Role of Steering Committee:  The steering committee members will, as a group, decide the steering committee’s missions and procedures.  As such, the steering committee has decision-making power over the CoCHY budget, the implementation of project activities and future planning for the project.  The steering committee will meet approximately every 60 days unless circumstances require meetings to be more frequently.  The steering committee membership is held by each congregation, agency, or researcher.  

Rights and Responsibility of Membership:  Representatives must attend the majority of meetings in a year to maintain membership.  If an agency or congregation misses 2 steering committee meetings in a row, CoCHY will contact the representative to determine if they are still interested and/or would like to appoint another member.  A vote of the steering committee member is required to remove members due to nonparticipation. 

Decision Making:  Decisions will be made by consensus whenever possible and by vote if necessary.  Each congregation/agency will appoint a representative who has voting privileges for the organization.  The voting body is the congregation and appointed representatives can vote for absent steering committee members.  Each congregation, agency, and OSU investigator will only have one vote and the minimum number of members needed for a vote will be determined by the steering committee.

Veto Power:  The principal investigator (Kenneth Steinman) will have veto power over decisions and Ohio State University Research Foundation (OSURF) and CDC requirements will take precedence over SC decisions.

Adding Members to Steering Committee:  Members can be added to the steering committee in the future on an as needed basis as determined by the steering committee. 

Compensation for Steering Committee Members:  Members of the steering committee will be paid a stipend of $20 per hour for a 1.5 hour meeting ($50 per meeting).  Agency representatives can not be paid due to ethics policies at governmental agencies.  

Non-Negotiable Budget Expenses: 

A.     Personnel Expenses- expenses that go directly to the University to pay for the investigators’ time and effort.

B.     Tuition- graduate students receive paid tuition as part of their compensation.

C.     Consultant- an agreement has been established between CoCHY and the Columbus Health Dept. to cover Ron Ryles' time and effort for recruiting congregations.

Steering Committee Contact List