Minutes:
Huntsville Chess Club Executive Board Meeting

October 29, 2018; 6:00pm

Meeting called to order at 6:03pm.

The first agenda item was the Treasurer’s Report by David Hayes: The current balance in the Redstone Federal Credit Union was $4,164.00 with an additional $481.00 in PayPal. We expect receipts of $2,000.00 ($800 from Mill Creek Middle School, and $1,200 from Hampton Cove Middle School, both from the paid tournament). We were welcomed to peruse the bank statements. The President looked them over and concluded that everything was in order.

The next agenda item was the Chess in a Cave planning: David Hayes reported that the Cave planning was going smoothly. All action items were accounted for with the exception of a couple of items that were covered momentarily. He planned to call the Park Manager, Judy, during the upcoming week to remind her that we would arrive at 10:30am Saturday morning. We were hopeful for the good weather that David arranged for.

David mentioned that there is a Duty Roster. he is bringing a demonstration board and has communicated with Bill Merrill, who is going to do a lecture for half an hour or for an hour. The online registration was in line and Pat will send it all to Chris on Friday morning. Pat had a question about an easel. David did not have one but thought that a bungee cord, hammer, and a nail would suffice. The thought was that the easel last year may have been provided by the Park. Pat remembered one that the pairings were put on last year. Pat asked about poster board, as that was what the parings were put on last year using push pins. David suggested that we setup a table. Chris mentioned that she plans to print the parings out in a larger print this year.

David asked Pat if any High Schoolers registered. Pat said that we had gotten the minimum of five registrations and that we could do a Round Robin style. David asked if Ashley’s bringing a computer. Pat replied that they have a bunch and that they would bring at least three. David asked if at least one of the computers would have an additional copy the TD software on it. Pat replied that one of the computers has Swiss Sys on it.

David mentioned that the printer is in a plastic bin and that there was no ink supply for it and that it is possibly a single point of failure. Pat plans to bring a printer that he has. He will make sure that one of the laptops with Swiss Sys is hooked up to the printer. David asked Pat about catering and whether there was a handle on that. Pat said there were forty-four meal orders and that could be possibly twenty additional.

David asked if Matt Crocker were going to be the photographer. Pat said that Matt was putting a team together for the North Alabama Team Scholastic Tournament and would not make it this year. Chris will bring a camera to take pictures of the awards.

David has the torches and fuel lighters already laid out and staged in his garage and asked if there would be check in bags by Ashley like she did last year with the headlamps, meal tickets, and so forth. Pat did not think that we would need to have the bags this year.

David asked Pat if he were bringing sufficient boards, sets, and clocks, as well as, pencils and score sheets. Pat responded that he had that covered. David mentioned that he has the short-range radios and batteries laid out along with clip boards. David asked Willie about the screen and DVD. Willie responded yes along with a way to play it with a sound system and projector. We then scanned through the action items.

The next agenda item is Scholastic Tournament Income Opportunities:

Pat reported that we held the North Alabama Championship and the Huntsville City Championship. The Huntsville City Championship made money and the North Alabama Championship lost a couple of hundred. Pat concluded that Adult Chess costs money and Kids chess makes money. We have the Chess in a Cave Tournament (November time frame) and the Bishop’s Bash (February time frame with about 140 kids and online paring). This year would be the second year for each. We could also take on the Rookie Rally which is in January. It brings in about $1,000 for both the school and for the Club each. There was a general discussion among the board members. Pat’s recommendation is that we ask Renee to run the Rookie Rally this year, we would participate, and not share in the profits. David’s recommendation is that we step forward and take the Rookie Rally over. We agreed to table the vote until Pat gathers more information.Next we reviewed action items: