HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-11-18-CAC-min RECEIVED
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TOWN OF LEXINGTON TOWN CL,ERK
COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
LEXINGTON
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF NOVEMBER 18, 2021
CONDUCTED BY REMOTE PARTICIPATION
1. Call to order and roll call.
Communications Advisory Committee (CAC) Chair Kenneth Pogran called the meeting to order
at 6:05 PM and called the roll. The meeting was conducted remotely via Zoom.
Members Present (via Zoom): Ken Pogran, Chair; Bob Avallone, Dave Becker, Dave
Buczkowski, Smita Desai, Steve Kaufman, P.K. Shiu, Ramin Taraz, Rita Vachani.
Members Absent: Dorinda Goodman, Nick Lauri at
Quorum: A quorum of members was present.
Others Present: Florence DelSanto, LexMedia; Tom Steel, RCN
Materials Referenced: Draft minutes of the October 21, 2021 meeting, Verizon FiOS license
renewal —email re. extension of negotiation period.
2. Review and VOTE to approve minutes of the CAC October 21 meeting
The minutes of the October 21"meeting, recorded by Rita Vachani, were reviewed and approved
with amendment.
3. Service provider reports: Tom Steel
Mr. Steel announced his retirement at the end of 2021, after 25 years at RCN. Tom expressed his
thanks and enjoyment working with the CAC, especially having worked with Mr. Buczkowski
and Mr. Becker since the first RCN license negotiation. Tom was proud of working with
Lexington, that we have a well-functioning institutional network, and that Lexington was the
first to suggest having High-Definition PEG programming, which was implemented and later
expanded to other communities. Led by Mr. Buczkowski, the CAC expressed our thanks to Mr.
Steel wishing him a happy retirement.
Mr. Steel mentioned that RCN is changing the company name to Astound, and will be known as
"Astound powered by RCN" in the interim. His replacement will be David von Moritz, who is
based in Washington state.
4. Chairman's Report: Ken Pogran
Ken Pogran explained that Mr. Kaufman is not yet at the CAC meeting because Mr. Kaufman
noticed the current Select Board meeting includes an agenda item on the approval of a policy
concerning small wireless facilities. Mr. Kaufman is currently attending that meeting and will
report back soon.
Selectman Mark Sandeen, who was previously the CAC Select Board liaison, has been working
with the town staff to develop a policy for small wireless facilities, otherwise known as small
cell sites. The intend was for the CAC to review the developed policies. Due to CAC liaison
change, that did not happen. The Chair has communicated with our new Liaison, Mr. Joe Pato.
Mr. Pato indicated that the Select Board want to get an interim policy in place first. After CAC
review, and update will be made as necessary.
The second matter concerns the process whereby CAC should review wireless facility
applications for the town. The CAC traditionally reviews the applications to make sure the
applications conform to the FCC requirements. The CAC has not received any new applications
for review for some time. We learned that this was due, in part, to a breakdown of an informal
communication process after personnel changes. There is in fact an application waiting for the
CAC review without the CAC's knowledge. This will be corrected for the future.
5. LexMedia Update: Florence DelSanto
Ms. DelSanto informed us that the LexMedia Annual Meeting is moved to Dec 2nd . It will be a
virtual meeting and the CAC will be invited. LexMedia has covered a lot of live events, from
Town Meeting to High and Middle Schools. For example, the Charles Yu event at the High
School, which was well received.
LexMedia has started to run stories on individual local businesses. For example, on the
reopening of the Omar's World of Comics, and soon on the new bookstore. LexMedia also won
three 2021 Alliance for Community Media Northeast Nor'Easter Awards. The ACM-NE
Nor'Easter Awards recognizes achievement of Community Media/PEG Access Centers and their
affiliated local producers.
6. LexMedia FY2021 Annual Report, FY2022 Q1 Report: Smita Desai, Rita Vachani, Bob
Avallone
Ms. DelSanto indicated that the financials are not yet available due to the pandemic. Ms. Desai
commented that LexMedia has been a great asset to the Town. Mr. Avallone led a discussion on
the fluctuation of the on-demand viewer numbers. Ms. DelSanto indicated that viewing traffic
has been moving to YouTube, and during summer months traffic was low due to fewer activities
being programmed.
Mr. Avallone asked how does LexMedia decides which events to cover. Ms. DelSanto indicated
that there is a list of required meetings to be covered by our Contract between LexMedia and the
Town. Ms. DelSanto indicated that LexMedia in general will cover meetings by request, and a
good way to request coverage is via the LexMedia website.
The committee approved the CAC responses to both reports.
7. Select Board Meeting Update: Steve Kaufman
Mr. Kaufman joined the CAC meeting in progress after attended the Select Board meeting. Mr.
Kaufman confirmed that the Select Board approved an interim small cell site policy and will be
expecting the CAC to review and submit any updates as necessary. Mr. Kaufman noted that the
Town Manager, Mr. Malloy, has indicated a lot of recent changes have been made to the policy
and the CAC should review them.
8. Verizon FiOS cable television renewal license: Ken Pogran, Dave Becker, Dave
Buczkowski, Nick Lauriat
The Chair reported significant progress has been made with the negotiations. Our outside counsel
and the CAC sub-committee has met with Verizon. The committee discussed the pros and cons
of mediation vs arbitration process.
9. Complaints: Smita Desai (October), P.K. Shiu (November)
There were no complaints in October or November.
Upcoming: Steve Kaufman (December), Dave Buczkowski (January)
10. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 7.00 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
PK Shiu
Recording Secretary