Nominating Committee

Every board of directors I know has a nominating committee In most cases, each year the committee is activated maybe a few months before the annual meeting. The committee dutifully reviews the list of outgoing board members and suggests a list of replacements.Of course, between reviewing the list of departees and suggesting new names, the board may research gaps in board coverage, or interview other board members for recommendations on additions to the board.At the annual meeting, the slate of candidates is perfunctorily approved, usually with no discussion.

Mount Hebron High School will present the musical, Hello Dolly! at 7 p.m. April 2, 3, 4 and 5 in the school's auditorium. The show, which is appropriate for all ages, is costumed by Barbara Bogart. Musical direction is by Robert Johnston and Chris Herttenbach. Choreography is by Amanda Tschirgi. Tom Sankey directs. Tickets are $9. Information or to reserve tickets: 410-313-2880, during school hours. Barnes & Noble to hold story time Barnes & Noble Booksellers in the Long Gate Shopping Center in Ellicott City will offer a story time and book signing with Shirley Menendez, author of B is for Blue Crab: A Maryland Alphabet, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

State Sen. Ralph M. Hughes has introduced a bill that would radically restructure the leadership of the Enoch Pratt Free Library with the aim of creating more diversity among its board of trustees. "Basically, people on the [library] board serve life terms," Hughes, a West Baltimore Democrat, said in an interview last week, adding that he would like to require term limits and geographical representation on the panel. Hughes said he agreed to draft Senate Bill 840 at the request of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a suit pending against the library over the closing of five branches in September.

Mount Hebron High School and Patapsco Middle School are holding a mulch sale. Each 3-cubic-foot bag of shredded hardwood is $4.50 plus 6 percent sales tax. Orders are due Friday. Orders of 15 bags or more will be delivered free in the Mount Hebron High School sending district area between 8 a.m. and noon March 29. Orders of less than 15 bags can be picked up at Patapsco Middle School, 8885 Old Frederick Road, from 8 a.m. to noon March 29. Go to www.mulchsale.net to download order forms.

Steven B. Larsen, who as Maryland insurance commissioner sharply criticized the board of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, was among nine people named yesterday by state officials to a panel that will choose new CareFirst board members. Under a law passed last year and modified in a court-approved settlement, a nine-member nominating committee will choose five new members of CareFirst's board by the end of the year. They will also submit names next year for the seven remaining Maryland seats on the board, and the board will elect people to fill those seats.

Moving forward with reform of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a state nominating committee named five new members to the nonprofit health insurer's board yesterday, including the president of the Johns Hopkins University and a former dean of the University of Maryland law school. The new members, who will take office by the end of the year, will replace five of CareFirst's 12 Maryland directors. Next summer, the CareFirst board will pick the other seven Maryland members from a list of qualified candidates being forwarded by the nominating committee.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has been given a list of 53 prospective members of the city school board. The current members' terms all expired Dec. 31.Under the city charter, the mayor has 120 days to fill the expired seats, while the current members remain in place.Schmoke has not yet said when he will announce a new board lineup, or whether any of the seven current members would be replaced. The board has two vacancies.But Osborne Dixon Jr., chairman of the school board nominating committee, said he anticipates some new faces on the board.

In the past two weeks, we've examined the role of the nominating committee in recruiting and evaluating board members. What role does the interview process play in the nomination process?As we've seen, the selection process itself is no easy task, requiring some painful soul-searching on the part of the committee. But the alternatives are a good deal worse -- an ineffective board, whose inaction compromises the potential of the organization.In keeping with the board's new thrust to revitalize itself, the nominating committee has by now whittled down the original list of 100 or so names to perhaps one or two dozen for the three slots available.

Just about everyone you talk to these days has had a bout with the flu and can't seem to completely shake it.Working parents are hit especially hard when their children get sick, but they usually get by with the creative sharing of nursing responsibilities. You know the routine: "You take the a.m., I'll take the p.m."But what happens when both of you have to be at work?Harbor Hospital Center's child day-care service has made dropping off a sick child more convenient by moving to the hospital's first floor.

Two county school board members, whose seats are open this year, will not seek nominations for a second term.Board members Nancy Gistand Paul Greksa, who are both eligible to serve a second five-year term, said separately that they wanted to pursue other activities within and without the school system."

Applicants are sought for seat on City Council The City Council is accepting applications to fill the 13th District seat vacated by Paula Johnson Branch. Branch resigned from the council, effective Friday, after more than 15 years as a member. Those interested in the position should send a resume, a copy of their photo identification with proof of age and address, and a copy of their voter registration card to Jennifer Coates, director of the Office of Council Services, 100 N. Holliday St., Room 415, Baltimore 21202; or fax the information to 410-545-7596.

SafeNet Inc., the Belcamp network security company, announced yesterday that former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner J. Carter Beese Jr. has been named to its board. The appointment comes about six weeks after SafeNet acknowledged that it had received a federal subpoena and an inquiry from the SEC involving stock option grants. Beese will serve on a special committee investigating shareholders' complaints against SafeNet's officers and directors involving allegations of backdating stock options, according to a SafeNet regulatory filing.

The Anne Arundel County school board will be selected the same way for at least another year after a bill that would have changed the process failed to reach a state Senate vote this week. The House of Delegates overwhelmingly approved a measure two weeks ago to have a nominating committee recommend candidates to the governor, with the nominees later standing for election. But Anne Arundel's senators didn't back an amended bill until Monday night, the last day of the General Assembly session.

CareFirst BlueCross Blue- Shield, the state's largest health insurer, will unveil what it calls a multimillion-dollar commitment to fulfill its community obligations as a nonprofit, but the plan was quickly labeled "pathetic" yesterday by the chairman of a key legislative committee. Del. John Adams Hurson, chairman of the House Health and Government Operations Committee who was briefed by CareFirst officials, criticized the insurer's board for taking a year to commit what he said amounted to $8 million in new charitable spending.

In a bitterly contested race, Randallstown parent Michael Franklin was re-elected last week as president of the Baltimore County PTA Council. The 44-year-old printing press operator defeated Jasmine Shriver, a special-education activist from Lutherville. He will serve a second two-year term. Franklin said the race focused partly on his critical views of Superintendent Joe A. Hairston, while Shriver generally supports the superintendent. Franklin recently pulled the PTA Council out of the Education Coalition, a countywide advocacy group that has backed Hairston's agenda.

Moving forward with reform of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a state nominating committee named five new members to the nonprofit health insurer's board yesterday, including the president of the Johns Hopkins University and a former dean of the University of Maryland law school. The new members, who will take office by the end of the year, will replace five of CareFirst's 12 Maryland directors. Next summer, the CareFirst board will pick the other seven Maryland members from a list of qualified candidates being forwarded by the nominating committee.

It's been along hot summer for the Advertising & Professional Club of Baltimore members who served on the nominating committee. Here's the scoop as told to me.Several years ago, longtime Ad Club member Clarisse Mechanic invited Towson attorney/entrepreneur Michael Hodes and his wife, Lois, to become members. A short time later, the Hodeses agreed to become the club's first husband-wife president and vice president, and in that capacity, they feel they helped breathe new life into an old club.

Applicants are sought for seat on City Council The City Council is accepting applications to fill the 13th District seat vacated by Paula Johnson Branch. Branch resigned from the council, effective Friday, after more than 15 years as a member. Those interested in the position should send a resume, a copy of their photo identification with proof of age and address, and a copy of their voter registration card to Jennifer Coates, director of the Office of Council Services, 100 N. Holliday St., Room 415, Baltimore 21202; or fax the information to 410-545-7596.

SAVVY AND upwardly mobile lawyers looking to become a judge in Maryland would be wise to get on the good side of first lady Kendel S. Ehrlich. The first lady, it seems, is extending her influence into the sensitive and highly political arena of judicial selection. Kendel Ehrlich raised some eyebrows within the state's legal community last week when she addressed an orientation session of judicial nominating commissions, the panels that screen applicants for judgeships and pass recommendations to the governor.