[Kzyxtalk] KZYX board-Why not do your work openly?

[smmail]

Hi, King. Some time ago in the back of a Board of Directors meeting 
during a break you told me that I should subscribe to this listserv 
because there was polite and intelligent discussion by people concerned 
about the future of community radio. I finally checked in a few days ago 
and found that the discussion must have deteriorated. Talk here has been 
aggressively juvenile, vindictive, and some have a total disregard for 
easily verifiable fact and just make stuff up. You, on the other hand, 
are intelligent and polite but, I think, very misguided. We disagree. 
Big deal.

So, I am going to check out and not come back. I will tell the owner of 
the e-mail service I used to hose it out with prejudice, or compost it. 
I recommend that you avoid associating with some of the walking wounded 
here because it is unhealthy to do so. SM


On 6/12/2016 8:43 PM, King Collins wrote:
> SM said:
>
>> E-mail is the way than many organizations do business. Would you object if they exchanged paper mail or phoned each other when working on something? Boards of Directors everywhere have closed face-to-face meetings when discussing employee matters. This is widely considered to be the ethical thing to do.
>>
>> How do I feel about e-mail business and closed meetings? I pretty much don't care because I and the great majority of other members of KZYX like the product of the station. What horrible, nefarious conspiracy do you think is being cooked up in your imagined secret meetings of this very small, non-profit organization run primarily by enthusiastic volunteers?
> King Collins here:
>
> Dear board and members and SM,
>
> I have asked that the board conduct its business openly. I am not interested in attacking anyone, however, I think the board members as individuals should be much more responsive to the public.
>
> SM,  you point out that "directors everywhere have closed meeting when discussing employee matters." Our bylaws say the same.
>
> And yes when I was on the board, I participated in such closed meetings. However, the "egalitarians" understand that meetings of the board, even executive meeting, should be open to the members. Meanwhile the "centrists" like you think that it is just fine for the board to meet without the public, about ANY TOPIC whenever it wants to.
>
> That is the bone of contention. Yes it is okay for Directors to meet on their listserv. Nobody is against that. However, what we are demanding is that the BOARD LISTSERV BE OPEN TO MEMBERS. The members should at least be able to hear the discussion, if not actually participate.
>
> For KZYXtalk,
>
> King Collins
> KZYX board 2003-2005
>
> PS: And on related matter, you say you and most listeners only care about the product. That is a typical go-along Centrist argument. You only care about the end-product? Great! Do you feel the same way about the food you eat? Does it make any difference to you how it is produced?
>
> And finally, whatever legal pressure I may have applied, I would be happy to withdraw all such threats if the board would simply talk to us on this list serv. That's it. That's all it would take for me to be satisfied. Because I believe that if the board has the guts to face the public, we will find resolutions in the discussion.
>
> SM said:
>
>> Scott Peterson. Ellen Saxe was making a regular Board report of CAB activities. Her comments were not her, or the CAB's recommendations, they were just a report of what listeners said at a CAB meeting. Providing listener input to the Board is one of the functions of the CAB and I think that Ellen takes her duties seriously. Listeners comments were not nasty or nice, they were just opinions.
>>
>> E-mail is the way than many organizations do business. Would you object if they exchanged paper mail or phoned each other when working on something? Boards of Directors everywhere have closed face-to-face meetings when discussing employee matters. This is widely considered to be the ethical thing to do.
>>
>> How do I feel about e-mail business and closed meetings? I pretty much don't care because I and the great majority of other members of KZYX like the product of the station. What horrible, nefarious conspiracy do you think is being cooked up in your imagined secret meetings of this very small, non-profit organization run primarily by enthusiastic volunteers?
>>
>> The meeting minutes haven't been approved yet. Why don't you just call the business number at the station and politely ask about them. SM
>
>
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