TCA Minutes 8th of June 2015

Meeting held in Burnie, 8th of June 2015 after the Tasmanian Open

Opened

1210h

Present:

  • Denis McMahon (President)
  • Ian Little (Vice-president, secretary)
  • David Hughes (Treasurer)
  • Kevin Bonham (Ratings officer)
  • Dylan Kuzmic (Burnie delegate)

Apologies:

  • Russell Horton (Burnie delegate)

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous TCA meeting, the AGM from the 9th of March 2015 were circulated prior to the start of the meeting.  No amendments were notified and the minutes were accepted as read and correct.

Matters arising:

Nil

Motions Moved in Advance

Moved McMahon

TCA takes over all costs associated with rating tournaments, for affiliated clubs.  Decision to be reviewed in 12 months.

The motion includes all club rated games and weekend tournaments for affiliated clubs.

This will improve efficiency as it will enable the TCA treasurer to send funds to the ACF upon the receipt of invoices without having to invoice individual clubs.  The current system sees the ACF invoicing the TCA, and then the TCA invoicing individual clubs for the costs associated with rating club based games and non-TCA weekenders.  These are minimal amounts are potentially absorbable by the TCA.

The TCA executive believes that continuing to run fundraising tournaments (the Tony Sturges Memorial and the Tasmanian Rapid Championship) as well as increasing levies to $15 per player will be enough to cover the increased coast, which is approximated to be $500 per annum.

Motion carried unanimously.

Discussions

Tournament Model Changes

Changing the current 90min + 15sec 3-3-1 Sat-Sun-Mon model to a 90min + 30sec 1-2-2-2 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon model for the Tasmanian Championships and/or Tasmanian Open.

Benefits

  • The Tasmanian Open can be run as a 7 round event under this model
  • The Tasmanian Championship could also contain a blitz tournament as the Open does
  • Game records will be more complete as competitors will have to record moves for the entire game
  • 2 games per day is fundamentally less demanding and will produce better quality chess for Tasmania’s premier chess events.
  • General and Executive meetings held mid tournament to make it easier and more attractive for members to attend.
  • ½ point byes available for the first 5 rounds

Detriments

  • Travel to and from the tournament on Friday evening and Monday afternoon
  • Potential extra accommodation costs

Work arounds

  • Launceston used as a location to reduce travel times and make the tournament a mid-way point between the north west and south
  • TCA provides an event co-ordinator whose job will encompass the research of cheaper accommodation to encourage players to car pool and share accommodation to reduce costs.

Broad support for testing this tournament format before the 2016 Tasmanian Open, but a suitable long weekend could not be found.

A 5 round tournament on a regular weekend was discussed, but the broad view was that numbers would be too low.

It was subsequently decided the model would be tested at the 2016 Tasmanian Open, and the Open would be moved to March while increased daylight hours were still available to drive in.

Motion moved Little

Hobart to host the Tasmanian Open in March on the Labour Day weekend in Launceston using the 90min + 30sec 1-2-2-2 Fri-Sat-Sun-Mon model, with the Tasmanian Lightning Championships to be held after round 3 on Saturday evening, and the AGM to be held after round 4 on Sunday afternoon.

Motion carried unanimously.

Constitutional amendments

discussion of 16.1.e, 16.1.f, and 16.4 regarding the voting status of executive positions and limiting the number of offices held by a single person at any given time.

A discussion of constitutional points 16.1.e, 16.1.f, and 16.4 was held and it was decided that no amendments were necessary at this stage.

From the discussion it was clarified that:

In reference to 16.1.e – as a matter of procedure Directors of Play should send their Swiss Perfect files directly to the ACF ratings officer and copy the TCA ratings officer in all ratings transactions.  The TCA treasurer will wait to be invoiced from the ACF.

Notification of events

TCA events such as the Classical, Rapid, and Lightning Championships, and the Tasmanian Open, as well as annual events such as the Tony Sturges Memorial, and Burnie Shine etc. are to give the TCA a minimum of 8 weeks’ notice for advertising purposes.  Some details may be released subject to change, but details regarding round times, cost, and rules should be locked in at the 8 week mark.

No formal motion was moved to this effect, but unanimous agreement was reached with no dissention from any of the clubs.

Privacy Policy

Discussion was had regarding the fact that now the TCA is incorporated and a legal entity it must take steps to protect its members.  General agreement was reached that while releasing e-mails and phone numbers is an important business tool, these should not be personal contact details.  If members choose to release personal details after being contacted for chess related business, that is their choice, but the TCA will not publish personal contact details on any of its digital media regardless of the wishes of the members involved.

Motion moved Little

In principle the TCA supports the development of a privacy policy for its digital footprint.

Motion carried unanimously.

ACTION: Ian Little to develop a draft policy to be introduced at or before the next executive meeting.  As an interim measure the TCA website will be scrubbed of personal information and tournament entry inquiries will be directed to organisers using a contact form.

General Business

Working with children

The working with children legislation will impact on the TCA but it remains unclear as to the exact requirements for general members, coaches, and executive members.  Broadly it was accepted that persons in positions of responsibility would need to obtain a working with children card, but more investigation is required.

ACTION: Kevin Bonham to investigate this matter and report back to the TCA on our responsibilities on or before the next executive meeting.

Tournament Entry Forms

Discussion led to the general agreement that entry forms for all tournaments are to include a consent from parents’ box where juniors are entering the tournament, and image collection and publication permissions.

Further discussion led to the general agreement that entry forms for all tournaments should also include a pay by bank transfer option, and not just the traditional postal payment by cheque.  The development of online credit card payments through the TCA website will be developed in conjunction with this.

No formal motion was moved to this effect, but unanimous agreement was reached with no dissention from any of the clubs.

Tasmanian Rapid Championships

The Tasmanian Rapid Championships are to be renamed the Bonham Cup, or in the absence of a cup, the Bonham Shield, in honour of the inaugural winner of the event, Dr Kevin Bonham.

Meeting Closed:

1315h