Minutes:
WPFW Local Station Board Meeting
2390 Champlain Street NW, Washington, DC 20009
9 August 2006

Quorum declared about 8:00 P.M., Carol Wolfe serving as Chair.
Board Members present at the call to order: Jim Brown, Billy Ray Edwards, Joni
Eisenberg, Jane Gatewood, Luzette King, Ambrose Lane, Dan Logan, Mark Roberts,
Rob Robinson, Thomas Ruffin, Zarinah Shakir, Amanda Sweet, Carol Wolfe.
Absent: Cade Campbell, Donnie McKethan, Kalonji Olusegun, Hakam Takash, Gloria
Turner.
Excused Absences: Mark Berman, Acie Byrd, Joe Chiara, Ayo Handy-Kendi.
Late Arrival: Norberto Martinez.
Also present: Carl Pfluger, LSB Secretary. (General Manager Ron Pinchback,
usually present, was away on vacation.)
Deaths in the Pacifica Family: The Chair noted that Mr. Adams, who usually
serves the LSB as Parliamentarian, was unable to attend this meeting due to the
death of his son. The Board also mourned the deaths this month of two veteran
activists for peace and justice, Dorothy Healey and Ray Whitfield. Both will be
sorely missed. Dorothy's memorial service will be on Sunday, August 20th, 2:00
P.M. at the Josephine Butler Center, 2437 15th Street NW (on Meridian Hill);
Ray's will be Saturday, September 23rd, 6:00 P.M. at the Sangha Café and
Market, 7014 Westmoreland Avenue, Takoma Park (about 4 blocks up Carroll Avenue
from the Takoma Metro station.) After some discussion, the Board agreed without
objection to send condolences and a contribution to both, aside from any offers
made by the Station.
Amendments to Agenda: The General Manager's report was removed from the Agenda
for this month. A Treasurer's report was inserted to follow the PNB reports.
Discussion of excessive absences was moved forward to immediately follow the
Election Supervisor's report.
Amendment and approval of July Minutes: Amended to note that the collection
authorized by the LSB on July 12th had netted $140.00 sent to Chris Crowder's
mother on July 17th by Zarinah Shakir, the Minutes were approved without
objection.
Report by Election Supervisor Ikeso Alston: Mr. Alston, whose term dates from
July 15th, urged active outreach and promotional efforts for the upcoming
elections: "know your community," he said. He reminded the LSB that September
1st is the deadline for voter eligibility. He is working on PSAs and Website
announcements, but noted that WPFW's website seems weaker and slower than those
of the other Pacifica stations. Luzettte King advised him to maintain strict
independence from the Station's Management; he replied that he was aware of
that requirement and adhered to it conscientiously. Members may contact him by
emailing ballots@wpfw.org, or Ikeso_A@hotmail.com, or by telephone at 202/355-
2938, ext. 360.
Resolution on excessive absences: The Bylaws state (Article 4, Section 9) that
any Member shall be removed from office upon his or her
"...failure...to attend three consecutive Local Station Board meetings, which
absences have not been excused by a majority vote of the LSB members present at
the meetings in question."
Billy Ray Edwards asserted that several Members have in fact accumulated at
least three consecutive unexcused absences, and that these should now be purged
from the LSB. It was impossible immediately to document these absences,
however, due to the fragmented condition of the records: the Minutes for the
first three months of this year (kept by the previous Secretary, Jane Gatewood)
have not yet appeared on the WPFW website, nor have they been made available to
the current Secretary, Carl Pfluger, who has kept the minutes for the last
three meetings. Thus, no one has so far brought all the information together in
one place in order to make a complete and continuous review of attendance
records. The LSB therefore resolved that the previous Secretary should resend
her Minutes to the WPFW website, with copies to all LSB members, and that the
current Secretary should then review the complete series and, within one week,
report to the LSB which members, if any, have in fact exceeded three
consecutive unexcused absences; any such members will be immediately removed.
This resolution was proposed by Mark Roberts, seconded by Jim Brown, and
approved by the Board: Yes, 10, No, 0, Abstentions, 2.
Zarinah Shakir suggested that there is also a problem of excessive indulgence
in excused absences as well. There was some discussion of this, but nothing was
formally resolved.
LSB Committee Reports
Management Assessment and Search Committee (MASC): Jim Brown reported the
responses so far to the General Manager Evaluation Form he had distributed in
July. Six (out of seven) Paid Staff, and 10 (out of 22) LSB Members had
returned responses. Jim distributed a table showing the results. Evaluations
were about evenly divided between poor-to-fair and fair-to-good, with scores
generally better on issues of fiscal integrity and programming content, worse
on internal communications and timely transmission of information. Twenty
minutes of extended and sometimes heated discussion followed (Carol Wolfe for a
time relinquishing the Chair to Jane Gatewood in order to participate in the
debate), after which no formal resolution was voted, but everyone was reminded
that the Management Evaluation Process is still open to further input from all
who wish to contribute further. (The question of including unpaid Staff in the
process was also reopened.) The MASC will meet again, and it is hoped that at
the September meeting the LSB will be able to vote some more definite
recommendation to Pacifica's Executive Director Greg Guma.
Community Comment: Three speakers, one on a Maryland Congressional primary
election (4th District, Donna Edwards challenging Albert Wynn), and two on
Caribbean music.
Programming Committee: The draft PNB Programming Policy, which has been before
the LSB, in one form or another, at least since January, is still clearly in a
rough and unfinished condition. Dan Logan, Chair of the Programming Committee,
presented a copy to the LSB highlighting the revisions made by the Committee at
their last meeting. But the Committee will have to work further on it. All
Members are invited to send whatever substantive suggestions they may have, in
writing, to the Chair and Members of the Programming Committee. Such oral
discussion as took place - which consumed the last half hour of this day's
meeting - was devoted almost entirely to unsubstantiated allegations about the
motives of the people who had worked on the Policy.
Adjournment: At 10:25 P.M. Zarinah moved to adjourn. Seconded by Luzette,
passed without objection.
Agenda items never discussed: Treasurer's Report, LSB Burnout, 2007 WPFW Budget
Preparations, WPFW ambassadors proposal, LSB self-evaluation proposal.