Pacifica Radio Foundation, KPFT FM 90.1 LSB
Regular KPFT LSB Meeting, on 2017 July 12.
Minutes prepared by Joseph Davis, pro tem Secretary, Approved August 9, 2017.
Location: Montrose Community Center; Houston, TX
Section I: Call to order.
Meeting convened by Chair Ted Weisgal.
The Agenda posted by Chair Ted Weisgal provided notification of all motions
except item XIII.G added during approval of the agenda. Item XIII.G was
presented at the beginning of the meeting.
Roll Call, P=Present, A=Absent, X=eXcused Absence
|Listener Delegates |Staff Delegates |
|Seat/Elected 2014 |Seat/Elected 2016 |Seat/Elected 2014 |
|P Bill Crosier |P Adriana Casenave |P Rhonda Garner |
|P Anisa Faruqi |P Elayne Duncan |P Mike Lewis |
|P Adrienne LaViolette |P Nick Economides |P Clif Smith |
|A Jerry Lynch |A Alexandra Hunter |Seat/Elected 2016 |
|P Susie Moreno |P Jim Krafka |P Robert Gartner |
|P Susan Radwan |P Robert Mark |P Wally James |
|A Jamie Rodriguez |P P. K. McCary |P Lars Headington |
|X Deb Shafto |P K. C. Sinclair |Other/Ex-officio |
|P Ted Weisgal |X Vaniecia Williams |P Obidike Kamau |
Section IV: Roll call.
16 Present at Roll call, quorum achieved.
1900: Meeting commences. (1900 is 7pm, some items are prefixed with time for
sync with audio record.)
Joseph Davis to serve as Secretary pro tem, no objections.
Section II: Resignations.
Chair speaks to resignations of Richard Hyde and Di Conkling and their
replacement by Article Four, Section 10 of the Bylaws.
Casenave moves to accept resignation of Richard Hyde, and seat next runner up
Adrienne LaViolette, seconded, passed HNO.
Casenave moves to accept resignation of Di Conkling, and seat next runner up
Nick Economides, seconded, passed HNO.
Casenave moves to suspend the special rule on excused absences to excuse Deb
Shafto presently out of country, and who had advised us in advance. The rule is
suspended HNO.
The Chair asks for objections to excusing absence of Deb Shafto, passes HNO.
Absence of Deb Shafto for July 12, 2017 is excused.
Section V Agenda approval.
P.K. McCary asks to add motion to agenda. Seconded.
Vote to add item to Agenda 9 For, 7 Opposed, passed and added to agenda at end
of new business as item XIII.G.
Krafka moves "that we add New Business motion to XIII.E, combine with second
XIII.E, and be moved up to after the General Managers report item IX, so we can
get to these important issues", seconded.
Vote fails, agenda not modified.
Casenave moves to exchange items XIII.G and XIII.E (2nd) which requires
executive session, such that executive session is limited to end of meeting.
Note: In the audio, Adriana refers to the second item XIII.E as item F.
Garner moves to move executive session to after public comment.
Krafka moves to amend his motion XIII.E (2nd) by striking Executive Session.
Chair asks for objections to staying in public session for all items. HNO,
agenda modified by eliminating execution session request.
Chair calls vote to resolve Garners motion to move investigation items behind
Public comment, vote is 8 For, 10 opposed, motion fails, agenda order remains
the same.
With no further objections or changes, the agenda is approved HNO.
Section VI: Minutes Approval: April and May are approved and to be posted. June
minutes have no objections except Bill Crosier, Crosier given time to review
latest version brought on paper, he withdrew objection at the end of the
meeting, June minutes are approved.
Section VII: Consent items.
Governance committee requests membership approval: Adriana Casenave, Joseph
Davis, Rhonda Garner, Robert Gartner, Robert Mark, P. K. McCary, Nancy Saibara-
Naritomi, Cliff Smith, Ted Weisgal.
Governance Committee Membership approved, HNO.
Governance report on CAB/LSB/CPB issues.
Member Robert Mark objects, item discussion moved to committee report item X.E.
Section VIII PNB Board and committee reports.
Item VIII: Pacifica National Board and PNB Committee's report. Reports from
Bill Crosier, Adriana Casenave, Robert Mark, Rhonda Garner.
Item VIII.A: Audit committee. Met Monday, working on Pension fund, and closed
session.
Item VIII.B: Committee of Inclusion, have not met
Item VIII.C: Development, not present.
Item VIII.D: Elections,not convened.
NOTE: Attention to failure to convene PNB Elections committee.
Item VIII.E: Governance, meets next week.
Item VIII.F: Programming, discussed underwriting.
Item VIII.G Affiliates Task Force, not met.
Item VIII.H Archives Task Force, not met.
Section X Standing Committee reports
Member Moreno: No progress on distributing flyers to programmer boxes.
Item X.A: Anti-Racism and Diversity, did not meet.
Item X.B: Budget & Financial Oversight, didn't attend last meeting, asking for
recommendations on budget issues, concerns on recent hirings and lack of
transparency, the value in money spent.
Motion passed unanimously from committee: "There needs to be Financial
transparency, including KPFT employee salaries"
The body tables Standing Committee reports for Public comment and the GM
report.
2000: Item XIV: Public Comment
Watermelon Festival, asking for volunteers. Looking for sponsors for this
event.
Silent auction, looking for auction-able items or services.
Asking for outreach to BAUUC (Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church), and
possibly to other UU churches in the area.
Storytelling event, stories from KPFT.
Encourage each LSB member to raise $1000, or have someone do it for you.
If you are a member of a group, encourage them to join phone bank in pledge
drives.
Complaints about muting and misuse of phone system Maestro to the adverse
effect on some PNB members.
WBAI LSB board members boycotted to prevent quorum.
Complaint to Bill Crosier for hiring Duane Bradley as financial loss to
station.
Appreciate more civil behavior by the KPFT LSB, enjoyed civil meetings.
The word "transparency" keeps coming up, when something is hidden, it has the
appearance that something is wrong, such as in finances. People are tired of
giving money, public feelings of a lack of responsible use of listener funding.
Why were people hired during the current hiring freeze.
A Serious expectation to see action on LSB member misbehavior, in racism,
sexism and nationalism, the LSB needs to show accountability.
Objection to Bill Crosiers use of iED position to continue paying previous
station manager as an unsustainable expense. How is it we have money to pay
defunct manager. Is there an intent apart from the foundation. Consider their
actions dangerous to local and national organization, based on observing their
actions.
END Item XIV: Public comment
Section IX General Manager report.
Item IX.A Obidike Kamau, presentation
Fund drive report, made $112,000.
Serious errors were going into the drive at the last minute, and a lack of
preparation for the drive.
un-drive in August, Sept 14-Oct 4 next major fund drive
Branding contest to help station perception, lead up by P. K. McCary.
August 12 Event John Kirocau, "Doing time like a spy, how the CIA taught me to
survive and thrive", plan to have development event each month. Working on
Naomi Klien and Oliver Stone.
Current $35,000 received in underwriting, monthly $3500 - $7500, pending
contracts range from $8,500 - $44,000.
On vacation in August, not able to attend August LSB meeting.
Strong spirit of cooperation in the staff.
Brought in Christine Blosdale in drive, didn't work well.
Item IX.A Obidike Kamau, Q&A
Did iED hired consultant provide report. No report received, effort was not
effective.
Why did drive only raise 112K? Were rushed into the drive, need for step by
step planning, training of volunteers, sign up sheets, though new things tried,
such as the Blosdale pieces, did not get a good response from the Houston
community. Preparation was the biggest issue.
What guesswork goes into drives? Data indicates that we are heading down from
drive to drive, we are trying to find alternate revenue sources to reduce
reliance on fund drives. Fund drives as done are not the answer to our
financial situation, and high frequency seems to reduce effectiveness.
END section IX GM report.
2046: From the table, resuming standing committee reports.
2030: returning to item X.B: Finance report. No draft of 2018 budget.
Next meeting July 24th, 2017 7-9pm at KPFT Conference room.
Item X.C: Development. No written report, minutes coming. Watermelon event,
helping programmers up on events, speaking events, need figures from Goodman
event, postponed chair election.
Item X.D: Facilities Management & Planning. PSA in progress, looking for
volunteers, no meetings.
2048: Item X.E: Governance: Reviewing standing and special rules, elected chair
Joseph Davis.
Move to approve chair selection by LSB, asking for objections, HNO, approved.
Special report on LSB approval for CAB membership. Reviewed previous minutes
which established custom in approving CAB membership, and CPB posted policy
verified LSB responsibility in CAB membership approval. Other CAB/LSB/CPB
recommendations remain under review.
2055: Item X.E: Management Selection and Review: Two submissions for GM
position.
Item X.F: Outreach, no report.
Item X.G: Technology, not convened.
Section XI Special Reports.
2056: Item XI.A Program Council Elections
LSB members selected last month to Program Council.
Currently wanting to elect Staff and Listener members to Program Council.
Candidate Sandy Weinmann addresses LSB for seating.
2104: Staff to elect staff representative seats.
2115: Need for the original PNB motion describing the structure of the Program
Council.
2121: Motion to postpone Program Council Programmer and Listener seats issue
till next LSB meeting.
By show of hands, the majority passes to motion to postpone till next LSB
meeting.
2121 Item XI.B: No CAB report.
2122 Item XI.C: LSB retreat planning, PK McCary. Near September
21,International Day of Peace.
Possible Locations:
* First Unitarian Universalist church on Fannin
* Dominican House on Almeda at Holcombe
* SHAPE community center on Almeda Rd.
2125 Item XI.D: Lynch absent, no report.
2125 Item XI.E Website Development: no report.
2126 Item XI.F HPCJ.
Dues of $25 due to Houston Peace and Justice Center.
Motion to allocate $25 from LSB budget for HPJC membership. Passes HNO.
2127 Passed to management to send payment to HPJC.
Section XII Unfinished business.
2128: Item XII.A Town Hall meeting, members McCary, Smith, Lamb and Kamau
involved, no date presently set.
2129: Chair asks for objections for named members to proceed, passed HNO.
Item XII.B: Program Council Election: Already covered at Item XI.A.
2129 Item XII.C Broadcast or Stream LSB meetings: no action. Jamie Rodriguez
previously tasked.
2131: Item XII.D, covered in Item IX.A GM report.
2132: Section XIII New business.
2132 XIII.A Underwriting: affirming of policy.
2135 Economides: Moves to commit to the Development committee. Passes HNO.
2135 XIII.B Crosier: Motion to establish a Community Partners committee of
KPFT's LSB, to work with management to review community partners to ensure they
are not detrimental to the social responsibilities of the station.
2139 Economides: moves to commit to the Development committee. Passes by voice
vote.
2141: XIII.C Programming Guide. No budget presently. Worked on in Outreach
committee, it does exist. No need for a budget at present.
2144 Item XIII.D Formation of Grant Writing committee.
Item XIII.E Sinclair: Seeing as we as members of the board are here to serve
the mission of KPFT and Pacifica, and seeing as it was requested by one of our
listeners, I move that a committee be formed to investigate the behavior of
Robert Marks at the April LSB meeting.
Approved investigative committee to investigate gesture by Robert Mark in
previous LSB meeting on vote of 10 For, 5 opposed. Members: Duncan, Crosier,
Radwan, Moreno, LaViolette. To be convened next week. Robert Mark asked to
enter into minutes he had no objection to this investigation, that he abstained
from the vote, and that he was available every day but Wednesday next week.
2204: Krafka moves to extend meeting by 15 minutes.
2207 Item XIII.F (second E) member Casenave openly discusses her lawsuit in
public session, available in the audio posted (part 3) July 25, 2017.
2209 Item XIII.G: McCary: motion added during agenda approval.
BEGIN text of motion XIII.G
I move that a committee be formed to investigate the assertions of
inappropriate actions of KPFT Local Station Board (LSB) member and our Director
representative to the Pacifica National Board (PNB), Bill Croiser, for the
following reasons:
Among the things asserted are that Bill Crosier:
Has engaged in actions by intentionally providing falsehoods that discredit
those individuals who are a threat to or disagree with him and the factional
group he created;
Has not shown fiduciary responsibility regarding the hiring of individuals who
have been shown to be detrimental to KPFT, all without benefit of transparency
to the KPFT business officer and interim general manager;
Has shown his contempt to this body, KPFT and the Foundation by not adhering to
policies and procedures as it relates to the hiring and firing of employees;
Has used corporate funds to benefit his friends and associates to the detriment
of KPFT and the Pacifica Foundation;
And has continually supported individuals who are divisive and destructive to
this body, KPFT and the Foundation to dismantle the current work being done to
heal and build cohesiveness and collaborations that would benefit the health
and well-being of this station and the Foundation.
END text of motion XIII.G
2215 Approved investigative committee to investigate Bill Crosier's actions
approved on vote 10 For, 5 opposed. Members: PK McCary, Robert Mark, Rhonda
Garner, Bob Gartner, Wally James, Adienne LaViolette, Adriana Casenave, Susan
Radwan, Susie Moreno, Elayne Duncan, Ted Weisgal. To meet July 26, 2017 7pm at
the KPFT Conference room in executive session.
2225 Crosier asked for further objection to June minutes, withdraws objection.
2226 Meeting is adjourned.
Audio files uploaded to kpftx.org July 25, 2017, md5sum checks, time length
2471780b68ed3867be342d9fa5dd0373 170712-LSB-1of3.mp3 55m 43s
cb723130f67eac8df8aeb47b9c9bfc04 170712-LSB-2of3.mp3 1h 14m 05s
7fbf830a1ddb3610ce7d0af05de13603 170712-LSB-3of3.mp3 1h 12m 36s