March 19, 2010 KSDP Board Meeting Minutes

Posted on: June 28th, 2010 | Author: General Manager | Filed under: Minutes

Aleutian Peninsula Broadcasting, Inc.

KSDP Radio   P.O. Box 328   Sand Point, Alaska 99661   Phone: (907) 383-5737   Fax: (907) 383-5271


MEETING MINUTES

  1. Call to order

Robbe Gilmour called to order the regular meeting of the Board of Directors on Friday, March 19, 2010 at 4:06 p.m.at the KSDP office in the Sand Point City Building.

  1. Roll call

Robbe conducted a roll call.  The following persons were present:

Board members present – Robbe Gilmour – Chairman; Marta Varga – Vice President / Secretary / Treasurer; Jim Brown – Board Member; Joanna Karlsen – Board Member

Board members excused: Jack Foster, Jr. – Board Member.

KSDP staff present: Kells Hetherington – General Manager; Virgil Porter – Music Director; Shannon Sommer – Administrative Assistant

  1. Approval of minutes from last meeting

The Board read the minutes from the last meeting. The minutes were approved as read.

  1. General Manager’s Report

The radio station has moved forward on the Round V Alaska Public Broadcasting Capital Grant award.  The station purchased new production room furniture, which is scheduled to arrive in six weeks.  New computers were installed in the outer office area and production room, and three new office chairs have arrived.  Also, the two new glass doors for the production and on-air studio arrived and are now installed.

The next phase of the renovation is the installation of new furniture in the production studio and moving the old radio console from the on-air studio to the production studio.  A new console will go in the on-air studio.  Moving the old radio console to the production studio will enable the production room to double as an on-air studio.  The station will also add a telephone hybrid in the production studio, which will replace the one there now.  The installation of the new studio furniture and radio board will require an engineering visit.  During the visit, the furniture in the on-air studio will be rotated 90 degrees.  The shift will enable the host to face his guest while on mic.

In order for the gaming license to be issued, the station must have a bank account with the word “Gaming” in the account title.  The State of Alaska requires the account to be separate from the organization’s primary account unless the organization only does gaming.  The other requirement specifies that the by-laws be signed with the amended language.  When the two items are satisfied, the station will receive a State of Alaska gaming permit.

At the last Board of Director’s meeting, a grant application to the State of Alaska was discussed.  Since then, the application has been filed.  The application requests $147,000.00.  The money will fund four items:

  1. A complete rebuild of the King Cove FM translator
  2. A replacement of the ground system at KSDP’s AM transmitter site in Sand Point.
  3. A new station vehicle
  4. Further improvements of the station’s studios, including the replacement of exterior windows, the enclosure of a back portion of the outer office and the replacement of various furniture items

The Rasmuson Foundation has invited the radio station to apply for a Management Assistance Grant of $5,000.00.  Kells asked the Board to sanction his submitting the application.  The funding will provide Shannon and Kells financial training with the Foraker Group in Anchorage.

Kells also asked the Board for itsapproval to submit an application to the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission’s Discretionary Fund for HughesNet, high speed, satellite internet service.  Currently, HughesNet is less expensive than the station’s current internet service.  The proposed project has an estimated cost of $3,310.00: and the grant application will request the full amount.  The Discretionary Fund application must be submitted by late April.  If approved by the Commission, the project could move forward in the near future.

Kells requested to travel to the Alaska Press Club / Alaska Public Radio Network’s news training session in Anchorage in May.  Funding for one member of the station’s staff to attend the event is provided by APBC.  The training is followed by Alaska Press Club conferences.  Jim made a motion to let Kells go to the conferences, Marta seconded.  The motion passed.

The annual membership drive is underway; there are three seats up for election this spring.  Robbe Gilmour, Joanna Karlsen and Jack Foster, Jr.’s terms are expiring.  Robbe and Joanna hold three year seats; Jack holds a one year seat.

In order for the membership drive to proceed, the Board needs to set the annual dues.  Jim entertained a motion to keep the dues structure unchanged from the previous year; Marta seconded.  The motion passed.

As a closing note, Kells has been named one of this year’s Public Telecommunications Facility Program reviewers.  This is an honor and will mean that he will review capital grant applications submitted to the Department of Commerce program.  Applications he will review will be from stations elsewhere in the country.

  1. Old Business

a)      Alaska State Legislature capital grant request is still on a wait and see status.

b)      The production room studio window is still leaking.  Kells has spoken with Allen Hill.  Allen agreed to have the City fix the problem.  The Board wants the City to take care of the leak.

c)      The tower light still has no answer. Still searching for the answer.

d)     Additional Updates

  1. Robbe Gilmour signed the transfer agreement for the King Cove FM translator license.
  2. Follow up on internet streaming.  Virgil discussed how expensive and un-useful our current internet streaming provider is and a better solution being implemented.  The new streaming provider does not increase the budget, and shows how many visitors are clicking on the site.  At the moment it will cost a third of the current price, and might be as low as twenty five to thirty dollars per month.
  3. The Rasmuson Foundation grant request needs to be used for some type of training.  Kells wants to use it for QuickBooks.  The grant will cover Shannon and Kells training.  The Board suggested other means of attaining the training, including flying the financial trainer to Sand Point.  KSDP could do group training, and do a one on one with Kells and Shannon to clean up QuickBooks files.  Jim made a motion for Kells and Shannon to go, Marta seconded.  Motion Passed.
  4. HughesNet.  The Board wants a breakdown of internet costs now and in the past versus HughesNet.  The Board also agreed to talk more about the subject at its next meeting.
  5. Quick review of budget.  The Board went over the entire budget and figured overall KSDP spends over $23,000.00 per month.  They decided to put some extra money in a savings account. The Board made a motion to deposit fifteen hundred dollars a month into savings.  Motion passed.
  6. New business

a)      Marta made a motion to authorize the purchase and distribution of 100 promotional radios; Jim seconded.  Motion passed.

b)      The Round V Alaska Capital Grant update and on-site inspection of work progress was discussed.  Kells is still within budget.  The board will get a budget update next Board meeting.

c)      The Board signed the by-laws as amended with the dissolution language on page five.  Robbe said the Board should review the by-laws at some point.  Jim made a motion to sign the amended by-laws, Marta seconded.  The motion passed.

d)     The Board of Directors voted to establish a bank account with Wells Fargo with the word “Gaming” in the account title.

  1. Public Comments and Discussion

The Board suggested Kells talk to Crystalis at TDX because Lori does not run Sand Point Generating any longer. Kells and Shannon have been working in accounts payable to fix past mistakes.  They have talked to Karen Foster and improved the budget.  Rob Lanham will no longer be working in King Cove.  Rob has accepted another job.  The Board was sad to hear the news about Rob, and agreed it was a good idea to send him a thank you gift for all that he has done for KSDP.  The basketball season was awesome; everyone loved his coverage.  The Board wants to see the plan of action for the membership drive and the upcoming election.  The renovation is looking good.

  1. Adjournment

The Board will meet next at 4:00 p.m. on May 14, 2010.  Jim adjourned the meeting at 6:53pm.

Minutes submitted by:  Shannon Sommer, Administrative Assistant

Minutes reviewed by:  Kells Hetherington, General Manager