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BUT NOTE: These are DRAFT minutes, subject to correction by iPNB members. So these are for information, only.

[Draft] Minutes

Special Meeting of the Interim Pacifica Board of Directors
November 12, 2003 at 6:30 PM Eastern time by telephone conference

Ten Directors Present constituting a quorum: Chair Leslie Cagan, Teresa Allen, Marion Barry, George Barnstone, Janice K. Bryant, Acie Byrd, Dave Fertig, Rob Robinson, Charles Smith, Carol Spooner

Absent: Pete Bramson, Dick Gregory, Ray Laforest, Jabari Zakiya

Also present: Executive Director Dan Coughlin

The Chair called the meeting to order at about 6:45 PM Eastern time. The meeting was webcast via www.kpftx.org

The board discussed a bequest from Thomas F. Richards. Mr. Richards named Pacifica as a residual beneficiary of a trust. The trust is for the benefit of Mr. Richards' wife during the remainder of her lifetime, and after her death the remainder will be distributed to the residual beneficiaries. Mr. Richards' probate estate is ready to be closed and the estate assets transferred to the trust. The estate executor has requested that the residual beneficiaries of the trust waive an accounting of the probate estate in order to save time and money in closing the estate. The Executive director and Chief Financial Officer both recommend that the board waive the accounting. Pacifica will not be receiving any money from the trust until the death of Mrs. Richards, which we all hope will be many years from now.

Motion by Spooner, seconded by Fertig:

Resolved that the Pacifica Foundation Board of Directors waives an accounting of the estate of Thomas F. Richards and approves the distribution of the estate to the Thomas F. Richards Trust.

Motion passed 8/1/1
8 Yes - Allen, Bryant, Byrd, Cagan, Fertig, Robinson, Smith, Spooner
1 No - Barnstone
1 Abstention - Barry

The board discussed proposal by Rob Robinson that a committee be formed to establish Pacifica's commitment to national programming for Pacifica.

Motion by Robinson Resolved that the Pacifica budget will include an ongoing responsibility center for National Programming whose long-term funding and staffing will be an ongoing priority of the institution. Additionally, the Board will immediately establish a committee to include and work with local station boards, national and local management, the Pacifica Radio Archives, program staff and affiliates to explore the following:

- Work with the Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation and others, as above, to set budgetary, professional, technical and program parameters for a National Program Office; and,
- create a network-wide consensus for the need to measure, support and improve Pacifica programming strategically; and,
- to prepare a written mission statement for the Board’s program committee; and,
- identify resource requirements and staffing patterns for both local station program staff as well as a National Programming office; and,
- ensure that the National Program office has a long-range fundraising and development plan, sufficient to ensure staffing and professional resources for both local station program staff and a National Programming office; and to guarantee that the National Programming office will be able to allocate impact and challenge grants to the local station program staff, in order to help bring consistent improvement to the local stations programming capacity and to enable them to develop particular news and public affairs, as well as arts and cultural components consistent with the local station’s identity, mission and traditions; and,
- Explore the development of a collaborative (includes local stations, FSRN, affiliates and others) nationally distributed and Pacifica-produced news and public affairs program, such as PeaceWatch, as well as an iconoclastic program such as KPFA’s Hard Knock Radio, designed to bring the Pacifica mission and conscious political messages to younger, more culturally diverse audiences nationwide.

Following expressed concern about very tight budgets this year, and clarification by Robinson that the proposal does not require any budget allocations to national programming in this year's budget,

The motion passed unanimously.

Rob Robinson will be the convener of the committee, other national board committee members will include, Janice K. Bryant, Marion Barry, Teresa Allen, Dave Fertig and Carol Spooner.

The meeting was adjourned about 8 PM Eastern Time.

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Spooner
Secretary, Interim Board of Directors