[Imc-members] April 2013 IMC Board Meeting Minutes

[David Green]

These minutes, with attachments, have been posted at http://www.ucimc.org/content/important-documents:
 
April 16, 2013
Attending: Gary
Storm, David Green, Carol Ammons, Durl Kruse, Rebecca Ginsburg, Danielle
Chynoweth, Rick Esbenshade, Rachel Storm, Martel Miller, Ken Salo (quorum
achieved)
Recorder:
David Green
A.      Additions to proposed agenda
·         Given lack
of quorum, discussion of issues regarding electronic voting, which is approved
by Roberts Rules of Order; IMC uses by-laws, not Roberts
B.      Approval of minutes from 3-19-13
Ø  Approved by consensus
C.      Public Comment Period (Guests)
None
D.      Working Group Updates (15
minutes)
Rick Esbenshade:
Public i update
·         7 core
members of collective
·         Solid
finances
·         3000 copies
10X per year
·         Always
looking for new material
·         Danielle:
How to access broader public, using internet, IMC listservs, including Members,
listed in regular programming communications
·         Rachel: Suggest utilize social media
 
E.       Operation Manager’s Report
(Carol)
·         New doors
completion is imminent; received insurance check for door; 
·         Water
leaking in building due to heavy rains; all carpet removed from 2nd floor; furniture damaged; wall buckling; Dave Johnson will look at it; options
for repair of roof; 
·         Need to plan
move of Zines in order to rent Media Room; discussion of change of keys in
order to encourage rental of Media Room; also, use of sweat equity to access
Media Room space
·         On May 5th locks will change in order to limit access to Lobby; have support of post
office; approx. 3 weeks from when
signage is made this will go into effect; Mr. Russell will open at 7 a.m.; Up
center will lock doors at 7 p.m.; need to make sure to maintain that
consistency, or might revert in a few months; shouldn’t need to hire someone to
open & close doors
 
1.       Report on
National Conference on Media Reform (w/Danielle Chynoweth)
 
2.       Other 
 
F.       Board Committee Reports 
1.       Standing Committee
Chairs/Officers
·         VOLO
Agreement (see attachment)
o   Agreement to
trade space on RFU tower for:
o   internet
connectivity support
o   internal
network support
o   set up phone
service
o   voiceover IP
phones
o   300 free
minutes
o   extensions
o   one hour of
desktop support per month
o   set-up fee
for each phone
o   $1,000 total
set-up fee, paid for by working groups and IMC
o   3 year
contract
Ø  Motion to authorize Gary Storm as Board President to sign contract
with Volo (see attachment at end of minutes)
Ø  Passed by unanimous consent
·         Unresolved
tech needs need to be addressed before Chris Ritzo leaves CU; special committee
in process of dealing with those questions
·         Budget
deficit—Follow-up discussion on report/recommendations from March Board meeting
2.       Finance Committee (Durl Kruse) 
·         Audit in
May, $6,700 allocated to pay for that
·         Have updated
QuickBooks; Kelly will do taxes by hand to save money; upgrade for 2013, will
not need to purchase Intuit software; remote access working fine now
·         Haven’t got
information for replacement cost of entire building; suggest saving on
insurance by not estimating replacement cost of building as exists; 
·         Needs to
address heating pump issue over summer while able to, should be on agenda
 
Ø  Motion to implement protocol for evictions, as stated below:
The IMC first seeks
to resolve late payments, failure to pay, or other lease violations amicably
with the occupant/tenant.  Efforts to
contact the occupant/tenant will be made by the IMC Office Manager through
personal contact, email, phone, and/or letter.  The IMC Office Manager will document all efforts of contact and share
them with the IMC Finance Committee.  If
reasonable efforts to resolve the collection of monthly fees or other lease
violations are unsuccessful the following formal and legal steps may be taken. 
1.       After the fifth day of the second month of
non-payment, a written notice will be posted on the door of the Occupant.  A certified letter (ten day notice) will be
mailed to the Occupant including specific lease agreement language regarding
non-payment and the terms under which the matter can be resolved.  These may include arrangements such as making
up missed payments at the end of the lease, making partial payments of the
arrears along with regular monthly payments, or corrections taken regarding
other specific lease violations.
 
2.       The IMC Board will be informed when a
certified letter (ten day notice) is mailed to the Occupant containing the
reasons for the lease violation.
 
3.       Ten days after mailing the certified letter,
if no response is received from the Occupant or resolution achieved, IMC Office
Manager may upon approval of the IMC Board Officers and Committee Chairs:       
A.) Enter the
occupant/tenant space, remove all of the possessions, lock them in a secure
location for 30 days, and begin the search for a new occupant/tenant, or 
B.) File a complaint
with the clerk of the court, have the complaint served upon the
occupant/tenant, have the clerk’s office schedule a hearing, and attend the hearing
to receive an Order of Eviction.
4.       If the lease violation is egregious and/or a
dangerous threat to the safety and security of IMC and its other
occupant/tenants, the IMC Office Manager upon approval of the IMC Board Officers and Committee Chairs shall
immediately secure the room and remove the occupant/tenant while forgoing the
formal steps of eviction.
 
Ø  Passed by Unanimous Consent
 
Ø  Motion to alter accounting provisions, as stated below:
ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT
PROCEDURES MANUAL
Section “OTHER FINANCIAL
SAFEGUARDS”
New Policy
“Working Groups
Financial Relationship to the IMC”
IMC Working Groups
are a legal entity of the UC-IMC.  All
finances of Working Groups are subject to the oversight and control of
UC-IMC.  All revenues and expenditures of
Working Groups are to be submitted and reported to the UC-IMC bookkeeping
department on a regular basis.  Working
Groups are not permitted to establish different accounting systems or separate
bank accounts from UC-IMC.  
Working Groups retain
autonomy to raise their own revenues and make decisions regarding their
expenditures as long as they do not violate any legal statute or law governing
501c3 organizations.  The UC-IMC
bookkeeping department will provide timely financial reports to Working Groups
as requested.
Books to Prisoners
will be grandfathered and exempt from this policy.
Ø  Passed by Unanimous Consent
·         Discussion
of possible amendment regarding having treasurer on bank account of Books To  Prisoners
3.       Building/Facilities Committee
(Chair is vacant; Carol Ammons)
·         Urgent need
for committee chair...and members
·         Roof/drain
leaks
·         Door repair 
·         See Tech Support Plan (attached,
end of minutes)
4.       Personnel Committee (Deloris
Henry) 
Systematically
going through policy
5.       Fundraising Committee (Danielle
Chynoweth) 
Disclosure to board
that Carol Ammons (IMC Operations Manager) has won a seat on Urbana city
council and will serve beginning on May 1st2013; we have applied
for social service funding from the City of Urbana; Carol will not be permitted
to participate in this effort. She did not participate in preparation of
application to this point. She will not be involved in the approving of funding
by Urbana; she will disclose potential conflict of interest to city; she will
have to provide written disclosure of conflict of interest to council prior to
its consideration.
 
·         The
following statement was submitted to the IMC Board by Fundraising Committee
Chair Danielle Chynoweth:
 
Dear board members, 
 
As chair of the fundraising committee, I prepared and submitted an
application on April 8th for $26,000 to the City of Urbana to renew social
service funding supporting the Indy Media and Arts Lab, a summer program
supporting youth ages 10-15 and senior citizens with a focus on low income
Urbana residents.
 
As you know, on April 9th, Carol Ammons won a seat on Urbana City
Council. In anticipation of this, and the potential conflict of interest, it
presents, I have reached out to the Grants Manager and Attorney at the city to
get some guidance. Their response is
below.

Last night at our board meeting, I informed the board that Carol Ammons did not
participate in crafting the application. I attended the mandatory meeting at
the city and prepared the grant. 
 
I also informed the board that Carol Ammons shall and will not
participate in the consideration by the City at any level of the City's process
for recommending and approving funding to social service applicants.
 
I am preparing a disclosure of conflict of interest to add to our
application, seeking guidance from the city on wording. Carol will have to
provide a written disclosure of the conflict of interest, once she has been
sworn in.
 
·         Response from
Grants Coordinator, City of Urbana:
 
Danielle –
It was a nice meeting you today at the CSSF Technical Assistance
training. I have received information from our legal department about how the
UC-IMC can proceed with their application under the circumstances of a possible
conflict of interest. Below is the response, please let me know if you need
additional information or have any questions.
 
UC-IMC must disclose the conflict of interest involving Ms. Ammons
since she is a newly-elected Council member. It is entirely possible that she
will be sworn in before approval of the social service funding is made by the
Council. Section 2-207 of the City’s municipal code provides:
 
(a) No elected official or citizen appointee may participate in, vote
upon, or otherwise act on any matter in which that person is directly or
indirectly financially interested. For purposes of this sub-paragraph, a person
shall be deemed to be financially interested in any contract, grant,
appropriation, or legislative enactment that is made with, to, or for the
benefit of that person, to any firm, partnership, association, corporation, or
cooperative association as to which the person is a board member, director, or
officer. No conflict shall be deemed to exist under this subparagraph as to any
legislative enactments that affect the elected official or citizen appointee
only to the extent that members of the general public are affected. 
 
(b) No elected official or citizen appointee may participate in, vote
upon, or otherwise act on any matter in which that person has a conflict of
interest as defined by any Illinois or federal law or regulation.
 
While Ms. Ammons may not have an actual financial interest in UC-IMC,
as a board member, officer or employee, she certainly has an indirect financial
interest since her election to the City Council and/or her presence as a seated
member (when that occurs in May) can be said to have influence on whether
UC-IMC’s funding application is approved. Please also note sub-part (b) of the
ordinance. If she is an employee, she clearly has a direct financial interest
in the success of UC-IMC. If UC-IMC otherwise qualifies to submit a request for
funding (absent the conflict of interest issue), the organization should be
informed that Ms. Ammons will not be permitted to participate in any manner in
connection with such application or its consideration by the City at any level
of the City’s process for recommending and approving funding to social service
applicants. In all events, a written disclosure of a conflict of interest or
potential conflict of interest must be included. Also, once she is sworn in as
a Council member, Ms. Ammons will have to provide a written disclosure of the
conflict of interest unless the Council has already voted on the application
(or if the application is not submitted to the Council for approval).
 
Thanks,
Jenell L. Hardy
Grants Coordinator II
City of Urbana
400 South Vine Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801
 
·         Also submitted $500 grant for Allied Media
Conference in June
·         Rachel Storm has been accepted for Zine workshop
·         New Jim Crow proposal also submitted
·         Propose catered dinner at IMC to support
delegation
 
6.       Program Committee (Gary Storm) 
See minutes
from meeting
G.     Additional Action Items
H.     Discussion Items
1.       Upcoming
Allied Media Conference (Danielle Chynoweth)
2.       Upcoming
meeting with FCC to discuss issues related to community media (Danielle
Chynoweth)
Consumers’
Union meeting in Washington D.C., May 14-17; also lobby FCC, Danielle would
like to represent IMC to FCC
3.       Suggest no
further initiative to contact attorney David Bailie regarding potential lawsuit
 
I.        Next meeting: May 21, 2013 at
6:00 p.m.
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