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Home My WebLink AboutMN-AOC-2021-12-07 1 MINUTES Access Oversight Committee (AOC). As approved Feb. 1, 2022. Tuesday, December 7, 2021 at 5 PM The AOC held its meeting by ZOOM conferencing. Present: chair Rich DePaolo, secretary Wayles Browne, vice chair Wies van Leuken, Common Council liaison Rob Gearhart; Access Studio Coordinator Lauren Stefanelli; members of the public Jim Blizzard, Will Metro. 01. Call to Order 5:03 by DePaolo. 02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions. Van Leuken: add “Website” as 7f. 03. Public Comments. Blizzard [Tompkins County government, Public Information]: City of Ithaca meetings are now via Zoom only. Members of the public asked for them to be broadcast on Channel 15 (as county meetings are). Not everyone has a computer. It should be easy to figure out how to do this. Apparently, they're not being sent to Stefanelli. I could help. Metro had difficulty connecting; Blizzard said he'd viewed Metro's show on which Metro stated that all over Ithaca he didn't have to be masked but at PEGASYS he does. 04. Comments by AOC members. Gearhart thanks Blizzard; City of Ithaca Council meetings are livestreamed on a YouTube channel; will ask City Clerk Holcomb how to make meetings televisable. DePaolo asks: does Stefanelli have to take some action for this purpose? Blizzard: someone in City Hall has to. Stefanelli: I could broadcast the file from a Zoom projector; meetings via Zoom are all recorded. The City Clerk has agreed to convert the files and upload them, but has been too busy. Stefanelli herself can also do the conversion (mp4 to mpg2); she can ask the Clerk about getting the signal from the projector. 05. Approval of Minutes of the November 2, 2021 Meeting. Moved by Van Leuken, seconded by DePaolo. Adopted 4-0-0 without change. 06. Access Studio Coordinator Report. Submitted by Stefanelli on Dec. 6 (attached). Re Problems with mic and audio cable, Stefanelli is waiting for the producer to demonstrate the problem as she was unable to replicate it. Re equipment for the mini-studio, Stefanelli is looking at the Black Magic ATEM Mini Pro which is now on the market; it takes 4 inputs, costs less than $1000. It doesn't have a built-in titler, so she's looking for ways to add titles. At present the mini-studio has 2009-vintage equipment, which has various inputs but they're all analog. She would like to keep the "turnkey" effect (a producer can go in and use it just as it is). On the request for the updated Manual: van Leuken will send it before the next meeting. 07. Member Reports. 2 a. Terms of Board Members. Van Leuken's term expires at the end of 2021; she will ask the Mayor of Cayuga Heights to reappoint her. Gearhart: members stay in office pending reappointment. DePaolo's term also expires; reappointment by the Mayor of the City expected. b. AOC Vacancy. DePaolo asks if there are not sufficient applicants for a decision. Gearhart: the Mayor's office is monitoring all vacancies; not yet ready to fill them. DePaolo: candidates for the appointment are most likely among producers. c. Communications with the City Attorney's office. DePaolo got an e-mail from Attorney Ari Lavine: AOC can draft a letter of non-compliance for his office's review. DePaolo will author a draft, circulate it to AOC, and submit it to Lavine. Gearhart: the office is fully staffed now, has 2 new assistant city attorneys. Lavine hopes to assign one to our concerns. d. PEGASYS's operations. Van Leuken: PEGASYS is still operating under the rules that Charter imposed in August. Signage on front door says "Masks are required in the building" but on the side door (used by employees and contractors) it reads "Masks required except vaccinated." DePaolo wonders if we can change our requirement for producers to make it match the requirement for employees/contractors. Van Leuken proposes that producers could remove their mask when working in the mini studio. Gearhart: but require social distancing. Van Leuken: DePaolo wrote to Lauren Kelly (Director of Government Affairs - Finger Lakes Region, Charter Communications) to insist that the 7-day advance notice requirement for reservations should be lifted. Seemingly the 7- day advance for studio reservations is lifted but not the 7 days for equipment reservations; we need to get this lifted too. DePaolo: At the last meeting we discussed communication methods for public and producers. We haven't gotten legal feedback. PEG studio must have a phone number for non-internet-users. He moves and Browne seconds a resolution to restore means of contacting the studio to what was in place prior to October 19, 2021. WHEREAS, the City’s current Franchise Agreement with Charter and Chapter 18 of the Code of the City of Ithaca give the Access Oversight Committee (AOC) the authority to oversee and make rules for public access television and PEGASYS in Tompkins County; and WHEREAS, those Rules made by the AOC are in the PEGASYS Policies and Procedures Manual (“the Manual”); and WHEREAS, on October 19, 2021, all PEGASYS producers received an Email from PEG.NY@charter.com stating that “For all requests, please contact the PEG coordinator at: PEG.NY@charter.com”; and WHEREAS, this directive was distributed without prior consultation or approval by the Access Oversight Committee (AOC); and 3 WHEREAS, this directive introduces a central Email address to take the place of communications by either phone or local Email between PEGASYS staff and the local community; and WHEREAS, communications by phone are necessary to allow for access to all prospective users, and direct email contact with local PEGASYS staff provides for the most efficient least complicated electronic communication; now, therefore be it, RESOLVED, that the AOC requests that, effective immediately, PEGASYS staff returns to accepting communications by phone, at 607-272-7272, and local Email, at <Lauren.Stefanelli@charter.com>, as was customary prior to October 19, 2021. Approved 4-0-0. DePaolo will send this text to Charter. e. Publicity and Outreach. Van Leuken suggests reviving the Publicity and Outreach ad hoc committee; offers to e-mail all producers. DePaolo: yes, and ask them for ideas on outreach. f. Website. DePaolo: the present site is minimal and Charter is editing it on its own initiative. Shall we look at spending ca. $200/year on a site of our own and keeping it updated? We have pegasys.tv that I bought some years ago. Stefanelli: the template webstarts site used to have the feature of embedding links (so we could post links from producers' series), but it lost this when Windows updated. But this is a tech problem, not a policy problem. DePaolo: owns the domain name pegasys.tv but still needs to activate it and get a host. Gearhart: who controls the site? DePaolo: would be proper to ask our municipalities for guidance, but no questions were asked when the current site went up. I don't know if Charter would cooperate. It would be nice to have a community/corporation partnership. Or it could be private. Gearhart: desirable to have a site allowing more interactions, links, requests. DePaolo: maybe a calendar, some social media presence in the future. Gearhart: Stefanelli has the knowledge and skills to update a site, more than AOC members do. Stefanelli: other PEG services have very attractive sites. Note: the "Black Magic" equipment has an output enabling livestreaming. DePaolo sends a link to AOC members: www.mnn.org (Manhattan Neighborhood Network). A well-organized site. (He screen-shares it.) It has many streaming channels right on the homepage, schedules, etc. He uses a SquareSpace website for his own needs; will look into problem of ownership, run it by his town supervisor, and report next month. 08. Old Business. a. Franchise Agreement negotiations. No new developments, b. Franchise agreement non-compliance letter. See 7c. c. Inclusion of PEG Channels on Spectrum app. Will be in non-compliance letter. 4 d. I-Net "end equipment" maintenance cost shift. Will be in non-compliance letter. e. Carter's disclaimer -- review of Charter's report. Will be in non- compliance letter. f. Bulletin Board, TBA and Archive Programs. Will be in non-compliance letter. 09. New Business. None. 10. Next meeting. Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, 5 pm. 11. Adjournment 6:19. ================ Authority: City of Ithaca code Chapter 18, "Cable Access Oversight Committee". Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Ithaca 11-5-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-17. Available at https://ecode360.com/8386207. Contact information for AOC members: City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>. City of Ithaca: Rob Gearhart, Common Council liaison 2019- <rgearhart@cityofithaca.org>. Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd@richdepaolo.com>, <RDePaolo@town.ithaca.ny.us>. Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4@cornell.edu>. Web site for the PEGASYS Community Media Center studio, with program schedules: https://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 5 Lauren Stefanelli COMMUNICATIONS PEG Coordinator Access Oversight Committee Meeting Ithaca, NY Coordinator Report 12/7/2021 Equipment Maintenance/Repair Issues:  Field producer reported problems with a mic and audio cable. Staff could not replicate issue with either item. Equipment Recommendations:   Staff is researching equipment for upgrade to mini-studio. PEG Rules and Guidelines:   Staff requests an updated Policy and Procedures manual prior to next AOC meeting. Cablecast Common Council/Other Meetings Monthly Summary:  No meetings submitted by the City for cablecast in November. Non-Resident Summary:  Current balance for PEG Usage Fees as of 12/6/2021 2021 Equipment Purchase Report: 519 W. State St. | Ithaca, NY P (607) 272-7272 Lauren.Stefanelli@charter.com PEGASYS Fees Report Name Municipality Description Fee/Cost Amount Total 2020 Total $479.00 Ndjombe Titi Newfield Membership Jan - Jun 2021 Fee $20.00 $20.00 Andy Finkle Dryden Membership Jan - Jun 2021 Fee $20.00 $20.00 Andy Finkle Dryden Membership Jul -Dec 2021 Fee $20.00 $20.00 Jim Blizzard N/A Game Capture card Cost -$97.19 ($97.19) Current Total $441.81 Ithaca 2021 Equipment Purchase Report Vendor Quantity Item Individual Cost Total Total 0