Executive Meeting held online, 11th of September 2022
OPENED
1930h
PRESENT
• Christopher Shepherd (Vice-President, Webmaster)
• Andrew Martini (Secretary)
• Christian Duboudin (Treasurer)
• James Bryant (Junior Chess Officer)
• Kevin Bonham (Ratings Officer)
• Scott Cohen (HCC Delegate)
• Fabian Ivancic (LCC Delegate)
APOLOGIES
• Reg Harvey (BCC Delegate)
• Denis McMahon (DCC Delegate)
AGENDA
1. AGM Minutes
o Final updates before website uploading
2. Review of current actions
3. Background on our current situation (and moving on)
4. Position of President
o Fill position before AGM or not
5. Tasmanian Rapid Championship
o Awarding to Carl Gorka of Rapid title
o Tournament Report
6. TCA Membership process / Role of club-based memberships – open call for presentation on this issue as described in my correspondence on 24 Aug 2022.
7. Huon Chess Festival – actions for the Executive
8. 2022 Junior Championship – discussion on format
9. Glen Gibbs Award
o Committee representation
10. Payment Systems
11. TCA Marketing Strategy
12. Changes to website – suggestions for improvement
o Coaching options within Tasmania
o Scholastic Chess Tournaments
MINUTES
Draft Minutes from 2022 AGM
Draft minutes were accepted for posting to the website, with formal acceptance at the next AGM.
Action Updates
Lodging of financial updates with CBOS – Change of financial year lodged with CBOS in December 2021. Option selected to be given 18-month period to lodge again. Kevin’s belief is that the 2020/21 financial report is to be lodged at the end of this calendar year, but he will follow up with CBOS.
Action: Kevin to confirm current lodging requirements with CBOS, impacted by change in financial year.
Position of President
Ian Little has resigned as President effective 26 Aug 2022 after it was alleged that he was not a member of the TCA at the time of being elected. Ian recently paid his TCA levy at the 2022 Tasmanian Rapid and Lighting Championship in order to address this, however, he was requested to stand down and be re-elected by Denis McMahon. Ian has subsequently resigned and is not seeking reinstatement as President. Ian reiterated his commitment to ensuring a good handover with the many new Executive members.
No nominations were received before or during the meeting for the position of President. Chris Shepherd now takes over the role somewhat reluctantly until the next AGM but has indicated that he does not want to stay in the position past this date.
Tasmanian Rapid Championship The State Eligibility Policy was discussed as part of the decision to award Carl Gorka the title of Tasmanian Rapid Champion. It was confirmed that the State Title Eligibility Policy is published on the website as a current policy of the Association. Denis McMahon stated (via email) that Carl was not on the electoral role in the days following the tournament. Denis subsequently confirmed (via email) that Carl is on the electoral role before this meeting. Andrew confirmed that at the time of the tournament, he had asked Carl about his status as a resident, and that Carl had supplied the verbal response that he had moved backed to Tasmania and was in the process of buying a property down here. Carl’s property purchase was verified during the meeting as happening before the tournament. Andrew shared recent correspondence with Denis that Denis had asked to be shared at the meeting and be formally included in our consideration. Denis’ questions with response from Andrew was shared without further questions arising (attached at end of minutes). The overwhelming view of the Executive was that Carl was for all intents and purposes a Tasmanian resident, and since he didn’t satisfy the exact criteria in the eligibility policy, a motion was passed per the policy that he be accepted as the State Champion.
Tournament Reports for the Tasmanian Rapid and Lightning events are outstanding on the TCA website. Kevin informed that tournament reports are not being sent to the ACF as the ACF editor is not currently publishing anything.
TCA Membership Process / Member’s Register
The below potential list of options for addressing how memberships.
| # | Levy system | Constitutional Impacts | Requirements & Intent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Literal reading of constitution – Club and Individual Levy system remain as is and fees to be paid to TCA as they are received by clubs | No change | Requires both TCA Treasurer and club treasurers to be up to date with documentation and respond to requests for information promptly. |
| 2 | Club and Individual Levies remain in place, with relaxed interpretation of section 3.1.a of the Constitution. This was commented on at the 2021 AGM. | No change, potential policy document needed. | Interpretation of Constitution required as to what “provided that the affiliated club pays on their behalf a club – based membership fee to the TCA” means in reality, in terms of timeframes. Solution that has been suggested: Clubs would need to provide updated member’s list upon request of the TCA Treasurer. Clubs billed towards end of year after last list update, with fees to be paid before end of financial year. |
| 3 | Club and Individual Levies remain in place, with list and payment expectations updated in Constitution | Change via SGM | As above, but with wording added to constitution to make both TCA and club expectations explicit. |
| 4 | Remove Club-based levies | Change via SGM | Individual levies only via online system and separate to tournament entry system. |
| 5 | Club and Individual Levies remain in place, with fixed times during the year for membership list updates and payments made to the TCA by clubs. | No change, potential policy document needed. | Similar to option 2, but with more certainness for bo.th clubs and TCA. |
Andrew noted that having to refer to individual meeting motions for interpretation of policies was problematic – motions passed should be reflected in standalone policy documents, if required.
Christian expressed that he would like the current process to be left as is for the rest of 2022, with the chance for him as the new Treasurer to make it work, along with any learnings gained potentially helping to inform updates in how the process is run. This was in line with Denis’ comments (as interpreted by Andrew) that the current system has not had a high chance of success because it wasn’t being run properly by the previous Treasurer.
There was support by James and Chris for removing club-based levies in the future. Kevin was also in support, noting that it had been difficult in the past coordinating on behalf of the HCC the relevant information for the TCA. There were also challenges for clubs under the current system, with occasional players to clubs (notably Hobart), requiring players who were testing out joining a club being required to be a TCA member for a one-night tournament.
Andrew noted that option 4 may be the simplest, though there is a risk to funding to the TCA, and that unintended consequences from pursuing this option should be examined thoroughly. He also noted that one fee for the whole year is potentially a negative incentive for players entering their first TCA event late in the year.
Christian confirmed that he had received a breakdown of the individual TCA levies paid at the 2022 Tasmanian Championships from Ian Little, at the time of the 2022 AGM, though it was incomplete.
Huon Chess Festival
Though not formally received, there is indication that the organisers of the Huon Chess Festival will ask for TCA assistance in running the event, through the use of our website for gathering entries, payments, etc. as well as equipment support.
James confirmed that he would be supporting the event with regards to boards, sets and clocks. Following up on discussion at the 2022 AGM on whether the TCA needed to purchase more equipment generally, James confirmed that Blacksquare Chess had significant chess resources that would be available if the need arose for TCA events.
The organisers of the Huon Chess Festival requested that the tournament not require players to be TCA members to play, despite being in Tasmania and receiving TCA support. There was support for this given the potential number of out of state players in the tournament, and Chris confirmed that HCC could cover the ratings costs as a donation if required (i.e., not paid by tournament organisers directly).
2022 Junior Championship
The awarding of the Tasmanian Junior Champion for the year was clarified. Typically, in the past, the winner of the final Interschool event has been crowned the TCA Junior Champion for that year. James highlighted that this has some limitations and potential bias, as the Interschool final does not allow for players from the same school to play each other. Players from a strong school would have an advantage over a single strong player from another school, as that player would potentially play all strong players from another school. Due to this, last year James set up the Junior Individual Championship, which is a true individual event and allows other category rankings.
It was confirmed that the constitution allows for the Junior Officer to run a Junior Championship as they see fit.
Andrew and Kevin both gave support for the running of this tournament by a for-profit business, if fair access was given to all Tasmanian juniors and not just those heavily involved in the school chess scene.
With regards to perpetual trophies for any junior titles, James will follow up with Christine Rumley to determine if any exist.
Action: James to discuss with Christine Rumley on the existence of any junior trophies that are inscribed with the winner’s name and should not be held onto for more than one year.
Other Business
Christian would like to simplify the payment methods for the TCA. He is also still having difficulty with accessing all accounts after the handover from Ian, especially in regard to multi-factor authentication accounts. No decision was made in the meeting, with Ian and Christian to discuss offline on the best way forward.
Kevin contacted Maria Gibbs on Sep 4 on the matter of outstanding funds for the Glen Gibbs Award and passed on Christian’s details for coordination. Maria acknowledged and said she would be in touch with Christian shortly.
CLOSED
2103h