Board of Directors Meeting Minutes – September 22, 2014

WFHB BOARD OF DIRECTORS

BOARD AGENDA FOR SEPTEMBER 22^nd, 2014

Hooker Conference Room, #245, City Hall

201 N. Morton St., Bloomington, IN

Last month’s minutes—include link to them here.

Present:  Cleveland Dietz, Dorothy Granger, Rich Reardin, William Morris, Joe Estivill, Alycin Bektesh, Sheryl Mitchell, Pamela Davidson, Markus Lowe, Kelly Wherley (recorder), Louis Malone, Darin Bagley, Joe Crawford.

1. CALL TO ORDER / ATTENDANCE OF BOARD MEMBERS
   1. Called to order at 7:05.
2. MEET THE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR/REPORT
   1. Dorothy Granger discussed various ideas and priorities that have been discussed with her since coming aboard which were enumerated in her handout.  We discussed the importance of underwriting and programs to inform businesses and outlying communities of WFHB and the possibility of getting Dorothy an office—but she’s quite happy where she is for now.  We are all very excited for Dorothy to help the station and we welcome her whole-heartedly.
3. NEWS SUMMIT REPORT
   1. Alycin says that the 48 page report is almost ready.  She had a small packet for folks to read which outlined attendee data, Big Ideas attendance and participation, volunteer training tracks, and governance model.  Also discussed was department structure and the organizational chart was distributed along with the established training tracks—some of which have solidified recurring dates and others need to be established.  The distinction between news and public affairs was discussed throughout the summit and Alycin thinks that having two separate departments might be the route to take.  Activate and Volunteer Connection have been merged into one segment, and the Daily Local News and its format/focus were also discussed.  It’s clear that not just the staff but also volunteer producers are over-extended in terms of their involvement.  Alycin’s conclusion/recommendation would be to split the News and Public Affairs Departments and make a producer position a part of the staff. Joe Crawford added that the opportunity for feedback on the news shows was a real benefit of having the summit.  Sheryl asked about the departure of Helen Harrell and Carol Fischer and the status of BloomingOUT and Alycin says KBOO out of Portland, OR is a potential partner in that. There are a lot of philosophical questions surrounding the shows, their production and what shows receive priority.  Markus Lowe asked about the process for decision making as it pertains to all of the questions facing the News Department and there are no easy answers.
4. REVIEW / APPROVAL OF MINUTES
   1. Some changes were made—Pamela Davidson helped Kelly Wherley couch things with more posterity in mind, purchase guidelines were included as they were read, and last names were included (Joe Crawford vs. Estivill, etc.).  Pamela Davidson moves to approve and Sheryl Mitchell seconds.  Minutes pass.
5. GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
   1. We discussed Lotus Live CDs and stocking them at the Lotus store and we noted the need to have plenty of CDs on hand for the Sunday concert as well as all the others because the pickings were pretty slim by Sunday.  Pre-drive notices have been sent out and checks have begun to come in.  The News Room got approved at the August 26^th meeting.  Cleveland is going to put off pursuing outdoor speakers because of the cost involved—Markus suggested submitting a written proposal regardless of cost or priority.  CPB notified that WFHB has been reclassified from a class-b station to a class-d station.  Cleveland is not entirely sure of the ramifications of this reclassification but it brings their donation to us from 72K to 57,580 plus incentives.  Also, in 2016, in order to retain the CPB money, we’d need to be a station that makes 300K without that support.  Cleveland will talk to Debra and send updates to the board.
   2. Cleveland submitted the full application to the ServeIT folks to get the list of things we wanted done with them and he’s confident the spring semester will find progress on these.
   3. The move of Jim Hightower did not produce much of a reaction from the listening audience.
   4. We ended up with about 40 tickets left over from Lotus Fest.  Lotus was not willing to buy them back.  There are things we can do for next year—which might include reappropriating some of the costs of fund drive to other initiatives, like sponsoring a stage or bringing in some big-name artists to the Acoustic Roots Festival.  Markus suggests re-evaluating what we did this year to account for the lack of sales rather than scrap the incentive altogether.   We also need to make sure our communication/relationship with Lotus is strong—Lotus has a brand new director and change has been afoot everywhere.
   5. Sexual Harassment situation:  Joe Estivill wants to make sure that we have proper documentation for the situation and have followed proper protocols.  Cleveland notes the need for a grievance policy and a separate sexual harassment policy because the aggrieved didn’t know the proper channels to report the incidents.
   6. BloomingOUT iTunes situation:  The BloomingOUT folks have left the station over an iTunes podcast dispute.  Cleveland reports that the account has been fixed and Joe Estivill stresses the need to inform them that this is the case.  Markus reports that he wasn’t informed of the problem prior to August 1^st of 2014.
6. COMMITTEE REPORTS
   1. Executive Committee

i.      Guidelines and classifications from CPB are coming shortly and we’re going to need to pay for an audit of the station.

ii.      We’re looking into whether or not the Development Director should be on the Finance Committee.

1. Finance Committee

i.      Mostly looking at clarifying small discrepancies in budgeting numbers.  Cleveland is happy that we’re on budget for the year.

ii.      We curious about the details for the CPB audit.

iii.      They were working on ways to turn the extra Lotus tickets into

iv.      The Fundraising goal is 45K plus an aggressive underwriting focus of 18 potential buyers.

v.      The Finance Committee was handed a list of names to call to encourage them to donate and to “tell ten!”  Please make the calls by Friday, September 26th, 2014.

vi.      Cleveland requests that if anyone finds out that an active Participating Member is no longer participating, please tell Cleveland.

1. Policy Committee

i.      Policy Committee has been working on revising the governance document.  Markus distributed drafts for review and the next meeting will be in three weeks and edits/comments to Cleveland Dietz for consideration/inclusion.  Items will include revised organizational structure and job descriptions.  Markus is hoping to be able to vote on the changes at the October 27^th Board Meeting.  Please have comments submitted by Friday, October, 10^th.  They’re also drafting a revised grievance policy.

1. OLD BUSINESS
   1. Board of Directors Operations Manual

i.      No updates yet.

1. CATS / News Department

i.      MOU:  Cleveland has asked Michael White about the $1200 annual rental fee and whether in-kind donations of underwriting would cover that fee or if it included some other service and has not yet received an answer.  Michael White had indicated that once Sarah retired the nature of the in-kind contributions may revert to only use of space, but Cleveland doubts this would turn out to be true.  Clarifications are forthcoming.  We have discussed the possibility of having a board member sitting in on those discussions.  With the completion of the news room addition we may not be in need of space from the MCPL but it never hurts to explore these options.

1. Equipment Audit

i.      Cleveland has finished the application and we’re waiting for the IT folks to make a move.

1. Marketing Committee Proposal

i.      William reports:  He hasn’t been able to give it the time that he would’ve liked.  He would like to reach out to a number of constituents, and focus quite a bit on the youth and impoverished areas, but after his conversation with Dorothy (who indicated incorporating William’s ideas into her gameplan) he thinks these kinds of initiatives should probably live in an already existing committee.  Markus suggest the finance committee could take on some of these priorities as well.

1. NEW BUSINESS
   1. Fund Drive

i.      There are catching shifts available and pitching training is required for on-air personalities.

ii.      Things that are changing:  There are not going to be show goals—every show has a goal in the context of the whole day goal, but not every show has a goal.

1. Visioning Meeting

i.      Joe Estivill would like to plan a Saturday or Sunday in October or early November so that folks can come together and help envision what WFHB can become in the future.  Distinctions between vision/planning/mission were had.  Dates were discussed and nothing was set in stone—late October through early December were all potential.  William Morris asked about taking out an ad for the NAACP convention program which is taking place in Bloomington this year:  according to William, ad space was $60 for a half-page ad and Cleveland indicated that we could afford this.

1. Joe Estivill’s administrative note:  If committee meeting dates are going to change, please ensure these changes are reflected in the online meeting calendar.
2. Activate Personnel Nominating Committee to produce Policy on nominations and hiring  / General Manager Evaluation

i.      Open Session Meeting:

1. Organizational Chart:  Pamela Davidson asks if the organizational chart is a draft (yes) and she suggests using dotted lines for lines from the directors to the committees over which the directors have no actual authority.  Additionally, Pamela floated the Sophia Travis fund as a potential funder for some of the radio station’s initiatives.  Cleveland is working with Dorothy on these types of things and Pamela reminds us of the importance of, in addition to raising funds for the station, raising funds for particular causes (which benefit the station as well) are also important.

ii.      Cleveland states that the Personnel committee could use another member (and to have potential members for the board ready early for election in June) and also to solicit Rich Reardin’s feedback as his experience as an applicant for the Development Director position would be valuable to this committee.