[Approved]
KPFA Local Station Board
Regular in-person meeting
July 12, 2014 11am-4pm
North Berkeley Senior Center
1901 Hearst Ave., Berkeley, CA map
Present: Craig Alderson, Mal Burnstein, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Paula Erkkila, José Luis Fuentes*, David Gans, Mark Hernandez, Cynthia Johnson, Janet Kobren, David Landau, Joy Moore, Lewis Sawyer, Franklin Sterling, Ramsés Teón-Nichols*, Carole Travis, David Welsh, Barbara Whipperman, Margy Wilkinson.
*Arrived after roll call.
Absent: Donald Goldmacher, Kate Gowen, Jack Kurzweil, Samsarah Morgan, Andrea Prichett, Mel Sanders, Burton White.
1. Call to order
Meeting called to order by chair at 11:10 am.
2. Roll call and excusing of members
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to excuse all absent members except Mel Sanders. Approved unanimously by voice vote.
3. Approve agenda
Moved (B. Edwards-Tiekert) to approve agenda.
Moved (D. Welsh) to amend by moving 14.C (Resolution on sale of Pacifica licenses) to 14.A. Approved without objection.
Agenda as amended approved unanimously by voice vote.
Moved (B. White) to schedule LSB meeting for August 9, 11am-4pm. Approved unanimously by voice vote.
4. Minutes
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to approve minutes as drafted. Approved unanimously by voice vote.
5. Announcements
J. Kobren: 1) Israel currently bombing Gaza and persisting in colonization of Palestinian land. Protest at noon today, San Francisco Embarcadero BART. Youth organizations are calling on community to demand an end to US support of Israel. 2) Brian Edwards-Tiekert will have Israeli consul on Monday’s UpFront.
P. Erkkila: 1) Israel is brutalizing Palestinian people. 2) 3-hour meeting in San Rafael with task force over DA’s decision not to prosecute police for death of Andy Lopez. Latino community is feeling vulnerable. 3) Finnish wife-carrying event was on Al Jazeera.
J. Moore: Healthy Child Initiative will be on Berkeley’s November ballot. Addresses sugary snacks.
C. Johnson: 25th anniversary of Pastors for Peace caravan launches today. Dave Welsh has released CD, “Class War,” and was on Saturday Talkies.
M. Wilkinson: Google “Berkeley versus Big Soda” for information on Healthy Child Initiative. Very exciting. Berkeley will be first to pass such a measure.
J. Kobren: Requested follow-up on spraying of N. Berkeley Senior Center.
B. Edwards-Tiekert: Monday 7:30am Israeli consul general will be on UpFront. Will ask challenging questions and invited listener call-ins.
6. Public comments
Public comments begin at 19:32 of audio file part 1. Virginia Browning, Daniel Borgstrom, Nancy Polin, Sasha Futran.
7. Interim general manager’s report (Richard Pirodsky)
New general manager Quincy McCoy had hoped to be here but his first day will be July 14. R. Pirodsky and he will work together for first week. Q. McCoy asks for empathy and that everyone understand his responsibilities and goals.
Summer fund drive ends August 8. First use of full phone service. Depending on cash flow, we may go back to modified system of volunteers complemented by phone service. He expects drive to be successful. We need to bring in about $30k a day. We’ll be in sync with last two weeks of KPFK’s drive. KPFK LSB has set up development task force, is contacting grant writers and development specialists. There is great deal of concern about finances. We must develop off-air revenues, and he urged board to monitor KPFK’s activities to see whether it wants to follow suit.
Pacifica interim executive director Bernard Duncan notified him that he was to be laid off. R. Pirodsky believes it’s best for cuts to start at top. He reflected on his time at Pacifica.
GoalBusters has taught us what best practices are and what we have been doing that’s harmful. Because of GoalBusters, we’re closer to getting development director. Phone service will be handled by ComNet, which ran rollover service station used in last fund drive and was a big improvement. We don’t pay up front for service. Service generates money and quality of record-keeping is better, while volunteers’ abilities varied widely. We need volunteers for other things like pledge fulfillment drives. We’re churning listeners because premiums aren’t fulfilled, and volunteers could be used for that. ComNet can provide pledge numbers during program. Credit card information goes directly into computer and is not copied on paper as in phone room. Cards can be charged while donor is on phone and any problems immediately resolved. GoalBusters’s contract ends in September. There is no proposal to extend services. They’re still working on comprehensive campaign.
8. Break.
Because treasurer’s report was not ready, chair Travis proposed to move to PNB report. Approved without objection.
9. PNB report (B. Edwards-Tiekert)
Pacifica CFO has had full access to all books and accounts for three weeks. Almost no transactions have been entered into Pacifica accounting system. Payroll has not been entered since March. Audit schedules have not been compiled. Now it’s a race to get audit done by extended tax return deadline of Aug. 15. There has been lot of churn among national office staff, with two resignations and one unpaid leave. Two former employees have returned and have been able to get immediately to work. Bills have been discovered unpaid for up to a year. The network is extremely tight on cash. Without accurate financial statement we can’t tell what shortfalls are structural and what are due to cash flow. We have not had CPB money for a year and a half due to compliance failures in meeting notices. Last year’s grant would have been $400k; this year’s grant would be $600k to $700k if we can complete audit. Negotiations over WBAI could save large amount of money. Preliminary financial statements of network are expected at end of month.
M. Wilkinson added that one discovery was that budgets for 2013-14 fiscal year had not been entered into system. This is now being done. J. Kobren reported that last election committee meeting did not meet quorum. There’s still a question whether timetable and financial situation will allow Pacifica to have elections. JL Fuentes concurred with KPFA interim general manager’s statement that cuts should begin at top, and commented that Pacifica is lucky M. Wilkinson has agreed to serve without pay.
10. Treasurer’s report (B. Whipperman)
11. Special order of business: Review of Financial Statement Oct 2013 – May 2014 (8 months)
Treasurer distributed new report, TR1, which addresses questions about revenue and expenses of KPFA special events. Includes income produced by CDs and DVDs. Net income from events is $33k. When added from revenue generated by fundraising premiums produced from events, overall total is $71k.
KPFA business manager Maria Negrete distributed T2, preliminary unaudited P&L report. She emphasized that the report is imperfect and preliminary, but as thorough as was possible. Invoices are supposed to be entered into accounting system on receipt. KPFA has entered all invoices, but national office has not, so billback charges are not reflected. Pensions and salaries are not booked. She used KPFA records to estimate salary costs. We have only $90k in bank. We are continuously giving money to central services, which is why we have a big budget surplus but no money in bank.
12. Community Advisory Board report (C. Wolfley)
See attached.
13. KFCF report (M. Hernandez)
No report.
14. Old business
A. Resolution on sale of Pacifica licenses (D. Welsh)
D. Welsh was no longer in attendance, so the item was tabled.
B. KPFA policy regarding calling police (A. Prichett)
A. Prichett was absent, so the item was tabled.
C. Resolution on Morning Mix
Chair reminded board that two motions from June meeting were pending on Morning Mix, one submitted by J. Kobren and the other a substitute motion by M. Wilkinson.
Moved (D. Landau) as substitute motion for M. Wilkinson’s substitute: “No program shall be rescheduled or cancelled based on how much money it raises; every programmer shall have access to all fund drive premiums; and programmers should be allowed to select and add premiums appropriate to their audience to the general list; the GM shall have a conversation with the programmers to explain the fund drive process and discuss the programmers’ concerns.”
Chair ruled that motion was acceptable as substitute motion of pending substitute motion.
B. Whipperman moved to close debate. Approved without objection.
On D. Landau substitute motion to replace existing M. Wilkinson substitute motion, failed: 2Y, 9N, 2A.
On replacing main motion with M. Wilkinson substitute motion, approved: 9Y, 3N, 1A.
Moved (J. Kobren) to divide first sentence. Failed: 3Y, 9N, 1A.
On main motion as amended (i.e., replaced in whole by substitute motion), approved: 11Y, 0N, 2A.
D. Local community programming
Motion to table approved without objection.
Adjourned 2:45 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Craig Alderson
LSB Secretary