USBCA Board Minutes
Find United States Blind Chess Association board meeting minutes here.
Board Meeting, April 29, 2024, 7:00 PM central time
Glenn Crawford called the meeting to order at 7:04 PM central time.
Present: Rita Crawford, Marilyn Bland, Glenn Crawford, Evan Reese, Al Pietrolungo. Apologies from Jim Homme.
Rita gave the Treasurer’s report. She indicated that opening a bank account in USBCA’s name is stalled until some other things are in place. Michael will withdraw the money in the existing account and deposit it into the account Rita will create for USBCA. Rita will order cheques for that account.
Marilyn will find out if we can pay IBCA fees for multiple years at the same time.
Marilyn asked about the Free list server. Evan will look into what another server would cost us. Rita will call Jim Thoune to find out about managing the list.
Glenn spoke about creating an appeals committee and made the motion for the establishment of such a committee, seconded by Al. Guidelines for this committee would be written up. The motion passed unanimously.
Jim and Mario must both have access to the web for updating purposes.
Glenn asked about the Norm Doerner tournament. The results were being finalized.
Evan mentioned that the title of the upcoming tournament should be corrected: insert “Blind,“so that it reads “US Blind Open Chess Championship.”
Rita and Glenn will reach out to an attorney that Jim Homme provided the name of.
After discussion about the status of the EIN application, Marilyn suggested that we start afresh.
Glenn made the proposal to close the meeting at 8:08 PM central time, seconded by Evan.
Board meeting, Wednesday, May 29, 2024, 7:00 PM central time
Glenn Crawford Called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM central time.
Present: Al Pietrolungo, Glenn Crawford, Michael Rodgerson, Evan Reese, Rita Crawford, and Marilyn Bland. Jim Thoune, the President, has a leave of absence and vp Glenn Crawford is assuming his duties in the interim.
Rita gave the Treasurer’s report. She discussed formatting and it was decided to keep the format in Word. Evan made the motion to approve the report, seconded by Michael.
Rita and Evan will talk about how Evan can assist with Challenger.
Evan will enquire from someone how to set up an alternative list for the membership.
Evan will speak to Jim Homme about preparing the new site for a later switch should it become necessary. Evan made a motion we stay on Freelist and we only switch should we have another problem, seconded by Al.
Glenn, Olivier, Evan, and Tyson will put together rules for an Appeals Committee.
Glenn is working on updating the membership list, voting and international members lists, and an article for Challenger.
Rita is working on Challenger, Sunday Smiles, Hands-On Chess, and the treasury.
Marilyn is working on an article for Challenger and liaising with the organizer and players for the upcoming tournament in Chicago.
Michael will discuss providing puzzles for Challenger with Rita.
Evan is managing the library.
Jim Homme should set up an alternative server so that when we decide, it would be ready.
Al will reach out to players regarding US blind Open participation.
Glenn will contact board members regarding whether they want to meet at times other than the last Monday of the month.
Mario will be asked to provide a written update about tournaments if he cannot attend the meeting.
Glenn made the motion to close the meeting at 8:24 PM central time, seconded by Evan.
Board meeting, July 25, 2024
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM central time. Present: Rita Crawford, glenn Crawford, Marilyn Bland, Evan Reese, Michael Rodgerson, and Al Pietrolungo.
Rita gave the Treasurer’s report. USBCA received a donation of $200 from Al.
Glenn gave an update on obtaining 503C status. The attorney cannot be reached so Al suggested we contact the US Association of Blind Athletes to see if we can operate under their umbrella. Evan will research the organization before we proceed.
Glenn said dues will be reinstated by 1 January, 2025. we should put together a letter to the membership explaining our reasons for starting dues again. We will stay with annual and not lifetime memberships.
Rita set up a PayPal account linked to the bank account Evan and Rita will work out how to provide the email to paypal.
Rita asked for questions she could put to the Hands-On guest speaker.
Glenn has updated the membership list.
Glenn and Evan will work out a draft for the Appeals Committee to share with the whole board. Evan says he has not received books Chris Adamson was to have returned
Marilyn suggests we use a plastic covering for the address and return address when sending books from our library, as they do with books from NLS. Marilyn gave an update on the US Blind Open tournament.
At 8:03 PM central time Evan made the motion to adjourn, and it was seconded by Rita.
USBCA Board meeting 26 August, 2024:
The meeting was called to order at 8:05 PM central time.
Present: Glenn Crawford, Rita Crawford, Michael Rodgerson, Al Pietrolungo, and Marilyn Bland.
Apologies: Evan Reese.
Rita gave the Treasurer’s report. She sent a planter costing $95.00 to Theresa Thoune on behalf of the USBCA. Al made the motion to approve the report, seconded by Michael.
Rita proposed that we have someone clean up the USBCA web page.
There was discussion about taking steps to switch from using Freelist. Al suggests a committee be formed to investigate this and report back. Marilyn suggests that we should talk to Chris Chaffin about this. Evan, Michael, and Jim Homme would be asked to be on this committee. Michael consented, and Glenn will verify with the other 2. They will then approach Chris chaffin.
Glenn raised the question of requirements for membership. Members should subscribe, provide their full name, place of residence, country, and optional phone number. Members with paid up dues can vote and participate in tournaments. Al looked up some documents regarding the head of US Association of Blind Athletes to establish whether they had athlete development funds. Al will contact the new CEO and will keep us updated.
Glenn suggests we start a new rating system. At the next meeting there will be a discussion and voting on getting the ratings started again.
Glenn said he makes regular updates to the membership list and Evan archives it. The board members will review the list every 6 months.
Marilyn said there had been work done on revisions to the constitution, but these efforts had stalled. It was agreed that this work must be resumed.
There was discussion on filling vacant board positions. It was decided that for now the board would continue as is and that the full board should meet to discuss and decide this matter, taking the existing constitution into account.
Michael Knows a new player who needs a board. Marilyn has a board available from the batch she purchased in India. Glenn will donate the board and shipping costs.
Marilyn suggests USBCA arranges to have booths at the AFB and ACB conventions next year. Al suggests we have a tournament at one of the conventions.
We will enquire whether Florida School for the Blind still has a chess club.
Marilyn shared that the president of the Pakistani Chess Federation had received his USA visa, and that visa appointments for the team members were pending.
At 8:14 PM central time Michael made the motion to close the meeting, seconded by Al
Board meeting on 30 September, 2024:
The meeting was called to order by Glenn Crawford at 7:05 PM central time.
Present: Evan Reese, Al Pietrolungo, Rita Crawford, Glenn Crawford, and Marilyn Bland.
Rita gave the Treasurer’s report.
Rita said that Tyson Mordue would be the guest on the October Hands-On Chess gathering.
Evan gave an update on the change of our platform. He said that he and Jim Homme had spoken about changes and Groups. Groups.IO is better overall, with 3 months free and $20 per month. At the next board meeting Evan, Jim, and Michael will have a clear outline of what the switch will entail.
Glenn spoke about membership dues. It was agreed that members not in good standing would not be allowed to vote or play in sponsored tournaments. Al made the motion to accept these suggestions and Rita seconded the motion.
Glenn spoke about membership dues. $30 was considered a reasonable annual fee. . Dues could be used towards prize money for tournaments. Glenn will get something out in this regard to the membership in November.
Al did not get any response to his calls to US Association of Blind Athletes and went on their website. He will leave messages with the 4 other alternative contacts indicated on the site.
Glenn will write up the document for membership requirements and the board will edit it. When voted on and passed, it will go to Evan for saving.
Glenn and Evan will write the framework of the document for the Appeals Committee and then give it to Tyson and Olivier. Glenn will update the membership list. Marilyn will ask Mario to write up a short report for the board about the rating system and code for calculating ratings. The report should include information about when the new system will be in place.
There was discussion about filling vacant board positions. It was decided to send a note to the board asking for a suitable date and time for an emergency meeting where we will vote on filling the position of president and VP. We will bring suggestions of people we think might be interested in serving on the board.
The motion to close the meeting was made by Glenn, seconded by Evan at 8:02 PM central time.
Board meeting 28 October 2024 at 7:00 PM central time:
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM central time. Present: Al Pietrolungo, Rita Crawford, Glenn Crawford, Marilyn Bland, Michael Rodgerson, Evan Reese, and Mario Montalvo.
Rita gave the treasurer’s report. There were no transactions to discuss. Rita will deposit $1.00 into the PayPal account to test its functionality. Evan approved the report and Glenn seconded it.
Glenn called for a vote to approve membership dues. All voted in favor.
Rita read the resolution for the Appeals Committee aloud. After some discussion and a suggested amendment, Al moved that there be a vote on the resolution as amended, seconded by Evan. All voted in favor of the motion. After the vote, Marilyn made the motion to accept the vote, seconded by Rita.
The Arbitration Committee needed to be dissolved. Rita read the resolution aloud. Glenn called for a vote to dissolve the Arbitration Committee. All voted in favor.
Rita and Jim are working on the PayPal account which is tied to the checking account. Rita asked for additional help with setting up PayPal and getting it to work properly. Rita and Mario will work together on getting the account functional and activating the button. People can use the PayPal account even though the button is not working yet. Rita will send out the details to pay into the PayPal account and board members will try to pay into it as a test.
Mario requested that board meetings be changed to Wednesdays. Mario left the meeting at 7:55 central time. Glenn raised the idea of the hiring of a chess coach once a month, 1 hour for beginners and 1 hour for more advanced players. He will explore the possibilities.
USBCA received an invitation from “Eyes on Success” for an interview which they will air. Glenn proposed himself and Marilyn and possibly Rita to be interviewed. They will meet to discuss the information to be shared.
Glenn proposed that the new Groups.IO platform Roll-out be 1 December. This would allow a month to get everything ready. Glenn asked Marilyn to speak to Mario regarding holding a special meeting to discuss tournaments and ratings. Michael made the motion to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Rita. The meeting ended at 8:14 PM central time.