Draft Minutes for the regular National Finance Committee meeting April 2, 2013. Meeting convened at 8:38 PM (ET) a quorum being present, the Chair and Secretary being present. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Attending: Jim Boyd, John Cromshow, R. Paul Martin (Secretary), Tony Norman, Michael Novick, Tracy Rosenberg (Chair), Richard Uzzell, Barbara Whipperman, also attending was Brian DeShazor, Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agenda: 1. Roll Call 2. Approve agenda 3. Approve minutes 4. Time certain - 30 min discussion w/Brian DeShazor 5. 1st quarter reviews with 2-3 stations (revenue, expenses, budget-to-actual) 6. Unfinished Business 7. Pending discussion/motion re: simulcast pledge-handling 8. KPFK lockbox 9. Letter to CPB re: premium valuation 10. Payment to LESs 11. New Business 12. Document Requests/Schedule from the NFC to the PNO 13. LSB/Management Station Financial Need of the Quarter Project 14. Study/Recommendation re: Centralization 15. Best Practices Manual ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chair noted that Marcus Jetter and Manijeh Saba had informed her before the meeting that they would be unable to join the call tonight. Motion: (Barbara Whipperman) “To approve the agenda.” (Passed without objection) Approve minutes 8:47 PM (ET) Motion: (John Cromshow) “To approve the minutes of the March 12, 2013, meeting.” (Passed without objection) Time certain - 30 min discussion w/Brian DeShazor 8:48 PM (ET) The Chair noted that she’d told Brian DeShazor that this agenda item would be gotten to at 9:00 PM (ET). She suggested that the committee attend to other agenda items until then. The committee agreed without objection. KPFK lockbox 8:49 PM (ET) The KPFK Director on the committee reported that the KPFK General Manager told him that lock box training will happen on April 11, and that the lock box should be ready for use by the end of April, in time for the next on-air fund raiser. The committee discussed the report. Letter to CPB re: premium valuation 8:57 PM (ET) The committee discussed the over payments from the CPB to Pacifica stations and the plan to pay back the overage. This topic may need to be brought up in an executive session meeting in order to deal with details. Time certain - 30 min discussion w/Brian DeShazor 9:07 PM (ET) Brian DeShazor, Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives (PRA) told the committee that PRA has issues with some stations, specifically WBAI and WPFW, not paying their Shared Expenses and therefore not helping to fund PRA. He said that there was a total balance of $207,000 not paid, $127,000 from last year, and so far this year $70,000. The exact number is not fully known because he doesn’t have the Shared Expenses numbers for January and February from four stations. Part of the problem is that PRA has gotten grants, the grants are based on in-kind funding from Pacifica. If the grants can’t be matched then PRA can’t accept them. The PNB didn’t have time at its last meeting to address this. The audit shows that PRA is getting paid, but that’s an accrual. The committee discussed the report. The cash flow problems at PRA and throughout the rest of Pacifica were noted. It was suggested that the NFC suggest to the PNB that the mandated 2˝% levy on Listener Support that is supposed to go to PRA be paid directly to PRA by the stations. 1st quarter reviews with 2-3 stations (revenue, expenses, budget-to-actual) 9:38 PM (ET) KPFA - The actuals the KPFA Treasurer has are incomplete. She has nothing newer than what was reported in March, but expects to have new information by the April 13, KPFA LSB meeting. The KPFA Director agrees that the financial statements are lacking. She said that Listener Support was at about $799,000 and total revenue is at about $900,000+, expenses are about $842,000. She has questions about what KPFA has paid in its Shared Services for FY13. She thinks that the January and February numbers should be on budget because the on-air fund raiser came in on budget. She thinks that the expenses are pretty much on target. The committee discussed the report. There was some disagreement over the numbers. WBAI - The WBAI Treasurer noted that WBAI's budget is in need of amendment due to the move, etc. The income statement probably needs some adjustment too. WBAI’s Saturday morning ticket sales do not appear to be in the income statement supplied by the National Office. There is a line for Consultants' expenses of $42,312 which the Treasurer doesn’t find in the FY13 budget. Working from the income statement Listener Support income appears to be off by $329,653. Total revenue seems to be $474,599 worse than budgeted. Total direct expenses appear to be $96,864 worse than budgeted. Office rent expense is listed as $35,090 but the budget is for $81,300 which may be slightly adjusted down now. There was a question of why it is so different in the income statement. The WBAI Treasurer noted that WBAI’s Business Manager is now shared with two other station and he asked to be put in touch with her. The committee discussed the report. WBAI Management is attempting to adjust expenses going forward. A desire for an executive session discussion on WBAI was voiced. Payment to LESs 10:26 PM (ET) It was pointed out that the final checks to the Local Election Supervisors (LESs) for the 2012, elections were supposed to be withheld until their written reports were submitted. The WBAI and WPFW LESs submitted written reports but the other three LESs have not. It was proposed that Pacifica should restrict their final checks until they generate the written reports. The committee discussed this proposal. It is possible that the LESs who have not submitted their written reports have already been paid anyway. The committee members agreed that they would get in touch with their stations’ General Managers and discuss the planning of the FY14 budgets with them. The Chair said that she would follow up on the PRA request, Q1 FY13 issues, lock box, recovery plan implementation and other agenda items. Motion: (R. Paul Martin) “To adjourn” (Passed without objection) Adjourned 11:03 PM (ET) Submitted by R. Paul Martin, Secretary.