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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-04-20-CAC-min TOWNOFLEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONSADVISORYCOMMITTEE MINUTESOFTHEMEETINGOFAPRIL20,2017 Call to order. Chair Kenneth Pogran called the meeting to order at 6.30 PM in the Parker Room (G-15) of the Town Office Building, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA. Members Present: Ken Pogran, Chair; Dave Becker, Dave Buczkowski, Smita Desai, Dorinda Goodman, Steve Iverson, Ben Moroze Members Absent: Nick Lauriat, Rita Vachani Quorum: A quorum of members was present. Others Present: Joe Pato, Board of Selectmen; Jane Lyman, Comcast; Florence DelSanto, LexMedia. Materials Referenced: Minutes of the Meeting of March 16, 2017; LexMedia oversight team notes from meeting 1.Approval of Minutes of the Meeting of March 16, 2017 The meeting minutes were unanimously approved. 2.Carrier Reports - Comcast (Jane Lyman) The adoption of the Comcast X1 operating system is growing--45% of subscribers have it. Comcast is closing down local service centers in favor of opening Apple-like retail XFINITY stores. One opened in Burlington several months ago. Comcast is rolling out XFINITY mobile. Comcast employees are beta testing it. It will switch between 4G LTE and WiFi hotspots so subscribers can save on the cost of data. This feature will use public, as opposed to private, Comcast WiFi installations. Ms. Lyman was not sure if the service will have voice over LTE. Comcast acquired some spectrum in a recent FCC auction. Comcast's $9.95/month broadband adoption program for low income families has been enhanced to cover anyone who is receiving HUD assistance. Previously, only customers with children receiving free or reduced lunch were eligible. th The 16 annual Comcast Cares community service day is on Saturday, April 22nd. 5300 Comcast employees and family members are expected to participate. Comcast had been running a pilot of a low income program for seniors in Boston-- Internet Essentials for Seniors (Ms. Lyman was not sure if it was age or income based). There is a needs-based program as well, but many seniors may not qualify. Lexington is still getting two or three checks from Comcast every month--this should be consolidated into one check per month. Comcast will look into it again. 3.Selectmen's Report - Joe Pato There was nothing to report. The police station antenna tower RFP has not progressed. 4.Chairman's Report - Ken Pogran a.The May 18, 2017 CAC meeting will be at LexMedia. A photographer for the CAC photo will be there. The CAC will vote at the May meeting on whether to recommend an extension to LexMedia's contract. b.The Chair sent out a memo about Selectmen's goal-setting. The CAC's input is due June th 16, 2017. CAC members should think of CAC issues that could be Town government goals, write them up, the Committee will review them, and the CAC will vote on which goals to send to the Board of Selectmen. In the past, the CAC items have never become official goals of the Board of Selectmen. Mr. Pato explained that in general, goals that require Board of Selectman attention get moved up, and CAC items are generally not of that nature. c.The Chair exchanged emails with Tom Steele of RCN about their hub move--RCN needs to request a contract amendment from Lexington concerning the new hub location. d.Nothing to report on new CAC member recruitment. 5.LexMedia update – Florence DelSanto LexMedia had its most successful Patriots' Day coverage yet, with a live location outside the library, the taped reenactment, road race, memorials, and handbell concert. A lot was volunteer driven. Coleen Smith sent an email to Lexington list about LexMedia Patriots' Day coverage that was apparently unsigned, causing some confusion. LexMedia is offering four weeks of summer kids’ (6th to 9th grade) filmmaking classes. They usually offer one week, but have partnered with a production company that approached LexMedia and wanted to use its facilities. There will be an article in the Colonial Times about the classes. LexMedia offered a special kid’s class this April vacation week. Twelve kids in the 6th to 9th grade were involved. LexMedia has a new staff server (after years of running out of space). They're still waiting for the HD channel equipment from RCN. They heard RCN is getting the equipment to Burlington first, then Lexington. The sound on LexMedia from Estabrook Hall is not good--it has been discussed with Pat Goddard. The microphones aren’t hooked up—there is a work order to fix it. Only the boom mic is working. The situation is the same in the Hudson room. 6.LexMedia July 2017 contract extension – Smita Desai, Steve Iverson a.Status report, timeline review and performance evaluation The visit to LexMedia with a spot check on inventory went well. The CAC should have the final version of the previous performance evaluation document available to use as a template. There are about seventeen items in the contract where the CAC has to assess whether LexMedia is meeting the contract appropriately. Florence owes the CAC a couple of documents (business plan, budget)--she is waiting for LexMedia board input. The contract has three year renewal terms--there is a reset of LexMedia funding at the beginning of the term, then cost-of-living adjustments during the term. The extension is an opportunity to set funding for expenses and capital for the three year term. Current expenses are about $391K, capital around $60K. There is no cost-of-living adjustment for capital. LexMedia already redid master control as a capital project. New studio cameras may be a capital need in the next contract, as they are currently an older, lower grade HD. Florence does not anticipate any increase in capital need. The capital rolls over. The average revenue per subscriber has increased, so despite losing subscribers (3%), PEG revenue has been made up so far. We might need to redo the contract with LexMedia if that money falls short. LexMedia programming has increased 20% (mainly due to covering more meetings). Cutting funding would make that growth impossible to keep up. In the 2020 RFP time-frame, we may have to discuss how to keep funding LexMedia with lower cable revenues. There is lobbying at the state and FCC levels to change basis of PEG funds to include a tax on broadband. LexMedia should send its budget request to the CAC, and the CAC can discuss it at the May meeting, vote on it, and make that recommendation to the Town Manager. There have been complaints to the Board of Selectmen about LexMedia's on- demand service. LexMedia is about to install a new service, it should be up this week. Complaints have mainly been about the poor user interface, and that double time navigation is not available. LexMedia had a demo of another non- TelVue service recently—they're looking into it, but switching is jolting. Any switch becomes part of the capital request. b.Public hearing Thursday, April 27 The public hearing on the renewal is at the Department of Public Works cafeteria, 201 Bedford St. Notice of the hearing has been posted. There will be an email to the Lexington list about the meeting. The hearing needs to get on public meeting calendar—the Chair asked for that to be done. Post hearing, there are two weeks for th written comments, which the CAC can discuss at its May 18 meeting. c.Presentation to Board of Selectmen Monday, May 22 LexMedia will then do the contract renewal amendment with Town Manager. The current contract can be extended by a month if need be. The process is ahead of schedule from last time. 7.Cable operator revenues and PEG finances – Dave Becker The plan is to publish the report before the next CAC meeting. 8.Wireless services update – Ken Pogran a.Small cell wireless issues The Baskin Road residents' complaint went to the Board of Selectmen. The submitted engineering analysis is within FCC limits, but the residents said it was a theoretical analysis: it assumes flat ground, but Baskin Rd. is on a hill. The Board of Health is now involved, and there is talk about hiring an RF consultant to make measurements to see if the installation complies with the FCC limits. The residents also complained that Verizon installed a different model than was specified. If an independent RF consultant is required, the hope is that Verizon would pay for it. The Town assumes the analysis filed is honest and correctly done. What happens to the installation if the measurements are found not to be in compliance? b.Police station cell tower RFP No news to report. 9.Town IT update - Dorinda Goodman The IT budgets got approved at Town Meeting.The IT department wants to use the money coming in from cable operators for redundant bandwidth. The town-wide network assessment was completed and the results were as expected. Before IT can create redundant pathways, they will need to reprogram switches around town. The company that did the assessment will write up a statement of work, then will have to go to RFP (it will be significant enough). The IT department is well into its cyber security audit. 10.Complaints – Nick Lauriat (March), Smita Desai (April) There were two complaints reported: A downed wire, which was a Verizon issue. A customer switching providers from Verizon to Comcast has been unable to get their remaining money back from the old provider, Verizon. Jill Reddish of Verizon promised to investigate. 11.New business There was no new business. Adjournment.The meeting was adjourned at 7:53 PM. Respectfully submitted, Ben Moroze, Recording Secretary