Board in Attendance: Christie Anderson, Tom Parker, Mary Alberts, Cary Boyce, Jeff Fountain, Helle Jorgenson; Curt Hagan and Marilyn Sabella via phone

SPR Staff: Brian Flick, Kathy Sackett, Linda Stowe, Kat Langenheim, Nancy Roth, Patrick Klausen, Shelley Sharp, Neesha Schrom (notes)

Community: Doug Nadvornick

Meeting called to order at 5:35pm by Tom Parker.

SPR Fund Drive starts Thursday at 5am.  The Board phone shift begins at 4:30pm.

BoD Issues: Cary would like to talk about the make up of the Board, and what makes a good non-profit board.  We would like to hold a board retreat soon.  This will be discussed in Executive Session.  Helle has agreed to be Secretary and be accessible to sign checks 1-2 times per month.  The setup process is lengthy, but check signing is infrequent. 
The current Executive Committee is now:
Tom Parker, Chair
Christie Anderson, Vice Chair
Dave Walker, Treasurer
Helle Jorgenson, Secretary
Scott Miller, Immediate Past Chair

Budget Update: We’re looking forward to drive revenue.  For questions about the budget handout, please talk to Dave or Cary.

Capital Campaign Task Force: Jerry has provided engineering schematics.  The committee is working on rescaling the scope of the project as planned originally.  More will be discussed in Executive Session.

Legislative Update: Tom visited Washington DC and met with NPR lobbyist Mike Riksen.  Mike gave very good feedback about Cary.  Tom and Mike talked about the political climate and how that might affect funding.  Currently, CPB is the only funding cut Mitt Romney has specifically proposed.  CPB has requested that the politicians leave them out of it.  The House will also have a lot of turnover this election, which could impact funding.  NPR is currently looking to build a broad base of support.  CPB is 11% of our budget, and we need to support their efforts to keep good relationships with local and state elected officials.  We must broaden our base of support so as not to be a political football.  CPB can expect a cut of anywhere from 2-50% after the election.  The current anticipated cut is about 8%.  This cut will be across the board.  CPB distributes 25% of funds to radio and 75% of funds to TV with a very lean operating budget.  Our amount of CPB funding is based on how much we raise in the community.

SPR Staff Handbook:  There has been a lot of good input from the staff and the handbook is stronger for it.  Please look again and have your comments back in two weeks.  The handbook will then go to Associated Industries, who will look through it line by line.  Suggested adds: Table of Contents and page numbers.

NPR Digital Services:  We will be making the transition to NPR Digital Services and Core Publisher in the near future.  Cary and Shelley have started talking with Design Spike about the transition.  We’re already paying NPR for the service, so we’d like to use them as soon as possible.  NPR Digital Services will help us work toward revenue optimization for the website.

CPB Grant:  Cary has been working on an application for a grant from CPB that would fund 50% of the salary for two years for an Education Reporter.  The American Graduation Initiative is focusing on the dropout rate, funding, policy, and methodology issues in the American education system, and this reporter would help to create a more accurate accounting of the actual statistics in our area.  We are co-authoring this grant proposal with Northwest Public Radio, with whom we would split the reporter (and associated costs).  We would need to fund 25% of the total salary.  Sharing this reporter with NWPR will help to fill in coverage gaps and help expand coverage.  We would essentially expand our news staff by 30%.   CPB is very big on collaborative efforts.  Other partners will include the Spokesman (if we can repackage audio for print, they essentially get a free reporter), N3, and local area universities and education advocates.  Cary will be meeting with Shelley Redinger, superintendent of Spokane Public Schools.  Cary has also spoken with Gonzaga, Eastern, and Whitworth’s Presidents, all of whom seem interested in collaboration and building an internship program.  The application is due November 1, and we should know the results by mid January.  Cary will be asking for your input and proofreading skills.

Benefits of the grant: increased news coverage, increased awareness, increased service to our listeners and community, increased partnerships and community activism.  Giving a voice to the issue will help us leverage more revenue and support.

Downsides to the grant: There really aren’t any.  We aren’t jeopardizing our coverage area.  The hardest part will be covering 25% of the salary, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.

Kerry Swanson (NWPR’s Station Manager) and Cary believe that we have a good shot at the grant.  This could lead to a comprehensive state-wide network.  This will also include greater national coverage and NPR training from the bureau representative.  The Society for Professional Journalists is also very excited about the process and potential for this position.

Lease Offer for Pacific Building:  There has been a low-ball offer made to rent the second floor of the Pacific Avenue building for $800/month for 18 months.  Cody George says that people who are interested in the space and would be interested in paying more want a 5-year commitment.  More will be discussed in Executive Session after the Task Force briefing.

The board went into Executive Session at 6:15pm.