Rutland Cable Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes – February 21, 2018
Members present: Chairman Paul Mattson, Peter Craine, Christian Santillo.
Members absent: Jim Kelley, Addison Redfield
Guests present: None
Meeting was called to order by chair at 6:02 PM.
Meeting Minutes
Meeting minutes from January 31, 2018 amended and accepted at 6:09 PM. Christian moved; Peter 2nd; vote was unanimous.
Bills and Accounts
Paul presented a Treasurer’s report. Total expenses were $403.38, including salaries, since the January meeting.
The $39.48 reimbursement to Paul was for purchasing DVDs.
We have received the final $15,000.00 Bonus Payment from Charter
Financial report was accepted as presented at 6:18 PM. Peter moved; Christian 2nd; vote was unanimous.
Paul has met with the Finance Committee about next year’s budget. No problems cropped up.
Peter asked if the upcoming equipment purchases should be run by CIPC because at least one part (Nexus replacement) is certainly capital. The committee believes this is not necessary because it is not funded by Town money, per-se; the money comes from the PEG account.
Old Business
Old microphones
Paul is waiting for price to repair old Red microphone so he can get authorization, if needed, and get that mic repaired.
Paul is waiting for the prices on shorter cables from the receivers to plug into the camera. 6 foot long cables are a workplace hazard.
Website and Streaming
We have a new contact at Leightronix.
Tightrope is waiting to hear from us for a demonstration date. We prefer Wednesday March 7. They hoped to get the demo done before that. We’ll have to see what we can arrange.
Christian will schedule a Leightronix demo.
Christian asked if we should consider another company named TelVue? No reason not to evaluate them.
We discussed other companies. We decided that we will do business only with companies that offer a complete solution. We won’t deal with one company for software and another company with hardware. The needs are too specialized and we won’t have time to manage multiple support contracts.
We would like to re-evaluate Holden’s experience with Tightrope, now that they have more time and experience with the equipment. Peter asked if it was possible to watch them use the equipment “in action” (rather than a discussion about the equipment). That will show us how they really use the system; we could learn a lot, depending on how HCTV works. We can also use this information to guide vendor demonstrations. Paul will try to set something up.
We learned that Oxford is facing the same decisions Rutland is. Perhaps we should contact them to learn more from them?
New Dell Computer
Dell has given Paul a new contact.
Dell was supposed to have sent info about new computer to Paul before this meeting; that didn’t happen. Paul will forward info once it arrives.
YouTube Posting Policy
The committee evaluated and edited the policy. Peter will send new version before next meeting. Hopefully the policy will be ready for a vote then.
The topic of copyrights came up in the context of this review. We will consider putting copyright statements at the end of all RCTV-generated content. In the past the only words added (sometimes) were “all rights reserved”. The reasoning behind this is now unclear. Will consider a full copyright statement in the future.
New Business:
Salaries
Tabled until next meeting when we hope to have more Committee members present.
Sliq
This company emailed (cold-called) Margaret wishing to discuss streaming meetings. This is a software-only company. As we discussed earlier, this is not a business model we wish to pursue.
From the Floor
Paul’s Email
Paul sent a “reminder” email about changing equipment configuration before an event and not returning equipment to its original configuration. Peter asked what event started this? Apparently IT changed the configuration of the projector in the Blair room.
Equipment and space growth
Peter asked if we should consider discussing the Committee having a setup for bi-directional audio and video among the Select Board room, the Blair room, and the Calkins room (the last being least necessary, we think). The setup we have allows feeding video and audio from the SB room into the Blair room. We have no way to get video or audio into the SB room. This makes it very difficult to hold “large” interactive meetings.
When the spaces were configured, they were created on the assumption that Select Board meetings would be the events that overflow. Now that a Town Meeting will take place in the Blair room, there is some concern about overflow in the opposite direction (that is, from Blair to Select Board rooms).
Paul will consider this topic for a future meeting.
High Definition Programming
Peter noted that, after we upgrade the Nexus, we will have the ability to generate High Definition (HD) content. Is it possible to get bandwidth from Charter to broadcast HD content? Paul will ask questions of his technical contact to see if this is at all feasible. Peter also would like to ask the Charter business folks “what would it take?”
Next Meeting
The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for 6:00 PM on Wednesday, March 21, 2018.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned, unanimously [Motion: Christian; 2nd Peter] at 7:17 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Craine
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