Minutes of the KPFK Local Station Board Meeting of July 20, 2011

The regular monthly meeting of the KPFK Local Station Board was held on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 7:15 PM at the Southern California Library for Social Research, 6120 Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90044, the Chair (Dutch Merrick) being in the chair and the Secretary (John P. Garry III) being present. The minutes of the last meeting (June 15, 2011) were approved as corrected.

Nineteen members were present, constituting a quorum: Ken Aaron (7:24), Chuck Anderson, Rodrigo Argueta, Fred Blair, Omar Burdet, John Cromshow, Aryana Gladney (7:42), Leonard Isenberg (7:24), Kim Kaufman, Ali Lexa (7:32), Brenda Medina, Dutch Merrick, Margie Murray (7:24), Michael Novick, Summer Reese (7:24), Lawrence Reyes, Martina Steiner (7:22), John Wenger (7:24), Lamont Yeakey (7:42).

Four members were excused: Lydia Brazon, Fred Klunder, Jim Lafferty, Sequoia Olivia Mercier

One member was absent: John Parker

Also present: Bernard Duncan (KPFK General Manager), Alan Minsky (KPFK Interim Program Director), Terry Goodman (Audio Recordist), Adam Zerkel (Sound Board).

Authority and Notice: This meeting, originally scheduled for July 16, 2011, was authorized by the LSB by a motion approved at its meeting of April 6, 2011. The revised time and location was noticed by the Chair via email and posted on KPFK.org and other websites beginning on July 13, 2011 (see Appendix A).

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kpfklsb_announce/messages

Audio Recording: The audio of the meeting is available for a limited time at the following site:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kpfklsb_announce/messages
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kpfklsb_announce/message/687
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/53272

CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL (7:15)

The Chair called a non-quorumed meeting to order with nine members present at 7:15 PM. Quorum was achieved at 7:24 PM.

PROCEDURES FOR DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR (7:20)

The Chair affirmed some basic decorum principles. Responding to objections from the Board, the Chair ruled that a meeting can be held but motions may not be passed (while quorum was lacking).

EXCUSED ABSENCES (7:22)

The excused absences requests of Brazon, Klunder, Lafferty, and Mercier were accepted without objection.

ANNOUNCEMENTS (7:23)

Novick noticed a Friday, July 22 2011 demonstration in solidarity with California prison hunger strikers to be held at the Los Angeles County Jail. Medina noticed a climate event at the Sepulveda Center for Saturday July 23, 2011. Cromshow announced an Immigration Clinic to be held on July 21, 2011 at La Placita. Reese suggested streaming/archiving the LSB audio at KPFTX.com. The Chair suggested addressing this issue under new business.

AGENDA APPROVAL

[Audio Part 1, audio recording began while the meeting was in progress]

Point of order from Reyes: The Agenda should have roman numerals and numbers. Burdet concurred. The Chair agreed to do this.

Aaron moved to relocate Old Business/Public Policy for Cash Collection higher in the agenda and requested a roll call vote. Motion passed on a roll call vote: Yes—12, No—4, Abs—0.

Yes—Aaron, Anderson, Argueta, Blair, Cromshow, Isenberg, Kaufman, Lexa, Murray, Reese, Reyes, Wenger
No—Burdet, Medina, Novick, Steiner
Abstain—0
Present not voting—Merrick

Reese moved for a 15 minute Executive Session at the end of Public Comment IV to discuss a possible disciplinary action against LSB members for actions taken at the recent Orange County Outreach event. The Chair committed to allow a vote to that effect to be held towards the end of the meeting. Reese agreed to this and no vote was taken on the motion.

The agenda was approved as amended without objection.

MINUTES APPROVAL (7:43)

Reese made objections to the April 6, 2011 minutes, asked for inclusion of additional information, and requested the audio for that meeting. Reese, Aaron and Kaufman made corrections to the June 15, 2011 minutes, which were approved as corrected without objection.

Kaufman moved (amended by Murray) for the Secretary to deliver minutes directly to the LSB within seven days. Motion passed by a show of hands: Yes—12, No—4, Abs—1.

Reese requested that hard copies of draft minutes be brought to board meetings. Duly noted by the Secretary.

SCHEDULING / NOTICE OF MEETINGS (8:06)

The Chair reported that on-air announcements of the current meeting had been made for seven days and that he was in discussion with station staff to announce LSB and committee meetings in the on-air Community Calendar of Events (which currently does not announce LSB meetings).

Cromshow moved Saturday, August 13 1:00 PM for the next LSB meeting. Motion failed by a show of hands: Yes—5, No—8, Abs—4.

STATUS REPORT / IMPLEMENTATION / ACTION ITEMS (8:15)

Secretary: Lawrence Reyes added to LSB email list. The Secretary and Reyes reported that this had been done.

Secretary: Committee of Inclusion membership report. The Secretary reported that the roster of the committee had been emailed to the Board.

Secretary: Referred minutes. Discussed above.

PrOC Programming Motion: No report given.

Kaufman: Cash Policy discussed with Management. Kaufman reported that she had discussed the policy with station management and that the station had no written policy.

Governance: Spanish language translation. Reyes reported that the Governance Committee was approaching foundations to provide translation equipment. Personnel to operate the equipment, however, would incur an expense to the board.

Reese: PNB Agendas available to the LSB. Reese reported that there will be one PNB meeting per month. Reese committed to distribute the next PNB agenda to the Board and reported that agendas are currently being posted on KPFTX.org.

Chair: Written reports from Management. The Chair reported that written reports have been requested from the General Manager, who drafted one for the current meeting and committed to forward them to the Board further in advance of future meetings. The Chair also committed to request a written report from the Interim Development Director on the May 1, 2011 Billy Higgins Event.

Chair: Action items list for Agenda: Completed.

Chair: Agenda time for board questions to PNB Directors. The Chair stated the PNB Director Reports are slotted 20 minutes in the agenda, which includes time for questions.

GM: Names of people following up on action items. The General Manager reported to have followed up on this matter.

Committee of Inclusion: Novick requested that someone call a meeting of the Committee of Inclusion. Responding to a request from the Chair, Gladney agreed to convene a meeting of the Committee of Inclusion and hold an election for Chair. Reyes volunteered for the Committee and his membership was accepted without objection.

PUBLIC COMMENT I (8:27)

Public comment was heard for six minutes.

[Audio Part 2]

Public comment continues.

MANAGEMENT REPORT: BERNARD DUNCAN (8:33)

The General Manager gave an oral report. “MANAGER’S REPORT TO THE LOCAL STATION BOARD” was emailed to the Chair before the meeting and was distributed to the board and the public (see Appendix C). Questions and comments from the board followed.

Reyes moved (amended by Reese) to extend for seven minutes. Motion passed by a show of hands: Yes—10, No—4, Abs—3. Questions from the Board to the General Manager continued, with additional comments from the Interim Program Director.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: TABLED FINANCE COMMITTEE MOTION (9:06)

A tabled motion from the meeting of June 15, 20011 was brought to the floor:

“Policy for Cash-Collection and/or Merchandise-Sales at All Public Events Put On by KPFK and/or the LSB

Public events should have a designated chairperson to interface with staff, management, volunteers and LSB.

The Development Director or, if absent, the Business Manager, shall be responsible for the control and reporting of all inventory, costs, and cash at all public events.

The Finance Committee, along with the interim Development Director, shall develop and implement an inventory control system for events, including merchandise, tickets and opening cash and including cash reconciliation sheets.

Members of the Finance Committee shall be authorized to participate in the handling of merchandise and cash at events.

Three people should sign off on all cash receipts and be present at all times with cash collections and reconciliation, unless only two are available in which case two shall sign off.

Drink tickets shall be inventoried and accounted for as cash.

A protocol shall be developed for how to handle cash after an event (i.e., bank deposit).

All events shall have a full post-event financial report prepared by management and submitted electronically to the LSB Finance Committee within 30-60 days of the event, detailing all itemized expenses, gross proceeds and net profits. All expenses must be documented with receipts, included gifted items.

Lexa and Yeakey moved to amend: “Two people should sign off on all cash receipts is only two are available.” Amendment accepted without objection.

Motion passed by a roll call vote: Yes---13, No—3, Abs—2.

Yes--Aaron, Blair, Cromshow, Isenberg, Kaufman, Lexa, Murray, Novick, Reese, Reyes, Steiner, Wenger, Yeakey
No—Anderson, Burdet, Gladney
Abstain—Argueta, Medina
Present not voting--Merrick

CHAIR REPORT (9:16)

The Chair gave an oral report.

DISCUSSION OF BOARD DECORUM AT THE STATION (9:18)

The Chair discussed decorum and recommended that the Governance Committee develop a board-station staff decorum policy, followed by discussion.

Murray moved for the Governance Committee to create an etiquette policy for LSB interaction with station staff. The General Manager and the Program Director shall guide the formation of this policy, which shall be forwarded to the LSB for final approval.

[Audio Part 3]

Motion passed by a show of hands: Yes—8, No—4, Abs—6.

PUBLIC COMMENT II (9:30)

Public comment was heard for nine minutes.

TOWN HALL TASK FORCE REPORT / LSB BUDGET ALLOCATION  (9:39)

Reese, Kaufman, Novick and Reyes gave oral reports and responded to questions from the board. Reese requested that KPFK LSB meetings be noticed on KPFTX.org. Duly noted by the Chair. The budget for the Town Hall was discussed. $500 of the allotted LSB budget was considered adequate. Donations will be collected at the event.

Novick moved to hold an LSB meeting on September 10, 2011 with the Town Hall Meeting on September 17, 2011. Motion passed by a show of hands: Yes—14, No—0, Abs—1.

Argueta moved to adjourn. Motion failed by a roll call vote: Yes—7, No—8, Abs—3.

Yes—Anderson, Argueta, Burdet, Gladney, Medina, Novick, Reyes
No—Aaron, Blair, Cromshow, Isenberg, Kaufman, Murray, Reese, Wenger
Abstain—Lexa, Steiner, Yeakey
Present not voting--Merrick

Point of order from Reyes: Reyes stated that he had not signed a confidentiality agreement and could not participate in an executive session.

Aaron moved to reconvene in executive session for 15 minutes: Motion passed by a show of hands: Yes—10, No—7, Abs—1.

Point of order from Reyes: A 2/3 vote is required to amend the agenda. The Chair ruled that an executive session may be called without alteration to the agenda.

The public meeting was adjourned at 10:00 PM. The public was asked to leave and the board reconvened in executive session from 10:13 PM to 10:38 PM. The Secretary, not being an Officer, was not present to record the minutes.

Respectfully submitted by John P. Garry III, KPFK LSB Secretary
(these minutes were approved on August 17, 2011)

**********
Appendix A—Public Notices
Emailed by Terry Goodman on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 12:00:56 PM

Due in part to the traffic congestion anticipated to occur in
connection with closures for construction on the I-405 Sepulveda Pass
Improvements Project this weekend, the KPFK Local Station Board
Meeting previously scheduled for Saturday afternoon, July 16, 2011 has
been postponed to Wednesday evening, July 20, 2011 from 7:00 pm to
10:00 pm at a location to be announced.

Refs:
http://www.kpfk.org/eventcal.html?task=view_detail&agid=2108&year=2011&month=07&day=20
http://www.kpftx.org/pacalendar/cal_show1.php?eventdate=2011072

I-405 Project Info & Detour Maps:
http://www.metro.net/projects/I-405/
**********
Emailed by Dutch Merrick, Wednesday, July 13, 2011 5:40:05 PM

Fellow Board Members,
The meeting location for the KPFK Local Station Board on July 20th, 2011will be at the Southern California Library. The meeting is scheduled from 7pm until 10pm.

The Library is located at 6120 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90044
(off the 110 Freeway, exit Slauson or Gage).
It's accessible by MTA Bus 204 and Express Bus 754. Street parking is available.

Best of luck surviving so-called "Car-mageddon" this weekend,
-Dutch Merrick
**********
Emailed by Terry Goodman on Wednesday, July 13, 2011 5:59:37 PM

The KPFK Local Station Board will meet on Wednesday, July 20, 2011
from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm at the Southern California Library, 6120 S.
Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90044 (off the 110 Freeway, exit at
Slauson or Gage).  The Library is accessible by MTA Bus 204 and
Express Bus 754. Street parking is available.

Refs: http://www.kpfk.org/lsbpnbmenu/93-calenderandnotices/5026-local-station-board-7202011-700-pm.html
http://www.kpfk.org/eventcal.html?task=view_detail&agid=2108&year=2011&month=07&day=20
http://www.kpftx.org/pacalendar/cal_show1.php?eventdate=2011072

**********
Appendix B—Approved Agenda

Proposed Agenda for KPFK LSB Meeting of 7-20-2011
(all times include board questions and discussion)

Call to Order, Roll Call, Procedures for Disruptive Behavior, Excused Absences,
Announcements, Agenda Approval, Minutes Approval                (20 min)

Scheduling/Notice of Meetings/ Locations                         (5 min)

Chair Report                                    (5 min)

Status Report / Implementation / Action Items                     (20 min)
Secretary: Lawrence Reyes added to LSB email list
Secretary: Committee of Inclusion membership report
Secretary: Referred minutes
PrOC Programming Motion
Kaufman: Cash Policy discussed with Management
Governance: Spanish language translation
Reese: PNB Agendas available to the LSB
Chair: Written reports from Management
Chair: Action items list for Agenda
Chair: Agenda time for board questions to PNB Directors
GM: Names of people following up on action items

Public Comment I                                (7.5 min)

Management Report: Bernard Duncan w/ discussion                    (15 min)

Unfinished Business                                (5 min)
Tabled Finance Committee Cash Policy Motion

Discussion of Board Decorum at the Station                        (10 min)

Public Comment II                                (7.5 min)

Town Hall Task Force Report / LSB Budget Allocation                (20 min)

Public Comment III                                (7.5 min)

PNB Director Reports  (includes discussion)                        (20 min)
Aaron, Argueta, Brazon, Reese

Governance Committee Report                            (10 min)

Personnel Committee Report                            (5 min)

Program Oversight Committee Report                        (5 min)

Finance Committee Report                            (5 min)

Outreach Committee Report                             (5 min)

Public Comment IV                                (7.5 min)

New Business (TBD)                                total 180 min

*******
Passed Motions from Outreach Committee to be considered by the LSBoard:

Motion 1
Let it be resolved that with one month's notice to the LSB, all events sponsored and organized by the outreach committee that do not incur any expense shall be assumed to be approved unless the LSB determines otherwise, and the outreach committee chair or his/her designee shall be authorized work with appropriate station staff for on-air promotion.

Motion 2
Let it be resolved, all sub committee chairs of the LSB shall be able to reserve a room and notify the appropriate parties to send out notices instead of all committee reservations and notification facilitated only through the LSB chair.

Passed Motion from Governance Committee to be considered by the LSBoard:

“Merrick moved an additional Budget Only LSB Meeting for Saturday. August 13, 2011 at 1:00 PM.” Motion passed by hand vote: Yes—7, No—0, Abs—0.

*********
Appendix C—General Manager’s Report

PACIFICA RADIO KPFK 90.7 FM
MANAGER’S REPORT TO THE LOCAL STATION BOARD

Wednesday, July 20, 2011
(Bernard Duncan, General Manager)

Manager’s Overview

* 2012 Budget
o assessment of current and past years’ conditions
o realistic achievement setting/cost analysis
o close contact and liaison with Finance Committee/Treasurer
* Fund raising
o on-air membership and fund-raising
o drives
o strategy
o lateral thinking 
* Public and committee meetings
o June LSB
o programmers and volunteers
o individual meetings with particular interests
o PrOC
o Finance
* Staff meetings 
o monthly full-staff meetings implemented to improve communication
o systematic process of one-to-one staff meetings – concerns, issues, good news, ideas
* The process of the Board and Management
o analysis of how the ideas contribute to the mission
o best practice/optimum performance
* Public interface
o on-air dialogue (as discussed at the June meeting)

Outreach and Development

* Interns – two students have been incorporated into the formation process of the Spanish-language Listener Programming Advisory Committee (LPAC) as bilingual note-takers for the purpose of keeping minutes of each meeting and documenting the process which will lead to an evaluation committee for Spanish-language programming. (Interns provided through an arrangement with the Bresee Foundation – thanks to the work of Jessica Wood). KPFK interns receive training in community outreach, administration skills, member services and production etc, fulfilling a valuable youth employment-skill service.

* Process and documentation review, inventory and documentation – part of what will be an ongoing procedure to ensure our systems are strong, understood and followed. Priorities at the moment include our relationship with our constituents – specifically CAB, Outreach, Promotion & marketing*, Donors, Grant sourcing and others. This also relates to media sponsorship management, PSAs, event production and calendar announcements, missed (and un-missed) opportunities.

* Membership Benefits Card – the next phase of this development is underway with the aim of growing and consolidating community partnerships.

* Coming up –
o August Fund Drive (16 – 25 August)
o KPFK Recycle Day – MacArthur Park, September 7.
o Books –
* Maria Armoudian: Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World – August 11
* Frances Moore Lappé: Ecomind – September 7

* Report back – A Tribute to Billy Higgins. This event proved to be a resounding outreach success for the station, creating a memorable experience for a faithful jazz audience that wasn’t familiar with KPFK 90.7 before. Special thanks go to Music Director Maggie LePique with support from Event Consultant Kasey Lovelace; as well as the Production and Coordination team of Ali Lexa, Jessica Wood, volunteers Flavia, Nick Gerow, Violet Venegas and Jennifer Kiser; and volunteers Margie Murray, Dutch Merrick and Summer Reese for important assistance during the event.

A DVD of the performance has been created as a premium for use in the upcoming August fund drive. A Special Edition KPFK t-shirt and program book from the event will be available with the DVD as a package deal.

Programming

* Regular KPFK programming since the last LSB meeting has enabled the station to do the important work for which it has become known. Since the May fund-drive ended the focus has been on KPFK’s quality public affairs programs, music programming, arts, culture and community.

* Programming changes during this reporting period –  
o Alive & Pickin’ has taken a summer hiatus which allowed Digital Village to return to the Saturday morning line up; it also allowed Experienced Talks and Half Way Down the Stairs to expand to hour long formats for the summer. Digital Village is still in the process of incorporating some new voices and elements to its show that were developed during its hiatus from the airwaves.
o Truthseekas has moved to Friday night at midnight, Steve Martin’s My Side of the City moved to Saturday night at midnight and Abraham Beltran’s Sound Waves moved over to Friday night/Saturday morning at 2 am

* Webcast of the Day – this project was launched a few weeks ago. It features progressive talk shows from around the country produced by either Pacifica Radio Stations, Pacifica Affiliates, or other independent radio projects. On-air promos direct listeners to the front page of the KPFK website where they find a link to the webcast of the day.

* Alerts – announcements related to ICE Raids and Police Checkpoints have been broadcast during the reporting period, with significant response. There remain some logistic issues to be resolved to ensure consistency, and these are being worked through.

* Program review – the LPAC continues to review KPFK’s English language talk radio programming – and the reviews for all the shows should be done by the end of the summer.  The Spanish Language LPAC is being put together – and as of today, 18 of the 19 nominated candidates have been informed of their nominations, and we await their responses.  The aim is to have this committee in place by next month.

Operations

* Exit signs – as required by the Fire Department, lit exit signs have been installed to assist in emergencies.

* Air-conditioning – there continue to be problems with keeping the studios cool on the 1st floor. This results in additional service calls to ensure adequate performance, but the ongoing issues are problematic, and not unusual in a radio studio setting. Operations staff are investigating workable solutions, including the purchase of more modern units capable of better meeting our temperature control needs effective and efficiently.

* Phone hacking – a block on phone calls to the Caribbean region has been removed. The block was implemented by Telepacific due to a large number of hacking in to US companies originating from there. The hacks would allow the hackers to make proxy calls from the US to where ever they wanted and the charges would be incurred by the company that was hacked. Security measures have been implemented to help protect us.

* Lighting – the LAWDP is processing our request for funds to help cover costs of our light retrofit in the building to improve energy efficiency.

* General – the required filing work for EEO compliance is underway, and KPFK’s public file is up-to-date.

Engineering

* Studios – our studio facilities are generally in good repair and condition. Remaining minor day-to-day issues are being taken care of over the next few weeks. We need to replace some of our 10 year old CD players over the next month.

* Malibu booster – we are looking into a different site for the transmitter and antenna that will allow us to increase the output power from 250 watts to 2,000 watts, resulting in better in-fill for weak transmission areas on that part of the coast. This should be resolved within the next 90 days.

* Rancho Bernardo – this translator is operating OK but, it needs some adjustment to optimize it. Required adjustment is expected to be done within 30 days.

* Santa Barbara – the translator is in good condition and operating well. During summer months, however, it will sometimes pickup and rebroadcast the Tijuana 90.7 station instead of KPFK. A phase nulling system may alleviate some of this problem and we will be trying that out in a few weeks.

* Mt Wilson – the main transmitters continue to be a problem. They have never been as stable as they should be and the fact that they are now ten years old doesn’t help. Over the next few days and weeks we will be repairing some transmitter parts and replacing some others. This work should help stabilize the operation of the transmitters. The emergency standby transmitter is over 30 years old and needs to be replaced. Notification from the AQMD is still awaited on whether we will be given a permit to operate an emergency power generator on Mt. Wilson. Fortunately, SoCal Edison has completed all the repair work on both electrical feeds to the Mt. Wilson broadcast site. This means that we should no longer experience extended power outages.

Business Office

* Financial status as at July 20 –
o Total Cash in Bank is $563,583.79
o Total payables is $42,468.72 
o Central Services owed to National Office is $237,530.65

* August Fund Drive – our target has been set at $300,000

* Financial planning for FY2012 is underway and Treasurer Kim Kaufman is working with the Finance Committee and GM in anticipation of the next Finance meeting on August 1.

Bernard Duncan
General Manager
July 20, 2011