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Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Office of the Inspector General
401 Ninth Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
Mr Bruce Theriault, Senior VP, Radio
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
401 Ninth Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
To go online and fill out a form.
CPB's Community Service Grant (CSG) to KDNA/NCEC for FY 2007-2008 was $178,079. As a condition of accepting a CSG, the licensee and the station must certify that they currently comply, and agree that they will continue to comply in full throughout the term of the CSG, with all Sections of the Communications Act (of 1934 as amended).
Of interest to us are the requirements that board meetings and advisory board meetings be open to the public, that annual financial and audit reports be available for public inspection, and that they maintain community advisory boards.
Below are the minimum compliance requirements for these three items.
I. Open Meetings Requirements
In order to comply with the open meetings requirements of the Act:
A. Any licensee or permittee of a public broadcasting station must --
1. Open the meetings of its governing body and any committee of its governing body to the public;
2. Open the meetings of its community advisory board or any advisory body of the governing board to the public;
3. Give reasonable notice to the public of the fact, time and place of an open meeting at least one week (7 days) in advance of the scheduled date of an open meeting;
4. Allow all persons to attend any open meeting of the board, committee or advisory board, without requiring, as a condition of attendance, that the person register or provide such person's name or any other information, except as would be reasonably required to maintain a safe meeting environment; and
5. If a meeting is closed pursuant to the exceptions recognized by the law, make available to the public, within a reasonable period of time after the closed meeting, a written statement containing an explanation of the reason(s) for closing the meeting.
B. Any public broadcasting station may conduct meetings of the governing body, its committees or advisory groups that are not open to the public as long as they deal with matters considered to be exceptions to the open meeting requirement.
C. Minimum compliance for "reasonable notice" requires that:
1. Notice is placed in the "Legal Notices" or the radio and television schedules section of a local newspaper in general circulation in the station's coverage area; or, notice is available through a recorded announcement that is accessible on the station's phone system; or, notice is available through an announcement that is accessible on the station's Web page; and
2. Notice is communicated by letter, e-mail, fax, phone, or in person to any individuals who have specifically requested to be notified; and
3. The station makes on-air announcements on at least three consecutive days once during each calendar quarter that explain the station's open meeting policy and provide information about how the public can obtain information regarding specific dates, times, and locations.
D. For a station to satisfy the requirement that a written explanation be offered after a meeting is closed to the public:
1. The explanation of the reasons for a closed meeting should be distributed in the same manner as the notice of an open meeting, made available to the public at the station's offices, posted on the station's Web site, or by offering to mail a copy of the explanation to any person who requests one. If applicable, a reasonable charge for this service, or the requirement of a self-addressed, stamped envelope, may be considered.
2. In the case of regularly scheduled meetings that are usually open to the public, the station should give advance notice of the fact that such a meeting will be closed when the occasion arises. The notice that such a normally open meeting will be closed should be disseminated in the same manner as the notice of an open meeting. Meetings that are not regularly scheduled would not need an advance notice of closing.
Open Meetings - Suggestions for Compliance
Each station is encouraged to fashion its own maximum involvement of the community beyond the minimum requirements. It is CPB's position that only through enthusiastic and vigorous efforts can the intent of the Congress, as reflected in the law, be fully realized. Therefore, CPB recommends that stations make copies of the minutes of all open meetings available to the public on the station Web site, by mail, or at the station's office upon request. A reasonable charge to cover copying or postage may be considered for mailing. If a member of the public wishes to inspect the minutes at the station, it would not be unreasonable to require an appointment with the station be made as long as the process is not burdensome to the public.
Open Meeting Requirement - CPB source Documents
II. Financial Reporting Requirements
All public telecommunications entities must make the following types of records available for public inspection:
A. Annual financial reports filed with CPB;
B. Audited statements or other financial statements filed with CPB. These include the reports from CPB required audits conducted by independent certified public accountants or state-certified independent public accountants, according to the CPB adopted audit standards, and the financial statements which CPB may permit to be submitted in lieu of such audit reports under certain circumstances; and
C. Other information regarding finances submitted to CPB related to any funding agreement with CPB that requires a financial report.
Financial Reporting - Suggestions for Compliance
A number of mechanisms are available to comply with these provisions. While the choice of mechanism is left to each grantee's discretion, each grantee should choose the method it believes best accommodates the public.
The basic question is how to make the reports available. Because all stations must maintain a public inspection file by FCC rule, one alternative would be for a station to include publicly available financial records in the same location as this public file for convenient reference. If this information is kept in a different place, the documents should be maintained in a readily accessible location. Another alternative would be for a station to make this financial information available on the station's web site, with arrangements available for providing individuals with this information if they are unable or unwilling to use the Internet to access this information. In any event, arrangements for photocopying the financial records, at cost, could be made in a manner similar to the arrangements for reproducing other documents in the public file. In this regard, the station should refer to FCC regulations. It would not be unreasonable to require an appointment with the station to review the financial reports as long as the process is not burdensome to the public. Stations should note that this is a separate requirement from the FCC's public inspection files requirement. As such, stations should consult the FCC's rules for its provisions pertaining to the public's access to the FCC mandated public inspection file.
Open Financial Records Requirements
III. Community Advisory Board
A. Each station that is not owned by a State, a political or special purpose subdivision of a State, or a public agency must do the following --
1. establish a community advisory board that is independent of the community licensee's governing body;
2. undertake good-faith efforts to assure that --
a. its advisory board meets at regular intervals;
b. the members of the board regularly attend the meetings of the advisory board;
c. the composition of the community advisory board is reasonably representative of the diverse needs and interests of the communities served by the station.
B. In addition, each licensee required to have a community advisory board must also permit the community advisory board to perform the following activities:
1. establish and follow its own schedule and agenda, within the scope of the community advisory board's statutory or delegated authority;
2. review the programming goals established by station;
3. review the community service provided by the stations;
4. review the impact on the community of the significant policy decisions rendered by the station; and
5. advise the governing board of the station whether the programming and other significant policies of the station are meeting the specialized educational and cultural needs of the communities served by the station. The advisory board may make recommendations to the governing board to meet those specialized needs.
C. The governing board of a licensee, if it desires, may delegate other responsibilities to the advisory board to assist the governing board or station personnel. However, the law states: "In no case shall the [community advisory board] have any authority to exercise any control over the daily management or operation of the station."
Community Advisory Board - Suggestions for Compliancde
Due to the specialized needs of each service community and the variety of station organization types, it may be more confusing than helpful to suggest ways to use community advisory groups. Maximum flexibility will better serve stations, allowing the composition, organization, and role of advisory groups to be tailored to the individual needs of the respective communities.
A licensee that owns more than one station should be aware that the law requires each station covered by this provision to have a community advisory board. A licensee with multiple stations may, at its discretion, establish a community advisory board that is shared among the stations if that community advisory board can meet all the minimum compliance requirements for each of the stations that share a community advisory board.
Community Advisory Board Requirements
Other materials
In addition, there are limitations on the use of donor information and strict prohibitions on exchanging or renting such information to political organizations and/or candidates. For a complete discussion of the requirements please consult the website: http://www.cpb.org/stations/certification/.
And, if you would like to read more about CPB and CSG's, here are some additional links
Corporation for Public Broadcasting - Requirements for Financial Accountability
