LAKES REGION PUBLIC ACCESS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Meeting Notes forMay 28, 2013
The meeting was called to order at 6:06 p.m. Directors in attendance were Ken Curley, Chairman; Bob Longabaugh, Secretary; Joe Jesseman, Treasurer; Station Manager Denise Beauchaine, and member Chan Eddy. Also in attendance and filming was staff videographer Bob Daniel. Absent were members Carol Granfield, Bob Hamel, Nancy LeRoy and Phil Warren. The Chairman noted that a quorum was not present and, therefore, there could be no official actions taken and whatever transpired among those present would be considered "informational."
Approval of Minutes: Without a quorum the minutes of the April 30 meeting could not be acted upon.
Public Comment: Present were Doug Conley and Claire Lefevre of the Central Baptist Church, located in Belmont. They expressed their concern that if Belmont decides not to pay their LRPA dues for 2013/14, their church services would no longer be shown on LRPA's Channel 25 after June 30. It came out in the discussion that the video of their services is edited by Claire, and she is a resident of Laconia. Laconia being a dues paying member of LRPA permits Claire to submit whatever she wants to be shown on LRPA.
Bob inquired if LRPA could be doing more to aid the church in their video endeavors and the answer was to be consistent in airing their programs in accord with the play-times they show in the cards they distribute to the congregation. Much discussion ensued in regard to the difficulties in doing so with the variable times of the church services butting against fixed time slots already allocated for the days the Baptist Church also wants to be on the air. Reconciliation was not accomplished during the meeting.
Belmont Issues. Turning to the promulgated agenda at 6:27 p.m., Chairman Ken read the letter of May 28 received from K. Jeanne Beaudin, Town Administrator of Belmont. The letter stated that the Board of Selectmen at their May 20 meeting voted not to pay their PEG fee of $15,067.50 for the period starting July 1, 2013, although representatives of the First Baptist Church would be appearing at the Board's June 3 meeting to ask for a reconsideration of that decision.
Belmont pointed out that their meetings are not being videotaped for the lack of a volunteer. It was thought that LRPA could send a videographer to record their June 3 meeting inasmuch as their "paid for" membership does not expire until June 30.
Laconia Equipment Recommendations. Ken observed that this was mostly a reminder to himself to follow-up on recommending which ancient hardware should be replaced.
Health Insurance. Joe reported that the changes initiated months ago had finally taken effect and the insurance outlay had dropped $300 a month. He went on to say that he would still be pursuing other savings by following up on leads supplied by Phil Warren and others.
Member 2013/2014 Billing. Denise reported that the amended [flat-lined] bills had all been sent out with the explanatory letter drafted by Phil. For the purpose of clarity all acknowledged that Phil's product was a very positive contribution.
Financial Report: Treasurer Joe pointed out that the spike in expenses was created by above normal equipment purchases and the jump in Workman's Compensation. Everything else was "normal." Even so, Joe reported that LRPA will be out of business in January of 2014 if more income is not brought in by that time.
Station Manager's Report: Denise reported that it was time for Shane to do the annual maintenance on the server, which may amount to nothing more than a thorough cleaning. If so, $400-500 should cover it for this year.
Denise also noted that graduations and related events make this LRPA's second busiest period of the year (with the Children's Auction being first).
Jackie LeBlanc has commenced soliciting underwriters with her compensation still to be determined.
Ken brought up that he has pursued streaming with Shane and Phil and there is a good possibility that LRPA might be able to provide it to the Consortium members cheaper than them undertaking it themselves. That would be a win-win situation for all.
Studio Monitors. Bob explained that after seeing the same show on Channel 24 as on Channel 25 for two nights running he sent an e-mail to staff at 11:45 p.m. and Shane responded within ten minutes that he fixed it by restoring Channel 24 to the usual Bulletin Board programming. Bob's concern was that if there had been monitors in the studio showing what the viewers were seeing on Channels 24, 25, and 26, the duplication would have been noticed and corrected the next working day. He had previously donated three old TV sets for the purpose of monitoring the three channels simultaneously, but two of the sets were so ancient that they could not tune to channels above 17. It was decided to use the one workable TV to monitor Channel 25 immediately and seek the donation of two more TV's to cover Channels 24 and 26.
Huot Representative To The LRPA Board. Bob inquired whether the letter had been sent to the School Superintendent seeking a replacement for Scott Davis on the LRPA Board. Denise questioned whether the Superintendent was the correct person to receive the request and it was determined that the letter should be sent to the Laconia School Board.
Outreach And Marketing. About 15 minutes were spent on brainstorming what might be productive in bringing in additional members and revenues to LRPA. No decisions were made without having a quorum present.
Next Meeting: There were no objections to having the next meeting on June 25.
Adjournment: The time was 7:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Corporate Secretary