CABLE ADVISORY COUNCIL
P. O. Box 87
Newtown, Connecticut
~ Minutes ~
Minutes of Public Regular Meeting –
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Newtown, CT
There was a regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Council called to order at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 15, 2011 by Chairman Jim Lang at the Charter Communications facility, Newtown, Connecticut.
ATTENDEES: John Bell (Kent), Carl Braun (Woodbury), Donna Cassidy (Trumbull), Karen Chance (New Fairfield), Gregory Davis (Roxbury), George Fletcher (New Milford), Jim Lang (Trumbull), Stephanie O’Rourke (Kent), and Gene Rosen (Newtown). From Charter: Tom Cohan (Director of Government Relations), Greg Van Antwerp (Public Access), and Heidi Vandenbrouch (Public Relations)
PUBLIC INPUT: None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Chairman Jim Lang noted that the September minutes should read September 13th instead of September 12th. Mr. Lang asked if there were any objections to the minutes being approved with the corrected date. No objections were made and the minutes were approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Treasurer Carl Braun reported that Checking account balance remains at $3,356,68. The Money Market balance is $6,155.99. The 12-month CD balance is $13,423.53 with total assets equaling $22,936.20. Chairman Lang asked if there were any objections to the Treasurer’s report being approved as presented. No objections were made and the Treasurer’s report was approved. (Treasurer’s report attached to the minutes of this meeting)
CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS REPORT:
Tom Cohan:
- The last six months have been challenging for Charter due to the weather. During the recent snow storm of October 29th, Charter needed to replace approximately 15,000 drop lines. This was about three times as much as during Hurricane Irene in August. Mr. Cohan spoke of Governor Malloy’s task force regarding the two storms and noted that there will likely be regulations in the future to force the power companies to improve planning for such storms. Approximately 80% of Charter’s customers were without power immediately after the Oct. 29th storm. Charter services was restored to customers once power came back about 95% of the time. Mr. Cohan spoke of the restoration effort and handed out an update dated November 8th (Document attached to the minutes of this
meeting)
- Gregory Davis spoke of the challenges regarding Charter during the power outage. He noted that the customer service people were very polite but not very informative. It was decided to ask a staff member to track this particular customer’s calls to see where improvements can be made.
- Donna Cassidy suggested putting an outage map for Charter similar to the one that CL&P has one their website.
Greg Van Antwerp
- Spoke of the success of the live election coverage at Western Connecticut State University. This was done with approximately 20 West Conn students and their professor Dr. Barone and aired on Channel 21.
- Spoke of DVDs for troops that collects DVD’s CD’s, video game cartridges and audio books and sends them to the troop serving all over the world. Last year over 1300 items were collected and the goal for this year is 2000.
- The internship is going well. Another internship will be January.
CORRESPONDENCE:
None
OLD BUSINESS:
- Chairman Jim Lang noted that Suzanne Kloos has been hired to take minutes for this meeting. The council will decide at the January meeting if this should be a permanent position.
- Gregory Davis spoke of the Statewide Video Advisory Council and noted that they sent an opinion to Public Utility Regulatory Authority regarding the change that allows competition and as a result the cable franchise renewal process was done away with.
NEW BUSINESS:
Donna Cassidy made a motion to approve the following 2012 Meeting schedule. Gregory Davis seconded the motion- Vote 9-0-0
January 10, 2012
March 13, 2012
May 8, 2012
July 10, 2012
September 11, 2012
November 13, 2012
Donna Cassidy nominated Jim Lang as Chairman of the Charter Communications Cable Advisory Council. Karen Chance seconded the nomination. Vote 9-0-0
Donna Cassidy nominated Carmella Amodeo as Vice Chairman of the Charter Communications Cable Advisory Council. Gregory Davis seconded the nomination. Vote 9-0-0
Donna Cassidy nominated Carl Braun as Treasurer of the Charter Communications Cable Advisory Council. Karen Chance seconded the nomination. Vote 9-0-0
Donna Cassidy nominated Stephanie O’Rourke as Secretary of the Charter Communications Cable Advisory Council. Gene Rosen seconded the nomination.
Vote 9-0-0
Chairman Jim Lang appointed Gregory Davis as webmaster for the Charter Communications Cable Advisory Council and to the Statewide Video Advisory Council.
Customer Experience Transformation Initiative
Tom Cohan spoke of a program that Charter has started called Customer Experience Transformation Initiative that every Charter employee will participate in. This is a three day training program that practices interactions with customers.
There was a discussion of promotions for Charter and keeping customers.
ADJOURNMENT:
George Fletcher made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:45pm- Vote 9-0-0
| 
