Executive Committee and General Membership Closing Meeting Minutes
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Salt Lake City Marriott City Center, Salt Lake City
Called to order by president Phil Kaplan at 11:03 a.m. Motion to open meeting by Paul Skrbina, seconded by Jerry Micco.
Executive Committee roll call:
President Phil Kaplan
First vice president Michael Anastasi
Second vice president Gerry Ahern
Third vice president Ben Brigandi
Past presidents Garry D. Howard, Jerry Micco, Glen Crevier
Executive director Jack Berninger
Regions (Chairs, or the Vice Chair or other recognized representative in their absence):
Paul Skrbina, Great Lakes
Mike Sherman, Great Plains
Josh Barnett, Mid-Atlantic
Matt Pepin, Northeast
Bill Reader, Northwest
John Bednarowski, Southeast
Brad Lehman, Southwest
Gene Warnick, West
Absent: Atlantic Coast, Canada
General membership
Josh Barnett, Philadelphia Daily News
Kurtis Beavers, Indiana University
John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal
Mary Byrne, The Associated Press
Toby Carrig, Antelope Valley Press
Glen Crevier, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Gregg Dewalt, Times Daily
Donna Eyring, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Robert Gagliardi, Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Jason Gonzalez, Antelope Valley Press
Larry Graham, ThisWeek Sports.com
Marlowe Hereford, Salt Lake Tribune, AWSM
Garry D. Howard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Matt Humphrey, Orlando Sentinel
Chris Imperiale, Times-Tribune
Julie Jag, Santa Cruz Sentinel
Tom Jolly, New York Times
Jeff Kuehn, Oakland Press
Stephanie Kuzydym, South Bend Tribune
Holly Lawton, Kansas City Star
Reid Laymance, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Mike Lefkow, Bay Area Newsgroup
Brad Lehman, San Antonio Express-News
Monte Lorell, USA TODAY
Jerry Micco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Scott Monserud, The Denver Post
Gene Myers, Detroit Free Press
Joe Palmquist, Spokane Spokesman Review
Matt Pepin, Boston.com
Steve Ranson, Lahonton Valley News
Bill Reader, Seattle Times
Dennis Rudner, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Jeff Rosen, Houston Chronicle
Mike Sherman, The Oklahoman
Paul Skrbina, Chicago Tribune
Joe Sullivan, Boston Globe
Gene Warnick, Los Angeles Daily News
OPENING REMARKS – Phil Kaplan
Congratulations to and appreciation for all the efforts of Garry Howard during his presidency. Also kudos for Michael Anastasi for all the work he did in putting together and running the successful Salt Lake City convention.
REPORTS
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – Jack Berninger
1. No new information on deficit with the hotel in Salt Lake City. They seem to be willing to work with us.
2. Membership update. Have added AOL Fanhouse and MSNBC.
3. Winter meeting (judging) slated for Indianapolis Feb. 12-16
4. 2011 convention set for Boston June 22-25
Michael Anastasi added that next year you can get an additional staffer added to your association’s APSE membership at no additional cost. For example if you paid for two last year, you would get three members for the same price in 2011.
FUTURES – Joe Sullivan
1. Committee recommended looking at adapting summer convention schedule to increase participation. Options included compressing seminar schedule, lunches, etc. in an effort to reduce costs for the members.
Submitted for consideration.
OLD BUSINESS – Michael Anastasi
1. First bylaw change. Called for second vote on bylaw addressing former APSE members who have been moved to other newsroom jobs. Change was approved in first vote by executive committee. Wording: … “A journalist who has been a member of APSE for at least five consecutive years can continue their membership if he or she moves out of the sports department to another department of a member news organization as long as dues requirements continue to be met.”
Motion passed.
2. Second bylaw change presented by Phil Kaplan. Streamlining language so that it would take only one vote of the executive committee to change a bylaw rather than the current two.
Motion passed
3. Recognition/honoring the memory of Tim Wheatley – Phil Kaplan proposed creating a Tim Wheatley Award for leadership in sports journalism. Would honor a print or online sports editor for exceptional leading or innovating in newsrooms. Kaplan asks Glen Crevier to form a panel to work out the details. The plan is to announce the first winner at Boston in 2011.
NEW BUSINESS
2012 CONVENTION SPONSORSHIP – Gerry Ahern
1. Yahoo! Sports announced its intention to be the primary sponsor of the 2012 convention, pending corporate approval. Proposed site: Chicago. Yahoo! has offices in Chicago that could serve as meeting space to cut costs. APSE could ask Chicago Tribune to provide meeting space as they have done for region meetings in the past. Jack Berninger and Ahern will do more exploration on hotel sites/costs.
Motion passed.
BUDGET – Jack Berninger
1. Had to dip into the Rainy Day Fund to offset some deficit. The dues revenue is about the same as last year, roughly $70,000. Everything else was pretty standard as far as expenses. The organization dropped the contest booklet and instead used email and the internet to disseminate the info with an estimated savings of $1,400. Everything else is balancing past budgets.
Budget approved
PROPOSAL REGARDING NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBER(S) – Jerry Micco
1. Malcolm Moran, Knight Chair at Penn State, wants to be more involved with APSE as an associate member a la Tim Franklin of Indiana University. Moran has been involved in Mid-Atlantic region meetings in past. Micco asked for discussion. Matt Pepin backed Micco’s proposal and asked to expand upon it. Pepin talked about use of Marist College for Northeast region meetings and working on fostering relationships with colleges. Phil Kaplan noted that colleges can be members. Pepin noted if we approve Moran we should approve Marist’s Keith Studler. Josh Barnett asked if this was an opportunity to be more aggressive in terms of recruiting, passing on values of our organization.
Motion made to extend to Moran an invitation to join as an associate member.
Motion approved
Motion made to extend to Studler an invitation to join as an associate member.
Motion approved.
HELP FOR FORMER PARTICIPANTS TO RETURN TO APSE EVENTS – Jerry Micco
1. The organization is currently spending $18,000 to bring in new people, mostly from under 40,000 papers, to help with judging. We should think about bringing back people who used to come, but don’t because their papers won’t pay for them any more. We have lost expertise in judging, Micco noted. Phil Kaplan noted that we have assisted other non-newcomers that in the past. It’s discretionary. We should keep doing what we have been doing. Jack Berninger noted at Winter meetings there will be no first-timers dinner. Dinner will be for everyone. The new NCAA president will speak. A trip to a Pacers game is possible. We will split cost of dinner with IUPUI.
NEW MEMBERS FROM .COMS – Phil Kaplan
1. Ann Arbor News.com, among others, has inquired about membership. The bylaws must be addressed. Currently, for such entities to become members, they would have to pay $300. That will be an issue for some entities. Kaplan opened the floor for discussion on reducing or looking at dues on a case-by-case basis. The bylaws currently say the entity would pay on par with the highest category. Josh Barnett asks about possible tiered payment structure a la newspapers. Such a move would take a bylaw change. Michael Anastasi notes that according to rules previously, if you are in the B category and you want to play up to A, you have to pay A-level dues. People were choosing to do that voluntarily. The issue is deemed worthy of further discussion.
JUDGING CATEGORIES – Paul Skrbina.
1. Skrbina proposed allowing under 20,000 circulation papers, regarding the Sunday paper category judging, to enter a “weekend” (Saturday) edition instead. Some no longer produce Sunday sections. Skrbina noted it might encourage smaller papers. Mandatory date would be an issue. Ben Brigandi noted a solution might be to change categories to daily and weekend. Michael Anastasi, in charge of the contest, said he would take the issue under advisement. Anastasi asked for input via email.
ISSUES OF MERGED PAPER STAFFS – Mike Lefkow
1. Many issues were presented including entering columns from the different papers and fairness as to mandatory dates. Should it be based on total circulation? One paper or the other? Is it fair to staffers? The paper that pays dues is the current rule. For example, the Treasure Coast papers currently have three papers, one circ category. A decision was made to have more discussion with Jack Berninger before the contest to see if we are on the same page in terms of membership eligibility. Issue was tabled for further review.
NEW MEANS OF RENEWING MEMBERSHIP – Mike Anastasi
1. Beginning in September, APSE expects members to able to renew online using a credit card. Should make things easier, more efficient, Anastasi noted.
Motion to close.
Seconded.
Meeting adjourned at 11:43 a.m.
