[Kzyxtalk] A Non-Monolithic Board

Fri Feb 13 13:54:04 PST 2015

  It was refreshing  to hear Jane Futcher, who has served on the Board from 2005-08 acknowledge that the current framework doesn't allow for much business to get done. I believe that the problem stems from a lack of training of incoming Board members (10 years since the last training) and an incoherence and inconsistency that is the product of no knowledge of the work and policy decisions of previous Boards. I don't believe this is accidental but a way of keeping each new Board isolated and therefore undermined as far as being effective in their oversight of management.
   I also agree from my 3+ years of observing Board meetings that past President, Vice President  and Treasurer, David Hopmann has been instrumental in his 6 years on the Board towards increasing the ineffectiveness of the Board.
    It would be interesting to know if it was at his suggestion that the Board President at the time Coate was hired, Tony Miksak, included the title of Executive Director in Coate's contract.  As previously stated, Coate falsely stated to me that it had been included in Belinda Rawlin's contract as well.  Can anyone contact Belinda to get her statement as I believe there are several false assertions made about her performance as GM made with the knowledge that she is not around to defend herself. I was told by a former member of the Board who was on the Board for her hiring, that the 
position of Executive Director was a 'non issue', meaning it had never been discussed. Additionally, the station's public file contains descriptions of staff and management job positions yet there is no mention of the responsibilities of Executive Director. There is also no mention of an Executive Director in the Bylaws. The position of management is specifically defined as General Manager. This is a significant usurping of power by the General Manager that has led to all the top down decision making without community input that is the cause of so much of the current discontent. 
     Why would one need to create the position of Executive Director unless there are additional privileges or responsibilities? It is telling that Coate was physically confrontational with me after the March 2013 Board meeting in Fort Bragg when I challenged his use of the new title in the article that preceded the meeting.   That was the same meeting that King Collins and I challenged the Board's secret decision to try to eliminate the Campaign Forum for the Collins/ Sakowicz  contest for the seat that John S. now holds.  They used Doug's Open Lines show to have a poor facsimile of a Forum. The word is inappropriate as absolutely no discussion took place. It is just another example of how management & staff pits people against each other and uses people for their designs.  I believe that Collins did a much needed service to the station and members by not allowing an uncontested election to take place. That was the intent of a 2010 Bylaw change allowing  for the appointment of uncontested candidates to the Board at the Annual Membership meeting. Since then the Board has taken the position that is more desirable to have contested elections. So, if one is paying close attention, one can see how various attempts to consolidate even more power than what is currently in place, has been forestalled by the vigilance & diligence of involved members.
  I am intending to write a response to the recent mailing of the lawyer's brief on the hiring practices of management as I believe  it was not due to financial constraints that Brooksher was let go (as Coate asserts in his declaration) but a manipulation of management to exert complete control over the News Dep't. as well  as a way to allow management to hire in house through the small station exemption.
    The station is correct in the dates of hiring. 
     Another correction:  Board meetings were every 2 months-- 6 meetings a year, not monthly as has been stated.  More fact checking is imperative for greater credulity.
                                         Onward & Upward in Solidarity & Peace,
                                                Sheila Dawn Tracy

sako4 at comcast.net wrote:

>I, for one, would like very much to see MCPB go back to monthly Board meetings, instead of quarterly Board meetings. The policy changed in 2013 with outgoing Board President David Hopmann, who also agreed with John Coate's demand for a 10 percent raise. 
>
>----- Original Message -----
>
>From: "Dennis OBrien" <dennisobrien at sharejerusalem.com> 
>To: "kzyxtalk" <kzyxtalk at lists.mcn.org> 
>Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 7:10:11 PM 
>Subject: [Kzyxtalk] A Non-Monolithic Board 
>
>My reference to "the board" in my last post was too broad. At the board meeting last Monday there were three directors who said they thought the board should engage more with the members and the public and offered their time and efforts to do so. They were Jane Futcher, Meg Courtney, and Holly Madrigal. None of them are up for election, so they weren't just being political. They even convinced the board to re-establish some outreach committees that would allow board members to be more active between meetings. More frequent meetings will also be considered. Hopefully I haven't misrepresented anything they said, and will not mind being corrected if I did. 
>
>Even during a period of opposition, it is important to recognize the good work of others and not lump everyone together. What they did was something of a sea change, and I hope I have the chance to work with them in the future. 
>
>Denny 
>
>PS - For those who missed the meeting, an audio file is available at KZYX_board_meeting_Fort_Bragg_2015-02-02.mp3 
>courtesy of Marco McClean. The comments referenced above are in the second half. The change in tone from the beginning of the meeting is phenomenal. 
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>KZYX_board_meeting_Fort_Bragg_2015-02-02.mp3 
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