MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETING

Held at Brisbane Contract Bridge Club, Ipswich Rd, Woolloongabba
Saturday 10 February 2007, 1pm

PRESENT – Bill Powell (President / Publicity Officer), John Surridge (Vice President), Brian Thomas (Secretary), Ian Murray (Treasurer), Gail Young (Membership Secretary), Patrick Byrom (Ratings Officer), Beng Goh (Regional Liaison Officer), Dion Sampson (Development Officer)
APOLOGIES – nil
OBSERVERS – nil 

ITEM 1 - ACCEPTANCE OF THE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Moved G. Young, seconded J. Surridge, that the minutes of the previous meeting be accepted. Carried.

ITEM 2 - BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES
nil

ITEM 3 - REPORTS

3.1 Membership Secretary’s reports
Moved P. Byrom, seconded J. Surridge, that the membership report dated 31/12/06 be accepted. Carried.
Moved P. Byrom, seconded J. Surridge, that the membership report dated 10/02/07 be accepted. Carried.

3.2 Ratings Officer’s report
P. Byrom gave a verbal report, stating that the ACF had reintroduced the ratings fees of rapid tournaments.

ITEM 4 – CORRESPONDENCE
4.1 Tournament Officer position
Garvin Gray was contacted to determine if he was interested in filling the vacant position of Tournament Officer. He declined.

4.2 From Hamish Selnes, including ideas for the Qld Championship tournament format
…
My suggestion is to open up the tournament to be a 7 round FIDE rated Swiss tournament. For example, the tournament would be open to any Queensland player who have a FIDE rating (there quite a few now) and for non -FIDE rated Queensland players who have an Australian rating of say over 1700? (the 1700 rating is just a suggestion).  I think there would be players who would play in the Qld Champs if the event was run like this but currently don't play in the Reserves if they miss out in getting into the Champs.

If the CAQ was really keen, it could be a 9 round FIDE rated Swiss with 4 games on one weekend, one game during the week (perhaps played the Brisbane Club?) and then the remaining 4 games the next weekend. This would be a fantastic format. 
…

4.3 Request from QWCL for re-imbursement of loss on the 2006 November Weekender
Moved G.Young, seconded B. Goh, that the QWCL be reimbursed the amount of $391.50, being the amount of loss on the 2006 November Weekender. Carried.

4.4 From Garvin Gray, RE: arbiter duties for the Qld Open
I am enquiring about the 2007 Qld Open. If no arbiter has been appointed so far, I wish to be arbiter for the tournament. Regarding the round schedule, I am one of the arbiters for the Sydney International Open which starts the day after the Qld Open ends. 
 
Therefore, to allow travel between the end of the Qld Open and SIO, I wish to propose that the last day's play of the Qld Open begins at 9am. This would be appreciated and allow the maximum amount of time between the end of the Qld Open and the last flights to Sydney.
 
So I would guess that the round schedule would look something like (assuming a 60/30 time control).
 
Saturday: 10am, 1:30pm, 5pm
Sunday:   10am, 1:30pm
Monday:   9am: 12:30pm.

4.5 From Graeme Gardiner, regarding the exclusion of spectators from ACF events
Moved I. Murray, seconded B. Thomas, that the CAQ recommends to the ACF that every effort be made to accommodate spectators in ACF events. Carried.

ITEM 5 – RATIFICATION OF EMAIL DECISIONS

5.1 That membership applications submitted on November 1 or later be considered current until the end of the following year.
Email decision ratified without objection.

5.2 Software Purchase
Email decision to purchase PDF editing software for the use of P. Byrom, for the purposes of creating the CAQ newsletter, was ratified without objection.

ITEM 6 - GENERAL BUSINESS

6.1 Should juniors be considered under 18 rather than under 20 years old (at the first day of the membership year). 
Whether to alter the clauses below, substituting the word "twenty" in each for eighteen.

6.3.1 Seniors are described as persons over the age of twenty years as at the first day of the membership year.

6.5.1 Full-time students are described as persons who are over the age of twenty years and are undertaking a course of study involving at least twenty hours of formal tuition per week.

6.6.1 Juniors are described as persons who are at least twelve years of age and under twenty years of age as at the first day of the membership year.

6.6A.1 Limited Juniors are described as persons under twenty years of age as at the first day of the membership year who meet the limited junior 
membership criteria, as defined by the Council from time to time.

Also affecting these bylaws:
10.4.2 On 1st January of the Championship year, entrants shall be under the age of twenty years, and under the age specified in each age division to be eligible for the following titles:-

	10.4.2.1 Queensland Under 20 Champion (to be deleted)

10.7.4 On 1st January of the Championship year, entrants shall be under the age of twenty years

This matter has been deferred to be decided at a General Meeting.

6.2 Whether email should be used for any Council discussion, or only for urgent business.
A show of hands unanimously decided that email should be used for any Council decisions.

6.3 Draft Budget for 2007
Budget submitted by I. Murray was met with no objection.

6.4 Membership application from Alex Toolsie
Alex Toolsie’s membership application was accepted without objection.

6.5 Whether all Council members should be provided with a hard copy of the CAQ constitution
All Council members indicated that they did not require a copy of the Constitution to be printed for themselves. 

6.6 Queensland Open Tournament
I. Murray to design the entry form, with the tournament to be closely modeled on the Qld Open 2006.
Garvin Gray to be the DOP for the event.

6.7 North Queensland Open Tournament
B. Powell advised that this tournament had been cancelled.

6.8 Director of Play Course
B. Powell to canvass for interest in a DOP course to be held in August, either on a single Sunday, or a series of Thursday nights.

6.9 CAQ presence at Open Tournaments
It was discussed that the CAQ Council should be represented at weekend tournaments, so raise awareness of the benefits and services the CAQ has to offer.
B. Powell and B. Thomas to attend the 2007 Gold Coast Tin Cup for this purpose.

6.10 Qld Championship and Qld Reserves, re: venue and sponsorship
Hamish Selnes proposed format was discussed, but it was deemed to be disadvantageous to regional players. 
It was decided to make the Championship an 8-player round robin, with a Swiss for the remainder of the field.
It was decided that, in order to raise the prestige of this event, the best players in Qld should contest the title. To this end, the top 6 players will be offered $150 appearance money.

6.11 The CAQ trailer
I. Murray to arrange the ordering of the trailer. B. Powell to collect the trailer and it is to be kept under the care of B. Powell / Suncoast Chess Club.

6.12 Sponsorship
D. Sampson to distribute his notes on sponsorship to CAQ affiliated clubs.

6.13 ACF Delegate position
Moved B. Powell, seconded P. Byrom, that B. Thomas be appointed the CAQ’s Delegate to the ACF. Carried.

6.14 Interclub Teams Tournament
J. Surridge provided a verbal report of the progress of the Interclub Teams Tournament, notably that he was very pleased with both the number of teams participating, and the number of titled players involved.

ITEM 7 - DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING
Meeting scheduled for 21/4, with venue and time to be decided via email discussion.