February 22, 2000
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Call to Order: Meeting called to order by President Rych Withers at 7:38 p.m. at the Fresno Center for Non-Violence, 985 N. Van Ness Ave., Fresno, Calif.
Present: Ben Amirkhanian, Catherine Campbell, Bruce Kennedy, Robert Munce, Dixie Salazar, Deborah Speer, Rand Stover, Alex Vavoulis, Rych Withers. Absent: Kent Stratford. A determination of quorum was made.
Minutes: Moved/Second/Passed to accept minutes of January 5, 2000 meeting.
President’s Report: No report given. Withers appointed Munce to serve the board as Parliamentarian. MOTION (Vavoulis) /SECOND (Speer) / PASSED to approve appointment.
Financial Report: KFCF Executive Director Vic Bedoian reported the February fundraising marathon was successful, with KPFA meeting its goal and electing not to continue fundraising over that goal. Bedoian distributed the current Foundation Operating Profit & Loss statement and explained the separation of other foundations and their funds using FFCF’s 501-c-3 certificate.
MOTION (Speer) / SECOND (Vavoulis) / PASSED to accept Financial Report.
Programming Report: Program Director Rand Stover reported programming changes to take place in March 2000. Lennard Longmire will host a jazz program, alternating Saturdays from 4 – 6 p.m. with Kent Stratford, whose current monthly program moves to the new slot. Vince DiCicco will take over Stratford’s monthly slot. A KFCF Community Calendar, produced by Bruce Jewell, is being scheduled for air during Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting broadcasts and within the 5 – 6 p.m. Friday public affairs programming block. These programs will announce community events and meetings. Stover announced these changes raise the percentage of local programming from approximately 10 percent to more than 13 percent per broadcast month. Campbell claimed the changes were not approved by the programming committee. Vavoulis questioned whether the committee’s term had been allowed to expire at the end of the previous Board term. Munce offered to find a citation in Robert’s Rules of Order, Revised defining length of committee terms. Further discussion centered on the validity and duties of the programming committee and the Program Director. Withers to present minutes showing Board approval of Stover’s appointment as Program Director at next meeting.
MOTION (Campbell) / SECOND (Dworkin) / FAILED to table programming report.
MOTION (Vavoulis) / SECOND (Munce) / PASSED to accept Programming Report.
North Bay for KPFA Folio: Withers distributed copies of the NB4KPFA Folio, which is being produced by an independent KPFA affinity group and the Sonoma County Peace and Justice Center. Withers proposed the Folio could be purchased by the FFCF at 50 cents per copy for distribution to subscribers, or KFCF subscribers to choose to subscribe themselves at a rate of $10 per 6 months. The Folio is published monthly. The cost to FFCF to purchase and distribute the Folio to subscribers would be approximately $750 per month. NB4KPFA has offered to add a couple of pages per month of KFCF news in addition to its present content, and FFCF would be able to include separate inserts of additional news and information with the mailing. Amirkhanian suggested obtaining a grant to cover the cost of purchasing and distributing the Folio to KFCF subscribers. Campbell objected to the fact that the Folio is being produced neither by KFCF nor KPFA, but by an independent group sympathetic to KPFA. Campbell said she would feel
comfortable with announcing the Folio over KFCF so that listeners could request a copy and subscribe if they wished.
MOTION (Campbell) / SECOND (Kennedy) /PASSED to announce the availability of the Folio over KFCF.
Local Advisory Boards: Salazar had no report.
Revisitation of Board Elections: Dworkin asked that the question of board elections be revisited and an April date set for new elections, with airtime set aside on KFCF for candidates to air differences prior to a vote. Dworkin moved and Salazar seconded to set a date for new elections in April, with equal time on KFCF given for candidates to air differences. A lengthy discussion ensued, including questions about membership definition and privacy issues. Kennedy stated that while a “subscriber class” of membership was created at the Nov. 30, 1999 membership meeting, membership could not be automatically conferred on all subscribers without their express request for such. Speer said that as with other classes of membership, the term “subscriber class” described a level of eligibility a potential member could apply to. Campbell offered an amendment to the motion by changing election date to June 1, send letters to subscribers to inform of their eligibility to membership, set a cutoff date of May 1 for applications to be received, and conduct campaigns during May. Dworkin accepted amendment. Stover called for a division of the question in order to vote separately on the election and subscriber letters. Campbell rejected such a division, saying the letters must be tied to an election. Withers called for question.
MOTION (Dworkin) / SECOND (Salazar)
/ AMENDED (Campbell) / FAILED
to call for board elections the first week of June, with letters to
subscribers inviting membership applications to be received no later than May 1,
and equal time provided on KFCF during May for campaigning.
Kennedy moved and Dworkin seconded the Foundation inform subscribers as soon as possible of their eligibility class for membership in order to establish membership. Campbell offered an amendment to set a cutoff date of May 1 for return of applications.
MOTION (Kennedy) / SECOND (Dworkin) / AMENDED (Campbell) / PASSED to send letters notifying subscribers of eligibility for membership and inviting them to submit applications, with a May 1 deadline for receiving applications for purposes of establishing membership.
Co-sponsorship of
the visit to Fresno by Chie Abad and Medea Benjamin on 3/29-3/30/00.
Campbell informed the Board she had given permission to list the Fresno Free College Foundation as a co-sponsor of a visit to Fresno by Chie Abad and Media Benjamin. Speer objected to putting the Foundation’s name on any event without first bringing it before the Board.
MOTION (Campbell) / SECOND (Speer) / PASSED to approve co-sponsorship of Chie Abad/Medea Benjamin event.
(Agenda item 14 moved to 3 by consensus)
MOTION / SECONDED / PASSED to direct Vic Bedoian to prepare a resolution in support of the strike by stringers of the Pacifica Network News in protest of the firing of Dan Coughlin and the resignation of Verna Avery-Brown.
(Agenda item 5 moved to 4 by consensus)
Letter from Fresno Folklore Society. Susana Pekinpah, President of the Fresno Folklore Society, presented a check for $1600 from the October, 1999 Utah Phillips fundraising concert along with a letter requesting an accounting for any spending against $3200 raised in an August, 1999 fundraiser, to be
submitted to Peckinpah by August 1, 2000. Vic Bedoian stated no specific earmarking funds for specific purpose was communicated to him prior to the fundraiser. Peckinpah explained that Campbell had specified any funds raised would be spent solely on local programming.
MOTION (Campell) / SECOND (Dworkin) / PASSED that funds raised at August 1999 be earmarked for local programming.
MOTION (Munce) / SECOND (Stover) / PASSED to fix adjournment for this meeting at 9:30 p.m. and schedule the next Board meeting on March 21 at 7 p.m..
Membership list access. Campbell moved and Dworkin seconded to make all member and subscriber lists available to any board member who requests same. Dworkin noted that she had requested such a list, but was told and understood that the list was still being compiled. It was noted that a marathon had just ended, and new subscribers were still being added to existing lists. Dworkin offered amendment to require member/subscriber lists compiled at the moment of request be made available. Campbell agreed to amendment. Stover agreed with motion, but moved and Vavoulis seconded, an amendment to restrict use of lists to those not counter to the purposes of the Board of Directors or the Foundation and prohibit publication or distribution of lists outside of the Board due to privacy concerns. Campbell disagreed, stating the member/subscriber lists would be used for any purpose individuals chose to use them for. Kennedy pointed out that California Corporation Code provides for Board member access to such lists, provided they are used in a way that furthers the activities of the Foundation and do not violate the privacy of individual members.Campbell agreed to Kennedy’s explanation. Kennedy offered further amendment requiring use of lists to be consistent with principles listed in the Board Member Code of Ethics distributed to new members by Barbara DeVinney. Stover agreed to Kennedy’s amendment.Additional discussion ensued as to confidentiality requirements of member/subscriber list information.Discussion continued until 9:30 p.m., which had previously been voted as a fixed time for adjournment.
MOTION (Stover) / SECOND (Kennedy) / PASSED to table question to next meeting.
Adjournment. MOTION (Campbell) / SECOND (Speer) / PASSED to adjourn meeting and carry over remaining agenda items to next meeting.Meeting adjourned at 9:32 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Speer
Fresno Free College Foundation secretary