Berkeley-Appointed/disputed/interim executive director Bernard Duncan failed to appear without notice at two scheduled meetings on Thursday, the first with national office administrative staff and the second, the weekly senior management call. Duncan reported illness and may have left the Berkeley area on Thursday after missing both scheduled meetings. Duncan appeared on KPFA briefly during the April 15th fundraising drive. That full interview can be heard here (Duncan’s interview is midway through the hour-long program).
Berkeley-Confusion reigned at the national Pacifica Radio network when board member Hank Lamb from Houston (one of the 12 directors being sued for breaching the executive director’s contract) sent a muddled email to network employees.
Lamb’s April 10th email assured staff the “legal” executive director was *not* Bernard Duncan, but was instead alleged chair of the board, Margy Wilkinson. Lamb’s email stated, “Until a court says otherwise, if they ever do, you are an employee of the Foundation and there is a direct heirarchy [sic] to be followed. You follow the bylaws and job description and wants and needs of the iED, Margy Wilkinson. She is the legal IED”. Continue reading Rogue Board Swapping Out Executive Directors Again?→
On April 7, 2014 Pacifica Radio’s Executive Director Summer Reese was interviewed by Heather Gray of WRFG-89.3FM in Atlanta which is an Affiliate of Pacifica Radio. Ms Reese discussed her accomplishments, the challenges of community radio and her ideas for future development of community radio overall in America and specifically about the Pacifica Radio network.
Berkeley-The hearing at Department 15 of Alameda Superior Court booted the referendum on the breaching of the executive director’s contract into May. A procedural requirement to individually serve 12 defendants in 5 different cities (including one with no established place of residence) was virtually impossible in the abbreviated time frame between the filing on April 3rd and the hearing on the morning of April 9th.Continue reading A Longer Occupation and January Back Door Plans→
Berkeley-Pacifica’s payroll administrator received a letter from Oakland law firm Siegel and Yee on March 28th instructing them to provide online access to Pacifica’s payroll accounts to three individuals: Raul Salvador, the former probationary CFO terminated by the board of directors on January 2, 2014, disputed board chair Margy Wilkinson, and Bernard Duncan, who was publicly reported hired as an interim ED on April 3rd, one week after the date of the letter. Continue reading Impersonating The Corporate Counsel→
Berkeley-A community meeting hosted by the Berkeley station’s Community Advisory Board was held at the South Berkeley Center Center at 2939 Ellis Street in Berkeley on Sunday April 6th and attended by about a hundred people. The vast majority expressed great concern about the abrupt attempted firing of the executive director and the prospect of the network breaking up via the sale of one or more radio licenses. People asked for clarity about KPFA and Pacifica’s finances as they talked about the upcoming audit.Continue reading Community Concern Rises & Who’s On First? Pacifica Board Meeting→
Berkeley- Nine members of the current Pacifica Foundation board of directors (Pacifica Directors for Good Governance) have filed suit to try to bring to an end the self-destructive spiral of the nation’s first listener-sponsored radio network. The complaint alleges irreperable harms resulting from the board’s reckless termination of Reese and succeeding actions, and requests intervention to protect the nonprofit from uninsurability and operational gridlock. The suit requests preliminary and permanent injunctions enjoining the board from continually violating the nonprofit’s bylaws, breaching the director’s contract and taking further actions absent documentation of properly noticed meetings and the issuance of approved minutes.Continue reading Lawsuit Filed To Uphold Reese Contract, Rogue Board Paralyzed→
Berkeley-Armanino McKenna, the auditing firn which recently delayed Pacifica’s 2013 audit due to the inability or unwillingess of Berkeley station KPFA to provide reconciled accounting records, issued a management letter to the Board of Directors. In it, they observed that “the communications process and governance structure relating to individual divisons and the national office appears less than optimal. The overall success of the Foundation requires a collaborative operating mechanism between the national office and the individual stations. This was particularly in evidence with regard to the general lack of responsiveness during the audit from certain divisons in response to document requests from the national office”.Continue reading Auditor’s Management Letter to Pacifica Board Demands Accountability→
Berkeley-A lawsuit will be filed in Alameda County today by Pacifica Directors for Good Governance against the 12 Pacifica Foundation board members who have engaged in a series of illegitimate actions to destabilize the 65-year-old public radio network. The lead plaintiff is current board member Heather Gray, who is one of two representatives for Pacifica’s 180 program affiliate stations and is associated with WRFG (Radio Free Georgia). The 16+ page brief requests injunctive relief to protect Pacifica from adverse impacts resulting from the board majority’s illegal actions.Continue reading Pacifica Directors For Good Governance To File Suit Today→
