Public, Education & Government Access Oversight Board

Public Education and Government Access Oversight Board meeting September 8, 2022 Via Zoom Conference Board members present: Mary Rozak (chair), Donald Hyman (vice chair), Amy McLaughlin, Karen McGrath, Dale Getto (treasurer), Zachary Simpson, Jessica Wilcox Also present: Aprecia Cabey (studio coordinator), Raisi Mobele (counsel) Board members absent: Ron Lesko (secretary – excused), Jim Matteo Meeting called to order at 5:46 p.m.  Rozak – roll call. Review of June minutes  Getto moved approval  McGrath second  Approved unanimously No Public comments. Chair’s report  Reappointments of Hyman and Simpson to the PEGAOB, thank you for agreeing to serve for another term. Will follow up on the Oath of Office for Simpson with the City Clerk. Rozak has a grid to track the appointments.  Call for applications has been issued for the vacant PEGAOB member and have not heard anything. Mobele will follow up on the status.  Common Council did act on the change to the city code and we will act tonight on amending the bylaws. The ordinance has been passed as requested and the bylaws need to have a certain period for public review.  We had a busy summer and will hear shortly regarding the studio activity.  The studio hours have changed. As you know, they will change from season to season due to the flexibility and ability of the studio coordinator. The hours have been posted on our social media and Rozak can furnish a copy of the schedule.  I have spoken with other board members and we talked about not having to meet monthly, we have a mandate that we need to meet quarterly. We should talk more about that during new business. 1 Studio coordinator’s report - Cabey  New schedule - Sun 10-2, Mon 12-4, Wed 12-9, Thu 6-10, Sat 4-8. It is flexible based on producer needs.  On Point will still be done on Tuesdays  Have uploaded over 100 productions to server including a LGBTQ roundtable program, has been narrow casted on Spectrum for last two months. You can go to openstagemedia.com to see it.  Partnered with New York State Office of Mental Health (NYSOMH) with Public Service Announcement  Completed 4 in studio trainings for producers – had open hours to learn to use the equipment  Thinking about new ways to get more public from the library upstairs to the studio  Partnered with the City of Albany Youth Enrichment Employment Program - outreach to about 90 youth  Were able to recruit a new producer at the studio  Digital Inclusion Week – will create informational graphics  Free Speech Week in the large auditorium on October 18th and working on a montage of all the producers that have been working this past year. Would like to have a proclamation to be done for FSW – will be speaking with the South End Community Collaborative  Rozak will work on the proclamations and certificates – will need the names of the producers to include for the certificate.  McGrath – asked if Sean McIntosh colleague would be able to do some stories on the work you are doing? Is that okay. Cabey – please have him email channelalbany directly. McGrath – St. Rose also does event for Free Speech Week – Rozak now that we have partnerships and collaborations, it could help with additional content for Channel Albany – McGrath – we have a handful of courses on a variety of subjects like public relations and broadcast news. Sean is our primary person so want to make sure Cabey and he speak. Treasurer’s Report - Getto  We are starting to spend some money – Cabey has another request that is under 5,000 dollars – 2800 in equipment for B&H new chairs, work stool, utility wagon to help transport items, printer ink to go to common council and other groups like CPRB - Rozak – requested information on condition of the chairs – Cabey – they have a fabric that is breaking down – Rozak – request for Mobele to look into what we would do with the old chairs – Getto – will visit the studio to review the condition of the chairs  We just received August timesheets so it will be reflected on the next report. We spent almost 3,000 in July. I think as we look towards the future, start developing a long term budget so there are funds here to apply to programming. 2   McGrath first, Wilcox second on approval Change of Bylaws  Rozak – the Common Council has changed the City Code to enable us to change one of the stakeholder positions by the departure of the New School of Radio and TV from Albany. With that in mind, we still wanted to keep the position and we thought about the best use of that position and bring on board a former member of the television or radio community. For us to move forward, we need to change the bylaws so we can work with the Mayor to bring on another board member. It would be a mayoral appointment. The current bylaws under membership section would be changed to the following:  The Board shall consist of 11 members; four of whom are appointed by the Common Council and three of whom shall be appointed by the mayor (one of them restricted as per below). The remaining members of the board shall consist of: one representative from the City School District of Albany, one representative from The College of Saint Rose, one representative from the Albany Community Development Agency, one representative from the Albany Public Library and one current or former member of the local radio or television broadcast community who shall be appointed by the Mayor upon consultation with the PEGAOB Chairperson.  A minimum of four of the six members appointed by the Common Council and the Mayor shall be residents of the City of Albany and possess knowledge and interest in promoting public access cable television in the City of Albany. One Common Council appointment and one Mayoral appointment may reside outside of the City of Albany if said appointee provides a unique and desired expertise and commitment to the cause of public access television in Albany.  Rozak opened it up for any comments from the board and hearing none from the board. If there is no discussion we would need to vote to amend section 1 members.  Getto makes the motion, McLaughlin second, McGrath abstained. Passed by 6 members. Bylaw amendment will go into effect immediately. New business  Discussion about pairing down the frequency of the PEGAOB meetings – we have been meeting monthly for the past couple of years – Rozak wanted to have this discussion about would the board be interested in every other month or quarterly. Getto – my only concern is the quorum and there are things that can come up. McGrath – just wondering if it would make sense to do it bi-monthly and if there are not any agenda items, to put it off for another month. It is helpful to hear reports. Rozak – we mainly have to approve the Treasurer’s 3  reports, but we can put it up on social media for approval. There really has not been a need for meeting monthly. If there needed to be an emergency meeting we could do so with some notice. We can discuss further at the next October meeting. Next meeting – October 26th, Wednesday 5:30pm, location TBD Motion to adjourn – Hyman moved, Simpson seconded. Adjourned at 6:41 p.m. 4