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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-1990-11-12 Minutes of Community Access Advisory Board (CAAB) // November 12, 1990 7 PM ?resent:John Efroymson, Mary Jo Dudley, Louis Mezgar, Eloise Greene, Peter Hess and Lauren Stefanelli. Public: Brian Gollands, Rick Gray, Jim Blizzard and Bill McCormick. Public Comment: Bill McCormick stated that the city attorney has determined that ACC is responsible for head-end equipment. Lauren responded by sharing Chuck Guttman's letter. (See Peter Hess memo) It is clear from Guttman that the city feels as if ACC has not met its contractual agreement. The rest of the meeting was spent firming up the CAAB's position regarding new equipment purchase. (Refer to Lauren's PEG Access equipment suggestion sheet for the following. ) Equipment Package for 1990 #1 New Channel Capacity In accord with the city attorney's letter, no dollars should be spent of the 2% franchise fee for this equipment. It is ACC' s responsibility. #2 Off-Site Production Capability (2) AG 460 camcorders 6000 (4) AG 450 camcorders 6000 (2) Panasonic switchers 6000 ( 1 ) Hitachi VL-S100 VCR 3900 ( 1 ) S-VHS portable VCR w/ TBC 1800* (6) tripods 1500 (2) sets of triple monitors 2000 (2) sets of cases 1500* (2) CG 1000* Subtotal 29,700 • The major changes in this section were to add four AG 450' s, substituting a lower end portable VCR, and adding the travel cases and CG' s. #3 Post-production The CAAB concurred with the ACC proposal . #4 Portable equipment The CAAB concurred with the ACC proposal with the exception of 6 extra batteries for a total of $1340 for this section. • Note: Those figures with * are estimates by CAAB with input from Lauren . Other figures are those obtained from ACC report. (over) It should be noted that Bill McCormick brought in much valuable information regarding possible alternative configurations for the various packages. The CAAB appreciated all the the research provided. The meeting went past 9 PM and due to lack of time, we could not discuss the need for slide transfer capability and adding a CG to the downstream keyer in the current playback unit. These should be given high priority for early 1991 purchases. John Efroymson turned in his resignation from the CAAB effective December 31, 1990 due to other volunteer commitments. Next meeting: Monday, December 3, 1990 7 PM, T.C. Library. Adjourned 9 P.M. Submitted by John Efroymson, 12/3/90. U 11/6/90 Notes from Cable Access Advisory Board November 5 meeting In attendance : Mary Jo Dudley, Eloise Greene, John Efroymson, Lauren Stefanelli , Peter Hess , Louis Mezgar . Also present : Bill McCormick, Rick Gray, Jim Blizzard. Frances McKenzie had resigned effective 11/1 due to move to Binghamton . CAAB has openings for City appointment and ACC appointment . Application should be make to the Cable Commission . On agenda were discussion of rules & regs for handling increased access production requests and a review of access equipment requests ; however, time ran out before more than a brief examination of these issues . Because the 1990 equipment purchasing budget is such a pressing matter, a special meeting was set for Monday , Nov. 12 at 7pm in the Library to review spending plans and make recommendations . The Board considered the meeting with Barbara Lukens productive . Ideas of how to meet more frequently were voiced since letters back and forth are timewasters . Barbara willing to meet twice a year with CAAB. Some question about role of CAAB: does it not advise both ACC and Cable Commission on access issues? Therefore, it should not be necessary to go through the CC for direct talk with ACC on • specific issues . Mary Jo made a resolution : WHEREAS there have been difficulties in receiving precise information from ACC in a timely manner and the CAAB requires this information in order to adequately advise the Cable Commission and ACC, be it resolved that CAAB requests the Cable Commission to support the establishment of a CAAB liaison committee who will meet with ACC general manager as needed. This will be in addition to agreed-upon biannual meeting of the CAAB with the ACC general manager . This passed unanimously . • Cable Commission is still short members . Have three, one in nomination, need a fifth . There did not appear to be any advertising or general notice of vacancy for the openings , except postings at the access facility . Interested parties should send a letter of application with bio to the City mayor, who appoints . Peter distibuted his report containing: 1) Political endorsements OK by NYSCC, not political fundraising. ACC now permits political endorsements . 2) ACC position that franchise provides for bandwidth but not for ACC to provide operating equipment for additional access channels . (Any purchases to come from annual franchise fee) . An opinion on this was asked of City attorney, who has not yet responded. CAAB passed a resolution unanimously : WHEREAS the CAAB is attempting to meet its mandate on access equipment purchasing and whereas a large portion of that • equipment package could be consumed by ACC' s interpretation that they have no obligation to purchase the equipment , resolved that the Cable Commission request the City Attorney respond to the request for legal interpretation of this issue as relates to the franchise agreement and to procedures in the industry by November 20 . Louis agreed to remain ombudsman til Dec . 1 . Decide replacement at December meeting. Lauren' s report included: 1) Ch . 53 user/potential user meeting . 2) distribution of memo to CAAB on studio, editing and cablecasting time crunches . 3) distribution of plan for 1990 access equipment purchases . In response to ambiguity regards who pays for what of expanded access channels , and in response to a preliminary sketch for a non-flexible, non-growth capable configuration • flow-chart from Joe Powers (equipment that would absorb most of the money but did not appear to have long-term desireability) , Lauren' s plan calls for most of the 1990 allocation to be spent on additional production equipment , The city government channel could be activated with the purchase of a $6000 . modulator/demod. She suggested further research into equipment options for other origination sources or additional PEG channels take place over the next few months . Bill McCormick distributed a counter-proposal to one of the equipment plans , the Off-Site Production package . There was no time to pursue discussion of the production times or the equipment purchases . We plan to discuss time constraints at the December meeting, equipment purchasing at the special meeting Monday 11/12 . Notes submitted by Eloise Greene • 11 / 19/90 Report to CAAB on November Ithaca Cable Commission Meeting Jim Ferwerda was present, and welcomed, as a new member of the Cable Commission. In the public comment period, Bill McCormick requested that the Commission reject the equipment recommendations of the CAAB and charge the CAAB to propose a package more oriented to the needs of community groups as "content originators" and access viewers. In Bill's estimation, these groups would be better served by a larger quantity of less costly equipment which would allow access equipment to be put in the hands of more people. Barbara Lukens, in her Manager's report, indicated that purchase orders for 1990 access equipment budget had already been issued, based on the ACC list that Lauren had presented to the AAB at our November meeting. I objected that this was contrary to the procedure that the AAB had been following, and which we believed to be correct. I said that we had given a lot of time to putting together a thorough and conscientious set of recommendations to ACC with the expectation that those recommendations would be the basis for purchasing decisions. Barbara said that she felt that ACC had followed proper procedure and that it is up to ACC to decide what equipment to buy equipment after considering priorities presented by the CAAB and the user community. After much discussion, Barbara agreed to review the equipment purchase list with Lauren to see where changes could be made to conform to AAB recommendations. She also agreed to negotiate with Mary Jo, as chair of the AAB, if ACC was unable or unwilling to adopt any of our recommendations. Unresolved differences would be brought to the Cable Commission for further negotiation. Tom Terrizzi requested that the AAB propose a set of procedures which would be used in the future to make decisions about the purchase of access equipment and present them to the cable commission. These procedures should include a time line. Barbara said that she had received the City Attorney's letter citing ACC's responsibilities for providing access channels and the equipment to operate them (see attached). She has sent the letter to an ACC corporate lawyer. She had not heard back from her attorney yet but was expecting to soon. Barbara reiterated her belief that ACC was not responsible for buying head end equipment. Tom advised ACC not to spend the 2% access money on head-end equipment until the issue has been settled. I presented the AAB resolution that the Cable Commission support the establishment of a liaison committee of the AAB to meet with the ACC general manager "as needed". The other members of the Cable Commission suggested that I put the request directly to Barbara since she was present. Barbara said that she would be willing to meet with such a committee when asked, if she agreed that it would be useful. It is my feeling, in retrospect, that we should not have brought this resolution to the Cable Commission before contacting ACC. It became clear that the Commission did not want to act in this matter prior to those discussions and it is my sense that in general they will hesitate to act in our behalf until there is a concrete and unresolved dispute on the table. At the November meeting I was asked to get information about the terms of AAB members. The AAB was reconstituted at the Ithaca Cable Commission meeting of February 21 , '90, so new terms begin in March. Two year terms: One year terms: John Mary Jo Bill Frances (now Jim) Floyd Louis Eloise -Submitted by Peter Hess '61 inti • r iilji.kft� CITY OF ITHACA 108 EAST GREEN STREET ITHACA, NEW YORK 14850 OFFICE OF TELEPHONE 272.1713 CITY ATTORNEY CODE 607 November 6, 1990 Barbara L ens General nager American Community Cablevision 519 W. tate St. Ithaca NY 14850 Dear s. Lukens: . I have reviewed the Franchise Agreement between the City of Ithaca and American Community Cablevision and have met with members of the City of Ithaca Television Cable Commission. Apparently there are concerns and potential problems regarding ACC' s responsibility to provide access channels and services. In Section 14 of the Franchise Agreement, ACC specifically agreed to provide nine downstream channels designated for public, governmental and educational access. Any P.E.G. access channels unused by the City three years after the rebuild was complete would revert to ACC, provided that if community needs subsequently required the use of any such channels, ACC would return the channels to the City six months after receiving written notice if ACC had a use for the channel and immediately if there was no use for the channel. I also note 9 NYCRR Section 595. 4, Minimum Standards for PEG Access clearly seems to state • that in our situation there must not only be one full-time channel for public access but at least one additional channel for government and educational use. Therefore, ACC is not at present even complying with the minimum state-required standards. Furthermore, ACC is clearly not complying with the requirement of the Franchise Agreement that nine downstream channels be designated for PEG access and that those channels be available for use. As City Attorney I must insist that ACC meet its contractual obligations. It is my further understanding that disputes have arisen regarding whether the costs for the equipment for bringing these channels on line is to be paid by ACC out of your general revenues or paid out of the two percent of gross City revenues (Over) • • • which, under Section 14.1(C) (3) , you have agreed to put aside for equipment replacement and expansion. It appears clear to me that the necessary equipment to open up the nine channels should come • out of the' ACC general revenues and not out of these two percent funds. • • In the first place, pursuant to the Franchise Agreement, ACC was to immediately designate the nine downstream channels and have them available for use. Accordingly, the necessary equipment would have to have been purchased immediately. The two percent funds obviously come in over a period of time and could not buy that equipment. On the contrary, the two percent funds clearly seem to be intended for local programming leads. I also note in the Franchise Agreement that there are references to when the rebuild is complete. I would appreciate you informing me as to when ACC considers the rebuild to have been completed so that we will have a firm agreed-upon date. If you wish to discuss this matter further, please feel free to contact me. Otherwise, please advise me at your earliest convenience as to what steps ACC is taking to comply with its contractual obligations under the Franchise Agreement and under New York State law. Very trutLy'y , -.' Chazles' Guttman `City Attorney CG/a cc: Tom Terrizzi, Chair City of Ithaca TV Cable Commission • 11/6/90 Notes from Cable Access Advisory Board November 5 meeting In attendance : Mary Jo Dudley, Eloise Greene, John Efroymson, Lauren Stefanelli , Peter Hess , Louis Mezgar . Also present : Bill McCormick, Rick Gray, Jim Blizzard. Frances McKenzie had resigned effective 11/1 due to move to Binghamton . CAAB has openings for City appointment and ACC appointment . Application should be make to the Cable Commission . On agenda were discussion of rules & regs for handling increased access production requests and a review of access equipment requests ; however, time ran out before more than a brief examination of these issues . Because the 1990 equipment purchasing budget is such a pressing matter, a special meeting was set for Monday, Nov. 12 at 7pm in the Library to review spending plans and make recommendations . The Board considered the meeting with Barbara Lukens productive . Ideas of how to meet more frequently were voiced since letters back and forth are timewasters . Barbara willing to meet twice a year with CAAB. Some question about role of CAAB: does it not advise both ACC and Cable Commission on access issues? Therefore, it should not be necessary to go through the CC for direct talk with ACC on specific issues . Mary Jo made a resolution : WHEREAS there have been difficulties in receiving precise information from ACC in a timely manner and the CAAB requires this information in order to adequately advise the Cable Commission and ACC, be it resolved that CAAB requests the Cable Commission to support the establishment of a CAAB liaison committee who will meet with ACC general manager as needed. This will be in addition to agreed-upon biannual meeting of the CAAB with the ACC general manager . This passed unanimously . Cable Commission is still short members . Have three , one in nomination, need a fifth . There did not appear to be any advertising or general notice of vacancy for the openings , except postings at the access facility . Interested parties should send a letter of application with bio to the City mayor, who appoints . Peter distibuted his report containing: 1) Political endorsements OK by NYSCC, not political fundraising. ACC now permits political endorsements . 2) ACC position that franchise provides for bandwidth but not for ACC to provide operating equipment for additional access channels . (Any purchases to come from annual franchise fee) . An opinion on this was asked of City attorney, who has not yet responded. CAAB passed a resolution unanimously : WHEREAS the CAAB is attempting to meet its mandate on access equipment purchasing and whereas a large portion of that equipment package could be consumed by ACC' s interpretation that they have no obligation to purchase the equipment , resolved that the Cable Commission request the City Attorney respond to the request for legal interpretation of this issue as relates to the franchise agreement and to procedures in the industry by November 20 . Louis agreed to remain ombudsman til Dec . 1 . Decide replacement at December meeting. Lauren' s report included: 1) Ch , 53 user/potential user meeting. 2) distribution of memo to CAAB on studio , editing and cablecasting time crunches . 3) distribution of plan for 1990 access equipment purchases . In response to ambiguity regards who pays for what of expanded access channels , and in response to a preliminary sketch for a non-flexible, non-growth capable configuration flow-chart from Joe Powers (equipment that would absorb most of the money but did not appear to have long-term desireability) , Lauren' s plan calls for most of the 1990 allocation to be spent on additional production equipment . The city government channel could be activated with the purchase of a $6000 . modulator/demod. She suggested further research into equipment options for other origination sources or additional PEG channels take place over the next few months . Bill McCormick distributed a counter-proposal to one of the equipment plans , the Off-Site Production package . There was no time to pursue discussion of the production times or the equipment purchases . We plan to discuss time constraints at the December meeting, equipment purchasing at the special meeting Monday 11/12 . Notes submitted by Eloise Greene