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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-12-20-CAC-MIN COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Minutes for December 20, 2007 Present Committee Members Jeanne Canale, Dave Becker, Linda Roemer, Jim Gonzalez, John Rommelfanger (briefly), Dave Buczkowski (at approximately 7 p m) Also Present Harry Fordick, LexMedia, Ken Pogran Jeanne Canale convened the meeting at 6 40 with a quorum present Minutes The minutes were accepted. Reports from Providers There were no reports from Comcast, RCN, or Verizon. Chairman's report Jeanne reported that two men were interested in becoming members of the CAC One, Ken Pogran was present and was welcomed. The other Steven Blumenthal was unable to attend. A list of I-Net drops in town buildings was presented. Those which will not get the drops immediately will eventually do so No rationale was available on which will get the drops first The Committee had been given a copy of the correspondence between the Town and Verizon with regard to the Gross Revenue Form. The bottom line is Verizon owes the Town $16 The Town Report submission was reviewed and approved with a change in the order of highlights PEG Reports were distributed and the CAC was as befuddled as usual. Progress and strategies for improving the situation were discussed. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has formed a new Department of Telecommunications and Cable with a Competition Division. Verizon is raising rates and will be all digital. Committee Selectman Liaison Report --None I-Net Dave Becker updated the CAC on negotiations with Comcast with regard to their I-Net obligation. He reminded the committee that the Board of Selectmen had authorized us to negotiate on this issue Jane had agreed that Comcast would pay $17,000 per year to the Town in lieu of maintaining the I-Net (which they are not doing) They will also pay a pro-rated fee for the part of 2007 during which this was not done We are also asking them to remove the remnants of their I-Net including what is on poles Dave had hoped that this could be concluded by tonight's meeting but Jane needs more input from her technical people We will have to hold a public meeting because it's a change in the contract. Negotiations Sub-Committee There was discussion about the LexMedia contract. The Committee decided that it was no appropriate to begin these discussions until LexMedia got its affairs sorted out. It was agreed to leave this item off the agenda for the time being but to talk to the Town Manager about when we should move on this WI-FI Update John Rommelfanger reported that the company he had been talking with Atrion, now wants money for a proposal but they suggested another vendor Susan Janofsky, the Town development officer wanted more technical information which John will supply John was reminded that the Committee has not approved this document Lex-Media Sub-Committee The Board of Selectmen approved the report of the second year review and was pleased with the progress and plans reported by Harry Forsdick to them. Jim will bring copies of the report for the committee in January LexMedia Report Harry Forsdick reported on progress toward the signing of the Kline Hall lease but there is no closure on this yet Harry reported on the process for the search for an Executive Director and LexMedia's hope to have a decision by January 23rd There is no FY 09 budget yet There current fund raising goal is substantially less than previously, perhaps around $100,000 Harry pointed out that it is difficult to raise money until they are into Kline Hall and have something to show Shelby and Harry met with the people at Hancock Church with regard to LIFT and found that there may be some difficulty in broadcasting of live services from the Church. Dave Becker reminded Harry that the current contract calls for continuation of this It has been broadcast for 25 years and needs to continue Harry and Shelby are working on accomplishing this but he was giving the committee a heads-up Wireless Ed Vail was unable to attend but submitted a report which is attached to these minutes Complaints Jim presented two complaints which he thinks were resolved. He also pointed out that while we had criticized LexMedia's complaint record-keeping, ours was inadequate He had developed a spread sheet which will enable us to track complaints and their resolution and which will be passed from each month's complaint person to the next via e-mail. At each meeting, it will need to be noted who the next month's complaint person is Other Items There was a discussion about future funding for LexMedia in view of what may be declining cable revenues for the Town in the face of a variety of threats to these revenues This needs to be kept in mind in any renegotiation of the LexMedia contract. The Committee thought that putting times on the agenda worked well and should be continued. Ken Pogran was introduced and spoke briefly about his interest in the work of the committee The meeting adjourned at 8 10 Respectfully submitted, Linda Roemer Wireless Report At this point, we have one application in process 1 6 Meriam St. Initial application received and corresponding suggestions sent. Have not received a revised application In addition, • T-Mobile's 313 Marrett Road installation, approved last year, is still under construction It wasn't completed in Oct as planned • On-hold 313 Marrett Road, Verizon DAC didn't support the extensive height increase needed to avoid interference with T-Mobile's installation, so Verizon is investigating additional locations Bylaws Update I met with Dave George, ZBA Administrator and reviewed the proposal with him He supported the proposal as well as raising/discussing additional topics He recommended that we get on the ZBA's Jan 10th agenda under"Other Business"to describe the Bylaws Update process to the committee Action Items 1 Draft Flowchart of the Wireless Applications Review Process- Created and sent to Dave (copy attached), to be updated and reviewed at next CAC meeting 2 Send Dave a copy of the Subcommittee's Application Review Checklist- Sent 3 Need to document how to handle a Carrier's adding additional equipment to an existing installation -TBD 4 Request time on the ZBA's Jan 10th Agenda under Other Business- TBD Wireless Facility Site Survey Dave George is also interested in this survey, in particular getting the Wireless Facilities data entered in the Town GIS database and maps prepared I suggested that this might be a good HS Advanced Placement science project. We will discuss further after the holidays