By a 6-3 decision of the BCTV board, one of its own members, Michael Billingsley, will be offered a contract to perform the duties of executive director until a permanent replacement can be found. His first contract runs from October 6 through November 16 of this year. The board has not yet decided whether Billingsley will be allowed to vote on the board while being paid as a contractor of BCTV.
The board convened a special meeting to decide whether or not to accept the contract. Board member Dora Boubolis made the opening statement for the opposition to hiring Billingsley as interim executive director. First of all, said Boubolis, Billingsley was instrumental in the changes that took place at BCTV over the summer, which included the termination of former executive director Tim Lindop's contract. Whether or not it's legal, she argued, is beside the point. Public perception is more important, and if the board hires Billingsley as interim director, it will look bad, she said, especially since he's the one who spearheaded the process of creating the contract to hire himself. Given that Billingsley is already the Treasurer, as well as a member of the Finance and Executive Director Search committees, she felt this was too much power for one board member to have.
President Ian Kiehle, on the other hand, felt that the arrangement was legal and necessary in his view, and should be approved, regardless of appearances. This continued to be his opinion throughout the discussion.
After this, the floor was opened for more general discussion. Several board members expressed reservations regarding the proposal. Merry Elder felt that if Billingsley were allowed to vote as a board member, that would make him, in effect, his own boss. She said she felt weird about that.
Ken said that when he talked to a lawyer friend about the Billingsley contract, the lawyer said that while the arrangement might be strictly legal, it was not 'squeaky clean.'
Dan Seiden questioned whether or not it was strictly necessary to hire Michael Billingsley, or anyone, as interim director. Could the station manage for a short time without an executive director?
The consensus of the group, however, was leaning towards hiring Billingsley. Dora then made a proposal for 'friendly amendments' to the existing contract, to limit the scope of the interim director position and reduce the hours alloted from 32 to 20 per week. Her first amendment was to eliminate a contract item calling for the interim director to develop training programs, so as not to interfere with the incoming permanent director's role in developing new programs.
However, the question was called, halting further discussion and forcing a vote, which went 6 - 3 in favor of accepting the contract for Billingsley's services 'as is'.
As a result of this vote, board member Michael Billingsley will be hired to fulfill the duties of BCTV executive director until November 16. His contract can be renewed indefinitely, so if a permanent director is not found by November 16, it is likely that his contract will be renewed. Board President Ian Kiehle, who will supervise the interim executive director position, said that a search committee has been formed (which currently includes Billingsley) and was confident that a new permanent executive director would be hired before Christmas of this year.