HCMI Board Meeting November 20, 2019

Meeting minutes of Holyoke Media – November 20, 2019

Present:

• Scott MacPherson, ED
• Denis Luzuriaga
• Jennifer Myszkowski
• Mike Hines
• Carey Baker
• Al Williams

 

Not present:

None

 

Call to order: 6:44 p.m.

 

Minutes:

• Motion to accept minutes from 10/16: 
  • Motion: Carey
  • 2nd: Denis
  • Vote: Unanimous

 

New members:

• Motion to accept the board membership of Patty Norris Lubold:
  • Motion: Jennifer
  • 2nd: Carey
  • Discussion:
    • It’s critical that we engage some Puerto Rican board members
    • Jennifer talked to Patty and Patty has some contacts that she’d be happy to approach when the time is right.
    • Rumor that there has been an appointment from City Council. No update from City Council.
    • Scott to reach back out to the City Council with a suggestion for a person.
    • Al suggests reaching out to other organizations who can help us with representation of the community.
  • Vote: Unanimous

 

Director’s report:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KmNc8LPZ-pnFvDFUuyZSD_jOZtXodhjO/view?usp=sharing 

• Space (the final frontier)
  • With the building project completion date far off, it’s important to have a place to meet with people and get work done — for recording purposes.
  • Iohann raised the question of meeting at the Cubit CoWork space.
  • Jennifer is concerned about perceived or real conflict of interest.
  • Denis said he and his brother would offer space free of charge.
  • They already share some of their space with nonprofits for free.
  • Al raised the fact that our bylaws contain rules about how to make determinations around conflict of interest.
  • We may need to do a little bit of an auditing process to discover if there are other spaces we may be able to use for free.
  • Al suggests that the staff do some discovery to see what space is available — maybe cycling through other cowork spaces or talking to the Chamber, etc.
  • Jennifer suggested maybe renting a storefront on High Street.
  • Scott will look into possibilities, check leases, etc. Will come back with more next month.
  • Jennifer: We need to be members of the Chamber.
• Grants
  • $40K in capital funding from Beveridge Foundation.
  • Other grants submitted in October/November: Valley Creates, Our Grandmothers, Voices of Education, etc.
  • Arts Hub: Community Foundation wants us to spend more time on planning, governance, etc.
• Equipment
  • City Hall and Holyoke High switchers malfunctioned and required repairs. High School switcher is not yet fixed, but will be soon.
  • Robotic cameras at City Hall required repairs — now fixed.
• Annual meeting
  • Was supposed to happen today, but was cancelled without notice.
  • Will be rescheduled. May be Dec. 11. Scott will confirm and let us know.
• Building
  • Demolition is underway. Will continue for about another month.
  • Joists are exposed. 
  • Structural engineer will come in to review the project and ensure that things are on the up and up.
  • Only issue to come up thus far: Roof drains are tied into the sewer and must be rerouted to the storm sewer. This caused some flooding in the basement, which is now resolved.
  • Updated estimate for the entire project will come back in January, will reflect changes in building design, etc.
  • Foundation brick work will need to be done — Scott will bring that to the Board in December.
• PEG Access funding issue
  • Attorney will draft a memo outlining what “for cable purposes” means.
  • Estimate will take 2 hours at $200 per hour.
  • Board doesn’t feel the need to vote on this.
• Q3 Reconciliation
  • Motion to accept the Q3 Reconciliation
    • Motion: Jennifer
    • 2nd: Denis
    • Vote: Unanimous
• Equipment purchases
  • Proposal #1: Phase 2 of Holyoke High School studio buildout and other projects: $24,762.95
    • Motion to accept proposal
      • Motion: Jennifer
      • 2nd: Denis
      • Vote: Unanimous
  • Proposal #2: Field Production Switcher for portable multi-cam shoots: $15,945.00
    • Motion to accept proposal
      • Motion: Carey
      • 2nd: Denis
      • Vote: Unanimous
• Strategic planning
  • Staff and Board will work with grant writer on strategic planning.
  • Scott will email us and grant writer with a survey.
  • We will fill out survey and return it to the grant writer.
  • Will revisit mission, upcoming hires, etc.
  • Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT)

 

Other Business:

• Website
  • Still in progress — figuring out how video and audio files will be embedded.

• Follow-up on See-Click-Fix
  • Tabled until meeting with the Mayor
• Truck
  • Getting key card access so we can access at any time.
• MassPFML
  • Scott will follow up with an employment lawyer on our questions regarding who is considered an employee for MassPFML purposes.

 

Next meeting:

• Thurs., Dec. 19, at 6:30 p.m. at The Cubit CoWork space – 164 Race Street
  • Agenda:
    • See-Click-Fix
    • MassPFML
    • Website
    • SWOT – Strategic planning
    • Executive Session item: Employee review
    • Building update
    • Space update

 

Motion to adjourn,  p.m.:

• Motion: Jennifer
• 2nd: Carey
• Vote: Unanimous