PUBLIC RADIO IN MID-AMERICA (PRIMA)
Board Conference Call
December 14, 2004
2:30 p.m. ET
Minutes
Present: Patty Wente KWMU (President); Dorie Vallillo WIUM (Treasurer); Christina Kuzmych WFIU (Board Member #2/serving as Secretary); Tim Eby WOSU (Past-President; Cleve Callison WMUB (Secretary/serving as Vice-President); Bill McGinley WOI, Board Member #1.
I.. Meeting began at 2:35 p.m. ET .
II. PRIMA Winter Meeting.
Dates are set for February 16 and 17. Cleve has squared away the hotel details. Will continue to send reminder out to PRIMA members with registration information. Is still working on the agenda. NPR presence will include Dana Rehm; Mike Riksen will talk about the new Congress; Maria Thomas from NPR.ORG has a presentation; NPR News Initiative presentation in collaboration with PRNDI and PRPD — they’re trying to get a grant from the Knight Foundation. APM and PRI to do a presentation and possible sponsorship of meal. Texas Public Radio will work on a reception. Prima Business Meeting; possible attorney’s session. Possible invite to Kathleen Cox , Bob Coonrod, Vinnie Curren, or Greg Schnirring . Coonrod has at some point attended PRIMA. Cleve will send out tentative agenda for Board to peruse. Patty suggested a session on cultivating major donors and/or tackling capital campaigns. Last hour of the conference could be a Feedback on PRIMA Priorities session. Several people had asked for time to be set aside for less structured discussion of major issues affecting radio. Tim suggested expanding the NPR.ORG session to include Public Interactive. Tim also suggested a session on station updates – managers could give a brief report on what is going on in their stations. This has worked well at other regional conferences.
III. Planning for next Board meeting.
The next Board meeting will take place January 4 at 2:30 pm .
IV. Discussion about PRLF meeting for 2006.
Patty stated concern after discussion at the last NPR Board meeting about splitting up the PRLF and Hill Day functions. This would entail moving the PRLF meeting to another date and/or location. Splitting the two functions would create difficulty for licensees that don’t have the budget for two trips. Also, university licensees may not be able to get the nod to travel to a lobbying activity. However, if it’s coupled with the Leadership Conference, university administrations may be more inclined to look favorably on the trip. Cleve suggested a PRIMA resolution in favor of combining PRLF and Capitol Hill Day be sent out to the PRIMA Board for official acceptance.
V. Nominations Committee.
Cleve reminded that nominations for the PRIMA Board need to go to members 60 days before the official vote. Patty will talk to Craig Beeby to remind him of the deadlines.
Addendum: ( December 15, 2004 ) The nominating committee had completed their work and unanimously recommended the following:
Section 6 of the PRIMA By-Laws in relation to “Vacancies” states … “Vacancies that may occur on the Board of Directors and/or elected offices, with the exception of the office of President and the Immediate Past President, shall be filled by appointment of the Board of Directors. The appointee shall serve until the next regular election.”
The next “regular election” is the annual Fall 2005 meeting.
VICE PRESIDENT
PRIMA President Patty Wente has appointed Cleve Callison Vice President to fill that vacant position.
SECRETARY
Christina Kuzmych was appointed Secretary by President Wente to fill that position created by Cleve’s appointment to VP. Christina only needs confirmation by board vote.
BOARD POSITION VACANCY
With Christina’s appointment as Secretary, this creates a board vacancy and Jon Schwartz has asked to be considered for the open seat. At this time, no other PRIMA members have expressed an interest in the open board position. With our understanding of the by-laws as outlined in Section 6, President Wente can appoint John Schwartz or whomever she desires with the board’s approval until the next regular election which is in the Fall of 2005. At that time, all three positions can be voted on by the full membership.
Both Jon Schwartz and Christina Kuzmych have agreed to be considered and only need approval by the board to fill those positions until the Fall 2005 annual meeting. With the submission of this email, our duty as the PRIMA Nominating Committee has been filled.
VI. Meeting adjourned at 3:05 p.m. ET .
Submitted December 14, 2004
Christina Kuzmych
(Board Member #2/serving as Secretary)