USTA Northern California Board of Directors
Minutes of Meeting of January 18th, 2006
Held at the Fremont ClubSport

Members Present: Rosie Bareis, Liz Blum, Terry Cossette, Jack Drimmer,
Dale Evans, John Frank, Hunter Gallaway, Bill Hansen, Jean Hassoun,
Don Jacobus, Paul Kepler, Rick Kepler, Gary Lee, Mark Manning, Tom Martin,
Linda Peltz, Margie Peterman, Deb Peterson, Francisco Ruiz and Pam Sloan.

Parliamentarian: John Togasaki

Staff: Executive Director Bruce Hunt.

Special Guests from USTA: Lucy Garvin, Joe Grover and Staciellen Heasley

The meeting of the USTA Northern California Board of Directors was
called to order by President Margie Peterman at 9:35PM.

Margie Peterman suggested a change in the agenda to allow the Elections
Committee to provide a status. There was no objection.

The issue was raised about the existence of two sets of minutes for the 12/8/05 Board meeting. After discussing several proposed proposals for merging these two versions, the version created by Jean Hassoun was deemed as the official version. Anyone would request changes as usually done.
Rosie moved to approve the minutes. Bill Hansen moved to cut down the minutes to follow the RROs’ defined contents.
By a vote of 11-6, the motion passed.
A new version of the minutes will be prepared and presented to the Board at the next meeting.

Jean Hassoun presented a short status on behalf of the Elections
Committee. That status was very limited due mostly to the ‘political’ situation in NorCal as the committee did not know if he was still mandated to do that work.
The committee would try to present its findings at the February meeting.

Action Item A: Distribution of the Board Minutes:
Jean Hassoun made the motion to change the current process of
publishing the minutes. The early version of the minutes would no longer be posted on the NorCal web site until they get approved by the board.
The current process of distribution to the Board members would remain unchanged.
The motion passed.

Action Item B: USTA NorCal Volunteer Travel Assistance Policy:
Jean Hassoun made the motion to adopt on an on-going basis the volunteer travel assistance policy as defined in the provided document.
That policy was, with minor changes, similar to the one adopted by the Board for the end of 2005.
Bruce Hunt suggested to change the max duration from 6 to 5 days.
Jean Hassoun agreed with the suggestion.
By a vote of 16-0, the motion to approve the policy as edited passed.

The board went into an executive session (board members only).
at 10:55PM.
The Board returned to a Normal session at 11:20PM.

Rick Kepler made a motion to move the February Board meeting to 2/27. Mark seconded the motion.
By a vote of 7-10, the motion failed.

Meeting was adjourned at 11:25pm

Respectfully submitted
Jean Hassoun, Secretary

BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING AGENDA
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
ClubSport Fremont
46650 Landing Parkway
Fremont, CA 94538

Directions: Driving South on 880, take the Mission Blvd/Warren Ave Exit. 
Continue on W. Warren and turn right on Landing Pkwy.
Driving North on 880, take the Gateway Blvd Exit.  Continue on Gateway Blvd
and turn right on Bayside Pkwy.  Bayside turns into Landing Pkwy

I. Food and Beverage—6 PM
II. Call to Order—6:30 PM
III. Introduction of Guests
IV. Public Comments-10 minutes, 2 minutes per speaker
V. Approval of Minutes
VI. Treasurer’s Report
A. Monthly Financial Statements (Green)
B. Monthly Grants (Red)
VII. Committee Decisions/Reports (Yellow)
VIII. Executive Committee Activity
IX. Action Items (Blue)
A. Distribution of the USTA NorCal Board Meeting Minutes
B. USTA NorCal Volunteer Travel Assistance Policy—USTA Annual and
Semiannual Meetings
X. President’s Report
XI. Delegate’s Report
XII. Executive Director’s Report
XIII. Old Business
XIV. New Business
XV. Adjournment of Meeting

Next Regular Meeting: Tentatively scheduled for Wed., Feb. 15 at a site to be determined (SAP Open Week).

January 2006 A

Title:  Distribution of the USTA NorCal Board Meeting Minutes

Presenter(s):   Jean Hassoun, Secretary, Deb Petersen, Rosie Bareis

Statement of Action Item:
Define the process of distributing the USTA NorCal Board meeting minutes (Web posting and/or other means) so they will only be distributed after their approval by the Board.

Rationale for Action:
No one person (e.g. the secretary of the Board) can guaranty the minutes to reflect properly the events and decisions during a board meeting until after they have been reviewed, corrected and approved by the board.

Unapproved minutes can be misinterpreted and cause much confusion about the events and decisions being reported.

Fiscal Impact:  None

Staff Comments:  None

January 2006 B

USTA NorCal Volunteer Travel Assistance Policy -
USTA Annual and Semi-Annual Meetings

Presenters:  Jean Hassoun, Deb Petersen and Rosie Bareis

Action Item Prepared by Andrea Norman and modified by Jean Hassoun

Statement of Action Item:

Effective January 1, 2006, the attached USTA NorCal Volunteer Travel Assistance Policy for reimbursement of expenses related to travel to the USTA Annual Meeting and the USTA Semi-Annual Meeting be adopted.

Rationale:

The attached USTA NorCal Volunteer Travel Assistance Policy for reimbursement of expenses related to travel to the USTA Annual Meeting and the USTA Semi-Annual Meeting is in the same form as was adopted by the Board in July 2005, with two exceptions:

1. The expiration date of December 31, 2005 has been removed; and

2. The maximum reimbursed stay is changed from 5 to 6-night stay to match the normal duration of a semi-annual meeting (see staff comment).

The rational for the continuation of this policy remains the same as originally presented:

• Dedicated volunteers should not be required to spend such a significant amount of their personal financial resources to attend the USTA Annual and Semi-Annual Meetings

• Reducing the financial barriers to participation on the national level may open up the opportunity for persons of more limited financial resources to apply for and receive national committee appointments

• Networking and relationship building that occurs among our own volunteers and
between our volunteers and staff can be a crucial component in USTA NorCal
accomplishing its goals to grow the game of tennis

• The opportunity to bring new ideas learned back to USTA NorCal to grow the game of tennis as well as for USTA NorCal to showcase the strides it is making toward growing the game

• Increased participation by NorCal at the national level affirms our presence and value to the Association as a whole, builds respect for our contribution to the Association, and can lead to additional appointments on the national committees, appointments to committee chair and vice chair positions, task forces, division council chair positions, and election to the Nominating Committee and the Board of Directors

Fiscal Impact:

In 2006, no additional fiscal impact will be incurred as the Board adopted in November 2005 a budget that incorporates $20,000 that is dedicated to travel assistance as outlined in the policy.

Staff Comments:

The number of nights should still be five instead of six because the sixth night is needed only by the Section President, Delegate and Executive Director.  Their expenses are covered by USTA White Plains.  All section volunteers could complete their business with five nights of rooming.