BOD Minutes - 7-24-19
MCPB Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
564 S. Dora St., Ukiah
24 July 2019
Present on Board:Tom Dow, Dina Polkinghorne, Bob Bushansky, Len Tischler, John Azzaro, David Hulse-Stephens, Renee Vinyard
Also Present: GM Marty Durlin, Stuart Campbell
A) Call to order@ 5:15, by President Dow
B) Agenda approved as amended.
C) Prior Minutes approvedof 05/29/19 meeting. [posted on station Web page]
D) BOARD PRESIDENT’S COMMENTS
No general comments. News that Jonathan Middlebrook has resigned from the Board and we should look for a replacement. We also need to begin thinking about elections for the Board coming up.
E) GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
a. See report attached below.
b. Alicia is meeting with all public affairs programmers to attempt to create a more coordinated effort. Dir. Hulse-Stephens suggested that topics and guests be known and promoted at least two weeks in advance – and sent to local papers as well as on our web site and social media.
c. We need a graphic designer for our ads. Dir. Azzaro suggested that the GM provide the Board a list of items and types of professionals/skills the station needs so the Board might be able to help.
F) COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Finance Committee - Dir. Bushansky
a. Last fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, we lost $5672. That’s much better than the past in which we lost about $50,000 each of the past 4 years.
b. In early July we received a $100,000 grant with the possibility of more if we handle our finances well.
c. We are still looking to find a location for our main studio in or near Ukiah. There was a discussion of ideas. This new influx of grant money can help us raise more for such a move.
d. Other discussions occurred about how we handle our finances with no changes agreed to.
2. Membership/Fundraising – Dir. Dow
Dir. Dow will continue to pursue large donations and grants.
3. Planning – Dir. Hulse-Stephens
a. Plans for the 30thanniversary celebration on October 19thwere discussed in detail.
b. The current schedule of events is:
i. 1-3pm Clay Hawkins and his band: The Back Porch Project
ii. 3-5pm Alma Latina band
iii. 5-5:30pm break for dinner, evening set-up
iv. 5:30-6:45pm The Real Sarahs
v. 7-9pm Roy Rogers & The Delta River Kings
vi. 9-11pm Tony Saunders Dance Band
c. We discussed financing for the event, including the need for sponsors, volunteers, and advertising.
4. Programming and Publicity – Dir. Karp
a. We discussed that we’re fine with our current programming, although we’re always thinking of better ideas.
b. We discussed publicity for the October 19thevent and for our big grant.
5. CAB - no chair, no report
No news.
6. Bylaws and Policies – Dir. Polkinghorne
a. Bylaws are almost done and will be emailed to the Board before the next meeting and submitted at the next meeting for approval.
b. Policy on staff vacations needs work – to not allow staff to accrue too much vacation that needs to be paid off or used at once.
G) CONDUCT OF BUSINESS
a. Budget A budget for 2019-2020 was proposed, discussed, and approved.
b. New NPR Agreement The new NPR agreement was discussed and passed.
H) COMMENTS FROM DIRECTORS
a. Dir. Azzaro suggested we create a small handout that has our name and sponsors on one side and our radio schedule on the other. He showed us an example from KVMR. These could be giveaways at our big event and at counters at many underwriter businesses.
b. Dir. Azzaro led us to thank Dir. Dow for all of his hard work as our unpaid GM for 5 months and gave him a gift from the Board.
c. A discussion followed about working with other N. California stations. GM Durlin has already begun such conversations.
d. Dir. Polkinghorne asked for a volunteer to be on the Bylaws and Policy Committee.
e. Dir. Dow noted that we had extended our line of credit.
I) PUBLIC EXPRESSION
None
J) CLOSED SESSION
None
K) NEXT MEETING – August 28, 2019 in Ukiah
L) ADJOURNMENT – 7:18
Manager’s Report
July 2019
Firesafe! Big thanks! To the 21 volunteers who, on July 11-12, cleared the grounds of the Philo studio, cutting trees, bushes and weeds. Spearheaded by the Land Wellness and Retreat Center in Philo, coordinated on our end by Renee Wilson, and initiated during a AV Firesafe Council meeting attended by board member Jerry Karp, this effort couldn’t have been more effective and timely. CalFire brought a chipper the next week to take care of the huge piles of brush. The grounds are transformed and now much safer. Amazing community effort on behalf of KZYX.
Local News progress - Alicia, Sarah and I have met a few times to brainstorm, and Alicia and Sarah are now meeting regularly on Fridays to plan news reports for the coming week. Our intent is to have at leastfive fresh news stories Monday-Friday, two of them supplied by Alicia and me, the rest by Sarah and (hopefully) two reporters she is training. We’re hoping to build it up as we can, using the resources we have, until we can fund a more robust daily news presence. We are also creating an original KZYX News theme, performed by Alicia and Jake. Tune in…
Emergency preparation - Led by Alicia, who attended a session on emergency preparedness at the NFCB conference, the staff met this month to begin the process of creating an emergency document that can help us through the unexpected. Alice did some great work to outline some of the necessary steps with our volunteer programmers, so that’s a good start. We’re meeting every week for a while to make progress on this most crucial part of our mission.
Volunteer training - Alicia and Rich are planning two volunteer orientation and training opportunities in September and January, one in Ft. Bragg, one in Ukiah.
Solar Energy Institute - Tom and I met with Amanda Reiman, Flow Kana Vice President of Community Relations, to plan how to work with the Solar Energy Institute, now under the auspices of Flow Kana. We believe we laid the groundwork for a positive, ongoing partnership.
Underwriting meeting - I’m organizing a meeting with Sandra and Jeff, along with Steve Winkle and Jake, to discuss underwriting trades. The agenda of the meeting: Review how many trades we have, with whom, and what their status is; Develop -- or at least begin to develop -- a consistent policy that helps the station and satisfies the underwriters; Deal with the issue of the commission on trades. (I believe we can implement valuable trades that will not burden Sandra or Jeff but also won't negatively affect the KZYX bottom line); Review the records we must keep on every trade, per CPB; Discuss any other issues anyone might have; and Set up regular meetings, maybe once a quarter.
Move to coast - After looking for several months and finding few options in Anderson Valley, I have moved into a small house in Little River, which is working out great so far. Very grateful for my stay in Navarro, which gave me a short commute and allowed me to get here and start working without worrying about all the stuff one requires to move across the country. - Marty