20
Nov
2007

November 7, 2007 Minutes

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MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven, and West Haven – November 7, 2007

Meeting called to order at 6:10 P.M. Quorum in attendance; Tad Weinstein (Vice-Chair WH), Jennifer Sacco (H), Peaches Quinn (NH), Joyce Listro (BOE NH), Mark Anderson (NH), George Alexander (Treas. H), E.J. Maher (NH).

A motion was made by E.J./George to contribute $300.00 to the Alliance for Community Media. Last year we contributed $200.00 and the minimum for membership is $100.00. Discussion on the service provided by the alliance followed and the motion was passed unanimously (largely because the alliance is in the midst of legal proceedings to protect public access).

A line by line review of ideas from July followed:

I. E.J. announced a schedule conflict in attending CTV BOD meetings on a regular basis. 

A. It was decided that members of the CAC would rotate attendance to CTV BOD meetings.

  1. Tad will check with Joe Schofield to ensure that this arrangement is acceptable and make a sign-up sheet for the council to be distributed via email.

II. E.J. was nominated to the position of council secretary and accepted with the expectation that the council would nominate a substitute to take notes in his absence.

III. Filling any vacancies on the council was discussed.

A. West Haven

  1. 2 Open, 1 BOE
    1. Tad to submit letter to the editor

B. Hamden

  1. 1 Open, 1 BOE
    1. George to take further action

C. New Haven

  1. 1 Library
    1. Mark to visit library.

IV.  Creating a template for reports from CTV and Comcast to be presented to the Council was discussed. It was suggested that the council be provided with agendas from both prior to the scheduled meeting.

A. CTV

  1. Current member/contact list of CTV BOD
  2. BOD meeting minutes to be submitted within 1 month of BOD approval/acceptance
  3. Quarterly financial report
  4. Open/ongoing issues with DPUC, Comcast, etc.

B. Comcast

  1. Programming/Line-Up changes
  2. Price changes
  3. Outages
  4. New technology/products
  5. # of households served/market distribution
  6. Infrastructure
  7. Survey?!
  8. Follow-up on previously discussed issues

V. The council discussed internal action items.

A. Examine Comcast Franchise agreement

  1. George to bring actual copy
  2. Council to split up agreement to define:
    1. DPUC/FCC role
    2. Fair competition
    3. Comcast’s obligations under the agreement

B. Importance of making the council accessible to the public

  1. Post bulletin on CTV
    1. E.J. to draft community bulletin board submission to be approved via email
  2. Develop website
    1. George to do preliminary investigation into cost
  3. Airing meetings live on CTV
    1. Further discussion tabled until council is operating in a manner which we unanimously feel is acceptable for broadcast
    2. Target for broadcast loosely set for 1st qtr. 2008
  4. Meeting Adjourned 7:30 P.M.