[Kzyxtalk] Forum, Proposals for Change

[Dennis OBrien]

At the candidate forum on KZYX last night, I promised to post the summary of the proposals for change that I had compiled, for those listeners who had not yet seen it.  See below.

For those who missed the forum, the big news is that 2nd District candidate Tony Novelli essentially withdrew.  In his closing statement, he said he was supporting Benj Thomas for the position.

On the policy side, there was a lot of support for more engagement with the members/public, including an effective Community Advisory Board and Program Advisory Committee, which currently exist on paper but are underutilized or not used at all.  There was less support for decentralization of power, i.e., shifting some authority for hiring from the GM to the board, and giving the PAC decision-making authority, not just advisory status.  In short, the three principles announced below - freedom of expression, open governance, and more engagement - have a good chance of being implemented by the new board after the election.  But the fourth - decentralization of power - will be more difficult.  Hopefully we can at least make the news department independent, free from management veto.

That's your snap report.  My thanks to all who supplied information and policy suggestions; it made my job much easier last night.
Dennis

Summary ofCurrent Proposals for Change at MCPB/KZYX  “MCPB is a membership-basedorganization dedicated to serving the entire community of Mendocino County andcontiguous counties. The primary purpose of MCPB is to engage in providinghigh-quality, independent, community and public radio and other media productsand services.” - The Bylaws There are four areas of changethat will help MCPB/KZYX fulfill its mission: Freedom of Expression:  No one will be disciplined for expressing their opinions onor off the air; restrictions concerning offensive language, endorsements duringcampaigns, and defamation of character will still apply.  There will befreedom of communication between and among the programmers, staff, management,directors, members, and the public. Open Governance:  All policy decisions will be made by the Board ofDirectors.  Directors will be given access to any and all information anddocuments.  The duty of each director to oversee and evaluate theoperations of the organization will not be restricted.  Any member will beallowed to inspect and copy any and all records of MCPB/KZYX, other thanconfidential personnel records.  Written notice of the annual MembershipMeeting will be sent to all members with their ballot.  Members will beallowed to put a Bylaw amendment on the annual ballot if they obtain thesignatures of at least five percent (5%) of the membership on a petition insupport of the proposed amendment. Decentralized Power:  Final say on all personnel matters will be with theBoard of Directors, not the General Manager.  Final say on programmingdecisions will be with a Programming Council, not the Program Director. The Council will be formed in accordance with the policy in place since 2009;its process will open and responsive to the listening community.  The NewsDirector/Department will be independent of both the Program Director and theGeneral Manager.  The budget will be reprioritized, with programmersprovided adequate resources to maximize their creativity.  Syndication ofshows will be promoted, and the production rights of programmers will beguaranteed. Engagement with Members/Public:  The General Manager, Program Director, News Director,and Station Engineer will attend all Board meetings.  The Board and Staffwill respond to questions and comments as time permits.  The audio/videofile of any meetings and/or outreach events will be posted on the website. The Community Advisory Board will be reconstituted so that it isindependent and reflects the diversity of the listening community, with regularmeetings that are open to the public.  The Board and Staff will implementthe recent CAB recommendation for having regular call-in shows as part of theircommitment to engage with the members and the listening public. All of these policy changes can bemade by the Board of Directors.  However, any of them could also besubmitted to the members for a vote as a bylaw amendment, which would bindfuture boards if adopted. 
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