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Home My WebLink AboutMN-AOC-2023-10-03 1 MINUTES (As approved November 7, 2023) Access Oversight Committee (AOC) Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 5 PM Present: chair Rich DePaolo, secretary Wayles Browne, vice chair Wies van Leuken, Common Council liaison Jorge DeFendini, (later) member Paul Smith; Access Coordinator Alex Wiers; Karen Heck, Senior Manager for PEG Areas (NY, NJ, CT), Charter Communications. The AOC held its meeting by ZOOM Conferencing 01. Call to Order 5:03 by DePaolo. AOC members introduce themselves to Karen Heck. 02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions. Van Leuken: Add 07j, Studio Curtain. 03. Public Comments: no comments. 04. Comments by AOC members: no comments. 05. Approval of Minutes of the September 5, 2023 Meeting: moved by DePaolo, seconded by DeFendini, approved 4-0-0 without change. 06. Access Studio Coordinator Report (attached). DePaolo screenshares the report. Van Leuken: believes that at the last meeting she merely mentioned that the studio floors and white studio curtain were in poor shape. She appreciates though that the floors were cleaned and a quote for a new curtain submitted and how much nicer the studio looks now. DePaolo, referring to the last item on the report "Charter has not received the Resolution for the 2024 budget that was due by June 30": In fact, this information was reported. (The City passed its resolution on June 7; the Village on May 17, the Town on April 24). He explains that the AOC has for years reported the municipalities' budget approvals in its minutes. This was early on agreed to as acceptable by all parties as satisfying the Franchise Agreement’s reporting requirement. Heck reports that Lauren Kelly received the City's resolution from DeFendini (DePaolo had earlier Emailed her the Town and Village resolutions) a. Equipment purchases/2023 Budget - updates. Wiers: I hadn't yet gotten the approved minutes with the resolution, so didn't buy anything yet. Van Leuken: Just wants to make sure that we are working with the revised quote that Wiers sent for miscellaneous equipment: $4,820.29 and that got the go ahead from DePaolo. We are. DePaolo: I sent the resolution authorizing the purchases "not to exceed $5000" to Lauren Kelly and Karen Heck at Charter on Sept. 7; sorry Wiers was not copied on it. He will be included in the future. Heck: will start the process tomorrow. Please copy me to correspondence with Kelly. 2 b. Discussion. DePaolo: Kelly's e-mail says that the iNet doesn't go through the PEG facility; it's only for switching inputs. Where is this switching done? Wiers: in the "head end" building, not in the PEG studio. DePaolo: are the numbers in the quotes current? Wiers: yes. DePaolo asks that we put the discussion of the $18K vs. $23K quotes on the next meeting's agenda. Wiers explains "Hypercaster" (on quote 1-B): it's the software for the community bulletin board. The two $9K items in 1-A vs. 1-B are hardware, different but not very different. Heck: the vendor is the same: "Diversified." DePaolo: would it be useful to ask a vendor's representative to attend for 20 minutes or so next month? Wiers: recalls reps being at a previous meeting. DePaolo: weren't they from a different company? Heck: will try to get them at 5 PM Nov. 7; that is Election Day, but shouldn't be a problem. Van Leuken asks about the item "COVID Guidelines notice removed from PEGASYS announcement board"; what is on the board now? Wiers: the opening hours; no COVID guidelines. [Paul Smith joins the meeting by phone.] 07. Member Reports a. PEGASYS Policies and Procedures Manual review - Resolution. DePaolo: I gather Heck seeks to standardize rules, but it's the purview of the AOC to write the rules. Van Leuken: AOC's manual should be the base for further suggestions. Heck: the "kit" of rules that I sent Aug 23 took Charter's kit but also incorporated some items from AOC's kit, just with changes in terminology for understandability. DePaolo: Let's start with the version that AOC is still reviewing. We'll finish our draft first and then distribute the document to Charter (Heck). DePaolo: we left off before VII.5. We go on to the Appendices page 15-16. Van Leuken: the December 31 expiration date was added to the 2 agreements. The practice was to renew them annually, it just did not say so in the agreements. DePaolo: the Training Request Form, P. 18, asks about "multiple" users"– shall we say "up to a particular number"? Smith: It's best for a group to have a single person as their interface with PEG. DePaolo suggests staying with the formulation as it is, so as to have more programming rather than less. Van Leuken: let's drop "multiple users" and say "organization with a designated contact person." Smith: Add a checkbox "[ ] I am the designated representative of.....". DePaolo: We delete the form on p. 31 and accept p. 30: it's simpler. Van Leuken: Wiers needs names of the crew as well as names of guests so he knows who he is letting into the studio under the present rules. [DePaolo begins recording] DePaolo: So add a clause "Let Wiers know about guests." Smith: The form is to document the use of the studio on a given day: 3 1) producer; 2) people expected previously; 3) people who come on the day The producer afterward certifies everyone is listed. (This will also help to avoid time conflicts.) [DeFendini has to leave] Van Leuken suggests a line for "guests on the day of the show." [Browne has to leave] Subsequent discussion of the Manual centered on whether to allow multiple studio and field equipment reservations. The Committee favored this practice. DePaolo will modify forms to streamline the application process and indicate the time duration (48 hours, notwithstanding weekends or holidays) for equipment usage. b. Access to PEGASYS Building - update. Proposal by van Leuken to formalize the allowance of pre-production meetings in the PEGASYS meeting room was ultimately not acted upon, in favor of a less formal approach requiring a phone appointment request to Access Coordinator, and documentation of attendees to conform to Charter’s recent attendance rules. c. Governmental Access Channel - report. No report. d. AOC Member's reappointment - follow-up. No report. e. PEGASYS Website - Resolution. Not taken up. f. Showcasing PEGASYS awards and photographs at PEGASYS - Follow-up. No report. g. Request for recording AOC Meetings. DePaolo stated he will look into this since this is a City of Ithaca meeting. h. Common Council meetings on Government Channel 15. No report. i. Outreach Committee. No report. 08. Old Business a. Streaming Channel 13. No report. 09. New Business. Prior to adjournment, DePaolo asked Heck whether PEG channels are available on the Spectrum App in any other PEG areas. Heck: not to her knowledge. She did not know whether the exclusion was technical, logistical or a company-wide policy, and suggested that Lauren Kelly (Charter Government Relations) be queried. 10. Next meeting: Tuesday, November 7 at 5:00, via Zoom. 11. Adjournment 7:01. ================ 4 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: Paul Smith <smithcommapaul@hotmail.com>. 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 or https://pegasys.yourwebsitespace.com/ studio location, mailing address: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York 14850 5 phone (607) 272-7272; fax (607) 277-5404 6 7 8