1,102.
that can be used for various expenses.
Motion
0128: (Hoffpauir moved, Alarie seconded) The motion to approve the minutes for the
Board meeting on September 21, 2000 was
passed without dissent.
In
her report as Tournament Coordinator Donna Alarie noted that the agreement with
the Sheraton for the U.S. Open 2001 tournament, scheduled for August 4-12, has had to be renegotiated many
times. The first meeting of the MACA
planning committee for this event is being held on November 3. The Denker tournament will be part of the
U.S. Open schedule. It will be an
invitational to determine the high school student championship, and
Massachusetts will have two participants.if there is an odd number.
The
Greater Boston Open lost about $2,000.
The replies to Donna’s questionnaire indicated that many potential
players were too busy to participate in a full weekend tournament.
Scholastics
Coordinator Michael Hoffpauir gave a detailed report about future events. The Fall Foliage tournament (November 19)
will feature a “Parents’ Workshop” about the role of being a chess player’s
parent. The State Championships Cycle
will have three qualifying tournaments in January-February. The final championship event (February 25,
2001) will include the top seven players in each grade group and three
qualifiers. The Board accepted
Michael’s report and commended him for his well-organized presentation.
Mark
Kaprielian mentioned that he has received calls from parents, asking where
their children could play chess. He
refers them to the MACA Web site for scholastic and chess club
information.
Robert
Cruickshank suggested that there should be a MACA presence at tournaments to
encourage support and donations. Harvey
Reed asked him for an action plan that might include a MACA brochure, prepared
from Web information.
Bylaws
Coordinator Mark Kaprielian said that his committee would be meeting soon. His plan is to start with previously
approved material and a review of the more important subjects first. Items such
as the size of the Board, quorum requirements and voting by phone were given as
examples.
It
was agreed that one person should be designated as the contact between the
Editor of Chess Horizons and Board members.
Motion 0129: (Reed moved,
Gennert seconded) The motion to appoint
the President as the liaison between the Editor and the Board for matters of
policy was passed with 6 in favor (Alarie, Cruickshank, Frymer, Gennert,
Hoffpauir, Kaprielian) and 1 abstaining (Reed).
There
was considerable discussion about aspects of Chess Horizons, including its funding,
number of issues and paper quality.
Donna Alarie pointed out that there is no USCF requirement for the
annual number of issues. There are
other sources of information about chess activities that include the Web site
and e-zine. It was generally agreed
that the expense of producing the magazine has become too expensive. Motion 0130: (Reed moved, Kaprielian seconded) The Board accepts as a matter of policy for Chess Horizons: MACA recognizes that Chess Horizons provides
a sense of community, in great part provided substantially by its record of
events, and recognizing that MACA does not want to raise dues, and recognizing
that MACA cannot afford the current cost structure of Chess Horizons, MACA will continue to publish Chess Horizons
as a high quality publication, with a minimum of 48 pages on a quarterly
schedule for 2001, starting with January, 2001 and continuing with April, July
and October. This motion was passed
with 6 in favor (Alarie, Cruickshank, Frymer, Hoffpauir, Kaprielian, Reed) and 1 abstaining (Gennert).
Motion
0131: (Alarie moved, Reed
seconded) The motion to approve B.
Scott Andersen of Acton, MA and Daniel Clark of Cambridge, MA as Life members was passed without
dissent.
Robert
Cruickshank left the meeting at 10:35 p.m.
Motion
0132: (Alarie moved, Kaprielian
seconded) The motion that the Board set
the policy that the Editor of Chess Horizons receive 20% of the cost of the
contract on new advertisements and that the Editor is also responsible for all
invoicing of ads was passed without dissent.
Following
the Clerk’s letter to all Chess Associations in New England and the replies we
received, the Board agreed that our previous policy of providing discounted
MACA memberships and Chess Horizons subscriptions for their members has been
discontinued.
The
funding and scope of the Prison Chess program was discussed at length without
reaching a decision. This subject will
be considered further at the next Board meeting.
The
Board agreed that a maximum discount of $10. in the tournament entry fee could
be offered to Senior players at the Tournament Director’s discretion.
The
date and location for the next Board meeting will be determined later.
The
meeting was adjourned at 11:30 p.m.
William R. Gennert
Clerk