Rutland Cable Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes – August 2, 2017
Members present: Chairman Paul Mattson, Jim Kelley, Addison Redfield, Peter Craine, Christian Santillo.
No members absent.
No guests present.
Meeting was called to order by chair at 6:34 PM.
Meeting Minutes
Meeting minutes accepted as presented at 6:43 PM. Addison moved; Jim 2nd; vote was unanimous with Peter and Christian abstaining.
Bills and Accounts
Paul presented a Treasurer’s report. A total of $954.90 in expenses, including salaries, have been paid since the last meeting.
Paul is trying to close FY17’s (July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017) books. There is a discrepancy of $54.09 between the committee’s books and the Town accountant’s records. Paul will investigate, and, hopefully, reconcile soon. Paul will report at the next meeting.
Paul supplied the committee with a list of expenses throughout the fiscal year. Addison asked about the expenses to Bill’s Garage. Paul answered that we now get the batteries for our battery backup system from Bill’s Garage as the previous electrical supply house has closed.
Financial report was accepted as presented at 6:49 PM. Addison moved; Peter 2nd; vote was unanimous.
Old Business
Job Descriptions:
Cameraman: Some open questions remain; primarily about EEOC compliance (Jim will investigate this). Addison mentioned that the last duty (“Attention to detail and organizational skills”) is very subjective; no objection, though.
Paul hopes to finish this job description for acceptance at next meeting.
Production Assistant: Addison asked if there should be a requirement about “ability to find programs for broadcast on our channel?” Discussion about who should be responsible for this.
Jim suggested more generic language like “Assist director with various Programming duties”.
Peter and Christian suggested removing paragraphs that are identical to Cameraman’s duties and simply add something similar to “Assume duties and responsibilities of Cameraman when one is not available for a recording or broadcasting session.”
As with cameraman description, Paul hopes to have the P/A job description complete by the next meeting and ready for acceptance by the committee.
Wage Settings:
Discussion moved towards Director’s salary. Once a Cameraman and P/A are hired, shouldn’t the Director’s (Paul’s) salary be changed to an administrative supervisor’s grade? General agreement from the committee that this should happen. The committee will address this issue, and deal with appropriate motion, vote, and town paperwork by the time the second hiring process is complete.
New Business
Committee Re-organization
Quick discussion about organizational requirements in by-law and regulation. No applicable requirements known. The committee may organize itself with whatever officers the committee desires (other than Chairman).
Peter volunteered to become Secretary.
Jim volunteered to become Treasurer.
There were no other volunteers for officers.
New committee officers:
Chairman: Paul Mattson
Treasurer: Jim Kelley
Secretary: Peter Craine
Slate accepted unanimously (moved: Addison; 2nd Christian), at 7:35 PM.
From the Floor
Addison asked if we all saw the new rates Charter will impose soon? Discussion about “benefits” (more money for committee) and “issues” (likely more people will cancel or move to other providers for TV).
Are there concerns? None raised.
Christian asked about committee’s (or Town’s) impact on Charter offerings and prices? None. The contracts don’t allow it. All contracts we have seen, including contracts with other towns, are pretty much the same.
The committee reviewed the relationship between the Committee and the library and noted that no changes are expected. The committee gives the library trustees a gift of $1,000/month; the committee will also pay to the library a portion of electricity bill, based on electric use of the spaces under the committee’s direction (control room, new studio, Select Board meeting room). The committee will pay, to the Town, a portion of the insurance and promissory note interest. Paul will bring figures to next meeting.
Paul included a quote for two new Sennheiser “EW112PG3-A portable microphones” to replace the current “red” and “yellow” microphones. Red is broken (no luck so far trying to contact Sennheiser for repair); yellow will be used in new studio. Each kit contains both a hand-held transmitter and a lav (lapel) microphone transmitter. These microphones are compatible with our current receivers.
The committee may still need to solve a problem with recording/broadcasting when events are held outdoors. The recording seemed to work properly last time (with a possible exception of wind noise) but the assembled crowd had troubles hearing the speakers. Is this the committee’s problem? It probably should not be; but the town is not in a good financial position to purchase equipment for this purpose.
Committee voted, unanimously, to approve purchase these two microphones from Integrated Solutions Group for a total of $1,190.00 (Motion: Addison; 2nd Jim) at 7:57 PM
Next Meeting
The committee’s next meeting was scheduled for 6:00 PM on Wednesday, September 13, 2017.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned, unanimously (motion: Addison; 2nd Jim) at 7:59 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Craine
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