[Approved]
KPFA Local Station Board
Regular in-person meeting, June 8, 2013, 11am-4pm
Redwood Gardens Community Room
2951 Derby St., Berkeley, CA
Note: An audio archive of this meeting is available at www.kpftx.org/archive.php
Present: Shahram Aghamir*, Craig Alderson, Mal Burnstein, Brian Edwards-Tiekert, José Luis Fuentes, Donald Goldmacher, Cynthia Johnson, Janet Kobren, Jack Kurzweil, Joy Moore, Samsarah Morgan, Mel Sanders*, Lewis Sawyer, Dan Siegel, Carole Travis, Barbara Whipperman, Burton White, Margy Wilkinson.
*Arrived after roll call.
Absent: David Gans, Matthew Hallinan, Mark Hernandez, Andrea Prichett, Tracy Rosenberg, Franklin Sterling, Ramsés Teón-Nichols.
1. Call to order
Meeting called to order by chair B. White at 11:20 am.
2. Roll call and excusing of members
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to excuse D. Gans, M. Hallinan, A. Prichett, F. Sterling, T. Rosenberg. Approved without objection.
3. Approve agenda
Moved (M. Burnstein) to approve agenda. Approved without objection.
4. Minutes
Moved (L. Sawyer) to approve May 11, 2013, minutes as drafted. Approved without objection.
5. Public comments
No public comments.
6. Announcements
A. J. Moore: 37th apprentice class graduation will be June 29, 6:30 pm, at Harriet Tubman Senior Center, Adeline & Milvia streets. Also, communications bridge-building workshops happened. They were energetic and productive. Same series will be held again in late August.
B. C. Johnson: Films at Elmwood theater. Events at Berkeley Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship include a documentary about whistleblowers. Also, there will be a conference on public banking; details available online.
7. Interim GM report (R. Pirodsky)
License renewal is in progress and is going well. iGM raised suggestion of a carrier current station (CCS). At his previous station at Long Island University, the station was a full-power station with a CCS. CCS offered excellent training ground for learning and different programming for different audiences. Perhaps KPFB could serve as CCS, used as training, trial frequency, opportunity for Apprenticeship Program graduates. Growing IT needs might offer chance for savings by pooling functions; e.g., all stations currently maintain own websites, but one webmaster could handle all of them.
Workplace investigation has begun. Scope is five years. Robert McCree, Holden HR, LLP, hired at request of insurance company, which told Pacifica that more lawsuits will cause cancellation of insurance. Last lawsuit was 6 months ago. Investigation is not targeted at any one person but at operations, procedures, and systems, e.g. evaluations. Pacifica National, KPFA management, and KPFA LSB will get results of investigation. Pirodsky’s contract expressly forbids him from discussing any details of investigation contract. His charge is to prepare report on station operations, programming. He has no interest in outcome of investigation.
Pledge drive saw incredible rally on final day of about $90k. By staying in pledge mode in summer, we can be more efficient in July. Board participation in development was encouraging, and board put together matching fund on last day of drive. GoalBusters is looking at grants, infrastructure to fund development director position. Raised possibility of underwriting and urged board to consider all sources of revenue. We already have underwriting now in form of food during pledge drives. We’re already doing 90 days of pledging per year, and it’s exhausting. We’re already dealing with companies who might be willing to give discounts if we included their links on website.
Moved (B. Edwards-Tiekert): “The HR investigation at KPFA shall be restricted to the specific allegations that prompted Pacifica to place Andrew Phillips on leave and shall be resolved as quickly as possible, and shall have its results reported to the KPFA LSB.
“Any further investigation of structural, procedural, or historic issues at KPFA imposed by Pacifica management shall be paid for by Pacifica, not KPFA.”
Moved amendment (S. Aghamir) to replace “to the specific allegations that prompted Pacifica to place Andrew Phillips on leave” with “to the specific incidents that occurred during Andrew Phillips’ tenure.” Failed: 4Y (S. Aghamir, C. Johnson, J. Kobren, S. Morgan); 12N (C. Alderson, M. Burnstein, B. Edwards-Tiekert, J.L. Fuentes, D. Goldmacher, J. Kurzweil, L. Sawyer, D. Siegel, C. Travis, B. Whipperman, B. White, M. Wilkinson); 1A (J. Moore).
Main motion approved: 12Y (C. Alderson, M. Burnstein, B. Edwards-Tiekert, J.L. Fuentes, D. Goldmacher, J. Kurzweil, L. Sawyer, D. Siegel, C. Travis, B. Whipperman, B. White, M. Wilkinson); 2N (S. Aghamir, J. Kobren); 3A (C. Johnson, J. Moore, S. Morgan).
Moved (D. Siegel): “The LSB shall hold a two-hour closed session to discuss allegations of discrimination at the station. No retaliation against participants.”
Moved amendment (B. Edwards-Tiekert): “A committee of Dan Siegel and Samsarah Morgan shall be charged with the planning and timing of this meeting.” Approved without objection.
Main motion, as amended: “The LSB shall hold a two-hour closed session to discuss allegations of discrimination at the station. A committee of Dan Siegel and Samsarah Morgan shall be charged with organizing the planning and timing of this meeting. No retaliation against participants.” Approved by voice vote, 1 no, 1 abstention.
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to extend adjournment time to include the financial report and PNB report. Approved without objection.
Moved (J. Kobren) to excuse absence of R. Teón-Nichols. Approved without objection.
8. Treasurer’s report (B. Whipperman)
TR1 is 7-month report, not yet reviewed by treasurer. We will discuss at the July meeting. TR2 is a report from the KPFA data manager showing fundraising by types of payments. Fulfillment rates appear low but credit card fulfillments are at 83.7%. “Acquisitions” denote new donors. TR3 & TR4 show pledges received for KFCF and what KPFA actually forwards to KFCF; by agreement, we deduct 6% for handling. KPFK pledges are never entered into KPFA database but go straight to KPFK.
9. PNB report (M. Wilkinson)
M. Wilkinson, B. Edwards-Tiekert, T. Rosenberg, and D. Siegel are delegates to the PNB. The PNB spent much time in closed session. There has not been discussion at PNB about LSB elections. Executive director should have hired national election supervisor by March 31, but there’s been no posting or hire yet. California Corporations Code has been cited allowing a 60-day leeway in scheduling elections, but that period ended on May 31. Executive director has said she has no intention of hiring an election supervisor. She says that as terms of LSB members expire, they should be replaced by election runners-up. Raul Salvador has been hired as new CFO. Executive director search is under way. The search committee says they posted in Los Angeles Times only before they ran out of money. The posting in Current magazine was late. WBAI has missed payroll twice. PNB gave WBAI two weeks to come up with a plan, but there is still no plan.
Moved (C. Alderson): “The KPFA LSB demands that Pacifica hire a national elections supervisor and proceed with elections immediately.” Approved without objection.
10. Old business
A. Community Advisory Board
Application of Carol Wolfley to CAB approved without objection.
B. IT efficiency audit (J. Moore)
J. Moore has been working with Micheas Herman of MMWD. He sent her a list of what goes into an IT efficiency audit, which she distributed. She will raise this at the next meeting.
Adjourned 3:31pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Craig Alderson
LSB Secretary