Urbana Public Television Commission Meeting

URBANA PUBLIC TELEVISION COMMISSION DATE: Friday, June 12, 2020 TIME: 12:06 p.m. PLACE: Virtually on Zoom (Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S Vine St, Urbana, IL 61801) MINUTES Members Present: Peter Folk, Carol Inskeep, Marie Polk Members Absent: Christopher Fuller, Mark Schultz, Dale Sinder Staff Present: Jason Liggett 1. Call to Order & Roll Call & Declaration of Quorum Chair Folk called the meeting to order at 12:06 p.m. A quorum was not present. 2. Approval of Minutes Minutes were not approved due to lack of a quorum 3. Correspondence There was no correspondence. 4. Staff Report UPTV Station Manager Jason Liggett reported UPTV Camera Operator Kevin Lau and UPTV Production Assistant Ethan Young resigned from their positions. Brianna Gaspar and Andrew Waner were hired in June to fill the UPTV Camera Operator position. UPTV Program Coordinator Jake Schumacher is working remotely from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. UPTV Camera Operator Austen Pontious continues to come into UPTV to operate the audio/visual components for City meetings. Tomi Olowu completed her spring internship with UPTV. Liggett reported UPTV won six Best of the Midwest Media Fest Awards including an award of excellence for Andrew Scolari’s work on WPGU’s Illini Drive. Liggett plans to attend the awards banquet on October 1st. Urbana School District #116’s Kameron Williams produced a virtual graduation ceremony for Urbana High School. UPTV’s livestream had 417 simultaneous viewers watching the premiere of the event. Kevin Erlinger produced a virtual promotion ceremony for the eighth grade class at Urbana Middle School. The most popular YouTube video over the last quarter was an interview about the COVID-19 pandemic from March 16th. This was produced by Elizabeth Hess and Julie Pryde. It had over 2,000 views. The most popular tweet was a shared video from the Joint Information Center  about the COVID-19 pandemic. It reached over 2,700 people. The most popular Facebook post was a video from Julie Pryde demonstrating how to wear a mask properly. 5. Audience Participation There was no audience participation 6. Unfinished Business There was no unfinished business. 7. New Business A. Two Open Commission Seats Liggett reported there are still two vacant seats on the UPTV Commission and hopes to have these filled by the next Commission meeting. B. UPTV Budget for Fiscal Year 2021 Liggett presented the budget for fiscal year 2021. The UPTV staff includes 1 full-time Station Manager, an 18-hour per week Production Assistant, and Camera Operators for City meeting coverage. Commissioner Inskeep asked how public access would be supported. Liggett reported the City will continue to support public access television. The Production Assistant will continue to help members of the public produce their own television programs. The duties of the Program Coordinator will be assumed by both the Station Manager and the Production Assistant. Commissioner Inskeep asked if public access would be on a separate channel. Liggett reported the City will continue to run public, education, and government access on one channel, UPTV. Chair Folk asked how the pandemic and the use of different video platforms has effected UPTV and how it will effect UPTV in the future. Liggett reported he has been pleased with members’ dedication to continue to produce videos even though they can’t come into UPTV. He thinks moving forward members will have the option to either continue to record on their own or come into UPTV. Chike Coleman and Sanford Hess have increased their frequency and quality while producing Reel Reviews remotely during the pandemic. The Rose Bowl Tavern also began a new series on UPTV featuring local music performances. Open Meetings Act guidelines will require a quorum to meet in person for board and commission meetings, but Zoom may still be used on an individual basis if a Commissioner can’t physically attend board meetings. C. Equipment Purchases Liggett suggested reporting equipment purchases on an annual basis rather than quarterly. The report will be the planned purchases for the next fiscal year. Liggett presented the planned equipment purchases for fiscal year 2021. Commissioner Inskeep was happy to see a podcast set as a planned equipment purchase. Chair Folk supported bringing the equipment purchases to the Commission every June and at the same time, let them know if anything different was purchased from the previous year. Folk would also like to have an indication of what programming the equipment is intended to support – public, education, or government access. 8. Commissioner’s Comments Chair Folk wants an opportunity to speak to Council about the work UPTV does. Liggett reported there is not currently an annual UPTV report provided to Council, but would like to start doing that in the future. 9. Set Meeting Date and Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 12:38 p.m.