HCTV Board Meeting
October 29, 2020
Minutes
Present: Mike Gray, Rip Keller, Leif Goldberg, Wiz Dow, Rachel Kane, Kurt Bos
Absent: Robin Grant
Guest: Jim Kelty, formerly of GMATV.
Rachel called the meeting to order at 7:04
Minutes:
No additions or corrections. Mike moved and Kurt seconded acceptance. Unanimous approval.
Profit &Loss statement:
Leif explained the COVID money we got from the state, saying that while the station has not
made any major changes, shifting ways of working caused some new expenses and shifted in old
expenses. Making the shifts and working in the new ways also took more of his time. All of that the
state money paid for.
Mike asked for clarification of some of the terms on the report.
Kurt moved and Mike seconded acceptance. Unanimous approval.
Balance statement:
Mike asked for some clarification about the CDs. Leif pointed out that the depreciation numbers
haven’t been updated, because the bookkeeper’s eyes have begun to fail. She hasn’t been able to keep
up with inputting data.
Kurt moved and Kip seconded acceptance. Unanimous approval.
Budget:
Rachel asked for clarification on the website design proposal. Ours is mounted on WordPress,
and Leif discussed some of the limitations of the platform. We discussed how to go about developing a
new one, probably not using WordPress, which makes the development a lot more complicated and
expensive. Several board members suggested people who could do it, but we made no decision.
We discussed the potential need of new cameras or computers and why Leif had budgeted for
them, but we made no decisions.
Leif also put a line for play-by-play announcers in the budget. He’s convinced that there will be
crowd-less sports season at the school this year, and we’ll need announcers.
Mike asked about the capital spike payment. Leif explained that it’s a historical line, going back
to 2011, and it’s not clear that we’ll ever use it again.
Kurt moved and Mike seconded acceptance. Unanimous approval.
Station Report:
We generally agreed that we should start looking for another bookkeeper/accountant; the current
one encourages it.
Leif explained that we still do not have a contract with Comcast. VAN and Comcast had fruitful
negotiations underway when COVID shut them down. Negotiations will begin again in November.
Rachel asked about our line of communication with Comcast. Leif explained that Comcast
requires an annual report and a 3-year plan from him with full documentation. After they get all the
stuff they request, they review it and get back to us. Otherwise, Leif contacts them if he has questions
or problems.
Leif reported on our participation in a statewide movie project to remake Castaway. He and a
group of community members did two scenes which he said went well.
Soccer season has not yet ended, so he’s still shooting sports. Lance is back as an announcer,
and James, now at Lyndon, would like to do what he can during basketball season – as will Lance,
delighted at being paid. Jim (our guest) offered to run the camera for basketball games. Kurt suggested
running two cameras – one on the floor and one in the stands.
Leif is feeling the weirdness of the Covid world, but he likes what he’s doing. The trail people
asked them to do the witch reading stories in lieu of the pumpkin walk.
We discussed the limitations to what we can film because of copyright issues. We use Vimeo as
a way of distributing our material, and the company is really touchy about posting copyrighted
material.
Other business:
Rip offered some videos he’s making in his role as music director at the Episcopal Church.
Jim offered to join the board. Since he needs to be elected to the board, he agreed to attend
meetings until he’s elected in April.
Leif raised the issue of the renewal of our workers’ comp insurance. We had a long discussion
about the fairly complicated issue. The fact that our “contractors” use station equipment makes it
difficult for us to legally call them independent contractors, so we may need to get certificates of
insurance for them as employees. The insurance company wants to know who works here and how we
insure them. Mike talked about how the Town of Woodbury issues waivers to local tradespeople rather
than requiring them to carry workers comp. Leif will talk to other TV stations and ask how they handle
insurance.
Meeting adjourn at 8:56
Elizabeth H. Dow