In attendance:

Scott MacPherson, E.D.
Jennifer Myszkowski, President (remote)
Carey Baker, Vice President (remote)
Ismary Santiago
Jayne Melendez
Daniel O’Sullivan, Acting Treasurer
Denis Luzuriaga, Clerk (remote)
Mike Hines (remote)
Carolyn Rogers-Harris

Not attending:

None

6:41 p.m.: Call to order

Acceptance of prior meeting minutes – December 21, 2023.

• Motion to accept prior meeting minutes: Mike
• Second: Daniel
• Vote: Unanimous, motion carries.

Introduction of Vincent Bonilla

• Vincent gave a brief introduction. He will be replacing Gloria Caballero-Roca and will serve the rest of her term.
• Motion to accept Vincent Bonilla as Member of the Board of Directors of Holyoke Media:
  • Motion: Ismary
  • Second: Mike
  • Vote: Unanimous, motion carries

Director’s Report

P and L

Balance Sheet

Budget Reconciliation 

• Motion to accept the 2023 full year budget reconciliation
  • Motion: Daniel
  • Second: Carey
  • Vote: Unanimous, motion carries.
• Motion to move $5,000.00 into each of the Reserve, and Contingencies funds:
  • Motion: Daniel
  • Second: Ismary
  • Vote: Unanimous, motion carries

Old Business

• Cable Contract Renewal Update
  • Cable contract renewal: Before the holiday, Scott provided a letter along with an equipment list and when monies will be spent, replacement of AV equipment. Comcast, at some level, balked at what we asked for. Their issues are the HD channels. They are willing to give us one HD channel. Our solicitor asked them to prove that they aren’t able to provide us with all three HD channels. Their initial offer was $300K. We provided a list of about $2.5M. Negotiations between the solicitors are on-going.
• Standing items:
  • Membership update
  • Personnel check-in
  • Marketing update
    • On hold until Alfonso Santaniello gives us more information on Google Analytics for the marketing campaign that he implemented.
• Organizational development plan
• Diversity statement update
• Latest anti-racism consultant actions
• Metro E Circuit update
  • “Significant progress has been made on switching our signal transmission away from the Metro-E fiber circuit..” -Scott
• Update on strategic initiatives
• Ticketing – recouping funds
• Check in on sign repair
  • Scott has been in communication with Kamel Peters, the sign maker.
• Establishment of youth advisory committee
• Next steps re: replacing BoxCast for video hosting
• Staff person to manage the event space
  • Discussion about possible solutions. Jennifer mentioned a program called RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) in which seniors can work part-time. The program is partially funded by the Council on Aging.
• New business
• Can the monthly board meetings be held earlier in the day? 5:30 or 6:00? -DL

Task review and due dates

1. Denis will create a Doodle poll (or similar) to determine if the monthly board meeting should be held earlier in the day.
2. Denis and Carolyn will meet to discuss the role of clerk.
3. Carey will update the board page on our website.
4. Scott will update our documents with the Commonwealth to reflect the new slate of board members.
5. Daniel will ask around to see if there are other grant writers who we could engage for our grant writing needs.
6. Jennifer will send out an email regarding assigning sub-committees.

Motion to adjourn

• Motion:Jayne
• Second: Carey
• Vote: Unanimous, the Board of Directors meeting is adjourned

Adjourn 8:00