WCBN BOD Minutes

16 July 2007

In attendance: Brendt Rioux (General Manager), Mike Clancy (Board), Alex Sergay (Chief Engineer), Joy (Board), Chaz Berret (Board), Kristin Sumrall (Board), Mike Perini (Board)
Agenda approved unanimously
Last meeting’s minutes approved unanimously
Next meeting set for August 13th
- The renovation swing space in the student wood shop has room for roughly 40 cubicles; we have requested six. These will be used primarily for Exec Staff but could also be used for the fundraiser. The storage space will be 7.5 feet tall- unfortunately our library shelves are eight feet tall. We have recently been notified that they expect the station's wiring to run through the IT closet near the Thompson St. stairs rather than the closet in Prod B that we currently use. Since we have already done the wiring for the station, it seems unnecessary for us to use the other closet.
- The Programming, Music, and GM offices will lose a few feet when the new conference room is constructed (in place of Annex A). There will also be new motion sensing light switches.
- It seems that the best way to move stuff out of Annex A will be to get everything into boxes so that the rest of the job merely involves picking up and moving. The boxes and moving labor will be provided for moving everything out, but not for moving it back in. We get to keep a certain amount of swing space and storage area even after the renovation. It is likely that we will need new shelving and furniture, but we will receive no help in buying or moving it.
- The air conditioning has been fixed, much to the relief of the station.
- The new budget has been prepared by Brendt and Chaz and distributed for overview by the board. The budget from 2005-06 was used as a guide since the 2006-07 budget was lost in a Quicken crash.
- A few departments and expenses no longer exist on this budget (e.g. News Department and “Remote Expenses”), so those expenses have been eliminated. A new category, “Shelving and Furniture,” has ben added with a budget of $2500 in order to cover the expenses of rebuilding livable station areas after renovations.
- The budget for web costs has not been set at this point because we have so many uncertain charges to account for. The exact amount owed to Sound Exchange is unclear. Likewise, royalty charges appear to be rising.
- The exact amount raised during fundraiser, as well as the amount that we will need to spend on it next year, are both unclear. That figure will stay budgeted at the previous level.
- Since the total budget amount is not listed and a few expenses have yet to be determined, the budget will be finalized at the next meeting.
- The Fall Concert, scheduled for Welcome Week in late August, will take place on Sept. 1st or 2nd. The headlining act is Sunburned Hand of the Man. Additional opening acts will include Graveyards, a free jazz project featuring Wolf Eyes’ John Olsen, and Odd Cloud. Sunburned’s booking agent is hesitant to commit right now, but the deal appears quite likely to go through. The Neutral Zone is willing to offer us an operating budget of $1000. UMMA is also likely to help us fund the concert, since they have been extremely generous in the past.
- Jandek has demanded a 200-400 person venue with inclined seating. Perhaps the Rackham Auditorium, Arthur Miller Theater, or the RC Theater would be appropriate. This will likely be the Winter concert, tentatively scheduled for February or March.
- The transmitter went off recently without the proper procedures being taken. The DJ responsible has been corrected about the necessary measures.
- A campus library is selling off CDs, but we need to buy them in blocks of 100 without searching them first. Brendt is willing to filter through them, so it seems like a good bet that we will find some good additions to the library.

4 June 2007

In Attendance:Brendt Rioux (GM), Mike Clancy (board), Chaz Berret (board), Geoff Perrin (board), Mike Perini (board), Evan Eustace (board), Joy (board)

Call to order
Agenda approved
Last month’s minutes approved
Next meeting set for July 9

- Evan will be leaving in the Fall, so his seat will be up for election along with Chaz and Kristin’s student seats.
- Renovation update: there is a huge skylight in the woodshop. It is believed that the station will begin renovation in November. Brendt proposes that we establish a schedule for the move. It is reasonable to begin as soon as possible by getting rid of everything that is unnecessary or simply junk. The annexes present an interesting problem in terms of assessing what is junk.
- There is still a great deal of work remaining from the most recent fundraiser. Meg is working on it as we speak. Many of the checks have not been processed, some of the bills have not been sent, and people are still complaining that they have not received their premia. The balance of the gifts account is just above $20,000. We will need to transfer it to the SOAS account soon.
- The heat in the studio is unbearable. Apparently persistent calls to ‘plant’ will make them more likely to fix it.
- The Neutral Zone wants to have a teen show in the fall. Just to test the idea out, we might give them an hour long slot for news, music, etc.
- (Tom Bray has requested that this topic, despite being absent from the meeting's discussion, be added to the record) Tom spoke with Shari Fox in UM's Development office, and a former UM student and DJ has voiced plans to leave around $30,000 in an endowment for WCBN. The catch: she's only about 50, so it will be a while before we get anything, and she is earmarking it to support sports programming. The endowment would generate about $1200 a year, disbursed quarterly.

Motion to adjourn. Unanimous approval. Meeting closed.

Board of Directors
4/30/07

In attendance: Jen Herard (GM), Jason Voss (board), Mike Clancy (board), Jeff (not-yet-board), Tom Bray (board), Chaz Berret (board), Mike Perini (board), Kristin Sumrall (board), Brendt Rioux (board), Jeffrey Carey (not board)

Agenda approved unanimously
Last month’s meeting minutes approved
Next month’s meeting scheduled for June 4th

When most of the money from fundraiser has come in, we will shift it to the SOAS account. We still have not determined what went wrong with the multiple credit card charges.

We have been given an estimate of $4300 to update the electronic infrastructure of the station. It is a huge mess right now. They claim that they can do it without running any new conduits. Each office will have CAT 5E ethernet and it will be terminated in the office behind Prod B. This way the entire network will be internal. This can be done either before or after renovation. There is a possibility that there will be extra expenses, so the motion should account for up to $5000.

Tom moves to approve an expenditure of up to $5000 for ITCOM updates. Unanimously approved.

Alex wishes to buy a new mixer ($1500) and a program called Serrato Scratch ($1500) for Prod A, which allows in-studio DJs to scratch with mp3 files. The DJs who currently do live shows already use the software, so this would be a useful upgrade. Alex also needs to buy various and sundry audio supplies, including a new CD player for Prod A that matches the ones we use in FM. The mixer rack has already been approved at the board,
Tom moves for Alex to use the rest of his budget for the year as detailed above and as he sees fit. Unanimously approved.

Tom wishes to begin a partnership with the Bentley Library involving Reel Live Music archives. They have some empty shelf space and some people to help us digitize it. Tom is going to talk to them about it and no one can think of any reason not to.

There was an incident two weeks ago in which a DJ engaged in a potential act of sexual harassment. The exec staff decided that there should be a zero tolerance policy, and he received a warning from the General Manager. The DJ was seriously offended and requested that the warning be revoked. This DJ would need to come before the board to appeal it. Kristin believes that the overall station policy should be drafted and reviewed at the board. Tom and Mike believe that the University’s policy is de facto our policy, so this simply may not be an issue that is up for discussion. The official University policy will be reviewed by Kristin and presented at the next meeting so the board can be better informed before any proposals are made.

The new exec staff has been determined already. Rachel Silveri will be the new program director, making the summer schedule with the help of Sarah Stedman. Ben Yee will be development director. Brendt will continue to be music director with Jeffrey, then Bill Corrigan will replace one of them in the Fall. Patrick Dieter will be the new Assistant GM. Tyler Dancer will be the training coordinator.

Jeffrey Carey and Brendt Rioux are running for the General Manager next year. The regular procedures seem incredibly unnecessary considering that Jeffrey endorses Brendt and is running because it is necessary for there to be a plurality of candidates. An eyes-closed, hand-raising vote was conducted and Brendt was elected.

Tom motions to adjourn, unanimous approval.

Board of Directors
3-19-07

In attendance: Jen Herard (GM), Alex Sergay (Chief Engineer), Kristin Summrall (Board), Mike Clancy (Board), Evan Eustace (Board), Chaz Berret (Board), Steve Schuster (Sports Director)

Call to order
Last meeting’s minutes approved
Next month’s meeting set for April 30

o At next month’s meeting, the General Manager election will be held. The newest board members will be elected by that time, so they will be able to vote for the new GM.
o The sports department is here to ask for funds. The Michigan hockey team is going to Denver for a tournament and they need money.
o Kristin moves to approve an expenditure of up to $1500 for the Sports Department so that they may cover the hockey team tournament in Denver. Chaz seconds the motion. Unanimous approval.
o Lenny’s seat will be filled by Mike Perini. Mike Clancy spoke to the VP of Communications, Julie Peterson, and they decided that Mike Perini would be a good candidate. Everyone on the board agrees that he is a good choice.
o Since Tom Bray is interested in giving up his seat, there has been some talk of inviting Mars to take Tom’s seat rather than Lenny’s, as we originally planned. Mike believes that it would be good to keep Tom around as long as possible, especially since it will be important to have his help as the renovations approach.
o Renovation update: a lot of stuff has been moved from the wood shop recently; demolitions will begin soon. The timeline is still very uncertain, but we know that we aren’t among the first steps (possibly as late as stage 3), so there is no imminent concern. Alex says that we still do not know whether the sports office will be finished by the time we need to move the studio there. We also do not know whether we will be able to coordinate our re-carpeting with their re-carpeting. Mike does not think that it will be difficult to schedule the two at the same time. The sound quality standards for the new studio can be met by installing extra vents, so this is not as immediate or threatening a concern as we originally thought. The station offices need to have their IT networking structure updated; Alex needs special approval for this since it will almost certainly exceed $1000, but this will need to be an e-mail vote when the issue arises.
o The balance in the gift account after fundraiser is $7,284.89; that only accounts for credit card donations, since mail-outs were only sent last week. The total was well over $27,000, so only ¼ of the money has ben received.
o Premia CDs – the Down Home Show and Radio Rama Lama assembled CDs that were all public domain; Brian Tomsic got permission from the labels. The Pan-African Heartbeat CD has been edited down to only ‘creative commons’ tracks. Mike has gone to the UM lawyers, who believe that in all likelihood the distribution of premia CDs is a violation of copyright law. They have been given our policy, but have not yet gotten back to us about any specific problems.
o Soundexchange, the company who manages our streaming service, does not regularly send us bills, but rather insists that we remember to send the $500 annual fee. Mike believes that we owe them for both this year and last year. It is also possible that we owe them extra money for rate increases and underpayment of recent bills. Mike is going to investigate.

Brendt moves to end the meeting, Evan seconds, unanimous approval.

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

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.

Board of Directors
11/20/06

In attendance: Jen Herard (GM), Jason Voss (BOD), Alex Sergay (Chief Engineer), Chaz Berret (Asst. GM, BOD), Evan Eustace (BOD), Mars, Kristin Sumrall (BOD), Brendt Rioux (BOD),

Agenda approved unanimously
Previous meeting minutes approved unanimously
Next meeting set for December 11th

o Alex has submitted a timeline of what will be done at what point in time during the move. An issue of concern is that we will need to move shelves to the storage area and perhaps build new ones. The ‘swing space’ may not be wheelchair accessible, which is a problem for Dan, a handicapped DJ.
o Renovation has been pushed back a few months already, and will perhaps be pushed back even further. Alex has requested some changes to their plans, including the removal of large clocks in each room which seem unnecessary. Tom is pushing for sound limits to be set so that the building air conditioner doesn’t cause background noise on the air.
o Mars is going to replace Lenny on the Board. The station constitution says that missing two consecutive meetings without prior notification is sufficient for expulsion.
o Jen has talked to a few web design firms to look at our options for rebuilding the WCBN website. The quotes we have received thus far are:
o Tony Audas - $100/hr
o Michigan Integrated Solutions - $90/hr, but different services can range from $60/hr to $120/hr.
o Sites and Sounds - $100/hr, don’t do PHP
o JK Impact - $120/hr, doesn’t usually do by hour, but instead creates a budget to work from
o Budget resources for the project are $400 for website maintenance and a $3000 contingency fund.
o Exec Staff and BOD members need to come up with a list of features that we want to see on the new web site. For one design firm, a ranked list of these features is submitted and they do what they can with the time and resources we allot. Adaptability is the biggest issue since so much of our information tends to be out of date. We need to look into resources within the University. The division that used to do web design just closed. The School of Information is another option. We also need to make sure that the website is sustainable and maintainable in the future using University resources. Alex also notes that we will likely opt for open source software. (Mike Clancy just arrived) This will ensure that we are using standardized, easily maintained technology.
o The next Exec Staff meeting will have a (serious) brainstorming session about the features wanted for the new website.
o Brendt needs to delete the 30 hours of voice mails in the music office account. Mike has kindly instructed him how.
o Mike has more news on the renovations. They have made some changes to the blueprints. We need new carpet everywhere except the sports office and Prod A. New carpet is not covered in renovation budget, but we should reallyreplace it ourselves while we have the chance. The raised floor in the yellow library room can be removed to get more space for storage. The production studios need to have quiet ventilation systems, as Alex mentioned, and the contractors are not being helpful. Alex is going to go talk directly to them. Since we are not going to have another chance to renovate for a long time, it might make sense to just pay the difference and make sure that we get what we need. Since the grant is from the state, there are certain things that they simply can and can’t do; if it turns out that they cannot ensure the noise standards we want, making a deal where we pay part is far better than being stuck with a noisy studio.

Brendt moves to close the meeting. Unanimous approval. Meeting closed.

Board of Directors Meeting
10/23/06

In attendance: Jason Voss (board), Jen Herard (GM), Chaz Berret (Ass. GM), Evan Eustace (board), Mike Clancy (board), Alex Sergay (chief engineer), Tony Audas (not on board), Brendt Rioux (board)

*no quorum

Next meeting scheduled for Nov. 20th

o Edgefest was well-attended and our banner was hung for advertisement.
o Turkish Delight scenario – Tayfun and Randy came to Exec Staff two weeks ago and failed to reach a compromise. Details are in the Exec Staff minutes for 10/9/06, if anyone is curious.
o Webmaster information – Tony would like to make certain improvements to the WCBN website. He would like feedback on the specific areas of improvement that we would like to see.
o Information on the website needs to be updated (some is over 2 years old)
o Ability to withstand power outages
o Update streams
o It is important that content management is easy enough for anyone on Exec or BOD to make changes.
o Slot Pref forms and library history put online
o Personal webpages for particular shows (note: add clause to broadcasting contract so that they are responsibility for potentially offensive content). Hopefully something low-maintenance.
o Events info and concert info online.
o Podcasts for public affairs shows.
o A blog and chat function
o Contractual issues for webmaster position – Tony is under strict orders from his boss not to do this for free. It is not a terribly complicated job; probably about ten hours at $100 / hour.
o Current BOD election leaves two student seats and one faculty/staff seat open. Tom is running unopposed; Max Sussman and Sarah Stedman have chosen not to run again. Kristin Sumrall and Chaz Berret are running for these two seats.
o The Parenthetical Girls fall UMMA concert will cost us $600.

9/18/06

In attendance: Jen Herard (GM), Chaz Berret (Asst. GM), Evan Eustice (BOD), Mike Clancy (BOD), Alex Sergay (Chief Engineer), Jason Voss (BOD), Brendt Rioux (BOD), Sarah Stedman (BOD), Tom Bray (BOD)

Call to Order

Next meeting scheduled for Oct. 23

• BOD minutes will be e-mailed to the BOD list as well as posted on the minutes blog. The board will then vote on minutes from these copies rather than doing so during meetings.
• We need to discuss sound insulation with the architects of the SAB renovations; studio standards should be assessed and requested. New carpeting won’t be included, but this may be the proper opportunity to replace it. New lighting will be provided. Ventilation standards should also be be assured. We will in fact gain storage space, but in another location near the current student woodshop. Renovation money will provide us with certain upgrades to the sports office, mostly wiring and electronics. We will get some limited office space in addition to the sports office.
• The Fall BOD election will be held soon. Three seats are up for election.
• Tony has been considered for the recently proposed webmaster exec staff position. Since he is not a student and the job is so large and demanding, it is reasonable to request that the university hire him on as a part-time employee, much like Alex. It seems most practical to just ask Tony how he feels about his role in this proposed endeavor and how much he would expect to be paid.
• Edgefest is happening on Oct. 11, and Jason proposes that we donate $1000. This might limit our budget for the Fall and Winter concerts. The budget is $5000, $2500 was spent in the Summer, so this would leave $1500 for these events.
o Tom motions that $1000 be donated to Edgefest. Unanimous approval.
• It is uncertain whether online broadcast fees need to be paid for both last year and this year. It costs $250 per year. This cost is budgeted yearly under “DMCA."
• Turkish Delight and Tsunami Dreams were switched; Mehmet is upset. This was decided because Randy has been DJing the 9-10 and 11-12 slots – as well as covering for Turkish Delight during frequent no-shows -- so this move was significantly more convenient for him.
TOM B. SAID THAT HE FELT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO MAKE CHANGES IN PROGRAMMING SEPARATELY FROM FILLING THE SCHEDULE EACH TERM. PROGRAMMING CHANGES HAVE A GREATER IMPACT, AND AS WE KNOW, ARE FAR MORE CONTROVERSIAL AMONG THE STAFF. PROPOSED CHANGES IN PRGORAMMING SHOULD BE ANNOUNCED AND EXPLAINED IN ADVANCE OF ACTUALLY MAKING THEM, ALLOWING ENOUGH TIME FOR THE GENERAL STAFF TO COMMENT AND POSSIBLY PROVIDE ALTERNATIVE IDEAS. IN PARTICULAR, THOSE DJS DIRECTLY INVOLVED SHOULD BE CONTACTED DIRECTLY, AND BEFORE ANY GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT. IT IS CERTAINLY THE PREROGATIVE OF THE PROGRAMMING STAFF TO EVALUATE THE SCHEDULE OF SHOWS AND SUGGEST CHANGES. I AM ONLY SUGGESTING THAT PROGRAMMING CHANGES HAVE A LARGER IMPACT ON THE STATION THAN ASSIGNING INDIVIDUALS TO TIME SLOTS, AND SHOULD THEREFORE BE DONE IN AN OPEN AND INCLUSIVE WAY, WITH THE GOAL OF GETTING A CONCENSUS FROM THE STAFF ON THE CHANGES TO BE MADE.
• The Program Guide needs to be printed soon. 1000 copies will cost $500.
o Tom moves to spend $500 on the Program Guide. Unanimous Approval.
• The recent problem with the Channel 6 Translator is WEMU’s responsibility. WEMU and the UM lawyers are working it out.

Motion to adjourn. Unanimous approval. BOD adjourned.

----
(Minutes from last month's meeting; attendance requirement for quorum was not met)
8/28/06

In attendance: Jason Voss (board), Tom Bray (board), Mike Clancy (board), Sam Turner (GM), Chaz Berret (Ass. GM)

No quorum

RFAA concerns about lack of subbing
o Wendy believes that the lack of DJs is no worse than it has been in previous summers.
o Perhaps more of an effort should be made to recruit community DJs. Even if it is only to amass a pool of sub-only community DJs, such an approach could help the pressure and frustration felt by the few people who regularly sub.
o It would be wise next year to plan in advance for the inevitable paucity of DJs available in the Summer.
o It might help to recruit community DJs if the candidates did not have to go to such lengths to prove their value to the station before they are allowed to train. If we make a differentiation between community DJs brought in for the Summer without many qualifications, and then have more rigorous selection for regularly scheduled DJs, we could solve the problem while maintaining the current student/non-student ratio during the year.

o Jen Herard will take over as GM in the Fall; she arrives home this week.
o For nearly a decade we have sponsored Edgefest. Jason proposes that we do so this year as well. We donated $500 the last few years; in the past we have donated as much as $1000. Edgefest recently won a national award for eclectic programming. They lose money every year, typically as much as $20,000. The concert planners have suggested that we donate $1000, but we also have a great number of expenses in the coming year. An e-mail vote should be conducted; Jason will compose and send it.
o The new webmaster position was discussed at the last exec staff meeting and a list of responsibilities was composed. It is likely that the best way to approach this will be to hire someone with the technical ability to fix all of the existing issues, remake the site, and set us up for the future. But it is also important that the creation of this position promotes a 'cultural continuity' in those who will hold the position in the future.
o Next meeting is scheduled for Sept 18th.

Board of Directors
7/24/06

In attendance: Sam Turner (GM), Evan Eustice (board), Chaz Berret (Ass. GM), Mike Clancy (board), Tom Bray (board), Sarah Stedman (board), Julia Holter (board)

Motion to add a discussion of the new webmaster position to agenda. Passed unanimously.

• A new general manager may need to be elected in the fall. The election should be announced soon so candidates can sign up for election next month. If it can be established in August, that will be fine; otherwise, we can wait until September. If there is not a great deal of interest from potential candidates, the board could opt to extend Sam’s term through the rest of the next year.
• Evan moves to approve August 28th for the next BOD meeting. Unanimous approval, motion passed.
• Budget. A construction contingency fund of $11,000 has been added to the budget in case of unforeseen expenses during the renovation. The category for our IT expenses has been named “Web Costs/Stipend Webmaster,” though since our web costs are now covered elsewhere, it is effectively just a fund for the stipend. Tom moves to change the title to simply “Stipend Webmaster.” Unanimous approval, motion passed.
• Chris Janik paid the rental fee for the West Park Band Shell; Sam has filled out the reimbursement form. Pan has offered us the use of his PA system for the show.
• The alcohol policy for the concert needs to be determined. Chris was told to pay for the alcohol permit, so we believe that we will have one. In order to be certain of our liability in the case that we permit/distribute alcohol, someone should contact City Hall.
• Alex is going to install an application called ‘Contribute’ so that those on Exec Staff can more easily edit content and the layout of the webpage. If we’re going to hire someone as webmaster, perhaps we should wait to integrate that software until the nature and responsibilities of that position are determined.
• Move to approve the expenditure of $2500 for Alex to buy a Nova mixer for the station. Unanimous approval.
• Sarah needed to leave, quorum is lost. Evan moves to end the meeting, unanimous approval.
Board of Directors
7/24/06

In attendance: Sam Turner (GM), Evan Eustice (board), Chaz Berret (Ass. GM), Mike Clancy (board), Tom Bray (board), Sarah Stedman (board), Julia Holter (board)

Motion to add a discussion of the new webmaster position to agenda. Passed unanimously.

WCBN Board of Directors
6/12/06

in attendance: Sam Turner (GM), Jason Voss (board), Julia Holter (board), Sarah Stedman (board), Mike Clancy (board), Lenny Zenith (board), Brendt Rioux (board), Evan Eustace (board), Chaz Berret (Ass. GM, no vote), Tom Bray (board, arrived during budget discussion).

1. Call to order

2. Motion to approve agenda. Agenda approved unanimously.

Last meeting’s minutes not available for approval, so it will be done at the next meeting.

Unanimous approval for next meeting to be held on July 24th.

3. Renovation. Plans were looked over last week in a meeting attended by Mike Clancy and Sam Turner. Nothing outstanding or different was presented to the station representatives. We will lose annexes A and B, but gain some new space in the current student woodshop area. We can infer from what we’ve seen that the area will be adequately secured. Our area is part of ‘Phase 4’ of the construction, which has no definite dates, but corresponds roughly to the middle of the process. Projected dates begin in September 2007, and our phase is estimated to last 2-3 months. Prints and plans are available to be viewed after the meeting.

4. Budget 2006-07.

Money was budgeted last year for DMCA, but the $550 wasn’t paid and no invoice was sent; this year’s budget should include enough for both this and last year, i.e. $1100. Mike Clancy has offered to handle this.

Fundraiser premia was $1375.91 overbudget last year. Though costs may not be as high next year, the budget was increased to $3000 to cover that possbility. Mali says premia items and pricing need to be restructured next year by the new development director.

The budget for copying has been merged into ‘office supplies.’

The Sports Department didn’t use any of their budget for the year.

About $5000 extra was available for this year’s budget, with a little less than $2000 already allocated in the new budget, so the floor is open to proposals for its use.
• Money has been provided to get us out of our unit during the renovation, but not to get back. It would be useful to have some funds available to hire outside help to aid Alex in reconnecting electronics when we move back, not to mention as a contingency for unforeseen expenses with the renovation. New carpet for the station should be purchased during the renovation because it is the most convenient opportunity we will have.
• Creating a new, stipended position for someone to handle the web aspect of the station. At the very least, some thought should go into establishing a structure and protocol for online issues.
• This person would be responsible for building the structure of the site in a manner that allows people with other roles at the station to add and maintain the content of the site. In other words, the person would build the site, but not necessarily be involved in or need to know the details of station matters.
• Further discussion on the exact nature of this position and possible stipend amounts will be done at the next Exec Staff meeting.
• The summer concert planners have offered the Flying Luttenbachers $1200. Some other, smaller concerts have been discussed for the coming year, possibly in conjunction with UMMA. Board approval is necessary to approve the concert because costs will exceed $500; the estimated cost is around, but likely less than, $3000. Tom Bray has noted that past concerts there were underpublicized, mostly because it seems significantly more publicity is necessary for that particular venue than is typically estimated.

Jason Voss moves that an amount of no more than $3000 be allocated for the Summer Concert, with the exact amount to be determined by Exec Staff. Sarah Stedman seconds. Unanimous approval. Motion passed.

Sarah Stedman moves to end meeting, Evan Eustace seconds, unanimous approval.

WCBN Board of Directors Meeting
4/24/06

In attendance: Sean Schuster-Craig (GM), Sarah Stedman (BOD), Jason Voss (BOD), Julia Holter (BOD), Mike Clancey (BOD), Max Sussman (BOD), Chaz Berret (not BOD), Brendt Rioux (not BOD), Sam Turner (BOD), Alex Sergay (not BOD)

Call to order.

Motion to approve the agenda. Unanimous approval.

Sarah moves to approve the minutes. Unanimous approval.

Jason moves to set next meeting date set for Monday, May 29th. Unanimous approval.

Old Business
o Mike: we have over $20,000 in the gift account that needs to be transferred to the SOAS account.
o Sean: the new budget needs to be made by the new GM once he/she is elected.

New Business
o Alex: … would like to spend $11,800. He wishes to carpet the sports office (~$800), fundraiser database (~$500), an Apple X-Serve (~$5000), portable rack for the server closet (~$1750). He will need board approval for most of these expenditures.
o Jason motions to approve Alex’s use of his budget money as outlined above. Unanimous approval.

GM Election
o The board does not have quorum for an election because, as a candidate, Sarah Stedman cannot vote.
o Jason moves to appoint Sam Turner as General Manager for the Summer because lack of quorum for the last two meetings and the necessity for a new GM require that the measure be taken. GM elections will then take place at the end of the Summer. Unanimous approval.

Motion to close meeting passes unanimously.

Board of Directors
4/3/06

In attendance: Sean Schuster-Craig (GM), Chaz Berret (not on board), Jason Voss (board), Sarah Stedman (board), Julia Holter (board), Mike Clancy (board), Max Sussman (board), Brent Rioux (not), John Notarianni (board)

Call to Order.
• Sean: call for the approval of minutes. GM election will be the next order of business.
• Sarah calls for the approval of the agenda. Jason seconds. Unanimous approval.
• Mike moves that the previous month’s minutes be approved. Unanimous approval, though because there was no quorum, it was not an official meeting.

Public Comments
• Mike: Alex has drawn up a plan for the room from which we will broadcast once the renovations begin. We are waiting for approval from the architects. We probably won’t see any activity in our area of the SAB until next Summer.

GM Election
• Sean: Sarah had planned that Sam Turner would be GM for the Summer, so the election at this meeting will determine the GM for the coming school year. The two candidates are Jen Herard and Sarah Stedman. Jen is not in the country right now, so she is not available for interview by the BOD. Furthermore, because there must be a two week election period, it is impossible for there to be a new GM by May 1st. One option is to hold another BOD meeting at the end of the month; the other is to postpone the election until the Fall.
• Brendt has left the meeting.
• Sean: If Sam is appointed, he will certainly leave in the Fall. Even if Sarah is elected, she may be unavailable for the Summer, leaving Sam in the position, regardless.
• If a BOD meeting is scheduled for late April, then someone can be elected, then appoint someone else later. The BOD will meet on April 24th; petitions will go up on April 10th.

Jason: motion to hold the Gm election April 24th. Petitions will be due April 10th. Sarah seconds. Motion passes unanimously.

• Mike: election should be added to agenda for next meeting.
• Sean: we will be voting for a year-long GM with the assumption that someone else will be appointed by the acting GM for the Fall

Department reports
Development
• Sean: Mali’s concerns about mix CDs as premia revolve around potential charges for our endorsement and distribution of bootlegs. Either major label tracks should be removed or the practice discontinued. Exec staff has already decided to stop the process entirely. Since it was never an official policy to make them, it seems reasonable that an unofficial policy will suffice
• Max: since they are such a good fundraising premium, if we simply remove the major label tracks, then we might be able to continue doing this.
• Sarah: the enforcement of bootlegging laws is only getting more strict, so it is probably a good idea to stop the process entirely.
• Max: what if we get approval from artists and labels beforehand.
• Mike: exec staff should make this into an official policy. Sean agrees.

Jason motions to end the meeting. Unanimous approval.

Board of Directors Meeting
3/6/06

In attendance: Sarah Stedman (board), Alex Sergay (not), Jason Voss (board), Sarah Herard (GM), John Notarianni (board), Chaz Berret (not), Julia Holter (board), Brendt Rioux (not)

I. Preliminaries
a. Rather than wait until BOD minutes are approved in order to post them on the blog they will be sent to the BOD e-mail list, then revised and approved.
II. Public Comments
III. Old Business
a. Podcasts/Stream/Internet. Living Writers has a Podcast site now; all public affairs shows should get similar pages soon. In the meantime, the main WCBN page should get a link to the Living Writers page.
b. The playlist/database has been screwed up, so Ryan Hughes should be contacted to fix it. Alex is upset that there is only one person who can fix it (what if Ryan gets hit by a bus?).
c. Sites for shows. The format and program to be used need to be determined. The WCBN Wiki is a topic of continuing interest.
d. Fundraising for renovation. We will eventually need the money for the renovation, so those details need to be determined sometime in the future. A swanky press pack could be helpful to sway donors. Posting our budget might be also useful for reassuring donors that we’re not asking for more money because of frivolous spending. It could also be helpful to tighten the budget for next year so that it looks better to them.
e. Alex knows some P.R. woman who will help set us up for the press kit, but we need someone to begin putting it together. Chris Janik? Miranda? Jason Voss will take up the coordination of this task once Sarah H. leaves.
f. A year-long fundraising campaign with promos might help.
IV. New Business
a. 35th Anniversary of WCBN is in 2007. At the 30th anniversary reunion it was decided that there should be a 35th. This will also be a good opportunity for fundraising.
b. GM report. Sarah H. presented a report of station matters over the past year.
c. Budget review. Items from our SOAS Budget report were discussed. The only thing to go over-budget was fundraiser premia.
d. BOD elections. Next BOD meeting will be April 3. Max Sussman, Jen Herard, and John Notarianni’s seats are up for election this term. Since Jason Voss was elected in Fall but the alumni seat is supposed to come up in Spring, it will be on the ballot again in order to get back on schedule.
e. Office-space renovation plans. No new ideas.
f. Appointment of interim GM starting March 20th . Sean will be appointed once Sarah H. leaves, but he will not be GM once Sam Turner comes back and takes up the position. Either he will appoint the new GM or the election will determine it.
g. GM elections. GM petitions need to be in by March 27 so that the election can take place on April 3. The new GM will take office in May. If someone is appointed for the summer, the BOD will need to approve it.

1/23/06

Ammended Agenda Passed, no opposition

In Attendance: Brendt Rioux (not on board), John Notarianni (board), Lenny Zenith (board), Julia Holter (board), Max Sussman (board), Sarah Stedman (board), Forest Casey (not), Jen Herard (Board), Alex Sergay (not), Tom Bray (board), Chaz Berret (not), Jason Voss (board)

Motion to postpone minutes approval to next month, no opposition
- postponed to February 20th

Updates
- New Schedule up and running, all slots full
- The Books practically confirmed for March 15th. Cost is $2500 for the band. Museum is covering sound equipment, ticket cost, band needs no special lighting equipment.

New Business
- Making minutes available to public.
o Sarah Herard proposes that minutes should be posted in the lobby, not sent through e-mail.
o Tom Bray proposes that minutes be posted in an archive on the website, keep one year of minutes at a time.
o Chaz and Alex will take care of online minutes posting.
- Renovations planning.
o Organizational work for moving needs to be planned, certain information is needed, a group (4 or 5 people) should be organized to plan this issue in earnest.
o Scott Wood, architect, needs to be contacted for important dates on renovation timeline.
o What kind of swing space will we have for temporary storage vs. permanent storage? Annexes will be first area finished; we have use of the new conference room during renovations for office space, etc. How should saving the station art be undertaken? Anything that we don’t want damaged needs to be removed, says architect.
o There is money in their budget to get us out, but none to move things back. This needs to be addressed considering that they’re expecting us to move things ourselves with volunteer labor. Can we demand payment? Certainly, it seems.
o Money for carpets? No, it seems. Will carpet issues affect floor wiring? There was an offer to replace our wires, but they are out of the way of what the construction will be working on. It is much simpler just to leave the old wiring, but maybe we can squeeze some neat new electronics out of them.
o Should a separate group be created to monitor renovation issues? It seems an impromptu group might be a better option. Sarah Herard and Alex proposed as core members of this group; Jason Voss has volunteered.
- Forest Casey wishes to be reinstated as a DJ.
o Recap of offense. Forest and Eric were suspended for obscenity and offensive material.
o Eric is not present at the meeting tonight.
o Tom Bray believes that the terms of this decision should be decided by the GM and Programming Director. Yet since the GM has decided against it and Forest is now appealing, it is the BOD’s decision
o Forest must redo the full training process. What are the precise things that we need to see before deciding on reinstatement? Fundraiser work, no air-time for (at least) this term, specific number of hours for off-air work.
o Forest has left the meeting.

Vote for reinstatement
1. Tom Bray moves that he can be reinstated with no on-air privileges, under the authority of the exec staff to design a program to prove that he can be reinstated as a DJ.
For: John, Julia, Max, Tom
Opposed: Jason, Jen
Abstain: Sarah Stedman, Lenny
- Motion failed on first vote.
- Reasons for decisions discussed, revised motion proposed.

2. Move to reinstate Forest into probationary status until the end of the term, at which time the exec staff can determine whether he is to be reinstated. He will have absolutely no on-air presence for the duration of his probation.
For: John, Julia, Sarah Stedman, Max, Tom
Opposed: Jen
Abstaining: Jason, Lenny
- Motion passes

Other Business
- University computer people can redo our database so that we can store credit card numbers. They cannot do it by fundraiser, but they can give us a place to manually enter them on our website, the CENTS page, which also serves as the all-year donation area.

- Jen Herard will be gone during station elections, but she wishes to run for General Manager. She can petition by e-mail. Should there be a temporary appointment for the summer since the station membership shrinks so drastically? Yes, Sarah H. can appoint someone.