| Sam Sloan 2004-12-28, 5:47 pm |
| Requirement of Estimate of Costs of a Resolution
I just thought of something which I am surprised that nobody seems to
have thought of it before.
As I recall, there is a provision that any resolution presented to the
board must contain an estimate by the presenter of the resolution of
the costs that will be incurred if passed.
I do not see it in the bylaws but I remember this resolution being
voted upon and passed.
Assuming that I am correct on this, then the motion to move to
Crossville was fatally defective because there was no estimate of
costs made. As the letter from Dr. Brady points out, there will be a
lot of costs associated with this move that nobody has thought about
or addressed.
However, of more immediate concern is the fact that on January 1,
2004. Beatriz Marinello will be taking over as Chief Operating
Officer. It is said that she will receive no salary but only expenses.
However, Beatriz lives in Miami. If she is to be working in New
Windsor she will obviously have to be flying back and forth between
Miami and New Windsor frequently and staying in hotels in New Windsor
which are not cheap. The amount that is going to have to be spent on
her air fare, hotels and meals in restaurants will likely be
considerable and should have been disclosed before the board voted on
this. There is also the question of health insurance. It is tragic
that Beatriz has kidney disease, but will the USCF members be required
to pay for this? It is reported that Beatriz disappears or becomes
unreachable a few times a week. Presumably she has gone for her
medical treatments. Aren't the members entitled to know about this.
Why should a person who is not healthy be hired when there are healthy
people available?
I believe that Beatriz is not entitled to receive any expenses at all.
Section 27 (2)(a) under Delegate actions of continuing interest
states:
http://www.uschess.org/org/govern/d...nterest_03.html
(a) Except where noted below, no Executive Board member or a
member of his immediate family may receive financial compensation from
the USCF for any reason, except for standard reimbursement of
expenses, during his tenure on the Board, or for two years after
completing his tenure if such compensation results from bids accepted
or agreements made by the Board during his tenure. In claiming expense
reimbursement, a Board member must claim only that portion of expenses
that were incurred in non-political activities that were a legitimate
exercise of the Board member's duties. Any unusual expenses for which
reimbursement is questionable must be referred to the full Board for
consideration. Board members are expected to exercise all reasonable
frugality in incurring expenses to be reimbursed.
I believe that this section means that the board member may only be
reimbursed for standard expenses incurred in connection with serving
on the board. If, at the same time, Beatriz takes another job with the
USCF, such as Chief Operating Officer, she cannot be reimbursed for
expenses incurred in connection with that.
Sam Sloan
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