Minutes of the November 20, 2007 Local Access Channel Advisory Committee (LACAC) meeting
Members Present: Steve Dungan
Bob Glorioso
Lisa Lavina
Also present: Anne Van Tine – LACAC Van Tine
Lew Halprin
Chris Funkhauser
Linda Stokes
The meeting began at approximately 7:35. There were multiple prior minutes to be reviewed and approved. Dungan moved and Lavina seconded approval of the February 23, 2007 minutes, the May 30, 2007 minutes and the October 17, 2007 minutes. A correction was noted on page 2 of the October 17 minutes and all were approved unanimously.
Coordinator Report – VanTine reported that the following projects have been underway in recent months:
- Ongoing Station Operation
- Video scheduling and promotion
- Bulletin Board
- Photo displays of town events
- Record Selectmen and other town meetings
- Track and coordinate local events and volunteer efforts
- Submit invoices and track Stow TV income and spending
- Space and moving plans and meetings
- Activities toward hiring an Assistant Coordinator
- Activities to bring consultant Michael Ridinger on board and pland for digital video server
- Equipment purchases and planning for additional purchases
- Determining whether to fund attorney for Verizon negotiations
- Reconcile Stow TV Quicken reports with Town Accountant reports
- Creation of Annual Report to Comcast
- Draft FY09 Budget to town
- Preparation for Town Meeting
Space Planning Update
There was discussion of the proposed space configuration on the third floor, and the constraints it may present. Also discussed were the security issues presented by the proposed placement of the door. A written narrative of all physical plant and furniture placement needs for the space was also presented.
Renew LACAC Coordinator and Tech Assistant Contracts
Discussion of the Coordinator’s salary: Increase should at least be 3% for covering inflation. This is on par with other town employee increases. Dungan moved, and Glorioso seconded to authorize a 3% increase for the Van Tine position in the 2008 salary proposal. Unanimously approved. The contract will be written for 13 months. Dungan moved and Glorioso seconded to authorize a 4.55% raise for the Technical Assistant.
Assistant Coordinator
Significant skills are needed but there isn’t enough budgeted. $14/ hour would be closer to what’s appropriate. Glorioso moved and Dungan seconded to allow Van Tine to structure the salarys needed to hire up to $7000 per year or $14 per hour. Approved unanimously. There was a discussion of benchmarking salaries to have a sense of what the market rate.
Hiring Consultant
Van Tine reported that she has the final contract approved for hiring Michael Ridinger as a consultant on our video server planning. The contract calls for billing at the rate of $75/hour up to a total of $3,000. (This expenditure approved at the October meeting.)
FY08 Budget
Draft budget distributed. Concerns were expressed that we’re regularly under-spending against what’s budgeted. The suggestion was offered to form a technical subcommittee of LACAC to do the technical detail work and help Van Tine work toward making needed purchases. Glorioso expressed a willingness to work with volunteers to review needs if the volunteers will sort out their issues first. It was suggested that there be some exchange with other access stations to discuss their tech setups to help us learn from their experiences. To give the Coordinator more time to do some of the higher level work, it was suggested to increase the hours of the assistant. Glorioso moved and Dungan seconded authorizing Van Tine to take the Coordinator job up to 15 hours/week. Approved unanimously. Lavina moved and Dungan seconded to approve
the draft budget with the suggested changes to the salaries. Approved unanimously.
Annual Report to Comcasst
Lavina moved and Dungan seconded approving the annual report to Comcast. Approved unanimously.
Verizon Negotiations
The Selectmen approved the cost of advertising, Halprin assumed the selectmen would pay but the Town Administrator requested for LACAC to cover the cost.. All agreed Van Tine has the authority to approve expenditures of this size, but Dungan moved and Glorioso seconded voting to approval covering this expense. Approved unanimously.
Verizon Attorney
LACAC had agreed to spend 50% of the attorney costs to review the Verizon contract, but Town Administrator Wrigley believes one isn’t needed. Dungan believes these contracts are boilerplate, why not get copies from other towns and then draft ours to meet our needs. Van Tine believes that only a small portion of the contract relates to public access. Halprin says we have the Sudbury contract and others are on the internet and we can draft. If issues arise we can decide to hire an attorney. Glorioso moved and Lavina seconded that we drop approval to fund hiring an attorney. Approved unanimously.
Halprin Proposal
Will be revisited with the volunteers and managed by Glorioso, then a proposal will come to the committee.
Adjournment
Lavina moved and Glorioso seconded to adjourn the meeting at 9 pm. Approved unanimously.
Prepared by: _________________________________
Lisa Lavina
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