KPFT Local Station Board, Proposed Agenda
November 8, 2017, 7:00 PM
The Montrose Center
401 Branard, Houston,
TX 77006
I. Call to Order.
II. Staff Recognition.
III. Roll Call: The chair will again distribute a spreadsheet
requesting confirmation of every member’s name, phone number and email address. We will also address the following
resignations and the filling of those seats.
A. Lars Headington: Joseph Davis no longer wishes to be considered for a
staff vacancy. Should Headington’s resignation stand, that seat will go to Christopher Whaley.
B. Susan Radwin. The
next person in line is DeWayne Lark
C. Any other LSB members who have missed three or more consecutive meetings and
not received excused absences. NOTE: It appears that Jaime Rodriguez has missed two consecutive meetings. Should he be
absent from Monday’s Special Meeting, his seat may be filled tonight. Next in line is Rita Washington.
IV. Agenda
Approval.
V. Minutes Approval.
VI. Consent Items
A. Committee decisions based on a consensus shall be placed on
the agenda, (the rules allowing any member to remove an item from consent still applies). If a written report is not
submitted to the LSB members at least three days before the LSB meeting, no
Committee Motion shall be eligible for
the consent agenda. [08-14-04]
VII. Public Comments (Time Certain: 8pm). Each speaker, up to 30, will be given two
minutes.
VIII. Pacifica National Board Report.
A. Note: 4 minutes for each PNB member, 2 minutes each for each PNB
committee. Some members of the LSB are particularly interested in the apparent decision by PNB to weaken the PNB’s power
by virtue of a motion that delegates to a committee of five all financial decisions that exceed $10,000. An explanation
is requested.
1. Adriana Casenave
2. Bill Crosier
3. Rhonda Garner.
4. Robert Mark.
IX. Pacifica National
Board Committee Reports (only those committees who have met shall report).
A. Audit. (Elayne Duncan, P.K.
McCary)
B. Inclusion. (P.K. McCary, Adriana Casenave, Susie Moreno)
C. Development. (Jamie Rodriguez, Greg
Audell)
D. Elections Committee. (Robert Gartner)
E. Governance. (Elayne Duncan, P.K. McCary)
F. Programming.
(Anisa Faruqi, Mike Lewis)
G. Affiliates Task Force. (Nancy Saibara-Naritomi, Teresa Allen)
H. Archives Task
Force. (Nancy Saibara-Naritomi, Anisa Faruqi)
X. General Managers Report.
XI. Standing Committee Reports.
INCLUDED IN EACH REPORT, IF THIS HAS NOT ALREADY BEEN DONE, SHOULD BE THE NAME OF THE PERSON THE COMMITTEE IS
RECOMMENDING AS ITS CHAIR AS WELL AS INDIVIDUALS WHO WISH TO BECOME VOTING MEMBERS (SEE STANDING AND SPECIAL RULES,
ARTICLE THREE, COMMITTEES).
NOTE: 3 minutes per report…plus additional time should there be motions associated with
the reports.
A. Anti-Racism and Diversity. (Georgia Provost)
B. Budget and Financial Oversight
1. Review
and Approval of 2017-2018 Budget Development. (Nick Economidis)
C. Facilities Management and Planning. (Robert
Gartner, Bobby Modad)
D. Governance. (Joseph Davis). Per Davis’ resignation, a new convener is needed
E.
Management Selection and Review. (Jamie Rodriguez)
F. Outreach. (Vaniecia Williams)
G. Technology. (No
chair)
XII. Special Committee Reports.
A. Community Advisory Board.
B. Website Development.
XIII. New
Business
A. Program Council
1. Creation of a Special Committee to Recruit Candidates from KPFT
A.
Programmers
B. Members
Note: The LSB has already selected board members who will serve.
Said candidates shall
appear for the LSB in December to state why they should be selected by this body to serve on this council. Each
candidate will receive up to two minutes to advocate for themselves and one minute to answer a one-minute question from
each LSB member prior to the vote.
B. Weisgal: Motion to encourage congress to support a budget that addresses human
needs (text to be provided).
C. Motion from Robert Mark: The KPFT LSB shall create a committee to investigate and
make recommendations for a sanction if warranted, regarding the conduct of LSB Chair Ted Weisgal wherein he: 1.
Inappropriately directed non KPFT assignments to minor high school interns in violation of the terms and conditions
wherein such interns were made available to KPFT; 2. Acted in an oppressive manner to KPFT staff and volunteer
programmers to interfere with their duties; 3. Threatened to kill a longstanding KPFT programmer at a programmers
meeting; 4. Participated in a public media crusade to hold KPFT and Pacifica in a negative light for the purposes of
furthering his Pacifica political agenda, thus creating a negative public view of Pacifica; 5. Acting as LSB Chair
outside the authority as set forth in the bylaws for the LSB or any delegated authority by the PNB to the LSB; 6. Acted
outside the scope of his authority wherein following the creation of an executive committee of the LSB, he acted on a
recommendation of said committee without returning the matter to the LSB for ratification as was specifically required
under the motion passed creating said committee; All detrimental to the best interests of the Pacifica Foundation.
After a full investigation of these allegations, the committee shall report to the full LSB their findings and
conclusions and recommendations for sanction if any.
D. Motion by PK McCary regarding censorship:
Whereas, while
censorship is not a new phenomenon for the Pacifica Network, having fought the good fight about indecent or profane
language (and losing), and Whereas censorship tampers with the mission of being "listener-sponsored free speech radio,"
and Whereas KPFT's current gag order is censorship and the antithesis of "free speech radio," and, Whereas listeners are
being kept in the dark, Therefore, Be it Resolved that the current gag order be lifted immediately as it goes against
the mission and principles of KPFT.
E. Motions from K.C. Sinclair
1. Motion 1: I move to require LSB members who
reference RONR, the Bylaws, Standing and Special Rules, or other sources to give members time and citations to find the
information.
2. Motion 2: I move to suspend Robert Mark's participation and voting privileges at LSB meetings pending
disposition of his trial.
F. Motion by Susie Moreno regarding diversity in programming:
1. In 2000 and again in
2013, KPFT was given court orders to diversify its programming to better represent the diverse makeup of the City of
Houston and listenership area.
Currently, programming disproportionately favors white audiences with 65% of the
programs geared towards European-American listeners.
During Dr. Kamau’s tenure, a process was started to address the
court orders and better represent the greater Houston community.
I move that the programming changes made by Interim
General Manager Jerry Sumrall (aka Larry Winters), illegitimately hired on July 14, 2017, be stopped.
I further move
that a diverse programming council, representative of the Houston area demographics, be created to continue the efforts
to diversify KPFT initiated by Dr. Kamau in order to comply with its mission to provide diverse programming.
G.
Motion by Bob Gartner: I move that bumper stickers and other KPFT paraphernalia be purchased. I also move that that we
determine
1. How many bumper stickers we want and,
2. By what date they should be delivered to KPFT.
NOTE: As
far as paraphernalia, should this motion pass, it will be the job of the IGM and staff to determine what we need for the
next fund drive but the amount spent should not exceed the amount in the 2017 budget.
H. Motion by Bob Gartner: I
move that the volunteer sign-up sheets be placed in the hands of the KPFT LSB chair and that copies be made available
for distribution to any board member who has a use for them in the carrying out of their duties as a committee
member.
XIII. Motions from Rhonda Garner
1. The removal of Ted Weisgal as the chair of the committe and replace
him with our vice-chair Elayne Duncan. Should be on the agenda prior to Robert Mark's trial.
2. Discussion about a
town-hall meeting (we are required to have 2 per year and haven't had a single one).
3. Discussion about the KPFT
LSB doing a fund-raiser for the station.
XIV. Adjournment