Massachusetts Chess Association
Board of Director Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, June 20, 2018, 7:00pm
Panera Bread, Cambridge, MA
ATTENDEES: Nathan Smolensky (President), John Sadoff (Vice President), Bob Messenger (Treasurer), Andrew Hoy (Clerk), Dmitry Barash, Jeffrey Caruso, Jiayun Liu, Oleg Poliannikov, Nicholas Sterling, Steve Winer, and Percy Yip.
NEXT BOARD MEETING: During the first two full weeks of August at Panera Bread, Cambridge, MA
1. Meeting Minutes
MOTION: Approval of minutes from the April 5, 2018 board meeting (RM/AH).
VOTE: Passed, 8-0
MOTION: Approvalof minutes from Annual Meeting during the Mass Open on May 28, 2017 (AH/RM).
VOTE: Passed, 9-0
2. Board of Directors Vacancy
12 MACA members were elected to the Board of Directors (4 officers and 8 directors). One of the directors withdrew his candidacy before the election and was then one of the top 8 vote-getters, so a vacancy was created. Dmitry Barash was the candidate receiving the most votes who was not elected to the Board, so he was nominated to fill the vacancy.
MOTION: Appoint Dmitry Barash to the MACA Board of Directors (NS/RM).
VOTE: Passed, 7-0
MOTION: Thank Paul Arond for his service as a volunteer and board member to MACA (NS/RM).
VOTE: Passed, 7-0
3. Election Results
A total of 138 voter are registered for online voting and 8 voters requested paper ballots. 116 ballots were received. Total expenses from the election were $41.68. The MACA Elections Commission thanks the Membership Secretary, the Webmaster, and the Promotions Chairman for their assistance in this election cycle.
4. Committees and Chairs
Committee chairs and Coordinators were nominated and selected for the various MACA committees. Please see Appendix A for a complete list of positions and descriptions.
Committee chairs appoint and remove committee members as needed and schedule committee meetings. The chairs are also responsible for submitting reports to the full Board of Directors at each board meeting. These reports should be submitted via email ahead of time to the full board so that the directors can review the reports and prepare any questions. The MACA President serves on all committees ex officio.
MACA does not have a formal list of positions but instead creates appropriate committees and appoints chairs as needed.
MOTION: Recreate the Publications committee to organize the end of printed Chess Horizons and decide how to spend money previously dedicated to the magazine to further MACA publication goals.
VOTE: Passed, 11-0
MOTION: Remove the Volunteer coordinator role as committees find their own volunteers.
VOTE: Passed, 11-0
5. Preregistrations on the MACA website
Similar to how the Boylston Chess Club website works, MACA wishes to display registration lists in advance of events. It was noted that this is a difficult topic and applicable to many state organizations, including the Boylston Chess Club and Metrowest Chess Club. Andrew noted that the total cost of collecting online registrations was between 4% and 5% of each entry for the BCC.
MOTION: Update the website to display preregistration lists (DB/SW).
REFERRED: to the web coordinator for further assessment and additional data, 11-0
6. Next Meeting
The MACA board tries to meet 8 times per fiscal year. The next meeting will be held during the first two weeks of August at Panera in Cambridge.
MOTION TO ADJOURN
VOTE: Passed by acclamation
Appendix A: Committees and Chairs
All positions were uncontested and the candidates for chairmanship/coordinator were elected unanimously with the exception of the scholastics committee (see below).
Assistant Clerk – Bob Messenger (9-0-1)
This position was mainly created so that two people can file annual reports with the MA Secretary of State. Bob, as Treasurer, fills this role and also will take minutes when the Clerk is not present.
Parliamentarian – Jeff Caruso (10-0-0)
Assists with running MACA meetings and ensures that we follow Robert’s Rules of Order as appropriate.
Membership Secretary – Bob Messenger (9-0-1)
Keeps a record of the current MACA members and keeps pertinent information for mailings, both physical and electronic. Additionally reports on trends in membership numbers.
Budget – Bob Messenger (10-0-1)
Prepare the annual MACA budget and suggest improvements and adjustments through the year.
Bylaws – Jeff Caruso (10-0-1)
The most recent change to the MACA bylaws was to allow officer candidates (other than the president) to sit on the elections commission. No other changes are on the horizon.
Tournaments – Bob Messenger (10-0-1)
Oversee organization of non-scholastic tournaments including prizes and entry fees, select dates for annual events including the Pillsbury Memorial, Greater Boston Open, and Senior Championship. The next tournament is the Senior Open, to be held Sept 15-16.
Education – Nathan Smolensky (10-0-1)
Support education programs including teacher training, and general oversight of coaches for schools. Chess materials and education plans have been provided to several area schools. Nathan and John plan to continue new and existing pilot programs when school starts in the fall.
Scholastics – Nathan Smolensky (Smolensky 7, Frymer 3, abstain 1)
Organize scholastic tournaments, including the Spiegel Cup, four qualifying tournaments, team tournaments, a November junior tournament, and improve overall publicity for scholastic tournaments. Oversee format changes to tournaments. Both Nathan Smolensky and Steve Frymer were considered for this committee chairmanship and the board selected Nathan to head the committee for the next year. The board reaffirmed the importance of scholastic chess and especially MACA’s role in promoting scholastic chess.
Promotion – Oleg Poliannikov (10-0-1)
Operate the MACA social media accounts including Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, work with the other committees to send email blasts to the MACA email list ahead of events.
Investments – Jeff Caruso (10-0-1)
MACA has several longer term financial accounts. The investment committee ensures that the investments are sound and in line with MACA’s long term goals.
Publications – Nathan Smolensky (10-0-1)
Previously responsible for publishing a quarterly issue of Chess Horizons, the committee will now also focus on how to publish periodical articles online and deliver information to membership in a timely and entertaining fashion.
LMCF – Steve Frymer (11-0-0)
Living Memorial Chess Fund. The fund currently has approximately $29,000. The fund is supported by donations In Memory of players and provides sets and travel for local players.
Prison – Steve Frymer (11-0-0)
The committee mails magazines and books to prisons around the country. The committee also coordinates postal chess games and analyzes games that are submitted. Requests for postal games may be passed to the committee as they come in. The USCF also has a Prison Chess Committee.
Player Development – Steve Winer (10-0-1)
Find ways to support the up and coming chess players, especially the scholastic players competing on a national level.
Web Coordinator – Oleg Poliannikov (10-0-1)
Interfaces with the Webmaster so that she does not have too many requests pending at any given time. Ultimately responsible for updates to the website for camps, coaches, etc.
Club Coordinator – Jeff Caruso (10-0-1)
Interact with clubs and update club information on the MACA website. Additionally find ways to support MACA affiliates.
Fundraising Coordinator – vacant (no motion)
Obtain books and equipment donated to MACA for auctions. Coordinate the auction at the MA Open. |