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February 19, 2007

Board of Directors
2/19/07

In attendance: Jen Herard (GM), Brendt Rioux (board), Mike Clancy (board), Chaz Berret (board), Jason Voss (board), Kristin Summrall (board), Julia Weinert (not board, observing), Jesse Johnston (not board), Meg Marotte (not board), Mars (not board).

Next meeting set for Monday, March 19th.

o Mike has e-mailed Julie Peterson, the woman who will appoint the next staff BOD seat. She has not responded. Michigan Radio is also a possible place to look. Tom is also looking to give up his seat, so we will need to find yet another staff member. The only people that Jen can think of are Saramin Grosky and Arwulf. It is also possible to simply put on a special election in April for that seat along with the others.
o Mike received a notice from the project manager (of renovation) saying that the design can be adjusted for the sound-proofing level that we need. Mike says that more sound diffusers can be added if necessary. It seems that we simply won’t know if the sound level is adequate until after renovation is finished. The project manager says that the plans are within radio sound level standards, but Mike believes that it can be lower. They are not willing to change their design.
o Meg on fundraiser: there was a problem with the U-M gift database, so we used our own database. Alex and Meg will have to add everything by hand. The total was roughly $23,000, but should be a bit higher after some others from the Fall are added. Some people were charged multiple times (up to 13), but we were quick to resolve the problem. Before fundraiser, the gift account had $2,000, which will be transferred later.
o Tom gave the impression that he and Mike could go and talk to the lawyers about issues surrounding promo CDs. Though a policy was instituted last year to end the use of promo CDs as premia, there was a perceived lack of notification for DJs. Jen responded by allowing CDs to be given away, but only after the track list is approved by a review policy. The best thing to do at this stage is to bring our current policy to the lawyer and see if it is sufficient.
o Brendt moves to approve the exec staff policy on premia CDs, as presented in Jen’s e-mail last week:
• The only promotional CDs that will be allowed are those whose tracks are accompanied by expressed written consent from the copyright holders OR those whose tracks are within public domain (meaning that they are currently not protected by copyright). Furthermore, DJs must submit the track listings of their CD (along with written consent when need be) to the development director for approval by the date that she requests (in advance of fundraiser), otherwise they will not be considered as promotional items.
• In favor: Chaz, Jason, Brendt, Mike
• Abstain: Kristin.
Motion Passes
Since we are billed once a year by some law firm in Washington, we might as well use their consultation.
o Jason moves to end the meeting, Chaz seconds. Motion passes unanimously

Posted by cberret at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2007

1/22/07

In attendance: Jen Herard (GM), Alex Sergay (Chief Engineer), Jason Voss (BOD), Brendt Rioux (BOD), Kristin Summrall (BOD), Mike Clancy (BOD), Tom Bray (BOD), Chaz Berret (BOD), Evan Eustice (BOD), Meg Marotte (Development Director).

Next meeting set for February 19th

• Exec staff made a list of features that are wanted for the new website.
• Alex will get the station’s money back from the organization that we hired to make our new fundraiser database six months ago. Mike knows some people in housing that might be able to help us. For this year’s fundraiser, phone shift workers will have to enter information into the database and then process the transaction through a separate form. This avoids the security problems that necessitated the reworking of the database.
• Alex and Jason have implemented some of the changes for the website. Alex is working on some other things right now, the most important of which is a more attractive fundraiser page before the fundraiser, itself, happens.
• Tony has done a great deal of work for the station already, the website deal notwithstanding, so Alex proposes that he should receive some sort of stipend. The work that Alex and Jason have done could best be described as ‘nibbling’ at the problem, so the website reworking is still very necessary. Kristin knows someone who is very interested in helping with the web work free of charge – and he is coming. (Alex and Kristin’s friend leave to discuss the webpage)
• Renovation update: the HVAC is actually rated at the level we requested. Mike is fairly certain, but it has not been confirmed yet. It is likely that renovation will be delayed until Winter next year (’08).
• It will probably cost $10,000 to re-carpet the station during renovation. When the renovation bid is negotiated, we will have that contractor do our carpet at the same time. The area covered will be from the lobby back to FM. We need to make sure the sports office is the first area that they renovate.
• Mars will be late because she has another meeting at 7, but she is not officially on the board yet. Lenny has resigned, but we need the Vice President of Communications to appoint a new member. Mars can be appointed despite the fact that she is not in that department of the university. Julie Peterson is now the interim VP of Communications. Mike can talk to her and recommend Mars. Appointed seats have no end of term.
• Tom is intending to vacate his board seat some time soon, perhaps before the next election. He wants the staff to begin looking for someone to replace him.
• Fundraiser will take place from Feb 9-18. Premia items will be more expensive this year, but there will also be lower expense items to compensate. DJs are no longer allowed to give away premia with copyrights due to the severe liability it presents.
• We will be able to accept donations and hand out premia during WCBN Movie Night at PJ’s. The guy running the place, John, has been really accommodating. Showing these movies is technically illegal – but since we’re not doing it on campus, it isn’t our problem, but the bar’s. This is not an ethical crisis, though, since the owner is fully aware of the liability.
• Jason hopes that we can begin to phase out the made up word ‘premia’ for fundraiser gifts. Apparently this has been a topic for the past five years. We don’t make enough money on sweatshirts, so the donation level will have to go up. Hats are also a low-yield item, as well as anything with embroidery.

Motion to adjourn passed unanimously.

Posted by cberret at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)