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First WBAI Local Station Board
Meeting scheduled, LAB will dissolve
2-11-03


Thurs., Feb. 19, 6:30pm
First WBAI Local Station Board Meeting
::: CHANGED LOCATION :::
Theatre for the New City, 155 1st Ave, NYC (between 9th & 10th St.)
Open to the public

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MEMO TO: Members of the WBAI Local Station Board
FROM: Leslie Cagan, chair of the Interim Pacifica National Board
DATE: Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2004

CHANGE OF LOCATION FOR THURSDAY LOCAL STATION BOARD MEETING

Because it turns out that the location we had secured for the meeting on Thursday does not have bathrooms that are wheelchair accessible, we are moving the meeting to another place. Here are the details:

WHAT: First meeting of the WBAI Local Station Board

DATE: Thursday, February 19, 2004

TIME: 6:30 pm

NEW LOCATION: Theatre for the New City at 155 1st Ave between 9th and 10th Streets in Manhattan
This location is fully wheelchair accessible.

Please share this information as widely as possible... it is important that everyone knows the new address! And a big thanks to Patty Heffley for making the contact and securing the location.

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WBAI LSB Meeting Guidelines

From: Dan Coughlin
Sent: Monday, February 16, 2004 5:07 PM
Subject: WBAI LSB Meeting Guidelines

Dear WBAI Local Station Board Members,

Congratulations on your recent election to the WBAI Local Station Board. And many thanks for participating in this historic elections process. Some 100,000 active Pacifica listener members received ballots this past month, choosing from some 317 candidates running for 120 seats nationwide. This was indeed a remarkable achievement.

Now, the challenge ahead is to take this process to the next stage and to build media democracy in action.

As you may know, the first meeting of the WBAI Local Station Board is slated for Thursday, February 19, 2004, at 6:30 pm at [NEW LOCATION: Theatre for the New City, 155 1st Ave, NYC (between 9th & 10th St.)]

It is important that you attend this first meeting. The meetings of the Local Station Boards are open to the public and we encourage you to do everything you can to publicize the meeting.

The meeting will be convened by Leslie Cagan.

The meetings in all five listening areas will all have the same initial agendas. In order to properly establish these new Local Station Boards, it is important that the agenda as laid out below is followed. Before laying out the agenda, a word of explanation is in order.

According to the new bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation, you have been elected as delegates, as well as members of the Local Station Board. The LSBs are actually standing committees of the national board, but because we are in a transition the new national board does not yet exist. Therefore, your first responsibility is as a delegate empowered to elect the people who will represent your LSB on the new national board. This means that when you are convened this week you will first meet as delegates in order to elect the directors (the people who will serve on the national board). When that task is completed the meeting will be adjourned, but everyone will stay exactly where they are so the first meeting of the LSB can be immediately called to order and the business of the LSB can be taken up.

Here's how it will go:

1) The meeting of the newly elected delegates convened.

2) Introductions.

3) Election of Directors. The four people who will represent your LSB on the Pacifica National Board. (Three of these will be from the listener-sponsor delegates and one from the staff delegates.)

4) Meeting adjourned. Everyone stays in their seats; no one leaves the table.

5) Meeting of the Local Station Board convened.

6) Election of a chair pro tem. (That is, someone from the newly seated LSB will be elected to serve as a temporary chair of the LSB for the purposed of conducting the rest of the business of this first meeting, and if necessary the next meeting of the LSB.)

7) When the chair pro tem is elected the convener of the meeting steps down.

8) Election of LSB officers: chair, vice-chair, secretary and treasurer.

Please note: depending on how long the election of the directors for the national board takes it may, or may not, be possible to conduct any other business. If a new permanent chair is not elected, the person elected as the pro tem chair will continue in that role until the next meeting of the LSB when the process of electing the officers will be completed.

Once the election of the directors for the national board and the election of the LSB officers are completed the next order of business should be the establishment of the Committee of Inclusion as explained in the bylaws. These committees will be critically important in carrying out Pacifica's commitment to diversity at all levels of the station and the Foundation. Other committees will need to be established, and the LSB will have to set its meeting schedule.

At this first meeting you will receive a packet of information, including the new bylaws of the Pacifica Foundation. The duties and responsibilities of the LSBs, the various committees that need to be set up, and many other critically important items are laid out in detail in the bylaws. You will need to be familiar with the bylaws to fully carry out your responsibilities. For all full copy of the bylaws, see http://www.pacifica.org

At the beginning of your meeting you will be given a card to fill in with your contact information. You must complete this card and give it back to the person convening your meeting. These completed cards will be sent to the Pacifica National Office, where we must have a complete and accurate record of who is serving on each of the LSBs as well as on the new national board.

The National Office is also asking that each LSB select one member to act as a Local Station Board liaison with the National Staff, i.e., your chair or secretary. By doing this the national staff can be sure that the needs of each local board are met without duplication of effort. The national staff welcomes your participation as Pacifica moves into this new, historic process of building a democratic governance structure.

Finally, on behalf of the interim Pacifica National Board and the management and staff of the entire Pacifica Radio network, we want to again congratulate you on your election and welcome you to this new challenge. We wish you all the best.

Peace and solidarity,

Leslie Cagan, Chair, iPNB
Dan Coughlin, ED

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From: Bob Lederer
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 4:56 PM
Subject: FIRST MEETING OF NEW STATION BOARD - Thurs., Feb. 19
Please forward widely.

WBAI General Manager Don Rojas announces the following, as per authorization of Interim Pacifica National Board Chair Leslie Cagan and Pacifica Executive Director Dan Coughlin:

FIRST MEETING OF NEW WBAI LOCAL STATION BOARD - Thurs., Feb. 19

WBAI's management and staff is pleased to congratulate all the successful candidates recently elected to the Local Station Board, and wishes to announce that the first meeting of the new board is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 19 at 6:30 pm at 235 W. 23rd St., 2d floor (between 7th & 8th Avenues - take 1, 2, 3, 9, C or E trains to 23rd). The meeting is open to the public; all are welcome.

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Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 18:25:50 -0500
From: Leslie Cagan
Subject: transition from outgoing LABs to elected LSBs

MEMO TO: LAB Chairs
Sam Husseini
Deb Shafto
Willie Ratcliff
Miguel Maldonado
Lydia Brazon

cc:
Dan Coughlin, Executive Director
IPNB

FROM: Leslie Cagan, chair of the Interim Pacifica National Board

DATE: Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004

DISSOLVING THE OUTGOING LOCAL ADVISORY BOARDS
[Please share this with members of your LABs]

First, a word of thanks to each of you for all of the work you have put in, especially during this challenging transition period. We are now on the verge of actually putting into place and bringing to life the new Pacifica governance structure. All of this would not have happened without the active participation of the LABs and, again, I want to thank everyone who has worked on the LABs for all of the work you've done.

Next week the five newly elected Local Station Boards will be seated and take on their new responsibilities. I have just conferred with our lawyer on one detail of this transition. It is this: when the new LSBs are seated the old Local Advisory Boards will be dissolved. The old LABs will no longer be in operation.

Given that we are just a week away from this transition, it would be best if the out-going LABs did not take any action that might be construed as interfering with, or mandating action by, the new Local Station Boards. In other words, it is not appropriate for the LABs to now be taking action or making decisions that might effect the future work of the LSBs. Here is one example. The new LSBs will have to create Local Advisory Boards as part of the requirements to receive the CPB grants. This is the job of the new LSBs and nothing should be done now that might be viewed as usurping or undermining that, and it also should not be assumed that the present LABs are going to become these new advisory bodies.

Just to be clear, the work of the out-going LABs is now done and in one week these bodies will be dissolved. I hope you all see the importance of helping to ensure that this transition happens as easily and smoothly as possible.

If any of this is not clear, or if you have any questions, please contact me right away.


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