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Boarrd of Directors Special Meeting 3-4-2021

MCPB/KZYX Board Meeting

May 25, 2021

Minutes

PRESENT: Marty Durlin, Tom Dow, Renee Vinyard, Kathy Rippey, Kate Stornetta, David Hulse-Stephens

A.    Call to Order:  5:18 PM

B.    Agenda and Minutes approved 

C.     Kate Stornetta gave a report on the building acquisition at Clay Street in Ukiah. Tom Dow added that we have a lot to do in the process of fitting the building to the needs of KZYX, including possibly building an 80’ tower on the property that would require city approval. In addition, we will need to raise money to capitalize the project.

D.    GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT: (full report below)

a.     CPB is working on an infrastructure grant and we will be monitoring the development of that.

b.     We will be making an announcement on the airwaves in June regarding the Clay Street property.

c.     We will need to start a capital fund drive in the Fall or later.

d.     We are considering creating a new staff position. A strong desire of our members is for us to increase our local news coverage. 

                                               i.     The board discussed the financial concerns of adding a staff position at this time when we are committing to the purchase of the Clay Street building. We agreed to take it up at a later meeting after the Finance Committee is able to develop a budget for next year.

E.     COMMITTEE REPORTS

a.     Finance Committee: Will be meeting June 2 to develop a budget for the next fiscal year.

b.     Membership Committee: no report 

c.     Planning Committee: no current projects

d.     Publicity: nothing to report

e.     CAB: nothing to report

f.      Policy: Dina not present, but Tom said that the committee would be presenting small bylaw revisions for the board to vote on at the July meeting. 

F.     Directors’ comments: Kate suggested that the board host a get-together for board and staff to appreciate the staff for getting us through this very difficult year. Board members agreed with the idea, and would look into possible dates.

G.    Adjournment.

Next meeting:  July 27, 2021; 5:00 PM

Manager’s Report May 2021

Silent/Flash Drive: Seems long ago now. We raised about $83K in donations this Spring, ending with the Flash Drive, April 22-27. This total is misleading, since it doesn’t count some of the grant donations that came to us as a response to the drive. According to staff who have been involved with the station longer than I, this is the biggest total raised during a Spring drive in a long time, or maybe ever. Wonderful job by Renee and all the staff in this team effort. It was great to involve a small group of members of the listener community who came in to answer phones; and to see a few programmers in person at the Philo studio. KZYX has exceeded its goal for membership donations over the past fiscal year by about X.

Covid: Since I reported last, all of the staff has received two vaccinations. We haven’t phased out mask-wearing and Covid protocol in Philo or the remote studios, but there is a sense of relief that makes it easier to navigate this long period of precautions.

390 Clay Street:. Please see Kate’s report. Lots more about this at the meeting.

Fire season: We’ve received funding support from Sheriff Matt Kendall for KZYX fire response this year, and we’ve also applied for a Community Foundation grant to hire Danilla Sands to help maintain the google doc that Alicia has established as the place to update fire and emergency information. Danilla is founder and manager of the Redwood Valley Disaster Resource Center, and the administrator of the Facebook group Mendocino Action News. We are also seeking money to fund a Spanish translator to add a Spanish version of this info. The cost of the project is estimated at $10K; we’re requesting $7500 from CFMC. Alicia has also been the moving force behind an effort to organize a meeting between local media reps, Mendocino County and CalFire in order to get ahead of the looming fire season. 

Reminder: KZYX must renew its FCC broadcast license this year. Rich and I, along with our DC attorneys, are the major players in this endeavor.

CCI: We continue to learn a lot from this initiative from NFCB. One of the coordinators, Sally Hardy, visited with the staff this month.

News Director: Alicia has proposed that we use some of our stimulus money to hire a news director — something that many KZYX listeners have told us that they want. Please see her proposal attached.

Returning from a break: As I write this, I’m returning from Hawaii’s Big Island, where my daughter lives. It has been great to get away and gain perspective about this very challenging year, which only seems to be getting more challenging! It was also good to swim around in the beautiful Pacific Ocean, which— as you know — is warm over there. I will also be going to Colorado in late July for a family event.                                                   

- Marty