quote:

---

> USCF Executive Board Meeting, Saturday 5/21
>
> I attended the open session of the EB meeting from 3:00-5:00 PM today
> in Minneapolis. Here is a brief report about some of the more
> interesting items discussed. This is based on my notes from the
> meeting, which were sometimes rushed because of the pace of discussion.
> So this is not an official account and may contain errors.
>
> There were five EB members attending: Marinello, Shutt, Schultz, Bauer
> and Shaughnessy.
>
> CONTRACTS
>
> The first item of interest was a motion to set a limit on the amount
> and duration of contracts that USCF employees can agree to without EB
> approval. The initial amount suggested was $10,000 and 1 year. There
> was a lot of back and forth about whether the dollar amount was so low
> that the EB would end up reviewing a great many contracts. It was also
> suggested that maybe just the President and/or the VP of Finance could
> handle review. No motion was passed Saturday but the issue will be
> discussed further on Sunday.
>
> VOLUNTEER EXPENSES
>
> It was confirmed that volunteer expenses have only been published in
> the Delegates Call in recent years. That practice will be continued,
> i.e. they will not be published in EB newsletters or on the web.
>
> AUDIO TAPES
>
> Recordings from telephone conferences cannot be placed on the web
> because it has proven impossible to separate the closed from open
> session material. An effort will be made to post all the recordings
> from regular meetings that are still missing.
>
> THE CROSSVILLE MOVE
>
> The move to Crossville has been completed. The final total cost for the
> move was just over $100,000.00. This does not include such items as
> Marinello's expenses, building or architect's cost etc., just things
> directly related to getting into operation in Crossville. A number of
> line items were read quickly and I copied them down as best I could:
>
> Salaries and Training $35,700
> Taxes 3,500
> Health benefits 2,900
> Personnel relocation 47,200
> Repairs and Maintenance 7,200
> Misc. 700
> -----
> $100,700
>
> THE BUDGET
>
> The budget is still a work in progress, not in final form. I was not
> given a copy of the working document, so I copied things down as best I
> could as they were read. A few major items were mentioned:
>
> The USCF has about $300,000 in the bank. I believe this does not
> include the revenue from the sale of the New Windsor building, which is
> in a separate account. Note that this figure has nothing to do with the
>
> bottom line of how USCF did this year, which was not mentioned except
> to say that there was a positive result.
>
> Hanon Russell lost a lot of money in the first year of his contract
> with USCF, though some of that was related to start-up costs for
> software etc. He owes $179,000 to USCF to fulfill his minimum guarantee
> to USCF by
> the end of the fiscal year. A conference call with him and the EB is
> scheduled for Sunday morning to discuss some kind of renegotiation -
> whether for this year or for subsequent years I'm not certain.
>
> A decision has been made that the new budget will not have a line item
> for revenue from B+E outsourcing. Instead, a figure (yet to be
> determined) will be listed as some kind of "surplus", so that it is not
> available to offset any expenses. The budget will be set up in balance
> or surplus without the B+E figure being a direct part of the equation.
>
> Some notes on a few line items:
>
> Revenue and cost from sales of items still left in the USCF's personal
> inventory will be given offsetting figures of $40,000. The value of all
> these items is supposedly about $80,000 but it is thought now that none
> of it can be sold at profit, thus the offsetting figures.
>
> Membership revenue figure for 2006 will be set at $1,850,000. This
> figure is based on a very accurate 2005 summary provided by Mike Nolan
> from his software improvements for tracking this information.
>
> Tournament Revenue and expenses will be broken out by tournament this
> year, providing the Delegates with more detail.
>
> Total Revenue (for this working document) was $2,829.000, not including
> any figure for B+E. There will be substantial revisions done overnight
> and tomorrow, as there was some uncertainty about the correctness of
> some figures provided by the office. These will be checked by tomorrow.
>
> That's about all I've got. The next open session is at 3:00 PM
> tomorrow. I'll try to attend and report maybe tomorrow evening.
>
> Once again, I caution everyone that this is not an official account. I
> may have made errors both in copying figures and in interpretation.
>
> -- Hal Terrie