Oct 9 2006 board meeting minutes

Oct. 9, 2006, board meeting minutes

Attendance: Ball, Davis, Jasper, Kiefer, Lorz, Richards, Richter

President Brian Ball started the meeting at 12:10 p.m. without a quorum.

Programming: Mike Lorz reported that the event on emergency preparedness attracted 50 people, and 10 to 12 of them were SPJ members. Brian noted that two were from Business First.

The evaluations left after the program were positive except for one.

Mike said that the event probably wasn’t promoted well enough. He had hoped for a better turnout. He surmised that we could have attracted 100 people had the event been billed as an all-day affair dedicated to professional development.

Mike said he is seeking a joint program with WOSU at COSI. Debra Jasper suggested that the event not be held before January to avoid the business of the November election and the potential high prices for renting space during the holiday season in December.

WOSU is hoping to use our mailing distribution at least once for advertising. Brian asked members present to consider any potential ethical issues that could arise from that.

Brian also noted that the chapter will be doing a program on ethics in the spring, and it should focus on the idea of how to do the job without doing harm or minimizing harm to people being written about. Brian asked that members come up with some ideas. For instance, one ethical question is: Should we publish pending real-estate deals? Another: If you can’t get a quote from somebody, should you note that the person is out of town for the weekend even though that might embolden potential burglars to go after their property? Although we might have the right to know and publish certain things, how does the timing of when we publish potentially harm others?

Campaign for governor: Brian asked members to consider ways to get candidates J. Kenneth Blackwell and Ted Strickland to agree to a debate in Columbus. Gary Kiefer noted that the Ohio Association of Broadcasters has tried but the candidates have not agreed on a moderator. Strickland didn’t want Chris Wallace; Blackwell didn’t want Tom Brokaw.

Mike suggested that members think about a non-journalist, perhaps a talk-show host, who knows how to handle these situations.

Ohio SPJ: The Dispatch won a bunch of awards.

Brian thanked Mike, Robin Hepler and Sarah Mills Bacha for helping to get the chapter through the process of dealing with the other arms of Ohio SPJ.

Our chapter is to host the awards next year.

National secretary treasurer and regional director to visit: Brian suggested that our chapter host some sort of event for SPJ national secretary-treasurer David Aeikens and new Region 4 director Kevin Smith, who wants to meet with us in the near future.

Members present agreed that the event should be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Cap City Diner in Grandview Heights.

Meanwhile, Brian noted, Smith wants us to contribute $500 to the director’s travel fund.

David Richter, the treasurer, noted that the chapter has supported this in the past but that the huge price increase is new; Brian called it “egregious.” David said he would research how much our chapter has paid for this in the past.

Faulkner update: Gary reminded the board that one scholarship recipient notified him that she had not received her check. Since that time, Gary learned that the Faulkner Foundation needed the recipient to return a form before sending out the money. The issue is now resolved, Gary said.

Credit cards: David said that his research shows that credit cards will cost us 3 percent along with a 30-cent fee per transaction. Depending on the service that is chosen, there could be some up-front costs, he said. The chapter could use a radio receiver for the credit cards or use the old paper method. The preferred way, he said, is an online method. Paypal is one.

Hall of Fame: David has some calls out to people who should be able to say where the journalism hall of fame materials are housed. No one has called back yet.

Financial: David said the chapter has about $35,000 in total assets but that he had to transfer $2,000 from Money Market because the chapter didn’t bring in as much money this year. For instance, the chapter lost money on the Thursday at Thurber events and didn’t make money from the Ohio SPJ awards as in past years.

Another issue is the national SPJ office hasn’t been forwarding the chapter dues in a timely fashion. In fact, it appears that some people are joining the national organization but aren’t being charged local dues.

Our chapter dues are $15, and the national office is supposed to collect it for us.

Given that we’re known as the “Central Ohio Pro” chapter, that might confuse some who are looking for the name “Columbus,” Brian said.

Brian said he’ll ask the national office to send him a list of every member in Ohio and he’ll look geographically to see which ones should be chapter members but aren’t.

CABJ reception for Julie R. Bailey scholarship: The seven board members in attendance said they would support a motion by Mike, seconded by David, for the chapter to contribute $500 to the memorial scholarship fund for Julie Bailey, a Dispatch reporter for two decades who passed away in May.

Members present all said they support the idea and asked that an e-mail vote be done on this issue given that the reception is to be held on Oct. 28, which is before our board’s next regularly scheduled meeting.

The money would be sent to the Columbus Association of Black Journalists, which manages the scholarship.

Brian asked that advertisments for the event be sent via the U.S. Postal Service mail and e-mail.

Minutes: Brian said the board would have to hold off on seeking approval of the minutes that Kirk D. Richards prepared from the previous meeting because there was no quorum.

Members left the Plank’s Cafe at 1:05 p.m.