MACA Board Meeting Minutes of November 27, 2000

Approved of MACA Board Meeting Minutes of November 27, 2000

The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. by President Harvey Reed at the Kennedy Senior Center (Natick). The members present were (alpha list) Donna Alarie, Steven Frymer, William Gennert, Gilbert Gosselin, Michael Hoffpauir, Mark Kaprielian, Robert King, Geoffrey Polizoti and Harvey Reed.

Three changes were made in the Board meeting minutes for October 27, 2000 (two corrected the names of new Life members and the other clarified the number of Mass. participants in the Denker tournament), Motion 0133:(Hoffpauir moved, Kaprielian seconded) The motion to approve the minutes for the Board meeting on October 27, 2000, as amended, was passed with 8 in favor and 1 abstaining (Gosselin),

President Harvey Reed read his “message” and distributed copies that read as follows:

“We should not lose sight of the fact that:

1. We are a volunteer organization. Let’s treat each other with respect and be thankful for everyone’s support that we have, even if it is not as much as we want.

2. We only have so much capacity. If we are overloaded, then we are at risk. Let’s decide what NOT to do right now. If the members really want something bad enough, they will volunteer to get it.

3. Priorities:

a) Continue to get more volunteers, make the Board bigger

b) Continue to get our house in order (finance, membership, bylaws, P&P)

c) Continue to run and sponsor scholastic tournaments, they are the future constituents

d) Immediately start outsourcing all adult tournaments, incl. Mass Championship

e) Maintain a quarterly CH”

In her Treasurer’s report Donna Alarie mentioned the volume of e-mail she still receives about ongoing problems. She is continuing to sort out memberships. Donna has met with financial advisors about MACA’s holdings, and she distributed brochures about the Putnam Investors Fund and the Spartan 500 Index Fund. Her work load has resulted in her decision to resign from several of her positions.

Motion 0134:(Alarie moved, Frymer seconded) The motion to approve Barry Ball as a Life member was passed with 8 in favor and 1 opposed (Polizoti).

Donna Alarie’s Membership report noted that 20 memberships are still to be input. A final report on membership will be made available by year-end.

As Tournament Coordinator Donna mentioned the upcoming Pillsbury Memorial Open. With the other events to follow shortly, she raised the question about the availability of Tournament Directors. The planning for U.S. Open 2001 has stalled because the NTA has not been reviewed by the U.S. Chess Federation in spite of her requests. As a result Donna would also like to be relieved of this assignment.

Scholastics Coordinator Michael Hoffpauir reported that the Fall Foliage Scholastic tournament went well, although more entries were expected. He raised the budget questions of whether players should assist in the funding and if sponsors can be attracted, His current priority continues to be the State Championship Scholastic tournaments.

Board member Peter Lee joined the meeting at 8:25 p.m.

Harvey Reed read and distributed the revised version of MACA’s bylaws. Sections 1 and 2 have had language clarified. Other changes are in Sections 2.16 (granting voting rights to parents or guardians of junior members), 4.14 (provision for Board members to vote by phone and e-mail), 4.1, 4.2, 4.12 (increasing the size of the Board, not relating it to the number of members, with new limits of 4 officers and 14 directors), and Section 10 (improvements in parliamentary procedures, adding the “Policies and Procedures” as the source of supplementary information about the bylaws). Any changes will have to be ratified by the Executive Board and the membership.

Mark Kaprielian said that he has received a number of questions via the Internet about chess coaches, etc. There is now no satisfactory procedure for answering these inquiries if the individual is not familiar with the method for accessing the information available on the MACA Web site.

Gus Gosselin asked when a current financial report for MACA would be available. In the ensuing exchange Donna Alarie said that she would be relinquishing these duties after the Pillsbury tournament.

Michael Hoffpauir stated that some “responsibilities for Directors” were not being fulfilled. At Harvey Reed’s suggestion this resulted in a brainstorming session about priorities and objectives, with Harvey directing the exercise and Michael Hoffpauir organizing and diagraming the information on the blackboard. The consensus was that MACA’s main issues, graded by their importance from A to C, would be as follows:

(A) getting Chess Horizons out on time (Mark Donlan), (A) membership (Donna Alarie), (B) Scholastics (Michael Hoffpauir), (B) State championship cycle (Steven Frymer),

Donna Alarie noted that a Promotion Coordinator is still needed to handle flyers, mailings, etc. She reiterated that she wanted to give up her responsibilities as Tournament Coordinator and submitted her letter of resignation from that position, effective December 11, 2000.

Motion 0135: (Reed moved, Polizoti seconded) With the receipt of Donna Alarie’s letter, the motion to accept her resignation as Tournament Coordinator, effective December 11, 2000 was passed with 9 in favor and 1 abstaining (Frymer).

Motion 0136: The motion that Steven Frymer be appointed as Tournament Coordinator, effective December 11, 2000 was passed with 9 in favor and 1 abstaining (Frymer).

Proposals for funding the Prison Chess program were discussed at length. Geoffrey Polizoti volunteered to explore ways of raising funds for this program. His report will be on the agenda for the next meeting.

Motion 0137: (Alarie moved, Gennert seconded) The original motion was for MACA to support the Prison Chess program at $12. per prisoner, with a fund-raising effort to be made, this program to be evaluated at the end of March, 2001. The motion was amended (Frymer moved, Kaprielian seconded) to $1. per prisoner for each mailing of Chess Horizons, by a vote of 7 in favor (Reed, Gosselin, Frymer, King, Kaprielian, Lee, Polizoti), 2 opposed (Alarie, Gennert) and 1 abstaining (Hoffpauir). The amended motion to support the Prison Chess program at $1. per prisoner for each mailing of Chess Horizons, with a fund-raising effort to be made, this program to be evaluated at the end of March, 2001 was then passed with 7 in favor (Reed, Gosselin, Frymer, King, Kaprielian, Lee, Polizoti), 2 opposed (Alarie, Gennert) and 1 abstaining (Hoffpauir).

The discussion about the Living Memorial Chess Fund (LMCF) originated with the Board’s interest in why this money was available for the promotion of chess in Rhode Island. Gus Gosselin distributed a list of LMCF transactions, including donations received and how chess equipment was provided for youngsters in both Mass. and RI. He felt strongly that the present system should be continued and that LMCF funds should not be commingled with other monies.

Motion 0138: (Reed moved, Frymer seconded) The motion that the Living Memorial Chess Fund (LMCF) should be recognized as a Coordinator position was passed with 7 in favor (Reed, Alarie, Frymer, Lee, King, Gosselin, Kaprielian), 1 opposed (Gennert) and 2 abstaining (Hoffpauir, Polizoti).

Motion 0139: (Kaprielian moved, Frymer seconded) The nomination of Gilbert Gosselin to be the LMCF Coordinator, effective immediately, with monthly reports to be made, was passed with 9 in favor and 1 abstaining (Polizoti).

The question of whether or not MACA-owned stocks or other investments could be sold without Board approval was debated in detail. Motion 0140: (Gosselin moved, Frymer seconded) The motion that the Treasurer will suspend the sale of any MACA-owned stocks or bonds until there is Board approval was not passed with 5 opposed (Reed, Gennert, Hoffpauir, Alarie, Polizoti), 4 in favor (Kaprielian, Gosselin, Frymer, King) and 1 abstaining (Lee).

The proposal for a 50% rebate of MACA tournament entry fees for a participant who submits an article to Chess Horizons about the event was previously approved by the Treasurer.

The requirements that bylaws revisions must be mailed to the membership for ratification and for the appointment of an Elections Commission were noted.

Motion 0141: (Reed moved, Lee seconded) The motion that the Clerk will be appointed to receive nominations for offices and directors until such time as an Elections Commission is appointed was passed without dissent. (Note: His address is on page 3 of the current Chess Horizons).

The date for the next Board meeting will be determined later.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:40 p.m.

William R. Gennert
Clerk