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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CABLE-2016-10-25Access Oversight Committee (AOC) minutes TUESDAY, October 25, 2016 at 4:30 PM Meeting Room, PEGASYS Access Center, 519 West Green Street, Ithaca, NY As approved Dec. 5, 2016 Present: Chair Rich DePaolo, Vice-chair Wies van Leuken, AOC members Wayles Browne, Sue Perlgut and Common Council liaison Ducson Nguyen; studio manager Lauren Stefanelli. 01. Call to Order by DePaolo, 4:40. 02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none. 03. Public Comments: none. 04. Approval Minutes of the August 29, 2016 Meeting. Correction: the bid was for $48,999.00. Approved 5 to 0. 05. Access Studio Coordinator Report: in writing (attached). a. Studio Upgrade - update: the Studio upgrade is delayed pending re-authorization of both the vendor and Stefanelli under the Charter Cable accounting system which does not recognize the already-in-place approval of the project under the TWC system. The AOC is concerned that the Charter’s process to release public funds is so cumbersome that it causes big delays. The Studio’s equipment is failing and in very urgent need of being replaced. b. Quality of PEG Channels after transition to All-Digital - update. See 08. c. Annual Report on PEGASYS’ Accomplishments – update. Stefanelli has compiled this report for distribution to the public. She will ask the City Clerk to distribute the report to Common Councel members. d. Faulty entrance door and misuse of PEGASYS phone number – update. See 08 below. e. TWC's Maintenance and Repair Report: see attached. The AOC welcomed the news that the City installed a window AC unit in the media booth. They further noted that Mike Cederstrom had done a great job acting as PEGASYS staff person 2 days per week during Stefanellis’ absence. 06. Member Reports a. 2015/16 Budget Resolutions by Participating Municipalities – report. D. Nguyen: the City of Ithaca has approved the budget resolution. The Town and Village had done so previously. b. Publicity, Outreach and Home Page - discussion. S. Perlgut asked for and made suggestions on how to better inform the public about PEGASYS and its services and programs. There could be a Facebook page for producers to share shows and post videos. They could send out press releases about shows. AOC could invite producers to a meeting on how to use Facebook for publicity. When the studio finally becomes HD (High Definition), AOC could call a press conference and hold a tour of the studio. For Outreach: we could offer a talk with Powerpoint addressed to local governments. Also bring schools in; have how-tos on the web page. TWC’s publicity does not include the PEG channels. Also an unknown amount of customers do not receive PEG channels, due to their having their TV’s connected to the main cable with older cables that must be replaced. Wayles will draft a letter to the editor of newspapers and to the Human Services Coalition listserve, pointing out that a cable repair at one's home can help reception of channels 13, 15 and 16; send the draft to Perlgut and other members An ad-hoc Committee for Publicity and Outreach was formed with chair Perlgut, member Van Leuken and advisor Stefanelli. The Committee will explore how to get PEG on the map and report to the AOC on its progress. 07. Old Business a. Franchise Agreement. DePaolo: TCCOG is waiting for its Dryden representative to add language and send it to the City Attorney and then to the other party. b. Spectrum - update. Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications systems are gradually being merged. c. PEGASYS' Access Rules. DePaolo contacted City Attorney Ari Lavine on Aug. 29 about Lavine’s reviewing the proposed rules; still need to hear back from him. 08. New Business: DePaolo asked for input for the letter he drafted to Chris Mueller, the new Director of Government Relations CNY Division, Northeast, on behalf of the municipalities, asking for an explanation of why PEG broadcasts look inferior to other channels in picture quality. He was asked to include the problems with getting the funds released for the Studio upgrade and the delay in getting the studio doors replaced that leak and do not properly close. AOC discussed the draft letter. DePaolo will revise it and send it. 09. Next meeting: Monday, December 5, 4:30 PM. 10. Adjournment 5:40. Notes by W. Browne as AOC secretary. ===== Contact information for AOC members: City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>. City of Ithaca: Ducson Nguyen, Common Council liaison 2016 <dnguyen@cityofithaca.org>. City of Ithaca: member Sue Perlgut <scperl@verizon.net> Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd@richdepaolo.com>. Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4@cornell.edu>. Web site for the PEGASYS studio, with program schedules: http://pegasys.webstarts.com/index.html studio location: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York mailing address: 519 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850 phone (607) 272-7272 fax (607) 277-5404 PEGASYS staff: studio manager Lauren Stefanelli <Lauren.Stefanelli@charter.com> October 2016 Access Studio Coordinator Report Building Improvement I was told that the Purchase Authorization for replacement fire doors for our building was combined with a request to replace all the fire doors in all 3 buildings, and is expected to happen in 2017. 2016 Equipment Fund: Studio Upgrade to HD I placed a Purchase Requisition for the studio upgrade project approved by the AOC at its August meeting. My boss was told it was approved. However, it is now required to be re-submitted under the Charter Cable accounting system. Our vender must be re- authorized as an approved vender. And I must be re-authorized to use the new system. So there will be a delay while these steps happen. Ithaca City Hall Media Booth The City installed a window AC unit in our media booth, protecting our equipment there. Thanks to Ducson for his suggestion and for facilitating its prompt implementation. Personnel Mike Cederstrom acted as PEGASYS staff person 2 days per week during my vacation. From all accounts, he did a great job. Equipment Repair and Maintenance A producer damaged our newest editing laptop by disobeying one of our most stringent rules – keeping food and drink away from PEGASYS equipment. His grandson, who was doing a narration for a show about the point of view of an 8-year-old boy, spilled a bottle of water on the keyboard while it was running. It no longer works. I have sent it to Syracuse to be evaluated by one of the computer technicians there, to see if it can be saved. Someone managed to repatch some camera cables incorrectly and cut the end off of one of our video cables in the studio while I was away. They were down to 1 camera and no studio monitor. I had the cable fixed and replaced it, and repatched the other cameras, restoring all studio functions. New Live Opportunity A County employee, Bruce Stoff, managing an upcoming Tompkins County Housing Summit [11/30-12/1], asked me about going live from the Greenstar Space onto a PEG channel. We have no ability to do that. However, County video tech Jim Blizzard has devised a way to transmit from the library, or any other space that has high-speed internet, back to the County INET connection in his office for transmission on channel 15. Jim and Bruce are now in negotiation and hope to make this happen live on channel 15. ICTV Ithaca College has expanded its programming day by 30 minutes/day this semester. It runs 6-11pm instead of 6:30-11pm Sundays through Thursdays.