Attendees
Gordon Ira
Lynda Smith
John Neel
Charise Tanner
Craig Shier
Chuck Shealy
Julius Dean
Bronwyn Horvath
Rick Hartmann
Jennifer Thompson
Jim Jordan
Young McQueen
The Board meeting was opened by President Gordon Ira.
Approval of Minutes
The previous board minutes were posted on the JCC website. Not all attendees had read the minutes so Young McQueen recommended tentative approval subject to review on line within 10 days. President Ira agreed and the minutes will be approved after a ten day review. Seconded by Jim Jordan and passed by the Board.
Treasurer’s Report
The Treasury has a total of $12,235 as of this meeting. Of this total $1,163 is reserved for our educational fund and $44 dollars will go to an upcoming outing leaving us a spendable total of $11,155. Charise made a motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report. It was seconded by Craig Shier. The Treasurer’s Report was approved by the Board.
Old Business
The Library
President Ira invited our new Librarian to discuss her plans for the Library. She was unable to attend but provided a Library Report.
Young McQueen has digitized our book list for the website. Our physical library is in a locked room in the Church. The board discussed plans for this library and would like to see a system where the library is unlocked for each meeting and library check-out is self-service. A card could be filled out to track books eliminating the cumbersome labor of moving the entire library into the church each meeting.
President Ira asked for volunteers to form an informal advisory group for the Librarian. The group formed includes Gordon Ira. John Neel, Craig Shier, and Young McQueen.
Website Editor-Rick Hartmann
Rick Hartmann discussed some problems he has experienced as the website editor. He has had problems getting the membership to put their information on the membership directory and create their galleries. He suggests that when new people join the club we attach a form asking for information that we put on the website for them. We can take their picture at the meeting and post them on the website. Young said that new members are given instructions on how to create profiles and galleries. They just don’t do it. Rick thinks that the membership application attachment might work. Another member suggested that should we have minimum information on each person…name, telephone number and address. One person can do it from the spreadsheet.
Another problem is motivating people to create and write blogs. Rick said that Young has created a great website and that he has a program that can be downloaded for blog creation. Rick cited the Cumberland Island blog as an excellent example of what we can create. We need to talk further about how to encourage people to write blogs.
Destruction of Paper Records
Jim Jordan, the treasurer requested that he be able to destroy all paper records older than three years. Board members asked about electronic records and Jim said that all recent records are kept electronically. He simply wants to keep our electronic records but destroy our paper back-ups to ease storage problems. John Neel made a motion, “The Treasurer may destroy all paper records over three years old as long as we have an electronic copy of them.” The motion was seconded by Jennifer and was passed by the Board.
Website: Young McQueen
Young talked about the website and mentioned that anyone who needs to communicate with club members can use blogs. He talked about a program called Open Live Writer a Microsoft program where people can link from the website to their Google spreadsheets. He wanted people to know about the program, which functions like a simplified “Word” program. It might be useful for the club so that people can see instant changes made on a spreadsheet. You can also post pictures, links and text. He recommended that people go to the website and see his sample post. Young emphasized that people need to download the program and play with it so they understand it or he would take their drafts and get them on the website. Because permissions are involved the club can make sure that the posts are relevant to club business.
Young also commented on the fact that many people are still making mistakes submitting pictures for digital competitions. Charise said that she was calling people and helping them make changes or making the changes herself. Gordon commented that we should keep consistency in the methodology for uploading pictures and that people will learn the system over time.
New Business
Digital Copies of Print Pictures
Gordon asked Craig, Chuck and Jan to give a report on their finding for how to gather electronic copies of print contest pictures. Currently there is no way for people to view the prints except at the competition “reveal” evenings and they are also needed for the banquet at the end of the year. It would be helpful to post all the pictures on the website so that people can see them. Gordon said that there was resistance to his idea of asking for a flashdrive with each print entry. Young said that we could set up a system like F3C where contestants submit an electronic version of their print, pay for it online and receive a form that they must attach to their print.
The group has not been able to meet and Gordon asked them to come up with a plan for next meeting. He also asked Young to join the group.
Clicks- John Neel
John Neel sees Clicks Monthly going away by the end of the year. The website has all the information we need. The Clicks Weekly just links to the website highlighting the weeks most important information. John feels that Outing Leaders, Presentation Organizers and Contest Chairs should be in charge of supplying needed information on the website…posting contest winners, writing blogs etc.
Right now the only things not on the website that used to be in Clicks Monthly are the results of the photo contests. Once we transition out of Clicks Mmonthly we should be able to do everything on the website. The Board agreed that Clicky Weekly is a great tool reminder and should be continued.
The Board decided that John should seek information from the club about Clicks Monthly and come back to the board next meeting with a definite date for ending this newsletter.
The Service Award
There was quite a lengthy discussion on Jan Vallely’s idea of creating a service award to replace the Vernon Nalley Award. Currently the Vernon Nalley award honors a first year member who has accumulated the highest number of contest points. Members made the point that the Vernon Nalley Award was not needed anymore because the People’s Choice contest serves the function of encouraging new members to submit photographs to a contest. The People’s Choice contest acknowledges many of the new members while the Vernon Nalley Award recognizes only one member. Secondly, few members remember Vernon Nalley and the award name is outdated.
Young McQueen suggested we divide the motion into two parts: one to create the award and the other to name the award.
Young’s first motion was to “Create a yearly service award to honor one club member for exceptional volunteer service within the calendar year.” Craig Shier seconded the motion. The Board passed the motion.
There was discussion on the name of the award. Some recommended the Jim Lowell Service Award. Others recommended the President’s Service Award.
Lynda Smith made a motion “The service award will be called the President’s Service Award.” Bronwyn Horvath seconded the motion. The motion was rescinded to allow a committee to formulate the award.
President Gordon Ira formed a committee to look at the specifics of the award. Jan Vallely, Craig Shier and Young McQueen were appointed to the committee. Young will spearhead a discussion online to flesh out the award.
There was discussion about eliminating the Vernon Nalley award. It requires a change to the By-laws which must be approved by the club. Charise Tanner made the motion to “Begin the process of amending the by-laws to eliminate the Vernon Nalley Award. The award will not be presented after 2016 .” The motion was seconded by John Neel and passed by the Board.
New Members
Gordon said that he thought we have not done enough to take care of new members. We used to put a bio and picture in Clicks. Jan Vallely’s notes to the club asked if there is a method for contacting new members. Jennifer replied that she sends them a brochure and a letter about the club with information on how to join the club and pay the membership dues.
Gordon suggested making Irene Ward the New Member Representative. She would contact website applicants and greet new members at the meeting. She would also do an interview, create a bio and take a picture of new members for the website. Gordon wants a dedicated place on the website for the bios and pictures of new members. The representative would coordinate with the website editor and follow up on visitors and new members. Gordon has not approached Irene at this point.
Contests
Young had several comments and ideas about our club contests which he would like Board members to think about for the next Board meeting.
1. He was concerned about policing contest entrees. How do we ensure that pictures don’t get submitted more than three times? Currently it is an honor’s system.
2. We need to standardize our size restrictions to make them uniform. Currently the Mono contest allows prints under 80 inches but not the print contest. Also the smaller prints under 80 inches are not allowed in the Year-end contest. Next meeting we should vote on making entry sizes consistent.
3. Who qualifies images for contests. Currently it is done by the Contest Chairs and sometimes by the judges. Young suggests that the Contest Chairs have the final authority and judges have no authority. Rick thought that the final authority should be with the judges.
4. Young suggests that we go from 4 contests a year with 3 entries to 3 contests a year with 4 entries. This would make things easier for the Contest Chairs and free up time for the year-end contest.
President Gordon Ira asked Young to flesh out his suggestions by putting them in writing for the next Board meeting.
Charise Tanner, the Digital Chair, brought up her concerns about the inequities of point awards between digital and print contests at year end. There are significantly more awards and points given for the Print year-end contest. She would like the Board to consider ways to equal the awards between contests.
2018 Board
The search for the new Board has begun. Candidates for almost all positions have been identified except for the Vice President.
There was some concern that candidates were being identified without the nominating committee. Other members felt that finding people to fill positions was difficult and people could be brought to the attention of the nominating committee.
Some members asked if a general call went out to the club to explain the nominating process and seek candidates.
Adjournment
Young McQueen made a motion to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Lynda Smith and the meeting was adjourned.