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TC 05-07-97 Telecommunications Commission ~ Regular Meeting ". May 7, 1997 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Ernest Tsul at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Commissioners present: Sal Algeri, L.T. Guttadauro, Bill Mannion, Ernest Tsul, Mike Winch Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman De Anza College: Ron Fish Guest: Linda Grodt APPROVAL OF APR. 2, 1997 MINUTES Bill Mannion made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Mike Wincn seconded and the motion passed unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Oral: Linda G-rodt informed the commission that her show "Silicon Kids" is a finalist in six categories for the upcoming BACE Awards. These finalists were chosen from three Silicon Kids '- shows. She has two finalists in the Children's event, which she has won the last four years, and she has two finalists in the Community event, which she has won the last three years. Also, she entered a new category called "Intro, Promo or PSA." She has two finalists in this category as well. All three of the shows she entered were taped in Cupertino. They include Cupertino's 40th birthday party celebration, the De An?a College Indian Pow Wow and a segment on the California History Center, which is located on the campus of De Anza College. The commission wished her well in her efforts to win some more awards. Written: Donna Krey distributed a copy of The Community Media Review, which is the newsletter for the Alliance for Community Media. She also passed out flyers on the upcoming international conference for the same group, which will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ron Fish said he will be attending this conference and will bring back any written materials he feels would be of interest to the commission. Krey told the commissioners that if any of them would like to attend this conference to please contact her as soon as possible. OLD BUSINESS 1997 project timeline: Wincn said Fish gave him a date for the next producers' meeting, scheduled for June 5 from 7 to 8 p.m., and added this to the timeline. He asked the other commissioners if they needed to change any of the dates for their assignments. L.T. Guttadauro asked that the item regarding the coding with Steve Toler be moved to the June meeting. Tsul asked about putting a date in for the annual educational grant application. Krey agreed that the date for mailing out the forms to potential grant applicants should be put on the timeline, which would be at the beginning of the budget year (July 1). The deadline for returning the - applications would be September 30 and should also be placed on the timeline. Guttadauro would like to have a more general discussion as to who would qualify for the grants. This will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting. Telecommunication liaison with other cities: Wincn told the commission that be had recently sent a copy of the revised producers agreement to the city of Los Altos and would report back to the group at the next meeting. Production of videotapes: Annual report: Mannion asked the other commissioners for their thoughts about who should be the commission's on-air spokesperson for the annual report. They all agreed that the chairperson, Tsui, should be the one. Public safety: Tsui said he met with Chuck Pickett, the chairperson of the Public Safety Commission, and asked him to come up with some key issues for public safety so that producers who express an interest in doing a public safety show can be referred to the Public Safety Commission. Pickett informed Tsui that he had five topics that he planned to present to the safety commission: neighborhood watch, disaster preparedness, youth safety, including bicycle training, babysitter training, use of 9-1-1, drug safety and clean air. The commissioners questioned Fish about how to find a producer to produce a show on one of these topics. Fish said producers usually want to produce their own ideas. Mannion said Dorothy Stevens of The Better Part volunteered to interview the Public Safety Commission members. Krey suggested that this could be a topic at the June producers' meeting. Tsui said he would call Chuck Pickett to see if there is any interest by public safety commissioners to produce a show using one of the five topics listed. Krey told Tsui she thought she had a phone number for a sergeant in the sheriff's video department. Tsui said he will contact him. Tsui asked if the public safety videotape production on the agenda also included the cultural richness that had been discussed at a previous meeting. On future agendas, it will be placed next to the public safety videotape production. The commissioners thought it would be a good idea to contact councilmember Michael Chang and ask for his assistance in finding someone from the Chinese community who might be interested in producing a show on cultural richness. Promotion/awareness of access channel: Krey pointed out the information Sal Algeri provided for inclusion in the packet. Algeri explained that he felt these ideas could benefit the access channel by way of promoting it in different arenas. He said one of the problems is that most of the conununity doesn't know about the public access guide and that it would be helpful to place it at specific locations, such as the library, the community center and TCI. Fish said he has made arrangements with the Los Altos access channel to produce a two-month guide, which he will make available at the same locations as The City Channel's guide. Krey will be sure to include this information as well as any press releases she receives prior to the deadline, in the next Cupertino Scene. Another idea is to have the guide available on the commission's web page. Algeri's next suggestion was to hold a poster contest in the schools and have the winners appear on television. Krey said she liked the idea, however, the school districts would probably not want to participate in another poster contest, since there already have been several contests sponsored by various city groups. In fact, the most recent contest was one which the Fine Arts Commission requested as a celebration of Cupertino's Cherry Blossom Festival. Many of the teachers already have planned their yearly curriculum. She said she would like to see the banner once again hanging across Stevens Creek Boulevard as had previously been done. It was hanging across the street for several months and really was a good way to promote the access channel. Fish said the banner would have to be replaced due to wear and tear and to include more timely information. Fish will look into the cost of replacing the banner and report back to the commissioners as soon as he obtains that information. Krey suggested the banner could promote the newly created "Special Award for an access producer. Outtadauro made a suggestion that each member of the committee visit the access channel at least once a year. Mannion recommended that besides visiting De An?a's access channel that the commission members also visit West Valley College's access channel. Algeri said he will summarize this discussion as a guideline of what was just discussed. Web page update: Outtadauro asked the commissioners what they would like to see included on the web page. Fish said he will check with Los Altos access to see what is listed on its web page. Some of the commissioners said names and pictures of each commissioner should be included, as well as the telecommunications policy, goals for 1997 and the annual report from last year. Also, Guttadauro said he will ask Steve Toler how much space will be allocated to each commission. If there is room, the commissioners suggested that the grants application process be included, too. Special award for access producer: Krey said she will find out when De Anza College will hold its Open House. The commissioners felt this would be a good event to coincide with the presentation of the special award for an access producer. The commissioners liked the infmf,~ation provided in their packet from Algeri and Mannion. Krey said the criteria seemed to cover everything and was a very good guide for judging. She said one plaque for the recipient to keep was sufficient, and the reeipient's picture could be placed in the De AnTs TV studio for everyone to see. The commission wanted to make sure as many people as possible submitted the nomination forms for a special award for an access producer. However, Krey said she didn't think the general public would submit many nominations. Also discussed was whether or not relatives should be excluded from submitting a nomination. Krey said she had some comments regarding the proposed nomination form. Tsui suggested Krey re-write the form and e-mall it to each of the commission members. Algeri suggested that the criteria from the previous page should be incorporated in the nomination form. The other commissioners said there should be a time limit spelled out in the nomination fo~m that reflected only programming shown/made during the past year would be eligible. Krey said she will make the corrections and send a revised nomination fomx to the commissioners prior to the next meeting. Mannlon wanted to know what the make-up of the subcommittee would be. Krey stated there would be two commissioners, Ron Fish and perhaps a couple of people from the community that the subcommittee wanted to appoint, such as another access producer. NEW BUSINESS '- BACE Awards Ceremony: Krey said this item was placed on the agenda at the request of Mannion. He wanted to urge the other commissioners to attend the annual BACE awards ceremony, which is scheduled for May 30 at the Newark Hilton Hotel from 6 to 10 p.m. Krey told the commissioners that if any of them were going to attend the event they should save their receipts in order to receive reimbursement from the city. Mannion suggested that at least one of the commissioners should attend this event. City of Cupertino: Krey informed the commissioners that TCI was not present at the meeting due to a strike by its union employees which began at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon. She was assured that TCI will work on minimizing customer interruptions. She said the city sent a letter to TCI, signed by the city manager, citing certain expectations for the re-build. A meeting had been requested by TCI for the end of May. She reminded the commissioners that the annual CREST Awards ceremony was scheduled for May 15 at 7 p.m. at the Quinlan Community Center, and they were all invited to attend. Krey said the agreement between De Anza College and the city had finally been crafted and would be presented to council for fmai approval at its May 19th meeting. Mannion told the commissioners that The Better Part's April 18 celebration was a big success. He also said he saw a disturbing program produced by the Los Altos access channel, which had been discussed previously. He requested that this item be placed on the agenda for the next meeting in order to discuss the matter a little more in depth. De ,lnv. a College: Fish reported that all of the producers except three have signed the newly revised producer's agreement. He said he has installed a new screen for the light in the studio as requested by The Better Part. There are 15 finalists for the upcoming BACE awards, and Fish urged - the commissioners to attend the ceremony on May 30. He also said he is considering producing a "live" web-based TV show through "The Palace." The district is installing Ethernet into the studio, and he will begin the program as soon as this is completed. Report from TCI: There was none. ADJOURNMENT Marmion made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:00 p.m.; Wincn seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The next regular meeting will be held June 4, 1997 at 7 p.m. ATTEST: APPROVED~, _ City Clerk Chairperson