Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Chris Chase on his BCC Plans

Recently we asked Chris Chase and David Vigorito to post their plans for the Boylston Chess Club if they were elected President (remember to come to the meeting tonight). Here are Chris's thoughts. Formatting mistakes are my fault only.
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Hi,

Sorry for the delay in putting something up on the blog about my candidacy for the BCC presidency but I have been pretty ill with a terrible head cold that has plagued me for several weeks and I am hardly 100% as I type this so I ask for your understanding. Anyway, I am currently the VP of the BCC. I am the chair of the Development Committee that resulted in our excellent first annual fund raising last year during which we raised close to $5,000 for the club. I currently run the Early Bird QuickPlay Quads on Wednesday nights. I run the club's scholastic program and am looking to expand that. I also fill in when Bernardo needs time off. I became a TD this past year to do these things. One thing we certainly need more of are TD's but more on this later.

Going forward, I see the big issues for the club as, but necessarily limited to, the following:

1. Expand the volunteer base for the club. It is just not healthy for the club to use and abuse just a small number of people to keep club going. Certainly one of those areas is TDs. It is just not right for the club to put so much weight on Bernardo for tournament directing as it has in the past. We really need to reach to all club members to make sure that they all know that the club is a volunteer organization and that needs the active participation in club management. If I can pass the TD exam, then just about everyone can.

2. One pending huge issue is the status of our space. We currently do not have a lease, though there has been some talk of the landlord proposing one. In any case, we will need to constantly watch our housing situation in the next year.

3. A housekeeping committee needs to be formed to be responsible for keeping the club clean and to reorganize the whole space. The club needs to be cleaner and better laid out than it is currently is. This, of course, will require members to step up and lend a hand. Otherwise it will never get done.

4. There needs to be a club librarian/library committee responsible for managing and supervising our great book collection that has been somewhat abused over the past few years. I am afraid that without this kind of attention a great part of our legacy will just fade away.

These are just a few of the points/areas of the club business that I plan on addressing in the forthcoming year if I am elected president of the club. In any case, I would encourage all of you to become involved and to take an active interest in the welfare of the club!

Chris Chase

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