A quorum of eligible Board of Governors members gathered for Zoom meeting to discuss upcoming ACBL events and consider a set of motions.
Board of Governors chair Doug Couchman led the way through the agenda. After a few administrative to clarify voting procedures and to follow on issues from last time, we dug right a few motions and announcements.
Motion: Should the Live Board of Governors Meeting during NABCs serve refreshments to the Board of Governors attendees?
In prior years, there was a continental breakfast served, with complimentary coffee and danishes to show some appreciation to the Board of Governors. However, the breakfast was not served in recent meetings. The cost is generally $3000 to $4000, after including catering and cleanup cost at the venue. The cost seemed high for a meeting of approximately 100 attendees.
Some members mentioned other concerns. First, the breakfast area would end up very messy by the end of the meeting. Some individuals not on the board of governors also attend and take from the breakfast. Also, not everyone prefers the continental breakfast.
Some individuals recommended a separate motion. Instead of the continental breakfast, board of governor members would receive a voucher for food for an amount significantly less than the per-person cost of catered breakfast.
In the end, the motion passed narrowly, with 23 for and 17 against, and many abstainers.
Change the name of the Board of Governors?
The Board of Governors is not a board, and does not govern. It is closer to a house of representatives that meet and discuss issues from the general ACBL membership, and also relays information from ACBL to the membership. The Board of Governors CAN pass motions for the ACBL Board of Directors to consider.
Change to Bylaws – Technical Amendment
Whenever an elected board of governors member leaves the board prior to end of term (for example by resignation or death), then the District may fill the position by appointing a replacement for the board of governors. However, the replacement only applies to the three elected board of governors positions allocated to each district. Replacement does not apply to individuals on the board of governors because they are 1st or 2nd district director alternates, as the alternate positions are being phased out.
Note: For our district (D24), David Moss is currently the District Director. Jeff Bayone is the 1st alternate, and Lee Lin is the 2nd alternate. The elected Board of Governors members includes Diana Schuld and Silvana Morici. There is also one vacant seat.
ACBL BoD Motion: Clarification on Cheating and Unethical Play
The Appeals and Charges Committee plans to make several changes to the language in the ACBL Code of Disciplinary Regulations. The motion is 25 pages long, but makes several key clarifications. First, that cheating online bridge is just as serious as cheating in face-to-face bridge. Also, it clarifies certain cases of unethical conduct, such as a better definition for unauthorized signaling between partnerships. There are also various modifications to clarify when various factors should be considered when determining punishment for violations.
One particularly impactful change which could come up. Supplying false information to ACBL is a violation that could result in probation or suspension. Could that include lying about vaccination status? As written, if an ACBL tournament requires full vaccination and a member is found to have intentionally supplied false information, the member could be charged under the ACBL Code of Disciplinary Regulations.
One member mentioned that the Board of Governors does not yet have access to the Board of Directors motion
ACBL BoD Discussion Item: Require ACBL Number to Play in Club Games and Tournaments (including online)
Note, this does not require an active membership in good standing, just an ACBL number. On one hand, ACBL wants to know who is playing at their games, so having a number requires submitting your name and information to ACBL. However, some members have privacy concerns, feeling that ACBL is over stepping their bounds by micro-managing private clubs.
Also, without requiring a number, a player may be able to play under-the-radar, for example, someone worried about graduating out of Flight C could attempt to continue playing, just without supplying a number. That player would be able to gain experience without accumulating points.
ACBL BoD Discussion Item: Reduce Board of Directors Stipends for Attending the Board of Directors Meeting During NABC
As a cost-cutting measure, there is some discussion to reduce some of the subsidies and stipends given to Board of Directors members during NABC. The total savings would be estimated at $10,000. However, there are concerns that the cost of attending NABCs would otherwise be difficult for various board members.
ACBL BoD Discussion Item: Various Considerations to Handle the Transition Back from Online Virtual Clubs to Face-to-Face Bridge?
Should virtual clubs still have membership restrictions? Or can members just go to any club, regardless of where you used to play pre-Covid? For most of the last year and 4 months, since Covid closed every bridge club, you could only play in the virtual club extension of your former physical club, OR any virtual club that added you to their guest (and each club has a limited number).
How about Masterpoints and pigmentation? Prior to the pandemic, only unpigmented points could be won online, other than a few very rare cases (the online robot individual during NABC). There were also other restrictions, such as only 1/3 of your rank could be met with online unpigmented points.
So far, this is the most crucial part of the meeting and discussion. It won’t be easy to transition back to face-to-face play, but at the same time, the vast majority of active ACBL members have played online for the past 16 months. ACBL moved quickly to transition everyone to online play and tournaments. However, do they take it away now for the sake of a return back to some new normal? What is the new normal?