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MINUTES OF MACA BOARD MEETING – 7/26/2015
President N. Smolensky called the July Board Meeting to order at 3:03 PM at New England Sports Academy in Westwood. Seven people were in attendance: President Nathan Smolensky, Vice-President John Sadoff, Treasurer Robert Messenger, Clerk Nicholas Sterling, and Directors Jeffrey Caruso, Paul Arond, and Stephen Dann.
Minutes of the June Board Meeting were distributed by N. Sterling, and a couple of minor corrections requested. It was agreed that the approved Budget would be appended at the end of the approved Minutes for publication on the website.
* * MOTION made by R. Messenger and seconded by N. Smolensky to approve the June Board Meeting Minutes; with 1 abstention, the MOTION passed. * *
Tournament: (a) R. Messenger read off these upcoming Tournaments: (i) New England Open, Labor Day weekend, at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough; (ii) Greater Boston Open, 10/18/15, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough; (iii) Pillsbury Memorial, 12/6/15, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough. (b) On this last, R. Messenger commented that there had been hope of holding the Pillsbury Memorial at the new site for Metrowest Chess Club, but as that new arrangement appeared unlikely to surface, the hotel in Marlborough was chosen instead. (c) S. Dann expressed hope that the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton would be chosen in the future to host a MACA Tournament.
Scholastic: (a) On behalf of S. Frymer, R. Messenger stated that the rules for the Spiegel Cup Series had not been formally written for 2015, but would most likely remain substantially the same. He read off these upcoming Tournaments: (i) 1st Spiegel Cup Qualifier, 10/4/2015, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough; (ii) 2nd Spiegel Cup Qualifier, 11/8/2015, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough; (iii) Fall Team Tournament, 11/22/2015, at the Holiday Inn in Boxborough; (iv) 3rd Spiegel Cup Qualifier, 12/13/2015, at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough. (b) It was suggested that, to save money, the Spiegel Cup Final could be held at either NESA or the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton.
Bylaws: R. Messenger said that he had sent a copy of the most recent MACA corporate articles to the Parliamentarian J. Caruso. As of this Meeting, no Bylaws changes were immediately up for consideration.
Publications: (a) N. Smolensky said that he had compiled copy about the 2015 MA Open for publication in the next Chess Horizons. (b) R. Messenger said that he needed to hear back from the Best Game Judge about who played the winning games, so that he could award their prizes. (c) N. Smolensky said that future issues of CH may feature more unannotated games than he had been inclined to include previously. (d) There are game scores from the 2015 Bradley Open that could also be included.
Promotions: (a) Tom Shneer and Tony Cortizas have agreed to serve on the Promotions Committee. (b) Boston Blitz this year may request promotions help from MACA. (c) J. Sadoff mentioned the site HubSpot that allows one to write up posts to be published in the future on Facebook or other social media. (d) N. Sterling mentioned that Waltham Chess Club’s new Facebook page received prompt promotion on the MACA Facebook page, and expressed thanks on behalf of the Club.
Education: (a) The Massachusetts Early Education Teacher-Teaching Initiative (MEETTI) needs to be targeted to pilot schools to get itself started. At present copies of the Handbook have been published. To re-introduce the program, it was stated that MEETTI is intended to bring chess into the regular school-day curriculum of a school, as opposed to after-school programs that may be taken up, for instance, by libraries. (b) In response to a comment about home-school students (the potential opportunity to reach out to them), N. Sterling said that NESA has previously offered chess classes to home-school students. (c) N. Sterling said that the NESA Chess Club, started last year, has been expanded now to have an online element on chesskid.com, which may later be shifted to chess.com.
Web Coordinator: (a) N. Sterling as Web Coordinator agreed to double-check that the correct list of Committees and Coordinators had been published on the Director page of the website. (b) S. Dann said that it would be good to put on the Chess News page articles about MA players participating in out-of-state events. N. Sterling said that he would be pleased with this as long as we could be sure that such treatment of out-of-state events was comprehensive.
Prison: On behalf of S. Frymer, R. Messenger reported that S. Frymer has been sending extra copies of CH to prisons to enhance MACA’s philanthropic outreach to the chess-playing prison population.
Membership: (a) R. Messenger read the Membership numbers as follows: Adults: 211
(-1); Junior 428 (+11); Life 205 (-1); Affiliate 7 (=); Complimentary 11 (=);
D. Library 5 (=); D. Subscriber 14 (-6); Exchange 15 (-1); Library 1 (=); Prison 321 (+11); Subscriber 10 (+1). Total change in Membership and Subscribers: +14.
Club Coordinator: (a) S. Dann listed the following criteria for the successful institution of a new chess club at a library: (i) There must be a volunteer to coordinate starting the club. (ii) There must be a teacher or other instructor. One must carefully distinguish whether the teacher is a paid instructor or a volunteer. (iii) There must be a librarian to supervise. (iv) Payment for the teacher/instructor must be arranged through the Friends of the Library. (v) There must be adequate space for club meetings, including tables and chairs, that will not disturb other library activities in progress. (vi) The club must be promoted on social media. (b) S. Dann also said that there should be a greater effort to get chess equipment out to clubs, including through the LMCF.
LMCF: (a) S. Frymer had sent a written report in to state: (i) 8 sets had been sent to NESSP in Chelmsford; (ii) 1 set had been sent to the Brighton Senior Center; (iii) 1 set had been sent to the Southampton Chess Club. (b) P. Arond said we should get a listing of the current LMCF inventory; this may help make plans to distribute the sets faster and in greater quantity. (c) R. Messenger said that he frequently gets gift certificates from USCF because he monitors its Forum; these gift certificates may help to get sets around.
Budget: Robert Messenger was nominated without opposition to be Chair of the Budget Committee.
Old Business: The Fundraising Committee was brought up again for discussion. Its main duties are: (a) to sell items (such as books) donated to MACA, to raise money;
(b) to go out into the business community to solicit donations from companies.
R. Messenger said that it did not seem necessary at the time of the Meeting to fill this position, but it could be reconsidered later. It was agreed to leave the position vacant.
New Business: (a) (i) R. Messenger reported back from Citizens Bank about the different investment vehicles they could offer to MACA to reinvest some of its capital: (1) a market-linked CD, FDIC-insured, 4.5-year term, with a 15% “participation” rate whereby customers investing by a certain deadline are given 15% return above the normal market rate of return for a year afterward; (2) a 5-year annuity with 2.75% annual rate; (3) a 3-year annuity with 1.9% annual rate. To enter into any of these vehicles, MACA must designate one or more signees (either the President or the Treasurer) to sign the Corporate Resolution Form and thereby be empowered to manage the accounts with Citizens Bank on behalf of MACA. $1000 is the minimum to invest.
(ii) * * MOTION (715-1) made by R. Messenger and seconded by N. Smolensky to authorize the Treasurer to invest $10,000 in a market-linked CD, $10,000 in a 5-year annuity, and $10,000 in a 3-year annuity; however, the Treasurer is authorized to reconsider whether to invest if the rates at the time of investment are lower than those originally proposed. The VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed unanimously.
(iii) * * MOTION (715-2) made by R. Messenger and seconded by J. Caruso to adopt the Corporate Resolution as was read out loud during the Meeting from the Form. It will be signed by both President and Treasurer and be sealed and signed by the Clerk if the MACA Corporate Seal is in his possession. [Clerk’s NOTE: The MACA Corporate Seal was in his possession.] The VOTE was taken; the MOTION passed unanimously. * *
(b) (i) N. Smolensky said that a planned master simul to be scheduled at Fenway Park did not come through because the amount of money proposed by the Boston Red Sox and MACA together - $1500 – fell well short of the master’s expected pay. (ii) MACA may still be able to schedule an event at Fenway Park, such as a Blitz Tournament, in the future. * * MOTION (715-3) made by
R. Messenger and seconded by P. Arond to authorize the President to spend up to $750 on an event co-sponsored by MACA and the Boston Red Sox. The VOTE was taken; with one abstention, the MOTION passed. * *
President N. Smolensky adjourned the July Board Meeting at 5:37 PM. The date of the September Board Meeting was set at Sunday 9/20/15 at 4:30 PM, at New England Sports Academy in Westwood.
Respectfully submitted,
Nicholas Sterling, Clerk
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