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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNACACMeetingMinutes_01-06-2016 North Andover Cable Television Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes th Date: January 5, 2016 Time: 5pm-6pm nd Place: Town Hall 2 Floor Conference Room, 120 Main Street, North Andover, MA Attendees: Committee Present: Christopher McClure (Non - voting) Ronn Faigen (Chairman) Brian Fraser (Non- Voting) Chanida Oros Paul F. Blinn Other Committee: Arthur Fundeklain (absent) Robert Parker _____________________________________________________________________________________ Agenda ● Call to Order ● Acceptance of Minutes ● Meeting with lawyer candidate, Mr. Bill August ● Discussion on Timeline and Attorney Selection ● Old Business : Member Update ● New Business : Verizon Renewal Schedule Update ● Discuss Next Steps _____________________________________________________________________________________ Meeting was called to order by Christopher McClure at 5:00 pm Approval of Minutes th Ronn Faigen, CAC Chairman, made a motion to approve minutes of December 8. The motion carried unanimously. Meeting with Bill August ● CAC welcomed Bill August. ● Christopher McClure briefly stated the purpose of meeting in regards to the process of attorney selection. ● Brian Fraser stated the purpose of taping the meeting/presentation for absent member. Bill August requested that the record to be made for Brian’s record rather than for the public’s record. All agreed. ● Bill August touched base on the overall schedule/timeline that North Andover CAC has approximately 2 years and 10 months left. Christopher McClure identified that though we have tried to start the process earlier (since June 2015), there was a delay due to lack of quorum in the last 6 months. ● Bill August and the committee discussed the status of the last Comcast renewal. Bill August reminded the committee that the last Comcast renewal offers 2.7% franchise fee to the town however Comcast will increase to 4% to match other cable operator, Verizon,when and if Verizon will offer a 4% fee. ● Bill August explained the renewal process that under the Section 626 of the Cable Act a franchise authority and cable operators are allowed to renew a cable franchise informally — through negotiations — or through a formal process. He also clarified that generally either the town or cable provider can initiate the renewal process. He suggested that town should begin formal proceedings the same time as informal negotiations. If information negotiation fall through, the town and cable operator can then proceed through the formal renewal process. The statutory and procedural standards for denial of renewal differ, depending on the procedure followed. While a franchise authority has great latitude and benefits in negotiating informally, a renewal request offered during formal proceedings can be denied only through formal process. ● Bill August was asked to briefly describe the overview of his service provided to CAC if selected. He stated that his service includes drafting the legal document/correspondent to cable operator. His service also includes providing counsel to prepare/conduct ascertainment process. Bill August also mentioned that he believes that the last ascertainment report he helped the town generated was very strong. Discuss Attorney Selection ● The committee members discussed the importance and urgency to select the attorney so we can move forward. ● CAC members shared thoughts on Bill August’s presentation. It is discussed that Bill August has shown that he has expertise, knowledge and experiences to represent our town . He also has worked with town in the past which is his great asset as choice of attorney. th ● It is also agreed that CAC will meet Sue Burke on January 12 2016. ● Christopher McClure suggested that CAC should finalize our attorney selection by end of January th 12 2016. All in favor. Old Business: Membership Updates CAC Chairman updated committee that he has asked Laurie Burzlaff, Executive Assistant to Town Manager, to contact Arthur Fundeklain to confirm his availability as CAC active member. If Arthur Fundeklain is no longer available, Ronn Faigen suggested that CAC should recruit a new member. Though now NA CAC has a total of 4 permanent members, to ensure that we will always have a quorum to move forward, CAC Chairman, suggested to add a new member and asked committee members to make recommendation. All in favor. New Business : Discuss Verizon Renewal Schedule Christopher McClure confirmed with CAC that the town has received Verizon’s 626 letter to initiate th renewal process as of Dec. 10. 2015. The letter has been posted on the public drive. Therefore, the town is obligated by law to begin a proceeding no later than 6 months after we received 626 letter. CAC members agreed that we will start developing our timeline as soon as we get the attorney on board. Next Steps ● All members to recruit or recommend new committee member to replace Arthur Fundeklain who will leave the post as CAC member, per CAC Chairman’s request. th, 2016, ● It is expected that by the end of the upcoming meeting, January 12 CAC will finalize attorney choice to represent our town and develop timeline for ascertainment process. ● Brian Fraser to share “George’s Subscriber Revenue Database” with CAC. ● Brian Fraser to share with the committee his budget needs ( staffing needs as well as non- operation needs ) for cable studio. Adjournment Meeting was unanimously adjourned at 6:00 pm. Respectfully submitted by Chanida Oros, Committee Member. Upcoming Meeting Dates th. January 12, 2016, 5pm-6pm, Police Department 1st Floor Conference Room, 1475 Osgood St, North Andover, MA 01845 nd. February 2, 2016, 5pm-6pm, Police Department 1st Floor Conference Room, 1475 Osgood St, North Andover, MA 01845 th.. February 16, 2016,5pm-6pm, Police Department 1st Floor Conference Room, 1475 Osgood St, North Andover, MA 01845