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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-1990-01-08 Community Access Advisory Board Minutes of 1/8/90 The meeting was called to order at 7: 10 PM at the T.C. Public Library. CAAB members in attendance: Herskowitz , Stefanelli , Dudley, Mezgar, Ball , Rivchin , and Efroymson . There were no minutes available to be approved from the October or November meetings. Rivchin said that she will have October(?) minutes ready for Cable Commission meeting . There was not a quorum for the December meeting . Public Comments Cable access program producers of Take 1 Debbie Friedman and Terry Zimmerman no longer live in Tompkins County but have been given permission to continue their productions. They had spoken with the previous manager of ACC, Mike Withiam, and he had no objection to their continued participation . Stefanelli stated that they had in effect been granted a waiver. Zimmerman and Friedman were asking the CAAB for a ruling on their status, which would assure them of their continuing rights at the access facility. Resolution : "Whereas Take 1 has been produced in Ithaca for the last three years, and that originally the producers lived within the ACC franchise area, Be it resolved that there be an exception made to the policy rules section IV requiring that a producer ' be a resident of ACC' s franchise area' for this case (Friedman/Zimmerman) , and only in this case. " Passed unanimously. ACC Report 1 . The last quarterly report of 1989 will be ready for the Feb. meeting of the CAAB. 2. Holly Stander, access staff person, is resigning effective sometime in February. The job has already been posted . Deadline for applications is January 19. Stefanelli was asked to call back the top candidates from the two previous searches to ask them to re-apply. Stefanelli asked for CAAB' s input again , in light of the fact that she found it very valuable to the process. Dudley and Efroymson agreed to interview new candidates and make recommendations. Interviews will occur Jan . 25 and/or 26. 3. New access hours have been instituted: 1-11 PM M-F and 11 AM-9 PM on Saturday. This is a shift of hours, not additional hours. Efroymson asked about Sunday hours. Stefanelli will come to Feb. meeting with potential options for expanding the current numbers of hours. Rivchin suggested that the applicant for the staff position be asked regarding willingness to work Sunday hours. Access user McCormick suggested that ACC explore the possibility of re-instituting old "trustee" system, in which certain volunteers opened up the studio in order to expand hours. Stefanelli will explore this with ACC general manager , Barbara Lukens. 4. Lukens has forwarded to the cable commission notification that an access user has been warned regarding behavior violations, and that the next complaint may result in termination of access privileges. Herskowitz stated that he would tell Lukens that such information would be more (?) appropriately addressed to the CAAB, and in fact, such information is of /-- -articular interest to the CAAB. Dudley/McCormick/Mezgar stated that policy/procedure section VII 2.4 needs to be more directive to staff to make them required to implement procedures regarding general building rules. Therefore: Resolved : that the following sections be added to those rules: "The access facility is to be used solely for the purpose of activities directly related to access production . Access staff will set reasonable limits to assure the equitable use of the access facility for all access users. " Passed unanimously. Discussion Regarding Proposed Policies and Procedures Efroymson suggested striking section VIII 11 .3 requiring ACC approval for use of access produced programing . Passed unanimously. Herskowitz suggested that the entire obscenity question needs to be reviewed by the CAAB and that time be aside in the future to look at available state and national information . In the interim, the hours for programs of questionable themes, language or images (section VIII 8.4) be changed from 10 PM starting time to 9:30 PM. Passed unanimously. Dudley suggested a change in section VIII 8.2 regarding additional showings of access programs. Stefanelli has exact language. Passed unanimously. Resignation Rivchin submitted her resignation from CAAB. A copy was sent to the cable commission . Herskowitz suggested that the cable commission limit CAAB terms to one year and that the cable commission re-open the application process. He stated that applications should be submitted to Cable Commission by Feb. 1 . No vote was taken but there was consensus that this was a good idea. Ball and Herskowitz indicated that they would not re-apply. Rivchin letter of resignation gave two specific suggestions to CAAB and ACC staff . She stated that it would be desireable to have a lawyer on the CAAB to assist in franchise understanding , and cable law. She also stated that it would be worthwhile for the CAAB and ACC staff to be given consultation in order to better be able to deal with behavioral problems as they arise. Next CAAB meeting : Wednesday, Feb. 21 at the TC Public Library. Submitted by John Efroymson .