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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-02-15-CAC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE DRAFT MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF FEBRUARY 15, 2018 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, Nick Lauriat, Smita Desai, Bob Avallone, Steve Iverson, Ben Moroze, Ramin Taraz Members Absent: Rita Vachani, Dorinda Goodman Quorum: A quorum of members was present. Others Present: Florence DelSanto, LexMedia; Greg Franks, Comcast Materials Referenced: Minutes of the Meeting of December 21, 2017; LexMedia 2018Q2 Report; Response to LexMedia 2018Q2 Report DRAFT v2; 1. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Steve Iverson moved to approve the minutes of the meeting on December 21, 2017, Dave Buczkowski seconded. The minutes were approved. 2. Carrier Reports No carrier reports were provided. Ken said he got an email from Tom Steel indicating that Tom was looking forward to beginning the relicensing process at our convenience. Mr. Franks joined the meeting. Mr. Franks indicated he was filling in tonight, and that Comcast was still looking for Jane Lyman's replacement. Mr. Franks covers other towns in a similar role to Ms. Lyman's old role, and will be covering Lexington until Ms. Lyman's replacement is hired. Mr. Franks talked about current developments at Comcast—Olympics, voice remote, X5 Internet app and so on. Mr. Franks indicated that Gerry Buckley is his boss. 3. Selectmen's Report Mr. Pato was not present. 4. Chairman's Report a. Closure re RCN license amendment Amendment has been signed by both parties, and will be posted to the committee website soon. b. RCN license renewal—letters to Town and Schools The Chair will discuss later with the agenda item regarding RCN license renewal. c. Query from Concord resident re cell siting policies The Chair described an inquiry from Concord resident interested in Lexington's process for siting cell sites. The Concord resident indicated a cell site was being built across the street from her house and was concerned about outdated standards for RF emissions. The Chair described Lexington's process and indicated the Concord resident appreciated his help. 5. Comcast Payments Status Mr. Becker described the successful direct deposit of two separate payments. And he said Comcast had indicated to him that the next payment (approximately May 15'h) would be a combined payment. 6. LexMedia Update Ms. DelSanto indicated that everything is stable at LexMedia. She inquired if the committee knew the status of the funding request for the Selectman's Meeting Room. The Chair indicated he believed it was going to town meeting in the spring, for inclusion in the FYI budget. Ms. DelSanto indicated that there have been equipment issues with equipment in that room. Ms. DelSanto said that there was a problem with cameras at the high school, and that those are being repaired. Ms. DelSanto said that microphones are being replaced there as well. The Chair described the high definition PEG channels provided by RCN. Mr. Franks said that Comcast hasn't provided it anywhere in the region yet. He acknowledged that everyone wants them, but that he's not aware of any plans to provide them. Ms. DelSanto said that the studio continues to be busy. Their new community producer has been busy, and that he had a segment that had been widely viewed on Facebook/YouTube. Ms. DelSanto said that they had discovered YouTube will closed-caption videos, but they don't know the parameters of what will be closed-captioned automatically by YouTube. Ms. DelSanto said the podcast studio is just getting started but has been used a few times. 7. LexMedia Q2 Report Review and Committee response The committee didn't have any feedback or discussion on the LexMedia Q2 Report. The Committee's response to LexMedia Q2 report was discussed and Ms. Desai moved to approve the response as amended. Mr. Buczkowski seconded. The committee voted to approve the response. The Chair will forward the response to LexMedia. The Chair provided a brief overview of funding for LexMedia and the associated contract. 8. RCN 2019 license renewal timeline and status The Chair provided a brief overview of the license renewal process. Mr. Becker provided additional history. The Chair indicated that he still intended to send a letter to the Town Manager and the schools. Mr. Becker said he had spoken to Mr. Steel and asked Mr. Steel to look at the contract for anything that he would like to see changed. The committee discussed conducting a formal hearing as part of ascertainment, which would likely be conducted this spring. Mr. Lauriat noted the date for ascertainment finish is June 30, 2018 —so if the hearing was to be conducted, it would be logically conducted this spring. 9. Service provider channel lineup changes and potential subscriber reaction The Chair provided a bit of history and context. The committee discussed the notices that we have received, which seem to be predominantly from Verizon. Mr. Avallone said as a RCN subscriber he had noticed them on-screen. Mr. Becker said that it was a requirement that they notify their subscribers. Mr. Franks said that he thought they had to let the licensing authority know and wondered if there had been no significant changes to the Comcast channel lineup. Mr. Taraz said that if the committee hadn't received complaints, he was satisfied that this wasn't a significant issue. Mr. Franks assured the committee that Comcast doesn't throttle any Internet content. 10. Town IT update Ms. Goodman was not present and did not provide an update to the Chair. 11. Wireless applications Mr. Moroze and Mr. Lauriat said there were no new wireless applications. The committee discussed some of the legacy applications for small cell sites. 12. Complaints —Smita Desai (December), Dave Buczkowski (January), Rita Vachani (February) There were no complaints noted. The Chair noted he was covering for Ms. Vachani while she was out of town. Mr. Becker will handle complaints for March and Mr. Pogran in April. 13. New business There was no new business. 14. Adjournment. Mr. Buczkowski made a motion to adjourn, Ms. Desai seconded. The committee voted to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM Respectfully submitted, Nick Lauriat, Recording Secretary