ECAT Board Mtg - 22Oct2008

Easthampton Community Access Television

Board Meeting October 22, 2008

All present: Rebecca, Gliffy, Bob, Dohan, Greg, Brian

1. Notes from 9/24 meeting accepted, Dohan moved, Gliffy seconded

2. Ex Director Report:

-Website:

-Greg and Brian met with Jo Landers, a local web designer who has offered her services. They will get a domain name before the next meeting. Ideas were: ecattv.org, ecatv.org, eastahmptontv.org, ecat.tc, easthampton.tv,

-ideas for new website features: easy to change layout for employees to add and change info on site, form for people to submit Community Calendar listings, all forms available online, cycle of production stills, program guide on main page – that days’ programming, plus link to rest of week

-Van:

-a schematic design will be submitted to the BOD giving specifics of floor paln, what equipment will go where, what type of structures need building and materials needed, electricals needed, hours needed with financial estimate for all of this. Greg will email this out to BOD on week of Nov 3^rd for review and votes to move forward by BOD.

-Southampton:

-employees are building portable unit for filming there

-cable co. is doing site survey – if lines are in correct places and functioning, could start filming meetings within a few weeks

-Eastworks Space:

-$1700 to hook up Iloop to that space

-may be difficult to sound proof and build out studio within the larger space

-Equipment Needs:

-there is a need for several of the same model camera for workshops and lending out. The studio PD-170s are not allowed to go out of studio because they are very high quality.

-BOD will get email sent to them with a breakdown of costs of cameras, and a plan of action for workshops: how many will you offer, how many spots available, how much staff time will this take, what will the benefits be. Then board can take action and vote to purchase cameras before basketball season starts

3. Treasurer’s Report

-we need to add newly purchased equipment from last year to insurance list – Bob and Brian can meet and exchange info. on this

-Credit card issue: bank provides an account with a debit card, “purchasing account”. Becca motioned for this, Dohan seconded, to allow employees to make small purchases via internet. Voted to put $5,000 to begin with.

4. Other Business:

-logo search: Becca found several people who would like to design the logo. A brainstorming session will be held at next meeting, and then this info will be shared with one or more designers. A few examples fro possible candidate will also be shared at next month’s meeting. Ideas: media lab in future, hands on media?

-Bob showed Puffer’s banner samples for ECAT

-monitoring station remotely: Brian got this working, and then it stopped working. He’ll try again.

-Marketing:

-our email list is about 130 addresses. Our snail mail list is non-existent. Dohan suggested buying a list from Chamber, or from his connections through Summit / Gazette.

-we could do inserts in Charter mailings to tell everyone our story, have a brief newsletter type publication

-if we could find a business to sponsor an insert in Summit, that would be a good way to give info

-window at Chamber, ad in directory, do an insert

-Bob will get bulk mail account set up

-Glyffy would like to have a series in which exercise is taught to seniors from different communities. Greg suggested a workshop to teach seniors and the exercise teachers a consistent way of filming the classes, so the footage is useable and consistent throughout the series.

-Community Shoots: Basketball Season

-Greg has meeting wit athletic director. We want them to find volunteers that want to make it happen, possible fundraise for it

-we have to make them understand that we are a NEW organization and need to fund and operate on our own – we’d love to do this but need their help, too!

-Media teacher is offering credit to students to be involved. We should provide them with certificate and letter that can go in their college portfolios for community service.

-after garnering support and communication with booster club, athletic parents, teachers, students and parents, we should approach mayor and propose using the 10% educational programming funds toward this, with pressure from educational / sports community

-need to present a clear outline of # of games, # of employee hours, insurance costs, fuel for van, equipment costs, postproduction time, etc. to give a monetary value to our services

Important Notes:

-The BOD would like an overview of upcoming equipment purchases and a bigger picture of the direction of technological purchases, repairs, and replacements that may be needed. We can talk about this at next meeting since it seems the employees have a lot to do before the next meeting

-BOD and employees need to seek out training for how to manage budgets and fundraising for employees

-BOD is responsible for growing budget and keeping it ont rack. As a group, we need to leave the past behind and embrace the new, organized and budget-minded approach to running ECAT.

Dohan resigned from the BOD of Easthampton Community Access Television. We will miss his guidance on all matters of non-profit structuring and budgeting.

Nest meeting: November 19^th 6:00 pm WBMS

Next meeting items:

Basketball Season update

Van update

Southampton update

Edit suites and new camera equipment update

Logo brainstorming (also Vision Statement discussion intertwined)

Pricing for underwriting – this needs to be done (if not before the next meeting!)

New board members

Press releases for upcoming basketball season publicity, new workshops, etc.

EasthamptonCommunity Access Television

General Board Meeting September 24, 2008 6:00 pm

All present

1) Minutes from 8/25 approved

2) Treasurer’s report will be given with new budget, andbudget will be reviewed at next Ex. Session meeting

3) Pay raise retroactive payments – Greg was given amount /hour increase, will send this to Paychex with hours worked since 1/1/08

4) Ex. Director’s Report

-Fall Festival Review:

-big signfor next year – Bob will check into pricing for this

-Tshirts/hats/stickersfor volunteers for this and all shoots – Becca will check into pricing for this

-location– van will be set up next year so we won’t have to worry about monitors beingin the sun

-Dohan will give prizes toGreg for distribution to raffle winners (make sure to get all of their contactinfo before we give them their prizes!)

-to note: the words “Channel5” meant more that “ECAT”

-underwriting fliers weregiven to all booths

-next year we can make apromo to play beforehand, perhaps for barter with Chamber for booth

-Web designer has volunteered services to helpredesign. She’ll meet with Greg, Brianand Shawn Sheehan soon to discuss ideas, text, etc.

-Criteria for Van Shoots: organization must submit aproposal for shoot series, along with ideas of resources for crew.

-Booster Club should becontacted for parent interest. We couldoffer a short camera and tripod workshop and then they could just shoot whenthey come to watch their kids’ games

-Media Merit Badge forboy/girl scouts is an idea for dedicated crew

-Greg is in contac tiwth EHSmedia teacher to try and get credit for kids who are on crews

Idea:

Mini-docs on football and basketball teams. A great way to cover the football seasonsince it is almost done – play before last big game, or play it postseason.. Put online and it would get alot of popularity.

5) Marketing Ideas:

-Put winners for raffle from Fall Festival on our website,program guide, and community calendar. Dohan will do ad in Advocate

-Dohan will work with Greg on van underwriting. Need to come up with a target list ofcompanies to approach

-Summitshould do article on ECAT’s new developments and need for communityinvolvement. Should follow up from ourpresence at Festival and be about our new non-profit status and board, van, howcomm.. access works and how to get involved / get van to be involved in yourcommunity event.

-send press releases about locally produced shows to summitwith play times, our website, blurb about producer and show. Also put this on Com. Calendar, and maybewebsite too.

6) Equipment for Monitoring Channel 5 Remotely

Our equipment does have this capability and Brian willfollow up on getting this going

7) Vision Statement

Everyone will bring thoughts for their ideas on the VisionStatement with timeline ideas to next meeting

8) Filming “Vote No” campaign forum.

To be politically neutral we cannot send ECAT staff to filmthis event. But the Vote No Campaign iswelcome to film it and ask us to air the tape, which we are required todo. Glyffy said they might be able toorganize a debate on the issue with both sides present. This way, ECAT could film it and it would beequal. She’ll give this info to them.

9) Southampton Cable Access

-Greg sent them a quote for $100 / mtng and $120 if meetingis put online. This pricing is based onthe hope of getting the student employee trained to do these

-The woman from Southamptonhas gotten $3000 for meeting coverage and will discuss with the Town Councilmembers

10) Credit Card issue – Bob found that the company cannothave one yet, so he is going to check into getting a secured (paid in advance)card for station equipment purchases

11) Real Estate

-The Maple St.property looks like a great option. Theproblem is that the time to fix it up would not be free, it would be Greg andBrian’s hourly rates, and this time wouldn’t be going into station operations,it would be going into the building. (Also, it would hopefully be able to be sold at a higher price afterrenovations, but we hope not to sell it anytime soon…)

-Eastworks rental: an undeveloped area of Eastworks is freewith own entrance. Could be built out toour specifications. Negotiations withWill Bundy should ask for long term, low rent agreement.

-the van mobile studio changes Greg’s way of looking atthings – perhaps we don’t need as big of a studio, or one at all, if we havevan

-Greg will hear back from Charter about cost to get nodefor broadcast moved to Eastworks from Iloop

12) Job Descriptions

-The two position titles are: Ex. Director and OperationsManager

-Greg expressed discomfort at heading up fundraisingefforts. BOD will also be involved, buthe needs to do some of the work of fundraising. He requested training in this.

- What % of his job would be fundraising?

-Greg is still interested in having production in part ofhis job description, also wants to keep program guide responsibilities andworking with community productions.

-add annual report and membership meeting duties to jobdescription for ED

-Greg should give Becca all thoughts on changes / worriesabout his job description before Oct. 8 (next Ex Session mtng).

13) Further BOD members

-one spot from School Committee and one spot for member atlarge available

-Gliffy will send our press release for another at-largemember

-procedure for getting on board is to write a letter ofinterest to Gliffy

14) Employee Training Opportunities

-Greg will research further training for fundraisingskills, Brian needs further training for the networking responsibilities he’staken on. They will look intoopportunities for this and submit to BOD

Next Meeting:

October 22 6:00 pm WBMS

Vision Statement brainstorming

Follow Up:

-more BOD members

-van progress

-article in Summitprogress

-remote monitoring for programming update

-follow up on tshirt and banner pricing

-prepping for bball season / football doc

-edit suites purchasing

-head end pricing at Eastworks

ECAT Board meeting of 8/27/08

Easthampton Community Access Television

Board Meeting

August 27, 2008

All members and employees present





1) Southampton

Diane Schindler visited from Southampton; she is a town advisor. The Southampton selectmen are interested in getting their meetings filmed, and Diane is interested in getting even wider services through PEG. They are just starting to renegotiate for a new contract with Charter, and it is a year overdue already. She is going to begin the process of negotiating for 3% in their next contract, and look into hiring an advisor to help them. ECAT would like to help build public support in their town by filming some meetings and school events, so residents can see the benefits of public access. ECAT will work up some prices for our services and stay in touch with Diane, since combining Southampton into ECAT’s operations in the future may make sense.

Southampton town meeting is Oct 7, and the next selectmen meetings are September 2, 9 , and 30



2. Minutes were passed – Becca motioned, Bob seconded



3. Ex Director Report



-Greg spoke with Karen at Mayor’s office about the remaining funds. The 20,000 + 56,000 received in May was the accrued money from the past few years, minus expenses that had been paid since the signing of the contract on April 1. This total was 76,000. The 56,000 received in June was the first installment for the year from Charter. The second installment will come in January, equaling roughly 56,000. After that, ECAT will receive one installment in full annuall yfrom Charter, in July for the beginning of the fiscal calendar each year.



-Van

The board would like the van to look finished and aesthetically pleasing, so Greg is going to work up quotes for this work and contact local contractors for trading their services and goods for advertising. He will do this after the board has come up with underwriting numbers for van advertising, as well as pricing for website, newsletter, Community Calendar, and pre- and post show underwriting spots.

Glyffy will get information from Greg about what kind of wood is needed and ask her husband about donating.

Lettering will be put on the van ASAP. Greg will submit to Puffer the design changes which include leaving room for sponsors on the right side of the van.

The van will be how we connect to the community in the coming months, so it is exciting to get it looking good (and functioning), and on the road!





Idea: park the van on a busy road location to increase the value of van-side advertising

Idea for slogan: “Hands on TV” with outline of hand for number 5





- Fall Festival, Sept. 20th

Things to Have:

We will bring van and park it in lot, as a visibility prop. Dohan will contact Eric at the Chamber about this.

A raffle with material donated from the Advocate, where people give contact info for our mailing list

Sign up sheet for workshops and program guide

Monitor with looped video of people walking by

Big computer monitor with text about what we offer, hooked up to laptop with loop playing

Donation bin for new van costs

We can walk to each table and talk to businesses about underwriting on van

One page flyer with bullet points – Dohan can get graphic design help, or Brian will do this

Suggestion box



Dohan spoke about using our current situation as an opportunity to garner interest and support, both with the community’s interest, and financially.





Timeline for upcoming projects:

Get van lettered and bring to concert series

Organize flyer, and several materials for Fall Festival

Work on carpentry and material donations and underwriting support to finish van

Work on equipment installation for van



After Fall Festival:

Van will get finished and get up and running with equipment

At least one workshop will be offered before January or so

New edit labs will be purchased and set up

Using the workshop example (community members in our studio in WBMS) we will continue to fundraise

More programming can be done with van to continue to increase visibility

Flywheel wiring installed





Next Board Meeting:

September 24 6:00 pm. Can be held at WBMS or Senior Center - TBD

On agenda:

Remaining items from this meetings’ unfinished agenda



Next Ex. Session: Tuesday September 2 6:00 pm Senior Center

ECAT Board Minutes from 7/31/08

ECAT Channel 5 Board Meeting 7/31/08
Present: Becca, Glyffy, Bob, Greg, Brian

1.Minutes
Minutes from June meeting were approved
2.Treasurer's Report
-WBMS rent will be renegotiated with them after Dec. 31, per a notice that Greg received from them
-$55,000 check received from treasurer, this is the half of the annual installment. They still haven't delivered the 70,000 that has accrued since the signing of the Charter contract (it was 90,000 that had accrued but they have given us 20,000 in May). The contract with the City states that we should have received it in full by now. Greg and Bob will draft email / letter to Mayor to clarify all of this.
-Voted to invest 50,000 from Op. Budget in 7 day CD. Bob motioned, Glyffy seconded
-Van is going well, just has a few more small expenses like locks and things to purchase for it
-Glyffy asked Bob to look into getting a credit card for the company, to be able to purchase items online and pay off at the end of each month. There will still be a limit to the amount (maybe $50 and under) that employees can use without board approval, and receipts will always be submitted for these smaller purchases to match to credit card statement at the end of the month.
3.Executive Director's Report
-We have gotten
-The van is going well – a tire had to be replaced, transmission filer, etc needed replacement. For titling, we are getting Puffer's to do decals. It will read:
“Easthampton Community Access Television” on sides and “Channel 5” on front, with phone # on back. Puffer will give estimate for this. We will use a green color that matches existing stripes on van.
-Becca and Brian will look into people who may be able to do logos and slogan proposals
-Southampton town advisor, Diane Schindler, and a Southampton town council member, will attend next meeting to discuss options of how they could be involved with ECAT by giving $ and having ECAT provide services. Board is concerned that this will stretch employees too thin, so we will just use the meeting with her to discuss what they may want, and not commit to anything.
-Before giving quote to Flywheel for the price of splitting wiring for filming in their new location in the Town Hall, we need to know if it is worth purchasing new, higher quality cables to improve signal quality. Greg and Brian proposed that we start with trying to clarify our signal by recording straight to hard drive, instead of to tape and transferring to hard drive, where we lose a lot of quality. A hard drive for the van (and studio if we use it there, too) to record to directly, and create backups on DVD and tape, will be $1375. This is the direction technology is going in, to “tapeless” format, so appears to be a forward-thinking investment. Also, if this cleans up signal then we can use wires we already own for Flywheel wiring. Board voted to purchase recording hard drive – Glyffy motioned, Bob seconded to purchase Data Video DN 300 for $1375.
4.Other Business:
-Health insurance for employees: family plan options were discussed, and percentage ECAT will cover toward expenses. Greg asked about some of the expenses built into the proposed budget, like training and conferences, that he sees as too high. Greg did not have a plan that he preferred. Decisions were made at Ex. Session regarding health insurance.
-School Committee needs to appoint a member to the ECAT board. We need to contact them about this as it is a good time at the beginning of the school year.

Next Meeting possibilities (Becca will check with Dohan):
August 27 (Wed is preferrable to everyone except Dohan)
Other options: Tues August 26 or Thursday August 28

ECAT Board Meeting

ECAT Board Meeting

June 25, 2008 6:00 pm

Present: Dohan Allen, Rebecca Rideout, Bob Schwobe, Glyffy Ennis-Yentsch, Greg Franceschi, Brian Oelberg


1.

Budget


-Bob will look into the amount taken each pay cycle for unemployment insurance and for ECAT’s half of taxes. This amount needs to be plugged into the projected budget for the next meeting.

-We need to check into the benefits being taken out of the account pre-taxed

-There was $90,000 saved up from the last two years of spending low amounts of money while at WBMS. The city has given all of the operating budget $, the capital budget $, and $20,000, but they still have $70,000 that they have not delivered. Becca has sent an email to the treasurer asking for a written letter of all expenses and the amounts and delivery dates of all payments projected. She had not heard back as of this meeting and offered to call and ask about the $70,000.

**As of 6/28 Becca has asked Bob to do this (or Glyffy, but was unable to get in touch with her), because she did not have time to do this this week and is going away for a week.**

-According to the contract with Charter the city gets the full 3% April 1 of each year and will deliver this amount minus 10% to ECAT within 45 days each year.

-ECAT will run on fiscal June – July year for this reason

-Bob brought up investing n a CD or money market, this will be brought up at next Ex. Session

-We have the Fed. ID number for exempt status for 501c3, but not the official title quite yet.


2. Property Discussion


-Franklin St. property still seems viable, it is on Iloop, has studio space and area to pull camera back into, may be able to construct out to enlarge studio space, office area upstairs (or apartment to rent for income), decent access to downtown area, garage for van, and electrical system has already been re-done for higher wattage power. Greg and Board will meet in coming week to look at property together.


3. Van


- Needs repairs, registration, and insurance. Dohan moved to release funds to get these things done, Becca seconded it. This will also give Greg and Brian work to do this summer outside of WBMS, which is only open until 3:00 pm during the summer. They will construct a removable studio on wheels for it.

-Greg will get bill of sale and title to Bob, who will take care of these things.

-Greg will check into parking options and security issues

-there will be a log kept of where the van goes, purpose, mileage, etc


4. Phone / Internet

Because the station is now paying for its own internet and phone line with Charter, the phone number has changed to : 413-203-1360.


5. Rent

-WBMS rent has now been raised to $300 / month


6. Computer updates / purchase requests


-The computer construction project that $ was requested for in early spring has now been completed and will be delivered and set up on Friday.

-Greg submitted a request for a new office computer, because his is over 10 years old. The board requested a documents that lists all equipment and states, and an estimate of what equipment may be needed in the coming year / 5 years / 10 years. The vote for this new computer will be held off until this is received, possibly voted on in next Ex. Session

-Since all media is being transferred to digital drives and backed up on DVDs, DVD boxes were requested. 1000 jewel cases for $217. Becca motioned, Dohan seconded the motion.


7. Station Insurance / Health Insurance

-Station insurance has been purchased and proof sent to City – when bill comes in Greg will pass this on to Bob

-Glyffy presented several health insurance rates. For family quotes, BCBS had a range of $991-1447, Fallon had $598-1158. Greg wants the finances to be the decider on a plan, not his preference of doctors.


Next General Meeting: Tuesday July 29 2008, 6:00 pm, Senior Center


Next Executive Session: Tuesday July 8 2008 5:45 pm Senior Center

ECAT Board Mtg Minutes from 4/2/08

ECAT Channel 5 Board Meeting
Print me here.
April 2, 2008

1.Minutes approved from meetings of Jan 23 and March 5

2. City Contract: Glyffy had visited Mayor Tauznik earlier that day and had the city contracts signed and in her hand. She will look over them for any typos, make sure the changes we wanted are in the contract, and sign and return to the mayor in the morning.

3. Financial Switch Over for Station / City: Once the contract is back to the mayor, we will receive a check with our money within a week, according to the mayor (but the city has up to 45 days to deliver it). The mayor would like us to clear all of our purchase orders and payments through the city by April 20. For this reason, necessary immediate actions were needed to set up the station’s finances. (below are the actions taken)

4. Overall Insurance Package: In order to be a separate entity and run the station, we need to be insured immediately, as stated in the City Contract. The Alliance for Community Media had provided Greg with quotes for ackages that include Comprehensive, Cablecasting, Equipment, and Board of Directors insurance. In order to have the funding to pay a downpayment to get this policy started, we will need to have a purchase order put through with the city, to have the insurance begin before we are separated rom the city. A vote passed to submit a purchase order for up to one thousand dollars for a downpayment on an insurance package. Becca motioned for this, Glyffy seconded it. Greg will also look into the possibility of worker’s comp’s inclusion in this package.

5. Workers Compensation Insurance: This will be necessary to become a separate entity as well, as stated in the City Contract. It was voted that Greg should secure this at no more than $400 annually per employee. If the rates are higher than this, Greg will contact the Board. Glyffy motioned for this, Bob seconded.

6. Paychex: Hiring Paychex to do the accounting and payroll had been discussed at previous meetings. It will be roughly $35 per pay cycle, times 26 pay cycles. This equals $910. The vote passed to have Greg set up the Paychex account for no more than $1000 annually (leaving some room for possible set up costs). We also hope to have a Paychex employee come in and set us up with software and training on how to use their system. They have offered this already. Vote included paying nomore than $150 for this if they do charge for this service. Bob motioned for this, Glyffy seconded.

7. Phone / Internet: A new phone line will need to be set up, separate from the school. Greg will try to keep the old phone number, or have the old number get forwarded to the new number for as long as possible. We will include broadband internet in our new phone package, as it will allow for faster down and up loads of video files. Greg will research prices between Verizon and Charter and get the cheapest package. Board voted to purchase whichever package is cheapest. Becca motioned for this, Glyffy seconded it.

8. Treasurer / accountant: Bob offered to be Treasurer. Glyffy will look into the regulations concerning board members having more than one title, as he is Vice President now. If he needs to give up that position, Nancy or Dohan will accept VP position. Paperwork will need to be changed to reflect this. It was decided that an accountant is not a necessary expense at the time. Once we have Paychex set up our accounting, Bob can take care of the monthly reports and disbursal of funds for purchases (with other board members’ approval of course). Becca motioned for this, Glyffy seconded.

9. WBMS rent update: June is now the extended deadline to review the current rent and policy with WBMS. Until then we will continue with the current rent rate.

10. Bank accounts: We will need to set up bank accounts into which we can put the transferred funds. Glyffy and Bob will set up two accounts (Operating/Spending account and Capital/Savings account) ASAP. The Capital funds may go into a 4% checking account if possible.

11. Equipment Purchase: Instead of buying the Mac that was approved for urchase at the March 5 meeeting, Brian and Greg proposed using a company that makes custom computers. The price will be $1209 instead of the approved $1399, and will have twice the memory and hard drive space, as well as a faster DVD burner and other features. Return policy on parts used to construct the computer was discussed. Tech support was discussed. This could be a great way to build our entire editing lab in the future, for a much cheaper price. The computer will still use all of the latest Mac software, and the software will be warrantied. It was decided that this a a good way to see if this is a viable way to get a high quality computer. Bob motioned for this, Becca seconded, it passed.

12. Budget: Cherry sheets for the last 8 months from the City were reviewed. Greg will break everything down into sections to show a samle budget for the coming year, based on expenditures from the cherry sheet. Becca also provided him with ideas of new categories for expenses that we will now be paying as a separate entity. Greg will provide this at next meeting, and expenses that we don’t have totals on can be reasearched.

13. Fiber Iloop: Greg presented several locations he had looked at for buying / renting. The Iloop can only be used to do live broadcasts but isn’t able to have us broadcast 24/7 through it. Therefore, if we move to a place that is along current Iloop, we will have to keep the head end at WBMS for actual broadcasting of all taped shows. However, the city will be using the 10% that is negotiated and stated in the City Contract to build fiber cable loop near Payson ave., Williston St, and near the high school. If a building is found near these locations, we can broadcast 24/7 from it, once the fiber loop is built (Greg will check into timeline for this).

A piece of property is for sale on Williston St. and Bob and Greg will look at it on Fri. April 4

Next meeting: Wednesday April 30 6:00 pm. WBMS

Next meeting / To do in near future:

Review budget breakdown and all above new changes and purchases

Ex. Session: discuss emloyee contracts: salaries, health insurance and 401 k discussin with budget in hand

Membership and underwriting discussion

ECAT Board Meeting of March 5, 2008

ECAT Board Meeting of March 5, 2008

Present: Nancy, Glyfy, Bob, Greg, Brian
Welcome to S. Do-Han Allen, new ECAT board member.

Agenda

* contract with city
* employee contracts update
* rules & procedures revision
* cori update
* real estate/rental possibilities
* Alliant insurance quote
* purchase requests
* van update
* irs $


Contract with the city: reviewed Art. 5.12 Disqualifications & 5.13 Compensation and Conflicts of Interest
Ask lawyer for definition or rewording of "close family". Clauses otherwise ok, standard contract language to
protect the nonprofit, the board and members from graft/nepotism. Each board member should receive a copy of language and insurance is being looked into.
Glyfy makes motion to approve. Nancy 2nds. Motion Passes.

Employee contracts update: the board has met and will meet again to finalize contract language. Exec. Director position will become salaried. Production Coordinator's title to be changed to Operations Manager [just don't call me late for dinner.] and will start working 32 hours/week as of this week, 3/5/08.
City considers full time to be 35 hours, five seven hour days plus the 1hr unpaid lunch. Our lunch has always been paid, and so that would be a 40hr week. Our benefits have been 'full time' (3 weeks paid sick & personal time, 3 weeks paid vacation) at 25 hours and the contract proposal keeps them the same.
Board will meet again in exec. session to discuss contracts when Rebecca returns.

Insurance options include Insurance Partnership and Mass Health Connector but it appears the Greg won't be income-eligible, so Glyfy is exploring other options.

Rules & Procedures revision: Local origination clause in 1998 (most current) rules & procedures requires 60% local origination. Greg motions to amend or remove this clause. Discussion re: ECAT Mission Statement, which stresses the importance of locally produced programming.
Do-Han motions to eliminate language. Bob 2nds. Motion passes.

Purchase Request: (see it here ) the station needs an iMac with a dvd burner to keep older macs viable and improve workflow. Networked 1tb hard drive will allow for more storage of digital video and editing files. Memory upgrade for pc. Wireless ethernet adapter to use WBMS broadband pending password from John Schott.
Approved by Board.

CORI Update: CORI form and letter were sent to active volunteers. So far we've CORI'd three volunteers and 1 staff. No response from school so far, Nancy notes it may take 2 weeks to 3 months. Unclear what we do with volunteers in the meantime. Other access stations in schools reported not having to comply with this, though some have separate entrances. Question of whether it is a violation of protected free speech rights. Board agreed that new workshop participants should not be cori'd, just as people using the gym or attending events are not cori'd. CORI will continue to be required for volunteers to work around kids/ in the schools. Some of our volunteers are also minors, so that raises another question.

Real Estate/Rental Update: current options include the machine shop behind Eastworks, the old town hall space, Paragon Arts & Industry?, Franklin Ave bakery house. We will be looking at the Franklin Ave house on Friday 3/7/08 at 2pm. Asking price is $225k, new heating system being installed. May need major upgrades. Great view for potential outdoor set. House is across from iLoop. No answer from Charter re: how much it will cost to connect.

Alliant Insurance: http://www.alliantinsurance.com/ Estimate of $5-6,000 for equipment insurance, also looking into director & officers insurance.

The Van: Greg motions to insure the van and get it fixed. Discussion over need for insurance before it being fixed, mechanic may be able to provide dealer plates so insurance not needed. Nancy suggests fire & theft insurance. Motion is ammended to repair van and purchase fire and theft insurance, but to wait on full auto insurance until it is driveable and we need it. Glyfy motions, Bob 2nds. Motion passes.

IRS: The IRS requires an application fee of $750 followed by 3-6 months of processing our 501(c)3 application. Nancy motions to approve, Bob 2nds. Motion carries.

Discussion of ECAT funding mechanisms, possibilities for in-kind services from local vendors, underwriting.

Next Meeting: Thursday, April 3, 2008.