I don’t want to be accused of burying the lede so I will begin with the last item on the agenda at the ONPA board meeting on Jan 24. I informed my fellow officers that I will not be running for a seventh term as chairman of the board of ONPA.
Twelve years is a long time and I think ONPA could benefit from some new energy. I have told the current board I would continue to work with David Polycn on the year-end still contest as well as continue my efforts with the ONPA Web site and blog after my current term ends if that is their wish.
Its been a rewarding experience, but I’ve reached a point in my life where taking back some time for myself and family is important. I juggle quite a few balls and have time commitments in some other areas that I will be scaling back as well.
Officer nominations will be made at the annual business meeting in April. I wanted to take this step now so that other candidates may step forward to fill the vacancy.
There was other news to come out of the meeting as the board took action on several matters all with an eye on the budget and reducing convention costs for members.
As a result the print edition of the ONPA newsletter is being replaced by the ONPAnews blog as well as this Web site. This action not only benefits the treasury but also gets news out to the membership in a more timely manner.
Job losses in the industry are having their affect on membership which is the primary source of income for ONPA. This is no time to raise dues so the board had to look at the other side of the ledger to keep the books balanced. The newsletter is one of the bigger ticket items in the budget.
If the budget can stand it the board will consider an annual printed issued with winners of the year-end contest being bundled with a DVD of the television contest winners. Television vice president Chris Reece will look into the cost of the DVD while I look to see how many pages would be need to print such an issue and what the cost would be.
A discussion ensued about placing board meeting minutes and other content in a members only area of the Web site. This will probably take place after the April convention. Members who have paid their dues will be sent a new password to access that content.
The financial savings will be applied to lowering the cost for the annual convention. Although the cost to members has remained steady for several years it was felt that lowering the fees would attract more members to the seminar.
In the last four years members paid $45, non-members paid $55 and students paid $25. With the rate cut members will now pay $20, non-members $40 and students $10.
The awards dinner at the convention is being replaced by an abbreviated awards ceremony during the course of the day. Attendance at the dinner has been dwindling for several years with many members complaining about the high cost. Hotel dinner menus are quite expensive these days and ONPA has been subsidizing a portion of the cost for the last two years so this will save both members and ONPA money.
We will look to keep cost in check in other areas while still providing a top flight program of speakers.
ONPA treasurer Kimberly Barth is in the process of establishing a Pay Pal account so in the future ONPA members will be able to pay their dues, contest and convention fees with a credit card. This is not in place yet so until you hear differently keep sending those checks. Hopefully we can roll this out for the convention this year. We’ll keep you posted.
In other action David Bradford has agreed to take over the television quarterly clip contest in 2009. Updated rules are now posted on the Web site and blog.
The board’s next scheduled meeting will be at the Columbus convention in April. Posted 2/1/2009
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