General

  1. The governing authority of Unit 247 is the Board of Directors.
  2. The fiscal year for the Unit will be from January 1st to December 31st.
  3. A Unit Parliamentarian may be appointed by the President, with the approval of Board.
  4. The President appoints a GNT and NAP coordinator, whose function is to coordinate and sanction GNT and NAP Unit finals and to assure proper District and ACBL reporting.
  5. The President appoints a Charity Coordinator whose function is to coordinate and sanction Unit Charity games. The sponsoring club holding the Charity game is responsible for reporting all results to ACBL and sending the Charity game surcharge to the Secretary/Treasurer.
  6. The President appoints a Championship Games Coordinator whose function is to coordinate and sanction Unit Championship games within the Unit. The club holding the Championship game is responsible for reporting all results to ACBL.
  7. The President must call at least one Unit Board meeting each fiscal year, usually during a scheduled Sectional. Additional meetings may be scheduled as Unit business requires; Conference Calling services are satisfactory for these additional meetings.
  8. The President shall call District or ACBL election meetings as required by District or ACBL requirements.
  9. All Unit Coordinators and other board positions are responsible for storing the Unit records associated with their appointed position on the Unit’s Box website.
  10. The agenda for any upcoming board meetings will be mailed or (e-mailed) to all board members at least 10 days prior to the upcoming meeting.
  11. A decision to bring items not appearing on the agenda above up for discussion or vote at any board meetings will be at the discretion of the President.
  12. In the event there are issues that are not voted on at scheduled meetings or that come up between meetings, the President is authorized to call a special meeting or poll the board members by phone, by mail or email to obtain a consensus on these issues. These actions will be reported in the minutes presented at the following board meeting.

Tournaments

  1. A club that holds a GNT Unit qualification is responsible to pay directors fees according to club practice, ACBL fees and other costs, if any. Unit GNT finals will be scheduled as per ACBL and District requirements.
  2. A club that holds NAP Unit qualification is responsible to pay directors fees according to club practice, ACBL fees and other costs, if any. Unit NAP finals will be scheduled as per ACBL and District requirements.
  3. The Unit has the right to decline to advance funds for any GNT or NAP game but does guarantee the hosting club reimbursement for any losses.
  4. The Unit NAP Coordinator and Unit GNT Coordinator are responsible to find and coordinate with a host club each year for these Unit events.
  5. During the process by which a Sectional tournament is approved by the Unit, District and ACBL, the Unit will decide if they or the club will be the sponsor. The sponsor’s responsibility includes providing seed money, revenue sharing of profits if unit sponsored, or revenue loss absorption by the unit if unit sponsored. If a club is allowed to sponsor the Sectional, then the club receives all the profits or absorbs all of the loss. In most cases, the Unit will sponsor all Sectionals.
  6. The President will appoint a Unit Tournament Coordinator to process any Unit requests for Sectionals to the District Coordinator/ACBL and coordinate all activities related to the tournament, if it is Unit sponsored.
  7. Equipment Sharing Policy for Unit 247 Profit Sharing Sectionals and Regionals. Since Unit 247 does not own their own dealing machine, duplicate boards, or bridge pads because the cost is prohibitive for such a small amount of use; they rely on teamwork from the clubs in the area to support Unit 247 sponsored Tournaments. In the interest of fairness and teamwork among all involved, compensation from the Tournament to the loaning club is required as follows:
    • The amount must be at least double the amount calculated to be the actual cost to a club of loaning equipment, which for a Sectional currently is $90 for the dealing machine, $12.00 for the duplicate boards, carrying case and cards, and $0.50/table for the bridge pads.
    • If the borrowed equipment was damaged or lost the Tournament Chair and Unit 247 would work as a team with the loaning club, guaranteeing to make things right. Clubs that loan a dealing machine, bridge pads, or duplicate boards to a Unit 247 sponsored tournament when asked, will receive additional profit sharing in the amount of the money actually saved by using their equipment, or a guarantee of double the amount of the calculated cost of the usage of the equipment (compensating for the tournament’s share of lifetime usage times the purchase price and the tournament’s share of the annual repair cost), whichever is greater.
    • The Unit 247 Board will review this policy from time to time to insure that the compensation amount is fair to all parties.
  8. The Unit board recommends that Unit sectionals schedule a 1 session regionally rated charity event. The points earned go up 40% compared to a normal 1 session event. The cost is currently $1 extra per person.
  9. Unit 247 will pay one-half of high school or younger students’ entry fees to any ACBL sponsored game within the Unit. Club owners may apply directly to the Secretary/Treasurer for reimbursement.
  10. At Unit Sectionals, only the Hospitality and Tournament Chairs will be given remuneration in the amount of $100.00 each to cover the costs of their play in all sessions. Free plays in other Unit games, such as GNT and NAP finals, are at the discretion and policy of the host club. This policy may be added to, by agreement of the President and Tournament Chair, if a guest speaker or ACBL dignitary is present for any session.

Fiduciary Control

  1. The Secretary/Treasurer shall forward the Treasurer’s report and prior meeting minutes to all board members 10 days prior to any scheduled Unit Board meetings.
  2. An auditor who is not a current member of the Unit 247 board, assisted by a board member to provide all requested information, shall be appointed by the President to review the financial records of the Secretary/Treasurer as often as deemed appropriate and report to the board prior to the annual meeting.
  3. The 2 District delegates from the Unit may receive reimbursement up to a $125 cap per meeting attended. Proof of attendance will be the District 15 minutes.
  4. The Secretary/Treasurer shall update all bank information, including CD’s and EIN information, immediately upon the election of a new President and/or Secretary /Treasurer.
  5. The Secretary/Treasurer will receive a yearly gift of $400.00. ($100/quarter)
  6. The Unit Web Master will receive a yearly gift of $400.00 ($100/quarter)
  7. The Secretary/Treasurer will maintain all Unit records on the Unit’s “Box” website and assure all Board Members have access to all records.
  8. The Secretary/Treasurer is responsible for preparing and submitting the Unit Tax return on a yearly basis.
  9. The Unit President and the Unit Secretary/Treasurer are authorized to write checks on the Unit’s checking account with one signature.
  10. The choice of Banking institutions to use for Unit checking is strictly up to the Unit Secretary/Treasurer but a local institution is strongly urged.

Elections

  1. A Nominating Committee, appointed by the President, will find and recommend candidates and prepare ballot information so that individual clubs within the Unit may conduct elections at one of their regularly scheduled club games.
  2. Normally, the election is an “all or nothing” vote to accept the Nomination Committee’s recommendations.
  3. The Nomination Committee will complete its work so that clubs may hold their voting no later than January each year for those Board positions that expired in December of the previous year.
  4. The Nominating Committee will give serious consideration to any candidate that submits the appropriate form indicating a desire to serve on the Unit Board.

Education

  1. Any educational monies granted by District 15 or ACBL will be sent to the Treasurer of Unit 247 and the total will be paid by our Treasurer to those approved for educational reimbursement.
  2. The Unit Educational Reimbursement Policy is a combination of the ACBL Program, any District 15 program, and the Unit 247 program. The Unit Program’s intent is to find new members who are not currently playing club games and to reimburse Unit 247 members who attend bridge educational programs aimed at either gaining a bridge teacher certification or gaining a club director certification.
  3. The Unit will sponsor and reimburse TAP expenses @$100 per time and tuition for one candidate per club per year
  4. The Unit will reimburse all ACBL test fees for one club director candidate per club per year.
  5. The Unit may sponsor a TAP on an as needed basis as determined by the Unit board. The Unit may specify a fee to all attendees and upon completion of the TAP or a completion of a basic course of instruction within one year at their local club; the Unit will reimburse the TAP tuition to the teacher.
  6. All requests for reimbursement for educational expenses must be submitted by a club official ((Club Manager, President, Vice-President or similar) within three (3) months of completion of the course of instruction The request for reimbursement must indicate the total number of students attending the course, the dates of instruction and the number of new ACBL members (if any). The request may be submitted by mail from a club official’s home e-mail account or may be mailed or emailed to the Unit 247 education coordinator or the Unit’s Secretary/Treasurer. All mailed reimbursement requests shall have the receipts attached and be signed by a club official.