Urbana Public Television Commission Meeting

URBANA PUBLIC TELEVISION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Date: July 11, 2014, 12:00pm Place: Urbana City Council Chambers 400 S. Vine Street, Urbana, IL Members Present: Peter Folk; Marie Polk; Dale Sinder; Dana Mancuso Members Absent: Carol Inskeep; Christopher Fuller Staff Present: Jason Liggett; Jake Schumacher; Sanford Hess I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Folk called meeting to order at 12:05pm. II. ROLL CALL Attendance was noted. Carol Inskeep had notified staff she would not be able to make the meeting. III. MODIFICATIONS TO AND APPROVAL OF AGENDA There were none. IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of the March 14, 2013 meeting were unanimously approved. V. CORRESPONDENCE There was no correspondence to the Commission this quarter. VI. STAFF REPORT Julia Jones left UPTV for a new full-time position in the Finance Department, and Caleb Serepinas left for a full-time job elsewhere. They were both commended and thanked for their excellent work. UPTV has lost the equivalent of more than twenty hours of staff time per week entering the new fiscal year due to budgetary reductions. Daniel Panno was hired as the new Production Assistant, but with hours reduced from when Caleb held the position. As of July 1, UPTV, as part of IT, has moved from the Finance department to the Executive department in the city. UPTV has just won two national awards from the Alliance of Community Media, for THE WEFT SESSIONS and ILL POETS SOCIETY. These are the first ones we have won from the ACM. Jason will attend the national conference in August to accept the awards. Page 1 of 4 UPTV staff continues to produce “The Market Menu” weekly, and regular “Art at the Market” spots. Jason produced a feature on Municipal Electric Aggregation. We received coverage from Smile Politely concerning Michael Badger’s return to the air. Jason will begin producing a weekly half-hour info show about the City of Urbana departments and services in cooperation with Natalie KennyMarquez. UUPTV has made 1,245 tweets and has 339 followers on Twitter, including the Mayor of Champaign, WCIA-3 reporters, and MTD. Total Facebook reach topped out in May at 1,630 people. Jake and Jason continue to attend the City of Urbana Communications and Outreach Group and also the Community Marketing and Communications Group. Upcoming projects include: working with Dr. Barrington Coleman to promote his new School of Music summer arts program The House of Singing; a collaboration with the City of Champaign township and Rev. Dr. Eugene Barnes on a live televised theatre project aimed at creating economic pathways for disadvantaged teens; and recording the One Community Together stage performances at the Sweetcorn Festival. The UMS cooking show remains in the works. UPTV lost the live Thom Hartmann show on Monday and Friday afternoons due to its schedule change. We are looking for another live national call-in show. We will begin airing a program aired at teen independent filmmakers called “Hollywood Makeover.” UPTV has added yet another Commission to its live and repeat broadcast schedule, the IDOT Traffic Stop Data Task Force. We aired the EPA Mahomet Aquifer hearing, the annual Busey Economic Seminar, videos from the Illinois Small Business Center at the Champaign County EDC. Member productions: Anna Epelbaum will be producing a new live show every Friday at 3 pm. Producer Lamont Johnson has provided several new programs over the last quarter. Producer Jason Bernard has created a series of programs featuring the performances of Champaign’s Friday Night Live series, and is putting together a program from recordings of the Urbana Park District’s Folk/Roots Walk. Henry Radcliffe, formerly of WILL- TV, has produced several new shows. UPTV produced several programs featuring the ILLIAC music festival in downtown Urbana, and the Champaign County Freedom Celebration Fourth of July parade. The UHS graduation and Adult Ed graduation ceremonies were recorded and broadcast, and a short video produced for Leal School called “Heroes and Dreamers” is currently airing on UPTV as well. Page 2 of 4  Jason continues to work with and train Urbana High students, broadcasting soccer and baseball games, and this year for the first time streaming those games live from the ballpark. The UHS graduation was recorded for the first time by students themselves. One of the UPD’s summer camps will be visiting UPTV for a session to learn more about video and broadcasting skills. UPTV has moved to a more basic and more easily-maintained website, still urbanapublictelevision.org, to help offset the loss of staff hours. All the basic functions remain. A clips reel was played for the Commission. In response to the staff report for the quarter, Chair Folk expressed appreciation for the developments and recognized staff for a job well done. VII. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION Carol McKusick addressed the commission concerning the scheduling of special meetings and the cancellation of regular meetings. She also noted that meetings are supposed to start at the specified time according to the Illinois Open Meetings Act, and that this meeting started late. She asked about the various screens available in the Chamber, and about the posting of meeting times and dates. Chair Folk responded that it is the City’s OMA officer that would address most of her questions. The UPTV Commission follows the law in terms of posting and legally noticing the dates and times of meetings. Commissioner Sinder wondered if the website needed to note that each of the scheduled meetings are in fact regular meetings. VIII. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Policies and Procedures revisions remain on hold due to the fluctuating and volatile circumstances with regard to UPTV. The goal now, inspired by remarks by Chair Folk at the last meeting, is to have any revisions proposed for the calendar year to come finished in time to present them at the annual membership meeting in December. Commissioner Sinder wondered about posting meeting announcements on social media. Sanford and Jake noted that there is a desire on the part of the City to maintain consistency with respect to the use of social media, and may bring this issue up at an upcoming Marketing meeting. Page 3 of 4 IX. NEW BUSINESS Equipment Purchase The Tricaster 460 replaced our old video toaster, which failed after ten years; that allows live broadcast of City meetings. Some headphones and a new camcorder for public access were also purchased. On the horizon, we have been having some issues with our Nexus broadcast server, which we have had for over eight years. Repairs are being made, but we will be looking into a new broadcast server during the coming fiscal year, which will cost ten to fifteen thousand dollars. Sanford added some explication of City procedures with regard to equipment purchases as opposed to the operational budget. X. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Chair Folk hopes that Commissioner Fuller can give a brief presentation at the next meeting as to school activities. X. SET THE NEXT MEETING DATE AND ADJOURNMENT The next meeting was announced for Sept 12, 2014 at 12 noon in the Urbana City Council Chambers. The meeting was adjourned by unanimous vote at 12:42pm. Page 4 of 4