CAB MINUTES: FEBRUARY 2013

CAB Minutes

2/4//2013

 

Present: Joyce Lannert (Chair), Judith Moldovar Cholst (Vice Chair), Steven Rapkin (Vice Chair), Shavonne Johnson (Secretary), Michael Bauman, Elinor Fuchs, Sarah Lenigan, Harriett Olsen,

 

Absent: Matt Bancroft, Renee Cherow-O’Leary, Lue Ann Eldar, Beth Knobel, Lisa Labrado, Kate Rath, MJ Robinson, David Tereschuk

 

Board of Trustees: Alan Weiler and David Caplan

 

Joyce opens meeting at 7:10pm

 

Joyce describes purpose of CAB to audience, review of agenda for any changes needed, asks for a motion for approval

 

There is a motion which is then seconded.

 

Public Comment

 

Joyce asks if there are members of the public attending and if they wish to comment.

 

Audience Member Steve - Inquires about the relationship within station to journalist and J-Schools.  He wants the station to reach out and find funding to have those students out there covering such topics as the effects of Hurricane Sandy.  He wants them to be used to report in areas that lack coverage.  He also wants information found in underserved areas to get beyond the station, but is unsure by what means that it is best to happen.

 

CAB Recruitment

 

Recruitment Committee Report - Harriet Co-chair (Co-chair Steve Rapkin, Elinor Fuchs) presents (to CAB and audience) and recommends the CAB:

 

 -Recruit more members because there is too much work for the current amount of members. CAB should go from 16 to 25 members.

-Do more proactive recruiting and get people with a wide variety of backgrounds.

-Create a more compelling on-air recruitment message.

-Create a better timeline to ensure CAB has a slate to present to governance board at board meeting in June.

-Consider having alternate members who would be on a waiting list in case a member leaves the CAB before their 3 year term is complete, though this would require a change in by-laws.

-Consider inviting particular individuals to join the board in order to branch out from current make-up of the board, which includes members working in law, education, journalism, non-profit, dance, government, theater, clergy, and finance. Other groups the CAB may want to target are immigrant communities, for-profit business community, real-estate, science, medicine, professional music and other boroughs outside such as Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, SI, and NJ.

 

Recruitment Committee Recommended Time-line:

February - CAB needs to have a list of the kind of members it needs to target by months end

March - Craft on-air announcement

April - Announcement plays on-air

May - Review and interview candidates for CAB

Early June - A list of candidates to present to CAB and then to BOT

 

Joyce - Explains the process of interviewing for the CAB. Only a small sub-committee of about 3 members would be involved in the interview process and it needs to be the same 3 members conducting all interviews.

 

Judith - CAB should be trying reach out to such committees as professional musicians because of WQXR being such a big part of NY Public Radio.

 

Sarah - Suggests that even members who recommend a candidate should still have the referral submit a resume to the sub-committee.

 

Judith - Members could suggest people they know who might be a good fit for the committee.

 

Elinor - Suggests that the CAB recruitment committee should be more public about the process for who is chosen for an interview.  A list of candidates recommended by current members should be previewed by the full CAB before the sub-committee narrows down the list. Suggests each CAB member recommend candidates to the CAB for feedback before inviting them.

 

Judith - We need to delegate the selection process just like the interview process.

 

Joyce - Agree with Sarah’s suggestion to reach out to people to submit a resume.  It is fair to have all candidates submit a letter and resume, which keeps everyone equal for consideration.

 

Judith - Suggests calling up and having announcements made at organizations that we want to reach out to for CAB candidates.

 

Joyce - Wonders whether Partners that Brenda has might be good candidates to join. The CAB should be looking to recruit members also who are social media savvy. Also, the CAB needs to have a broader outreach from station announcements - CAB could use the Partners and Facebook page for these as well.

 

Audience Member - Notes that she listens all day long and only heard the CAB meeting announcement today.

 

Joyce - Asks CAB’s thoughts on having the CAB zero-in on candidates since it is already mid-February

 

Judith - We should each circulate recommendations to the entire CAB and then ask if they have any recommendations, especially with certain organizations.

 

Elinor - It sounds like we may need to sell the CAB to them if potential candidates are not self-selecting to join already.

 

Joyce - Last year, the CAB only brought on four new members and we have to consider how to bring a large new group and bring them up to speed.  I support the idea of the alternates because members who are even in year one have not been able to keep up with their assignments.

 

Alan (BOT) - That (alternates) has never occurred on a board level before, but we could consult council and amend the by-laws.

 

CAB Member - If all our seats are not filled then it doesn’t make since to have alternates.  

 

Joyce - Closes out recruitment discussion by suggesting the committee send a note to everyone to post a recruitment message on their Facebook page.  Suggests the Recruitment Committee take the lead in writing a more compelling message.

 

May Interface Meeting

 

Joyce - The CAB’s next topic is the May interface meeting. The CAB was planning to approach key personnel from the station, key people in the industry, and municipal leaders about planning and how decisions will be made for NYC and NJ when it comes to storm preparedness in the future.

 

-Brenda took the CAB’s proposal to WNYC council to review and the response was that it was out of the CAB purview to do that with the station.

 

-The CAB could go forth and have the meeting as a Forum, but it would not be an Interface with the station, but we could still invite them. It would take place in the Greene Space.

 

-Elinor - Suggests CAB make announcements to groups outside of the on-air announcements.

 

Alan (BOT) - The CAB needs to make it clear that the CAB is representing the public and not the NY Public radio station in any way. You cannot put government officials and station people in the same room then it makes it a station project, which it is not. You can gather information and recommendations for the station as to what the public is interested in hearing more coverage of on the station.

 

Joyce - There is confusion because everything the CAB does has to be vetted by the station, but then the CAB is told we are independent.

 

Elinor - Brings up WAMU and how their board works

 

David (BOT) - It used to be that the CAB would take certain issues or certain on-air shows and have discussions. They had large crowds and great discussions.

 

Joyce - These Interface meetings came out of meetings with the station and the station was excited about them and cooperative.

 

Alan (BOT) - Recalled a CAB report when members did recommendations for individual shows and then presented them to the board. For instance, The Takeaway is a show that received a lot of discussion on the board.

 

David (BOT) - The CAB could come up with more topics that would be great for community discussions that the station would be willing to work more on with the CAB.

 

Joyce - The original Interface meeting was for the station to hear what the municipalities, in relation to major storm preparedness, were planning to do and then the station could hear what ideas are coming forth.

 

Sarah - Is it a conflict of interest to ask station-specific questions to the potential panel?

 

Alan (BOT) - When considering who to invite, you don’t want to create false expectations before the CAB knows whether the station is interested.

 

Elinor - Could there be a partnership where all the stations entities could work together on this planning topic?

 

Alan (BOT) - If it is not made clear that the CAB is not the station then the station may have a problem with the CAB inviting city officials for a meeting.

 

Joyce - The CAB has been working to try to be more meaningful to the station.  Are we comfortable with inviting these individuals for a Forum hosted by the CAB?

 

Sarah - With a specific topic the CAB can reach out to specific groups to get attendees.

 

Elinor - The CAB’s original thought was to take ideas to the news side of the station and ask how they could collaborate on this.

 

David (BOT) - Suggests that he and Alan should work on having a more collaborative effort between CAB and WNYC.  They will work to find a person to have initial conversation with on collaboration.  When is your next meeting?

 

Joyce - The next CAB meeting is March 15, 2013, but we need all the time between now and May to start planning for the meeting.

 

Steve - I think it is still useful whether Forum or Interface to go forward with putting a panel together.

 

Elinor - This Interface could be the first thing we do in September if it would benefit from more planning time.

 

Harriet - I would be happy to have the meeting, but should the CAB work with the station to smooth out this relationship first?

 

Joyce - The CAB could still have this intended meeting and the issues that come out of this meeting could be used for a future Interface.

 

Alan (BOT) - What is your time range?  

 

Joyce - We need to move forward because we want someone from the Deputy-mayor’s office and PlaNYC 2030, Climate Center, Regional Plan Association, Klaus Jacobs from Columbia University, so both private and public institutions in order to provide wide range of information to the public.

 

Elinor - As a possible alternative, could the CAB get that May date and get someone from the station who reports on climate change to address the CAB and the public with no panel?  We want to get a sense of the station’s short range and long range coverage.

 

Steve - Suggests CAB should move forward with the panel planning.

 

Judith - Recommends CAB should keep the panel small.

 

Joyce reads list of volunteers for the May planning sub-committee - Sarah, LuAnn, Steve and MJ

 

Motion to close the meeting

 

Joyce closes meeting at 9pm.