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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-16-CAC-min Town of Lexington Communications Advisory Committee Minutes of the Meeting of October 16, 2014 The meeting was called to order at 6.32 PM. Committee Members Present Ken Pogran, CAC Chair Dave Becker, CAC Dave Buczkowski, CAC Frank Cai, CAC Smita Desai, CAC Donnda Goodman, CAC Steve Iverson, CAC Mana Kieslich, CAC Nick Launat, CAC Linda Roemer, CAC Others Present Tom Steel, RCN Approval of Minutes Linda pointed out that Geoffrey's name was misspelled in the September minutes Linda pointed out a typo as well(missing "who is") Dave Buczkowski moved to approve the minutes, as amended. Seconded by Smita Desai Committee voted unanimously to approve Carrier Reports Camer report from Tom Steel from RCN Tom said that Dave Becker called him to point out the town prefers to get the $0.50/subscriber separately Tom said they would do that, and they would pay before the due date Tom thought the due date was 11/15/14 Dave Becker discussed that the three fees (town, state and federal)weren't always subtracted prior to the 5% Dave was concerned that we weren't getting the data in the correct format (Form 500) Tom Steele said he provided the subscribers and outages data back in August. Tom says he compares themselves to Comcast and Verizon where they compete He said there were two communities where they gained last year! Tom said the LexMedia HD works! And will work in the other communities as well! Ken said that Florence told him as of next week they would be publishing the HD schedule in the Minuteman. Linda expressed her thanks to Tom for being persistent on getting the HD channel to work. Tom said that Congress was making grandiose statements and that there was a move to include something called"Local Choice"but that it got pulled out at the end. Tom said cable providers don't know what to make of offerings such as HBO GO that don't require cable service Tom also said "we'll wait and see what the details are!" Ken expressed his appreciation to Tom on behalf of the committee for his attendance and participation. Photo The committee had its annual photo taken. Chairman's Report Ken reported that he went through the minutes and sent them to the town for posting Ken has not had time to send out a committee to the Lexington list regarding the committee,nor have we received any applications through Lynne Pease He will do a posting to the Lexington list. Ken said he sent out an email with the recording secretaries and complaint assignments He is in the process of getting the complaint spreadsheet updated. Ken said he got an email from Florence updating on several LexMedia items Florence agreed the HD channel was functional and was not degrading the audio on the SD channels Florence also reported that the archive server was fully functional. Dave Becker expressed concern about what they would do when it filled up, and others expressed confusion on why it was only being reported as fully functional now Ken made a note to follow-up with Florence about that. Ken said the LexMedia board set a date for their annual meeting—November 6' from 7 to 9 PM. Linda and Mana encouraged everyone to attend. Ken said Florence sent Ken the audit report. It's 4 MB and he has not sent it to the committee He volunteered to send it to the Working Group Ken said there was a concern because LexMedia's bylaws call for a certain number of appointed board members, including one by the CAC But the CAC doesn't have the authority to make appointments Ken recommended that the Board of Selectmen re-appoint Tim and recommended that when LexMedia next was amending their bylaws they correct this issue by having the appointment made by the Board of Selectmen. Ken said that there was confusion about whether a LexMedia annual report was required due to the contract renewal work. Florence agreed that she would prepare an annual report by the time of our next meeting LexMedia Oversight Linda sent Ken the draft response to the 4"'quarter quarterly report. Ken has not yet forwarded it to LexMedia. Linda expressed concern that we never get the "results" of the training—how many people actually go on to produce programming Ken said that a resident copmlained about LexMedia because she wanted LexMedia to rebroadcast a foreign affairs program. Florence reported that she tned to obtain permission from the copyright owner, but that there was no response The resident felt that the decision not to broadcast the program was political, each side felt bullied by the other LexMedia has no formal policy for who's responsible for obtaining broadcast rights The committee discussed whether a policy was appropriate, and what the policy would say Mana also suggested that LexMedia look for policies from similar public access corporations Ken summarized that we suggest to LexMedia to work through their association to see what other towns do about getting clearance, and deciding what they air versus what they don't. Maria will put together a few bullets on the topic and send them to Ken. Town IT Updates Donnda reported that nothing has been done yet on redundant fiber because the resources needed to help follow state procurement law haven't been available There is uncertainty how they're supposed to approach the fiber project—as a construction project or not. Donnda reported that she has not been able to pursue getting all of the bids in for wireless in town buildings. The plan is still the same—to install WiFi Donnda stated that she has included capital funding in the FY16 budget for WiFi in Cary Hall. She had to clarify that it wasn't part of the construction budget. She reported that there is a plan to put WiFi in the Community Center prior to it being opened to the public Potential Committee Activities Linda suggested two activities. "First,what's going on with Cary Hall, in regard to WiFi and LexMedia equipment." "Second, regarding open meetings and working groups versus subcommittee " Dave Buczkowski moved that"the Communications Advisory Committee dissolve and disband the Negotiating Subcommittee " Dave Becker seconded. The committee voted on the motion and approved it unanimously Dave Becker suggested a series of short tutoring sessions on licensing cable operators "What are the laws and regulations)" "How does the money work)" Dave Becker proposed to do this in 10-minute segments in two or three meetings. The committee expressed interest. Dave Becker suggested it might be time to consider performing some sort of review on the operators Dave Becker suggested working on whether cable operators were providing the free service Lexington was entitled to receive, and whether the burden was distributed equally between the providers The committee agreed it was a good topic to investigate and to try to develop a rationale plan. Linda suggested wireless (cell phone) coverage as a future topic for the committee Wireless No action. Complaints None in September,none yet in October and Steve is scheduled for November Ending Dave Buczkowski moved to adjourn, Dave Becker seconded. The committee voted unanimously to approve Respectfully submitted, Nick Launat