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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-12-17-CAC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF DECEMBER 17, 2020 CONDUCTED BY REMOTE PARTICIPATION Members Present: Ken Pogran, Chair; Bob Avallone, Dave Buczkowski, Smita Desai, Dorinda Goodman, Nick Lauriat, PK Shiu, Dave Becker Members Absent: Ramin Taraz, Rita Vachani Quorum: A quorum of members was present. Others Present: Mark Sandeen—Lexington Selectman, Tom Steel—RCN Materials Referenced: • RCN transfer of control cover letter and draft resolution; • RCN transfer of control FCC application (non-confidential portions); • Mass. DTC "Cable Television License Renewal Process" guide; and • Verizon license renewal status report to Select Board, December 14. 1. Call to order and roll call—Ken Pogran Communications Advisory Committee (CAC) Chair Ken Pogran conducted the roll call and called the meeting to order at 6:35 PM. Meeting held remotely via Zoom teleconferencing. 2. Review and approval of previous meeting minutes The draft minutes of the meeting of November 19, 2020 are not yet available. 3. Select Board liaison report -Mark Sandeen Mark Sandeen acknowledged The Chair's presentation to the Select Board earlier in the week. Mark Sandeen said the task to prepare design guidelines for wireless sites has been forwarded to a working group of the Select Board in preparation for a warrant for the spring town meeting. 4. Service provider reports Tom Steel said the effort to send Form 394 applications is underway. Tom reminded us that there is a requirement to have a hearing within 60 days, and to render a decision within 60 days of the hearing. Tom expects hearings will be scheduled at the end of January and beginning of February. Tom expects a busy stretch to get all the hearings in. Tom indicated that he hoped to have all approvals done in April, but he believes it may stretch in May. He expects it to be finished with everything in the second quarter. 5. Chairman's Report—Ken Pogran The Chair noted that the committee is not dealing with any LexMedia items at this meeting due to the absence of both Florence and Rita. The Chair said that we'll be reviewing annual financial statements and LexMedia's capital plan in the next meeting The Chair reminded the committee that the committee still only has 10 members and said that he expects to post to the Lexington List in January. The Chair reminded the committee to think about people who might be a good fit for the committee. 6. RCN acquisition and license transfer a. Discussion of required process; schedule for a public hearing. The chair noted that it must be a public hearing of the Issuing Authority—the Select Board. The chair recalled that there was no public comment last time but wasn't sure if we closed the hearing at the Select Board meeting or held it open. Tom Steel said that there would be a representative from Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners at the hearing, and said he believes they're eager to invest in expansion. Tom said he has to get 111 approvals, including the west coast. The chair said the committee should be prepared to make a recommendation to the Select Board at the hearing, and therefore should plan to discuss (and vote) at the next CAC meeting in January. The chair said the committee's January meeting is on January 21" and there is a Select Board meeting on Monday, January 25h. The chair offered to go back to the Select Board's administrator to get the item added to the agenda and get the legal notice printed. b. Review of materials submission. The chair noted the non-confidential material had been distributed to the committee by email, and the confidential material is with the Town Manager at this time. The committee discussed how to facilitate review of the confidential materials. Mark Sandeen offered to reach out to the Town Manager to discuss a process for the confidential materials. Tom Steel offered to share the talking points he expects to share at the Select Board meeting. Tom said Stonepeak would need to answer questions about the details of the purchase. 7. Verizon FiOS license renewal a. Select Board update. The chair presented to the Select Board on Monday. Feedback was good and no major issues were raised. b. Renewal license status. Dave Becker updated the committee on his understanding of Verizon's plans for technology and license duration. Dave Becker said the town's cable attorney, Peter Epstein, had put together a draft of a license based on other towns' licenses to submit to Verizon for response. The working group met, gathered feedback for Peter, and is going to schedule a follow-up session with Peter. c. Next steps. Dave Becker said he anticipates sending the draft license to Verizon in January, asking them to respond in March, and then going back-and-forth. The chair said he believed that schedule was consistent with Verizon's expectations. The chair also noted that we want to be well underway six months ahead of expiration, since that's when the Department of Telecommunications and Cable will start asking for status. Dave Becker said that if we do not explicitly state the ascertainment is complete, Verizon cannot submit an unsolicited license. 8. Town IT update—Dorinda Goodman Dorinda said that things were moving along. Dorinda said they're looking for an enterprise solution for web meeting and are down to two finalists. Dorinda said they're trying to find a unified communications program, including something that will integrate well with existing systems. She said they're trying to move towards soft phones and other virtual communications solutions. Other interesting new features being considered include live closed captioning, live translation and streaming to YouTube. 9. Wireless applications —Nick Lauriat No wireless applications were received. The Chair noted that the Town Meeting passed the zoning law changes and that the design guideline would be going to the town meeting in the spring. Mark Sandeen said the Select Board had hoped to see the CAC continue to be involved in the wireless application process. Mark asked the committee if the town should have design guidelines for both macro wireless sites and small-cell wireless sites. The chair suggested a single set of guideline for wireless facilities, with a section for small-cell wireless sites. That approach appeared to be consistent with the zoning change. 10. Complaints —Ramin Taraz (November), Nick Lauriat (December), PK Shin (January), Smita Desai(February) No complaints were received by committee members. 11. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 PM. Respectfully submitted, Nick Lauriat Recording Secretary