TRANSCRIPT
PACIFICA BOARD OF DIRECTORS |
| DOROTHY NASATIR | Could you give us a kind of little overview of, Some of the issues that have been brought up or anything you just want to share with us? |
| SHIRLEY ADAMS | I think the issues that I'm most familiar with that are not specific to other stations are the community ascertainment report that we've all been working on. And also, the board recruitment. And those are the two primary issues that I'm aware of among different Council of Chairs. |
| DR. BERRY | And they were very happy to hear about your ascertainment. And you keep telling them that you know how to do it. |
| SHIRLEY ADAMS | No, I told them . . . I think that we just decided to do it, you know, and learn from our mistakes and hopefully do something better the next time. But I think it was just important for us to try it, take a stab at it, and look at the materials that we had. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | And were you happy with it? |
| SHIRLEY ADAMS | Yes. It was a real learning experience. I think we also recognized that we need to do a lot more work, that we have to be very careful about making subjective opinions based on the information that we have. And we said during this last conference call that it would be very helpful if there were some independent company who could conduct a survey in each of the listening areas. But we've recognized that is far too expensive. |
| DR. BERRY | Yes. Yes. |
| FRANK MILLSPAUGH | Well, if we're still on the subject, let me, no; I wanted to introduce a different subject. |
| DR. BERRY | Oh. Okay. Who's still on this subject? |
| CHERYL F. BRADFORD | I just wondered if the Council of Chairs has a process where they know that they've been covered in this meeting. Do you in your phone conferences agree on the points that are going to come forward? |
| SHIRLEY ADAMS | Yes. I think it's a good idea. |
| DR. BERRY | Because now it's pretty much up to each person whether they simply want to be host to the local hearing and answer questions or whether they want to present more. Some of the council chairs come and try to make a presentation. Others come and they greet us, and they have an exchange with us, and we may ask a few questions, so it is dependent upon the taste of the person who's actually doing it, whether they want to do it. |
| SHIRLEY ADAMS | Well, I think there is some confusion as to what a chair's role should be. I mean we have two representatives to the national board, who are presenting our issues to the national board on a regular basis, so I'm not sure it's incumbent upon me as a chair to do that to the national board. |
| CHERYL F. BRADFORD | I think that you're representing a dialogue that would be different from, say the dialogue that I represent as a LAB remember, if we continue to even look at it like that. But you're representing this kind of global look that the LAB chairs have. And that's not necessarily what happens month to month at a LAB meeting. |
| SHIRLEY ADAMS | That's true, I have to confess to some confusion in that area. |
| DR. BERRY | You're not really confused because there isn't any process that has
been definitively decided upon. Otherwise, you know, we're all confused.
It is true that at the last Council of Chairs we discussed a number of
issues. One was the usual issue of rumors. Everyone had heard a rumor about
something or other, including the deficit in the National Office. Which
I explained did exist, a small one, and that was a problem, which was being
reduced. And that any rumors they had heard about that were accurate. The
size, the dimensions, were probably not anything that we discussed.
There was a small deficit, which would be taken care of. And they'd heard rumors about "Living Room" having problems, the Bensky issue. This was all rumors. And then there was some discussion about the minority recruitment goals of the LABs, with some people saying we have a hard time recruiting, and other people saying they don't understand why they have a hard time recruiting. It usually comes up in terms of the Bay Area, your LAB Cheryl and Pete. And then, there's always somebody else on the call who says they don't understand why folks can't find anybody because every time they go to the Bay Area, they see people from all kinds of groups walking around in the streets. I simply reminded them that this goal was why we expected everybody to make a good faith effort, and that most of the LABs were doing fine. We don't understand what the problem is in the Bay Area. Which means, I will say this now, we do, I'd haven't said this to the council chairs, but we do have the power to reconstitute the LABs. We did it in LA. So you can tell your LAB, if they can't find anybody, maybe they need the national board, or the board governance committee to take you into receivership. |
| CHERYL F. BRADFORD | I think that there's a step before that. I mean frankly, I don't know the problem just because we live in the most diverse community in the country. But I think that there is something about technical assistance. Even in terms of technical assistance in that area, there is something about, maybe because that region is such a huge region and there are so many communities, it's an awesome task. And I think it's the work of getting started. I really like your Nike slogan, just do it. And that's what it takes, just us doing it. |
| DR. BERRY | Yeah, maybe. What's the other reason? |
| PETE BRAMSON | I am not here to go into the length of reasons but only to say that it will be completed, and we will find them. In fact, we will meet on Tuesday to complete more work, to seat the one individual and expect to seat a couple more very quickly. |
| DR. BERRY | That will be great. Because that will be good news. |
| PETE BRAMSON | So I am not prepared unless directed do so, to issue the threat that says the board will be reconstituted unless I am asked to do so directly by you. |
| DR. BERRY | Well, the expression I used was not a "threat" quote-unquote. When I wish to threaten someone, I know how to do that. All in my experience. And I do not threaten people lightly. All I said was, that I was reminded that the board does have the authority to reconstitute LABs because we did it with the LA folk. I just remembered by looking at Ralph and Dorothy that we had done this. And I'd forgotten all about the power to do that. So that one of the answers may be that if the LAB finds it impossible to do so, maybe the board governance committee could help them by taking over the LAB in receivership, working with the people on the LAB as we did in LA to help them find some people. That was all I said. This was intended to be helpful. |
| PETE BRAMSON | Thank you. |
| DR. BERRY | And so we look forward to the addition of new members to the LAB in Berkeley. Yes. |
| DOROTHY NASATIR | I don't know where this is appropriate, but I did want to report from our LAB. We now have fifteen members, and six are people of color. |
| DOROTHY NASATIR | Can I just add this? We have another person of color, but this person is a staff member and there's still confusion about the staff person being counted, a paid staff person being counted as a board member. |
| DR. BERRY | Why do we have confusion when the documents are well... |
| DOROTHY NASATIR | Our board does not honor that document. That's the old board. We have new members. Things will change. |
| DR. BERRY | Well, the new board has to acknowledge that the board did pass that document. They are guided by that document. That is what we expect. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | I just want to say one thing about KPFA. I think what happened and what got KPFA off track was an effort to respond to the strong push by the public to have elected boards. And there was an initial recruitment process that was done, soliciting people who were interested. And that resulted in a predominantly white board. We never had this problem at KPFA before. When I was active on the KPFA advisory board, I personally recruited many people of color. We never had an imbalance before, and I think the imbalance was created by what was at the time a good faith attempt to correct another problem. And the result had been another problem. And so I have talked with the chair, and there's wonderful ways to recruit people and it involves a lot of work and it involves people getting together and brainstorming, and making calls. It should not be a problem. And I'll be happy to help. |
| DR. BERRY | We appreciate that. On all the other points, though, at the Council of Chairs meeting that had anything to do with everybody's interest as opposed to the interest of some particular station. There was concern about the archives and whether the archives were disintegrating and whether there is somebody who could be in charge. But since then an Archivist has been hired as we heard yesterday, so that matter should be taken care of. So that's what happened at the Council of Chairs, and I want to thank you very much for being here and thank you for your work. Oh, you've got another live inquiry. |
| FRANK MILLSPAUGH | No, it's not a live inquiry. I wanted to ask if it would be appropriate for the board to express our appreciation for the reception last night, the little bag of goodies and generally the gracious reception, which we always have here at the hands of KPFT. |
| DR. BERRY | Right. I think that was wonderful. I had a great time. People here are so gracious. We expect that though. |
| FRANK MILLSPAUGH | It always comes as a shock to me. |
| DR. BERRY | We had a great time and we look forward to helping, I don't know, to helping you figures out a way to get a new building. |
| DR. BERRY | We were not able to find a transcriber to transcribe the board meeting today, so we are taping it and will have it transcribed afterwards, and hope that they will not be gaps in the transcription. So please proceed. Cheryl. |
| CHERYL G. SHAW | The packet of information compiled by the general managers was a six, over six month effort, and I think the general managers actually have been working on a fiftieth anniversary for over a year and a half. I actually came in at the tail end of the discussions, but I think within the packet we have developed projects within each community that are very realistic in terms of what we're capable of doing in celebration of fifty years of Pacifica. It is not a capital campaign, however. It is a celebration and a thrust for the next fifty years of what Pacifica is all about. The detail of the specific projects is outlined in that packet. I'd be happy to share that with any members who did not receive it. However, it does by project indicate the revenue and expense projections for each project. What we are looking at raising is almost half a million dollars, in excess of operations revenue. That is a net figure. In addition, Micheal Palmer has asked that each of the committee members be assigned a particular station to work with and monitor through this entire process such that they can help on the local level with any activities that have been proposed. The National Office with the Controller will be monitoring on a quarterly basis the progress in terms of the financial impact of the organization. The budgets that were submitted by the station were submitted to the Finance Committee for consideration because what we are asking is that the projects be funded through operational support. However, in speaking with the Controller, it will have no direct financial impact on operations. It is a cash flow issue more than anything else is, and that's why there is the need for the close monitoring along the way. Just to preface what happened before this meeting, the Controller and the chair of the committee and myself did have extensive conversations in reviewing the first and second drafts of the budgets to come up with the final recommendations to the board. And basically, that's the report of the committee. |
| DR. BERRY | Are there any further questions? Because any of us who were in the meeting will be able to discuss this report. Are there any further questions about this committee's report? I only have a question. And that is some boards, one of the candidates for the Executive Director job mentioned this, require people on boards to make contributions to the organization. I was wondering if that is standard practice, and does this board think that we ought to have the requirement. |
| FEMALE SPEAKER | We do. |
| DR. BERRY | For board minutes to make contributions. And is there a requirement, and if there is, please apprise me of what this requirement is. |
| JUNE MAKELA | There is. Everyone has agreed to be required to make a financial contribution to Pacifica. |
| DR. BERRY | So everybody has agreed to this. So we assume that everyone is doing it. |
| JUNE MAKELA | Yeah, we don't actually check with each new member as they come on, but many years ago we made this decision as a board, it's in some minutes somewhere, that to enhance fundraising for the organization, to make it easier on the staff, we needed the staff to be able to say that they have a hundred percent support from the board, that everyone is making a financial contribution to the level they are able. |
| DR. BERRY | Cheryl ? |
| CHERYL F. BRADFORD | I was not asked, in sitting on this board, if I could or would make financial contributions. I just want to correct that. I think that's a pretty specific request and it should be clear in advance, and maybe there'd be people like me that fundraise for an amount of money, but that would have to be in place and clear before someone invited me to sit on a board. |
| JUNE MAKELA | Yes, that's the problem of communication that's typical of this organization that the board makes decisions and they don't get conveyed to anybody. So it's not anybody's fault. I mean, it has fallen through the cracks, clearly. |
| CHERYL F. BRADFORD | I'm not looking to assign blame. I don't need to be embarrassed about it either. |
| JUNE MAKELA | No, that's right, but it fell through the cracks, and it should be, and it used to happen on the national development committee . . . |
| CHERYL F. BRADFORD | I would like to caution one thing about that though, is that there should be, you know, if you're going to make a stipulation like that. You know, I'm not indigent, I'm just broke. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | There is no set amount. |
| DR. BERRY | You mean a person could give a penny if they wanted to and this would be sufficient? |
| JUNE MAKELA | Yes. That's right. Five dollars. |
| DR. BERRY | So the current requirement can be met, if I understand it correctly, the requirement that I didn't know existed, the current requirement that exists could be satisfied if one were to pay a penny. Is that correct? |
| JUNE MAKELA | Yes. |
| DR. BERRY | So that if someone contributed a penny a year to Pacifica, they would be in compliance. And then you can tell foundations and everyone that we have full compliance by the board with making contributions to the organization. Is that correct? As the current requirement stands. |
| JUNE MAKELA | Yes. |
| FRANK MILLSPAUGH | I simply wanted to say that as far as that's vitiated by further requirements and especially capital campaigns going on, that we contribute to our station of origin, as it were. However, in the past when there was a take back effort. . . No. I take that back. There was a fundraising effort. Each of us took responsibility to raise a certain amount of money. And I believe some did. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | When we started the National Programming Fund, Dick Bunce was the
National Development Director, and at that time, there were positive plans
to go to a number of foundations for national programs, which we did do.
And it was very important for the National Development Director, as you
well know, to be able to say that I have the full backing and full support
of our board, and that our board also contributes financially. So I took
it upon myself as the Development Committee Chair to dun everybody. We
made a decision that this would be a commitment on the part of every board
member.
This is in addition to, for those who are on LABs, to being a member of their station. They have to be a subscriber, because they get their minimal amount. Then in addition to that every board member would make a contribution to the Pacifica Foundation. And I would call people diligently and send out my little letters diligently, and people eventually coughed up whatever he or she was able to afford. There was no minimum amount at that time. So there is nobody on this board that should have any problem with being able to fulfill that commitment. I haven't been doing the follow up because there's no Development Committee, and it fell through the cracks, but it is a commitment on the part of the board, and I think it should be reinstated. |
| JUNE MAKELA | Can I make a recommendation, a simple recommendation? This should become the task of the Secretary. And it could be written in as a task of the Secretary of the board, once a year, send out a letter, and it could be signed by the chair, saying, you know, "Tis the time of year when we all will . . ." you know. |
| DR. BERRY | Suppose the board, the Chair of the board, sends a letter. And I did send a letter because they gave me one, but I didn't know it was a requirement. I sent a letter once last year sometime saying, "It's Christmas even or holly night," some dog-gone thing. And you might think about a donation to Pacifica while you're thinking about all your little goodies. |
| JUNE MAKELA | Right. It's more of a like Secretary remembers, the Chair sends out a letter. |
| KEN FORD | I got your letter but I sent it to a local station. |
| FRANK MILLSPAUGH | Yeah, I thought it said, you know, for your local station. |
| DR. BERRY | I did not know that there was this requirement. So now the fact that this requirement already exists and that it can be satisfied by paying, does it still unnerve people? |
| MALE SPEAKER | No. |
| DR. BERRY | Yes. Ralph. |
| RALPH MCKNIGHT | Oh yeah. [laughs] This time I know who I am. It's standard practice among most boards, especially those boards representing you know huge organizations, that are well-heeled by well-meaning people, to require three or four thousand dollar membership and all that shit. But in the case of Pacifica, I think it would be sufficient to say, a penny yes, that's a bit pedantic, like Frank says, say sixteen cents, but that you give to the best of your ability, you know. I have a recommendation, however, that you might consider, and some of you during the night have discussed along with some of our listeners in LA. I used to be on the board of trustees at the Barnstone Junior Arts Center in New Rochester in Los Angeles. And they had an organization called The Friends of the Junior Arts Center. And the Friends of the Junior Arts Center were some very, very, very, very, very rich folks who had all kinds of special talents and influences. And in order for these people to be on that board, Friends of the Junior Arts Center, they had to give $10,000 or something like that. It was a very prestigious thing; it's a very prestigious thing to belong. Now we might consider that kind of Friends of Pacifica organization, you know. |
| DR. BERRY | And have the Friends of Pacifica give. |
| RALPH MCKNIGHT | Yes. |
| DR. BERRY | Well, that's an idea that can be considered if it has not been considered. I think people should give according to what they can, even though it might . . . and all things are relative, so just put it in perspective. Another board that I'm on, everybody on the board's rich except me, and so they, you know, when it comes time to give money to the place...I mean when I say rich, I mean really rich, like rich rich. And so they will say to you, they will sit there at the table and say, well, you know I will give fifty thousand, and why don't you raise me and give a hundred thousand, you know, and they're just sitting there giving away this money, and it's more money than I would make in a year or two. And I give my little mite, and I don't feel embarrassed. Because when they send the list out, they get all these big numbers up here, way down at the bottom, [laughter] Mary made her mite. Because I contribute in other ways, by giving them legal advice, by counseling the president, I give them all sorts of things that they don't know how to do, so I figure I'm telling them what I can do, but I like giving, because they can say, everybody gives, and that's important. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | And it was to go to the National Program Fund. Isn't that right? |
| JUNE MAKELA | Yes. |
| DR. BERRY | Okay. Could I get a motion to accept the board's 50th Anniversary Committee report? |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | So moved. |
| KEN FORD | Second. |
| DR. BERRY | Any further discussion? All in favor indicate by saying Aye. |
| GROUP | Aye. |
| DR. BERRY | Opposed? So ordered. Are there any other matters that you wish to discuss before...yes, Loretta. |
| LORETTA ROSS | Yes Madame Chair. I offer the group and the board an apology. I arrived at 2:00 this morning and somehow slept through the alarm, so I'm deeply chagrined that I'm late but I was too ashamed not to come after I woke up. |
| DR. BERRY | Somebody should have called you. |
| LORETTA ROSS | Well, they tried to. I did have a wakeup call, so I actually slept through that. But I understand that my committee intended to give a report and probably did a very good job because they're a very hardworking committee so I want to commend them although I offer my apologies for not being here. |
| DR. BERRY | Okay. All right. We appreciate that very much. We're just glad you made it. And we hope you got some rest because you must have needed it. |
| LORETTA ROSS | I actually did. I've been up several nights in a row, and then last night's life was hell. |
| DR. BERRY | Okay. We can now, yes--is there something else? |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | Yes. |
| DR. BERRY | New issues? |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | Yes. |
| DR. BERRY | Two new issues, we have a few minutes before we adjourn. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | One is that, you know, we all, I think we should make a statement of our decision to Pat Scott who's leaving the organization. By the way I did order some flowers, and some of you said that you would contribute to that so anybody that wants to contribute, let me know. They're sixty dollars. . |
| DR. BERRY | So you can contribute to the extent of your ability. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | I don't want coins in my coin purse. They weigh too much. So I think we ought to make some order of, you know, formal order, in that regard, so. |
| DR. BERRY | I think what we should say is that the board at its meeting of October 4, 1998 expressed its deep appreciation for the long years of service of Patricia Scott to Pacifica, the entire organization, including her service as station manager, Executive Director for the national organization. We made great strides for the organization during her tenure, and we very much appreciate her work, and she will be very much missed. And we express every wish for her continued success and her speedy recovery from her illness. Anybody disagree? We should formalize that as a motion. |
| FRANK MILLSPAUGH | So moved. |
| MALE SPEAKER | Second. |
| DR. BERRY | All in favor. |
| GROUP | Aye. |
| DR. BERRY | And there was a great resounding . . . |
| GROUP | Here. Here. Here. [applause] |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | The second item has to do with members of this board and their attendance. I am extremely upset about their attendance at this meeting. I want to go on the record to say that I have also been only notified by one station as to an alternate, and that was WPFW, who notified us that Wendell Johns would be replacing Rob Robinson who had a death in the family. I heard nothing from KPFT directly...I mean I heard it around the bush but we didn't get a formal statement, and I didn't hear from the chair about Bill Lucy. I do think it's extremely incumbent on people that if you're not going to attend the committee meetings the day before the meeting, they shouldn't come to the board meeting. The work happens in the committees. It's very expensive for this organization. There are people here, and if they're only going to come for the morning, I don't think it's worth coming, and I think the people have to communicate to me as the Secretary ahead of time so we can discuss that. |
| DR. BERRY | Now David is not here because he e-mailed me that his mother, his family, is having some kind of reunion celebration for this mother, and that it was going on last night, yesterday and that he would try to get here this morning. He didn't know with his family all being in town and all the responsibilities of that, if time would permit him to do so even though we need him right here in Houston. I urged him to try to get here for part of yesterday's meeting because we were interviewing people. He said he just couldn't because he had to go to some meeting to arrange something so that happened to be a longstanding item that he said that his family put together without him knowing when the meeting was going to be and that he was really sorry. I just thought I would explain that on the record. |
| LORETTA ROSS | Yes. I actually passed on that I wouldn't be able to be here yesterday too, but I just wanted to make the smaller session. A lot of committee work takes place between meetings too, not just the day before a board meeting. |
| ROBERTA BROOKS | Except yesterday we were selecting a new Executive Director. |
| LORETTA ROSS | I understand that. I understand that. |
| DR. BERRY | And the only reason why you're here at this Loretta, is because you're not here. |
| LORETTA ROSS | Yes. |
| DR. BERRY | If you were not here, the ones who are here, aren't here now. So you suffered in hell. |
| LORETTA ROSS | Well that's usually the case with serving on this board [laughing]. |
| DR. BERRY | But I think, so that I can give some support to Roberta Brooks and her chagrin, it is indeed true that we would hold people to try to come to the meeting. It's very difficult, I'm sure you all have schedules, things to do, I certainly do. And so, for us to carve out time to come here, it is hard. To come wherever we have to go. But it's difficult, and it's stressful. Because it takes days to recover from this experience. But the work itself is arduous and there's a lot of tension. And the rest of it. So let us hope that people will try to come to these meetings. Because I am asking people, when we set the meetings whether they can come. So if I continue to do that, I hope everybody will show up. Why don't we have a break before we do the public comment. Because we have about ten minutes. Do we have a public comment? |
| FRANK MILLSPAUGH | We ran into this once before where we held public comment a little early. Because some people show up at exactly the time they're supposed to make the public comment, and they get really miffed if we've already adjourned or held it. |
| KEN FORD | Frank, this is not New York. |
| DR. BERRY | Yes. What I will do is, yes Pete. |
| PETE BRAMSON | I just want to recognize the board. I think we did a lot of very hard work yesterday. There were some very difficult conversations that needed to have happen. And I'm as always, proud to be a member of this board. |
| DR. BERRY | Fantastic. Here, here for all of us. Let's take a break until 11:00, which is only ten minutes. Did you tell me how much time? |
| KEN FORD | It's ten minutes. |
| DR. BERRY | Ten minutes. And we will see if anyone is here for public comment. |
| FEMALE SPEAKER | I just want to mention that everybody should make their arrangement to the airport at the front desk. |
| [10 MINUTE BREAK] | |
| DR. BERRY | I'm speaking please...come to order. But I did want to point out that David did send Susan Doe yesterday to sit in on some of the interviews in his place. So he did do that. And I had mentioned that earlier when I was speaking. And David as you all know is a responsible board member. But we all, we have one mother. We've got that. So I can understand his particular situation. Now, we are ready for the public comment part of the meeting. |
| VANESSA RANSOM | No one has shown up. |
| BOB | My name is Bob and you are doing a great job. |
| FEMALE SPEAKER | Thanks Bob. |
| DR. BERRY | Does anyone else think we're doing a great job? |
| FEMALE SPEAKER | Garland's got his hand up. |
| GARLAND GANTER | I just wanted to let people know that everyone here are nice, good folks from the KPFT advisory board and staff who just want to kind of lend their moral support. These are not like secret members of the public that are going to accost you. You met Susan Gallek yesterday. And Shirley Adams, our local advisory board chair. And Edmundo Resendez our program director, Jeanie Hardroff our membership director, Bob Cham director of engineering and Henry Horn former advisory board chair and current advisory board member. Thank you all. |
| [applause] | |
| GARLAND GANTER | We've been running announcements all weekend that you are going to be here. |
| DR. BERRY | Well, then that would conclude our meeting because we have been here at the stated time and open for the public comment thereof. There is no list. So could I get a motion that we adjourn? |
| MALE SPEAKER | So moved. |
| DR. BERRY | Second? |
| WILLIAM JAMES | Second. |
| DR. BERRY | The motion is carried. We are adjourned. Thank you. |