CHCA Continues Discussion on Web Portal

It its first meeting of the new year–the January gathering was postponed due to inclement weather–the Chestnut Hill Community Association once again turned its attention to the creation of a news and information Web portal.

The brainchild of CHCA board member Rob Remus and Chestnut Hill Local Publisher Larry Hochberger, the project was undertaken months back by a special task force.

The idea was to create a hyper-local, interactive information service provider and forum that works directly with local businesses, the goal being that said businesses could act as partial stakeholders in the venture.  

Sound somewhat familiar? Members of this special task force have been keeping a close eye on Chestnut Hill Patch and other sites like it since they entered the community.

Auspiciously for Remus, the board did not meet his idea with opposition, but his projected expenses did stir hesitancy from other members.

Despite President Walt Sullivan's opening the meeting by urging that "action be taken," few seemed willing to commit Thursday night.    

Remus started off by informing the board that a competitive "niche" has opened up in the past few months that is rapidly being filled by multiple mass media ventures such as Patch.com, and that the board had a window to fill what remained of that niche now before it disappeared.

Remus went on to point out that the creation of this portal has "a great potential for generating revenue in the future, especially with the towns local businesses." 

Despite Remus’s attempts to emphasize the potential long-term gain, members again, though in support of the "idea" behind the portal, questioned the expenditure projection, questioning if the proposed amount is correct. Most said the venture called for more.

Remus agreed, clarifying that the currently proposed amount was merely a start-up number to get the ball rolling, an amount that would admittedly be “burn” money for the first few months before the idea started generating revenue.

He merely undershot the number so that in case there was no turn-around after so many months, at least it wouldn’t be too great a loss.

More than expenditure concerns, however, was the concern for the potential of internal conflict. Board member Arthur Howe voiced this concern by focusing it specifically on the section of the Web portal proposal which spoke of selecting a "Special Committee," as specifically outlined in the action item's description on the board meeting agenda.

He and others throughout the debate voiced their belief that the creation of another news medium internal to the community might create a struggle between their own Chestnut Hill Local newspaper, (which is owned by the CHCA), and that other medium.

Possible amendments to the Web portal proposal, which suggested that the online news medium be inclusive of current members, were raised.

To further support Remus, the board's budget analyst tried to abate the worries of internal conflict by shedding yet more light on the potential for future gains.

The analyst, whose name wasn't immediately available, began by calling everyone's attention to the fact that there is a significant surplus in the budget which has as yet to be reallocated, and that 17 line items remain on the list as candidates for receiving funds from that surplus.

One of those items was Web-based. The budget analyst, a former merchant banker, then went on to say that, by his own research into this "niche" to which Remus referred, that there is definitely a great opportunity for gain and that he felt that they had every reason to go for it.

Regardless of continued urges for the board to see the potential gain, looming concerns, chiefly being those of providing specifics in projected expenditure and amending the proposal to avoid potential internal conflicts with currently existing news mediums, brought the night to a deadlock.

Even after two motions were made and passed to extend the meeting, sending it 25 minutes into overtime, the Web portal action item ended in a deadlock and was pushed to the table for the next meeting to convene Feb. 24. 

Board president Sullivan ended the meeting by stating that the Web portal will be the first item on the agenda at the next session, and that it will be given at least 30 minutes of consideration, and that a decision must be reached on that date.

Within that timeframe, all members are highly encouraged to read the extensive letter of description for the proposal that Hochberger has laid out with great detail.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story said the next CHCA meeting is Feb. 22. The meeting will actually take place on Feb. 24. We regret the error.