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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-12-19-CAC-minTOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF DECEMBER 19, 2024 PARKER ROOM, TOWN OFFICE BUILDING (AND ALSO BY REMOTE PARTICIPATION) 1. Call to Order and Roll Call Ken Pogran CAC Chair Ken Pogran called the meeting to order in the Parker room of the Town Office Building at approximately 6:45 PM and conducted the roll call. The meeting was conducted in hybrid mode, in person and remotely over Zoom. Members Present: Bob Avallone, Nick Lauriat, Steve Kaufman, Ken Pogran, Rita Vachani Members Present (via Zoom): Shabbir Bagasrawala Members Absent: Dave Becker, Dave Buczkowski, Smita Desai, Dorinda Goodman Others Attending: Mark Sandeen - Select Board Quorum: A quorum of members was present. Materials Referenced: Draft minutes of the October 17th meeting. 2. Review and Approval of Minutes of February Meeting — Ken Pogran The minutes of the October 17'h meeting were approved unanimously. 3. Service Provider Reports — None present 4. Chair's Report — Ken Pogran The first item on Mr. Pogran's agenda was the Calendar keeper opportunity. This is the changing of the countdown calendar toward the 250' anniversary of the battle of Lexington and Concord. Mr. Pogran was able to obtain the date of Friday, March 21 ", which would be done the evening of Thursday the 20''. That is the night of our March meeting. There was some discussion, and everyone agreed that we should do this. The next item was the assignment of the Recording Secretary and Complaints, which was distributed prior to the meeting. There were some conflicts, but these are being worked out by trading dates. Mr. Pogran commented that there have been very few complaints over the past year. Regarding Conflict -of -Interest forms, Mr. Pogran mentioned that his was due, he was working on it, and we should do the same if ours were due. Next on Mr. Pogran's list was the open seat on the committee. Mr. Pogran said that no one has applied yet. Mr. Avallone mentioned that he knew of someone who might be interested, and he would follow up with that person. Mr. Pogran said that the town conducts three "campaigns" each year to recruit new members of the open committee slots, and it is better than the CAC not conducting a campaign independent of that. But it would be okay if the CAC did informal recruiting. 5. Working Groups - Ken Pogran Mr. Pogran reviewed the working groups and their responsibilities. These consist of the Cable Provider License group, which must handle license renewals and relationships with our three cable providers, the LexMedia Oversight Group, which manages the LexMedia contract and deals with LexMedia's reports, the PEG Finances Group, which reviews the PEG financial accounts, develops an understanding of trends in PEG revenues, and presents them to the Select Board, and the Wireless Working Group, which looks at issues with wireless services in Lexington. Mr. Pogran had asked each working group to develop a timeline of events—what their group was responsible for, and when, during the yearor, for the Wireless Working Group, a work plan, since no timeline had been developed yet. Ms. Vachani presenting her timeline for the LexMedia Oversight Group. This was about the various reports that LexMedia submits and the timeline for receiving and reviewing them. The Committee discussed the possibility of dropping the requirement for an annual report in favor of an extended Q4 report. Also presented was the review of the LexMedia contract, which is due to end in June 2026. This needs to be reviewed by the Town's financial people and the Select Board. Ms. Vachani then presented her timeline for the PEG Finances group. Finally, Mr. Lauriat discussed the timeline he had developed for Cable Provider License Group activities. The Wireless Working Group plan was not discussed, as the group had not yet met. 6. Select Board Report - Mark Sandeen Mr. Sandeen talked about the Select Board's concern about declining PEG revenues. It was noticed by one of the other Select Board members that the drop in PEG revenues has been gradual; the question was will it become precipitous at some point? Ms. Vachani, who is the CAC member who analyses these statistics, expects the gradual drop off to continue until 2028 or 2029 and then a precipitous drop is likely. Mr. Pogran mentioned that another risk is that one of the cable providers will pull out of Lexington at some point. While this is not likely, it is a possibility. Mr. Sandeen mentioned that he would take the message back to the Select Board and that members of the Select Board are concerned about the drop off in PEG revenues. Regarding the committee vacancy Mr. Sandeen reiterated that the Board would prefer that the committee not conduct their own recruitment drive but that if an application does come in between recruitment drives, they could process it. That is, informal recruitment is okay. 7. More on Astound Offerings- Bob Avallone Last month David Von Moritz, the Astound representative, mentioned Astound' s wireless offering as a replacement for their cable alternative. Mr. Avallone had some personal experience with this and offered to present it to the committee. Mr. Avallone noticed that his cable bill had been going up dramatically in the last two months by about $50 a month, so he called Astound to inquire as to what was going on. They told him that there was a promotion that ran out. They offered him the wireless option to save money and he agreed. Mr. Avallone reports that the internet connection is now faster, all four of his TVs are now Hi - Def instead of just three and all stations are now Hi -Def; there are no more Lo -Def stations. The only drawback is the service occasionally spins out for a few minutes. He asked the rhetorical question — why wasn't this service offered earlier instead of waiting for a complaint? Mr. Avallone mentioned the possibility of promoting this option on the Lexington List. Mr. Pogran offered an alternative of conducting a survey as to what are people's experiences. But no action was agreed upon. There was a question raised as to how much money Mr. Avallone is saving, he is not sure of the exact amount but estimates about $100, He will report back later with a more accurate figure. There was a question as to whether PEG revenues will continue with the wireless option. The answer was that it would. This is a reason to promote this option rather than having subscribers leave the service altogether. 8. Town IT Update — Dorinda Goodman None this month due to the absence of Ms. Goodman. 9. LexMedia Update — Florence De/Santo Due to the absence of Ms. DelSanto, Mr. Pogran presented a brief update. There was an interview with the new Town manager, Steve Bartha. Also, there was a holiday baking show conducted in the LexMedia kitchen. 10. Complaints There were no complaints received. 11. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:30 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Bob Avallone Recording Secretary