Minutes
Meeting of the Society of Professional Journalists, Valley of the Sun Pro Chapter
P.O. Box 1488, Phoenix, AZ 85001-1488
May 18, 2025, 10 a.m.
Meeting called to order: 10:19 a.m.
Attendees: Tim Eigo (President), Mark Scarp (Secretary), Kerry Fehr-Snyder (Treasurer) and Nicole Greason (Vice President), Absent: Deb Krol (Board Member), Teri Carnicelli (Board Member).
NOTE: Board actions, either votes or assigned tasks, are in italicized type.
Opening
- Secretary’s report/approval of minutes from March 9, 2025 – Board action: Moved (Mark) and seconded (Nicole). Unanimously approved.
- Treasurer’s report – Kerry reports our investments with Russell Life Points/Northwestern Mutual as of March 7 gained $408.41 in the past quarter, to $20,638.92. Our checking account as of the same date contained $1,488.17, compared to $1,855.35 on Jan.17, 2025.
- Mark asked if money transferred into the savings account from the checking account ever is returned to the checking account, as Teri used to do. He said it seems that we have a lot of money in savings we don’t need to have; we only need enough to send $150 a month back and forth – it will cost us nearly nothing, since the interest rate for a basic savings account is minute. Mark suggested we move $1,500 into the checking account and leave $300 in savings. Kerry said she will move money to checking and leave in savings more than the bank requires for us to continue to have free checking.
- Mark’s Mighty Minute! – Mark showed traffic on our website has increased since he started posting SPJ national news under News & Events. After the homepage itself, the post about SPJ’s stance opposing the Administration’s plan to use OAN reports on Voice of America had the most views.
Old Business
- First Amendment Coalition of Arizona update – Mark described his and Tim’s meeting with Morgan Loew recently that resulted in a proposal to the Arizona Media Association for funding the coalition’s services. The proposal is in the editing process but will be presented when it is done, hopefully by June.
- Don Bolles memorial bill (HB 2578 passed the House on April 28, 2025) – It’s now in the Senate as a strike-all (SB 1335) that will bypass committees, go to Committee of the Whole and then to the whole Senate. If passed, the bill mandates that private funding would have to be obtained in three years or less, and then a design would have to be created and approved, which Tim said might be the most complicated aspect of it. Tim suggested a committee will need to be organized to shepherd the donations and the memorial design. He asked for suggestions for committee members. Nicole said ALMA board members have expressed interest in becoming involved.
- Follow-up from ALMA mixer, March 21 – Terrific event. Nicole said ALMA was very happy with the turnout. ALMA’s connections with JPMorgan Chase (Maura Saavedra Cordova) helped smooth the way for the event. Nicole suggested Chase may be amenable to continuing engaging journalists, and minority journalists in particular, in the future. Tim said the event felt vibrant. Perhaps, Tim said, they would want to host media folks again. Nicole suggested that Cordova, now retired, would still want to be associated with ALMA and help with future events.
- Follow-up from SPJ Regional in San Francisco (May 2-3) – Tim attended the regional and found it to be a well-organized conference with meaningful sessions and great venues. Well-attended with session attendance ranged from 25 to 60, even with multiple tracks! A.I. was a big part of the event, as it should be at ours next year.
New Business
- Joint event with PEN America AZ chapter on journalist-authors, May 24, Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reporters-take-up-the-pen-arizona-journalists-who-became-authors-tickets-1323637307819 — It’s 5 to 6:30 p.m. this Saturday. Please come! Great lineup.
- Possible AI Editing Tools Zoom training in June or July (by Mike Reilley or one of his colleagues): Trainer Mike Reilley will walk participants through a dozen free editing tools that will make them more efficient. It’s $500 to bring it to your city. Tim said we should ask the other Arizona media groups to contribute to that fee, perhaps around $50 each, so SPJ doesn’t bear the cost itself. Dates are available this summer, late June through mid-August. Should be a topic at the upcoming Arizona media groups leaders’ dinner. Mark also suggested this training could be part of our 2026 regional.
- ASU Mark of Excellence certificates – propose an event? – Mark is meeting with ASU SPJ adviser Regina Revazova of Cronkite News on May 22 to discuss cooperative efforts; ASU chapter needs to be re-recognized by ASU as a student organization; Mark will help Regina get the chapter re-recognized and talk about getting certificates to award winners.
- Chapter annual report due to HQ on July 18 (for May 1, 2024 – April 30, 2025) – Tim will find three non-officers to renew the chapter financials for this report. An attempt will be made to have the same people who did it last year do it this time. Deb Krol, who is not an officer, will be asked; possibly Teri Carnicelli.
- Summer Solstice/Board elections, week of June 16 – Tim will ask State 48 Brewery downtown for the evening of Wednesday. June 18, and as an alternative, Thursday, June 19. Mark will begin the process of soliciting for the elections.
- Publicity Summit 2025 update, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 – Committee will have its first meeting May 29; new event date is Saturday, Sept. 20.
- SPJ national conference, October 15-19, DC: https://www.spj.org/convention/ — We will talk about who is going; Tim has a conflict that weekend with another conference; Nicole is planning to go as she has a leftover plane ticket she needs to use. The chapter will cover the full cost of registration and half of hotel charges and incidental expenses such as cab fare to and from the airport.
- SPJ AZ hosts the SPJ Region 11 conference in Spring 2026: planning — We should start planning now: A committee shall be chosen whose task will be coming up with ideas for topics and speakers. Tim said the location and conference dates should be decided by Aug. 1.Dates will be sometime in March or April 2026, most likely April. Passover/Easter is April 2-5, so we’re looking at April 11-12 or April 18-19. Clarendon Hotel is a possible location, or at least a site for a reception for the dedication of the plaque noting it as an SPJ National Historic Site in Journalism.
PROPOSED NEXT MEETING: Sunday, July 13, 2025, 10 a.m.
Adjourned: 12:14 p.m. (116 minutes)
NEXT BOARD MEETING: Sunday, July 13, 2025, 10 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark J. Scarp, Chapter Secretary
SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter 