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TC 05-03-95 Cable Television Advisory Committee Regular Me~ing May 3, 1995 MINUTES CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by chairperson Mike Winch. ROLL CALL: Present: Laird Huntsman, Donna Poggi, J.M. Wincn, Paul Rodwick (arrived at 7:05 p.m.), Ernest Tsul Staff: Donna Krey, Laura Newman TCI: Kathi Noe · De Anza College: Ron Fish Guests: Linda Grodt, Don Yeager, Joyce Friend, Daniel Wade, Keith Webber APPROVAL OF MARCH 1, 1995 MINUTES Donna Poggi made a motion to approve the minutes as written; Paul Rodwick seconded and the motion passed unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Oral: Don Yaeger informed the committee members that he was still trying to have Cupertino -~' access programs shown on Sunnyvale's public access channel. Keith Webber, a member of the Los Altos Cable Committee, introduced himself to the committee and said he was attending this meeting in order to see how this committee conducts its meetings compared to how Los Altos conducts its meetings. Linda Grodt told the committee that five of her shows are finalists for the BACE Awards. Two are finalists in the children's category, two in the community event category and one in the educational category. She asked the committee if it would pay for a guest dinner ticket for each finalist. Ron Fish said there are 10 finalists from the access center. The committee asked that next month's agenda include possible reimbursement for guest dinner ticket for finalists at the BACE Awards. Poggi asked Noe what TCI's guidelines were for installation of a second cable line. She had a second cable line installed in her home and the work that was performed was sloppy. Noe said TCI wants to know about these kinds of problems. She will look into it and report back at the next meeting. Written: Joyce Friend, a Cupertino resident, expressed strong interest in having Court TV shown on the TCI system in Cupertino. Kathi Noe explained that the current system is out of channel capacity, and until the system is rebuilt and capacity is increased, channels can't be added. Noe explained that Northpoint Homeowners' Association had experienced the same installation problems as Weslridge Country Club Homes and the corrections were completed that day. The next project is Westridge, which should be started on Friday. TCI has doubled the number of contractors who Will be working on properly burying cable, etc. The contractors have met with the Westridge Association Manager, Dave Tydeman, and have ail of the addresses that need to be serviced. Krey said she spoke with Tydeman and he told her that he was informed that a two-man crew would be placed on the project starting the last week of May, and they expected to get five sites done per week. There are at least 20 situations that they see as hazardous. Noe said she was told by the construction supervisor that they would start either Friday, but no later than Monday, and there will be two, two-man crews out there. Krey asked Noe to follow-up with Tydeman. Winch also asked her to provide a progress report at the next meeting. OLD BUSINESS Report on insurance for access producers/equipment: This item was continued to next month's meeting. Report from grants subcommittee: Poggi asked for clarification of the amount of grant money available for the next fiscal year. Krey told her the amount would be the same as was budgeted for fiscal year 1994-95. There was discussion as to what the limit should be for any one grant. Grodt distributed copies of a cost breakdown for one of her public access shows, which totaled $166. Poggi said she used $500 as the maximum amount for a grant. Following discussion, the committee suggested $250 as the maximum amount. The date for submission of applications was the next item for discussion. It was decided that October 15 would work best for all parties involved. School would be in session prior to the grant period. The grants subcommittee would have time to meet prior to the November meeting. The grant money would be disbursed after the city council's second meeting in November. Winch suggested the word "suitability" be changed to "beneficial" under number 3.a. of Submission of Grant Proposals section. Under the section "Management of Awarded Grants" the committee decided that $250 was the maximum amount per grant and a final report will be submitted to the public information officer upon completion of the project. The section entitled "Supplies and Materials" had one change: film or video was substituted for film stock. Poggi will make the corrections and re-submit the draft for final approval by the committee at its next meeting. Discussion of telecommunications policy recommendation: Ernest Tsui explained that he used a question and answer fo~a~at for his draft Telecommunications Policy Recommendation which had been distributed to the members prior to the meeting. After discussion, Tsul said he would re- word the draf~ to include the committee's suggestions and provide a copy to Krey for distribution for next month's meeting. NEW BUSINESS Approval of public access fixed assets for 1995-'96: Fish presented a list of equipment he proposed for purchase during the 1995-96 fiscal year. The amount requested came to $17,100. Poggi made a motion to approve the request for equipment as presented; Tsul seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Annual Alliance for Community Media Conference - International/Far West Regional: Krey info~aied the members of two upcoming conferences: the aunual Alliance for Community Media conference to be held in Boston in July and the Far West Regional conference to be held this month. Any committee member who was interested in attending either conference needed to let her know as soon as possible so arrangements could be made. Mayor's Breakfast: There was no report for the month of April. TCI: Kathi Noe distributed copies of the TCI report for March and April. The committee asked her to include the types of phone calls and types of disconnects, if possible, in the next month's report. She will see what she can do. Noe announced TCI's hiring of a new customer relations manager, Bruce Dinger, and she will extend an invitation to him to attend the committee's next meeting. She said TCI has revised the reverse side of its bills, and a letter of explanation will be sent with the next statement. The revision includes listing the correct phone number for customers to contact if they have questions about TCI. City of Cupertino: Krey distributed a copy of a status report on TCI's filings for rate increases for the second, third and fourth quarters, as well as equipment and installation charges. The city council ordered TCI to bring its rotes into compliance with the FCC rotes for equipment and installation charges since TCI was found to be charging above the pemdtted levels. TCI is appealing to the FCC the city's call for refunds dating back to July 1994. The status of the franchise negotiations is that the city is waiting for TCI to respond on a counter proposal. A new agreement needs to be signed by October 13 and TCI has asked for a 12- month extension on the current franchise agreement which the city has not agreed to yet. De Anza College: Fish distributed copies of his director's report. He said there are 10 finalists for the BACE Awards from among the access producers. He also said 12 shows have been submitted for the Hometown Awards. He wanted to acknowledge the work of the producers and said it's very exciting to have so many finalists in various competitions. ADJOURNMENT Rodwick made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:20 p.m.; Poggi seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The next meeting will be held June 7, 1995 at 7 p.m. ATTEST: APPROVED: City CI Chai