[Approved]
KPFA Local Station Board
Regular in-person meeting, March 9, 2013, 11am-4pm
North Berkeley Senior Center
1901 Hearst Ave., 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, David Gans, Donald Goldmacher, Matthew Hallinan, Cynthia Johnson, Janet Kobren, Jack Kurzweil, Joy Moore, Andrea Prichett, Tracy Rosenberg, Mel Sanders, Lewis Sawyer, Laurence Shoup, Dan Siegel, Franklin Sterling, Ramsés Teón-Nichols*, Carole Travis, Barbara Whipperman, Burton White, Margy Wilkinson.
*Arrived after roll call.
Absent: José Luis Fuentes, Mark Hernandez.
1. Call to order
Meeting called to order by chair B. White at 11:18 am.
2. Roll call and excusing of members
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to excuse José Luis Fuentes, Mark Hernandez, Shahram Aghamir, Ramsés Teón-Nichols. Approved without objection.
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to “adopt a permanent limit of 3 minutes on speakers in discussions unless the body agrees otherwise by majority vote.” Approved: 13Y (C. Alderson, M. Burnstein, B. Edwards-Tiekert, D. Gans, D. Goldmacher, M. Hallinan, J. Kurzweil, L. Sawyer, D. Siegel, C. Travis, B. Whipperman, B. White, M. Wilkinson); 8N (S. Aghamir, C. Johnson, J. Moore, A. Prichett, T. Rosenberg, L. Shoup, F. Sterling, R. Teón-Nichols); 2A (J. Kobren, M. Sanders).
In response to procedural objections, chair ruled that full attendance of all board members was not required as long as a quorum was obtained; 2/3 vote was not required; an absolute majority of the board was sufficient; advance notice was not required. Chair ruled 11th ed. of Roberts Rules of Order was authority in parliamentary matters and that his ruling was in accordance with p.390, “Adopting a special rule.” No challenge to chair’s ruling.
3. Approve agenda
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to add executive session of no more than 30 minutes between interim general manager’s report and treasurer’s report. Approved: 19Y, 1N, 2A.
Moved (T. Rosenberg) to eliminate committee reports from March agenda and place them under item 9 in April agenda. Failed: 10Y, 12N.
Agenda approved as amended: 12Y, 8N, 1A.
4. Minutes
Moved (B. Edwards-Tiekert) to strike Q&A reported under interim general manager’s report. Approved: 16Y, 0N, 3A.
Moved (M. Wilkinson) to adopt minutes as amended. Approved: 18Y, 0N, 1A.
5. Public comments
Akio Tanaka, Mindy Stone, Virginia Browning, Daniel Borgstrom.
6. Announcements
A. F. Sterling: Mar. 22 deadline for Apprenticeship Program applications. Available at kpfaapprentice.org or 848-6767 ext. 235. Mandatory orientation Mar. 28.
B. J. Moore: Congratulated staff for International Women’s Day programming. Reminded everyone to plan ahead for the 2014 commemoration.
C. C. Johnson: Commended Pacifica reporting on Hugo Chavez. Event on Chavez at Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists Mar. 17, 6-9, 1924 Cedar St. at Bonita.
D. M. Wilkinson: A) Berkeley teachers are in serious contract negotiations. Last wage increase 2009, which has been eaten up by health care costs. School board rejected union’s offer and proposed 1% raise. Teachers passing out signs to show support; public demonstrations soon. B) City of Berkeley is considering buying a drone. Police Review Commission is reviewing proposal. Commission on Peace and Justice and Police Review Commission are considering hearing on use of domestic drones.
E. J. Kobren: Mumia Abu Jamal documentary at Parkway theater. Excellent. Noelle Hanrahan is co-producer. They are looking for other venues.
F. A. Prichett: Police Review Commission will meet at South Berkeley Senior Center. Berkeley PD has reputation for not releasing information such as about 41-year-old African-American women killed at Gaia Building a few weeks ago. KPFA needs to expose such abuses.
G. B. Edwards-Tiekert: Congratulated everyone for successful fund drive. Fourth successful fund drive in row. We are ahead of budget by about $115k.
7. Interim general manager report (A. Phillips)
A. Phillips stated it was not true that KPFA did not celebrate Black History Month. He said he had not received any programming proposals for BHM from producers. He expects producers to take the lead in programming, not management, and urged the community to take part in making suggestions. Regarding changes in Morning Mix, he said the situation was not new, that the union had filed grievances and management had a legal obligation to take respond as a matter of good management. He said there is a lot of local reporting and substantial diversity at the station, and that allegations of a lack of diversity were not factually true. Held two staff meetings. Approximately 36 attended afternoon meeting, 12 evening meeting.
Fundraising drive was $5k above goal; fund drive was two days shorter. David Gans raised $31k and additional $3k on Facebook; UpFront raised $88k or $5.5k/hour. Mornings have improved a lot. Morning Mix is not being taken off. Goalbusters is in town. Applying for $60k from NEA. Raised $10k from two solicitations of large donors. Next fund drive is Apr. 30-May 22. There will be 64th birthday party picnic in summer.
Pacifica owes FSRN $250k. FSRN was about to close but at Phillips’ direction, KPFA paid FSRN $35k, to be deducted from KPFA central services dues.
Mitch Jeserich was instrumental in getting Rich Wolff on air. Our economic programming is outstanding and could be marketed. Dennis Bernstein will cover New York City conference on medical consequences of Fukushima. Reported on upcoming fundraisers. Thanked Bob Baldock. Raised program council issue; big issue, we need one, and perhaps it would be worth spending entire meeting on issue.
Station is pursuing development. He is happy with development team. From the station’s perspective, the development team does not include LSB members.
8. Executive session
Board moved to closed session. In executive session, the board voted to report approval of the following motion:
“It is the position of the KPFA LSB that Andrew Phillips as KPFA interim general manager has the authority and responsibility to deal with personnel matters at KPFA.” Approved: 15Y, 1N, 5A
Adjourned 3:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Craig Alderson
LSB Secretary