TOWN OF BEDFORD[Marker]
BCTV BOARD MEETING MINUTES
May 3, 2007
BEDFORD MEETING ROOM
Present were: Coleen Richardson (Asst. Station Manager), Bill Jennings (Station Manager), Richard Rawlings, Chairman Gene Mackie, Mike Izbicki (TC Rep), Mike Siles, Terri Wolf (School Bd Rep), Lauren Horton, Bob Thomas at 6:45 p.m., Mary Lou Wilson and Mike Robinson at 6:55 p.m.
Chairman Mackie said welcome to the May 3rd meeting of the Bedford Community Televisions Board of Overseers. This is a special night as we have new members to the board that just joined us and we will get a chance to meet the new ones and the old ones. We have couples that were planning to be here and they will be here a little bit later. We are also starting earlier tonight to fit into people’s schedules a little bit more and we will determine later in the meeting whether or not we should continue to meet at 6:30 vs. 7 p.m. Here is another board member, Bob Thomas. We will start introducing ourselves and we will start with the employees from the station so the new members know something about our Station Manager and Assistant Station Manager.
Coleen Richardson, Asst. Station Manager, I have been full time as the Asst. Station Manager for 3 years now, I have worked for the Town for about 13 years in the Finance Office prior to being at BCTV, so I am well versed in Town procedures and how all that works.
Bill Jennings, Station Mgr and I started out with BCTV in 1998 as a volunteer with Doug Pearson and myself and we came on board with about 20 folks to start a sports program. In 2001 the Board as well as the Town Mgr asked me as the previous consultant moved on, asked me to take over which I did in 2001. I started out as a Volunteer when Lauren was back here in 1997-98. I have been with the station for 9 years and again Coleen came on board 3 years ago. We do have 6 part-time employees that I use for taping government and school meetings.
Chairman Mackie said we have a new member of the Board is Dick Rawlings, welcome.
Dick Rawlings said I have been a Bedford resident since the summer of 1988. I came here as the managing partner for Northwestern Mutual and retired two years ago, but still I stay active and I am active with the company and I have an office downtown, but mostly I am involved in nonprofit work. I am on the Easter Seals Board, Boys & Girls Club, Rotary Club and Elliott Hospital Foundation. It has been mostly Manchester oriented, so when Mary Lou and Bruce asked would I consider, I said well maybe it was about time. We live on Green Meadow Lane in the southeastern part of the community.
Gene Mackie said that he has been involved with BCTV for 9 yrs and it goes back to the days of the old firehouse when I moved back to NH from California to take care of my Mom who was sick at the time. My background was in the recording industry as a Vice President with Columbia Records, and ABC Paramount, Casablanca Records and then out here. I found it very interesting. They told me about the 4-seasons and to me that was Frankie Valle and the group from New Jersey and then I found out it gets darn cold here. My family dates back to 1952 when they first moved to Bedford. I am proud to say that my father was one of the first registered Democratic in the Town and he had one heck of a time back then. So I have been the chairperson of the BCTV board for the past year taking over for Anne Scanlon. I love BCTV and it is one of the best things that we have to offer in this Town. I think communication is key and this is a tremendous communication operation and it will get better as
we get involved with the high school and the middle school. We have another new member, Mike Siles.
Mike Siles said I am a new member, a full time listener of BCTV and first time caller. I came in 1976 with the first wave. I work for Nickelson Environmental Consultant Firm and a lot of us, from all over the country came to NH to build sewers and waste water treatment plants. I worked out of Boston and the rest of the country. In order to stay here in NH, the whole group of us joined the State of NH Environmental Agencies in 1982. Now I am the Chief Engineer of the Agency. I was recruited by some of the senior people on the Board here just like Dick. I think it is time for our first wave of people back in the 70s, which at that time was a Town of 4,000 to get back into the mainstream, and help out a little bit and this is a good way to do it.
Chairman Mackie said you will find in an exciting way there are a lot of good things going on. We have Mike Izbicki and he is a Town Councilor and we are extremely happy to have Mike as our permanent representative from the Town Council this year.
Mike Izbicki said thank you Gene. I do not have a whole lot to say at this point. Chairman Mackie said I think your background with infrastructure and roads and airports and stuff like that, I love to hear that.
Mr. Izbicki said that is part of my background. Bill and I have had some in-depth conversations regarding my background. I have some technology background because I do a lot with communication systems, security systems, wireless and wire technologies and I am looking forward to working with BCTV, Coleen, Bill, Gene and the rest of the Board.
Chairman Mackie said and next to Mike is, Terry Wolf who is our Representative from the School Board. As you can see we have a Town Council Representative and a School District Representative. Bill Van Anglen who is the Chairperson for the Town Council currently the backup member or the Town Council alternate member and if Mike cannot make the meeting we will see Bill here. So we are well represented here with not only from volunteers within the community, but people from different organizations.
Terry Wolf said my background is Media Production so this is kind of killing two birds with one stone being the School Board liaison and something that in the area that I would be interested in doing anyways. I do a lot of work, but don’t get paid for it, as my husband constantly reminds me. I have a love/hate relationship with BCTV. I think it is a great communication tool especially for school, government, news and everything, but I hate being on it.
Chairman Mackie said and next to Terry is Lauren Horton and I don’t know what to say except that Lauren is truly an innovator in public access television not only on our Board, but she has been on the Board, she is back on the Board, she is an employee of MCAM in Manchester and does one heck of a job. I know there was an Open House over there and Lauren and her cohorts did a fantastic job!
Ms. Horton said I was one of the original board members of BCTV back in 1995 and got together with a group of people before the station started and decided this was a great resource that we could use in Town. I was with that Board for 5 years, left and moved to Martha’s Vineyard for 4 years and was involved there, I guess I love doing start-ups and getting things going. We started with a group of people we started a station on Martha’s Vineyard and then 5 years later came back and got involved with Manchester Community Access Media, which handles the public side of public access in Manchester. I am here to lend my talents and experience to make BCTV as good as it can be. I am good at getting people involved in television. So if you are interested in learning about TV. If you
are interested in being able to tell your story or share your ideas or talents, we have great people here on staff to train you, to support you and make television in Bedford pertinent to the people around you. Hopefully we will help in that way.
Chairman Mackie said we have a professional recruiter on the staff and Mary Lou gets a call and she comes up with some wonderful people.
Ms. Wilson said she has been in Town since 1977. We have four children and have gone through the whole system here. We have been involved in different areas in Town in volunteering like Terry, who never getting paid. I had a retail store called “Smile A While” and an event planning business. I wrote a book and we have been fortunate enough with Coleen and Bill to produce some shows called “Party Like a Pro”. It is a wonderful experience and a great opportunity for this Town to share in other people’s gifts and talents and I would love to see people come forward with what they do and share it as experiences. Other than that I am here to fill a seat and have fun.
Chairman Mackie said there is another person here who is not a board member, you might hear tapping away in the background and that is Jane O’Brien. Jane takes all the meeting notes for the Town and she does an excellent job. Thank you all very much.
Chairman Mackie said I had the opportunity for the first time to go through the interview process as the Board Chairperson to interview perspective members of the Board and it was wonderful. I was impressed, we had some great people. I really want to thank the people that were not selected. They had an awful lot to offer, we have 9 positions and we certainly want these people to continue becoming involved with BCTV and to continue their involvement. I want to take the opportunity to thank the board members who left in March. I never thought I would say this about an attorney, but it was really fun being on a Board with an Atty. I had 4 attorney’s who worked for me in California and you can see why I feel that way. Chuck Grau was great, if nothing else, Chuck was an
excellent devils advocate and a great source of information regarding the law that should be followed in terms of meetings. He always had something to say and when Chuck talked, you listened. Annie Scanlon was Chairperson before I was elected to the position. I really cannot say enough about her. Talk about a volunteer, she is a 100% volunteer. When we had Open Houses she was involved. When we had Pre-Memorial Day Parade involvement she was there. You name it she did it. We lost another Scanlon at the same time, that was Mike Scanlon who is a member of the Town Council. Mike again always had something to say and always had something to the point to help out BCTV. Ellen McAvoy was another member that left and Ellen’s husband is a doctor and Ellen is going to school she appears on BCTV and does a number of shows. She has a wonderful personality, a great smile and surely she will be missed. I just want to
say thank you to all former members. Now we have a late member, Bob Thomas. Bob is currently our secretary and he is also our technology expert as far as new devices as far as blackberries, although that is not new anymore. Tell our audience a little bit about your background and how long you have been involved with BCTV.
Mr. Thomas said I am used to coming at 7 o’clock first off, so I apologize for being late. I have been involved since 1998 or so behind the cameras and doing scenes and put together a few shows and did videotape with Keith Dickson, which he reminds me of every now and then. I am looking forward to continue working with BCTV as we continue to grow.
Chairman Mackie said you were re-appointed to the Board. Mr. Thomas said through 2010. Chairman Mackie said if you need to know about the new electronic toys Bob is the one to see because he usually comes in with something that is new and this does everything. Congratulations for being reassigned to the board.
Chairman Mackie said the next item on the agenda is review of the documents. Coleen has been kind enough to provide people with the bylaws and I do not know if the new members have had a chance to read those. For those in the audience who are interest in our bylaws, our website www.BedfordTV.com or through Bedford Town Website and a link to us the bylaws are there and they are very short, it does say that we have to have 9 voting members.
Ms. Wilson interrupted and asked Chairman Mackie if she could ask a question. Chairman Mackie said sure. Ms. Wilson said under the meetings, which is my thing all the time. It states that the Board will meet monthly? Chairman Mackie responded or as otherwise scheduled by the Board. Ms. Wilson said because we meet every other month and that leads me to a suggestion that I have, which am going to lay out there and people can do what they want, but since the Boards responsibility is strictly policy and not getting into day to day workings, I would suggest that maybe meet 3 times a year because that would give us time to digest policies and come forward with comments or suggestions or understandings of the policies rather than worry about the day to day which I feel Coleen and Bill are more
than adequate to handle. It is something I am throwing out; it does not have to be a discussion tonight. I really would like to see us leaning towards that. This way, we can free up time for the subcommittees and the things that are coming in that we can really get our teeth into it. It is just a suggestion, but I did pick up on that monthly.
Chairman Mackie said it was monthly. Ms. Wilson said it was every other month it was not monthly. Chairman Mackie said that was back in the days prior to the defining of what the Board was responsible for. Ms. Wilson said I can see where you needed to do it more frequently when you started off.
Chairman Mackie said now that we have going through 2 sessions of Strategic Planning and we have to set-up subcommittees to handle that, which unfortunately we will not have time tonight. We could, there is at least one that we need to set-up tonight.
Mr. Jennings said he had requested and asked Doug, but I did not hear back from him, but because of the new members that are on here that he come back in. If you think about our last meeting there were people missing as well and it seemed like we got into it at our first session and then the second session with a lot of people missing it was like, okay what do we do. I would like to have him come in and work on that second session again just to make sure that everyone is on board with it.
Chairman Mackie said that sounds like an excellent idea.
Mr. Jennings said obviously with assignments. Chairman Mackie said and some people have left that had assignments and their areas need to be looked at again. Mr. Jennings said right. This is probably something we would want to do at another meeting. Ms. Wilson said that is why three times a year gives you a chance to get your teeth into these. Chairman Mackie said I agree.
Mr. Izbicki said if I understand Bill right we have to set-up all these committees again, so there are new assignments, so we can’t wait another 3 months for another meeting. Mr. Jennings said we are moving ahead.
Chairman Mackie said one of the things that we will be discussing a little bit later is the point that Coleen brought up which is perhaps we need a meeting in June to do these assignments. That would have brought us back to the regular schedule that we had.
Ms. Richardson said 2nd to the last item on the Agenda tonight is discussing the Board meetings, how frequently you would like to meet and what time you would like to meet at because there has been some suggestions by different boards members such as Mary Lou to different things. You guys can vote on that and decide and once that is decided then we can pick one of those dates as a Strategic Session unless you want to set-up a separate date for the Strategic Session and have Doug come back in. We thought it would be a good idea because there are new board members that were not here during that process and Doug would be able to bring them up to speed and give a summary of what we did talk about and then have the Boards assignments. Mr. Izbicki said she wants to stick to the
agenda.
Ms. Richardson said we stuck it on the agenda. I have strategic documents for the new board members and Mike Izbicki you have already received them, but I wanted to give them to the other new members so you know what we are talking about.
Mr. Jennings said what we are doing, all the Dept Heads have met with Russ and I report directly to Russ and what he is doing is by Dept Heads is setting goals and objectives. We did that yesterday really quickly and I provided some input from an operational perspective. Some of the things, which he wants to see which the Council, will see so they have a general idea on what we are focusing on. Some of the stuff that we had set out in our own Strategic Plan are more defined as policy goals which will interpreter and incorporated into our day to day activity, but what we have are more boarder based, what I presented to him yesterday which are the three major things which we are doing, which he said that he wants to keep policy goals and operational goals separate from what he is working on. I know
Mike is aware of the program that Russ has, but from my perspective because we had some many people that are still on the Board that were missing the last time and with people that were leaving it was kind of an incomplete job and it does a disservice to the hard work that we all put in to that very first session we were all at. My suggestion is that we use the June time to do that and then move on to whatever meeting process or subcommittee process we want to put into affect after we have that meeting.
Ms. Richardson said you guys can vote on it at any time we had thought about it and put it down. I was not trying to tell you what to do. Mr. Jennings said now you know why she is so good around here, as I go into different tasks. Ms. Richardson said if you want to discuss it now and pick a date fine.
Chairman Mackie said that the next item on the Agenda is the “Right To Know Law” and no longer having an Atty on the Board. Mr. Jennings said Chuck are you watching out there. Chairman Mackie said what it came down to is that under the “Right To Know Law”, if you were to send an e-mail to every member of this Board, then that is considered a meeting even though we have not called a meeting you have to be careful to make sure, if you do that people have the right to know what those communications are about. Sometimes you may want to speak to somebody or e-mail him or her and it is a private conversation. Ms. Richardson said everyone has it in front of them.
Mr. Thomas said it is really more than just an e-mail it is conversation on that e-mail. You can send an e-mail, you just cannot converse it with more than one Board member.
Mr. Thomas said I think your safe if you do one, but if you start doing two, now is that a subcommittee and it becomes grayer and grayer and it is definitely less than a quorum.
Ms. Wolf said it depends on the content of the e-mail, it is okay to set a meeting date or for Bill and Coleen to get information it is when it becomes a discussion back and forth at all then that is becoming meeting. But if it is to set-up that we are going to meet at such and such a time, i.e. like when we changed the meeting date that is okay.
Chairman Mackie said yes, it is. The only problem is and I am not sure if it is in effect now or going into effect, but with certain lawsuits organizations and Towns are responsible to provide every e-mail involved with an organization, every single one. I have been reading a lot lately in the technology area. I work for the City of Manchester and it is a big concern about the e-mails that fly around there and every one that comes in and out has to be kept and it is not simple.
Mr. Izbicki said once a request is made for e-mail about a public meeting, the Town has 48 hours before they have to turn it over to whoever is asking for it. So if it is on your home computer you have to turn it over.
Chairman Mackie said it makes me think if we were back to the days of the smoke signals it would be a lot easier. Mr. Jennings said the thing to be advised of is that we do have the newspapers that come in here frequently and most of that is because they missed a meeting or they want to follow-up with a meeting and get more detailed quotes. The Union Leader specifically will spend a lot of time here more so than the local papers, but they do come in.
Chairman Mackie said we now have everyone. Mike Robinson welcome he was a new appointee and his background is a producer of award winning shows, like “Warriors Defenders of Freedom” and Mike tell us something about yourself.
Mr. Robinson said I have been in Bedford for 20-21 years now, time flies by. I produce a show here at BCTV called “Warriors Defenders of Freedom” and 2 yrs ago I started interviewing veterans from WWII and since then have interviewed other veterans from other wars like Andy Egan, former Council member who served in Vietnam. Today we did a show on a surgeon who fought in Korea and lives in Claremont. I am just having fun with this program and honor the local veterans that are in our area and outside the area to show future generations what these great Americans have done in the past and that is what I have been doing at BCTV for the past 2 years now. Mr. Jennings said he is a full producer he is in front, back and edits. Mr. Robinson said yes I am editing and that is the
scary part.
Chairman Mackie said to all the new members we certainly welcome you aboard, it is nice to have you all here. Now you get your chance to nominate and elect officers. We have three officers, we have Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and it was Chuck Grau before and Secretary who was Bob Thomas and many moons ago Bob had to take notes and then Jane the lifesaver came along. We have to find some other responsibilities besides the technology. Mr. Thomas said the only thing I try to do is make sure all minutes are kept on CD and stuff. That is the only role that I felt is still needed, so if someone needs it we just copy my file. That is the only e-mail that I am copied in on. That is officially what the records are, but there could be other requests for each individual one. I am one
of the few that probably reads the whole minutes.
Chairman Mackie responded a couple of us do, maybe not the whole Managers Report, but at least the minutes. That is good because Bill can sometimes have long extensive long in-depth Manager Minutes. One of the things in going through the bylaws, I always thought it was strange to get brand new members on the board and they do not know the existing members, so when it comes time to elect officers it is though at your first meeting to say okay, I like this person and I would like to see them do this or that. Maybe as part of the bylaws and policy committee it maybe something we can look at, it is just a thought. I would like to know someone first before you vote for them. It would be like going to the primary for President and learning about them for the first time when they go on TV. I
would like to open up to the Board their suggestions or nominations for officers. Again there are three offices, Chairperson, Vice Chairperson and Secretary.
Mr. Thomas said he would like to nominate Gene for Chairperson. Seconded by Mike Izbicki.
Chairman Mackie asked Bob are you interested in the Vice Chairperson position. Mr. Jennings said all you do is nominate him. Chairman Mackie said I want to find out first. I do not think it is fair to force someone in a situation. Mr. Thomas commented he wanted Chuck to be it. Ms. Richardson said you have to vote on the first position before you move on to the second position. Mr. Thomas said you have to vote on the first one. Ms. Richardson said you have to vote on the first position before you move on to the second. You need to have a vote on chairperson. Chairman Mackie said I thought we would just have a slate. Mr. Izbicki said you have to do one at a time.
Chairman Mackie said we have a nomination by Bob and seconded by Mike Izbicki. We lost one Michael and we gained three. This would be for Gene Mackie as Chairperson for the next year. Are there any other nominations?
MOTION made by Mr. Rawlings to close the nominations for Chairperson. Seconded by Mr. Thomas. Vote taken to close the nominations for Chairperson – all in favor.
Mr. Thomas said we have now closed the nominations, now we have to vote on you to continue being Chairman.
Chairman Mackie said we will now vote on having Gene Mackie as the Chairperson for the next term.
Vote taken – all in favor. Gene Mackie Chairperson for the next term.
Chairman Mackie said are there any nominations for Vice Chair, it was Chuck Grau and Chuck doesn’t want it anymore. Ms. Wilson said Chuck bailed.
Mr. Thomas said he would like to nominate Mary Lou Wilson.
Ms. Wilson said what about Terry? Mr. Jennings said she cannot. Ms. Richardson said the School Board liaison is not a voting member of the Board. Chairman Mackie said that was quick. I would second Mary Lou’s nomination.
Seconded by Mr. Mackie.
Chairman Mackie said are there any other nominations (looking at Bill and Coleen). Mr. Jennings said we cannot say anything. Chairman Mackie asked do I have a motion to close the nominations for the Vice Chair.
MOTION made by Mr. Rawlings to close the nominations for Vice Chair. Seconded by Mr. Thomas. Vote taken to close the nominations for Vice Chair. Vote taken – 7 yes, 1 opposed (Ms. Wilson).
Chairman Mackie said now we take the vote, all in favor of having Mary Lou Wilson elected as our Vice Chair.
Vote taken – all in favor. Ms. Wilson will be Vice Chair.
Chairman Mackie said now we are taking nominations for the Secretary of the Board. Ms. Wilson said I nominate Bob Thomas. Mr. Thomas said we need somebody new from the new members. Ms. Wilson said I think that Bob has the experience.
MOTION made by Ms. Wilson to nominated Bob Thomas for Secretary. Seconded by Mr. Rawlings.
Chairman Mackie asked are there any more nominations for Secretary. Do I have a motion to close nominations for officer at this point?
MOTION made by Mr. Rawlings. Seconded by Ms. Wilson seconded. Chairman Mackie said all in favor of closing nominations Vote taken to close the nominations for Secretary. Vote taken – all in favor.
Chairman Mackie said now we can take a vote, all in favor of having Bob Thomas as Secretary – all in favor.
Vote taken – all in favor. Mr. Thomas will be the Secretary.
Chairman Mackie said the next item on the Agenda, which is always the highlight of our meeting, now that Bill can say something.
Mr. Jennings said I would like to go back to an earlier thing, if you are talking about the “Managers Report” right now that someone suggested that I send out these reports so we do not have to spend time repeating. Chairman Mackie said someone said that tonight.
Mr. Jennings said yes. They said every time I send the report out it is like Bill why don’t you go over it. I want to know, has everybody read the report. Commission members answered yes. Mr. Jennings asked, does anyone have any questions. Chairman Mackie said no. Commission members said no. Mr. Jennings said then the Manager’s Report is done. Ms. Wilson said I like that. Mr. Izbicki said is there anything you want to summarize.
Mr. Jennings said the only thing, if you would like me to summarize, I would be happy to do so. Mr. Thomas said Bill cannot summarize. Bill is a detailed man.
Mr. Jennings said there are a few things. Ms. Wilson said you have a 30-second limit. Mr. Jennings said I would love to go over this a little more in detail, but all you guys just bust me every time I do this. Chairman Mackie said it was your idea to have the meeting earlier so you could go off to something else that was the original idea. Mr. Jennings said yes, the West High Booster Club, which will be the last West High as BHS comes on line, this will be the last year.
Chairman Mackie asked Bill could you do a very brief recap?
Mr. Jennings said in recapping, I will keep it short, but everyone has to understand we are working with a number of folks here that help contribute to the amount of programming that we continue to get in and we will continue to get in the future. We are trying to because of some of the comments that are made by folks saying variety, we have a lot of variety and we have a lot of programming. We would like to have more of it, which means we would like to have more volunteers, but what I want to focus on is who we currently have right now and what they are doing in conjunctions with us working with them and the purpose of what I sent out to you is to show you that we have programming right now that involves a lot of different people in front and behind the camera and we really cannot thank them enough because
they do have the time and they do come in here and they are always available to head out. We will have a training class on May 15th and I would invite anybody here to come in. We have advertised it in the papers and it is on our website. Again it is a Video and Audio techniques class. We are also using some of the upcoming events that we have locally in Town to draw people out at some of those local organizations that are requesting our services and that would be the Historical Society and that would also be something that is going on at Joppa Hill on the 19th. The fortunate thing with the volunteers that we have, a couple that are available are already tied up and when asked and this is what we run into, if they could provide us with anybody they say we wish we could but, if anyone here would like to be part of anything that takes place on the 19th either at Joppa Hill or with the Historical Society, please attend our
class. Because the only person that is certified right now is both Mike, Mike Izbicki and Mike Robinson who have gone through the class. That class is an entertaining one and it is an orientation. Mike has gone through it and we have a lot of fun in it. We welcome anyone in the community that would like to come on down. That will be at 6:30 on May 15th starting out right in this room, we do a brief overview and orientation on our programs and then we quickly get you into work mode and hands on.
Ms. Richardson said if anyone would like to sign up for that, give us a call at 472-8288 so we can have your name on the list so we know how many people will be attending our class.
Mr. Robinson said I have a point to bring up to Bill if you do not mind. Mr. Jennings said go ahead. Mr. Robinson said we had talked about this and I brought this up during the interview process. Is it possible to have that training session filmed and then put out as a show to fill a time slot so that the people in Town can see the training and not be intimidated by the technology. Just to have it out there and people can take a look at it and maybe we can get more interest. Mr. Jennings responded one who is never shy in front of the camera, I would love to Michael. Mr. Izbicki said that would still require the hands-on training, this would be just a preview on how it works. Mr. Jennings said good suggestion.
Mr. Jennings said the other thing I would like to emphasize is as the High School gets ready we have been working even closer with the High School planning team as we come down to making our equipment selection and making sure that there is someone, if we put equipment in a classroom they will be in there. I have also made contact with several local high school instructors that have video production classes that they teach at Souhegan and Wolfeboro and a few down in Massachusetts. Bob J. and I will be talking with some of them. It is not my responsibility for curriculum, but since they have asked me to be part of it and as I have run into these instructors at conferences, I said I would be happy to. Again what we are planning on doing is allocating $35,000 for the video lab, which will consist of
Apple Computers. We will be running I-Movie, I-DVD and then with final cut and also putting Photoshop on it as well. That will be exciting. We expect that BCTV will be an extension of the classroom for after school hours as they expand their video lab program and make use of the Broadcast Journalism program, which will not happen next year, but maybe in the future. There is nothing to preclude any of the students once they start picking up some talent and they will still need to be certified through here. They will have their own cameras down there, but they still have to go through our training because the cameras that they have down there will not be the GL-2, they are something less expensive. This will give them application technique so when they come up here and they start rocking and rolling and we get the coverage that we have not only at the school, but also hopefully we will expand into the community. Particularly related to the
community hour services they have to perform, hopefully they will look at BCTV. We are pretty excited about that.
Ms. Wilson asked Bill, what is the age for students that you have? Mr. Jennings said 15 or freshman in high school. That being the case, if they are 15-18 they have to have their parents co-sign and the parent physically has to come in and co-sign. Again when we sign equipment out, the parents are financially responsible for the equipment.
Mr. Robinson asked Bill, so the kids in 7-8th grade will not have access to the studio over there? Mr. Jennings asked the studio where? Mr. Robinson said the studio at the high school. Mr. Jennings said there is no studio a the high school it is a video lab. Mr. Robinson said the video lab and those units. Mr. Jennings said whatever the school wants to do with that facility. Ms. Wilson said the 7-8th graders will not be taking classes in the high school.
Mr. Jennings said it is the schools property and whatever arrangement they make between the Lurgio School and the high school is entirely up to them. It is not going to be our equipment. We allocate the money. We are not distributing the money to the school. We will buy it with educational prices. The Town cuts the check. It is not going to be like we are cutting a check to the School Department and saying, “here you go use it”. It is already set up in a capital reserve fund allocated specifically for the lab and the balance for auditorium work where we do have the camera drops and robotic work that we are planning on and also the gym coverage as well. Eventually we will put some dollars once the bleachers and a press box goes in down there, then we will have
some broadcast capability from the field location as well. That is how that is working. Again, that is money that is coming from the Capital funding that we received in advanced $250,000. I do not want to refer to it as a grant because it is a pass through and we have all had that discussion. For the new members when we had our contract renewed in 2003 we got a franchise fee okay of 4%, 3% PEG and 1% goes to the Town, but we got all 4%. We got $250,000 in addition to that which was spread out over a 10 year period so at the time it didn’t impact the cable subscribers to much once we went on line with the new contract.
Mr. Siles asked so that was from the Cable Company in addition so it is $500,000 from the Cable Company? Mr. Jennings said no, $250,000. Ms. Richardson said it was the total of $250,000 over a 10-year period spread out.
Mr. Jennings said initially right off the bat we received $130,000, $50,000 of which helped us to put the live drops at McKelvie both in the Café and the Gym so we could have large general assembly broadcast as well as the SAU and yes we are still working on the TV Terry because I know you want that one down there. Then we have $12,000 sitting there for allocation for running a line from the high school down to here so we can broadcast live out of the facility. We have a remote drop and we have equipment down there mods and everything else that will allow the signal. We are excited about that venture. The other venture that we are concerned with and Terry probably knows more about this is that we do hear about Adult Education in the high school, so whatever plans they have for using the video
lab in the evenings or whatever may take place, this certainly can add to a potential volunteer basis. The people will go through a computer class down there or a video class down there or they can come through here. We look at it as a source of opportunity. The only other thing that I would tell you, and again everything else if you have a specific question. One thing that you should be well aware of is that we went to a Regional meeting. Which we were actively participated in and Lauren was participating in it. It was along with other community access stations from around New England and the State of NY. One of the things we should be conscious of and we had an Atty from Massachusetts, Peter Epstein who helped us negotiate our contract. He has a business partner, Bill August who went over some of the things that are happening at the National level and competing Cable providers try to make their way into communities and I think everyone
sitting around the table here would agree as cable subscribers, and I hope everybody is, is that competition is good and certainly if anything would reduce our bill we would like to have competition. You should be aware that sometimes it is not necessarily skewed to the fact that PEG would be the beneficiary of some of those good works. Certainly as the bills are reduced and I do not mind, we get less money, but it is minimally impacted. It is really how the Cable providers when they try to come into communities perceive community access and how they will deal with it. Some of the laws that were tried to be passed at the national level would have given us an increase. Our main concern is if you are increasing from 4%, which we are at and we go to 5-6%, what makes up the definition of those revenues and that is always what we are trying to protect. Right now we have basic, we have all the premium channels, we have all the advertising.
We have a lot that is made up in that formula. The unfortunate thing is that some re-defining of what is in that formula is what some of the competitors might be looking at. I would only tell you and I would say this to Councilor Izbicki that we really want to familiarize the Council on this because basically it is them not coming in and negotiating at all with local representatives. It is a Cable provider coming in and basically telling you how they are going to do business. It does not, the way the law is set-up right now allow for flexibility beyond 90 days if the Town Council here were to say that we don’t agree with this or we don’t agree with that. Because, after 90 days that negotiations are over and they automatically receive a Cable contract for the Town of Bedford from the FCC. Neither the House last year nor the Senate could not come to any resolution on these issues because of the difference of opinion that existed with
regards to locality control vs. national control. This is a typical example of very big business coming in and saying we do not want to follow the Cable Act of 1984 and come in and deal with the Town of Bedford, we are going to try to see if we can have this taken care of at the National level with FCC control. This means they do not want to come in and negotiate because it would take too long. Let’s try to do it at the State level. Well that will take a long time. Let’s try to see what happens at the Legislative level. It went nowhere, but in December of last year, when the Senate was preparing their bill, the FCC came in and by one vote, 3-2 they have thrown everything into a tizzy. Right now it is business as usual, but very soon, there is litigation and there are a lot of organizations out there and we are hoping that Congress will come forward that will look at this an say, you know, the FCC overstepped their bounds. The locality negotiations should remain as is.
Until then, you may find a knock on the door and Russ has not received any calls saying yes we are ready to negotiate. They are all doing this on the pretense that they felt there was not any good faith negotiating. I will use the Town of Bedford as an example, we had Verizon in twice, and we welcomed them. All we said was level playing field. Give us what we have and the bottom line was they said they will be back in a couple of weeks and they came back in three weeks and they did not provide anything. They said we just came in to tell you that we are going to deal with this at the national level. This is a quick education for the new members. Mr. Izbicki asked Bill, so this was Verizon that came in? Mr. Jennings said that is correct. Mr. Izbicki said after a few weeks they basically walked away? Mr. Jennings said that is correct.
Mr. Jennings said for the Board and I did mention this to you, we have gotten a few calls from people saying I wanted to get the NFL package on Comcast and I cannot get it from Comcast, so Verizon is offering it, so I said gee, I will quote one guy that I spent some time with, as a matter of fact the former Town Manager, Keith Hickey had me call him because he was told by the Verizon Representative that they wanted to come in here, but your Town will not let us in. What we all heard, that is what Verizon is doing. Now don’t get me wrong, Verizon is a very good company, but I do not want anyone to get the impression that we do not want to negotiate with Verizon. Again, they are leaving it at the National level, but one of the things that we should all be conscious of is that under all these
contracts that once they are awarded then Comcast can come in and say then we want a new contract under the terms laid out by the FCC. Okay and the FCC is not laying out contractual terms, Verizon is coming in and this is the thing that is upsetting it is about PEG access, but what we as a Board, we have the responsibility as a cable service to be as a franchising authority, the Town Council is a franchising authority and has responsibility to ever member of this community if this was to go through the new contract and the way it is set-up in the current standards in the FCC and this is why it did not pass in Congress is that there is no obligation with a new development going in the back corner of Bedford that Verizon has to build out there, none, zero. They operate to the level of business that will make them profitable. If it is going to cost them too much to run line out there or to provide a service they will not run out there. They do not have to put
it in there or provide free services such as cable drops like we are getting out of Comcast. This is a major concern that we all have and right now there is some litigation going on, but it is something that you should be conscious of and one that we watch very closely because obviously it has an impact on where we go as far as our funding and what we can do. Mr. Izbicki said Bill please keep us posted on this. I am familiar with the law and some of the stuff that has been going on, but if you could keep us posted that would be good.
Mr. Jennings said one of the things that Massachusetts has and one of the things that concerns me is that 90 days is the amount of negotiating time that you are given unless there is a “Right of Way” that is already established in your Town, then it becomes 180 days. Obviously Verizon has been given “Right of Way” because they have all their lines here. In the Sate of Massachusetts where the contract is negotiated at the State level, it is a minimum of 12 months and what we discussed and what I discussed with the Atty down there and we he agreed and we had a group of people in there is that at a minimal that we start with our local Town officials, but more importantly also get our State Representatives involved so that quickly that we can protect ourselves in the communities in this
State so that it is a 12 month negotiating process. The worst thing that can happen to any cable subscriber or any representative in Town, any community member as I said is to have the FCC control. FCC controlling this process means that even if you’re having a problem with your local cable provider and you have a problem. Right now you can go to the Town Manager and say I have had it with Comcast, because they are the franchising authority and get the issue taken care of, I have seen it happen. They would be out of it. You would call the FCC, so you can understand where there are issues going on here. This is all under the name of “Fair Competition”, but there is a lot of things that are misleading.
Ms. Horton said I do want to mention that there was a lot of talk on some grass roots organizing within the Towns at this conference and one thing that would be really good would be if the Towns got together, if we as a Town got together and defined what our minimum requirements would be for anyone to come in. We as a Town would want every house to have access to PEG services and anyone that comes in we can say that as a Town, whether they will honor that or not. It would be said and it would have to be dealt with. We as a Town need drops in certain locations so anyone coming in we would want them to meet our obligations and do that as a defined entity.
Mr. Jennings agreed and said strength in numbers. One of the things that I am going to do, Keith Hickey is a Board Director for the NH Municipalities with the Local Government Center and we are going to try to get some people to chat with the LGC as a group and get the Town Management organization. As Lauren was saying, get the Town’s banded together so they understand that this is an issue. Our State legislature is probably not as versed or as educated, as we would like. We have made an attempt through the association that we belong to the NH Coalition for Community Media. We thought we had it all set-ups to meet with the subcommittee and then it was cancelled on it, but we are going to continue the process, escalate it and we will keep you briefed.
Chairman Mackie asked Bill what is the impact of Verizon selling off their land lines, are they selling off their “Right of Ways” too? Mr. Jennings said the company that bought Verizon, Fair Point. Mr. Izbicki said they didn’t really buy it it is a joint venture. It is a merger. Fair Point is a small corporation and their focus is to take over the landlines in rural areas and their main focus is Maine, NH and VT and that is why they have approached Verizon to merge together and take over the landlines.
Mr. Jennings said let me emphasize something, we not trying to keep Verizon out and to add something else that was said, my comment to the Atty was if they get the contract what happens, and it is a standard in most contracts between Municipalities and a private organization is the level playing field. He said level playing field is out the door and it is gone and that is the sensitive issue. If we have Verizon in here and they have the contract and if Comcast is in here and they have a contract and if the minimum is that we go to 5% we can actually benefit by it. Certainly we are collecting out of 2 pots, it is the unknown that we do not know of. If you think about it, Michael correct me if I am wrong on this one. You are really taking about Comcast, your talking about Verizon and now you
are talking about AT&T, and those are the three big providers. So if Mike Izbicki Cable Company wanted to come in here. Mr. Izbicki said I would have to lease lines from them and it would not be competitive at least for me to come in and offer that service.
Chairman Mackie said the big thing that the companies seem to be offering now is TV on IPODs the new devices that I have seen people walking around. Mr. Izbicki said Y-Macs are really coming out now. Streaming Video is coming out so you will be able to get that on your IPODs and eventually in the cars, all that stuff is coming. I see what Bill is doing, he is just trying to protect the Town. Is there any reason why we couldn’t cut two contracts? Mr. Jennings said no, that is exactly the way it would be. It would be two contracts. By the way, competition is always, as Comcast would say and that is the way that the contracts are written. Anyone that comes in can come in, but it has to be on the same T’s and C’s and no one has done that before. We would
have yes, two contracts and so we would be getting two checks, as they would say.
Ms. Richardson said I just wanted to add that the document that Bill is talking about for the Massachusetts Bill is in this binder here (showing a copy of the binder). This is a binder of all of the workshop documents of the Conference that we went to. I brought some copies back and I do not have enough for everyone, but if anyone is interested you are welcome to take one. Lauren did a presentation and her documents are in here as well as the other workshops. There were several workshops that happened and they were all excellent and there was a lot of information. This is great because we could only be in certain ones at a certain time. Since NH was hosting it, we were helping at the registration table and playing double duty so it was a very busy 2 ½ days.
Ms. Horton said and the focus of that Conference was on marketing, promotion, branding and it was all about getting the word out and there was some really good workshops there and the handouts are great.
Mr. Jennings said hindsight is 20/20, I wish there was some way that we could have gotten you guys. It was good, but we will keep you educated between the three of us and it was a great way to share information.
Mr. Izbicki asked Bill, do you know in advance when these Conferences are, maybe 6-7 months in advance. Can you put a list together of what events are happening and when and if you think someone from the Council should be there, just let me know. It helps in the planning.
Mr. Jennings said with regards to what happens at the State Legislative level, I would certainly love to have, if we go up there, I would love to have you up there. Mr. Izbicki said we are involved with that on the Town stuff too.
Ms. Horton said there is a National event going on in Minneapolis that is in July.
Chairman Mackie said do they promise it will not be snowing in Minneapolis, it seems like they get a lot of snow. Mr. Izbicki said it would seem they wouldn’t have snow in July.
Mr. Rawlings asked Bill, is there any community that you dealt with or who you know of that has gone through this issue with the competition who has had a success story or horror story? Mr. Jennings said Massachusetts has more horror stories than successes. As it was presented to me, Verizon’s divisions are bottom line in that they are very very competitive and I guess everything is not that they will throw a little money over there, but they throw their resources and money into areas where they can make money quickly. It was probably not a well laid out plan on their part, other than to cause some confusion. Most of their monies are allocated for lobbyist action in Washington. If you own a business and you want to get out to a lot of clients start where you are going to get the
biggest hit, so you start at the National level. We had four people who came in to speak to us at that meeting last summer and we welcomed them, and I will not go through it in detail, but I said four people. They had one who flew in from NY and another guy and the next thing basically at the second meeting one of the guys alluded to the fact that they are going to go to the National level because it may be easier. It will cost them money. Are there success stories out there, I am not aware of them. We would have like them to be a success story here. We would love to have them in here, it is just if you are getting your cable, we want to make sure if someone is living on the other side of Bedford will have access to cable as well and the terms and conditions laid out by Comcast are not similar to what we can get out of Verizon.
Mr. Siles said I am familiar with a lot of organizations mostly that dig trenches and take care of waste, but everyone has a lobbyist it doesn’t sound like and it is not the Municipal Association any more it is the Local Government Center. It seems like there is not a focus for this kind of problem for our congressional is there. Is there an association of all the Community Access? Mr. Jennings said yes there it. It is active at the National level it is called the Alliance for Community Media and they have been doing a great job.
Mr. Siles said I meant in NH because you still have Gregg as the Senior Senator. Mr. Jennings said we have the NH Coalition of Community Media, which I am a Board member and we are all members. We have been trying to get to see them and we had a meeting scheduled with our President and another Board of Director member to present what was going on and that meeting was cancelled. Mr. Siles questioned is this one of the Congressional Senators? Mr. Jennings said not the Congressional this is at the State Senate as we can get together with our State Senators here. Mr. Siles said that is the State, I am talking about going higher. Mr. Jennings said I did have a chance to talk to Jeb Bradley and now I have to start all over.
Mr. Siles said you are better off going right to the Senators they have more seniority. Mr. Jennings said absolutely and what we do is that what the Alliance has done and we were very successful with the legislation and that is a great question is that we have been given the opportunity. I have written a letter to John Sununu and we have all written letters to our Senators and Congressman and it is somewhat canned, but at the same time we can customize it. Mr. Siles said so they are aware of it. Mr. Jennings said so to go one step further and go back to what Lauren was saying, I would like to get some Local Municipal Management in a room and get our Congressional folks in a room and say, “We are a little concerned about what is going on here”. Mr. Siles said that is what I would
suggest the LGC or aka Municipal Association. Mr. Jennings said that is why I mentioned, and I do not know if you heard that when I was telling the guys earlier, that Keith Hickey is now a Board Director for the LGC. I will call him in Merrimack. Merrimack has a good station as well. He was instrumental and supportive of this station. Mr. Siles said there has been a lot of changes in Washington in the last four months and now is the time particularly for our two senators to really do something. Mr. Jennings said absolutely.
Mr. Thomas said that was the quick version by the way. Mr. Jennings said actually it was to help educate. Is everyone on board with that now. Chairman Mackie said Bill if you leave now you will be in time for the 2008 West Booster Club Meeting.
Chairman Mackie said so the next item is Financial, do you want to review those?
Mr. Jennings said I will not go through line item by line item, but so the new folks understand we presented our budget and we put them together in the summer time frame and then we review them with Council and everything is approved and then it is voted on and so you understand, no tax monies are involved here. It is an enterprise fund and it is monies taken in from Comcast. Are there any questions that you have on the budget? I put the budget together with Coleen and sometimes I will get input from you guys, but mainly it is us working on the budget and what we have to work on.
Ms. Richardson said so the new Board members understand, we are a Town Dept and so the budget process is the same for us as any other Town Dept. and we report to the Tow Manager and we propose our budget, we submit it to the Town Manager and he gives his recommendations to the Council and the Council makes their recommendations and it gets approved by the voters. We give this to you as a for your information to see how our funding is and where our funds are going and if you have any questions we are happen to expand upon it.
Mr. Jennings said with the Council liaison, I would spend more time with Mike Izbicki because as we are going through the budget and I am presenting different things, Mike can come in and add something to it. When we just had the budget hearing Bill Van Anglen came in and I went through it in detail how everything was broken out and maybe Mike will do it this time with me. Mr. Izbicki said that is later on, we have a few more months before then.
Mr. Rawlings asked is it calendar year or fiscal? Ms. Richardson said calendar in Bedford. Mr. Jennings said and it has an extra when you look at it we started out with $299 and understand that is an extra $75,000 and $50,000 and some carry overs that we had allocated to other capital reserve projects that are now going to take place this year.
Mr. Izbicki said your budget is still a bottom line budget? Mr. Jennings said correct. We can still put the budget in and the Council or the Manager can say no.
Chairman Mackie said how about some quicker subjects. Every year the Town has a Pre-Memorial Day parade, and last year we won for our float and we had coverage on BCTV. This year because of new Board members and a lot of things going on, what we plan to do, as I have been talking to Coleen we will have coverage of the parade not live, but on tape. Ms. Richardson said we have a newly trained volunteer who worked on a project called the “Spring Fling” and she volunteered to do that and Gene will host it so we will have the viewers see the parade.
Mr. Siles asked, how does that work, are you in a special car riding along. Chairman Mackie said I have to walk. I am not sure where we will be located. Mr. Jennings said what we normally do is we set up a canopy out here, when we did it with Martha and we start out interviewing the judges and that is where the judges are by the Town Hall. You would be doing that. We will have a pre-production meeting, but the camera is set under there and as it comes by Gene goes out and chats with everybody and then he breaks down and then moves over to McKelvie School where all the awards are handed out.
Chairman Mackie said speaking of Volunteers, now is the opportunity for people who would like to participate in the Policies and Procedures subcommittee. There are some changes to do with the political coverage and some other thoughts. We went through this about a year ago. Mr. Jennings said I think it was in September 2006. We had a subcommittee that looked at it and then the subcommittee can only recommend and then it goes before the Board and then there was some Board discussion. Policies are always looked at and always updated. We are always very sensitive around the Political time. Chairman Mackie said equal time. Mr. Jennings said these are things that we can take up with the subcommittee rather than discuss them here. There are some sections there. Colleen
and I will be part of that subcommittee so we can mention some of the experiences that we have on a day-to-day basis.
Chairman Mackie said who would like to be part of that subcommittee? Mr. Izbicki said how many members are you looking for? Ms. Richardson said a small group works well, like maybe 4. Like two board members along with Bill and myself.
Chairman Mackie said I think it is important to have everyone read the existing Policies and Procedures to become familiar with it. If you are not part of the subcommittee if you want to submit your ideas or e-mail them into Coleen and we can address those.
Mr. Jennings said what we have to do and I know you have a lot of experience in working for the Town knowing bylaw law is what we can and cannot do as a Town Dept, because what the Board may want to do as a policy, sometimes we are inhibited. The little things that I just found out. Ms. Richardson said we cannot contradict the Town’s policies so anything that the subcommittee comes up with we will have to make sure that is falls in line with the Towns policy. Mr. Izbicki said that is correct. You can make it better, but you cannot contradict.
Mr. Jennings said for an example I went to Coleen and said I want to reduce what we charge people for a DVD because we have better equipment in here to make it quicker and she is right on top and said, I believe the Town Council has to approve. Mr. Izbicki said you would have to make a presentation to the Council. Mr. Jennings said that is just to drop it by saying we are asking $20, lets go for $15. Ms. Richardson said anything that has to do with fees. Mr. Izbicki said you can put together a proposal with several of those items to the Council and get it on the agenda and then we would vote on it.
Chairman Mackie asked who is interested in joining the committee. Mike Izbicki. Mr. Thomas said I have been doing it for years and years and I am too close to it, so I would like some of the new people. Ms. Horton said she would be glad to. Chairman Mackie said I would be happy to. How about Dick or the other Mike. Ms. Wolf said you bring those forward to the Board anyways. Mr. Jennings said the policies are pretty clear. Ms. Wilson said I agree with Coleen though, 3 is plenty. If you keep adding then you have another Board meeting. Mr. Thomas said any Board member is welcome to that subcommittee meeting, it is just who is voting on it. Chairman Mackie said you don’t have to vote on this. Ms. Wilson said we can review the policies and accept
that. So whom do we have. Chairman Mackie said we have Mike Izbicki, Lauren Horton and myself.
Chairman Mackie said the next item is Approval of Minutes – December 7, 2006 were never approved because we went to the Strategic Planning Session.
MOTION to Approve the Minutes from December 7, 2006 made by Mr. Thomas. Seconded Ms. Wilson.
Ms. Wolf asked when were those sent out in like December? Mr. Thomas said I think they were sent out again before the January meeting. I think they were sent out twice.
Vote taken – all in favor with 3 abstentions (Mr. Izbicki, Mr. Siles, Mr. Rawlings). Minutes approved.
Chairman Mackie asked lets talk about the Board meetings and timings, Mary Lou brought up a point earlier.
Ms. Wolf said I was at the last two Strategic Session meetings, Bill and Coleen were and I do not know if everyone else was at both of them. To have Doug come back and do a transition. We did a lot of discussion and we have half of a new Board that was not part of those discussions. Chairman Mackie said and these people should meet Doug. Doug is a tremendous presenter and facilitator. Ms. Wolf said I love the idea of quarterly, but I think we need another meeting before we go to that.
Chairman Mackie said the first Thursday in June is June 7th, should we aim for that date? Mr. Jennings said no, I have playoffs over that weekend, but if it rains. Chairman Mackie said if we are going to stick with Thursdays. Mr. Thomas said we pretty much have to because of the availability. Chairman Mackie said the 14th is the next Thursdays. Mr. Wilson said are you basing the fact that Doug is free for that day. Mr. Jennings said how about the 14th. Chairman Mackie asked Coleen can you check with Doug and then we will announce it to the Board. Ms. Richardson said and I will check if the room is available.
Ms. Wilson said can I ask a question and I am not insulting Bill by any stretch, but what if everyone can make it on the 7th except for Bill. Why don’t we go for the 7th. Mr. Thomas said for the Strategic meeting Bill’s attendance is not as mandatory. Mr. Jennings said I am fine with it. I was just thinking it is not all about me. Mr. Thomas said Coleen will be here? Chairman Mackie said the time and definite schedule will be confirmed to the Board based upon Doug’s availability and the room’s availability. Ms. Richardson said the room is already available. Mr. Thomas said at 7 or 6:30 p.m. Chairman Mackie said we do not know. Mr. Thomas said plan on 7 p.m. because I have a hard time getting here at 6:30 p.m.
Ms. Richardson said at the next vote, when would you like Board meetings? Chairman Mackie said if Doug is available, Bob would like it to be 7 p.m. at night. Mr. Thomas said I do not think we should do anything until we have these meetings. My two cents is if we get into more subcommittee meetings and not full Board meetings we will be better during that time. Ms. Wilson said the subcommittees can pick their own times. Let me ask a question as a point of order, if we have a subcommittee-meeting do we have to have it on TV? Chairman Mackie asked do we have to have recorded minutes? Mr. Thomas said any public meeting you should have someone taking minutes, but not necessarily Jane. It can be who attended and what topics were covered. Mr. Izbicki said it can be general
minutes, a one pager. Mr. Thomas said the way I used to do them. Ms. Wilson said so the subcommittee can just get together and say okay. Mr. Thomas said those three people got together and met from this time to this time. It is whoever is assigned to the subcommittee.
Ms. Richardson said we do have to post it as a public meeting a location, a date and a time. Mr. Thomas said if you send them to me I can put them on the archive.
Chairman Mackie said okay excellent. Any other new business.
Ms. Richardson said I have one item, I have a sheet here for contact information if the Board members would add, delete revise and I will e-mail it to everyone so you have all the contacts.
Mr. Izbicki asked a question a lot of the Boards I am on we get packets by E-mail or US Mail do you do that as a normal procedure? Chairman Mackie said if there is something in particular that we know we are going to be discussing the Managers Report or the financials those go out in advanced they are usually e-mailed. Ms. Richardson said we have been doing it e-mail, but it is in piece meal you will get the agenda, and then Bill’s Station Mgr report in another e-mail so it is not all in one e-mail. Chairman Mackie said a former Board member wanted to have it both ways and as most Atty do he did, he wanted it sent out in printed form and e-mail you have the choice. Mr. Izbicki said e-mail is fine just as long as everyone gets it.
Mr. Thomas said Mike how it typically works is you will get the minutes for you to review, that are unofficial minutes, but they are posted and we will vote on those at next meeting. You will get an Agenda the week before the meeting and a Manager report the week of the meeting. Mr. Izbicki said e-mail is fine. I got everything else, but the Agenda. Ms. Richardson said I normally send it out a week before. Mr. Izbicki said I have no issue with e-mail and if you send it out in 3-4 that is fine.
Chairman Mackie said I would love to see and so would Bill some more volunteers learning behind the scene, production team concept of getting people in who do not want to be on camera, but would love to be behind the camera editing or to do production work. We have some exiting things coming up and working with Russ is a new world for me. He has new ideas that he would like to do and I think it is great. Perhaps a monthly show coming out of Karen’s Kitchen where people would have the opportunity to come down talk to Russ ask him questions and guest may be some guests there like Mike Izbicki or members of the School Board. Andy from Karen’s Kitchen is very interested and we would probably do it on a Saturday morning. We are thinking about doing that. I have been working with
Russ on a program that we will be doing on Golf land today, tomorrow and the past. I finally got a chance to talk to the owner of the property and there are still some things up in the air. Golf land was a fun and safe place to go. That is really the last thing of the 50s that is left. So many other things have disappeared. I have talked to them and tried to save an item that is there. We are going to be doing one other thing before Tax bills go out we will do a program with Tim Mays and Russ to talk about the tax rates and we have some fun things going on. We need people to come out and do some production. They need to go to Bill’s training session and use the camera. Mr. Jennings said May 15th at 6:30 p.m. Chairman Mackie said if you are interested call 472-8288. Ms. Wilson said that is why Mike’s comment about having it filmed and shown on BCTV is so great. Chairman Mackie said
that would be great. Ms. Wilson said I think that level of fear is taken right out if people see it is not as intimidating.
Chairman Mackie said I get sold on that idea because last night Ellen did a show on Photoshop and I am watching this program and I said I never found it an easy product, to work with and she was with this fellow who just loved it and he was doing this and that. I started using it and it is not that difficult. Whoever puts out Photoshop wants to make it difficult.
Chairman Mackie asked for a motion to adjourn.
Mr. Jennings said I have one thing to say. I just cannot get over how great this Board looks right now. I have never seen every seat filled in 4-5 years. This is great. Ms. Wilson said Bill what do you want? Mr. Jennings said yes I want to get a picture of it.
MOTION made by Mr. Thomas to adjourned. Seconded by Ms. Wolf. Vote taken – all in favor.
Meeting adjourned 8:05 p.m.
Submitted by Jane O’Brien
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