Meeting Minutes Holyoke Media Board of Directors – November 18, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. ET

 

Present:

• Scott MacPherson, ED
• Jennifer Myszkowski (President)
• Mike Hines
• Denis Luzuriaga (Clerk)
• Al Williams (Treasurer)
• Robyn Provost (our project manager)
• Patty Norris Lubold

Not Present:

• Carey Baker (Vice-President)

Call to order 6:38 pm

 

Acceptance of prior meeting minutes – October 21, 2021

• Motion to accept prior meeting minutes: Al
• Second: Mike
• Vote: Unanimous approval

Directors Report

P and L

Balance Sheet

Building construction change-orders

• PCO 3
• PCO 4
• PCO 5
• PCO 6
• Motion to accept change orders 3 through 6 listed above:
  • Motion: Al
  • Second: Denis
  • Vote: Unanimous approval

Media Center Construction:

• Scott discussed our financial status currently and what it will look like during and after construction of the media center. He feels that once our $500K BankESB loan is in place, that we will be in a secure place. He is thinking about fund-raising options going forward. Al Williams asked Scott to clarify what he means by being “in a secure space”. Scott said that is a commentary on the construction of the media center and not on the organization as a whole, going forward.
• Robyn Provost is alerting us to the fact that there are going to definitely be additional charges going forward. For example, when the existing roof is removed, there will be areas of wood sheeting that will need to be replaced because of the known water leaks.
• Discussion about what “add alternates” can be put on hold until a later date in order to save money. Robyn says we might be able to hold off about a month (until the next board meeting) to decide what gets built on the second floor. Also, we will know in the next couple of weeks what the situation is with the roof and how much additional costs will be a factor in rot repair, etc.
• Robyn recommends that a letter be sent to Keiter Builders from the Board via the E.D. saying that our decision on add-alts will be made based on the finalized hard numbers of the recent “change-orders”.
• Al asked about other sources of funding, specifically on the Federal level… and State. The board discussed many possibilities of how to reach out to legislators with requests for funding.
• Motion to put a pause on building-out the “add alts” of the media center’s second floor.
  • Motion: Al
  • Second: Mike
  • Vote: Unanimous approval
• Motion to allow E.D. to approve change orders under $5,000.00 without going to the Board for approval (but will discuss with our project manager).
  • Motion: Al
  • Second: Patty
  • Vote: Unanimous approval

Old business

• Continuing from last meeting:
  • How do we combat systemic racism within our org and the wider community?
  • What are the next steps with Kent Alexander?
  • We will define what the steps to take are and will start in January 2022
• Diversity of thought on the board
  • Report back on efforts to recruit new board members
• Facebook Watch update

Standing items for discussion:

• COVID response
• Membership check-in
  • E.D. says we picked up a few members and social media followers
  • Al Williams says we need to ramp-up our effort and we don’t need to wait for a marketing outfit to steer us in any particular direction. Al suggests that we pay for a Facebook ad, for instance. Denis nodded in agreement.
• See-Click-Fix audit (tabled until annual hearing)
• Personnel check-in

Motion to adjourn

• Motion: Denis
• Second: Patty
• Vote: Unanimous approval

Adjourn 8pm