Presentation: A Dialogue with Architecture Critic Blair Kamin of The Chicago Tribune 

To finalize our year-long series of "Design in the Midwest and the Midwestern City," AIA Columbus will host an evening of dialogue between Mr. Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic of The Chicago Tribune, and Professor Robert Livesey, FAIA, from the Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University, as they discuss design in the Midwest and the importance of architecture criticism in today's times. Kamin comes to Columbus soon after the publication of his appropriately timed book, "Terror and Wonder: Architecture in a Tumultuous Age," which covers the Post 9/11 era of architecture, with topics ranging from terrorist attacks and hurricane disasters to what he calls "urbanization without urbanity." Following discussion, Mr. Kamin and Mr. Livesey will open the microphone for a question and answer series with the attendees.

The Canzani Center at CCAD
60 Cleveland Avenue
Columbus, OH 43215

5:00 PM - Reception
6:30 PM - Business Meeting
7:00 PM - Presentation: A Dialogue with Architecture Critic Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune

1 AIA LU
Free for AIA members, $20.00 for non-member guests 
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Business Meeting Agenda
Slate of Candidates to the 2012 AIA Columbus Board

The Nominating Committee has recommended the following AIA Columbus candidates for your consideration to serve on the 2012 Board of Directors:

John Kelleher, AIA - President-Elect [one year term], Architect, NBBJ
Jonathan Barnes, AIA - Treasurer [one year term], Principal, Jonathan Barnes Architecture and Design
Monica Wangler, AIA - Secretary [one year term], Senior Associate, NBBJ
Laurie Gunzelman, AIA - Director [two year term], Director of Operation and Design, Perspectus Architecture
David Meleca, AIA - Director [two year term], Principal, Meleca Architecture
David Youse, AIA - Director [two year term], President, Feinknopf Macioce Schappa Architects
Jesse Wilmoth, Associate AIA - Associate Director [two year term], Associate, Lincoln Street Studio

Proposed By Laws Amendment
At the June 14 meeting, the AIA Columbus Board of Directors approved presenting the following amendment to the Chapter By Laws to the members at our annual meeting in October. Please review the proposed change and attached explanation from the Board. Just to clarify, the Board wants the flexibility that this change provides. It allows us to avoid unnecessary expenditures at a time when our past audit was very tight, and when our budget is stretched ever tighter to provide more useful member services.

7.5.7 Audits. The Board of Directors shall appropriate necessary funds to employ a Certified Public Accountant to (a) audit the books of the Treasurer and the rolls of the Chapter at least every three (3) years and (b) review the books of the Treasurer and the rolls of the Chapter in each year between audits.

Proposed change – underlined – to be voted on at the annual meeting October 18, 2011;

7.5.7 Audits. The Board of Directors shall appropriate necessary funds to employ a Certified Public Accountant to (a) audit the books of the Treasurer and the rolls of the Chapter at least every three (3) years and (b), if the Board of Directors determines that it is appropriate, to complete a review or a compilation of the books of the Treasurer and the rolls of the Chapter in each year between audits.

A little more information…We did an Audit of our FY 2009 books (per the bylaws schedule) and had a “clean” audit. The way the bylaws read now is a full audit every 3 years (which incidentally cost the Chapter more than $7500 last year) and Reviews (not Compilations) in subsequent years - Reviews being half the cost of a full audit or roughly $3750 per year and more limited in scope. Compilations are the third tier of financial reporting and offer the least assurance of the information presented.

What you need to know in order to make an informed decision:

• In 2007 the Board adopted Financial Management Policy,
• In 2010 the Board approved a series of Financial Procedures which offers us 4 different areas for checks and balances, and
• In 2011 the Board established a Finance Committee made up of the Treasurer, President, President-Elect, Executive Director, and other non-board members, which provides quarterly oversight of the Chapter’s finances and budget.

With this policy, procedures and finance committee in place the Board believes that it has structured the financial management of the Chapter in such a way that Reviews in  the years between audits may not be necessary. The bylaws amendment simply asks the members to allow the board to determine if a Review is necessary in subsequent years.

Interestingly, prior to this bylaws amendment the Executive Director polled components through the CACE List Serve and our financial policy of a full audit every 3 years is more than most components do. Quite frankly, we were surprised by the level of financial review - or lack thereof - most components (including many state components) undertake. The Columbus Board takes their fiscal responsibility very seriously and monitors the financial health of the Chapter closely. For a component with a budget of our size and with strong stewardship of our financials in place, the AIA Columbus Board is simply asking the members to allow them - in the subsequent, non-audit years - the flexibility to determine the correct course of financial oversight.