Minneapolis Telecommunications Network
Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, January 10, 2008

Board Members Present: Floyd Child, Kevin Jenkins, Joel Rainville, Tom Cassidy, Tamir Nolley, Robert Vose, Andrew Hedden
Board Members Absent: Joan Higinbotham, Marido Huber
Ex-Officio Present: Lance Leupold, John Harrison
Others Present: Pamela Colby, John Akre, Tom Borrup, Jim Derks

Rainville called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

I. Opening Business

A. Comments from public, staff and board – Akre announced Production Services Eloise Butler documentary showing on TPT 17.

B. Approval of the agenda. Amendment: Child will present item IID. MSP Nolley, Child.

C. Approval of Minutes from the December board meeting. MSP Child, Jenkins.


II. Reports

A. City of Minneapolis – John Harrison presented
The re-application from Hedden for his board seat has been received. A second vacancy has so far received no applications. It has been re-opened. Harrison has received MTN?s invoice for operating funds and forwarded it to the Finance Department. Harrison, Colby, Dietrich and Huber will meet on the Performance Agreement. There is no report on subscriber information this month.

B. Minneapolis Public Schools –Edie French not present
No report submitted.

C. Comcast – Lance Leupold presented
The Comcast CEO announced the launch of Comcast 3.0. This will feature more web integration. Details are to come including arrival time in the Twin Cities. Rainville asked how the digital broadcast mandate will affect cable subscribers without a digital box. Leupold said that Comcast is keeping those people?s interests in mind, but also that this mandate applies to broadcast, and not cable.

D. Election of Officers and Assignment of Committees – Child presented
Officers for 2008 recommended by the Nominations Committee: Chair – Huber; Vice Chair – Jenkins; Secretary – Rainville; Treasurer – Hedden. Rainville asked for further nominations. Motion: to move forward the slate from the Nominations Committee. MSP Vose, Child. Nolley asked as a matter of discussion to hear statements from candidates. Colby said that Huber wished to continue to work on the Performance Agreement with the city. Jenkins said that after his second year on the board he feels like he has experience to bring to the table as vice chair. Rainville said that he wished to remain on the Executive Committee, and has served as secretary before. Hedden said that he would be happy to be treasurer for a second year and share his experience. Motion: Accept the slate of officers. MSP Child, Vose.
Assignment of Committees. Rainville suggested an External Relations Committee be formed. This committee's responsibilities would include development, marketing, education and public relations. Motion: that MTN create three committees for 2008: Finance, Equipment, and External Affairs. MSP Child Nolley.
These committees would be constituted as follows:
Equipment Committee – Child, Jenkins
Finance – Hedden, Huber, Rainville
External Affairs – Vose, Rainville, Cassidy, Nolley
Vose asked if franchise renewal would remain with the Executive Committee. Rainville suggested that the new leadership would decide this.

E. Executive Director's Report. Pam Colby presented
Vose reported on state legislation concerning cable franchising. Last session Qwest was pursuing a statewide franchising bill. This law would make the state the sole authority in setting up cable franchising contracts. Last session that bill did not pass. Qwest recently announced that they do not plan to get in the video business and will no longer push this legislation. This makes the law less likely to pass this next session.
Borrup reported on the work of the MTN Strategic Planning Commission, which has met four times. He presented a handout with information gathered from those meetings. Some outcomes of this process may include restating the mission of MTN. Such a restatement would focus the mission on ends more than means. The Commission is recognizing MTN?s unique local focus. The next session will be at City Hall on February 19th. The Commission has asked for an additional month to complete its work. The final meeting would be in April, and would be cablecast. There followed discussion among board members about MTN's obligations to its producers and its audience. There was agreement that MTN is a producer-oriented organization but that there was also room to look at other models. Motion: That a Commission report be included in the agendas of the upcoming board meetings. MSP Vose, Nolley.
Colby reported on MTN's switch to new database. She said that it has been a challenge and that MTN has been lucky to have Nate Mains on staff to oversee the transition.
MTN has been archiving ¾ inch community production tapes onto DVD. Colby is working on a proposal to create a digital archive.
Studio C is up and running through the work of Jim Derks. This studio makes it easy to create a high quality studio show without technical knowledge. It is also a way to outreach new voices and invite nonprofits to use MTN.
MTN has a piano that was donated by Sheldon Mains.

F. Treasurer's Report. Hedden presented.
The November P &L report was handed out. The year's deficit is down to $4500. Colby said that the deficit will increase with the December report.
Motion to accept the November P& L documents. MSP Child, Jenkins.


III. Adjourn
Meeting adjourned at 6:46 p.m. MSP Nolley, Child.