HomeMy Public PortalAboutCable Television Advisory -- 2012-06-14 Minutes Brewster Cable TV Advisory Committee
Minutes of the Wednesday,June 14,2012 meeting
7:00 PM in Meeting Room B, Brewster Town Hall.
The meeting was called to order at 7:07 PM by Norm Adams,Chair.
Members present: Norm Adams,Walter Powers,Janet Husband
Non-members present: Larry Greeley, Former LCCAT Board; Greg Levasseur, Former LCCAT
Board; James Foley, Brewster Board of Selectmen liaison to the Brewster Cable TV Advisory
Committee.
Norm asked Larry and Greg about their reasons for resigning from the LCCAT Board of Directors
at their last meeting, May 4, 2012. Larry expressed frustration at the Board's slowness to act.
He has been a member of the Board from its inception and was a member of the team that
negotiated the new five-town contract with Comcast. Larry said that he has grown increasingly
impatient with the leadership of the LCCAT Board. He feels that the board members do not
have a sense of urgency about getting the Nauset Regional High School studio up and running.
Nor do they seem to provide much guidance to Garrett McCarry, LCCAT's Executive Director.
Larry spoke of participating in the interviewing and hiring of the executive director. He made a
point of asking all the candidates if they were technically proficient with specific equipment and
software such as the Tricaster system,and Tightrope. Though Garrett assured the Board that he
was proficient,he seems to have spent much of his time over the last months learning to
operate the equipment. In fact it seems that on many issues Garrett still needs the help of a
consultant.
Mr. Levasseur joined the LCCAT Board because he was willing to donate his time and skill
helping to rehab the space allocated by the school for the use of LCCAT. He saw what needed to
be done and tackled the work with his customary efficiency while the Board of Directors paid
little attention to the details of the work. They seemed to prefer discussing concepts and future
needs such as whether they would need a line of credit from a bank rather than the practical
day to day issues. When Greg's work was done he saw little more that he could do to help a
board that seemed to be out of touch with the real needs of the organization.
When asked if the Board of Directors had done a performance review after Mr. McCarry's first
year on the job,Greg explained that the Board is broken into committees—one on personnel,
one on finance,etc. Those committees(usually of three members each)seldom report their
actions to the Board as a whole. So he does not know if they did a performance review. When
asked about attendance,both Larry and Greg agreed that many members did not attend the
Board's monthly meetings on a regular basis.
Both Larry and Greg also agreed with Mrs. Husband when she said that the quality of the picture
on Channel 17 is very poor. Why Channel 17 should be so poor in contrast with the clarity of
Brewster's own Channel 18 is unclear. This is something that Garret is aware of,but cannot
seem to fix.
Other problems with the channel were discussed:
> The airing of canned and dated videos as fillers during the late night hours—especially
the Classic Art Showcase.
> The infrequent airing of locally produced programs—showing them once or twice is not
enough.
➢ Programs are not aired on a regular rotating schedule that viewers can count on.
➢ The archived local programs are not being used creatively.
A Much more outreach is needed to get the public enthused about using the station.
➢ Demonstrations in each town should be done.
➢ $8,000 was allocated for a benefits package for the Executive Director next year even
though it was agreed earlier that he would be covered by his wife's plan.
In response to a question from a board member,James Foley spoke about the advocacy role
that the Brewster Cable TV Advisory Committee can play. Larry, Greg and Jim agreed that the
Advisory Committee should search for a qualified candidate for the vacant position.
The next meeting regular meeting is set for Tuesday,July 3,2012 at 4 PM.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted by
Janet.ffus&and, Clerk
Brewster Cable TV Advisory Committee