October 9, 2008 KSDP Board Meeting Minutes

Posted on: February 19th, 2009 | Author: General Manager | Filed under: Minutes


Sand Point Library Conference Room

Thursday, October 9, 2008

7:00 P.M.

MEETING MINUTES

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Chairman Jim Brown

Roll Call

Board members present: Chairman-Jim Brown, Secretary-Justin Godbehere and Board member, Marta Varga

Board members not present: Vice Chairman-Robbe Gilmour, Treasurer-Joanna Karlsen

KSDP staff present: General Manager, Kells Hetherington; News Director, Anthony Gorman and Administrative Assistant, Shannon Sommer

Approval of Agenda

Justin Godbehere moved to approve the agenda. Marta Varga seconded the motion.

Approval of Minutes

Justin Godbehere motioned to approve the minutes. Marta Varga seconded the motion.

Report from the General Manager

Kells had four issues to cover.

  1. Wind Study
  2. More on Wind Turbine Grant application
  3. Bookkeeper
  4. Tech Visit

One

Alaska Public Broadcasting Executive Director Jamie Waste responded to our grant request for between seventy and eighty thousand dollars in order to conduct a twelve month wind study. Jamie and his engineers felt that the ABS Alaska bid was too high (I circulated it at the last Board meeting).

Now to turn things completely upside down.

Last week, we finally got wind data from TDX through a subcontractor of the US Department of Energy. The release of the data is fully legal as the information is in the public domain: it was obtained using two MET towers in Sand Point, which were funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

But why is this of any importance?

After a long phone conversation with Jamie Waste and one of his engineers, it is the wisdom that the station may be able to forgo a wind study and submit a wind study interpretation in lieu of a 12-month KSDP wind study. Such could allow the project to move forward a lot sooner. Douglas Vaught with V3 Energy, LLC – a company which he owns – believes he can provide a technical interpretation of the data from TDX sufficient to support our application to the Alaska Capital Grants Program. Doug has submitted a bid under ten thousand dollars – the not to exceed amount – along with his references. I have forwarded both of these items to APBI in Anchorage.

So ironically, this less expensive alternative called interpreting TDX’s wind data may provide us with better data (from two MET towers) and data over 18 month period as opposed to a 12 month period. So we are set to save big and move more quickly.

Two

We have obtained the avian study that APIA did for TDX in support of its Denali Commission grant application, and I have forwarded it along to APBI in Anchorage.

Earlier this week, the Shumagin Board of Directors voted unanimously to support our wind turbine application. The letter from Shumagin is right here.

We are also on the agenda for the upcoming City Council meeting on October 14th. The reason for this is that AKPBI wants the city to pass a resolution approving the proposed land use. I hope that as many of you, who can be there, will be there.

So as you can see we are making headway.

Three

I have talked with Joanna Ludvick in Sand Point and Foster & Company about doing more bookkeeping for us. Joanna is still thinking about the idea and Karen’s proposal is included. I think that this is a good idea and would put better financial controls in place.

Four

Another Tech visit in late November, or early December is in the works. Tom Bohn did some work for us in late August. We are trying to get him back to Sand Point through the region for a second site visit. I will have more on this possibility at our next meeting.

Report from News Director

October

We recently covered our first local trial here in Sand Point. The trial dealt with driving under the influence and minor in possession. I reported the story during The Midday News on October 2nd. The report of the trial was received with mixed reviews within the community. I hope to continue to cover local trials in Sand Point. Currently, I’m trying to get police reports and serious accidents from the Public Safety Department. Having this PUBLIC information will help the community more than it will hurt it.

For example: If someone is seriously injured in a car accident and is medavaced to Anchorage, there could be updates given on the condition of the victim(s). The last radio station that I worked for did this method. No unauthorized information will be released.

This week, I’ve covered the Sand Point, King Cove, and Aleutians East Borough Elections. Leading up to this event we had all three candidates for Sand Point Mayor and Aleutians East Borough Mayor Stanley Mack on Meet the People. The results were posted in the news section of the KSDP website. They will be updated as soon as the results are certified. A voicer on the Election results was sent to the Alaska Public Radio Network (APRN). Unfortunately, the voicer wasn’t aired due to other election news around the state. However, the election results from Sand Point were mentioned in a collective group on the Alaska Morning Report on October 8th, 2008. The election results were aired on KSDP on The Midday News, the following day.

Overall

Now that I got a feel as to what the environment is like during local and borough elections, I think we’ll try to have more people outside of Sand Point on Meet the People. Plans for a debate fell through this time, but we would like to have one the next time there are mayoral races (local and borough).

Old Business

New Business

The Board approves Kells moving forward to retain a bookkeeper.

Justin Godbehere motioned to postpone the Election of Officers until the next meeting.

Public Comments & Discussion

Next Meeting

The next meeting is Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

Adjournment

These minutes were typed by Shannon Sommer, Administrative Assistant.