ECAT Board Meeting 23 January 2008

ECATBoard Meeting ( To Print click here )

01.23.08

Absent:Nancy DiRocco


1.Approvalof Minutes

Glyffymotioned to approve, Bob seconded, all approved



2. City Agreement

Mayorwill correct the payment schedule so all language referring to it is “twice ayear”.



Boarddiscussed the fact that the City has asked for 10% of our annual operatingbudget by referencing a clause in the Agreement, in which we are required togive them an undetermined amount of $ for “PEG related services”. It was decided that Glyffy will contact him to ask what kind of PEG related services hewill be using the $ for, and if that will be information that is made availableto the public. This is a last minuteaddition that the City has made to the Agreement that makes a huge differencein our Operating Budget, and this needs to be disputed. Glyffy will take the first step by setting upa time to discuss it with him.



Boarddiscussed Verizon’s responsibility to town if they start offering services toresidents. Greg will look into the regulations that are in place for companiessuch as Verizon entering town and being required to give Public Access funding- he believes Verizon does fall under that regulation but will report back.



Boardalso discussed the fact that Charter can use public access to their advantageto sway customers to stay with Charter instead of going to satelliteservices. When public access providesvaluable programming to the community, Charter can retain customers because ofthis asset.



3. Town Hall location option: Gregwill set up a time to meet, days and times were discussed. It is almost definitely too small, but wewill look at the space and think about at least wiring it for future Flywheelshoots.

Eastworkshas a $1000 / month space of 2700 square feet. That would be enough space for us. Greg will look into this.



4. The van cannot be fixed until it is registered, so it will stay in storage for now.



5. Paychex is $34.29 per billing cycle. This seems to be a good option to use for our paychecks and accounting, but vote wasn’t held because we await a report from Nancy on findings and a final agreement with City.



6. Greg presented insurance packages and costs that other local stations have. A good option sounds like Alliant company, that offers a group pricing through the Alliance for Community Media. Greg will get a quote from Aliant.



7. Votes for Purchases



-There is a local Mass Access conference. This is a keytime for Greg and Brian to be talking other stations and learning aboutstarting up in a new location, nonprofit tips, and general community networkingwith other Massachusettsstations. It will be under $200 fortheir conference fee and travel. Boardpassed for tis spending unanimously.

-There is a $30 start up kit for nonprofit community TVstations. Board declined to purchase this as we have already done most of thesteps that instructions are given for.

-$750 application fee to IRS that needs to be sent in withFederal 501c3 application. Board decidedto hold off on this, and therefore applying for a nonprofit status, until the10% cut to our Operating Budget by the City is resolved. Thiscut can effect our budget substantially and was not taken into account when webudgeted for our nonprofit status expenses. We will hold off on paying this fee and applying until we have made afinal decision to go ahead with it.



8. We talked about health plans that other local stations offer, that Greg and Becca found. Glyffy presented information on the Insurance Partnership who can provide assistance to employers to provide financial assistance to their employees for health insurance. She will look into a few questions that were raised for the next meeting.



9. CORI check policy update

Glyffyfound that the coding system for CORI check results has over 1900 codes fordifferent offenses. Questions raised indiscussion such as: will school continue to pay for CORI checks for allvolunteers that will be filming school events, even when we aren’t operatingwithin the Middle School? Do we CORIcheck people before they take a workshop, or when they sign up to volunteer tofilm for an event with children present? It could cut back on volunteering if we make all volunteers, even thoseinterested in only filming non-children events, get a CORI check (and expensiveto run so many checks). This discussionwill be continued again at next meeting, as no apparent resolution could bereached without even more information. Greg will check into other station’spolicies, both stations inside schools and those that are not.



Executivesession was postponed to Wed. January 30 at the Senior Center,5:30 pm to discuss employee contracts.



Nextmeeting:

February27, 6:00 pm, ECAT station within White Brook Middle School



Onagenda:

Rulesand Procedures updates for Station

CORIupdate and policy discussion

10%City cut from our Operating Budget: update with Glyffy – perhaps an updatebefore then so we can take action?

Otherreal estate/rentals available

Alliantinsurance quote

Employeecontract update



Nancy- it would be greatto get a recommendation from you for an accountant for next meeting, and info.on what other local companies use for paychecks and accounting/tax services