HomeMy Public PortalAboutCable Television Advisory -- 2011-08-09 Minutes Minutes of the meeting of the Brewster Cable TV Advisory Committee scheduled for 7:00 pm on
Tuesday 9 August 2011.
The meeting is called to order at 7:00 pm on Tuesday 9 August 2011 by Larry Greeley.
Members present at this time are:
Larry Greeley
Norman Adams
Janet Husband
Walter Powers
In the audience area tonight are:
James Foley,the selectman who is the liaison between the Board of Selectmen and this committee
Charles Sumner,Town Administrator of Brewster
James Paul("JP")Ludwig who is in effect the executive director of the Brewster Government channel
Larry Greeley makes the following announcement: "As required by the Open Meeting Law,we are
informing you that the town will be video and audio taping as well as broadcasting this public meeting.In
addition if anyone else intends to either video or audio tape this meeting they are required to inform the
chair."
No person in the audience announces an intention to video tape or audio tape the meeting.
At Larry's suggestion the three audience members seat themselves close to the board and make use of the
microphone placed on a table for use of audience members.
Norman Adams distributes copies of the draft minutes of the meeting of Tuesday 6 April 2011 as well as
copies of the approved and subsequently filed minutes of the meeting of 2 February 2011.
Walter Powers moves and Janet Husband seconds a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting of
Tuesday 6 April 2011 as presented.All four members vote to approve.
At Larry's request James Paul Ludwig distributes a copy of a document prepared by him titled"Brewster
Government Channel Projects".Eleven projects are described,each in one to a few sentences.JP mentions
each project briefly and then in some cases adds a few remarks. In some cases there is discussion of the
project.
The content of the document appears below,project by project,interspersed here and there with relevant
comments.
Project 1.Meet with all department heads to inform them of the use of the channel for PSAs and the use
of the bulletin board.There could be a lot more information presented on the bulletin board than there is
currently.The BPD and BFD could be trained about access to the system in case of emergency.
JP says that this project is already ongoing.
Project 2. Create an inventory of all the production equipment at town hall and also create an inventory of
all sound equipment at the Brewster schools or other production related gear at town locations.
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JP says that he has already found a lot of useful audio equipment at Stony Brook school.Jim Foley says
that where applicable the items on this inventory should be copied to the town's list of capital equipment.
Project 3.Create a promotional video for the town for airing on the G channel and the website.Content
could include the town's history,places of interest,things to do,prominent citizens, etc.
Project 4.Mark and label all town-owned field equipment.
Project 5.Research and recommend additional equipment to be purchased by the town with cable
franchise funds(field equipment for production,additional equipment cases,etc.).
Project 6. Identify other programs of interest:committee meetings,town-wide events,etc.,to be
produced for airing on the G channel (The library would like to do a Brewster Oral History Project in
conjunction with the Historical Society).
Project 7.Create and produce informational programs with content from various town departments.
Example:a five to eight minute piece about programs offered by the rec department or a program about
the BPD's Reassurance Program.
JP says that it might be useful to produce a video giving a preliminary general summary of the items
scheduled for a town meeting to be prepared prior to the town meeting.
Project 8.Improve the overall look of the channel's presentation,opening and closing graphic&for
meetings,additional government programming available on servers,local picture backgrounds,etc.
Project 9. Prepare for Fall Town Meeting and use of the Anycast system and robotic cameras.
Project 10.Assess other town buildings as far as audio/video capabilities(for instance the library needs
the PA system to be altered so as to be able to get a direct feed from the PA).
Project 11. Assess the full capabilities of all software and hardware for video production recently
purchased by the town(in the written list of projects JP remarks as to this project:1 need to really spend
some time going over manuals,on line resources,etc.,to date I've mostly put in minimal hours due to
legal restrictions on-the number of hours I'm allowed to work).
JP says that he would like to do items 8 though 11.
As to costs:JP says that he has gathered a rough estimate of the cost of purchases involved in this list of
projects by listing the specific significant items,then accessing an online store dealing in such items and
filling his"shopping cart",thus getting a total cost of those items without actually buying anything. The
total is $3610.46.He mentions one other item that is not included in this total-a case for the mixing
board for field use.
This winds up the discussion relating to"Brewster Government Channel Projects".
The discussion next turns to matters relating to an i-net to interconnect the buildings housing the principal
departments of the Town of Brewster.Charles Sumner remarks that the money flows involving Comcast,
the town,and LCCAT contain substantial front-end costs such as the construction by LCCAT of a studio.
The i-net too is a substantial front-end cost relating to the connection of the government channel to
sources of information to be distributed by the government channel.
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To provide a substantial bandwidth the i-net should be a fiber optic interconnection rather than a coax
interconnection.Due to the relative remoteness of the building housing the Golf Commission and of the
building housing the Water Department the i-net will not extend to those two buildings.The fall Town
Meeting will contain articles for funding the government channel projects and for funding the
construction of the i-net. The current cost for the i-net work based on quotations received is$117,634.38.
At this point Janet moves:that this committee supports the use of$4000.00 to be used in funding projects
for the Brewster government channel such as those described in"Brewster Government Channel Projects".
Walter seconds the motion.All four members vote to approve.
Next Larry moves:that this committee supports the use of$117,634.38 to be used in funding construction
of the Brewster i-net.
Janet seconds the motion. All four members vote to approve.
JP suggests that it is desirable that the"Brewster government channel"have a short descriptor and he
proposes that it be called"BGTV".
Larry reports briefly on the progress of the LCCAT buildout of the public access studio at Nauset
Regional High School which as usual has been slower than hopes but in this case faster than expectations.
He remarks that Greg Levasseur has been very helpful in the buildout.
Larry says to Jim(in his capacity as liaison with the Board of Selectmen),that this committee needs to
know what does the Board of Selectmen wants from this committee.
Finally(as Larry has recently stated informally to be his intention)Larry states that effective as of the
close of this meeting,he is resigning as chairman of this committee and as a member of this committee.
Larry suggests that Norman Adams be elected for his replacement as chairman.Janet seconds the
nomination.Larry,Janet,and Walter vote for Norman Adams to serve as chairman.Norman abstains
from this vote.
There is a brief discussion about who might serve as clerk.Janet is nominated and seconded by
acclamation,and Larry,Walter,and Norman vote for Janet to serve as clerk.Janet abstains from this
vote.
The meeting seems to be out of other business to be taken up tonight. A motion to adjourn is made by
Norman Adams and seconded by Walter Powers.All four members vote to approve.
The meeting is adjourned at 8:04 pm.
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