Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCable TV - 1996 - 02_08MINUTES ALLEN CABLE TV AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE REGULAR MEETING February 8, 1996 ATTENDANCE. Members Present: Don Wing, Chairperson Douglas Dreggors, Vice -Chairperson Bill Huber Sherry Bennett Mark Pacheco Members Absent: Eric Willard Ty Westfall Staff Present: Michael Stanger CALL TO ORDER AND ANNOUNCE A QUORUM With a quorum of the committee present, the Regular Meeting of the Allen Cable TV and Telecommunications Advisory Committee was called to order by Chairperson Don Wing at 7:07 p.m. on Thursday, February 8, 1996 in the Meeting Room of the Allen Public Library, Two Allen Civic Plaza, Allen, Texas. The following items were discussed: APPROVAL OF MINUTES The January 25 minutes were approved as written with a motion made by Doug Dreggors and seconded by Sherry Bennett. All approved. EXCUSE CERTAIN MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR MEETING ABSENCES (JN ACCORDANCE WITH COMMITTEE BY-LAWS) The members debated whether or not to excuse Eric Willard for missing three consecutive meetings (December 14, January 11 and January 25). Michael Stanger pointed out that the committee's by-laws state "Absence from three (3) consecutive meetings without formal consent of the Committee shall be deemed to constitute the retirement of that member. " Members agreed that the committee has been meeting more frequently than originally intended, that Mr. Willard is clearly interested in the committee and has missed only because of business travel, that he has valuable knowledge and skills to offer, and that replacing a member so early in the life of the committee could hurt the committee's progress. On the other hand, members agreed, if Mr. Willard cannot foresee that his schedule will begin to allow him to attend regularly, then the Page 2 CTTAC Minutes February S, 1996 committee should replace him as soon as possible to enable a new member to become acclimated. At this, the committee asked Mr. Wing to contact Mr. Willard to express their concern about his attendance, and agreed to table the item until the committee's February 22, 1996 meeting. DISCUSS A STRATEGY FOR GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC ACCESS CHANNELS Mr. Stanger distributed a list entitled "Obligation/Duties of TCI" based on their 1995 franchise agreement with the City (copy attached). He pointed out which items have and have not been completed by TCI, and added the responses he had received from Joann Holtzclaw of TCI regarding the items that are not yet complete. With respect to TCFs franchise fees, committee members expressed concern that the first quarter (October through December 1995) statement showed significant variation from one month to the next. Mr. Stanger reported that TCI is obligated to provide by March 31 an annual revenue statement which should provide more information. Regarding the public access channel, Mr. Stanger said that Ms. Holtzclaw felt that the intent of the franchise agreement was that TCI would continue to provide character -generator messages and facilitate members of the community who intend to use the channel; but that the channel is the City's to run, meaning that the City would send all video programming to TCI for cablecast from its upstream feed at the City's facility The committee said they want to see more definition given to the respective roles of TCI and the City in the channel's operation, and to visit other cities to see how the channel can operate with as much assistance from TCI as possible. Mr. Stanger also informed the committee that, according to Ms. Holtzclaw, the company has upgraded its standby power at the system's headend for continuous emergency power. The committee asked staff to obtain from TCI a letter documenting this claim. Members stressed to staff that they would like to have Ms. Holtzclaw present at their meetings as often as possible, and would be willing to try to accommodate her schedule for any extra meetings held after the regular second Thursday meeting. Regarding publicity for the committee and the PEG channels, Ms. Bennett provided copies of a pamphlet she had drafted. Mr. Stanger distributed copies of the brochure mailed to Allen citizens last year by the economic development office, as a recommended model. Mr. Stanger reported that there is presently no budget available for publicity; he added, however, that the city manager would be in favor of the committee using franchise fees in excess of the $130,000 budgeted for fiscal yew 1996. Members then offered other ideas for getting news to citizens: articles in the Allen Image, the Municipal Messenger and other free publications; ask TCI to help fund a mail -out pamphlet; ask private businesses for contributions. Staff responded that the Allen Image would probably be the easiest place to start, and would contact them immediately Committee members asked for information from other cities regarding their policies and procedures for operating the government access channel. Bill Huber offered to contact North Richland Hills, and Mr. Stanger agreed to call Richardson, the AISD and other cities. The Page 3 CTTAC Minutes February 8, 1996 committee asked for a first draft of policies and procedures by their first meeting in March. In response to a member's question, Mr. Stanger reported that video could not be cablecast from the current upstream feed the City uses for character messages, but would call TCI to learn if we could show video programs on that channel if we delivered the video to TCI. He also said he would begin surveying department heads for programming interests and ideas. NEW BUSINESS There was no new business. Updates- Other Work Plan Learning Subjects There were no reports by members concerning other work plan topics. Schedule Site Visits Mr. Stanger promised to contact TCI to schedule a visit to TCI's offices for February 15, for those who missed the December meeting there. He also said he would contact other cities for available dates to tour their facilities, targeting the week of February 26. Items of Interest to the Committee Mr. Huber discussed in detail some of the reactions and consequences he was witnessing in his company, Southwestern Bell Telephone, to the federal Telecommunications Act, signed this week by President Clinton. Mr. Stanger informed the committee that the critical interest of cities to maintain their rights to manage right-of-ways and to collect fees from telecommunications utilities that use them—was included in the final law Mr. Huber and others also reviewed the area code case under consideration by the Texas Public Utility Commission. The next meeting will be February 22, 1996, 7:00 p.m. at the Library meeting room. Mr. Huber will not be able to attend this meeting due to an out-of-town business trip. ADJOURN Ms. Bennett moved to adjourn the meeting and Mr. Dreggors seconded. This meeting was officially adjourned at 8:43 p.m. These minutes read and approved this 22nd day of February, 1996. Chairperson Secretary