HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLECOMM-1998 Minutes of the February 5, 1998 meeting of the Ithaca City Cable Commission (ICCC)
Location: 2nd Floor Conference Room, City Hall
Commissioners present: Dick Cogger (chair), Jean Finley (vice-chair), Richard Entlich (minutes taker),
Harvey Gitlin, Dave Burbank
Common Council Liaison: Rick Gray
Time Warner Cable (TWC) representative: Lauren Stefanelli, Access Coordinator
1. Call to Order
At 7:40 PM
2. Welcome new commissioner
New appointee Dave Burbank was welcomed to the commission and given copies of some of the major
documents used by ICCC members. Dave's email address is burbank @baka.com.
3. Public Comment
No members of the general public were in attendance.
4. Agenda adjustments
None
5. Approve/revise minutes from last meeting.
Minutes taker from the November 6, 1997 meeting (the last meeting with a quorum), H. Gitlin, reported
that he did not have copies of those minutes with him. (The minutes from that meeting were written up
and distributed at a previous meeting during which they could not be approved for lack of a quorum).
6. TWC report
There was no general TWC report. L. Stefanelli. passed out the PEGASYS report for January 1998
which included, among other things, the news that a fifth access staff position has been posted.
7. Election of officers
It was pointed out that the ICCC's charter requires election of officers at the first voting meeting of each
calendar year. Nominations were taken for chair, vice-chair and secretary, as follows:
Chair: R. Entlich nominated by J. Finley (declined)
D. Cogger nominated by R. Entlich (accepted), second by D. Burbank, approved 4-0
(Cogger abstained)
Vice Chair: J. Finley nominated by H. Gitlin (accepted), second by D. Cogger, approved 4-0
(Finley abstained)
Secretary: D. Burbank volunteered. Nominated by J. Finley, second by R. Entlich, approved 4-0
(Burbank abstained)
Officers for 1998 will be D. Cogger--Chair, J. Finley--Vice Chair, D. Burbank--Secretary.
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8. Review progress of resolution on the Access Advisory Board.
D. Cogger distributed a letter from P. Smith (TWC General Manager) regarding Common Council's
resolution approving the formation of a new Cable Access Advisory Board. The text of that letter follows:
February 4, 1998
City of Ithaca
Ms. Julie Holcomb, Clerk
108 East Green Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Ithaca City Cable Commission
Mr. Richard Cogger, Chair
108 East Green Street
Ithaca, New York 14850
Re: Ithaca City Cable Commission,
Resolution dated September 4, 1997
Titled: 18.2 Resolution Approving Amendment of Section 14.9 of
the City of Ithaca's Franchise Agreement with Time
Warner Cable Regarding the Cable Access Advisory Board
Dear Ms. Holcomb and Mr. Cogger:
As the General Manager of Time Warner Cable, Ithaca, I respectfully
respond to the above referenced Resolution.
We have discussed this issue at several official and unofficial meetings
of the Ithaca City Cable Commission. As I have pointed out to the Chair
and the Commission, while Time Warner Cable agrees in principal with the
concept of restructuring of the Cable Access Advisory Board, it is our
current position that this matter should be part of any upcoming
franchise negotiations between Time Warner Cable and the City of Ithaca.
You have stated that you will be hiring a consultant to determine the
scope and direction of these negotiations and are also proposing that the
Tompkins County Intermunicipal Cable Commission join your Commission in
the aforementioned negotiations. Since these various groups may have
differing feelings regarding oversight of PEG Access, it would seem that
these negotiations would be the proper forum for discussions regarding
changing the structure of the CAAB.
I have also stated to you and the ICCC that should you wish to informally
reconstitute the CAAB that my office would be pleased to work with any
such board and respond to their input regarding PEG policies and
procedures.
Sincerely,
Phil Smith
General Manger
Time Warner Cable, Ithaca
cc: Alan Cohen
Mayor, City of Ithaca
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In light of TWC willingness to work with a new CAAB on an informal, advisory basis, J. Finley
proposed the following resolution (second by H. Gitlin):
"MOVE to move ahead to implement the CAAB (Cable Access Advisory Board) according to the
resolution approved by Common Council (reproduced as part of ICCC minutes of September 4, 1997) and
in consideration of discussions with Phil Smith and Time Warner Cable regarding their willingness to
cooperate with said board, as stated in Mr. Smith's letter of 2/4/98 (as shown above)."
The motion was approved unanimously.
Discussion ensued regarding a procedure to solicit applicants for the newly constituted CAAB. H. Gitlin
volunteered to work on an application form. It was agreed that the form should request information from
the applicant(name, address, phone#, email address, relevant experience, affiliations and activities,
reason for interest), a description of the board itself(purpose, frequency of meetings, term of office, etc.)
and be distributed to various local news outlets (including the "little papers" in the various towns and
villages in the county, radio stations and local government bodies).
9. Review progress on expanding Commission membership.
No action besides appointment of Dave Burbank. Harvey Gitlin's status is still unclear (his appointment
ran out in December 1996, but no one has been appointed to replace him, nor has he been reappointed).
R. Gray reported that Common Council now requires that certain boards and commissions (including the
ICCC) have two alternate members, in case conflict of interest by regular members reduces the number of
eligible voting members to less than a quorum. Since the commission is still short at least two regular
members, it is unclear when and how the alternates will be found.
10. Adjourn to executive session
The ICCC adjourned to executive session at 8:30 PM to discuss the hiring of consultants.
11. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 PM. Next meeting will be held on Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 PM in
the second floor conference room of City Hall.
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