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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-01-17-CAC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JANUARY 17, 2019 Call to order. CAC Chair Kenneth Pogran called the meeting to order at 6:34 PM in the Parker Room (G-15) of the Town Office Building, 1625 Massachusetts Avenue. Members Present: Ken Pogran, Chair; Dorinda Goodman, Nick Lauriat, Ben Moroze, P. K. Shiu, Rita Vachani, Dave Becker, Smita Desai. Members Absent:, Bob Avallone, Dave Buczkowski, Ramin Taraz. Quorum: A quorum of members was present. Others Present: none. Materials Referenced: Draft minutes of the December 20 meeting, Letter from BoS to Mass. DTC re RCN license renewal, and Revised CAC response to the LexMedia Q report. 1. Approval of Minutes Ms. Desai made a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of December 20, 2018, as amended, Mr. Moroze seconded. The minutes were unanimously approved. 2. Service Provider Reports No representatives from RCN, Comcast or Verizon were present. No service provider provided a report to the chair. 3. Selectmen's Report—Joe Pato Mr. Pato was not present and did not provide a report to the Chair. 4. Chairman's Report -Ken Pogran a. State Ethics Commission Conflict of Interest training reminder Ken Pogran reminded the Committee members to acknowledge receipt of the Conflict of Interest material to the Town Clerk and to complete the training if needed. h. Meeting Schedule The Chair reminded the committee that the February meeting was scheduled during school vacation week. c. Meeting with New Town Manager Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 30. He also plans to attend the February meeting of the CAC. d. Letter from Mass DTC re RCN license renewal Response letter to Mass DTC has been sent. e. LexMedia Report Response to LexMedia has been updated, but not yet sent to LexMedia. f. Wireless Services Working Group meeting The Chair indicated that he still hoped to restart the Wireless Services Working Group. 5. RCN license renewal progress report -Dave Becker, Nick Lauriat Mr. Becker provided an update and reminded the committee that we only have four months to get the license completed. Mr. Becker indicated he's been working on getting marked-up text for the license, including attachments. Mr. Becker, Mr. Buczkowski and Mr. Lauriat expect to meet soon to review those updates. Mr. Becker indicated he hoped to meet with RCN in mid-February. Mr. Becker said he had recently been in touch with Peter Epstein, the town's cable attorney. Mr. Becker said that while Mr. Epstein is approaching retirement, he was willing to review our work on the RCN contract. Mr. Becker was told to talk to the BoS Secretary to secure a Purchase Order for Mr. Epstein's time. The Chair said he would follow up with Mr. Pato regarding that topic. 6. PEG accounts report—Rita Vachani, Dave Becker Ms. Vachani indicated that she and Mr. Becker met with town finance representatives this morning. While a movement of money had taken place, money had not been transferred to the general fund. The money is still available to the committee and to the access corporation. Ms. Vachani said that issues about rent at the Avalon had been cleared up and rent will be paid regularly going forward. Ms. Vachani said the town finance people indicated they would examine the request to track the "in lieu of I-Net" funds separately. They will look at it and will get back to us this summer. Mr. Becker agreed that he thought it was a good meeting and encouraged further discussion of how to best use the in lieu of I-Net funds. 7. FCC "in-kind contributions"proposed rulemaking update -Ken Pogran The Chair indicated with the on-going government shutdown, the FCC was not accepting any new filings. The Chair indicated that comments continue to be submitted to the FCC, with comments from both municipalities and service providers on familiar themes. The Chair noted that the American Cable Association (a group of small cable service providers which at one point counted RCN amongst its members) was supportive of the FCC's proposed rule. 8. Town IT update-Dorinda Goodman Ms. Goodman said that the town is undertaking an effort to design a new chart of accounts. Ms. Goodman reminded the committee that the town had used in lieu of I-Net funds in the past but acknowledged that getting access to conduit or installing fiber in buildings that are pending renovation has been an obstacle to spending that money. Ms. Goodman said she didn't recall if there was a deadline in the contract for the new AT&T tower. There have been a number of delays, including delays due to pending Eversource pole relocations. Ms. Goodman reminded the committee that she would like to see a commitment from RCN that the town shouldn't have to pay more due to the relocation of the RCN hub from Lexington to Arlington. Mr. Becker said he would bring that up with RCN. 9. Wireless site applications -Nick Lauriat, Ben Moroze The application from Verizon for a small cell site on Lexington High School property was reviewed. It is going through the normal zoning approval process. Mr. Moroze indicated that the zoning board had continued the hearing because they had heard from a concerned neighbor and would be resuming the hearing during the January 24, 2019 meeting. There was a discussion amongst the committee of whether carrier distribution of television over wireless would still be subject to PEG assessments. 10. Complaints —Ken Pogran (December), Dave Becker(January) No complaints were received in December, and no complaints have been received to-date in January. 11. New business No new business was discussed. Adjournment. Ms. Desai made a motion to adjourn, Ms. Goodman seconded. The committee voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:24 PM. Respectfully submitted, Nick Lauriat Recording Secretary