The First Cleveland Council Committee

Of the four councils in the SAG-AFTRA Ohio-Pittsburgh Local, ours is the first to hold elections and have council leadership in place. On Feb. 10, our first official annual council meeting took place with an excellent turnout of our council’s SAG-AFTRA members, including a strong cohort of our stunt performer members. The agenda was quite simple: explain the new council and hold elections. A slate of candidates was proposed, all of whom ran unopposed, and they were unanimously elected by those in attendance. Your new Council Committee leadership consists of:

• Michael Kraft (Council Committee Chair)
• Joe Gunderman (Vice-Chair)
• Nicole Karis
• Brian Searle
• Brent Reichert
• Joe Parnell
• Thomas Allport
• Jean Zarzour
• Andy Schofield
• Mike Misiak

The term of office for each Council Committee member is one year.

Here's how the council works: The term “council” includes all members in our geographic area, defined by ZIP codes. If you live in the following ZIP codes, you are a member of the Cleveland Council:

• 43400-43699
• 44000-44999
• 45800-45899

The Council Committee is the group of elected representatives (see list above).

We no longer have a staff member or office in the Cleveland area. We are a member-driven, member-organized committee with a representative on the local board. Our staff representatives are in the Pittsburgh office of our local.

We determine the Cleveland Council Committee’s actual duties — it is what we make it. The intention is for the Council Committee to be a more social, less formal venue for members to discuss issues affecting performers in our area. We can then form action groups (e.g., voiceover, conservatory, producer outreach, etc.) to forward our interests, or recommend or request assistance and resources from our local board.

The Council Committee will entertain any and all issues presented by council members or the Council Committee members. Only Council Committee members may vote on any issues in question, but council members present will be allowed input before any vote.

We expect to have approximately four Council Committee meetings per year, with more added based on interest and events that may arise. As we have no permanent place of business, the location may vary. We are open to ideas for venues.

Notices for future meetings will come via email for members whose email addresses are on file. All others will be notified by “snail mail.” Please consider coming to the next council meeting; it’s a great way to network with your fellow performers and get information on what’s happening in our area.

If you have questions concerning contracts or other official SAG-AFTRA business, contact the local at 412.281.6767. For any questions, input or ideas about Cleveland Council activities, please contact Mike Kraft at cleveland@sagaftra.org.

This item was originally featured in the June 2014 local newsletter.