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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-1991-07-01 �Jl MINUTES CABLE ACCESS ADVISORY BOARD MEETING JULY 1, 1991 All members present . 1 . The meeting was called to order at 7 :05 p.m. 2 . Approval of minutes of the June 10, 1991 meeting was postponed until the August meeting. 3 . Chair's Report A. Report of meeting with ACC lawyer Peter discussed what transpired between meeting of ACC and city lawyers . There was much discussion over the following issues : a) obscenity b) paying for transmission equipment/new access channels c) access studio d) independent access facility Peter was hesitant to be specific on what transpired until the lawyers had written up their reports . B. The draft Resolution for the establishment of the Vice Chairperson and Ombudsman was discussed and passed with minor changes . Acceptance of the resolution was moved by Eloise Green and seconded by Rich Gray. Eloise Green volunteered and was unanimously accepted as the Vice-Chairperson. C. Plans for August Meeting: Peter will not be able to attend the August meeting. It was decided that we would attempt to hold a meeting in August and hope for a quorum. Eloise will chair the meeting in Peter's absence. 4 . Public comment : There was no public comment at this meeting. 5 . ACC Reports : A. Lauren related a conversation she had with a Univision rep who has knowledge of automated playback and multichannel systems . Lauren will try to schedule a meeting with this rep in the next couple of weeks . f _ y iii • F r e (. . '; B. Lauren commented on the suspension of Bill McCormack which raised a great deal of concern amongst some access members. Lauren has talked with all parties involved and there seems to be a reasonable understanding of the situation by all parties involved. C. Lauren emphasized the need to settle the problems surrounding the 2% money. Equipment purchases, costs and space are high on the list of concerns. 6. Cable Commission Report Peter referred to the handout sent with the agenda. There was some brief discussion and Peter stated that Cable • Commission meetings were held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7 :30 p.m. The meetings are held in City Hall and are open to interested parties. 7 . Old Business A. Mediation Procedures: There were minor changes made to the draft proposal. Following a brief discussion it was moved by Jim Blizzard and seconded by Eloise Green that the modified procedures document be approved and it was (unanimously) . B. Capital Equipment : The procedure timeline mailed with the agenda was discussed. There was a fair amount of discussion on this topic with some concern as to following this procedure in year one. Arguments for and against were made with the final agreement being to "try it the first time through" . Members for the Capital Planning committee were selected and are as follows : Jim Blizzard, Harvey Gitlin and Rich Gray. C. . . ' . • . • - Ill- � - • •• - - .. • There was a lengthy discussion of the two proposals for governing the E & G channels . Both Peter and Eloise had a proposal on the table. No action on the proposals per se was taken. However, a number of steps were taken. It was agreed that Eloise, Robert and Lauren will meet to set up a schedule for the Educational Channel for 1991-92 . Joe Powers will be invited to part of this meeting to discuss the switching capability of IC and BOCES for Channel 54 . It was determined that a committee should meet to try to merge the two proposals. Peter strongly indicated his desire to see education and government dealt with under one committee. The members of this E/G committee are Peter, Robert and Eloise. Floyd, Harvey and Jim also indicated an interest in being part of this group. The meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m. Report of the Ithaca Cable Commission meeting, June 11th, 1991 Barbara Lukens again stated her expectation that channel 54 would be opened for educational access in the fall. She also reported on the current status of discussions on SCOLA, the foreign language service which Cornell and Ithaca College are interested in putting on its own access channel. We discussed the proposal to create an educational/ governmental access board and a number of questions were raised about it, including: To whom would this group be responsible? What would be its specific authority? How would it be financed? There was informal approval of the plan to call a meeting of educational and governmental representatives to discuss use and management of the E & G access channels after additional preliminary work is done. This meeting is now projected for early fall. In the public comment session there was discussion of the use of profanity on access. ACC's lawyer, John Fogarty, was present and presented ACC's position in terms which did not clarify it for me(i.e. I'm not sure what he said). Or ,t- Procedures for Mediation by the Cable Access Advisory Board - llydr"t 1 ) The fastest,simplest, and most direct way of having a conflict mediated by a CAAB representative is to request the assistance of the access Ombudsman. The ombudsman is a member of the CAAB whose appointed role is to mediate disputes and solve problems involving access volunteers The ombudsman will consider a conflict and attempt to mediate a satisfactory resolution between the disputing parties. The ombudsman can only make recommendations; resolution of the dispute depends on the willingness of the parties to the dispute to accept them, The current ombudsman's phone number and address are listed below, 2)A special committee of the CAAB may be formed to provide mediation of a dispute, Those in the following situations may request a hearing by such a committee: a) Anyone on whom the Access Coordinator has imposed a penalty resulting in a suspension of privileges may request a hearing. After the hearing, the committee will advise the Access Coordinator to remove, reduce, increase or leave in effect the penalties that were imposed. b) The Access coordinator may request that the committee mediate in the case of an alleged violation of access center rules. The committee may recommend penalties be imposed in accordance with provisions in the access Policies and Procedures manual, or it may recommend that the matter be dropped. c) Disputing parties may voluntarily submit a disagreement for mediation by the committee,with an understanding in advance that the final recommendations of the panel will be acceptable to both parties. d) Others involved in conflicts pertaining to access may request a hearing by a committee of the CRAB. It is at the CAAB's discretion whether or not to create a committee to hear such cases. After any such hearing, the committee will offer its non-binding recommendations to the those involved in the dispute. If you wish to request a hearing by the CAAB, please contact the ombudsman or the chairperson. Ombudsman: Chairperson: vim Blizzard Peter Hess 44 E. Miller Rd, 1 1 1 W Jay St, Ithaca, NY 14850 Ithaca, NY 14850 272-7563 272-1831 Procedure and Time Line for Developing a Yearly Capital Spending Plan for Access On June 12, 1 991 , the Ithaca Cable Commission, the Cable Access Advisory Board(CAAB), and the Management of American Community Cablevision (ACC), adopted the following procedure and time line for arriving at an annual capital spending plan for access equipment. It is the responsibility of the chairperson of the CRAB to monitor this process and see that time objectives are met. Time Line 1. The CAAB and ACC sponsor a public meeting for access volunteers to discuss their priorities for access equipment, 2. At a special meeting, the CRAB considers the input from the public meeting and, using 2nd wk. that as a guide,establishes priorities among access capital needs. At this meeting, the CAAB also appoints three of its members to a Capital Planning Committee, 3, The Capital Planning Committee meets. This committee consists of three CAAB members, 3rd wk the Access Coordinator,and the Chief Engineer from ACC. Its role is to draw up a list of equipment to meet the priorities set by the CAAB,within budget constraints, including makes and model numbers, prices, and suggested vendors. A plan is approved by majority vote of the committee. This committee is the main task group of this process and is allotted 4-8 weeks to complete its work, providing that time spans no more than one CAAB meeting: 4. At its next monthly meeting, the CAAB approves the plan (or modified version thereof) 1 i;h wk and sends it to the Cable Commission. 5. At its next monthly meeting, the Cable Commission approves the plan (or modified 12th wk, version thereof). The plan now becomes the recommendation of the Cable Commission,and is sent to the General Manager of ACC 6a. The General Manager of ACC reviews the plan, If ACC accepts the plan, purchase orders 13th wk. for equipment are issued. 6b. If ACC raises further issues about the plan, the Chair of the Cable Commission, the 14th w1,:, Chair of the CAAB, and the Manager of ACC meet to negotiate a final agreement. Draft Resolution of the CAAB Establishing the Offices of Vice-Chairperson and Ombudsman By this Resolution, the Community Access Advisory Board creates the positions of vice- chairperson and ombudsperson, to be filled as follows! A) Vice-Chairperson. The community Access Advisory Board will elect one of its members to be vice-chairperson. The vice-chair will conduct meetings when the chairperson cannot be present and will assume the other duties of the chair during any prolonged absence of the chairperson, B) Ombudsperson. The board will elect one of its members to be ombudsperson. On request of any access volunteer with direct involvement in a dispute or problem, the ombudsperson will lend assistance in problem solving, conflict resolution, and mediation. It is hoped that the ombudsperson's impartiality and good judgment will lead to acceptance of his/her suggestions, though neither the ombudsperson nor the CAAB has the authority to enforce the ombudsperson's recommendations. Report of the Ithaca Cable Commission meeting, July 9th. 1991 The July meeting of the Cable Commission was sparsely attended and brief. The chairperson of the Commission was out of town and there were no representatives either from ACC or the public present. Most of the meeting consisted of my report on the July CAAB meeting. The report covered the capital spending procedure and the dispute mediation procedures we adopted. I also reviewed for the commission our discussion about creating an educationafgovernmental access body and Eloise Greene's proposal for how one might be structured . As the CAAB requested, I entered into the minutes our request to Tom Terrizzi to provide Lauren with the wording for the revised policies on profanity so that they could be included in an updated version of the Access Center Manual. The next meeting of the Cable Commission was moved to August 20th to accommodate vacation schedules and allow for a quorum of members to be present. Report of the Public Meeting on Current PEG Access Equipment Needs July 18th, 1991, The following suggestions were made: -Efforts should be made to make this meeting more"public". The process could be televised on access and members of the public who do not attend could call-in their comments. -When making purchasing decisions we should consider what might be needed to do a particular type of production(e.g.a sports event),and buy a package of equipment to meet that need. -Provide enhance playback facilities including -stereo sound -off-line preview of audio and video -character generators in playback area to allow live titling -tape mixing capability -voice-over and audio cart capability -improve playback quality by going all SVHS -Acquire computer assisted editing facilities. -Purchase more camcorders to compensate for equipment which is out of service waiting to be repaired. -Purchase consumer grade camcorders. Lower cost will allow acquisition of more production units and provide inexperienced producers with equipment that is easy to operate. -Get more equipment for multi-camera shoots. -Provide dedicated character generator work stations to free up editing suites. -Replace Knox character generators with more reliable variety. -Provide patch bay in editing suites to allow for patching in special effects generators. -Begin conversion to 8mm High-band standard by acquiring some Hi 8 record and playback equipment. -Replace worn mic stands. -Replace worn tripods. -Acquire portable cameras with variable speed zoom. -Purchase additional equipment to allow chroma key on all studio cameras. -Install a second phone line for studio so that calls could be screened in the control room while a call is on the air. -Purchase a patching matrix for studio to allow production equipment to be put together in more flexible configurations. Lauren Stefanelli (Access Coordinator)brought a request from ACC's engineering department for bench equipment to service VHS equipment, This could save a lot of time in getting repairs turned around. ACC's local origination production facilities do not use VHS, so the repair shop does not now have such equipment. -More- Members of the public who wish to make additional suggestions should contact the Community Access Advisory Board with their ideas as soon as possible. Lauren can convey your comments to the board or provide you with names and phone numbers of other people to contact.