Cable Advisory Commission

MINUTES – JULY 16, 2007

 

 

MINUTES

 

Meeting Date: July 16, 2007

Meeting Called to Order:      9:06

Present: Carol Pugliese, Richard Silver, Marjorie Steinberg and Betty ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Villari

 

Excused Absence: none

Unexcused Absence: none

 

Guests: Lew Aabye and Eileen Kennedy

 

Public Statements:  none

 

Approval of minutes from last agenda

 

MOTION: Move to accept amended minutes

Motion by:  Betty Villari     Seconded by: Carol Pugliese   Yea  4    Nay  0

 

 

PTV UPDATE

 

MOTION: Close PTV as long as necessary to paint, clean and organize

Motion by:  Carol Pugliese     Seconded by: Marjorie Steinberg   Yea  4    Nay  0

 

 

MOTION: Close Cyber Cove Mail Box

Motion by:  Marjorie Steinberg    Seconded by: Betty Villari   Yea  4    Nay  0

 

Marjorie Steinberg will work to closing the account.

 

Lew is working 19 hours a week -    

 

The Commission wants to ask the DPW to get us paint as soon as possible.  Richard Silver asked if DPW can paint for us. 

 

MOTION: Ask the DPW for paint and if someone on their staff can paint for us

Motion by:  Richard Silver     Seconded by: Carol Pugliese   Yea 4    Nay 0

 

 

Craig and Elissa - the technicians that tape the Board of Selectmen Meetings

Both were asked to attend this meeting.  Neither on could make it.

Elissa – she stated to Carol Pugliese in a phone conversation that can’t make the meeting for various meetings.  Also she stated that she did not work for PTV and could talk over the phone or send a letter. Craig – could not make the meeting.

 They don’t have a contract.  Moving forward Craig could do the Board of Selectmen and Elissa could do another meeting.  We could then hire two more people.

 

Right now Craig and Elissa make $120.00 pre meeting and Craig gets $14.00 to transport the DVD to Comcast in Orleans.  They used to get $14.00 per hour.

     

Carol Pugliese would like to hire a separate person to duplicate the DVD keep the archives and keep the Town Hall equipment in order.

 

Betty Villari stated that if there are 2 -3 move camera people and an archive person paid at $14.00 that would still be less than what we pay Craig and Elissa.

     

Also a PTV trainee or volunteer can also tape the meeting.  The Trainee program could take three months and part of that training would be to work at Town Hall filming the town meetings 

                 

Betty Villari stated that the technicians could have three month contracts.  There would be trained volunteers to cover if someone gets sick.

 

Lew Aabye can train people to film the meetings.  It is easy to train people to film.

 

MOTION: Move to make Lew Aabye in charge of transition of equipment and train people to tape town meetings.

Motion by:  Carol Pugliese     Seconded by: Betty Villari   Yea  4    Nay  0

           

 

Carol Pugliese will check with Sharon Lynn regarding Craig and Elissa’s pay.

 

Equipment and office supplies need to be ordered through Alex until things change.  Lew Aabye said that there are procurement forms on the PC. 

 

Carol Pugliese will meet with John Davison on Sunday July 22nd to review the books and get a feel for finance. 

 

There is an audio mixer at Town Hall that could be used at the PTV studio

                       

Sharon Lynn joined the meeting - she said that the question has come up regarding the CAC and where we want the commission to go.  Sharon said that the coordinator reports to the Town Manager.

 

The most important role of the CAC is to negotiate the Comcast contract and that PTV is a separate entity.

 

Richard Silver said that in the past the CAC has operated in a different way.  There was a lot if input from the CAC to PTV.

 

Sharon Lynn stated that there needs to be policies and guidelines and there needs to be a strong coordinator.

           

Sharon Lynn asked Lew Aabye what he recalled from the past. He mentioned problems taping the Town Board of Selectmen and commission meetings because there wasn’t enough time to set up the equipment. 

 

Carol Pugliese said that we need a strong coordinator and that the CAC does not want to micro manage.  The new coordinator could work with a staff that and one of the staff could technically back the coordinator up.  Also there would be volunteers. 

 

Carol stated that most of the Cable Advisory Commission are also involved in PTV.  She questioned if someone can we volunteer at PTV and be part of the CAC.  Is there a conflict of interest?

 

Richard Silver said that we all are interested in creating content. 

 

Sharon Lynn said that it.is our intention was to make things better.  Our PTV roles will give the CAC a better understanding.  The CAC is involved in negotiating the Comcast contract –the CAC does not need to not supervise her/him – but the CAC can be involved in both.

 

Carol  Pugliese brought up the Board of Selectmen’s meeting and the taping issue.  She stated that the town dosen’t need two people for each board meeting – We should split them up. She asked if we should we wait for a coordinator.

 

Sharon Lynn asked us to put that question on hold.

 

Lew Aabye, Eileen Kennedy and three others who could tape the meetings.

 

Eileen Kennedy said that PEG filters down to the whole umbrella – technical skills and PEG – There had never been money for staff development.

 

Lew Aabye said that he had two semesters of digital production and was told not to talk to town manager and selectmen about the taping process.  Craig and Elissa were exempt from PTV meetings.  The equipment was a free for all

.

There is still equipment missing.  Whoever is coordinator needs to find out what meetings to be filmed.  PTV cant just film one of them and then go and film something else.

 

Is there some other way of getting underwriting for PTV?. 

 

Sharon Lynn said just tape the Selectmen’s meetings and do that correctly. The Coordinator really needs to focus on what we need to be done.  There are procedures of procurement.  The coordinator can’t just go out and order on E-bay.  There has to be coordination.  The coordinator need to communicate with the Town Manager.  They are not a FT employee in Town Hall need to follow the same guidelines.  The coordinator cannot use the PTV PC for personal use. 

 

Carol Pugliese state that not every applicant will know a lot about the technical. aspects.  But they have to be organized, communicate. with Town Hall   Maybe it will be two part staff.  She/He may need a technical assistant. 

 

What else can PTV tape can it be a meeting of the week?  It is difficult to come up with one. Board of Selectmen needs to continue.  Remote cameras can be set up and all the meetings could be filmed.  It would cost $25,000 to set it up – the cost is split between two different cameras.  This system has not been purchased.  The custodian can turn it on. 

 

Lew Aabye said the Truro system cost $40,000 – there are 3 cameras and a bank of TVs – they move the camera to the person who is talking.  A Title generator then completes it.  Someone pulls out the video tape – It cost a flat fee of $75.00 for 3 hours and $15.00/hour over that. 

 

Sharon Lynn said that this is for the future.  What is there now works – we need to continue and improve it. 

 

Carol Pugliese said that one person could be behind the camera at the Board of Selectmen meetings.  You could hire two more people – Craig is leaving in September.

 

Richard  Silver said they get equipment from PTV but they are not part of it

 

Sharon – wanted to know who has keys. Elissa and Craig don’t have a key.

 

 

If Craig and Elissa are outside contractors there is a concern about security.  Ultimately the Town Manager is responsible for the equipment at PTV.  She wants an inventory of the equipment.  What was purchased with town funds?

 

Carol Pugliese said that Craig and Elissa need to coordinate with the staff of PTV to get the equipment they need.  There were 5 keys made one for Town Hall, one for John Davidson, one for the lock box, two for whaler’s wharf management. The combination will not be given out yet.

 

Carol Pugliese wanted to know the hiring procedure.

 

Sharon Lynn said we will see how this goes.  She also said that we need to get started on the contract negotiation.  Sharon will attend them and asked for someone with CAC – we have an old contract 3% of a franchise fee we want 5%. Comcast wants to close Orleans center.

 

Carol met with Tom Cole – lawyers are coming in to discuss what’s feasible regarding the Lower Cape and Comcast. Do we go to Orleans or Dennis or may be there should be Outer Cape location.

 

Sharon Lynn stated that there needs to be rep from Provincetown on a consistent basis.

 

Next Sat 9am – The lower cape meeting is scheduled for Saturday July 21st .

 

Sharon said that all procurements need to go through Alex – bring her a procurement slip.  She will talk to the DPW about paint

 

Marjorie Steinberg said that only PTV productions should be done at the studio from now on.

 

The next meeting will be held on July 23, 2007

 

MOTION: Move to make adjourn.

Motion by:  Marjorie Steinberg     Seconded by: Richard Silver  Yea  4    Nay  0