[SBU Board] Restructuring of Unit and District Disciplinary Apparatus

[John Weinberg]

Greetings, friends -

As Disciplinary Chair for DINO, I (along with District Recorder David Binney) have been more than a little involved in the procedures for handling Player Memos, scheduling and conducting hearings, and other disciplinary matters arising at Regionals and at GNTs and NAP events sponsored by DINO.  What Tim sent us are major changes to the existing procedures.  They also appear to shift much of the burden from the Units to the Districts, such as DINO.  No, I never had an inkling that this was in the works, let alone an opportunity to comment on the proposal.  Perhaps the most charitable way to characterize it: it does not seem to be a strong suit of ACBL powers-that-be (at least in this instance) of inviting and considering the views of those of us in the trenches who must apply proposed changes.  Put less charitably, I suspect they did not ask for comments because they did not want to hear them or to respond to them.

That speaks to their procedure – but not necessarily to the merits of the changes.  The supporting reasons have much merit.

Tom, I am not sure I understand what you mean in saying you “smell a rat or two.”  I have no reason to believe there was anything corrupt or illegal involved in these changes.  But I certainly agree that they did not follow a reasonable process in adopting them.

John W.

From: Sbuboard <sbuboard-bounces+judgejohn=msn.com at mailman.celestial.com> On Behalf Of Tom Land via Sbuboard
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2019 1:15 PM
To: sbuboard at mailman.celestial.com
Cc: Tom Land <ltom2 at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [SBU Board] Restructuring of Unit and District Disciplinary Apparatus

I smell a rat or two.  Were we as a unit made aware of this pending change prior to passage?  Perhaps I missed the notice.  If we weren't made aware, this seems high handed at best, arrogant and dismissive at worst.  Have there been problems of which we were unaware?  What transitional  mechanism is being suggested?  I could go on, but you get my point.

Tom

In a message dated 7/24/2019 12:10:37 PM Pacific Standard Time, trkwhite at gmail.com<mailto:trkwhite at gmail.com> writes:

In the course of the ACBL Board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas, I learned of the change below reported by Robb Gordon.  I provide it for your information and use.

For D19 Board Members:  please relay this information to the unit boards within your constituencies.

In the coming weeks I plan to provide a broader report on the BoG meeting, including on matters related to potential changes to the ACBL governance structure.

Thanks,
Tim


For the Record
Robb Gordon,
ACBL National Recorder

At the ACBL Board meetings in Las Vegas, the Board passed a motion that restructures the unit and district disciplinary apparatus. The positions of Unit Recorder and Unit Disciplinary chair will be eliminated and responsibility for these functions will rest at district level. Why is this change being made? Several reasons:

1. Many units are small and don’t have enough volunteers (or they don’t have people willing to take on these tasks).

2. We have 25 districts and about 300 units. We want to have all disciplinary actions handled in a way consistent with our Code of Disciplinary Regulations. It is very difficult to keep 600 unit officials trained and current, especially with turnover that the Office of National Recorder might not even be aware of.

3. Units are sometimes so close-knit that it can be hard to find a panel that has no conflicts with either side.

4. There are so few cases that it is impossible for disciplinary personnel to keep their skills fresh. During 2018, for example, unit recorders dealt with 55 cases total ACBL-wide.

Of course, there are larger units with an effective recorder. Those units will be able to keep their recorder by requesting to the district to make that person an Assistant District Recorder. Such requests may not be unreasonably refused.

This change will not take effect until Jan. 1, 2020.
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