HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-01-18-CAC-min
TOWN OF LEXINGTON
COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JANUARY 18, 2024
PARKER ROOM, TOWN OFFICE BUILDING
CONDUCTED IN-PERSON AND BY REMOTE PARTICIPATION
1. Call to order and roll call.
Communications Advisory Committee (CAC) Chair Kenneth Pogran called the meeting
to order at 6:38 PM and called the roll. The meeting was conducted in-person in the
Parker Room of the Town Office Building and remotely via Zoom.
Members Present In-Person: Ken Pogran, Chair; Shabbir Bagasrawala, Dave
Buczkowski, Steve Kaufman.
Members Present via Zoom: Bob Avallone, Dave Becker, Smita Desai, Nick Lauriat
Members Absent: Dorinda Goodman, P.K. Shiu, Rita Vachani
Quorum: A quorum of members was present.
Others Present In -Person: Kerry Morris, Comcast
Material Referenced: Draft minutes of the December 21, 2023 meeting
2. Review and VOTE to approve minutes of the CAC December 21, 2023 meeting.
Mr. Buczkowski moved to approve the minutes of the December 21, 2023 meeting, as
prepared by Mr. Avallone with assistance from Mr. Pogran. The motion was seconded
and approved unanimously by roll call vote of the members present.
3. Chairman’s Report: Ken Pogran
The next order of business for the Committee will be the renewal of the LexMedia Grant,
for the final two-year period of the planned six-year grant, by July 1, 2024. The major
activity needed for this final phase is the preparation of the operations and capital budgets
with the Town procurement department for this final term of the grant, Fiscal Years 2025
and 2026. This will be headed by the PEG Access working group of Ms. Desai, Ms.
Vachani and Mr. Avallone, meeting with LexMedia’s Executive Director Florence
DelSanto and her staff.
The Chair has only recently received and distributed the financial report of LexMedia’s
last fiscal year. Their report of activities for the second quarter of that period, ending
December 31, 2023, is due at the end of January, 2024. Ms. DelSanto was not present at
the January CAC meeting, but it is expected that these two reports will be discussed at
the next CAC meeting at which she is present.
Mr. Pogran reported that due to the absence of Mr. Sandeen and Ms. DelSanto there
would be no Select Board liaison report and no LexMedia update.
4. Service provider reports
The only service provider representative to attend this month was Kerry Morris of
Comcast, who reported no significant activity.
5. Comcast License Renewal
Kerry Morris of Comcast reported that she received the draft Renewal License prepared
by the CAC, and expects to provide an initial response by February 9, as the CAC
requested.
6. Verizon License Renewal
Because of the relatively short (five year) term of the Verizon 2022 renewal license, and
the requirement that the operator notify a municipality between 30 and 36 months prior to
license expiration if they want to renew a license, Verizon has already notified the Town
that they do wish to renew their current license when it expires in 2026. Accordingly,
Mr. Pogran asked the CAC to authorize a request to the Select Board to direct the CAC
to begin negotiations with Verizon for such a renewal. Members voted unanimously to
request such authorization from the Board.
7. Wireless services working group update
Mr. Kaufman reported on a new CAC working group effort to study the need for
improved cell phone service in Lexington. Mr. Kaufman and Ms. Goodman recognized
two separate groups of users who both need better cell service: (1) General users who
have poor service because of dead zones in Lexington, and (2) Town government users,
including first responders, who sometimes must work inefficiently in the field because of
poor cell phone coverage.
The working group will have a series of meetings to develop contacts with local cell
phone providers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) to identify specific problem areas and
possible solutions with each operator and will report on progress to the CAC.
8. Town Information Technology Report
Ms. Dorinda Goodman, Town IT Director, was not in attendance, so there was no IT
report.
9. Complaints
No complaints were reported in December and none thus far in January. Ms. Vachani is
handling any problems for January and Mr. Lauriat will cover February.
10. Adjournment
A Motion to Adjourn was made by Mr. Buczkowski and seconded by Mr. Avallone to
adjourn at 7:20 pm. It was approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
David Becker, Recording Secretary