Minutes of the Thursday, February 3, 2005 PEG Advisory Committee Meeting
Members Present: Andy Dunn
Len Golder
Ed Newman
Ross Perry
Merrily Evdokimoff, Associate
Also Present: Anne VanTine, PEG Coordinator
The meeting was called to order at 7:36PM at the Stow Town Building
Those present discussed the following:
On motion by Perry, seconded by Dunn, the minutes from the January 27, 2005 meeting with revisions were approved, with three votes in the affirmative and Golder abstaining from voting.
On motion from Golder, seconded be Newman, to appoint Evdokimoff as Custodian of Public Documents for the PEG Advisory Committee was approved, unanimously
Evdokimoff will contact the Town Administrator to discuss the responsibilities of this position, sign the appropriate document associated with the position, and advise the PEG committee of procedures to consider.
VanTine reported that the price quotation for cablecast equipment was sent to Crimson Tech, Dutra Video Systems, Great Northern Video and HB Communications on February 3, 2005, with quotes to be returned by March 3, 2005.
Newman requested that VanTine forward a copy of the price quotation document to the ITECH Committee for their records and comments, as a courtesy.
VanTine reported that she was working with Mong and Kevin Long from Great Northern to schedule the installation of the Leightronix Mini-T-Net event controller. The current schedule is for the week of February 14, 2005.
VanTine reported that she has received the Adobe PhotoShop and begun using the product.
VanTine and Perry reported on their visit to the Town of Lincoln on January 31, 2005 to observe operations associated with the cablecast of a Lincoln selectman’s meeting. Jim Cunningham serves as chairman of the Cable Committee and Lincoln PEG committee and provided the following:
· Kevin Long from Great Northern Video provided products and installation services to the town.
· The meeting room is equipped with three pan, tilt and zoom cameras, and table microphones.
· The rack equipment is smaller in size than that considered by Stow and is portable, allowing relocation to other facilities within the town.
· Rather than using larger monitors proposed in the Stow price quotation, Lincoln uses a more compact monitor, at an incremental cost for monitors required by Stow of approximately $2,000.
· Lincoln events are recorded and stored digitally on a server. Approximately a year of meetings is stored on the Lincoln server.
· The Lincoln system has a remote access capability, allowing Cunningham to access the system remotely to make changes.
· Cunningham found our equipment specifications to be satisfactory.
VanTine requested that the committee consider use of the smaller monitors and equipment rack similar to those machines installed in Lincoln to save space in the PEG control room.
Perry reported that upon the receipt of a written request from a donor, only the BoS may receive donations of equipment on behalf of the town. VanTine will contact former Stow resident Skip King to request he send a letter to the BoS offering to donate video equipment and supplies to the town. After reviewing the list of equipment, the BoS would make the decision to accept the materials.
Perry provided a script for the PEG committee to use when we record our committee presentation. The cablecast presentation is designed to provide channel 9 viewers with the PEG committee’s purpose, summary of activities to date, and plans to 2005, and to test the audio and video quality of the meeting space. After review of the script and revisions, Dunn recorded the committee discussion. VanTine will cablecast this approximately fifteen minute segment on Monday, February 7, 2005 at 6:30PM. Perry will advise the BoS of this planned cablecast quality test.
The PEG committee thanked Dunn for his providing the video equipment and recording the meeting.
Perry reported that he had contacted Bolton selectman Ken Troup regarding content from the Bolton PEG channel 10 being cablecast into Stow. Troup indicated that Ed Favre from the Bolton PEG committee is concerned about 1) any incremental charges to Bolton based upon audience size that might apply if a combined Bolton and Stow audience were used in the charge calculation and 2) using Bolton cablecast content on Stow Channel 9. Perry reported that Stow was not interested in including Bolton content on channel 9 but allowing access to Bolton’s PEG channel 10 to Stow residents. Perry requested that Troup hire the attorney as previously agreed to review the proposed document, if this were necessary to resolve this matter. Stow PEG will pay up to one hour of charges associated with this legal review.
VanTine distributed an email from Lew Halprin dated February 2, 2005 describing town meeting setup requirements associated with the cablecast, such as additional cameras, video multiplexor, and multiplexor monitor. Halprin suggests two potential sources for the equipment. Halprin volunteered to assist with the setup for the town meeting sessions and expressed a preference of participating in the meeting as a voter rather that assisting with the operating of the equipment as he has in the past. Dunn questioned if it was PEG’s role to take on responsibility of recording town meeting sessions?
The next PEG meetings are scheduled for Thursday, February 17, 2005 and Thursday, March 3, 2005 all at 7:30 at the Stow Town Building.
On a motion from Perry and seconded by Dunn, unanimous vote, the committee adjourned at 10:06PM.
Prepared by: _________________________________
Ed Newman
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