Board Meeting Minutes – 11/1/16

MRVTV Board of Directors meeting
Tuesday, November 1, 2016, 5:30 pm (rescheduled from October 28th) MRVTV Studio, 5031 Main Street, Waitsfield

Present: Liz Levey, Roger Nishi, Michael Hock, Lisa Loomis, Alex Maclay, Deborah Feldman, John Daniell, Lisa Italiano, Dan Eckstein, Rob Williams, Tony Italiano and Sam Burns

  1. Welcome and additions, changes to the agenda

  2. Lisa called the meeting to order at 5:35

  3. Public Forum- Ian Sweet may stop by to address the board

  4. Approval of minutes of board meeting of 7/12/16

    1. There are changes that need to be made to clarify the section about producers and their responsibility for content of the programs. Alex will draft new language for the pertinent sections and she will circulate it to the board for approval by email. 5a should be distilled down to the followingstatement: “Discussion ensued about Waitsfield Cable’s head end to improve picture quality.”

    2. Lisa I. made a motion that we accept the minutes of 7-12-16 pending the approval of the programming policy language in 4b as circulated by Alex and also 5a as stated above. John seconded. Motion approved.

  5. Station/Programming update: Alex/Tony

    1. Alex had put an ad on FPF about needing videographers and we found a

      few great people, one of whom has recently gone to Florida for the winter. The quality of the current videographers is great and we are happy to have our wonderful colleagues helping us to create great local programming.

    2. Kudos to all the collaborators who helped to create an amazing and inspiring celebration of life.

    3. 317 local programs have aired this fall and 256 VMX. Scott Campetelli from VCAM has joined VPT and they are now offering much more local VT TV. VMX also provides very high quality programming. We remain conscientious of and focused on local programming as our chief priority.

  6. Technology update: Tony – discussion of equipment purchases/picture quality Equipment

    1. Tony has a new workflow budget worked out. The good news is that the prices are lower than Tony anticipated so we have been able to acquire 3 new cameras.

    2. Current regular and shows:

      1. Welcome to Reality

      2. Yoga for You

      3. Jake Sallerson, candidate for local representative, has also been in

        the studio producing pieces.

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8.

c. There are audio issues in the new town hall and hopefully they will be resolved. Also, there are issues about camera placement and Tony will work with Darryl Forrest to compromise.

  1. We have donated our cups and pint glasses for local fundraisers.

  2. A student has accessed the station to create a project.

Picture Quality

  1. Discussion continued on improvement of picture quality

  2. Waitsfield Cable will work with Tony on a copper internet link.

Financial update: 2016 YTD

  1. Most figures are on track for ~ 3⁄4 of the way through the year, seeing

    projections at about 75%.

  2. We discussed the contract with VAN membership dues and weighed the

    benefits of our association with the organization against the costs of our membership. We concurred with Alex and Tony’s recommendation thatwe pay our full share.

  3. Dan made a motion to empower the personnel committee to make decisions regarding cost of living increases, merit pay and bonuses. Liz seconded. Motion passed.

  4. We realize we need to have a reserve fund for future capital improvements. We will allocate a figure that represents unspent past capital from 2005 to 2016 to this fund., naming our most recent non CD Northfield account a capital reserve fund, and adding the appropriate amt of leftover capital to it each year. (Allocation amount is $30,798.55).

Community Standards and Programming Policy discussion

  1. We revisited our discussion with community member Dan Zucker about

    first amendment rights and MRVTV policies.

  2. We need to update our standards and programming policies in the

    Producers handbook. As of yet, no other local access station is

    addressing the issue of online content.

  3. We may want to have a distinction between broadcast and online

    content.

  4. Rob will draft new language for this section of the Producers handbook

    and will share it with the board online for approval. How are we going todecide who will go live and who can’t? Can we as a board take actionagainst someone whose actions or speech may cause harm to others?

9.

10. Fundraising – Sponsorship:
a. Alex – new committee needed to continue efforts. Sponsorship options

need to be explored. We are striving to make up the difference between the actual and budgeted operating costs. Once we have everything organized and underway and then we might be able to have board

members act as representatives for MRVTV to connect with likely organizations, groups and businesses. We have to look at the reality ofdiminishing cable subscribers and how that will impact MRVTV’sbudget.

  1. Moretown is still experiencing difficulty understanding how and where to access their local programming. We need a Moretown PR outreach.

  2. This year’s fundraising committee members include: Liz, Alex, Deborah and possibly Lisa I. will be on the committee.

11. Other business; Next quarterly meeting (discuss/confirm) Dec./Jan. a. Thursday, February 9th, 2017 at 5:30.

12. Adjournment
a. Michael made a motion to adjourn, Brian seconded. Motion passed,

meeting adjourned.