Nevada City Community Broadcast Group
Board of Directors Meeting
BriarPatch Community Room290 Sierra College DriveGrass Valley, CA 95945
Monday, January 28, 2013 - 6:30 p.m.
Approved Minutes taken by
Therese Tesene, Board Scribe
CALL TO ORDER
The Regular Meeting of January 28, 2013 of the Board of Directors of the Nevada City Community Broadcast Group was called to order at 6:36 p.m. in the BriarPatch Community Room, 290 Sierra College Drive, Grass Valley, Nevada County, California, by President Michael Young.
ROLL CALL
The President called the roll:
PRESENT:DirectorsJim Bunnell, Larry Hillberg, Barbara Jicha (Treasurer), Barbara Lowell, Sue Lunsford (Secretary), Susan Prince, Mary Ross (Vice President), and President Michael Young.
ABSENT:Directors John Hensley, Tim Ogburn, and Larry Ortiz.
STAFF PRESENT:David Levin, General Manager.
REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Motion by Director Hillberg, seconded by Director Lunsford, and carried unanimously, 8-0-3-0, with Directors Hensley, Ogburn, and Ortiz absent, approving the agenda as submitted.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion by Director Ross, seconded by Director Lunsford, and carried unanimously, 8-0-3-0, with Directors Hensley, Ogburn, and Ortiz absent, approving the Minutes of November 26, 2012 with the following amendments: 1. Amend sentence under FINANCIAL REVIEW COMMITTEE (FRC) to read, “Director Ortiz stated that the cost of new carpet would be too expensive and recommends that the current carpet should be cleaned and repaired as needed”; and 2. Amend the motion under CLOSED SESSION to read, “Motion by Director Ross, seconded by Director Jicha, and carried unanimously, 10-0-1-0, with Director Bunnell absent, approving a pre-construction agreement with Landmark Construction that outlines a cost feasibility study and local contractor participation for the new KVMR/Nevada Theatre Commission building project.”
ACCEPT COMMITTEE REPORTS
The committee reports were accepted as submitted.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
None.
GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
General Manager Levin explained KVMR’s new Member Benefits Program beginning in 2013 and distributed a Member Card and a Directory to Board members. The cards can be used to receive two-for-one offers at participating restaurants and businesses. All members who contribute $120 as well as all current perennial members will receive a card. For a limited time, all new perennial members will receive a card upon first payment.
General Manager Levin reported that the 5-member Broadcaster group would meet next week to discuss ways of improving membership drives. The 2013 membership drives are scheduled for April 8-14, July 15-21, and October 28-November 2, with overdrive the following week of each drive if needed.
BOARD COMMITTEE REPORTS
STATION DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (SDC). Director Ross reported that the 29 percent of member surveys turned in had been analyzed by Directors Prince and Ogburn and that the information would be on the website soon. The next step is a brief listener survey that will be on the website for listeners to fill out. A public service announcement will be developed to broadcast over the air. The listener surveys will be anonymous. However, it was discussed that as an incentive to fill out the survey, possibly listeners could participate in a drawing to receive event tickets, etc. and in that case they would provide their name just for purposes of the drawing. Director Ross reminded the Board that the reason for the surveys is to obtain data for the strategic plan update that will be reviewed by the Board at its March retreat. President Young and Director Hillberg will talk to broadcasters about filling out the survey. Director Ross reminded the Board that its retreat would be held on March 22 and 23 at President Young’s house. President Young suggested that Saturday night’s dinner be held at the newly relocated Lefty’s Restaurant and that Lefty’s be asked to be an underwriter. If Lefty’s doesn’t work out, it was suggested that the dinner be held at The Five-Mile House, a substantial KVMR supporter, as it was last year.
FINANCIAL REVIEW COMMITTEE (FRC). Director Jicha stated that the FRC met in December and January. She reported that General Manager Levin presented a response to the Underwriting report prepared by Market Enginuity. The response acknowledges that KVMR is receiving nominal results with commissioned, contract salespeople and that hiring a full-time, salaried plus commission salesperson is the only way that KVMR is going to achieve significant growth in underwriting revenues. Both the consultant and staff prepared projections showing that a full-time salesperson could generate between $112,000 to $115,000 additional revenue over a three-year period. The activity of the salesperson will be recorded on a sales call planning and report form that will be submitted to the Underwriting Manager bi-monthly. At the request of the FRC, Underwriting Manager Richard Gorman prepared a comprehensive plan that includes two weeks of training, 30-day benchmarking, and specifies the number of calls and presentations that are expected to be bi-monthly. A plan to build community in the Truckee/Tahoe area has also been developed.
Discussion ensued.
Motion by Director Jicha, seconded by Director Bunnell, and carried unanimously, 8-0-3-0, with Directors Hensley, Ogburn, and Ortiz absent, to approve hiring a full-time Underwriting Salesperson as described in the Financial Review Committee’s report.
General Manager Levin reported that our engineer has recommended a Banner Mountain tower inspection that will cost $1,500. The cost of purchasing the Camino full service station signal and making necessary improvements are projected to be approximately $16,000. The cost of bringing the Woodland repeater on line have not been projected. In response to Director Ross’ request for a comprehensive financial plan for the purchase of the Camino service station and for bringing the Woodland repeater station on line, General Manager Levin will provide a breakdown of the costs to the Board.
Motion by Director Lunsford, seconded by Director Bunnell, and carried unanimously, 8-0-3-0, with Directors Hensley, Ogburn, and Ortiz absent, to budget an amount not to exceed $13,000 for Banner Mountain tower inspection and to purchase the Camino full service station signal, and directing staff to provide a breakdown of the costs.
Discussion ensued regarding the decline in membership revenue and donors. General Manager Levin hopes to find answers from the surveys. It is presumed that the decline is due to problems with the signal. General Manager Levin stated that he is meeting with the five-member broadcaster group to discuss how to improve membership drives.
Discussion ensued regarding the audited financial statements.
Motion by Director Prince, seconded by Director Lunsford, and carried unanimously, 8-0-3-0, with Directors Hensley, Ogburn, and Ortiz absent, accepting the audited financial statements.
BOARD DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (BDC). Director Lunsford stated that the BDC will be meeting monthly until all bylaws and policies are reviewed. Responding to Director Jicha regarding the redraft of the Budget Process Policy that she was unaware of, Director Lunsford will email it to her. Director Lunsford will email the bylaws in pdf form to Director Prince who will convert it to word format.
FUND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (FDC). Director Prince stated that the FDC had not met. She hopes to meet with staff, FDC members, and Board members regarding fundraising. She will send around her notes from a discussion with capital public radio regarding underwriting and ways to increase revenue. It is the FDC’s goal to find programs that will bring revenue to the station.
CLOSED SESSION
President Young recessed the meeting into Closed Session for the purpose of discussing personnel and fundraising.
Meeting recessed into Closed Session at 8:45 pm. and reconvened at 9:45 p.m.
President Young reported that, by consensus, the Board reaffirmed its commitment to continue with the building project while in Closed Session.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion by Director Lunsford, seconded by Director Jicha, and carried unanimously, 8-0-3-0, with Directors Hensley, Ogburn, and Ortiz absent, to adjourn the meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.
Next Board Meeting:February 25, 2013
Briar Patch Community Room
6:30 pm