Cable Commission

CABLE TELEVISION COMMISSION MINUTES May 21, 2015 Commission Attendees: Dennis David, Chair Howard Piggee, Jr. Bob Young, FCPS Chris Glover, CRRL Attendees – Cable Representatives: Attendees – Other: Mark Whitley, City Manager’s Office Suzanne Tills, Chief Information Officer Commission Chair David convened the meeting at 11:00 a.m. in the Large Conference Room of City Hall. A brief note was made of the future meeting calendar. The City noted that the cable consumer complaint form was still under development that solicits input from the community on issues surrounding infrastructure that needs maintenance attention. There was a suggestion to add “damage to boxes” and “cable too low” as buttons on the form. Mr. Whitley noted that Public Works was able to assist with an issue just that past week in Jail Alley by notifying the correct utility, which was very helpful. One of the telephone lines was hanging about five feet off the ground, and after notification Verizon raised it to the proper height. Staffing Update Mr. Whitley then introduced Mrs. Tills, the City’s Chief Information Officer, who will be in charge of staffing the Commission going forward. This change will provide better service support for the Commission in the future. Financial Update Mr. Whitley provided a financial update to the Commission for the PEG Access funds. The total available fund balance in the PEG account in the City Grants Fund as of May 15, 2015 was $68.087.54. Year-to-date spending was $89,209 – representing the City Council upgrade project. PEG Revenue year-to-date is $16,212. A question was asked about the annual PEG fees that come to the City. The City receives slightly less than $20,000 per year in PEG fees. Old Business The Commission discussed the difficulties of the Verizon feed for the televised City Council meetings. The Verizon feed is handed-off from the Cox feed at the audio-visual vendor’s facilities, because there is no direct fiber connection to City Hall. Staff was asked to continue exploring alternatives, including gathering information from Verizon on what it would take to deliver Verizon Fios connectivity to City Hall as well as whether there is an alternative way to feed the Library and upload to Verizon’s public access channel from there using City-owned fiber. New Business The Commission held some general discussion concerning the use of the City Council Chambers by the schools for meetings. The meeting adjourned at approximately 12:00 p.m.