On Jan. 31, the New York chapter of the RMA held its annual beeting in the Local 802 Club Room from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Among those in attendance were Pat Varriale, the head of the AFM Electronic Media Services Division; Local 802 President and IEB member Tino Gagliardi; Recording Vice President Andy Schwartz; Recording Department supervisor Steve Danenberg; and Local 802 Recording Department Assistant Supervisor John Painting.

Once a quorum was established, the meeting was called to order. Two amendments to the RMA-NY bylaws were passed unanimously. These amendments reduced the size of the Board of Directors from nine to seven members, and reduced the size of the Election Committee from five to three members. These adjustments were made for reasons of practicality in relation to the present RMA-NY membership. RMA-NY member Bill Rohdin was of great assistance in drafting the language of both amendments.

Elections followed, and seven candidates ran for the seven available slots:  Roger Blanc, Bettina Covo, Sonny Kompanek, Eugene Moye, Chris Parker, Mike Sayre and Dan Willis. Since there were no contested seats, all seven candidates were deemed elected. Election Committee chair Bill Rohdin worked in cooperation with John Moses and Wally Dunbar to ensure compliance with RMA-NY election bylaws.

Roger Blanc’s president’s report and Mike Sayre’s treasurer’s report came next, which lead into an open discussion. Pat Varriale and John Painting came up to the front of the room and spoke successively on a range of topics, which included recent contract negotiations the AFM is involved in (especially streaming media). They also provided a general profile of recording activity in the major recording venues. Film and live TV were mentioned as notably robust. Further comments and contributions were made by Tino Gagliardi, Andy Schwartz and Steve Danenberg, and after some additional Q&A from other members in attendance, refreshments were made available, and the meeting was officially adjourned.

– Roger Blanc,
for the RMA-NY Board