 |
|
Pacifica National Finance Committee (NFC) meeting notes, 7-15-05 |
These meeting notes are unofficial. Official PNB minutes posted at pacifica.org Audio Archive at www.kpftx.org
These notes paraphrase statements made by attendees at the meeting (over three hours). Most was done in one listen, so there may be some inaccuracies. To find out the exact words, listen to the audio at www.kpftx.org - Written by James Ross, wbai.net contributor Meeting via teleconference Summary
--CFO announces that WBAI is on "critical list" - will be short by $200,000 - 250,000 as of end of September ROLL CALL
adelson -- KPFK PNB, chair APPROVED AGENDA
approval of minutes ACTUAL AGENDA
approval of minutes APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3/23, 6/3, 6/10 roberts: move approval, adelson: didn't we appoint someone to be liaison w/ bylaws working grp? gatewood: never came to a conclusion. adelson: we can ask marnie and jane to do that job. no objection to approving minutes CFO REPORT AND WBAI PROBLEMS (about 14:00 of hour 1) Lane: preliminary questions - need to look at up to date financials, look at serious financial problems we face Hicks: start w/ large issues. Pacifica is at financial crossroads. do not have as many options available as previously. will do special report on pacifica finances for board. hopes for special item on 7/25 PNB meeting Critical problems: WBAI -- in last drive had 400K shortfall in last drive (pledges). station has to either make up shortfall or immediately reduce expenses, incl staff, "even though that's not what we want to do." based on cash flow now, station will not have money to operate in september--a $250,000 deficit. This deficit will exist even if $325K is pledged in summer mini-drive. station is behind 250K in their obligation to national office. adelson: can you clarify? hicks: ???? could not pay central services against money gained in recent drive 'cause of shortfall (not clear whether it is 20% of the 250 K or the entire 250 K). also legal obligations of approx 50K coming due. nat office is responsible for payment of those bills. typically NO pays right away, then bills station. also, since drive was short, NO does not get central services. adelson: when you say station will be short in September, does that assume central services will be paid or not? hicks: ???? roberts: shortfall in NO you project is 80K, is that for the FY, or for the month of septemeber hicks: since drive did not meet goal, station does not have to pay central services, this will show up on june financials hicks: then there is looming defict in september. also network has issue of what is to be done. will go into octoober drive in the hole. they are working on it. discussed with indra. plan mini-drive 7/18 -7/30 expect to raise 325,000. most funds from that will pay august bills. will be short in both august and september. adelson: is 325K goal reasonable? lane: don't want to say anything negative roberts: (to baruti) can you describe the atmosphere? what is the local finance cte doing? bediako: basically it's up to indra and lonnie. they want to see how the mini-drive shapes up. mini-drive was pushed up to see what could be done. there is recognition in finance cte that we cannot raise the money we did in the past, so we are looking at long-term cuts in FY 06 budget. allen: could consider drastic programming changes before drive. did it at KPFT, this sent a message to listeners. gatewood: does patty have anything to add? heffley: at local finance committee, sees that indra has to figure out how to deal with it. is concerned that there is a split between those at station who see is as a radio station, and others that see it as a mouthpiece. till people see it as sink or swim. now is the time to see why our listenership has stopped paying. i'm concerned. roberts: how many FTEs at WBAI hicks: 29 hicks: other stations can buoy network. however, now two largest stations having a difficult year. KPFA had to go into their savings by 300 K to balance their budget. will not have any surplus to throw around. KPFK is doing better than other stations and will show a surplus of 95K above one-month surplus KPFT is not doing that well, will have to struggle to balance budget (with one month surplus) WPFW has balanced budget. but, is looking to relocate, will be expensive - 350K, 750K. National office - what is alarming that for several months to float bills while stations wait to get paid after drives. this extends after station has bad drive. also fulfillment (unexpectedly low) can lower what national office gets. reiterates that legal bill 50K from WBAI is a problem. 3-4 mos float is too long. it was OK when revenue was rising, membership rising, etc. but it's been flat for three years. now that has caught up with us. WBAI matters because we can't support WBAI at 250K. should other station s have to supply that? should WBAI have to make drastic cuts? NO raised 1.2 - 1.4 million in the past year. mostly by large-scale mailings. NO had to raise its own operating costs. adleson: NO budget -- had large mailing costs, over budget. has questions regarding authorizations of this. but doesn[t want to scatter at this point. lane: ask hicks to tentatively address how we might address the serious problem. then we can open for questions. allen: tell us again what the income was for NO from mailings? hicks: over past 16 months put out over 1 million pieces of mail and raised close to a million dollars. hicks: also have capital issues. KPFA has $250K-500K physical plant issues. restaurant (in builiding) is now vacant, needs to be made revenue-producing. has problem with building foundation. also KPFT needs rehab work done. have union contracts faling due, which means increases. PRA has 12 million dollar restoration problem. legal costs at WBAI and KPFA. FSRN is under discussion, their proposal adds 450K to budget. short wave project adds 100K, race and nationality project 250K. roberts: ???? what are assumptions that we made in past that were wrong so we don't repeat them? if we throw everything to gether it becomes impossible adelson: agrees with last point. does not want discussion to scatter in many different directions. hicks: propose that we reduce these issues to critical, serious, other and supply to PNB members, and have more serious discussion w/PNB on 7/25. lane: want to make certain that NFC understands where we stand in late July. wants this report reduced in writing and sent to PNB for 7/25 meeting. adelson: if all issues get bundled, it's difficult. one approach is that we need to be thinking in a different league re money we need to raise. my perspective is raising money is like placing weight on a structure, yet i don't understand how structure works. believes that systems for authorization and monitoring are not working. i'd like us to deal with that. figure out how we got here and what's happening before we take on siginifcantly more money. roberts: (long intro) last year WBAI LSB was not able to agree -- two camps -- one felt need for staff reductions, other not. our budget did not call for staff reductions. it did call for a few reductions, help reducing funding days. now, funding days are still long and there is a shortfall. only conclusion is that WBAI cannot pay its rent and also support 29 FTEs. that's the problem. so we need to deal to with those two things. adelson: may financials (year to date) show income 150K behind. though these numbers may not be realisitic. how do we tell from these budgets what is about to hit us? this document does not describe the depth problem hicks described hicks: WBAI not too far behind till spring drive. (end of hour 1) roberts: hicks: what is the early warning system for a station having problems? One bad drive is almost like sudden death -- 400K shortfall is a lot. why? maybe turned off listeners, or listeners are aging, or whatever. roberts: was july drive already planned? for 300K? hicks: ususally it's in august. but it was budgeted for 300K. this doesn';t erase the 400K prolbem roberts: looking at next years' budget. FTE reduction is required hicks: yes bediako: draft FY 06 budget has staff reductions adelson: big problem is the rent at WBAI lane: waht is rent and on antenna? it;'s going up hicks: it's going up. roberts: and aren't we locked into a lease for the station space? bediako: yes roberts: how long is that lease? heffley: seven years roberts: so is there some possibiliyt oto by pass that obligation isn the next seven years? hicks: they looked a renegotioatn and subletting, and breaking the lease. roberts: so those are being looked at now for inclusion into 06 budget? hicks: yes, but the work has to be done. heffley: real estate person on finance committee says it would be in the seven figures to move in any way, to break lease, build studios, etc. to reduce rent by half it wouyld not pay to move. looking at the expense of the building is not worth looking at. need to look at overspending and how to bring back volunteerism. station had consistently over time not reached fundraising goals. this is old news now. i am glad people are starting to pay attention. there is something wrong why we are not raising money -- looking at the rent is not the answer. lane: glad you make these points. i have reached the same conclusion. roberts: reductions in staffing mentioned. is that budgeted for next year or is that happening now. lane: we asked Indra to come up with a way to deal with this. she proposed 3 FT and 2 PT be laid off. nothing has occurred since. this week she notified union she is planning layoffs. 3 FT and 2 PT won't totally deal with problem. allen: WBAI already lost receptionist, no? bediako: a new temp is in that position mcfall: looking at mar payroll detail. seems that salaried people are either 100%, 50%, or 10%, then the hourly people. when I added altogether it was more like 40 FTEs bediakos: a lot of the hourlies are fund drive people mcfall: but still, FTEs should include hourlies. mcfall: re $50,000 legal obligation. at 2/8 you said all legal obligations were paid off. at 3/28 meeting you said you were going to write off $250,000 in legal fees. I was confused there. then two meetings ago there was a $100K fee not paid. now there is $50K fees. so what's the status? hicks: the $50K is new legal fees mcfall: but what happened between 2/8 and 3/28? hicks: weel, the $250K as a writieoff was always there. I was reporting fees we planned to pay. roberts: the report that all legal fees were paid off on 2/8 did not include write-offs hicks by the end of this FY, we will have paid off all old legal. the new legal is a new legal obligations picked up this year at WBAI and KPFA. it's 50K at WBAI. mcfall: so you are saying we will be at zero on old legal, but not new legal. hicks: yes bediako: old legal are basically unpaid from previous years hicks: yes, as well as settlements from 2004, etc. roblerts: was is ledger item when you write off legal, do you are going to be reducing the agrregate lagal expense? hicks: yes, with the assent of the auditor. roberts: let's assume that moving at WBAI is difficult. so that brings us back to salary. 3 FTEs and 2PTs is not going to do it. so at what point do we say to WBAI to fix the structural imbalance between salaries and income. bediako: i think the 4 FTEs for next year is a savings of 150,000 heffley: this was the preliminary budget from May. becasue shortfall came after budget, budget will be redone. so 4 FTEs is obsolotye lane: no, she had authorization to do this. she said not to do it before fund dirve. heffley: but now she is planning further reductions, beyond 4 FTE cuts. bediako: my understanding was she was waiting for feedback. is it true you guys are going to get together to do deeper cuts for FY 06? hicks: we have been exchanging emails. (19:21 hour two) adelson: we changed structur of staffing at Pacifica in mid 90s based on assumptions re how raise money. the idea was that you syndicate, do national programming. the assumption was that small stations can't supply programming that a program supply service did. Pacifica started down that road.... one argument was that this is based on a alot of assumptions that may not sustainable given Pacifica model of broadcasting. implicit is a shift in market stratregy. numbers were never worked out. question whether it foresaw changes in media, like draining listeners to digital radio, etc. roberts: al ot of these issues reflect on the entire foundation. patty alluded to rediscovery of volunteerism. also financial leverage, market leverage, look at programming assets to attract additional revenue streams. adelson: i'm pointing out the need to take this on. don't claim to have clarity to what needs to be done. does staffing plan meet audience meet income meet mission. not arguing for a specific approach. flaw on mid-90s approach was that it took responses to real problems to drive a specific starategy through. component of programming by volunteers, component by high -produciton value service, also outsidiers who may not want to be part of today's pacifica. roberts: but not clear about revenue components. for hicks and lane -- what do we do now? hicks: for WBAI -- timetable -- to look at staff reductions, need to give 30-day notice to union. should be done by 8/1. WBAI needs to look at the recovery plan that was approved by the this committee (ed note: I doubt this is true). Ambros and I will go to NY w/in week. so we have a plan in plce by 8/1. if not, then other stations may have to kick in to cover WBAI's shortfall. I would want this cte to contemplate motion that WBAI in next ten days review recovery plan and present plan to the finance cte around how they plan to proceed. bediako: can I see the plan? hicks: i will send it to you adleson: i've seen plan, and it's not specific. hicks: yes it is, it is based on union criteris for reduction, IDd what core staff were, up to 50% staff roberts: can you send this to the national finance committee? adelson: Q of programming expenses williams: can you send may financials to me adelson: thought i sent to committee heffley: can't get attachments thru yahoo mail roberts: lonnie, you will send a copy of contingency plan to finance committee? and you are asking that WBAI act on this? hicks: yes roberts: but i assume no one is familiar with the plan. how should we proceed? hicks: indra is familiar with it lane: four PNB reps have it bediako: are you saying we need to cut 250K by end of year? that;s not possible. hicks: yes. (discussion re how be budget is) hicks: we need to ask WBAI mgmt they review what's already on the table, the recovery plan. roberts: but if you are projectin $316K in the whole for WBAI by year end. so we are lloking for WBAI to come up with savings of $316K? hicks: it is obvious they cannot do it one month (time 34:03) but they do need to come up with a plan over some time (12-14) months .... roberts: what is the minimum reduction ... teh 4 FTEs cuts it 150K ... bediako: the $150K wasn't made to recover the shortfall this year. it is designed to make next year balance out. so i understand that the next year needs to get a surplus of $316K just to cover this year's shortfall. weinmann: is there a motion on the floor hicks: ask WBAI mgmt to review recovery plan,.... lane: mgmt is authorized to implement that plan adelson: ambrose is saying the motion is moot, cause they are already authorized. hicks: we need to affirm that. they are talking 4-5, the recovery plan calls for more. lane: i authorized indra to lay off all interim employees, would reduce payroll expense 125K. also can discontinue two 1/2 time per diems ops staff and skim off $25k in programming and 25k in administrative expenses. lane: thanked her and asked when she would begin implementing. roberts: if that is done and filters thru to 065 budget, is everything fine? have we solved WBAI p roblme hicks & lane: no, but it helps allen: are you saying they are going to use paid employees, and not part time employess on this upcoming drive? bediako: don't know, indra could answer heffley: we have an extensive staff when we do these drives, and food, etc., everyone gets paid. costs run up as drives go on. i don't know if they plan to use volunteers or not for this drive. allen: we only use volunteers at KPFT drives lane: same here adelson: at KPFK get more volunteers when we are out in the community. roberts: new budget for WBAI with more realistic assumptions. already fold in above savings. so will FY 06 budget be balanced, or will there still be a problem hicks: it will take time for those savings to accumulate. but in september they won't h ave money. break it into two parts. 1) budget, 2) immediate cash flow. don't have solution for number 2. adelson: re KPFK, hicks said 95K surplus by end of year. but this is what was in imay financials, before june drive that went over by 100K. don't understand why NO has over 120K overages re budget in mailing that PNB did not approve. also FSRN. looks like KPFA is paying quite a bit T paying 57K less then budget W pay 5K less than budget K and I pay what was budgeted, A paying 39K more than was budgeted. I'd like to know how these adjustments were made. hicks: can we finish with WBAI. adelson: yes, but my understanding is that cuts cannot be made to meet shortfall in september, so money has to come from somewhere else. the station with the money is KPFK. and money is coming from the maildrops. seems like it is all related. roberts. Q of who pays for immediate shortfall. if 250K is found, will that cover it, or will there be further deficits that need to be met? how large a band-aid hicks: my best guess, is if we can find enough to cover payroll. it would take 4-5 months for station to start realizing a saving. take a year for it all to work out, assuming drives go as planned. roberts: is that holding central serives from WBAI during that period hicks: i would look at reducing amount they have to pay. we are reducing staff at NO. be looking at other station who could support a loatn. loans have been done before. but would be contigent on station haveing a plan to make it up by 12 months roberts: but you said all stations having problems. only station is flush is KPFK. why would K buy into this? adleson: K has 1 million in the bank. roberts: and you ve 300K not accounted for in statement. adelson: and another one. as of May listener support is over projected by 462K add to that 100K from June drive. but budget sheet only shows over by 224K. don't understand. roberts: lonnie, does K have more money than they are showing. hicks: don't think so -- they delayed drive ... adleson: but they were still ahead by 462K. hicks: but drive did not get 1 million. only got half of it in credit cards. rest comes in over time. what we do is accrue all that. makes it look like it is all there. adelson: we delayed drive til june. despite that, the actuals were 462K over budget even w/o that drive. hicks: K doesn't have business manager. some entries weren't booked, or were booked late. adelson: maybe we need to go line by line through these numbers elsewhere. my feeling is that our station is doing well, we have surplus. we have potential to use these monies, ie remoter broadcast facilities, stringers. other stations have not been as aggressive as K in opening up and letting people in. so we are going to underwrite these other places. guess our station area is going to have to hear where this leads. mcfall: memsys for K for 10/04 -6/05 most has been booked, except some expenses. can't find 290K. hicks: K started with year w 390K in the bank mcfall: makes no difference. you said we are doing cash accounting, not accrual. i'm matching memsys report w/ balance sheet. can't match up roberts: balance sheet doesn't include june. mcfall: have been hearing this since january. everyone but me voted to approve a new budget that cut 37K that K had already raised. adleson: i didn't vote for that. mcfall: this keeps rolling over and over adelson: our station has been helped outin the past. the point is we need to know what's going on, so there is board approval and monitoring. where does money go to in terms of service of the mission. roberts: if we have a station that is going to be short, and station says we are going to get ris of people, save money elsewhere. is it realistic for them to request money from network. adelson: its necessary for the other stations to help. the network is responsible. but at the network we have not shown the kind of oversight to support that responsibility. at K, staff works hard, but feels they get no support. now national has to say "we couldnt keep track of our money, so we have to take away the money you raised." roberts: last year PNB passed a budget, now we will have to pass a budget with staff cuts, so we are doing something. all stations bear a burden, due to 80K shortfall at central services. (due to WBAI short drive) (hour 3 start) hicks: NO looking at reducing staff. mcfall: how many staff hicke: hate to do that in public Mcfall: that's public information roberts: now we are asking for new hires, HR director. can't have our cake and eat it too. weinmann: can't let WBAI go down the tubes. solve problem as a whole. obviously jobs at stake. at KPFT we have many fewer employees. if you're making money in berkely, fork it over adelson: it's one thing to fork it over if that's going to solve problem and are confident you will foresee similar problems in future. weinmann: but this is now. can't wait to solve problem roberts: so what do we say to our stations. weinmann: if we are going to keep fighting ourselves we will have a problem. we have to admit we cannot attract audience that can support ourselves. high staffing levels is part of problem. need to look for multiple approaches to solve problem adelson: what do people want to do, time is moving along. roberts: can we pull minutes from next item adelson: would like to consider meeting in near future. roberts: what needs to happen nationally in next few weeks hicks: first thing that they need to agree on a plan to save money in ternally. second, notify employees pink slips, etce. third , they will be short 150-200K in september, so we need to as a network figure out to get that. adelson: need to figure out a plan for podcasting, et al heffley: on WBAIreport to listener, callers asked where were Null and Knight. removed w/o process. if our programming doesn't change, DN cannot be heard by 9-5 pepole. these changes can bring in 100s of thousands. but are never discussed. listeners get a feel things are not right at WBAI and move on to something more positive. we can't just think of getting rid of people, need to thing about the audience how to rebuild, draw in more people roberts: i am hesitant to go into another station's closet ... but my experience is that when a station has an emergency meeting, w/ new, smaller budget. that may open up conversations that have been difficult in past. weinmann: that would be nice adelson: frankly we have seen this coming for a long time. but that is a management side issue. roberts: right now is there business manager? hicks: yes weinmann: how many of the other treasurers would support a special national day of fundraising for WBAI? allen: don't know what caused the problem at WBAI. have to acknowledge that 9/11 an economic problems have something to do w/ wbai. when we put out pleas at that time, people responded, but saw no improvement. need positive messages, stop blame ... i'm not sure whether a WBAI fundraiser would help. i don't think it would help if it seemed like throwing money away. williams: last year we went through this whole process of a backup plan for WBAI, but it needs to be put in place 3 months early to see improvement. WBAI problem is a management problem. management decisions are responsible for WBAI's problems. need effective programming decisions to turn this around. our constituents will not support WBAI w/o core plan in mgmt philosophy there. need concrete changes there. gatewood: our LSB in last mtg , need management that makes room for new volunteers, new people to come. relates to EEOC complaint at WPFW. we loved DC radio co-op's work. re current financial sitution. personally likes fundraisinf for WBAI. but, WPFW lease is expiring, will have increased costs. need to raise funds locally. if we can packet fundraiser to WBAI w/ our own needs i support it. sounds like there are programming issues at WBAI but it is not for us to manage. we should expect info from somewhere, maybe what programming ideas what will turn things aroung. adelson: i hear frustration is that people at K ge tfrustrated when they do a lot of work and then things like the wBAI fund drive get foisted upon them. what i would like to do here is gather together metting of stakeholders, incl volunteer staff. the feeling that you are carrying load, kept in the dark, is alienating. we are trying to get away from that at K . I would like to talk to K GM, call station meeting, ask what are you willing to do, then bring it back here. other way causes resentment. i agree that specific programming decisions are not our purview here. however, when things get messed up -- like we have tried to open the schedule here ... ??? need different dynamic. have heard (from WBAI) "keep out, it's our business" and now we have to foot the bill. bediako: don't know history of other station supporting WBAI in the past. i would like to know details. re predicting this situation, if you look at our financials we were on course till this last drive. could be economics, programming changes, that have caused erosion of support over time. roberts: it would be unfair to characterize WBAI as perpetual prodigal child. at WPFW we only have 12 FTEs. some people are paid at WBAI to do stuff we do here for free. need to address this trend toward paid staff. if we were to contemplate campaign, is this doable, to cover WBAI's costs? hicks: well summer is always a bad time. most stations are going to do a summer drive. at NO we are looking at ... Pacifica has history of stations helping other stations. ... could we raise half a million in national campaign? yes roberts: i think we should to meet concerns aof all stations. do something coordinated this summer. would not require raiding other stations. second, when we go to WBAI w/ contingency plan, need specifics --m how do you plan to increase volunteerism -- give goal. also need aggressive and intelligent community outreach. also goal to increase membership. (29:14 of hour three) allen: would support a moving day fundraiser to help WPFW heffley: lots of fund drives too long and underperforming for over two years. also, no evaluation of management by LSB or of programming, which bring in money. i would not ask other stations to give money w/o evaluations. throwing good money after bad. more money will not help us w/o changes. salaries have increased since 2001 by 30%. without changes we will be in the same position we are in now three months from now. hicks: if we don't act station will not be able to pay staff in september. likes idea of raising money for moving, for WBAI, etc. need a concept. something attractive for our listeners. need plan where problem gets addressed. we want to see a shift in station's financial structure. so what is role of this committee do right now? weinmann: we should bring motion to board to go forward with this plan. agree w/ patty, w/o proper reviews... progreamming is a product relates to support levels ... across network, could be wonderful way to look at new fundraising model for network. adelson: transmitter at KPFK was 1st national day, raised 185K. but, going back to well over and over to listeners ... Lane suggests getting a line of credit of 25K ... could be trouble. debt is hazardous. but one thing large non-profits do is issue corporate bonds. in bond issue can place constraints of what can be done with it. could be for a specific purpose. i am upset that budgets are not followed. perhaps with proper mission-driven approach would be possible. but has big ifs. roberts: do we still have development person at national office? (yes). what would figure be to last through end of calendar year? neeed to get hook ... second thing is to put performance objectives in WBAI package. or maybe all stations ... at very least WBAI. need to focus on short term right now. (41:19 of hour three) allen: would like to put brian deshzor on committee for national fundraising day. adelson: really think it is important to go back to our stations rather than lay a plan on them. lane: asked lonnie to reduce his work to writing and send to full board. agree that fundraiser needs to take place. need to take a look at what we do with people's money. we have a responsibility to leverage money people give to us. we haven't done an assessment of our assets. don't know what we have and what their value might be. buildings need to be assessed. so that info is available to make decisions to move the network forward. we haven't bought a new station since 1977. we are depending on affiliates to carry us. need alternative to that. need to make hard decisions. have compiled assets at WPFW. roberts: this will take a lot of time. but we need to think short term. lane: we will do fundraiser on air. weinmann: need motion re fundraiser gatewood: when do we meet? (discussion) weinmann: move that national board decree that we hold a day or days of fundraising to help WBAI out of its fiscal crisis and other network problems. should be by 8/15. adleson: need to be clear about what money is for when we pitch. roberts: it's not just WBAI, we are going to help each other. adelson: any objection to motion? (restate motion) that PNB approve national day of fundraising to address network-wide financial issues, before 8/15/05. roberts; can always change date bediako: how closely will the national drive follow our mini drive weinmann: need a hook. have a minin drive at KPFT as well. adelson: but have to be truthful williams: i object. we have put forward national day of fundraising ideas before. GMs not consulted. w/o real program to effect change at WBAI, sending money will not help. weinmann: point re dictating to mgmt re drives is a good point. maybe make it a suggestion allen: i would say that i want to empower interim ED establish task force to look for solutions, incl Deshazor bediako: thought we would link help for WBAI w/ performance objectives. thought money would not be w/o strings attached gatewood: like idea to kick back to interim ED for refinement. need to incorporate language re changes at WBAI. Also, fundraising idea could be more than just on air, could be mail to major donors could complement on air. roberts: agree w/ everyone. esp point re need for strings attached. staffing, volunteerism, programming, outreach. maybe meet next week once we get numbers from lonnie. also get contingency stuff written up. hicks: other stations doing summer drives. good theme is Pacifica renewal, next 50-60 years can work for all stations. like going thru ED. not sure if it needs to go thru PNB. GMs need to be involved. mtg next tues w/ GMs, can discuss then. heffley: will vote against motion. WBAI LSB is in violation of bylaws -- no evaluation of management so far. we are over budget. problems w. overspending. this is part of problem. to go out and cover up w/ band aid is abusive of listeners. cuts will happen anyway in FY 06 budget. problems have gone on for a long time. to give money never allows for any force of change. either we are going to return to volunteerism and get staff who come to work, try to cut costs, get better management... all this going to listeners to get money to cover up is not good. ther has to be some leadership in this place and it will only come from people freaking out. sorry it has to come on our new i ED and especially our new iGM, who has always tried to do the right thing. if we will just bury this under more money from listeners w/o an explnation that horible things have happened here and mismanagement has happened here, and that's why we need the money, if we can't be honest with the listeners i don't think we should ask for the money... (end of hour three) adelson: we are bass-ackwards --- trying to improve something we do not understand. executives should come to us with plan. believes ED can do this, mail drops show that getting board authorization is no impediment. maybe someone can clarify for me why we need to approve this now. allen: barring this resolution, is there anything preventing iED to assist LSB to evaluate staff. lane: if they want help, we are certainly willing to do it. allen: move that we create task force co-chaired by iED and Lavarn, including staff and NFC members to create strategy to deal w/ current financial crisis. adelson: suggest that we adjourn, and pick up 7/19. or another day. do people want to deal with these motions now? hicks: by upcoming meeting could have plan for review. roberts: prefers working with full NFC. wants to see numbers (that ED and CFO will prep for next week). adleson: ED can form group to deal with this. roberts: can have task force to flesh out structure provided by NFC. allen: who's gonna come up with what we need to do adelson: CFO and iED allen: withdraw motion williams: likes allen's motion. workgroups can work well. would be willing to help. will be available. lane: have talked to Lavarn about this. (discussion of date) decision to reconvene 7/21 adelson: still haven't touched FY 06 budget. let's adjourn this meeting till then. pick up with this item. ADJOURN til 7/21 6 pm eastern. |
top of page | PNB index | home |