MINUTES of ACTV Board of Directors Meeting

Date: Thursday, October 19, 2006

 

Call to Order:

The meeting convened at 7:32 PM, Isaac BenEzra presiding.

 

Board Members present: Isaac BenEzra, Ernie Urvater, Paulette Brooks, Josna Rege, Jean Haggerty, Alan Root, Anna Carter, Mary Paris, Dennis Steiner

 

Others Present: Jim MacAllister, Julia Shively, Vladimir Morales

 

Quorum status: This constitutes a quorum of the Board.

 

President’s Report

—President BenEzra welcomed new member Dennis Steiner to the Board. 

—The Annual Report is out and copies have been circulated to the Board.

—The Annual Corporation Meeting, Potluck, and Member Election will be held on October 24th, 2006. One member, Lacey Johnston, is standing for election to the board, to fill Rev. Bobby Wallace’s seat, since his one-year term expires this month.

Cable Contract Update

—Comcast and the Town of Amherst have reached agreement on the next 1o-year contract, which was signed on Monday, October 16th, 2006. ACTV finally received a copy of the agreement, but only last Friday, which gave the contract negotiating committee and ACTV’s contract attorney the weekend to review it and give input before it went before the Select Board for final approval. Mr. BenEzra reviewed some key provisions of the Comcast contract as it pertained to ACTV’s funding, and answered questions from the Board and the bookkeeper, Ms. Shively. Now contract negotiations are set to begin between ACTV and the Town.

—ACTV has presented its proposed contract to the Town Manager, and has asked him to flag any areas of concern. Mr. BenEzra said that the negotiating committee was happy with the process so far, but whatever its final recommendations are, they will have to come back to the Board for approval.

Program Manager Search Update

—The Program Manager Search Committee has scheduled interviews for Saturday, October 21st, and that all board members are welcome to attend. The candidates’ resumes are available in the Board mailbox at the station. After the interviews, the committee will decide whether or not to hold a second round of interviews; if so, board members would again be welcome to attend. The committee will return to the Board with a recommendation, and will present their rationale and invite a discussion. Ultimately, the hiring decision will be made by the Board.

 

Approval of September Minutes

The Draft Minutes of the September Board Meeting were presented to the board for amendment and approval.

MOTION:

A motion was made and seconded to:

Approve the draft minutes of the September Board Meeting as amended.

The motion passed unanimously.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Proposed Budget, FY 2006-2007 (see attached)

Bookkeeper Julia Shively presented the proposed budget for the 2006-2007 fiscal year (July 1, 2006-June 30, 2007). She noted that ACTV’s contract with the Town had still not been finalized, and that therefore this budget was necessarily based upon projections, assuming at least level funding in the new contract. Ms. Shively reported that this was a budget with a deficit of $12,310.52. She stated, however, that the budget estimated income very conservatively, and that if ACTV had had its accustomed $10,000/year from the Town of Pelham and $ 0.50 per cable customer from the town,  we would have had a balanced budget. She added that ACTV does have funds to cover the projected deficit, and pointed out that last year saw a surplus of $46,000 before depreciation. She also said that this projected deficit gives us a basis for setting fundraising goals for the year.

 

MOTION:

A motion was made and seconded to:

Approve this as an interim budget for FY 2006-2007, to be reviewed upon finalization of cable contract.

The motion passed unanimously.

 

MOTION

A motion was made and seconded to:

Approve the August, 2006 budget report, subject to audit.

The motion passed unanimously.

 

Ms. Shively also asked the Board to approve ACTV’s state-required annual audit, at a cost of $3,000. The Board had no objection to proceeding with an audit for the previous fiscal year.

 

Finance Committee Report

Treasurer Anna Carter reported that the Finance Committee (Ms. Carter, Mr. Urvater, Mr. Root, and Ms. Shively) met on October 10th to review and discuss the draft budget for FY 2006-2007. The Committee took the projected deficit in the budget very seriously and worked hard to trim expenses, line item by line item. The committee considered various new sources of income, including fundraising, partnerships with the Amherst colleges and the University, possible services for Amherst.

 

 

Outreach/Membership Committee Report (see attached report)

Mary Paris and Ernie Urvater presented the report. Mr. Urvater reported on his recruitment work at the colleges, and his very promising outreach to Amherst Elderhostel the Five-College Learning In Retirement, and the Jewish Community of Amherst.

 

The board went on to discuss the membership issue of youth groups’ use of the station. Both the committee and the board want to give the message to ACTV’s youth members that they are welcome at the station as long as they meet the requirements of membership. Current problems between one particular youth group’s coordinators and ACTV staff over station and equipment use were discussed in further detail during the IED Report.

 

Other Outreach Committee issues covered in the committee’s report were tabled for discussion at the November Board Meeting

 

Public Comment

Vladimir Morales, Convenor of the Hampden/Hampshire County Puetro Rican Association, announced a November 1st program at the Amherst Town Hall and on the Town Common, as well as a November 3rd celebration at the Amherst Regional High School Cafeteria, and requested that ACTV cover the events. The Board expressed support and agreed that every effort would be made to do so.

 

IED’s Report, September 2006 (see attached report)

IED Jim MacAllister reported on the progress he has made in discussions with the director and coordinator of Youth Action Coalition. The Board offered to meet with the Coalition’s leadership in a mediating capacity in order to take the pressure off the ACTV staff.

 

Mr. MacAllister’s monthly report demonstrated that a number of important challenges had been address and tasks completed, although he felt that many more were pending. He asked for help from the Board in setting priorities for action. 

 

Other Old Business

The Board noted that the ACTV Board of Directors is still operating without a member appointed by the Amherst-Pelham Schools.

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Josna Rege

Clerk, ACTV Board of Directors