MINUTES of
ACTV Board of Directors
Meeting
Date: May 11, 2006, 7:30 pm
Call to
Order
The regular monthly meeting of
the ACTV Board of Directors was held in the ACTV Conference Room on April 20,
2006. The meeting convened at 7:38 PM, President Isaac BenEzra presiding.
Board
Members present:
Isaac BenEzra, Mary Paris, Anna
Carter, Josna Rege, Paulette Brooks, Jim McAllister, Mary Paris, Rusty Rowell,
Ernie Urvater.
Members absent: Rev.
Bobby Wallace
Quorum status: This
constitutes a quorum of the Board.
Others Present:
Bruce Arbour (Interim ED), Hisham
Nakshbendi
Approval of Minutes
Correction of March
Meeting Minutes:
MOTION:
A motion was made and seconded
to:
Approve the March
Meeting minutes as amended
The motion passed
unanimously.
Approval
of April 3rd Special Meeting Minutes
MOTION:
A motion was made and seconded
to:
Approve the April 3rd
Special Meeting minutes
The motion passed
unanimously, with Rusty Rowell abstaining
Tabled
from April Meeting: New ED Search
Isaac BenEzra proposed that we use the Alliance for
Community Media Conference in Boston, July 5-8 to begin the search. He planned
to attend that conference and could conduct interviews.
MOTION:
A motion was made and seconded
to:
Officially open the
search for a fulltime Executive Director. President BenEzra is charged to form
a search committee. He will talk to board members individually over the next
few weeks.
The motion passed
unanimously.
Board
Development
—MassAccess
mini-conference: Mary Paris gave an oral report on MassAccess' Board
mini-conference held Friday, May 5th, and circulated photocopies of
her summary notes,
—ACM
Conference: copies of the schedule were circulated for the upcoming July
5th-8th Association for Community Media Conference in Boston, July 5-8.
Outreach/
Membership Committee Report
—Mary
Paris circulated a draft policy for non-profit groups’ use of the station
(attached). The executive committee will review it and it will be taken up at
the June board meeting.
Treasurer’s
Report
Anna Carter led the board
in a review of the March budget. A question was raised as to why we were over
budget on office supplies. The answer was that it seems to be a catch-all
category. After reviewing the purchases that has been listed under Office
Supplies, it was recommended that in future we break out the category, so that
the board can see an itemization of the purchases.
MOTION:
A motion was made and seconded
to:
Accept the treasurer’s
report, subject to audit.
The motion passed
unanimously.
Executive Committee
Report (Isaac)
—ACTV contract with Town of
Amherst: Isaac BenEzra reported that the Executive Committee had spent the
major portion of its meeting to reviewing ACTV’s proposed contract with the
Town of Amherst, and, Paulette Brooks has prepared a critique/summary so that
the Select Board is informed as to ACTV’s perspective. It is important to keep
the Select Board in the circle, since it is the contracting authority. It is
the rec0ommendation of the Executive Committee that ACTV’S contract attorney,
Bill August, be the negotiator for the contract.
—New production assistant:
the Executive Committee sought to reiterate and clarify the board’s intent when
it voted for the hiring of a temporary, half-time production assistant. The
hours of this person (James Carroll) should be allocated accordingly. He was hired
to help expand ACTV coverage of government meetings beyond what is already
contracted and, as needed, to work with volunteers to cover important public
and educational events. The idea was to help increase ACTV’s visibility at this
time, when many townspeople, as well as the CAC, have indicated that they would
like to see ACTV offering more meeting and event coverage. Additionally, the
Production Assistant position was intended to free up the Production Manager to
do more member-producer outreach and support. The Executive Committee feels
that it is the job of the Board to set the policy governing the staff’s hiring,
job description, and allocation, but that it has no desire to micromanage the
staff operations. It was agreed that it
would be appropriate for the Outreach Committee to work with the Production
Manager to develop and follow through on policy to increase both visibility and
member-producer participation.
IED’s
Report (for details see attached Executive Director’s Report, April 2006)
—ACTV Shoots: Bruce Arbour
reported on ACTV coverage of the May 1st rally on the town common on
the immigration issue, and also on the Cantabile concert in the Studio.
—Technical Report: The
problems with the Tightrope cablecasting software have been addressed; however,
in the process, the staff has learned that the system is not protected by
anti-virus software. The new remote box is scheduled to be assembled and ready
for service no later than June 1st.
—Purchase Request: a desk
for the director’s office.
MOTION:
A motion was made and seconded
to:
Approve Bruce Arbour’s
request to purchase a desk for the ED’s office.
The motion passed
unanimously.
—Mr. Arbour requested that
board members with questions for the staff go through Isaac BenEzra rather than
contacting the staff directly.
Contract
Negotiating Committee Report
Paulette
Brooks circulated summary copies of ACTV’s critique/language changes to the
Amherst Cable Advisory Committee’s proposed contract language.
MOTION:
A motion was made and seconded
to:
Appropriate an
additional $3,000 to pay the contract attorney’s fees.
The motion passed
unanimously.
Member-Requested
Agenda Item
MOTION:
A motion was made and seconded
to:
Add ACTV member Hisham Nakshbendi’s item to the
agenda.
The motion passed unanimously.
Mr.
Nakshbendi raised the question of why Comcast had not seen fit to extend a free
cable service to the Ann Whalen apartments, so that many of the elderly and
other low-income residents are unable to afford cable, and thus are not able to
view ACTV. Apparently he had raised this issue with the Cable Advisory
Committee, but it had not been pursued. In the ensuing discussion, board
members expressed concern and agreement with his perspective, but felt that it
was no longer possible to raise this issue with Comcast. It was felt that there
should be public venues in town, such as a television lounge in the Bangs
Center, where residents could watch television (and ACTV in particular) for
free.
Report
on Status of Pelham
Rusty
Rowell, Town of Pelham appointee to the Board, gave an update on the status of
Pelham’s relationship to ACTV in the upcoming contract period. Mr. Rowell
informed the Board that Pelham would be able to get ACTV feeds whether or not
they made any payment to ACTV. He said that Pelham would be making its decision
on how to proceed in the next month. The prevailing feeling appeared to be that
the Technology Fund might be better spent on Information Technology rather than
on cable access. There had been talk of buying a fixed camera to cover the
Pelham Select Board meetings instead of ACTV. The Board discussed how many ACTV
members were Pelham residents and what services or potential services ACTV
offers Pelham. Both Mr. Rowell and the rest of the Board agreed that it would
be appropriate for ACTV to send the Town of Pelham a Letter of Intent to Renew
its contract. The Board discussed details of the letter were discussed, such as
the percentage of the Comcast payments that Pelham might forward to ACTV.
Adjournment :
The meeting adjourned at 9:58 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Josna Rege
Clerk, ACTV Board of Directors