DC Pro-Duffers Chapter Meeting Minutes
March 21, 2017
PRESIDENTS REPORT: JIM
NATIONAL FOCUS:
Jim Martin called the meeting to order at 8:05pm.
National President - The new national President (Kelvin Massey) attended our 2016 Banquet and he indicated that it was enjoyable.
National Delegate Cap – Jim intends to have a follow up discussion with Kelvin Massey on this issue. The current rule is 1 delegate per 10 chapter members with a total cap of 5 delegates per chapter. Those chapters with more 50 members do not have the same proportional delegate representation as the smaller chapters. Kelvin Massey has committed to work with Jim on the delegate issue. Atlanta plans to only pay for 41 members but are willing to pay the balance if there is movement on the delegate issue. Jim offered the following proposal for the chapter to consider:
We feel exactly the way Atlanta does. If Kelvin Massey commits to sponsor legislation to get this issue in front of the body for a vote we will pay for all of our members. If Kelvin does not commit to this approach the DC Chapter will only pay for 41 members.
· Attendee Question: Has Atlanta reached out to us on this issue?
· Jim: Yes, I have talked with Karon. They certainly have reached out.
· Attendee Question: Are we talking promise that they will do it or that they will review it.
· Jim: The National President cannot promise that he will make this happen. He will need to get that out for a vote in September. He can promise that he will sponsor the effort to help get this raised. We, Atlanta and Orlando and some of the other chapters are open to doing away with the cap or raising it. Jim noted that it may be easier to raise the cap than to eliminate it.
· Attendee Question: What about splitting the DC Chapter into 2?
· Jim: There are lots of things we can look at.
· Attendee Question: If we were trying to send a message, wouldn’t it be stronger to do what Atlanta is doing.
· Jim: I don’t disagree. We are the founding chapter, we do tend to try to set the direction. Maybe the responsible leadership here is to find a way to get this in front of folks to reflect what is reasonable.
· Attendee Comment: You might want to know a little of the history behind the current rule. We were among the smaller chapters that instituted the 1 vote with 5 as the maximum back when we were 150 members nationally. This represents a total flip flop. The smaller chapters lobbied very hard to get this rule because Atlanta had a large membership and they were exerting a significant impact on important decisions.
· Attendee Comment: US Congress has 435 representatives. Why should a chapter be penalized with limited representation because it was successful in growing. Unless you are going to cap the size of the chapter, why would you put a cap on the representation?
· Attendee Comment: Since we need to lobby on this point and there are several of us going to the Sprint Fling we need some instructions on what we should do.
· Attendee Comment: Politically, the last thing Kelvin wants is DC, Atlanta and Orlando ganging up against the rest of the chapters so he is probably going to be inclined to say ‘Ok Jim, if you don’t go in with Atlanta and give me a chance to fix this thing then we can work it out.’ This is a good alternative.
· Attendee Comment: We do need to raise the cap. We ought to take one more above 50 during negotiations. If that fails we stay with the current rule.
· Jim: If Kelvin agrees to work hard on this then I am inclined to work with him. Atlanta’s style is always to do this. If it doesn’t get resolved this year then next year we know what our position is.
· Attendee Question: What do the by-laws say about withholding money?
· Jim: I am unaware of any impact that it will have. Don’t forget, this organization wants to be ‘state’s rights’.
2017 Spring Fling: Innisbrook April 28 through April 30th.
2017 Nationals: Jim told the attendees that we need to do well in this event. The National is at San Antonio. If we take our numbers we do well. Please think about this. The web site is either up or will be up soon. Jim took an action item to update the attendees on the status of the site by email or at the next meeting.
2018 Spring Fling: Next year the Spring Fling is hosted by Atlanta and will be held at Stone Mountain.
LOCAL FOCUS:
Archivist/Historian – Melvin and Rick are hard at work and we will hear more from them going forward.
Play Days – Mel has set this up. Sometimes known as the Mel Blackwell Invitational. We are having fun with this and we are playing more golf. We cannot help but to get better because we are playing more.
Foundation Board – The board is working hard and you will hear more about their work this evening. There was a board meeting just before this meeting and Dave will talk more about this.
Membership – You will note that this is membership month and we will hear from Clyde.
Events – There are just a couple of tournaments listed in the agenda and you guys seem to like that these items are noted.
· Howard Bison Express on 21 April at Lake Presidential
· Arlene Robinson Scholarship on 6 May at Andrews
· George B Thomas – We have supported this event heavily. They have done a great job in the community since 1986. A number of you are members of the board. Bill (?) took an action item to send an email to Jim so we can get something out to the chapter. The event is 19 May.
· Ocean City – To be discussed at next month’s meeting.
Other Topics -
· Judge Rigsby’s Wife’s Investiture – Everyone should have received the invitation. Attendees indicated they were able to attend. This was a nice honor and it was reported that the court room was packed.
· The Nomads Golf Club – Bill Powell indicated that this is probably the oldest black golf club in the county. It goes back to Jessie Owens. There were a number of Pro-Duffers who were members. We have 3 emeritus members in attendance tonight – Rufus McKinney, Bill Taylor and myself (Bill Powell). Showtime and 60 Minutes sports did a video history recently that you can find on YouTube. This is very informative and entertaining. Link: www.africanamericangolfersdigest.com/the-history-of-the-nomads-an-exclusive-afric
· Sewell Horad - We are presenting a picture of the club members to Sewell in honor of his 95th birthday. Check in with Marvin Gunn to sign the boarder of the picture.
· Roy Baptiste – Roy’s memorial service was held recently. There were approximately 10 members who were able to attend and all were in uniform.
SECRETARY REPORT JOHN
There are copies of last month’s minutes on your table. Copies are also sent in email and posted on the chapter’s website. I will make an effort to get the minutes out much sooner in the future.
There was a mix up in the invitation for tonight’s meeting. I am responsible for getting the invitations sent. Due my extensive travel last year Ira Hobb’s stepped in to assist by sending out the invitations. Last week I failed to coordinate with Ira and that resulted in you receiving two invitations.
Motion to approve the minutes was approved.
TREASURER REPORT IRA
Last year we had 78 active members, plus two National Emeritus members for a total of 80. This year we are getting there. The cutoff date is March 24. We are trying to get our registration in to the Nationals. A few members have indicated they will not be playing this year due to an assortment of reasons. A few members are returning after taking last year off. We have started the collection process for this year. We have about $22K and we have not spent any money besides these dinners.
Regarding the e-invite, between John and I we came up with 39 people who indicated they would attend tonight’s meeting. I counted 51 people who are present. Fortunately the country club here cooks in big numbers otherwise some folks would have been short. It is great however, because this is the largest number of attendees that I have ever witnessed as a Pro Duffer. This is wonderful.
If you have paid your dues you have not gotten any more messages from me. The list of remaining members who have not paid for this year is dwindling but I will be reaching out to some of you tonight. I have tried to be responsible in getting information back to you quickly letting you know that I have received your payment. We need to keep our numbers high, otherwise we won’t need to continue talking about representational rights.
The financial report is available at your tables. It shows where we are going with the budget this year. The budget reflects what we have standardized around for spending including increased levels of support for the banquet and the money used for gifts to our wives and significant others.
Motion to approve the treasury report was approved.
MEMBERSHIP CLYDE
This year we only have 1 application to this group, Donald Day, 12 handicap and is being sponsored by John Macklin. He could not be here tonight however, he has sent his check for his dues. Can I get a motion to accept Mr. Day?
Attendee Question: Can we have some background information?
John Macklin: Donald plays golf with me down in Florida. He lives in Silver Spring and also has a residence in Florida. His handicap has improved. It used to be high now he is down to 12 because he plays regularly. I move that we accept him. He is 69 years old and retired from a career in real estate.
Motion to accept Donald Day was approved.
FOUNDATION COMMITTEE DAVID
The work on the foundation is [driven] by our board of directors and our two subcommittees. We are setting up a 3rd subcommittee. We have some important things to discuss regarding the tournament and I am providing this information to you from the committee chairman, Richard Johns. We are well ahead of schedule. Richard indicated that we should remember that the Eventbrite registration is live (this means that it is online). You can go to the event website and use the registration link or you can go to the Pro Duffers website and access the registration link. This enables you to get necessary information and ensure maximum participation by sponsors and guests. Part of your dues go to fees related to this tournament.
Courtland Cox and Cal LaRoche and committee have been busy as it relates to the mission of the foundation. They have setup grant criteria to address how funds are dispersed. They have created multiple levels of participation: junior level, an intermediate level that focuses on HBCU’s and a professional level (deferring to Jim Martin because we have a national focus in this area). We have a matrix that Cal developed to determine how we will evaluate the program. We also have an evaluation committee that we setup this evening that will start to evaluate the various programs.
That is where we are and I am very proud of the work we are doing.
An example of some forward thinking is that we reached out to Del-Val and Virginia partners to have them to participate in our tournament. If you have relationships with these groups please reach out to them. We are trying to get as many people to the tournament as possible.
Attendee Question: The tournament will be at Montgomery Country Club?
David: No, it will be at Norbeck.
Attendee Comment: We need sponsors. Most large corporations need time to commit funding so please get those requests in early.
Jim – I can tell you that the foundation has been in place over 30 years. Between the officers, board and subcommittee we have, they have been doing lots of work. I want to specifically note that Richard Johns has been doing a great job with the tournament. Thank you Richard.
The memorial tournament is our chief fund raising activity. I foresee that the more participation you have, the more coverage you have, the more attractive you can be to corporate sponsors. Please reach out to your contacts and Richard and team are available to support you. These things don’t grow overnight. Thank you David for your efforts to pull this together.
GOLF TOURNAMENT CHAIRMAN MARVIN
Jim mentioned the beautiful display put together by Bill Taylor. The image is from a few years ago and we thought that in honor of Sewell’s 95th birthday we would provide this picture with signatures from the chapter. We presented the picture to him on his birthday. He is aware. One question he always asks is ‘How many new members did you bring in this year?’
We have some unfinished business from last year. Tournament winners from 2017. We want to properly acknowledge people who shine during the season.
· Bob Jones was called out for serving as Ramrod last year and he also won a couple of trophies.
· Lee Hall was called out for winning 3rd low gross in Hyde flight.
· Gary Harris was called out for winning 2nd low net in Carr flight.
· Warren was called out for winning 3rd low gross in Bernard flight.
· Steve Hill was called out for winning 1st low gross Horad flight and 1st place in match play for Horad flight.
The draft schedule is posted on the website and it is pretty much finalized except for one thing. The date is set for August 16th for this year’s mystery trip. I won’t tell you where we are going but you will like it.
The 29 April play date is still in question because a few of you are going to the Spring Fling. It is a metal play event and has bearing on standings.
The first event is the 15 April Ice Breaker at Rattlewood.