Board Meeting Minutes – 4/19/16

MRVTV Board of Directors meetingTuesday, April 19, 2016, 5:30 pmMRVTV studio, 5031 Main St., Waitsfield

Present: Liz Levey, John Daniel, Lisa Italiano, Tony Italiano, Alex Maclay, Deborah Feldman, Lisa Loomis

  1. Welcome/Additions, changes to agenda
    a. Lisa called the meeting to order at 5:46.

  2. Public Forum
    a. Sam Burns.

  3. Approval of minutes of board meeting of 1-21-16
    a. Liz questioned the following section in item four and it was

    removed.
    “Is the volatile nature of the funding a trend? Is it a rising or falling trend. Alex and Lisa

    replied that in the recent past it has been a rising trend. “

    b. Deborah made a motion to accept the changes as discussed. John seconded. Motion passed.

    c. Liz made a motion to accept the minutes. John seconded. Motion passed.

  4. Election of board members- Slate to be proposed- Lisa L., Michael, and Brian are all up for re-election.

    Liz moves that we accept the slate of nominees for reelection. Deborah seconded. Motion passed.

  5. Station/programming update: Alex/Tony

    Alex:

    We advertised for videographers on Front Porch forum and we were fortunate to find Nina Sweeney who has been active ever since and has been a great addition. We feel positive about the feedback we

continue to receive about local programming, most recently about the coverage of our local Act 46 meetings.
‘It’s Our River, and Yours” our documentary done with the HU Hubkids won an honorable mention for the Governor’s award and theceremony is April 28th. It was also featured by the Vermont Community Foundation in their newsletter as a work of great impact.Tony:

Tony purchased new equipment for the new workflow. He bought the new computer and Adobe Premier, the monitor and another camera.Everything has been working well. It doesn’t make the work flow anyfaster, but once it is in the computer, the work flows more smoothly.Once it is copied into the server, it’s done. Tony worked with ZachZorn from ORCA who helped him to learn the ropes of the new workflow. Genevieve Knight was the first volunteer to use the new camera and everything worked great. Tony will continue with thepurchasing plan that he shared with us at our last meeting. We’redoing a lot less dubbing than we had in the past due to the local programming available on the cloud. It will be interesting to look at the figures compared with past years.

Tony has recruited Nina Sweeney to learn part of his job to collaborate with his regular sub, Cheryl Allen. Nina may learn how to do the uploading, Cheryl knows about scheduling. The station needs this level of back up support.
Once the school boards consolidate, there will be fewer meetings. We need to be mindful of the changes that may occur due to these changes.
We might want to think about working with Moretown to get their meetings back into our roster. Tony suggested the possibility of sharing the effort with ORCA. If we shoot, it would be on channel 45 and online, but if ORCA shoots it, we would make an exception to upload content that is shot outside our purview onto the website.

6. Financial update: 2016 YTD & any budget adjustments: Alex/ Lisa

We viewed the percentages in the line items of the budget to gauge our expenses to date for FY 2016. We paid our full VAN dues for the past year (their contract runs June to June) and the executive board will takenext year’s dues under consideration.

7. FUNdraiser and Fundraising update- Alex
Alex is working on a schedule of necessary PR events and deadlines to be enacted in her absence. The fundraiser is on for May 14th at the Localfolk Smokehouse. We have posters- Thank you Liz - they look fabulous. We have pint glasses and mugs emblazoned with thestation’s logo that we will sell for $10 per person. The followingorganizations have the information:
Seven Days
Mad River Chamber of Commerce
Poster distribution: Target date for distribution is May 1st.
•Liz will distribute in Warren and Dan Eckstein can pick them up fromJack.
•Lisa I. will do Waitsfield- usual suspects-Blue Stone, and the Smoke House,
•Deborah will do Moretown
•Tony will post it as a facebook event

We will make a mini-contest for people who share the link on facebook and will draw a winner for a mug and glass each at the event.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS, EVERYONE! 8. Technology update: Tony

We had a discussion of the technology that will improve our picture (extenders- through the telephone line rather than the cable line) and it is under consideration as to who should pay for the equipment. The executive board is being careful to consider our next steps to avoid a negative precedent for MRVTV and will make a meeting with Roger to resolve the situation. This decision effects the quality of the picture and picture quality is important to all of us.
We need a more robust ongoing fundraising plan for MRVTV that will live between annual events (Community Dance Party) and the eventuality that we will be able to obtain sponsorships. If we pursue

sponsorships the quality of our picture is going to be paramount. Weneed to have a “mandatory” board meeting with all members presentto address the sponsorship question and a model for the future. The web video has a place for graphic advertisement, and it gets used now,we could “sell” that space as well and that might be a starting point for the rest of the above-mentioned steps.

10. Other business: Alex will doodle us dates for both the board retreat and the next board meeting.
Tony asked us to revisit the policy about obscene language aired on MRVTV, especially in light of the live show recorded on 1:00 pm on Wednesdays. The full board will address this question at a retreat so that we are fair and consistent in our treatment of this complex issue.

We need:
1. Standards available to the public
2. A disclaimer to be read during each show
3. A form to signify that the content of any producer’s program meets ourstandards.

11. Adjournment
Liz made a motion to adjourn. Lisa I. seconded Lisa adjourned the meeting at 7:19.