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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-09-16-CAC-min TOWN OF LEXINGTON COMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 16, 2010 Call to order. CAC Chair Jim Goell called the meeting to order at 6:31 PM in the Legion Room of Cary Hall. Present: CAC Members: Jim Goell, Chair; David Becker, David Buczkowski, Dorinda Goodman, Maria Kieslich, Ken Pogran, Linda Roemer. Others: Harry Forsdick, LexMedia; George Burnell, Board of Selectmen. Absent CAC Members: John Rommelfanger 1.Approval of previous meeting minutes. The minutes of the meeting of June 17 meeting were approved, with a change to the item regarding the RCN bond. 2.Comcast report. Jane Lyman was unable to attend. 3.RCN report. Tom Steel was unable to attend. However, he offered the following report via email: The sale of RCN to Abry Partners closed on August 26. Abry Partners will work at the RCN board level, not at the operational level. Abry has brought in new “top leadership” from the Patriot Media Consulting Group. The new leadership is emphasizing customer service. 4.Verizon report. Mary Lou Frere was not present. The Committee noted that no Verizon representative has attended the last several CAC meetings. Committee Chair Jim Goell was asked by the Committee to send a letter to Ms. Frere reminding her of Verizon’s obligation to attend CAC meetings. 5.RCN data network issues. Dorinda Goodman reported that the Town has had some outages with our fiber optic data service from RCN. This was due in large measure to the fact that RCN transferred responsibility for the Town’s service from its residential to small business divisions. This necessitated a change in the Town’s assigned IP addresses. In addition, some changes made by RCN to its fiber configuration resulted in an outage. This took three days for RCN to resolve because the Town’s RCN contact list was out of date. Dorinda reported that she believes the service is once again stable. 6.Chairman’s report. A.Fiber optic cable used by the Town. Dave Becker is compiling information on the Town’s fiber optic cable, including a description of where the lines are, how many fibers appear at each location, and how the fiber is being used. B.Money flows. The Chair requested that Dave pull together information on funding and money flows in the accounts the Committee oversees. C.School request for LexMedia support . Following up on the discussion at the June 17 meeting, Mary Papas of Lexington High School declined the Chair’s invitation to attend our meeting. 7.Selectmen’s Liaison report. George Burnell discussed the issue of the Committee’s relationship with the Schools and potential funding of new video equipment for Lexington High School via the PEG account. George reported that he has a meeting scheduled with Sean Hagan, chair of the Lexington High School Fine Arts department. He expressed the view that if the Schools wish to re-establish a media program at LHS, they will need up to date equipment. This should be handled via a budget request to the Town via the Superintendent or School Committee, and not as a request to our Public Access corporation, LexMedia, as had been previously brought up by an LHS teacher. 8.Recognition of service to CAC and Lexington by Jeanne Canale. Linda Roemer suggested the Committee recommend to the Board of Selectmen that the Board recognize former Committee Chair Jeanne Canale for her service to the Town. Dave Buczkowski agreed to take the lead for the Committee in putting together what George Burnell termed a “fistful of facts” regarding Jeanne’s service to the Town. It was moved, seconded, and passed unanimously: That the Committee recommend to the Board of Selectmen that the Board recognize Jeanne Canale for her service to the town. 9.LexMedia uplink problem. There have continued to be problems with the uplink from Cary Hall to LexMedia. Public Facilities Director Pat Goddard has agreed to attend the Committee’s next meeting to address maintenance of the Town-owned equipment in Cary Hall and other facilities. His department is planning to hire an individual with appropriate background to take responsibility for this equipment. However, the “good news” is that the Public Facilities Department acknowledges its responsibility for the maintenance of this equipment, which previously has been an open issue. 10.Handling of public concerns. Committee Chair Jim Goel pointed out that, especially with recent changes to Open Meeting laws, residents with concerns should be encouraged to come to our meetings and address the Committee directly. 11.Public Access Services RFP update. The RFP was released August 16, with a corrected version released August 24. An Amendment to the RFP is forthcoming. A pre- bid briefing was held on September 8, and written questions from prospective offerors are due September 23, with proposals due October 7. The Committee needs to send a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen regarding selection of a successful offeror. To allow the Public Access Subcommittee sufficient time to evaluate the proposals received, the Subcommittee recommends the Committee’s October meeting be delayed by one week to October 28. 12.LexMedia report regarding on-demand availability of programming. Harry Forsdick reported for LexMedia. The provider of the system, TelVue, that LexMedia has chosen for on-demand programming has delayed its development. This has impacted LexMedia. LexMedia is confident, however, that the TelVue system remains the correct choice for LexMedia, as, once it is available, it will enable LexMedia to more easily keep up with the task of getting new programs into the on-demand system. Harry agreed to report back to the Committee when he has more information about the availability of TelVue. 13.Recruitment of new Committee members. Chair Jim Goell urged committee members to think about individuals who might be able to serve on the Committee, as we are well under our allotted membership at this time. 14.Wireless subcommittee report . Jim Goell reported that it was a “quiet summer.” There are two new wireless site applications in progress, both of which are awaiting responses from the applicants. 15.July/August complaints. A resident reported a cable was hanging down. It was removed by Comcast, and the resident was satisfied with the resolution of the issue. Chair Jim Goell assigned complaint handling for the remainder of the year as follows: September Dave Buczkowski October John Rommelfanger November Ken Pogran December Dave Becker 16.Rescheduling of the meeting of October 28. The Committee agreed to move the stth October meeting from the 21 to the 28 to facilitate a vote on the Public Access provider recommendation, as noted above. 17.New Business. Dorinda Goodman reported on her request to RCN, in her capacity as the Town IT Director, for fiber hookups between the Water Tower on Jean Road and the Avalon site. The objective is to create a dedicated “public safety network” using some of the Town’s RCN fiber. The initial use will be to replace existing copper lines from Verizon, which are increasingly unreliable, to support the Town’s police, fire, and DPW radio networks. However, RCN reported that the requested fiber was not available. The Town instead intends to contract with a private contractor for installation of new town- owned fiber for the dedicated network. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 8:18 PM. Respectfully submitted, Kenneth T. Pogran