MINUTES OF MACA BOARD MEETING – 3/30/2014

President N. Smolensky called the March Board Meeting to order at 6:18 PM at the Papa Gino’s in Natick.  Ten people were in attendance: President Nathan Smolensky, Vice-President John Sadoff, Treasurer Robert Messenger, Clerk Nicholas Sterling (departed approximately 8:05 PM), and Directors Marc Turgeon, Robert E. King, George Mirijanian, Stephen Dann, Ken Belt (arrived 6:25 PM) and Richard Kinne.  The Minutes were taken by Assistant Clerk R. Kinne after N. Sterling’s departure.

Minutes of the February Board Meeting were distributed by R. Kinne, and some amendments requested. * * MOTION made by G. Mirijanian and seconded by

N. Smolensky to approve the February Board Meeting Minutes as amended; the MOTION passed unanimously. * * Minutes of the January Board Meeting were distributed by N. Sterling, and several amendments requested.  * * MOTION made by

N. Smolensky and seconded by R. Messenger to approve the January Board Meeting Minutes as requested; with 2 abstentions, the MOTION passed. * *

* * A STRAW POLL was taken to determine whether the Treasurer’s Reports should be prepared as quarterly reports instead of monthly reports.  The VOTES were 6 in favor, 3 against, and 1 abstention. * *

Treasurer’s report for February 2014 was read by R. Messenger:

  (i) (1) Net income of the General Fund this period: $976.13 net loss.  (2) Net income of the General Fund year-to-date: $1765.47. (ii) (1) Special Fund income this period: $3.50, with $2.60 dividends. (2) Special Fund income year-to-date: $2483.37, with $487.20 dividends. (iii) (1) Special Fund expenses this period: $716.32. (2) Special Fund expenses year-to-date: $9791.93. (iv) (1) Special Fund net income this period: $712.82 net loss. (2) Special Fund net income year-to-date: $7308.56 net loss.

(v) (1) February 2014 Changes in Fund Balances this period: $1688.95 net loss.

(2) February 2014 Changes in Fund Balances year-to-date: $5543.09 net loss. (vi) Total Assets as of December 2013: $67950.20. (vii) Reserve for Chess Horizons: $6200.00. (viii) Reserve for Tournament Expenses: $750.00. (ix) Unearned Tournament Revenue: $540.00. (x) Long-Term Investment Market Value: $18530.73.

Membership: R. Messenger read the 3/28/14 Membership numbers as follows: Adults: 238 (+5); Junior 501 (+21); Life 211 (=); Affiliate 7 (=); Complimentary 1 (=);

D. Library 6 (=); D. Subscriber 31 (+1); Exchange 16 (=); Library 2 (=); Prison 286 (=); Subscriber 16 (=).  Total change in Membership and Subscribers: +27.

Tournament: (a) R. Messenger reported: (i) The MA G/60 will be held on 4/27/14, and the MA Open will be held on Memorial Day weekend, both in Marlboro. (ii) G. Mirijanian reported that the conflict over the hotel for the NE Open has been settled. (b) N. Sterling reported that the NESA One-Fund Benefit will be held on the weekend of 4/5-4/6/14.

(c) It was mentioned that this year’s National Chess Day will be held on 10/11/14.  We should take this into consideration when we schedule the GBO.

Budget: R. Messenger reported that the Budget for the upcoming Fiscal Year, which starts on 5/1/14, should be ready by the next Board Meeting. 

Scholastic:     (a) R. Messenger reported: (i) the Gus Gosselin Grade Championship was held on 3/9/14 in Marlboro, and drew in 125 players, a gain of 10 players from last year.  Its profit was $1121.06, a drop from $1205.45 from last year. (ii) USCF will discontinue 3-month Memberships on 6/1/14.  This latter point brought up the question of whether to discontinue the new-player discount that MACA has traditionally offered at its tournaments to keep the expenses down for those playing in their first tournaments.  It was thought that the Scholastic Committee should decide this.

                        (b) * * MOTION (314-1) made by S. Dann and seconded by

R. Messenger to authorize the Scholastic Committee to continue to offer the new-player discount with USCF-dues subsidies and apply changes to the amount of the discount as it sees fit.  After tumultuous discussion, N. Sterling CALLED THE QUESTION.  The VOTE was taken; with 6 votes in favor versus 4 against, the MOTION passed. * *

                        (c) The pilot program of Participating USCF Memberships will run only through June to August, and MACA has already missed the deadline to apply for it.

Education:     (a) N. Sterling reported that the Education Committee held an online Meeting on 3/23/14.  Discussed at the Meeting were the following: (i) The work for preparing the Guide for the MA Educational Teacher Training Initiative was divided among N. Smolensky, J. Sadoff, and N. Sterling; (ii) The goal to complete it was set for May or June, as then we will have time to start presenting MACA’s project to schools; (iii) Some specific schools, such as Weston, Dover-Sherborn, and Hamilton, were identified as potential first contacts.

                        (b) There was discussion about whether to hold the next Education Expo at the MA Open, but R. Messenger said that there would be very little space available to arrange such a display, especially if we also want to give a presentation.

* * ADVANCE MOTION (314-2a) made by N. Sterling and seconded by G. Mirijanian to adopt the rules of propriety for usage of the MACA E-mail Forum, as previously distributed by N. Sterling by e-mail, as standing rules of MACA.  (i) R. King complained that the effect of censoring e-mails to the Forum would be to interfere with the e-mail chain set up to facilitate the sending of mass e-mails to the MACA Board.

(ii) * * AMENDMENT (314-2b) proposed by M. Turgeon to replace the entire Motion with one empowering the Web Coordinator to send corrective e-mails to violators of Forum propriety as he saw fit, and to inform the Board should there be any repeat offenders.  The VOTE was taken; with one vote in favor versus six against and three abstentions, the AMENDMENT was defeated. (iii) * * The VOTE was taken on the original Motion; with 4 votes in favor versus 4 against, the MOTION was defeated. * *

Publications: * * MOTION (314-3) made by N. Smolensky and seconded by

R. Messenger to put out another double issue of Chess Horizons with a submission deadline of 15 July 2014. The VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed unanimously. * *

Elections: (a) S. Dann reported that he has all the Candidates’ statements that have been sent in, and that N. Sterling is helping with the online web layout of the statements. The Ballots should be mailed out by mid-late April. (b) * * MOTION (314-4) made by

K. Belt and seconded by R. King that the Election Commission correct Candidate Statements for spelling.  The VOTE was taken; with 6 votes in favor versus 2 against and 1 abstention, the MOTION passed. * * (c) (i) * * MOTION (314-5a) made by

 N. Smolensky and seconded by K. Belt to extend the submission and revision of Candidate's statements, for Candidates that have not submitted statements, to 4/4/14, due to lack of proper notification of the deadline to Candidates who have not already submitted. (ii) * * AMENDMENT proposed by G. Mirijanian and seconded by

N. Smolensky to strike the clauses "and revision" & "who have not already submitted" from the Motion.  The VOTE was taken on the Amendment, with 6 votes in favor versus 3 against, the AMENDMENT passed. (iii) * * AMENDMENT proposed by G. Mirijanian and seconded by N. Smolensky to strike "due to lack of proper notification" from the Motion.  The AMENDMENT passed by unanimous consent. (iv) * * The VOTE was taken on the original MOTION; with 6 votes in favor versus 1 against and 2 abstentions, the AMENDMENT passed. * *

Old Business: (a) N. Smolensky reported that he is informally looking at trying to revive some collegiate-based tournaments. (b) N. Smolensky reported that he has not had any movement as yet on the creation of the survey that was authorized at the last meeting.

(c) The number of MA USCF Delegates, due to a declining population, was dropped from three to two. The Board decided to use voting order to determine which of our Delgates were removed. Smolensky was removed. (d) It is specifically stated for the record that Charissa Yip of Chelmsford will be the MA Representative to the National Girls Invitational Tournament.

President N. Smolensky adjourned the March Board Meeting at 9:18 PM.  The date, time, and place of the May Board Meeting were set at Sunday 5/4/14 at 6:00 PM, at the Papa Gino’s in Natick.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        Nicholas Sterling, Clerk