January 2022

Final Minutes from the Cable Television Advisory Council

ZOOM Meeting for January 5, 2022

Advisors Present:                                                     

Peaches Quinn (New Haven) – Chair
George Alexander (Hamden) – Treasurer
Laurel Coleman (Hamden) – Vice-Chair
Johnes Ruta (New Haven) – Secretary
Anthony Cardo (Hamden) – Assistant Secretary
Yvonne Manning Jones (New Haven)
Tom Costa (New Haven Library System)

            Advisors Absent:
Melissa Canham-Clyne   (Hamden)

Providers:
Sharon Codeane – Comcast Representative
Joe Schofield      – CTV Representative

I.   Call to Order & Roll Call: 6:08 P.M Peaches Quinn presiding.

II.   Review and Approval of Minutes for December 1, 2021, Zoom Meeting

6. George Alexander had stated earlier that he had never received copies of the
   November meeting Minutes, either in Draft or Final. Johnes replies that the
   Draft of the November Minutes had been sent to the email CTACForward on
   November 26, and that the November Minutes had still not been voted on as final.
   Nov. Minutes, approved pending corrections, have now been corrected and                      submitted to George as Final for the website.

   b. Correction to December Minutes written by Anthony was submitted by email
   earlier today by Laurel for correction to the spelling of her surname “Coleman.”
   Anthony had corrected this and resubmitted the December Minutes.
   Peaches makes Motion to accept the December Minutes. 2nded by Johnes.
   Vote is unanimous.

   III.   Treasurer’s Report
   George states that the present balance of CTAC funds is still $5,006. No further updates.
   George states that the End-of-Year Financial Report includes update of expenditures.

   IV.     CTV – Citizens Television   – No report.
   a. Laurel reports that the CTV studio has not yet reopened to the public or for CTAC
   meetings.

   V.    Comcast Report – No report.
   a. Comcast Representative Sharon Codeanne communicated to George Alexander to
   inquire if the Annual Comcast Stipend of $2,000 to CTAC had yet been received at
   the CTAC Post Office Box? George had replied to Sharon by email, yes in the
   affirmative.

7. Frontier Report – No update.
      a. Peaches at tends the statewide council meeting. She did not attend the last meeting
   but will circulate the Minutes.

VII. Old Business

a. CTAC Public Service Announcement, video recorded in Feb. 2020, is still not on CTV,
as the CTV studios are still closed to non-staff due to ongoing pandemic.

b   CTAC Facebook Page: Yvonne reports no news or issues on the CTAC Facebook
page.

c. Tom Costa provides news update of Internet issues addressed in passage of Pres. Biden’s            $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Bill: $65 Billion was thereby addressed for High-Speed
Internet Access for all US locations. George Alexander questions Tom regarding how       does this Bill provide for development of New Haven’s Internet Infrastructure ?
Tom replies that each state has a certain financial amount to apply for.

d. Peaches asks the council members about inviting the New Haven area CT State                  Senator Gary Winfield to attend the February CTAC meeting to learn more about
the stipulations of this Bill regarding the Internet. Johnes asks whether it is known
if this Bill has redefined the internet as a “Public Utility” as this change was never
addressed under the previous Pres.’s FCC policies. Tom Costa reads Summary of
the Congressional Bill passed with $1.2 Trillion that includes:
1. Broadband delivery to remote areas of the US,
2. High Speed Internet Cable deployment,
3. purpose to “close the digital divide.”

VIII. SSL Certificate purchase for CTAC’s website cableAdvisory.org
CTAC Website: Yvonne Manning-Jones asks for resolution to proposed purchase and      installation of SSL Certificate. There was agreement that GoDaddy’s offer was         acceptable. Peaches Quinn proposes a Motion for Yvonne to obtain and install a SSL
Certificate of her choice up to an expenditure of $150. Johnes 2nds this Motion.
Vote carried unanimously.

IX. CTAC Community Awards – $1,000

Laurel Coleman recommends Fischer House for our Community Award for 2022,
Peaches proposes possible award for one of our district’s school systems to purchase
video equipment. .

X.   New Business

a. Peaches Quinn, as discussed in previous meetings, states she will invite CT Senator
Gary Winfield (D-New Haven) to attend and participate in our next Zoom meeting,
February 2, 2022, regarding CT Legislative issues of cable television and the internet,      and to interpret how the passed US Congressional Bill on Infrastructure will affect
CT. Discussion follows Tom Costa’s recommendation for CTAC to invite the New
Haven City Engineer Director of City Infrastructure, named Giovanni Zinn, and
reads the news article of his award as New Havener of the Year.
Discussion about whether to invite Gary Winfield or Giovani Zinn first to our next
meeting.   George makes a Motion to invite Gary Winfield to attend February or
March CTAC meeting according to his estimation of timing, and, to inquire of
Gary what the CTAC might do to help his work in the CT Legislature. And that
we should similarly contact Giovanni Zinn according to his availability.
Johnes 2nds this Motion. Vote carried as unanimous.

b. Subscriber correspondence: George states there was none in December.

c. Peaches questions the council about any desire to change the starting time of our
monthly meeting. Discussion brings forth no such proposals.
Peaches proposes possible CTAC dinner for the next meeting, possible pizza,
since there were only two dinner expenditures from the CTAC budget, in June
and October. It is agreed that this will be discussed among members during
January by email for February meeting.

XI. Next meeting : scheduled for Wednesday February 2.
Meeting adjourned at 7:14 pm.

Minutes Submitted by: _Johnes Ruta ______________________________
Johnes Ruta, Secretary

(Anthony Cardo, Assistant Secretary)

CTAC Meeting Minutes   December 2, 2020 – ZOOM TELECONFERENCE
            (due to virus pandemic)

Advisors present:

Peaches Quinn – (New Haven) – Acting Chair
George Alexander – (Hamden) – Treasurer
Yvonne Manning-Jones  – (New Haven) – Advisor
Laurel Colemen (Hamden) Advisor
Anthony Cardo   (Hamden) Advisor
John Jessen (New Haven Free Public Library System – NHFPL)
Johnes Ruta – (New Haven) – Acting Secretary

Advisors absent:
Melissa Canham-Clyne   (Hamden)
Sharon Codeane – Comcast Representative
Joe Schofield         – CTV Representative

1. Call to order 6:02pm.   Teleconference members on Zoom.

   All members have received XMAS benefit Grubhub delivered pizza items from De Legna
   X Nolo at their residences. Requests received and ordered submitted by Acting Secretary
   Johnes Monday and Tuesday. Ordering required reimbursement to Johnes debit-card for
   $169.43 as the CTAC Connex Credit-Union credit-card would not register for payment
   on Grubhub or either UberEats or DoorDash websites. Connex was contacted but card
   problem not solved.   Reimbursement completed by George.

   2.     New Business
   a.   Yvonne reports that Comcast announcement that it will now charge for “excessive data usage.”     $10 extra on bill for every 50GB over the 1.2 TeraByte threshold up to $100.

   Anthony Cardo concurs on this threshold report. Comcast claims that this will only
   affect 5% of its customers. All CTAC members agree that this is a concern for older
   people, especially during the current Covid-19 Pamdemic, when many subscribers,
   especially elders in nursing home, are confined to indoors all the time.

   b.   Johnes reports that Comcast has eliminated their free Norton AntiVirus download
   for subscribers’ internet protection, effective December 31, 2020.

   c.   George Alexander makes a Motion that CTAC writes to Sharon Codeanne, the Comcast
   Representative for an explanation of this added “Excessive Data Usage” charge.
   Johnes seconds this Motion. Vote unanimous.

   3. Old Business

   a.   Regarding New Haven Library System CTAC participation, Peaches Quinn questions
   City Librarian Advisor John Jessen as to what will be the NHFPL agenda to interface
   with the CTAC ?   John Jessen provides his work cell phone number to confer with
   Peaches and CTAC members.

   b.   Peaches also asks John Jessen: “What about NHFPL provision for City-Wide WiFi?”
   John Jessen replies: “Some schools have already installed WiFi antennae on roofs
   for local coverage for up to a 3 city-block radius around a school.”
   George asks John what is the cost to add a WiFi “hotspot” ?
   John reports the charge of $30 per month, so that five hotspots will cost $150.

   George reminds us that CTAC has a “mission” to be mindful of community needs,
   such as school children needing internet access during the pandemic school closings
   and on-line teaching. .

   George questions whether there are funding donors that can be contacted to defer these
   costs ? Laurel Coleman mentions the on-going CT State initiative for expanded WiFi               coverage, scuh as the state Technology Group, and the New Haven IT Group.

   c.   Johnes questions the privacy and security of public hotspots, especially regarding
   retail purchases made with credit-cards ?

   d.   Peaches requests John Jessen to enhance the request letter from City-Wide WiFi before
   it will be submitted to the Mayors’ offices for to New Haven, Hamden, and West Haven,
   and the CT State Legislature Communications Committee taskforce. John agrees to this
   request. This process will be addressed in three steps:

2. Follow-up draft of letter to mayors of the three towns in our district,

   2. We should make contact the CT State IT Committee and invite them to the
   January CTAC Zoom meeting.

   3. John Jessen will reach out to the Legislative Office.

   Johnes Ruta makes Motion to pursue these objectives during December.
   Yvonne Manning-Jones seconds this Motion. Vote unanimous.

   4.         Treasurer’s Report   – George Alexander

   Treasurer’s Report. Peaches asks if there is any news to report for November. George:
   “Not at this time.”

3. COMCAST Sharon Codeanne – Comcast Representative – not in attendance.

   6.     CTV Report     Joe Schofield – Executive Director CTV – not in attendence.
   No report.

   7.   Next CTAC Meeting by Zoom, scheduled for January 6^th, 2021, 6:00pm.
   December 2^nd, 2020 CTAC Meeting Minutes respectfully submitted by Johnes Ruta, (New Haven)
   Acting Secretary, December 22, 2020.