ECAT Board Mtg Minutes from 4/2/08

ECAT Channel 5 Board Meeting
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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