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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-06-21-CAC-minTOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JUNE 21 Call to order. CAC Chair Jim Goell called the meeting to order at 6:37 PM in Room G- 15 of the Town Office Building. Present: CAC Members: Jim Goell, Chair; David Becker, Frank Cai, Smita Desai, Dorinda Goodman, Maria Kieslich, Ken Pogran, Linda Roemer. Others: Florence DelSanto, LexMedia; David Ilsley, LexMedia; George Burnell, Board of Selectmen; Ray Drapeau, Public Facilities. 1. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes. The minutes of the meeting of May 17, 2012 were approved. 2. Selectmen's Liaison Report. George Burnell had nothing to report. 3. Chairman's Report. a. Meeting with David George concerning wireless "block applications." Jim Goell reported that the question is whether the Town should allow wireless carriers to make "block applications;" that is, submit a single application covering a number of identical or nearly identical wireless sites they are requesting. If this is allowed, carriers would have to identify "variants" within a given application. Overall this would make it easier for the Committee (and hence the Town) to review applications. Overall, we would like carriers to put in better wireless systems. The result of the meeting with David George is that we will consider block applications should carriers submit them. Dorinda Goodman asked if there is a requirement that carriers remove old equipment when they are upgrading a site, and whether any inspection is performed to verify that equipment is removed. Mr. Goell responded that there is such a requirement, but currently no inspection is done. Dave Becker asked if the Committee could require carriers to provide a timeline for removal of old equipment, when removal was applicable. b. Cary Hall Committee. Jim reported that Linda Roemer would be the Committee's lisaison to the Cary Hall Committee. c. New Federal radio rules. The Federal Communications Commission is re- allocating spectrum, and some public safety entities must move to different frequencies. This affects the Boston metropolitan area, and also Lexington; money was spent post -9/11 on new equipment that will likely be rendered obsolete. Communications Advisory Committee Town of Lexington Minutes of June 21, 2012 Page 2 Dorinda Goodman stated the the Town's Public Safety departments have new digital equipment and can "hand down" certain equipment to Public Works, whose equipment is obsoleted. George Burnell stated that the Town has difficulty when different Town departments use different consultants and therefore get different advice. Ms. Goodman responded that the Police and Fire Departments are cooperating on this issue and are using the same outside consultant. No action by the Committee is required. d. Committee reappointments. Three Committee members are up for reappointment, and all three have agreed to be reappointed. e. Information exchange with Bedford. The Town of Bedford has asked to exchange information with the Committee. Jim Goell has received a copy of their Community Access TV Annual Report. Mr. Goell has sent information to Bedford in return. f. Next meeting. The Committee will next meet on September 20. The location is to be determined. 4. Carrier Reports. None a. RCN. Tom Steel was not present but sent an email report to Jim Goell. Jim reported that Mr. Steel has made a commitment to provide the required payment breakdown. Dave Becker commented that, in addition to the payment breakdown issue, they are missing other requirements: 1) RCN has not submitted a Form 500 to the Town; 2) RCN has submitted data in an inappropriate format; 3) RCN has not provided separate checks for the Franchise Fee and other payments. b. Comcast. Jim Goell reported that Jane Lyman is looking into what happened to the transcript from the license renewal public hearing. c. Verizon. No report. 5. LexMedia. a. Comments on the CAC response to the LexMedia 3rd quarter report. The LexMedia representatives had no comments. b. Timeliness of On- Demand postings. At the May 17 meeting, John Rudy raised an issue regarding posting of Veterans' group programs. Florence DelSanto reported that the programs were all present on the On- Demand Serrver, but that they were inconsistently named, and therefore difficult to find. There is an issue regarding metadata LexMedia supplier TelVue picks off the programs, using NAME and DESCRIPTION rather than NAME and EPISODE. LexMedia will work with TelVue so that corect program names will be picked up. c. 4 th Quarter and Annual Report plans. The 4 th Quarter report will be combined with the Annual Report. d. Funding request, High School TV Cameras. David Ilsley reported that the Town is upgrading facilities at Lexington High School, with the work to be done in time for the beginning of the Lexington 300 celebration in September. LexMedia requested a quote from the vendor for video origination equipment. LexMedia Communications Advisory Committee Town of Lexington Minutes of June 21, 2012 Page 3 suggests that PEG funds be used to fund the camera acquisition by the Town, as the equipment would not be in LexMedia's control and would be separate from LexMedia's capital equipment. Discussion followed regarding the appropriateness of PEG funds for this purpose, how much money was in the PEG account, and whether this would impact other uses of PEG funds. The consensus was that this was an appropriate use of PEG funds, that the account had sufficient funds, and that other uses would not be impacted. It was moved and seconded that: The Committee recommends that the Board of Selectmen allocate up to $30, 000 fNOm the PEG account to be spent on a camera system for the High School. The motion was approved by a unanimous vote. e. Comcast channel change publicity. LexMedia reported that they publicized the PEG channel change taking place on Comcast's system, and received no complaints concerning the change. f. Backup server location and installation. Town IT (Dorinda Goodman) has worked with LexMedia to determine an appropriate location in a Town IT rack for LexMedia's backup server. The next step is to test connectivity between LexMedia and the backup server site. g. Backup server test plan. LexMedia will create a test plan to verify that the backup capability functions as intended. h. Library video capabilities. During the LexMedia discussion, Ray Drapeau mentioned that the Cary Library wants to add video capabilittes to its meeting rooms and common areas, and wants to have this capability in place in time for the Lexington 300 Celebration in September. Florence DelSanto noted that the Library's intention is to re -do the primary meeting room as part of their upgrade, and also provide feeds to other meeting rooms. 6. Cary Memorial Hall Building Program Committee. Linda Roemer is the Committee's liaison to the Cary Memorial Hall Building Program Committee. Ms. Roemer reported that she had attended her first meeting of that committee. She is one of four non - voting "liaison" members of the committee. The committee is selecting a firm to take the project of renovating Cary Hall to the next phase, more detailed planning. Issues the committee is facing that are relevant to our Committee include facilities for LexMedia, WiFi in Cary Hall, video projection, provision for conference calling and video teleconferencing, viewing of Cary Hall meetings from remote locations, and provision of a "loop" in the auditorium to provide sound amplification for hearing aid users. The Cary Hall Committee is committed to an historically sensitive renovation of the building. 7. Comeast negotiations update. The Subcommittee will schedule a meeting. Communications Advisory Committee Town of Lexington Minutes of June 21, 2012 Page 4 8. Carrier revenue breakdown letter, revenue update, and account review results. Dave Becker led a discussion regarding the different ways the various cable providers treat their payments to the Town. 9. Wireless report. There were no wireless applications to be discussed. 10. Complaints. There were no complaints. 11. Additional Committee member. The Committee received an application from Mr. Nick Lauriat. Jim Goell reported that he met with Mr. Lauriat and seemed to be a good candidate. Ken Pogran reported that he knew Mr. Lauriat from a previous job situation, and that he thought Mr. Lauriat would make a good committee member. It was moved and seconded that: The Committee requests that the Board of Selectmen appoint Mr. Nick Lauriat to the Communications Advisory Committee.. 12. Future projects and directions. This item was deferred to the Committee's next meeting. 13. New business: Impact of Comcast digital conversion on school and Town office cable TV reception. Comcast's digital conversion has left schools and the Town office building without the ability to receive Comcast' s digital signal, as Comcast did not provide the Town and Schools with necessary converter boxes. There is a need for at least three digital converter boxes per school, and also several for the Town offices. Dorinda Goodman raised the question of what is required in the Comcast license. It was noted that the license was written before a digital conversion was contemplated. Dave Becker and Dorinda Goodman will work this issue over the summer with Ray Drapeau. 14. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 8:34 PM. Respectfully submitted, Kenneth T. Pogran