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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-09-21-CAC-min.pdf CA n'Iint-deS Sept 25200z_ On September 21, 2002, the Meeting of the Communication Advisory Committee was called to order at 5:52. Committee members present were: Jane Gharibian(Chair)Dave Becker, Tim Counihan, Howard Cravis, Steve Ellis, Bill Kofoed, Ed Vail, and Miriam Boucher(minute taker). Additional participants were: Jeanne Kreiger(representing the Board of Selectmen), Tom Steel (representing RCN), Peggy Sullivan(representing AT&T), and Lorraine Fouimier(Lexington resident). Jane Gharibian read the list of complaint people for the next months (Dave Becker for September,Dave Buczkowski for October, Tim Counihan for November and Ed Vail for December). Jane asked if there were any changes to the agenda. There were none. There wasn't a quorum at the last meeting(June), therefore there was no formal meeting and no minutes to approve. Steve Ellis has been asked to resign as network admin (because he's no longer working for the school) and has been replaced. He has been requested to remain on the committee. Dave Buczkowski has been re-appointed to the committee to complete Jennifer's term. We are short a person. Jane has been given information about people who might be interested in joining the committee. She will sort through the list and distribute infoiination about appropriate candidates. The committee is encouraged to solicit and suggest members. Steve Ellis reported that Scola is still having problems with transmissions from the high school. The I-net is used to carry signals from various locations in town to the head end which are then switched to Scola. The problem is that the I-net is old and with the current situation with AT&T the resources needed to tune the system doesn't exist. Complaints are being transferred to Wendy at the high school. The person who receives the calls in Chelmsford doesn't have any way to check on the quality of the signal. Peggy Sullivan promised to forward a contact phone number via email to Jane. This is the correct number to get a trouble ticket opened so the problems can be resolved. David Becker asked why the committee wasn't getting the complaints about this. This is unknown. Peggy Sullivan reported that the deal would close with Comcast sometime in the 4th quarter of this year. The DOJ has approved the merger. The FCC has not; FCC approval is expected. A few communities have not approved the merger. AT&T is appealing, one has been resolved. The rest are still under negotiation. The number for complaints about high-speed access is 866-447-7333 All nodes are activated; all residential customers are on the new network. Some residents in multi unit dwellings are not yet on the network. All of the pedestals have been put into vaults. Mr. Adler, on Village Circle, had a pedestal on his property that has been removed and put in a vault. Unfortunately, the vault is still on the customer's property This is being dealt with. Jane's been tracking the tapes of the Selectmen's meeting and the religious channel. She stated that the problem with getting the tapes on RCN quickly is in getting the duplicating done. RCN picks up the tapes when they're notified that they're done, which has usually been on a Friday Peggy Sullivan stated that AT&T has no obligation to duplicate the tapes; they have agreed to do this under a gentleman's agreement. Peggy feels that it's RCN's responsibility to find out when there's a meeting and then come and pick up the tape. AT&T agreed to have the tapes available the next day RCN was going to provide shipping labels, these never arrived- thus the tapes were sent to RCN via regular mail. RCN can come in the next business day and pick them up. RCN will start making a regular Tuesday afternoon pickup. Howard Cravis asked if the problem in getting the tapes duplicated was in getting the close captioning added. This was not the issue. RCN is encouraged to supply the broadcast schedule for the public channels to the Minutemen. Tom Steel was given the contact information at the Minuteman to facilitate getting this information published. Tom Steel asked about the current status of the public access corporation. Dave Becker replied that the answer wouldn't be known until spring. We're cautiously optimistic about it. Peggy listed several towns that have competitive cable companies that have public access corporations that work. Jane said that the problem has been that we have not been able to identify a consistency Peggy stated that for the next renewal she would not be supportive of continuing to produce the tapes of the Selectman's meetings. Dave raised the issue of the emergency alerting system. Peggy will get Dave Becker the name of a contact person via email. She stated that the new emergency system has not been installed yet. Steve Ellis asked Peggy if any literature about AT&T's current offerings had been sent out yet. Peggy said that literature has been sent to current subscribers and that she thinks they are also sending literature to non-subscribers. She will bring samples of the literature to the next meeting. Tom Steel reported that RCN is working on getting connections to Scola. Jane reported that several residents had mentioned that they are happy to see Channel 11 which David Kanter worked very hard to get added to RCN's lineup. Apparently the religious channel on AT&T has a rolling bulletin board where RCN has a stationary one. Peggy suggested Bob Burns as a contact for more information. A modulator was promised to the religious studio and they are now looking for it. Tom Steel was unaware of this. There is a production studio in the Hancock church. Feeds for all of the churches come from there. Caleb Warner and Mike Morrisey(a member of this committee) were suggested as contacts. Jane reported that she had gotten compliments about how cooperative Caroline and Cory (AT&T)were. Currently some high school students are being trained in producing shows. As more people get trained, more events will be covered. Girl's swimming will be covered soon. It is anticipated that local events will soon follow Tom Steel stated that the emergency system is up; a verbal warning with text message overrides is working. The Fire Chief is the primary contact. Dave Becker agreed to coordinate this effort. He would like to do some testing. Peggy mentioned that the two firehouses are receiving different cable service and someone keeps calling but the issue isn't being resolved. David agreed to intercede in this matter as well. David Becker reported on the status of the public access corporation survey The contract with the consultant was signed a couple of weeks ago, things should be starting in a couple of weeks. He solicited names for an initial round of contact. The more names the better. He's looking for about 20 people. We don't want to waste the consultant's time. We're looking for people who represent the broad interests of the people of Lexington. The ideal person is someone who has generated a measure of respect for his or her activities. These people need to have enough contacts to be able to ask other people to come and participate in the workshops. We're especially looking for diversity Suggestions for this round include ex-selectmen and people who wore the white hats on Patriots day This effort will be very visible to get people involved and aware. Before Rika starts, Dave requested communication via email if there are any additional issues we want her to address. There is a misunderstanding by this committee and the accounting office as to how the franchise fees were to be used. One interpretation says that the fees are for cable related use only Another interpretation states that a portion of the fees goes to the town and a portion goes to the committee for cable related matters. Dave Becker asked what the Lexington franchise says. He will follow up on this. Howard Cravis states that he is willing to participate in the negotiation committee; it needs 5 members. We want to start serious negotiations in the spring before the current contract is up. We anticipate that at that time, we will have some results from the survey No news on antenna updates. Ed Vail will follow up with Dave Kanter on hand over of any outstanding permit requests. David remains available as a resource by email and phone. We received a request from Wendy at the high school for our support in purchasing a new camera. The primary use for this camera at the high school is classroom work. The equipment was purchased in 1990 and there's a waiting list for existing equipment. The manufacturer is no longer supporting various pieces of the equipment. This is for a studio camera, not a portable carry around camera. One quote for the replacement cost was $16,400. This was for an$11,00 camera,plus lenses, plus controls. One issue is how much money is available. Further discussion of this will be put on the agenda for the next meeting. The committee nominated Mike Morrisey to be our emissary to go in and find out the facts; is there a less expensive option. This motion was made, seconded and approved. The new equipment should stay in the school but should be compatible with any future equipment purchases. One option is for the committee to pay for part of the purchase. There is a past history of the CAC supporting equipment purchases for the school. Going all the way back to 1996, $28,000 has been spent for equipment. Further discussion will be put on the agenda for next meeting. Lorraine spoke to the committee about the problem she has had for many months with receiving public access programming on RCN She has spoken to David Kanter and Jane Gharibian and has not gotten any results. The tape from the selectman's meeting from two weeks ago has not been played yet. RCN is not getting the tapes from AT&T The committee will hold Peggy to the agreement made in this meeting. The agreement addresses the selectman's meetings only This does not address the school committee meetings as these are produced by RCN. She does not feel that she is getting complete service. The committee told her that the RCN contract says you get the channel,but it doesn't say what will be on it. There isn't a lot on the channel because we don't have a lot to put on it. There is a difference between public access programming and local origination programming. Right now, there is not enough interest for public access programming. Because AT&T creates and produces the tape, it is local origination programming and they feel they own it. The next meeting will be on 10/17 The meeting was adjourned at 7.30