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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCable Advisory Board 2004 Minutes MINUTES TELECOMMUNICATION AND CABLE ADVISORY BOARD City Council Council Conference Room 124 West Michigan Avenue Wednesday, December 8, 2004 CALL TO ORDER Committee of the Whole called at 5:40 p.m. (lack of quorum) Meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Sherie Davy, Chair Letitia Fowler, Vice Chair Luke Schafer, Member(arrived 6 pm) _ Greg Starks, Member -} Cf OTHERS PRESENT r Gary Andrews, Access Producer/Grant Applicant Darryl Burgess, Access Producer/Grant Applicant Darnell Oldham, Sr., Access Producer/Grant Applicant Karen Schmidt, CITY-TV COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS During committee of the whole, Ms. Sclunidt ran through all of the correspondence that appeared on the agenda. In response to the email sent by D. Erwin, Chair Davy asked that Comcast be contacted to verify a senior citizen discount given to East Lansing residents. Ms. Sclunidt will respond to both D. Erwin's email and S. Ryland's letter of complaint regarding the "Battle of Ideas" access program. Member Schafer arrived,providing a meeting quorum. MEMBER FOWLER MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 8, 2004. APPROVED 4-0. MEMBER STARKS MOVED TO APPROVE THE COMMUNICATIONS. APPROVED 4-0. PUBLIC COMMENT Darryl Burgess: Outlined his two grant applications for the programs "Required Viewing" and "Outdoor Moovies". He discussed the unique expense request for his "Outdoor Moovies"program. He provided the Board with a sample tape of this program. He will be taking Comcast's digital technology classes to improve his skills and the quality of his programs. Gary Andrews: Attended the meeting so that the Board would be able to ask questions about his two program proposals and grant applications. He also submitted four copies of tapes of programs produced by Christine Timmons. He states that Ms. Timmons does not place the required "program provided in part by a grant from the City of Lansing" and "City is not responsible for program content"tags on the ends of her programs as put forth in the Policies. He believes that it is a gracious thing to do and helps legitimize Public Access. Darnell Oldham, Sr.: He discussed his program that has been on Public Access for just under one year and stated that this is his first time submitting an application. He was here to answer any questions that the Board may have. He also believes that Comcast needs to update their equipment. DISCUSSION AND PENDING ITEMS Funding Reimbursement Request—IMLA Conference Member Starks asked if Ms. Vroman would be submitting a report pertaining to this conference. Ms. Schmidt stated that Ms. Vroman would be available to answer Boardmembers questions or discuss events/programs that she attended, but that a formal report would not be submitted. The Board had previously funded a Assistant City Attorney's attendance, who was at that time responsible for cable issues. MEMBER FOWLER MOVED TO TRANSFER$1200.00 FROM THE CABLE ADVISORY BOARD'S ACCOUNT# 101.112110.963005.0 TO THE LAW DEPARTMENT'S TRAINING ACCOUNT#101.172900.747000.0, AS REIMBURSEMENT FOR ATTENDANCE TO THE INTERNATIONAL MUNICIPAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE HELD IN TEXAS. APPROVED 4-0. Public Access Grants. Member Starks discussed his desire to have Public Access move into the digital world. Believes that all programs should be done on digital and that monies should be used to purchase digital cameras. Vice Chair Fowler noted that she would like to have an inventory of the equipment available to access producers by Comcast and would like to know what equipment is to be purchased within a years time. This information would help her deliberate on the grant requests. Chair Davy asked Ms. Schmidt to contact Comcast to provide the requested equipment list and to also request the training schedule for the Miller Road facility. Upon receiving this information, Ms. Schmidt will forward it on to members so that they will have this information to review and have available during grant application discussions at the next scheduled meeting. REPORTS Vice Chair Ms. Fowler informed Boardmembers that she has some communication issues with Comcast Cable and that she intends to pursue these issues on her own. PUBLIC COMMENT None The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. Submitted by Karen Schmidt CITY-TV Manager APP ' by �s, C ai- ` DATE MINUTES TELECOMMUNICATION AND CABLE ADVISORY BOARD City Council Council Conference Room 124 West Michigan Avenue Wednesday, September 8, 2004 CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Greg Starks, Chair Sherie Davy, Member Letitia Fowler, Vice Chair Luke Schafer, Member OTHERS PRESENT Leslie Brogan, Comcast Cablevision Karen Schmidt, CITY-TV Margo Vroman, Law MEMBER FOWLER MOTIONED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JULY 14, 2004. APPROVED 4-0. DISCUSSION AND PENDING ITEMS Cable Advisory Board Rules of Administrative Procedures Members discussed portions of the current Board Rules of Administrative Procedures. 1.2 Regular Meetings. Bi-monthly meetings were discussed with the ability to hold special meetings if there was a need. It was decided to articulate the bi-monthly meeting months beginning with February. Discussions also took place pertaining to 1.8 Attendance and 2.1 Selection. No changes were made to those portions. MEMBER SCHAFER MOVED APPROVE THE RULES OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES AS AMENDED. APPROVED 4-0. Election of Chair and Vice Chair. MEMBER SCHAFER MOVED TO ACCEPT SHERIE DAVY AS CHAIR THE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS & CABLE ADVISORY BOARD. APPROVED 4-0. MEMBER DAVY MOVED TO ACCEPT LETITIA FOWER AS VICE CHAIR OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS & CABLE ADVISORY BOARD. APPROVED 4-0. Cable Grant Dates Chair Davy initiated a discussion on mailing out cable grant applications. Ms. Schmidt informed the Board that the paperwork for the applications could go out upon the Board deciding on a due date. The Board confirmed that the applications would be returned in November so that Ms. Schmidt would have time to process and review the applications. Members would then have them in time for their December meeting. REPORTS Comcast Ms. Brogan spoke of something new that she is coordinating for Comcast, tapings featuring Laurel Hess which are five-minute insert to CNN's programming that are shown 54 minutes after the hour. These features are taped 2 days a month and then air the following month. Comcast has gotten very good feedback on the inserts. Ms. Brogan is open to suggestions on regional feature ideas to tape. PUBLIC COMMENT None The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Submitted by Karen Schmidt CITY-TV Manager D6LV A r ed by l DATE MINUTES TELECOMMUNICATION AND CABLE ADVISORY BOARD City Council Council Conference Room 124 West Michigan Avenue Wednesday, July 14, 2004 CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order at 5:50 p.m. COMMITTEE MEMBERS Greg Starks, Chair Sherie Davy, Member Letitia Fowler, Vice Chair Ida White, Member OTHERS PRESENT Darryl Burgess, Access Producer Gary Andrews, Old Everett Neigh. Assoc. Karen Schmidt, CITY-TV MEMBER DAVY MOTIONS TO SUSPEND THE RULES OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE. APPROVED 4-0. COMMUNICATIONS AND PETITIONS Ltr. From Comcast, Changes in Music Choice Line-Un Ltr. From Comcast, New Installation Prices Communications received and placed on file. DISCUSSION AND PENDING ITEMS Cable Advisory Board Rules of Administrative Procedures Members discussed portions of the current Board Rules of Administrative Procedures that are outdated. Member White suggested that we make some of the obvious changes and place it back on the agenda for next month, giving members the allotted time frame to recommend changes. Obvious changes to be made were whenever the Rules asked for five members instead insert "majority of serving members". This was to accommodate the Board's lack of full membership. Another change was the day of the monthly meetings reflecting the second Wednesday of the month instead of the first. The Secretary portion was to reflect Council Staff changes. Discussions also took place pertaining to 1.8 Attendance and 2.1 Selection; however, it was determined to keep them as is until further discussions took place at the next meeting. MEMBER WHITE MOVED TO AMEND RULES OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES. APPROVED 4-0. Election of Chair and Vice Chair. Pending, until vote on Board Rules of Administrative Procedures. REPORTS CITY-TV Ms. Schmidt discussed with members that, as they had recommended, an audit of the Franchise Fees paid to the City is currently being conducted. A report of those finding will be addressed to the Board. Chair/Vice Chair Vice Chair Fowler mentioned that she had seen CITY-TVs last Join the Team program which featured a"John's Sting". Her hair dresser's business was shown and would like that if this was to happen again that businesses be contacted as to what's going on in there area. Chairperson Starks reported on a discussion he had had with Mr. Wiener, Executive Assistant to the Mayor. He is upset if he is not going to be privy to the negotiations and believes the Board should have a bigger part to play in the Franchise negotiations. PUBLIC COMMENT Darryl Burgess: He is attending this meeting to advocate for the continuation of Public Access, Channel 16. He believes that there isn't a proper forum for him to express the importance of Public Access and he is worried that Public Access will be on the chopping block during upcoming Franchise negotiations. He is also angered by the bad signal that Comcast puts out on Channel 16. He works hard to put together a quality show and it angers him to see all of his work reflected through a poor signal. He does not believe the other channels have this poor quality in their appearance. He has discussed his concerns with Mr. Steve Easley of Comcast on more than one occasion and feels nothing has been done to clean up the signal. Gary Andrews: He served on the original committee to oversee the Franchise Agreement and the Cable Advisory Board formation. He came to this meeting to address the Board with what the Old Everett Neighborhood Association wants in a cable system. 1. Technical Calibration. Adjust sound and color of all channels to meet technical guidelines. Then all channels are not different. 2. Ala Cart Programming. 3. No Channels Blacked Out. He was extremely upset to listen to Comcast executives on a C-Span program call subscribers' second class citizens. As a company they are not concerned about their product. What he believes they are really doing is selling satellite systems because of their lack of customer service. Basic service can not go up anymore. He states that Comcast only cares about their revenue from pornography. He is also appalled about the way the religious access channel 19 is conducting business. He believes that a religious cult has taken over the Michigan Avenue outfit and call it access. The meeting was adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Submitted by Karen Schmidt CITY-TV Manager Approved by Greg Starks, Chair __..� DATE