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TC 08-07-96 Telecommunications Commission Regular Meeting August 7, 1996 MINITrES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chairman Mike Wincn. ROLL CALL Present: Bill Mannion, Ernest Tsui, Mike Wincn Absent: L.T. Ou~_d_auro; Paul Rodwick Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman De Anza College: Ron Fish TCI: Kathi Noe, Sedric Spencer; Rochelle Guillen Guests: Linda G-rodt; Greg Berkin, Gordon Hom APPROVAL OF JUNE 5, 1996 MINUTES Bill Mannion made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Ernest Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Oral: Linda Grodt told the commission that she had completed the second part of the Silicon Kids show for which she had received a grant from the commission. She also informed the commission of the recent death of Bill Lauer, a long-time producer at De Anza College. Kathi Noe introduced Sedric Spencer, government affairs manager, who will be assisting Kathi, and Rochelle Guillen, Kathi's administrative assistant. Written: Donna Krey pointed out the information she included in the commission's packet from the recent NATOA conference she attended in Portland. She asked the members to read it over carefully and let her know if there are any questions or comments. The information will be discussed at a future meeting. Krey also distributed a copy of a letter from The Better Part thanking the commission for the grant it received. OLD BUSINESS Review and approval of public access grant guidelines: The public access grant guidelines were discussed by the commission. The following corrections were made: Number 3 under Completion of Project, "Any equipment purchased with Grant Money must be turned over to the Public Access Director at De Anza College" will be deleted. Mannion made a motion to delete item number 3 from Completion of Project and to renumber 4 to 3; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Marmion made a motion to accept the guidelines as corrected; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Tsui made a motion to amend the grant guidelines by deleting the second bullet under the Eligibility category and keeping the 18 years of age or older, and striking the word and; Mannion seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Amended copies of the guidelines will be copied and distributed. Discussion of questions/answer fact sheet: This item was continued to the next meeting. Discussion of telecommunication experts presentation: Manulon's draft of a proposed _ telecommunications presentation was discussed. He wanted to know if there was any input from the other commissioners. Winch said he had nothing m add. Greg Berkin of Intel was introduced to the commission, and Mannion explained that he had volunteered to be the moderator of the presentation. Krey said the first thing to do was to come up with a topic and focus it to benefit the citizens and businesses of Cupertino. One suggestion was to have the industry people talk about the services they can provide. A videotape could be made for broadcast on The City Channel and the public access channel. The moderator could give an overview of current telecommunications. The timeframe would be two hours. Mannion said he would like to put together a steering committee. Krey suggested that a letter be sent out at some point to people in the industry to find out who would be interested in participating in this project. Mannion volunteered to draft the letter, and Krey said she would talk with Mannion about the steering committee and a budget. The commission agreed that a weekday morning would be the best way to present the infogmation. Krey said she would check with the Quinlan Center about the availability of a room for a date in January or February, 1997. Mannion will bring a revised format of the outline to the next meeting for review. Discussion of commission timeline for projects: Winch said the Publication item will be continued because the format is still being discussed. He wanted to know if the Cupertino Scene Article should be modified. The commission discussed several ideas for future articles. A suggested topic for an article in the next Cupertino Scene was the proposed telecommunications ordinance. Another topic suggested was the siting of aerial towers in the city limits. He will change the Cable Info Program to Panel Discussion. NEW BUSINESS t-- Consideration of public access grant proposals from: (1) Croafion American Cultural Assoc., and (2) Alex Guberman: Wincn reviewed the Croatlon American Cultural Assoc. grant proposal and said there was no timeline or budget attached to the request. After some discussion, Mannion made a motion to deny the grant proposal of the Croation American Cultural Assoc.; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Krey said a letter will be sent explaining why the commission denied the grant request. Winch reviewed the grant proposal from Alex Gubetman and said there was no timeline included, but a budget was attached. Krey said the request was for $250 but the grant did not include a breakdown of the costs. She reminded the commission that a new budget year has begun and the annual grant campaign is scheduled for October 15. Mannion made a motion to request Alex Cmberman to provide a specific budget and timeline, as well as use an updated grants pwposal, and re- submit it by the October 15 deadline; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. De Anna College: Fish distributed copies of his monthly report. He pointed out that the installation of equipment in Edit suite "B" has been completed. He said the access channel entered 40 productions in the Western Access video competition. He attended the Alliance for Community Media conference in Washington, DC and said that Don Yaeger received a first place award for On The Move. He also stated that there are some new promotional videos which are being aired before the start of each broadcast day to inform viewers about the shows that are coming up. Fish said because the agreement between De Anza College and the city of Cupertino has not been signed, he will only be able to operate the TV center for approximately one more month. Krey told the commission that De AnTa has had the agreement since January. The city has called the college --. asking about the status of the agreement. The college has had an accountant looking at past records of transactions between the city and the college. Krey said until the agreement is signed, no money will be sent to the college. She said she will call Willie Pritchard to find out what the status of the agreement is and will then inform Fish what the response is. TCI: Wincn informed Noe about a problem he experienced when trying to inform TCI of a technical glitch on HBO. He called TCI and reached a CSR, who told him that the supervisor would be put on the line in a minute. He said he waited on hold for 15 minutes and nobody came back on the line. He redialed and discovered that the CSR had gone on a break and did not tell anyone about the caller waiting on the line. He expressed his disappointment with the way his problem was handled. Noe apologized and assured him she would look into it. Mannion asked Noe if the rebuild is still on target, and she said it is (21 months to go). He also expressed his appreciation for the assist~ance he received for his upcoming tour of the TCI-Denver facilities. City of Cupertino: Krey told the commission that the depa~uuents of public works and community development as well as a legal consultant are working together to come up with a proposed umbrella telecommunications ordinance. Included in this ordinance will be the cable television franchise agreement as well as the cellular tower ordinance. The ordinance will also include procedures for the personal communication systems companies, telephone companies, and other telecommunication service providers who wish to do business in the city. She will present it to the commission for review and input as soon as it is ready, possibly within the next six months. ADJOURNMENT Mannion made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m.; Tsui seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The next regular meeting is September 4, 1996. ATTEST: APPROVED: