[Kzyxtalk] Fwd: from the AVA's "Mendocino County Today", 14 December 2015

[sako4 at comcast.net]

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From: sako4 at comcast.net 
To: "kzyxboard" <kzyxboard at lists.mcn.org> 
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 7:16:19 AM 
Subject: from the AVA's "Mendocino County Today", 14 December 2015 



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INSIDE JOB (SURPRISE!) 




Open Letter to MCPB Board of Directors. 




I must say I am deeply troubled by this turn of events of having Stuart Campbell as one of the finalists in the application for the open General Manager position. 




Having gone to the two open Search Committee meetings involved in the process of job description and placing of ads and having asked formally to be acknowledged as being a community representative of the coast, I was excluded, as I thought I would be, from the closed session of vetting applicants. I must point out, with Jenness Hartley's appointment to the Board, there was no longer any — I repeat , NO, community member left on the Search Committee. It was only Staff, Volunteers and Board members, past and former — all who are closely associated with each other. 




Eubank has promised that Board business would be conducted with integrity and transparency — that "moving forward was going to be different than what has been in the past." As much as I want to believe this to be true, after 4 years of observing the proceedings of previous Boards & 6 months of watching the current Board in action, I find little, if any, transparency, misinterpretations of Bylaws and CPB donor regulations, no implementation of CAB recommendations and still after two years of promises, no real means of communicating both with the station's listeners or members. 




Campbell's performance as a programmer's Representative was non existent and, as such harmful. He was also negligent as Board President to not have a discussion of the rescinding of the Safe Harbor policy on the Board agenda as an Action item for discussion and input from the public with a corresponding vote of Board members in affirming a policy change. 




All of this negligence disqualifies him as a serious candidate for the permanent position of General Manager. He is deceitful and I will go so far as to say, I believe he is a pawn of the former Board President, David Hopmann, as was former GM, John Coate, who still remains the voluntary administer of the station's website long after his resignation. Hopmann wrote Coate's contract and insidiously inserted the title of Executive Director which had never been a part of any previous GM's contract. 




Campbell's kowtowing to Hopmann was evident at the past Willits meeting when at Hopmann's suggestion from the position of audience member, Campbell call a recess so that Hopmann would not miss any of the meeting while attending to an eye problem. Such attention to "special interests" while neglecting the public interests by having closed nominations does not indicate a change of any kind but more of the fanciful window dressing for the sake of appearances that we have been accustomed to through the machinations of past Boards. 




The fast rise of Campbell from programmer to Board member to Board President to Interim General Manager does not show any management experience except that he is an incumbent and, in my opinion, complicit in the authoritarian show of disregard for process shown by the current Program Director and the former GM in rescinding Safe Harbor. 




He did not allow inspection of station documents and even called the sheriff to secure the station against security threats even though the alleged source of the threat was not among those, myself included, who showed up at the station having given previous notice of their right to inspect and their intent to do so. Is this really what we can hope to expect more of in the future? And what became of his professed intent to go back to his teaching job after his contract ended? More show and no follow through. Campbell is contaminated material and not a prime example of the desire to leave past discordance behind and move towards a harmonious integration of diverse voices. 




Not that I think it will be of consequence, but my vote is for someone who has experience in radio management and most important of all, has the confidence of the listening public of making a fresh start. I ask the current Board of Directors to not throw away a golden opportunity to select someone who comes untainted from previous alliances. 




This is a crucial time of the station to come together in support of new talent and new energy. I find it difficult to believe that in the search process we cannot find someone more suited to the job than the person who, by default, ended up substituting for the truly qualified. Is the fix already in? Let's hope not. 




Sincerely, 

Sheila Dawn Tracy 

Mendocino 




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