HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-AOC-2023-04-04 1
MINUTES (as approved May 2, 2023)
Access Oversight Committee (AOC)
Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 5 PM
The AOC held its meeting by ZOOM Conferencing.
Present: chair Rich DePaolo, secretary Wayles Browne, Common Council liaison Jorge
DeFendini, vice chair Wies van Leuken; Access Coordinator Alex Wiers, Lauren Kelly
(Director of Government Affairs - Finger Lakes Region, Charter Communications);
member of the public Jim Garaventa.
01. Call to Order by DePaolo at 5:05.
02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none.
03. Public Comments. Garaventa asks for a copy of the Franchise. DePaolo will send
it.
04. Comments by AOC members. Van Leuken: the City of Ithaca website has been
updated with correct data about AOC.
05. Approval of Minutes of the March 7, 2023 Meeting. Moved by van Leuken,
seconded by DePaolo. One note and 1 misprint removed; .docx-formatted quote added.
Approved 3-0-0.
06. Access Studio Coordinator Report (attached below).
a. Charter's recommendations for 2024 Equipment Budget: forthcoming (now
reviewing past recommendations). Van Leuken: We'd hoped to have this by the present
meeting. DePaolo: But there is still time for DeFendini to put it on the agenda for a City
Council committee in May and on the Council agenda in June.
Van Leuken suggests passing a contingency resolution now, earmarking an amount for
future purchases. She proposes and DePaolo screenshares:
Resolution #78
Access Oversight Committee (AOC)
April 4, 2023
AOC Recommendations for 2024 Budget
WHEREAS, Section 15.12 of the Franchise Agreement of January 2003 between the
City of Ithaca and the franchisee Time Warner Entertainment-Advance/Newhouse
Partnership (TWC) (“Franchise Agreement”), subsequently assigned to Charter
Communications, Inc. d/b/a Spectrum Networks (Charter) after Charter's 2016
acquisition of TWC, requires the participating municipalities (City of Ithaca, Town of
Ithaca, Village of Cayuga Heights) to provide the franchisee with an annual written
budget for Public, Educational and Governmental access operations (PEG) by June 30
of each calendar year; and
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WHEREAS, Section 15.12 of the Franchise Agreement requires that PEG Access Staff
provide the Access Oversight Committee (AOC) with budget recommendations for the
following year by April 30; and
WHEREAS, the City of Ithaca's Ordinance #2003-17, Par 18-4-G, requires the Access
Oversight Committee (AOC) to provide the Participating Municipalities with a
recommended budget for the following year by May 31; and
WHEREAS, the Franchise Agreement authorizes Charter to collect $0.15 per subscriber
per month to be used for the purchase of PEG equipment and facilities; and
WHEREAS, the AOC has reviewed PEG’s current equipment and facilities and
anticipates that new or replacement equipment and facilities will likely be needed,
including certain playback equipment; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the AOC recommends a $29,000.00 contingency to purchase
equipment as needed for the functioning of PEG operations, pending receipt and AOC
approval of line-item estimates, and be it further
RESOLVED, that the AOC forwards its recommendations for approval by the
Common Council of the City of Ithaca, the Town of Ithaca Board and the Village of
Cayuga Heights Board of Trustees, so that they may meet their obligation to provide
Charter Communications with an annual written budget for Public, Educational and
Governmental access operations no later than June 30, 2023.
Approved unanimously
Van Leuken suggests $29,000 for the contingency amount; it can be amended later.
Resolution moved by Browne, seconded by van Leuken.
Approved unanimously, 4-0-0.
DeFendini: the Administration Committee of the City Council meets 26 April, and it can
consider the resolution and send it to Council for the May meeting.
DePaolo will also send it to van Leuken for the Village of Cayuga Heights to approve.
b. Mini-Studio Equipment - updated quote [see attachment] sent by Wiers. It's
revised, $514 lower than before.
Van Leuken asks about the need for "Customer Care" for the second year; doesn't
Charter have to do repairs?
Wiers: Routine maintenance by Charter includes updating software, but not items
covered by warranty. Issues up to now involved older existing equipment. if a new piece
goes down, Charter might not have the expertise that the vendor would have.
Van Leuken: Shouldn't Charter enter the Customer Care agreement? We're "more the
owner than Charter is." DePaolo: ownership is uncertain; AOC controls the equipment
but doesn't clearly own it.
Browne: favors Customer Care to avoid periods of down time.
DePaolo screenshares:
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Resolution #77
Access Oversight Committee (AOC)
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Use of AOC’s 2023 Budget Contingency to update Mini-Studio
WHEREAS, the Access Oversight Committee (AOC)’s 2023 Budget includes a
$50,000.00 contingency to purchase equipment as needed for the functioning of Public,
Educational and Governmental access operations; and
WHEREAS this budget was subsequently approved by the participating municipalities
(City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Village of Cayuga Heights); and
WHEREAS, the Mini-Studio is currently operating with equipment that is becoming
obsolete; and
WHEREAS, the AOC has reviewed the sales quotations from Audio-Video Corporation
located in Albany, NY # 22291 dated 4/04/23, now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the AOC approves the use of the 2023 Budget Contingency to
replace the equipment of the Mini-Studio pursuant to the attached budget, to be
purchased in technical consultation with the Access Coordinator and AOC, in an
amount not to exceed $34,226.00
Moved by Browne, seconded by DeFendini. Passed unanimously, 4-0-0.
c. Main Studio Routing Switcher - report on purchase and installation. Wiers: it was
installed at the beginning of last week. It is working.
Van Leuken: We need to inform producers that the studio is now available for users.
Wiers: will inform his list of e-mail addresses plus suggestions from van Leuken; will let
her know soon.
d. Discussion: none.
07. Member Reports
a. 2024 Budget - Resolution. See 6a.
b. Purchase of Mini-Studio Equipment from 2023 Budget - Resolution. See 6b.
c. AOC Vacancy - Follow-up. DeFendini: got an e-mail from the City Clerk: they did
send a letter Dec. 13 to Paul Smith. I will let the Mayor know about the lack of response.
Van Leuken: has not got replies to any of her e-mails to Smith.
d. Committee Member's reappointment - Follow-up. No news, but members serve
until re-appointed. DeFendini will ask the City. The Village of Cayuga Heights has to
forward van Leuken's re-appointment to Common Council for approval.
e. Streaming Channel 13 - Follow-up. DePaolo: Patrick Pinney, who had been
working on this, has a new job and is available only to consult with a successor re
streaming. There is no obvious successor, but van Leuken will e-mail producers to ask if
any are interested.
f. Common Council meetings on the Government Channel. DeFendini expects a
followup on this question at the April Council meeting. In the Franchise it said the City
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pays for an employee to attend meetings and simulcast them. It might be cheaper to
broadcast a file from the meeting after it is held.
Jim Garaventa: has experience simulcasting meetings from his California county,
including operating cameras from the board room; he could help with advice.
g. PEGASYS Policies and Procedures Manual review - follow-up. Last month van
Leuken sent Lauren Kelly and Alex Wiers a copy of the present Manual with items
marked that she wants to discuss. Kelly will look and get back on this. Van Leuken:
previously records were kept on the Facil computer system; how are they kept now?
Wiers has also been looking at the Manual, wants to set a time to meet with van
Leuken.
h. Covid Guidelines and PEGASYS’ Operations. Wiers: Charter has lifted the mask
requirement in the studio. Van Leuken: we'll revise the Manual accordingly.
08. Old Business. None.
09. New Business. DePaolo: The 15 cents per month per subscriber that was written
into the franchise in 2002 is now worth 25 cents. Should we update the percentage? He
asks Lauren Kelly if we could increase the percentage in order to reconcile income with
expenses. Kelly: has been trying to meet with the new Mayor. DePaolo: mentions
previously negotiated draft of a new agreement, but the latest word from Charter
seemed to be going back to square one.
Kelly: I'll bring it up. Probably we'd want to move to a new agreement rather than amend
the old one.
10. Next meeting: May 2, 5 pm.
11. Adjournment 6:14.
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Authority: City of Ithaca code Chapter 18, "Cable Access Oversight Committee". Adopted by the Common
Council of the City of Ithaca 11-5-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-17. Available at https://ecode360.com/8386207.
Page on the City website: https://www.cityofithaca.org/369/Cable-Access-Oversight-Committee
Contact information for AOC members:
City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>.
City of Ithaca: Common Council liaison 2022- Jorge (George) DeFendini <gdefendini@cityofithaca.org>.
City of Ithaca: (vacancy)
Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd@richdepaolo.com>, <RDePaolo@town.ithaca.ny.us>.
Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4@cornell.edu>.
Web site for the PEGASYS Community Media Center studio, with program schedules:
https://pegasys.webstarts.com/index.html
studio location, mailing address: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York 14850
phone (607) 272-7272; fax (607) 277-5404
e-mail PEG.NYIthaca@charter.com
PEGASYS staff: Alex Wiers.
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