Thursday, September 17, 2020
Virtual meeting held via videoconference and conference call
Present: President Randy Showstack; Vice President Dee Ann Divis; Treasurer Dan Kubiske; Recording Secretary Kathryn Foxhall; Corresponding Secretary Amy Fickling; board members Julie Asher, Denise Dunbar, Jacqueline Fuller, Ken Jost and Celia Wexler
Excused absence: Selma Khenissi
Special Guests: Stephenie Overman, SPJ Region 2 coordinator; Kathleen Burns, student chapter liaison; and Andrew Schotz, chapter member
Call to Order
President Randy Showstack called the meeting to order at about 6:47 p.m.
Minutes
Showstack asked if there was any discussion of the minutes sent to the board prior to the meeting by Recording Secretary Kathryn Foxhall.
Treasurer Dan Kubiske moved the minutes be approved as presented. Board member Celia Wexler seconded the motion. The board approved the minutes as presented.
Financial Report
Corresponding Secretary Amy Fickling reported that due to the pandemic it has not been possible for Kubiske and she, as the former Treasurer, to meet at a bank to add his name to signature cards on the chapter accounts.
She had sent the board a short financial report prior to the meeting.
Kubiske moved the financial report be approved as presented. Wexler seconded the motion.
The board voted to approve.
Programs and Interns
Stephenie Overman, SPJ Region 2 coordinator, reported that the D.C. and Virginia chapters are looking at doing a program on Freedom of Information requests for the state.
She said the Virginia chapter is doing well bringing themselves back.
Kathleen Burns, student chapter liaison, said she wanted the chapter to look at virtual internships. She said we might ask members if we they could supervise students. Kubiske said we might use interns to help put out the chapter newsletter, for one thing. He also said there is a student at George Washington University who wants to start a chapter.
Jaqueline Fuller said there is interest in starting a chapter at Marymount University.
Burns said she would look into getting student interns for the chapter itself. She asked chapter officers to provide job descriptions.
Vice President Dee Ann Divis noted she will have knee surgery soon and that will prevent her from working on programs for six to eight weeks, she said. She requested help from the board to take on this work.
Kubiske said that on December 15 the SPJ International Community will do a virtual program on the First Amendment int ernationally and that could serve as a chapter program.
Discussion with SPJ President
Matthew Hall, the new SPJ national president, joined the meeting by Zoom at about 7 p.m.
He noted the new SPJ strategic plan includes goals on diversity and inclusion, student journalists, and possibly planning multiple, sequential annual SPJ conferences in Washington.
He said partly because of theCOVID-19 pandemic and the lack of travel expenses for national board members to travel to EIJ20, there was about $50,000 saved, and it looks like the SPJ budget will be in the black by year’s end.
Hall also noted there is discussion of SPJ instituting an advocacy presence in Washington, D.C. First step would be a cost-benefit analysis. He said one idea was to use universities in order to avoid paying D.C. rents. He said another possibility was to move the entire SPJ offices to D.C.
Wexler noted that organizations don’t have to have offices in D.C. as long as they have people here, but an effective coalition that SPJ leads would be good.
Hall said SPJ will use the International Community and the Freelance Community as models and look for three other subject areas for communities this year.
In terms of campus chapters, he said the national board will look first at chapters that previously closed.
Hall left the meeting at about 7:15 p.m.
Divis stressed the advocacy does not start in five months, but that it starts with the new Congress.
More on Programs
Kubiske noted that now that people are all on Zoom there is no reason SPJ chapters and communities cannot join each other’s programs. He said one idea would be to publicize them in our newsletter.
Overman suggested that the regional coordinators could put together a newsletter with events.
Divis suggested we could do a program with elections experts.
Newsletter
Fickling asked members who had attended the SPJ national meeting to write a short piece about their impressions or other topics.
She also asked the chapter to have something that we have done or will do for the newsletter. It is helpful that the main item each newsletter is something upcoming to publicize.
Financial and Other Matters
Fickling said the audit committee for the chapter is working on the audit. She has provided documents electronically to the committee, and they are still deciding if they want if they want to meet in person to look at actual paper documents, or if they can do this all electronically. Kubiske said he checked with the committee in case he needs to set up a Zoom meeting for them, and got the sense they will need bit more time.
She said Jane Giles, the chapter’s awards coordinator, has been informed about the increase in the stipend, which she requested, in her contract approved by the board at its August meeting. Fickling said the contract needs to be updated and Giles needs to sign it, but she is on board with continuing for another year in her role.
Board members discussed the vacancy on the board created when Immediate Past President Jonathan Make resigned from the board last month. That position is ex-officio and does not have to be filled.
Freedom of Information Report: Restrictions through PIOs
Recording Secretary Kathryn Foxhall reported that the resolution that SPJ passed at the annual convention of delegates got four different releases: one on a letter to the National Academy of Sciences on a meeting it was having related to distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine; another from SPJ headquarters to 2000 plus journalists; another to her personal list of contacts; and another from the chapter to about 4400 journalists.
However,the most important thing, she said, was that the SPJ FOI committee had sent out invitations for research on the restrictions through PIOs. One response was from the Media Freedom of Information law clinic at Yale. Now several second-year law students are working with their advisers and First Amendment Attorney Frank LoMonte, looking for cases to bring on the PIO issue.
Emergency, Unbudgeted Expenses
Divis proposed that the chapter adopt the language from the national SPJ on emergency spending by pro chapter board members. Special guest Andy Schotz read the pertinent part of the SPJ rules:
“Prior authorization from at least one board member other than the treasurer when another member spends under $100.”
“Require approval of at least two officers of any expenditure of $100 or more.”
“A majority board vote of any expenditure of over $200, in person or electronic.”
Divis said, “I move that the chapter officially adopt the Society of Professional Journalists’ national guidelines stating how emergency expenses can be handled by a chapter.”
Wexler seconded the motion.
Fickling asked how we will define “emergency.” Divis said an emergency will be something that has to be done before the next board meeting.
Fickling noted the chapter bylaws state that all expenditures must be approved by the board and between meetings we can vote electronically.
Schotz indicated that this would be for “unbudgeted” expenditures. Divis said she would agree to that wording.
Board Member Denise Dunbar asked if this meant that when someone said they would buy donuts for a meeting, that person would tell a second member and thus make it okay to be reimbursed. Schotz said that was correct.
However, she asked whether this process would eliminate discussion during a board meeting of an upcoming expenditure that is not budgeted. Schotz said it does not replace anything being approved in that manner.
Board member Ken Jost suggested we add the word time-sensitive. Divis said she would accept the wording “time sensitive, unbudgeted.”
Fickling said historically she did not see that there have been that many emergencies.
She said if we adopt this wording we would need to change the bylaws.
Board member Julie Asher called the question.
Divis stated the amended motion:
“I move that the chapter officially adopt the Society of Professional Journalists’ national guidelines stating how time-sensitive, unbudgeted expenses can be handled by a chapter.”
Wexler re-seconded the motion.
The board approved the motion to adopt the national guidelines on such expenses. Fickling cast a dissenting vote.
Membership Meeting Plans
Fickling informed the board that the Montgomery County facility where the chapter has previously had its January membership meeting has said it will continue to be closed through that month.
Several members suggested a Zoom session.
Foxhall suggested we ask some members to tell us a story in three minutes of the scariest or the funniest point they had in doing journalism.
Showstack suggested we put some of the stories on the website. Members talked about instances where such discussion was recorded in advance. Showstack asked if Kubiske could set up the Zoom presentation and contact the people who will get recognition at the meeting.
Members also suggested having a happy hour for the whole chapter and a happy hour for the board and President Matthew Hall.
Hall of Fame Bios, Member Listing, Website
Jost asked if anyone would like to do one or two bios of journalists on our Hall of Fame awards page, to continue the work started. Schotz suggested that some of these may already be on the fellows list at national SPJ.
Burns asked what the chapter is doing with work on membership and renewals and about updating our website. Burns was asked by Fickling to provide by email a list of items she thinks need to be updated on the website. Members decided to discuss it by email.
Kubiske moved that the meeting be adjourned. Divis seconded. The board approved the motion.
The meeting was adjourned at about 8:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Foxhall
Recording Secretary
2020-2021