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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNACACMeetingMinutes_01_12_2016 North Andover Cable Television Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes th Date: January 12, 2016 Time: 5pm-6pm Place: Police Department 1st Floor Conference Room, 1475 Osgood St, North Andover, MA 01845 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 Non-Committee: Dr. Jennifer Price (NASD) Mike Grant (NASD) _____________________________________________________________________________________ Agenda ● Call to Order ● Acceptance of Minutes ● Discussion Status Update ● Phone Conference with lawyer candidate, Sue Buske ● Discuss Attorney Selection ● Old Business : Member Update ● New Business : Verizon Renewal Schedule Update ● Discuss Next Steps _____________________________________________________________________________________ Meeting was called to order by Christopher McClure at 5:22 pm Approval of Minutes th Ronn Faigen, CAC Chairman, made a motion to approve minutes of January 5. The motion carried unanimously. Committee requested a correction of statement on the date of VZ’s 626 letter arrival to be made in the next meeting minute. The correct date that town received the 626 letter from Verizon is thth October 15, 2015 not December 10, 2015 as previously discussed. All in favor. Discuss Status Update ● Christopher McClure provided an update status on the previous meeting with Bill August to Dr. Jennifer Price and Mike Grant. ● Christopher McClure stated the importance of retaining the attorney to be able to move forward and meeting the expected timeline. ● It was briefly discussed that Newton attorney mentioned in the previous meeting as a choice of candidate might not be a good match, therefore, the committee was asked to consider between Bill August and Sue Buske as of now. Phone Conference with Sue Buske ● CAC welcomed Sue Buske and thanked Sue for joining the meeting. ● CAC members introduced themselves. ● Ronn Faigen, CAC Chairman, asked Sue Buske to briefly shared her works and background. Sue Buske briefly explained how she has helped local communities in the past. She stated that most of the works are not legal works. And works are needed to be completed mostly during the renewal process. Sue Buske further explained that her works with local communities are cable related matters. So it is her expertise field. The majority of the works in the past are out of States such as Manhattan and other towns in the state of NY. But most of her works with VZ in NY are for initial licensing. ● When Sue was asked about her local work experience, she explained that she has done some works on cable related matters for Cambridge, Malden and Belmont. She has previously worked with local attorney, Peter J. Epstein. While Peter Epstein focused on legal process, Sue Buske assisted him on works related to evaluation of cable compliance and local needs. ● Sue was asked if she has known any of VZ’s government relations representative locally and Sue confirms that she has not known any of them. ● Sue stated that she has a chance to review current contracts on both cable operators ; Comcast and Verizon. Dr. Jennifer Price asked Sue to provide her thoughts based on her review how Sue would have done it differently. Sue Buske explained she thinks there is an opportunity to dig much deeper for what local community asked for such as franchise fee audit. She also stated that there are areas that she would have looked into such as technological product updates ( HD, Interactive program guide) or even more capital on local programming. ● She stated that her works with Peter J. Epstein has helped the community to gather all useful information needed for negotiating process. ● When asked how her view on Comcast’s contract vs Verizon’s contract, she explained that they are not that much different on how they do the contract or pursue the renewal agreement though the technology on delivering cable services are different. ● Christopher McClure asked Sue to share her thoughts on the timeline in regards to response to VZ’s 626 letter. Sue Buske stated that the town’s effort to retain the attorney is also a part of commencing the renewal process. She further explained that CAC might not need a formal public hearing as a legal confirmation to respond to 626 letter. ● The committee asked Sue Buske about how often she flies to MA. Sue said that she tries to organize her works and come out as needed and works on different projects at a time. The frequency is based on the amount of works. ● Brian Fraser asked Sue Buske to share her research works (focus group) that she has done in the past with Malden. Sue explained that she assisted the town to understand local community’s needs e.g. how telecommunication can help. Sue shared that research can be done at different level depends on what we want to learn. Her works in the past include but not limited to online survey, telephone survey, focus group etc. Sue clarified that she does the works herself and did not use any third party research companies. ● Sue Buske was asked to define her fee structure. She explains that usually she provides a proposal based on the tasks and amount of identified works. ● Conference call with Sue Buske ended at 5:55pm. Discuss Attorney Selection ● All CAC members agreed that Sue Buske has brought different expertise field on research works. She has the experiences and expertise as qualified candidate. ● However, CAC members feel that based on the urgency of the matter it would be a productive move to retain Bill August as primary attorney as Bill August has the lifetime of expertise on cable renewal process. He also has great local connection. In addition, Bill August has worked for NA in the previous years and has all the valuable background needed to assist CAC. ● It is discussed that if there is a need for assistance to develop a thorough understanding of cable compliance study and local community’s needs, CAC will consider retaining Sue Buske if budget and time permit. ● Christopher McClure made a motion to approve the attorney selected. All in favor. Old Business: Membership Updates Ronn Faigen and Paul Blinn updated that there is still no new member to be recommended at this time. Ronn Faigen ,CAC Chairman, encouraged all members to look for new members to ensure that the committee will continue to have quorum to move forward going onward. Ronn Faigen provided a clarification that any town resident who wants to volunteer needs to go to town website and fill out the form. New Business : Discuss Verizon Renewal Schedule th, CAC members agreed to schedule additional meeting on January 19 2016 to work with Bill August to understand and develop timeline for renewal process. Next Steps ● Christopher McClure to confirm attorney selection with town BOS and Bill August. ● Christopher McClure to send the retaining form to CAC Chairman, Ronn Faigen. Chairman to forward to the retaining form to town office as needed. ● Christopher McClure to share CAC’s idea on the using different attorney for cable compliance study, if needed, with town BOS. ● Ronn Faigen, CAC Chairman to follow up with Laurie Burzlaff, Executive Assistant to Town Manager, on status of CAC member, Arthur Fundeklain. ● Ronn Faigen asked Christopher McClure to contact Verizon’s representative to gather important database such as town subscribers, town homepassed, town penetration % and subscriber revenue for further analysis. th. ● CAC members discussed the needs to have a meeting scheduled for January 19 2016. It is agreed that CAC will invite Bill August to further discuss/develop timeline and next steps. ● Brian Fraser to ask Sue Buske to provide proposal on cable compliance study. CAC’s objective is to understand the cost and ideas of what Sue Buske would propose. ● CAC to ask Bill August to clarify and confirm the process of commencing the renewal letter within the next 3 months. Adjournment Meeting was unanimously adjourned at 6:27 pm. Respectfully submitted by Chanida Oros, Committee Member. Upcoming Meeting Dates th. January 19, 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 (TBC) th.. February 16, 2016,5pm-6pm, Police Department 1st Floor Conference Room, 1475 Osgood St, North Andover, MA 01845 (TBC)