HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-12-05-CAC-min (Negotiating Subcommittee)January 19, 2 012
Town of Lexington Communications Advisory Committee
Minutes of the Negotiating Subcommittee Meeting
December 15, 2011
The Negotiating Subcommittee met at 6:00 pm in Room G15 of
the Town Office Building. Present were Subcommittee
members Linda Roemer, David Buczkowski and David Becker,
and Jim Goell, Chair of the CAC as an observer.
The objective of the meeting was to plan the next steps in
negotiating a renewal license with Comcast Corporation,
whose current license expires on August 31, 2014. Our
reading of Comcast' s letter of September 1, 2011, declaring
their intent to seek a renewal of their current license, is
that Comcast has initiated the Formal process for this
negotiation, and our cable attorney Peter Epstein concurs
with this understanding. Accordingly, we agreed to ask the
Chairman of the Board of Selectmen to respond to Comcast,
using the draft letter prepared by Mr. Epstein, agreeing to
the formal process.
The formal process requires the parties to take certain
actions specified in federal and Massachusetts law and
regulations to protect their interests in any future legal
action. Among the requirements on the Town is that we
initiate an "Ascertainment process" to determine how well
the operator has met its license requirements and to
determine the Town's future cable - related needs. We
therefore decided, having already received approval from
the Board of Selectmen, acting as the Town's Issuing
Authority, to schedule a public hearing to initiate this
Ascertainment. The hearing will be held on January 26,
2012, at a time and place to be decided.
Submitted by David Becker