2009-01-23 PNB Meeting Minutes

I.    Agenda
A motion was made to approve the agenda.
Yosh Yamanaka  proposed moving the Election Committee discussion up.  Seconded.  There was no objection.
Zaccai Free proposed moving the Nadra Foster issue up.   Kathy Davis seconded.  There was no objection.
Jamie Ross moved for a special order to go to executive session at 10:40 in order to have a full hour.  Kathy Davis seconded.  There was no objection.

Grace Aaron made a motion to move the Whistleblower issue to the end of the agenda.   Yosh Yamanaka seconded.  
The motion passed  11 in favor; 6 against, as follows:
   
Opposed: Nia Bediako, Evelyn Bethune, Acie Byrd, Mike Martin, Sarv Randhawa, Bonnie Simmons
In favor: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, Zaccai Free, Efia Nwangaza, George Reiter, Rob Robinson, Jamie Ross, Wendy Schroell, Joe Wanzala, Yosh Yamanaka

Jamie Ross moved to move discussions of the in-person LA meeting up.  Evelyn Bethune seconded. There was no objection.
The agenda was approved.

II.    Acknowledgments

III.   Election Committee Report and Motion.
Yosh Yamanaka made a motion as follows:

In order to properly clean and maintain Pacifica's database, the Election Committee recommends to the PNB the adoption of the following motions:
 
1. It is recommended that all five of the Pacifica station's listener and staff membership lists be sent out as soon as possible for an NCOA scan, after which the indicated corrections should be made to each station's database under the supervision of its Subscription Manager or functional equivalent as soon as reasonably possible. Cost of an NCOA scan is approximately $4 per thousand, or around $400 for Pacifica's 100,000 names. It is further recommended that this procedure should be repeated regularly thereafter approximately every 6 months as a prophylactic measure.
 
2. That for all election mailings, it is recommended that the National Election Supervisor research the best mailing options to insure receipt of corrected addresses, such as "Return Service Requested" or "Address Service Requested."
 
3. In order to save $48,500 to $67,500 in the next election, the Election Committee recommends that the PNB rescind its earlier motion mandating first class mailing of all ballots and instead adopt the following motion:
 
That Standard Class Mail be used for the future elections instead of First Class Mail, and that a CRE (Courtesy Return Envelope) instead of a BRE (Business Reply Envelope) be enclosed for return of ballots.

Nia Bediako moved to use the same mailing house that was used to mail the ballots for the 2008 election. 

The motion failed by 10 against, 4 in favor, 3 abstentions, as follows:

In favor: Nia Bediako, Evelyn Bethune, Acie Byrd, Sarv Randhawa
Opposed: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, Zaccai Free, Efia Nwangaza, George Reiter, Rob Robinson, Jamie Ross, Joe Wanzala, Yosh Yamanaka
Abstentions: Mike Martin, Wendy Schroell, Bonnie Simmons
                      
Yosh Yamanaka moved to extend discussion for 5 minutes.  
Kathy Davis seconded.  No objection.

Yosh Yamanaka called the question.

Nia Bediako moved to divide the motion into three parts.  
The motion failed by 11 against, 4 in favor, as follows:

In favor: Nia Bediako, Evelyn Bethune, Acie Byrd, Bonnie Simmons

Opposed: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, Zaccai Free, Efia Nwangaza, Mike Martin, George Reiter, Rob Robinson,
Wendy Schroell, oe Wanzala, Yosh Yamanaka

The main motion passed 12 in favor, 2 against, 2 abstentions as follows:

Opposed: Nia Bediako, Acie Byrd
In favor: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, Zaccai Free, Mike Martin, Efia Nwangaza, George Reiter, Rob Robinson, Jamie Ross, Wendy Schroell, Joe Wanzala, Yosh Yamanaka
Abstentions: Evelyn Bethune, Bonnie Simmons
                      
IV.    Nadra Foster
Zaccai Free proposed the following resolution:

Be it resolved that as listener sponsored network largely staffed by volunteers and community members, We deplore the decision by KPFA/Pacifica management to call on the Berkeley Police Department to remove Nadra Foster by force from the KPFA offices.
We request that Pacifica management propose a policy for so-called  "bannings" that include criteria and processes for such actions. These should be sent to the Pacifica National Board for review and comment.
Such criteria should:
- be incorporated in paid and unpaid employee agreements;
- stipulate that bannings are primarily done to protect paid and unpaid staff in the workplace from dangerous and threatening behaviors and to protect station assets, not as a means of settling personal scores.
- They should advise unpaid staff of how they can respond to such proposals;
and,
- they should ensure that paid and unpaid staff be given written notice of such "bannings".

Police should be called to remove someone from a Pacifica station, if and only if, that person is threatening the safety of paid and unpaid staff, or poses an obvious danger to the station's physical plant/ technical infrastructure.

Carolyn Birden seconded the resolution.

Jamie Ross proposed an amendment adding:  “and guests and volunteers” Carolyn seconded.

George Reiter proposed changing the motion to read:  “PNB requests that…”

Nia Bediako made a motion to extend by five minutes. No objection.

The main motion passed with no objection.

V.  PNB Meeting in LA
Bonnie Simmons summarized the logistics of the upcoming PNB meeting:  
Orientation at noon; KPFK report; Saturday day and evening session;  Sunday early morning executive session, ending at 2 or 3 on Sunday afternoon.

Grace Aron moved to invite Ursula R. to the meeting and to give her a half hour to speak. Efia Nwangaza seconded.

Nia Bediako moved to invite her to the New York meeting to save in transportation costs. No second.

The motion to invite Ursula R. passed 9 in favor, 5 against, 1 abstention as follows:

Opposed: Nia Bediako, Acie Byrd, Evelyn Bethune, Bonnie Simmons, Wendy Schroell
In favor: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, Zaccai Free, Efia Nwangaza, George Reiter, Rob Robinson, Joe Wanzala,
Yosh Yamanaka
Abstentions: Jamie Ross

VI.    PNB Delegate Status
Nia Bediako made the following motion:  

In light of the fact that both David Beaton and Lori Taguma appear to have submitted flawed applications, that the process be reopened for a period of 30 days for nomination and balloting. The process shall also be open to other qualified candidates. Until that process is completed current Affiliate members shall remain on the board.

Acie Byrd moved to  amend the motion to state that the PNB would appoint Lori Taguma to an at large position. No second.

Acie Byrd moved to extend the discussion by ten minutes.   Seconded.  Motion to extend failed, 10 opposed, 6 in favor,  as follows:

In favor: Nia Bediako, Acie Byrd, Bonnie Simmons, Ambrose Lane, Evelyn Bethune, Mike Martin
Opposed: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, Zaccai Free, George Reiter, Rob Robinson, Jamie Ross, Wendy Schroell, Joe Wanzala, Yosh Yamanaka

Nia Bediako read the main motion again.  The motion failed 9 against, six in favor, as follows:

In favor: Nia Bediako, Acie Byrd, Evelyn Bethune, Bonnie Simmons, Ambrose Lane, Mike Martin
Opposed: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, Mike Martin, Efia Nwangaza, George Reiter, Rob Robinson, Jamie Ross, Wendy Schroell, Joe Wanzala, Yosh Yamanaka

George Reiter moved to accept David Beaton and Efia Nwangaza as affiliate members of the PNB.  Motion passed, 9 in favor, 5 against, 2 abstentions, as follows:

Opposed: Nia Bediako, Acie Byrd, Evelyn Bethune, Zaccai Free, Ambrose Lane
In favor: Grace Aaron, Carolyn Birden, Kathryn Davis, George Reiter, Rob Robinson, Jamie Ross, Wendy Schroell, Joe Wanzala,
Yosh Yamanaka
Abstentions: Bonnie Simmons, Mike Martin
                  
The public session was adjourned at 10:43PM EST.

 

[These minutes were prepared by Donna Niemann, Secretary Pro-Tem]

These minutes were corrected and approved.