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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2004-09-23Access Oversight Committee Held at the PEGASYS studio, 519 West State Street September 23, 2004 - Minutes [approved] Present: Wayles Browne, Will Burbank, Dan Cogan, Wies van Leuken; Ellen Morris - Knower; PEGASYS director, Lauren Stefanelli. Called to order approx. 4:30 pm 1. Notetaker - Lauren Stefanelli 2. Approve Minutes Minutes from 8/24/04 meeting approved unanimously. 3. Public Comment No members of the public in attendance. Lauren sent meeting notice to the local papers, which again did not include it in their calendars. Lauren will email announcement of next meeting to Wies, who will forward to the papers. b Lauren will forward 6/29 and 8/24 approved minutes, via email, to Ithaca City Clerk with request to post and distribute to elected officials. b As soon as Will Burbank and Wies van Leuken provide her with email addresses, Lauren will also send minutes to Town and Cayuga Heights clerks. There was some discussion about whether unapproved [draft] minutes should also be sent in the interest of keeping information current; there was a general consensus at least for now to stick with posting only approved minutes. 4. Interview Dryden School Lauren failed to send invitation to Margaret Grace from Dryden School. This will be deferred to a future month. 5. 2004 Capital Purchase Update Lauren distributed copies of the $20,000 capital purchase authorization [PA] that was submitted to Time Warner Syracuse division at the end of August. As yet, the 2 vender purchase orders [POs] have not been issued by the capital accounting department, but this is expected very shortly. Lauren reviewed the specifics of the equipment list. She also noted that she had discussed with Ellen and Boynton instructor Kelli Hazard the possibility of lending several Hi8 camcorders to Boynton to tide them over until their new camcorders arrive. Lauren's understanding was that Boynton had only 1 camcorder until then and might need this to get their program started. However Ellen said that IC, in addition to volunteering much help designing and building Boynton's set, and had donated several studio cameras, building on Time Warner's initial donation. The result, Ellen said, looked very smart. Boynton staff are planning an open house in October, date still TBA. Ellen said Boynton will send out press release when this is decided. Some discussion about the 2 newspaper features that had been proposed at the last meeting. Dan suggested that a first feature should be an introduction to the new AOC, and a second could be about Boynton's new facility on the occasion of their open house. b Dan will contact the Ithaca Journal's reporter Roger DuPuis to try to set up a first feature. * Wayles Browne drafted a letter or op ed piece, to be signed by all AOC members. The letter would introduce the AOC, its meeting schedule, and throw in a recommendation that the Journal begin including PEGASYS program listings. 6. Studio Hours During Lauren's Vacation Dan reviewed a meeting he held with Tom Doheny this week. One topic discussed was access fees. Tom said: - he is open to volunteers doing cablecasting playback during Lauren's absence, although he would need to get approval for any specific plan developed; - he expects fees to serve as a revenue stream for providing temp services during Lauren's vacation; - he would be willing to cover a certain amount of these temp services during an interim period before the fees go into effect. Lauren explained that covering only cablecasting playback would require about 1.5 hours per day of staff or volunteer time. Dan presented a "Proposal for User Fees" for consideration by the AOC. The text of the proposal follows: Proposal for User Fees Rationale We can collect fees from all users of PEGASYS when they first receive training to act as an incentive for them to move beyond training and actually produce programming. By paying for 6 months in advance, they will have an incentive to come back and use the studio. The money collected will be dedicated to keeping the studio open, at least for playback, while Lauren is on vacation. Furthermore, by charging an ongoing fee to users from non - participating municipalities, we will generate additional fees that can be earmarked for temporary coverage while Lauren is on vacation. It also creates a distinction between those municipalities who participate in paying for PEGASYS, and those that do not. Proposal Initial Fee when first receiving training: Participating Users: $30 (one -time fee) Non - participating Users: $60 (includes 6 month membership) Ongoing membership fees Participating Users: Free Non - participating Users: $30 for 6 months Analysis $30 every 6 months ammounts to $5 per month. A discussion brought out concerns about inhibiting use of PEGASYS through fees, and possible ways to mitigate this, such as rebating fees after a certain amount of production or volunteer hours were completed, scholarships, or seeking revenue elsewhere. Rebates could encourage longer -term users while deriving revenue from the large percentage of people who take classes but do not go on to produce programming. It was pointed out that the fees proposed are less than that of other local adult ed alternatives. Dan asked each member for their current feeling about the proposal. Wayles: said he was of two minds. Syndicated programs and other groups might be easily able to afford fees and might perceive that they received enough benefits to be worth the expense. However individuals might not. Will: said he wanted to support the greater good. However he was not convinced that fees would be the greater good. He felt the money raised would be small, so the impact on hours would be negligable. He asked Lauren to feel volunteers out about fees. Lauren said that volunteers had been warned that fees were coming [LAUREN'S NOTE: all producers received a written notice about this at the end of 2003, along with info about our new hours]. Those who had expressed concern about it said either that they would not be able to use PEGASYS if the fees were too high, or that they were working on getting a "valid" Ithaca address that would allow them to evade fees. Ellen: said she wanted to understand the fee rebate idea better. She felt there is a need to encourage more commitment from trainees. A fee could do this. Dan: Rebating fees could bring in labor law violation issues. Wies: Said Dan was very brave to make a specific proposal for the group to consider. Personally, she wished PEGASYS could remain as it has been - free to all. Rather than impose fees, she would prefer to organize other types of fundraising activities. If there must be fees, she prefers they be small and rebatable. She is dead set against an ongoing fee for anyone. Rebates might also backfire, encouraging people to do the minimum amount of poor- quality programming just to get their rebate. The idea that the AOC might somehow create a policy that would make PEGASYS producers reduce the quality of their programming provided some levity. Dan invited the other AOC members to submit counter- proposals on access fees. Meeting adjourned at about 6:05pm. Next meetings - Thursday, October 21, 4:30pm, at PEGASYS. Thursday, November 18, 4:30pm, at PEGASYS.