Sept 11 2006 board meeting minutes

Sept. 11, 2006, board meeting minutes

Attendance: Bacha, Ball, Beathard, Davis, Kiefer, Kostyu, Lorz, Meyer, Richter, Richards, Williams

President Brian Ball called the meeting to order at 12:05 p.m.

Minutes approved: The board approved a motion by Paul Kostyu, seconded by David Richter, to approve the minutes from the August meeting that secretary Kirk D. Richards prepared. Joe Meyer, who did not attend that meeting, abstained.

Treasurer: The chapter has $1,627 in the checking account at Fifth Third Bank. The chapter spent $114.74 on mailings.

Programs: Our chapter is co-sponsoring the Crisis Communications Planning and Reporting event with the Columbus International Association of Business Communicators and the Association for Women in Communications on Sept. 21 at the Fawcent Center.

The communications professionals on the panel will be Jay Carey of the Ohio Health Department, Steve Jablonski of NiSource and Angie Tabor of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority.

The media representatives on the panel will be WCMH-TV (Channel 4) news director Stan Sanders, Columbus Dispatch managing editor Alan Miller and Statehouse bureau chief Karen Kasler of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

The moderator will be Luke Feck, former editor of The Dispatch and retired AEP senior VP of corporate communications.

Mike will send out an e-blast on a program, which will cost $25 a person to attend. There will be no appetizers but people can choose a dinner of pork, chicken or vegetarian pasta. A dessert will be offered.

The contract calls for a minimum of $200 to be spent at the cash bar.

Brian wants an ethics program, noting that there is grant money available that could help us pay for it.

Brian asked that board members think about potential professional development programs.

Ohio SPJ: Brian thanked Sarah Mills Bacha, Robin Hepler and Mike Lorz for their efforts.

Sarah said the team had to build a list of contacts. Robin’s intern created a database for the invitation list.

Sarah said she and Felix Winternitz of SPJ Cincinnati debated on the RSVP date and the compromise was Sept. 10. They acted like they have no money, but the contest entry fees are $30, the dinner is $70, and the ads are expensive and billed in advance.

Sarah described it as a painful process and described the other arms of Ohio SPJ as disorganized.

The last time our chapter hosted it was during Chuck Nelson’s administration, and we complained about the same things, such as SPJ Cincy not providing us with a budget or anything, Gary said. The situation hasn’t improved, he said. He noted that our chapter was sending Ohio SPJ about $2,500 worth of entries and that the plaques weren’t costing nearly that much.

Brian said that SPJ Cincinnati was running everything out of its chapter operating fund, leading to problems.

Lorz said he might support having our chapter, which will host it next year, handle everything to make sure that it’s the best that it can be.

Membership communication: Brian said he’d like the chapter to seek young professionals and student members.

David noted that those who pay student dues are not counted as members of our chapter but belong to student chapters. Given that students come and go over the years, the strength of student chapters tends to be inconsistent, David said.

Paul recommended that our chapter host events near students. If we hold one in Athens where Ohio University is located, Thomas Hodson is likely to help generate interest, Paul said.

Joe suggested that a student blog be created on the Web site to allow the students to post updates on their events and activities.

SPJ National: The proposed one-member-one-vote amendment was defeated 70-65, according to The Working Press. Brian voted in favor of the amendment, per the chapter’s wishes.

David said that the majority of the people who are voting are the ones who want to maintain the system as it is, which allows only them to cast votes in the delegate system.

Brian said he heard that the issue will return in a different form.

In addition, Bruce Cadwallader lost his bid to become president-elect. Usually, the secretary-tresurer (as Bruce was) runs unopposed. This time, competition came from Clint Brewer, who won 74-60, according to The Working Press.

Christine Tatum, who was installed as president, was said to not want Bruce following her as president, Brian said he was told. As a result, Brian said, Tatum found someone to run against Bruce, who had much more experience.

Faulkner Awards: One recipient, Amanda Kawalek, informed the board that she had not yet received the scholarship money into her school account at Ohio State University.

Ohio Journalism Hall of Fame: In response to Brian’s inquiry about the hall, Mike said that he and Rose Hume tried to set it up and that Dispatch association publisher Michael Curtin had expressed an interest. But it’s hard to get what was formerly the journalism department at OSU to cooperate on this project.

David agreed to investigate where those awards are currently housed.

Paul noted that Otterbein College might be willing to give the hall some space given that the college is housing our chapter archives.

Brian and the board gave David the OK to check whether it would be cost effective for our chapter to start accepting credit cards for events.

David noted that several people ask to pay using that method for our events, especially with the auction. Some students don’t even have checkbooks.

David will check how much it would cost to set up the service. He’ll start with Fifth-Third Bank.

New business: Kevin Smith was elected the new Region 4 director in Chicago. Smith of Fairmont State replaces Joe Wessels, who ran for secretary-treasurer. Brian said he voted for Smith because Smith showed an interest in addressing the problems with Ohio SPJ. Smith recognizes that two-thirds of his region comes from Ohio, Brian said.

Adjournment: The board approved a motion by Paul, seconded by Joe, to adjourn at 12:55 p.m.