Minutes of April Press Club board meeting
April 1, 2015, 7 p.m., Serra High School, 451 West 20th Ave., San Mateo
PRESENT: Antonia Ehlers, Ed Remitz, Jim Watson, Dave Price (via phone). ABSENT: Marshall Wilson, Peter Cleaveland, Aimee Strain, Jane Northrop.
FINANCE REPORT: Antonia reported that she set up a new account at Chase, and that that the club will keep its existing account there. One account is for the scholarship fund and the other for membership. Accounts at other banks have been closed and the money transferred to the current accounts.
NEW BOOKKEEPER: The board decided in a 7-0 vote to hire Ana Glodek of San Carlos as its new bookkeeper. The contract with Glodek will cover four months at $300.
NEW BOARD MEMBER: Following the recent departures of Kristy Blackburn and Jon Mays, the board voted 7-0 to add Jim Henderson of KHMB radio to the board. Jim spoke about his love for journalism dating back to when he was 15 and did a mimeographed newspaper for his neighborhood, and got the opportunity at that young age to leaf through police reports at the San Mateo police station. He went to CSM and went into radio for several years at stations including KVON in Napa. He later went into the car rental business for 25 years. When that job ended, he moved to Half Moon Bay and launched KHMB on Oct. 15, 2009. The station, at 1710 AM, originally had a signal that only reached a few neighborhoods, so he called it Neighborhood Radio. The station’s signal strength has been increased and now can also be heard at 100.9 FM as well as online at KHMV.com.
Jim said that as a board member, he wanted to focus on bringing younger people into the Press Club. He suggested reaching out to colleges.
CONTEST COORDINATORS: The board, in a 7-0 vote, authorized Antonia and Ed to execute a contract with the club’s new contest coordinators, John Ellis and Sarah Allen, who interviewed with the board on Feb. 11. Jim Watson went over details in the contract.
HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM AWARDS: Antonia said the awards need to be presented around May 9 or 10, so this year’s contest needs to start ASAP.
MEMBERSHIP RATES: The board in a 6-0 vote decided the new membership rate will be $50 for journalists, $75 for PR people, $25 for college students and $15 for high school students.
CONTEST RATES: The board in a 6-0 vote set contest rates at $25 per entry and $50 for the overall excellence category. The board agreed that it will continue to offer free entry fees for journalists who claim a hardship.
FUTURE MEETINGS: Antonia said the board will meet via conference call in May and at a restaurant in June. Going forward, the board will meet five times a year (excluding the Christmas party), and three of those meetings will be via conference call and two will be at restaurants. As always, any member is welcome to observe or participate in meetings.
Meeting adjourned at 9 p.m. Minutes taken by Secretary Dave Price.