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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-02-18-CAC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF FEBRUARY 18, 2021 CONDUCTED BY REMOTE PARTICIPATION Members Present: Ken Pogran, Chair; Bob Avallone, Dave Becker, Dave Buczkowski, Smita Desai, Dorinda Goodman, Nick Lauriat, PK Shiu, Ramin Taraz Members Absent:,Rita Vachani Quorum: A quorum of members was present. Others Present: Florence DelSanto (LexMedia) Materials Referenced: • CAC draft response to LexMedia FY2021 Q2 report • Lexington Select Board letter to DTC - Transfer of Control RCN License • FY2021 Q2 CAC report • DRAFT CAC Meeting Minutes January 21, 2021 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. The meeting was held remotely via Zoom teleconferencing. No service provider representatives were present. Lexington Select Board member Mark Sandeen could not attend. No updates from them were received prior to the meeting. 2. Service provider reports No service provider representatives were present, and no updates were received from them prior to the meeting. 3. Select Board liaison report -Mark Sandeen Mark Sandeen could not attend. There is no update from him. 4. LexMedia Q2 report—Smita Desai, Bob Avallone Ms. Desai noted the Q2 report numbers are comparable to last year even with potential impact from COVID-19. However, Q2, Q3 2020 and Q1 2021 quarterly reports, and the final grant agreement document were missing from the LexMedia website. Ms. DelSanto explained that LexMedia had a staff change over; the website has since been updated with the missing items. Mr. Avallone has verified that the documents are now available. The Chair recommend updating the CAC response to reflect that. The Chair recommends LexMedia to include and highlight any achievements in the report for official record. The committee voted to accept the LexMedia Q2 report, and approved the CAC response. 5. LexMedia update—Florence DelSanto Ms. DelSanto said LexMedia is preparing for a virtual Patriots Day for Lexington with the Town Celebration Committee. Last year only the parade was done virtually. This year the goal is to have the entire Patriots Day celebration be virtual. LexMedia will be busy gathering all materials in house for editing before the day, including their own segment on what is the true meaning to be a patriot. Ms. DelSanto said LexMedia has hired a new IT contractor to complete the final piece of the technology update. LexMedia now has the capability of live streaming both on YouTube and on the cable channel directly. Ms. DelSanto also noted that they had a board meeting recently and are working on forming new committees but nothing to report yet. Ms. Desai asked about any update on close captioning on programs. Ms. DelSanto said that close captioning is expensive as it is done manually. LexMedia is only captioning meetings. Ms. Desai suggested looking into realtime automated captioning but the cost and accuracy is unclear. Mr. Taraz asked for an update on removal or donation of old equipment at LexMedia. Ms. DelSanto gave the Town Manager a list of the equipment. The Town Manager said he will see if there are interests from his senior staff. Wait a few months before full disposal. 6. Chairman's Report—Ken Pogran The Chair noted that Ms. Vachani has reviewed the form 500 from both Verizon and Comcast. She could not be at the meeting tonight and will present the data next meeting. The subscriber count and revenue are on a steeper downward trend then forecasted. There is no leveling off of the decline. The CAC has been updating the Select Board of the situation. Regarding the RCN license transfer, the Chair said the Select Board held a public hearing on Jan 25'', 2021. The Select Board met on Feb 81h, 2021 and voted to approve the RCN license transfer, as recommended by the CAC. The Select Board sent relevant documentation to Mass DTC and copied RCN. Tom Steel, our RCN representative, acknowledged the receipt of such letter. The matter is considered closed. A discussion was held on how many municipalities in Massachusetts had to perform similar license transfer approval. The Chair informed the committee there is still a vacancy on the committee and that he is chatting with potential candidates. The Chair ask everyone to continue to reach out to different community groups to continue get a diverse representation from the town. 7. Verizon license renewal status —Dave Becker, Dave Buczkowski, Nick Lauriat Mr. Becker informed the committee since the procurement process will typically take four months, and while we are eight months away from the license expiration, it is still advisable to start the process. The Chair said our Verizon representative, Nial Connors, officially informed us that he is the official contact for the process. They have acknowledged the receipt of the RFP draft and we are waiting for a response. The town's attorney, Peter Epstein, has modernized the contract in terms of the language, with no change to the 5% franchise fee contribution. 8. Town IT Update—Dorinda Goodman Ms. Goodman said the entire IT department has been volunteering to assist at COVID vaccination sites. They are currently operating computing equipment at a multi-town site in Arlington for Arlington, Lexington and Belmont. The Chair asked if there are updates on remote meeting technology selection. Ms. Goodman said a vendor has been selected by the IT department and they are waiting for the town manager for final approval. Ms. Goodman indicated that the solution will be used for future unified communication needs for differ groups within the town, not just to support remote meeting during the COVID time. The Chair noted that ease of use is important for groups like the CAC where we do not have direct administrative support from the town office. A discussion was held around different close captioning features and performance. 9. Wireless applications —Nick Lauriat No wireless applications were received. 10. Complaints —PK Shin (January), Smita Desai (February) No complaints were received by committee members. Upcoming: Dave Buczkowski (March), Bob Avallone (April) 11. Review Minutes of the Jan 21st, 2021 CAC Meeting The minutes of the meeting of Jan 21", 2021 were unanimously approved. 12. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 7:23 PM. Respectfully submitted, PK Shiu Recording Secretary