Sept 14 2009 board meeting minutes

September 14, 2009 board meeting minutes

Attendance: Jennifer Monnin, Jane Beathard, Katy Waters, Sarah Mills Bacha, Robin Hepler, Chuck Nelson, Joe Meyer, Kevin Kemper, Barbara James, Beth Gianforcaro

President Kevin Kemper called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. with a quorum present.

Minutes of the March 9, April 2 and May 11 meetings were approved as read.

Robin Hepler provided the treasurer’s report. She said the checking account balance as of Sept. 14 was $9,233.01. She suggested some money may be moved to an interest-bearing account, although rates are not high anywhere. Joe Meyer suggested keeping $4,000 in the checking account and put the remainder into a prime money market account. Kevin suggested $4,600 be divided between the prime money market account and the 500 index fund.

The money market has a balance of $9,337.50. The index fund has a balance of $12,656.91. The value of those combined funds at the end of March was $24,238.24.

Currently, there is also $173.97 in the PayPal account. Proceeds from the SPJ awards accounted for significant money.

Also, Robin said that she and Sarah Mills Bacha will divide treasurer’s duties. Robin will handle day-to-day money management, while Sarah will act as consultant.

Programming: Katy Waters said about 39 people attended the recent program in Fredericktown. She announced the 2009 Law & Media Conference, of which SPJ is a sponsor, is set for Oct. 2 at the Ohio Bar Association.

Katy asked if any board members had ideas for a diversity program in September or October. A $500 grant is available from the national organization to pay for a speaker’s travel costs. She offered to contact the Columbus Association of Black Journalists to see if that organization is interested in co-hosting a diversity program.

Joe suggested SPJ contact the Islamic family in New Albany whose teenage daughter fled to Florida in an apparent religious/cultural dispute with her parents. Jennifer Monnin suggested SPJ contact someone from the girl’s Orlando congregation to serve on a panel about the conflict.

Membership: There was no membership report.

Committees: Joe suggested the board look to SPJ members who are not on the board to serve as committee chairmen.

Committees for 2009-2010 are:
Founder’s Day – Jennifer Monnin, Jane Beathard, Beth Gianforcaro and Katy Waters
Newsroom Training – Joe Meyer, Katy Waters
Diversity Program – Ismail Turay, Katy Waters
Ethics Program – Barbara James, Katy Waters
Ohio/Regional SPJ matters – Jennifer Monnin, Mike Lorz, Brian Ball
Web page – Chuck Nelson
FOI – Jonathan Peters
Scholarships – Ismail Turay, Julanne Hohbach
Judging – Mike Lorz
Newsletter – Kevin Kemper

Old Business: Kevin provided a summary of activities at the recent national SPJ convention in Indianapolis. He said more than 600 people attended – a higher number than 2008. However, overall national membership is down.

There are 20 finalists for the position of SPJ executive director. A final selection will come in mid fall.

The 2010 national convention is set for Las Vegas. The 2011 convention will be in conjunction with the RTNB and may possibly be held in Orlando, Florida.

The national SPJ Web site currently features a toolkit for unemployed journalists. The current economic downturn also prompted a relaxing of the chapter ranking system. Unemployed members are getting a six-month extension on their 2010 dues.

In other notices, the 2010 regional conference is scheduled for April 9-10 in Cleveland. The 2011 regional conference will be held in Cincinnati. Both the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky chapters will be sponsors in 2011.

The Central Ohio SPJ Chapter currently has a 4-star ranking.

New Business: Katy suggested the chapter create a Facebook page to increase outreach. Beth Gianforcaro suggested the chapter also join the Linked-In network. Chuck Nelson objected, saying it appeared the chapter was getting involved in too many subsets.

Katy offered to take charge of a chapter Facebook page; Beth offered to do the same with Linked-In. Kevin said he will also attempt to author a chapter newsletter for the Web page.

Katy said the Franklin County Consortium For Good Government will hold a forum on Oct. 15 in Clintonville, regarding state issues on the Nov. 3 ballot. She asked if the chapter wants to promote this event.

Joe said the chapter does not have the manpower to support the event. However, the chapter could put a notice on its Web page. Kevin said that should be the extent of the chapter’s involvement.

The meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m.