Finance Council meeting

[Roger de Coverly]

This meeting of ECF voting membership is taking place on 18th April 2015 in Birmingham.

Details on the ECF website at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/finance-council-meeting/

There's only a limited window until 11th March for any of the voting membership to get matters on the Agenda. One of the topics that could be raised is in part financial, namely what is the objective of the ECF in promoting a National Chess Library?

Whether the ECF has done anything in the last six months is next to unknown, that's one of issues, namely lack of timely minutes or meeting reports.

Will anyone complain about the format changes to the 2015 British Championship Congress, which in my view go far beyond anything signalled by the usual questionnaire to participants?

[benedgell]

The agenda has now been sent out. At the last meeting I put an item on the agenda to discuss how leagues etc use game fee ahead of the ECF deciding on fees for the upcoming year. There wasn't enough time to discuss it then, and now its on the agenda for the Finance Council meeting after an item proposing game fee be increased for next season.

Agenda:

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a meeting of the Council will be held at the Ibis Hotel, Ladywell Walk, Arcadian Centre, Birmingham B5 4ST on Saturday 18 April 2015 starting at 1.30 pm.

The Procedural Bye Laws prescribe that the Chairman of the meeting shall seek to end the meeting by 6:00 p.m.; but it may be extended to 6:30 p.m. if Members wish. Further extensions can be made if Council votes to suspend standing orders.

This meeting is convened by John Philpott, Company Secretary. This Agenda is issued from the English Chess Federation Office (The Watch Oak, Chain Lane, Battle, East Sussex, TN33 0YD) on Wednesday 25 March 2015.

Members considering the appointment of a proxy or voting by directed proxy to the Chairman of the Meeting are directed to the relevant enclosure and should note that deadlines apply to the receipt of written proxies of all kinds.

Any organisation wishing to change its Representative Member should note that they must do so before 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday 15 April 2015.
In order to expedite the business of the meeting, Members are invited to contact the ECF Office beforehand should they have any questions of detail on the papers for the meeting, particularly the Budget Spreadsheet.

Enclosures:
(i) The Agenda
(ii) Attendance reply slip, appointment of proxy form
Please note that as a cost saving measure only a minimal set of paperwork has been mailed. The full set of paperwork will be published on the ECF website at http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?page_id=897 by no later than noon on Saturday 28 March 2015.
Should you require to be mailed a paper copy of the documentation please contact the ECF Office.

Agenda items have been annotated as follows
* Paper expected to be available for download on 28 March 2015

Venue Information
Parking: There is a “Chinatown” multi-story car park opposite.
Accessibility: The venue is wheelchair accessible via the main entrance.
Refreshments: Tea, coffee and biscuits will be available.

AGENDA
1. Appointment of Chairman
In the absence of the President the Board recommends that Council appoints John Foley, one of the Non-Executive Directors, to chair the meeting”.
2. Notices
2.1 Location of printed lists of Apologies for Absence, Members voting by individual Proxy and Members voting by Proxy to the Chairman of the Meeting.
2.2 Announcement of others in attendance with the permission of the Chairman
2.3 Appointment of Tellers
2.4 Voting Register *
Council is invited to note the Voting Register and any amendments thereto.
3. Approval and, if necessary, correction of minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Council held on 11 October 2014 *
Council is invited to consider and, if thought fit, resolve:"That the Chairman of the meeting shall sign the minutes as being an accurate record."
4. Matters Arising from these Minutes and not otherwise on the agenda
5. Approval of the ECF accounts * David Eustace
Council is invited to approve the accounts for the year ended 31 August 2014
.
6. Report of the Chairman of the Finance Committee * Mike Truran
Council is invited to note the report
7. Strategy statement * Phil Ehr
Council is invited to approve the strategy statement
8. Independent Constitutional and Governance Review Commission
Council is invited to receive an oral report from Gareth Pearce, Commission Chair
9. National Chess Library * Phil Ehr
Update on the position and the options.
10. Report of Finance Director and Budget 2015/2016 * David Eustace
Council is invited to note the report.
11. Proposal by William Armstrong (Direct Members’ representative) and Andrew Leadbetter (representative member of the Staffordshire County Chess Association
“That in fixing membership fees, the ECF should narrow the gap between Bronze and Silver so that eventually the two categories can be merged into one”.
12. Direct Members' Subscriptions *
Council is invited to consider the levels of subscriptions proposed by the Board and, if thought fit, resolve: “That subscriptions for the period 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2015 be set at the following levels:
Platinum: £60 (unchanged)
Gold: £32 (Junior £26) (currently £28 (Junior £22))
Silver: £22 (Junior £16) (currently £19 (Junior £13))
Bronze: £15 (Junior £11) (currently £13 (Junior £9))
13. Minimum Membership Fees for Member Organisations
Council is invited to consider and, if thought fit, resolve "That the minimum Membership Fee for Member Organisations increases from £58 to £60."
14. Determination of Game Fee
The Board’s proposes that
(a) The Game Fee rate for League, County and Club games be increased to £2.50 for standardplay and £1.25 for rapidplay (the 2013/14 rates were £2 and £1 respectively)
(b) The Game Fee for exclusively junior events be increased to 60p for standardplay and 30p for rapidplay (the 2013/14 rates were 50p and 25p respectively)
The pay to play fee for non-FIDE-rated Congresses that are not exclusively junior would be set as the difference between silver and bronze adult and junior memberships as determined under item 10. The pay to play fee proposed for FIDE-rated Congresses under item 15 shall, if approved, be determined in that item.
Unless there is overwhelming support for the Board’s proposals on a show of hands, a card vote will be held to fix the rates on the basis of the median of the votes cast.
15. Introduction of a Pay to Play Fee for FIDE-rated events * David Thomas
The Board proposes that “a Pay-to-Play fee equal to the difference between Silver and Gold membership rates be levied on each England-registered player in an event submitted for FIDE rating through the Federation who is not a Gold or Platinum member of the Federation, that for members holding Silver membership this payment shall be treated as an upgrade of such membership to Gold, and that the existing policy of requesting FIDE to delist such players be discontinued.”
16. Adoption of Budget for 2015/16 David Eustace
Council is invited to consider and, if though fit, adopt the budget for the financial year from 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2016.
17. Olympiad budget for 2016/17
Council is invited to approve the 2016/17 Olympiad budget of £36,000 expenditure and £2,500 income.
18. Amendments to the Procedural Byelaws * Chris Majer
Council is asked to consider and if thought fit approve the amendments to Byelaw No. 3 The Procedural Byelaws set out in the attached paper
19. Amendments to Regulations *
Council is asked to note:
19.1 Regulation No. 4 Standards of Conduct for ECF Officials which the Board approved on 16 February 2015.
19.2 Regulation No. 5 ECF Complaints Procedure which the Board approved on 16 February 2015
20. Proposal by the Board to discontinue the printed Yearbook and Diary after 2016. *
21. Discussion item requisitioned for the AGM, but deferred to the present meeting by the Devon County Chess Association, Bristol & District Chess League, Torbay Chess League, Royal Beacon Seniors Congress and Barnstaple Chess Club for members of Council to discuss how their groups use Game Fee to help the ECF identify any problems that might need to be resolved before Game Fee can be phased out in favour of a pure membership scheme *
22. Any Other Business of which notice has been given to the Chairman of the Meeting or Company Secretary before the start and which is of a minor nature only.
Matters of substance may not be raised under this heading, except in terms of information or a preliminary notification of important business for a future Meeting.
British Chess Extraordinary Council Meeting
An Extraordinary Council Meeting of the British Chess Federation will take place during the afternoon adjournment of the English Chess Federation Finance Council Meeting. The agenda for the BCF meeting is being sent to the members of the BCF Council (effectively the ECF Officers, Constituent Units and County Associations), and only these members are entitled to vote at this meeting. However, all members of the ECF Council who are not also members of the BCF Council are welcome to be in attendance. Papers for the BCF Council meeting can also be downloaded from the website at the same URL.

[Angus French]

Various (most though not yet all) supporting documents now available here.

[Carl Hibbard]

The code mentions the other forum:

3.4 ECF officials shall preferentially communicate on the ECF website/Forum (e.g. news of ECF events should be published on an ECF site before other sites).

[Roger de Coverly]

Various (most though not yet all) supporting documents now available

Other than general woolliness about the need to improve reserves and pay for the National Library, there's nothing of justification for the price rises, nor why they are higher for FIDE rated and tournament players than for club only players.

I'm pleased to see the proposal to abolish the blackmail rule in
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... events.pdf

That will mean that ENG players no longer resident and playing in England will not have to retain ECF membership in order to prevent the ECF seemingly labelling them as cheats.

I don't think the ECF has any method of collecting a participation fee from individuals, instead it will have to charge Congress and League organisers.

[Roger de Coverly]

The code mentions the other forum:

3.4 ECF officials shall preferentially communicate on the ECF website/Forum (e.g. news of ECF events should be published on an ECF site before other sites).

They failed on the Agenda. Presumably it was sent to Council members (who I take it are NOT ECF Officials) and it was almost immediately published here.

[Mike Truran]

I don't think the ECF has any method of collecting a participation fee from individuals, instead it will have to charge Congress and League organisers.

If it is intended to extend the coercion on organisations like the 4NCL to act as unpaid tax collectors/enforcers on behalf of the ECF, nobody from the ECF has so far had the courtesy to discuss that with me.

[Roger de Coverly]

If it is intended to extend the coercion on organisations like the 4NCL to act as unpaid tax collectors/enforcers on behalf of the ECF

I seem to recall the 4NCL inviting the ECF Office to attend the first round of a 4NCL weekend a few years ago to support the then new BCF/4NCL policy of forcing 4NCL players to become BCF members. In the same manner as if the 4NCL submitted for rating the games of a player without a valid FIN, the ECF could presumably refuse to rate the 4NCL unless it paid up any fees for non-members.

There's nothing to stop the 4NCL banning ENG players who aren't ECF members from participation, indeed player exclusion is what compulsory membership is all about.

[Mike Truran]

There you go again with your usual poisonous little distortions.

[Roger de Coverly]

There you go again with your usual poisonous little distortions.

I think you mean historic truth. Do you not recall the BCF setting up a stall at the first 4NCL weekend of the season, back in the days when it was at Sunningdale or Wokefield to collect memberships?

[Mike Truran]

I do. And you are poisonously distorting history because: (a) Its intention. as you know full well, was to make the process of joining the newly imposed scheme easier for 4NCL members, not to 'support' a BCF policy that had been forced on the 4NCL (see below); (b)It was never, as you also know full well, a 'BCF/4NCL policy'. It was entirely the brainchild of the BCF, imposed on the 4NCL under threat of revoking our FIDE rated status.

'Indeed player exclusion is what compulsory membership is all about' - another of your poisonous little distortions. Whatever one's views of the membership scheme, its principal aim has never been 'player exclusion'.

[Roger de Coverly]

It was entirely the brainchild of the BCF, imposed on the 4NCL under threat of revoking our FIDE rated status.

Do I recall the representatives of the 4NCL attempting to oppose this policy at Council meetings and challenging the BCF's notion that it was a FIDE edict? Did the 4NCL ever apologise to the players for being unable to prevent this BCF imposition? We both know that you were one of the principle cheer-leaders for compulsory or universal membership and you resigned from the Board when Council rejected an initial attempt to impose it.

[Roger de Coverly]

Whatever one's views of the membership scheme, its principal aim has never been 'player exclusion'.

Ben Egdell's motion to the April Council meeting may give an opportunity for discussion of this. But if ALL players are expected to become ECF members in order to take part in graded chess, there are only two options. Either you exclude games by non-members from the grading system or you exclude non-members entirely from being allowed to play. So if they take part in a Congress, you exclude the Congress from grading unless it pays the fees to make non-members into members and if they take part in a League, they are deemed defaulted.

There's a way out of course, which is that you have a system of temporary memberships. Membership advocates only ever seemed to want a model of annual payments, so never advocated that. That was a solution to the 4NCL's problem with the BCF, namely that participation in the 4NCL is deemed temporary membership for the supposed purpose of satisfying FIDE requirements.

[Ian Thompson]

I'm pleased to see the proposal to abolish the blackmail rule in
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... events.pdf

That will mean that ENG players no longer resident and playing in England will not have to retain ECF membership in order to prevent the ECF seemingly labelling them as cheats.

It doesn't say that. That might be the intention, but the way the proposal is written it only applies to England registered players playing in FIDE rated events in England.

[Mike Truran]

No doubt intentionally, and entirely characteristically, you are conflating two completely separate historical events.

Anyway, feel free to carry on ranting about the ECF membership scheme if you wish. The arguments have been aired ad nauseam, and I rather fear that events have passed you by.