Telecommunications Meeting Minutes March 1, 2010

North Liberty Telecommunications Commission
Meeting Minutes
March 1st, 2010

Attendance: Valerie Hoffman, Katie Colony, Joseph Wagner and Denise Schechinger

Also Present: Telecommunications Director Cheryl Caplinger and Production Coordinator Nick Bergus

Absent: Glen Cox and Promotion Producer Corinne Lemmage

Hoffman called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm.

Comments from the public.  None

Mediacom Update.
Channel updates that were included in the packet.

South Slope Update.
Channel updates that were included in the packet.

Summary of Policy and Procedure Guideline Meeting of Ryan, Valerie and Cheryle
a.     Cable Access Policy and Procedure Guideline Review (minus section 1, C)
Hoffman stated that in the meeting two weeks ago we discussed procedures and several issues mainly concerning section 1C and regarding posting agendas.  At the end of the meeting Caplinger would make changes and suggestions regarding section 1C.  Ryan, the City Administrator was on vacation when he got back he would review the changes and suggestions and make a decision.  So we were going to wait for him to get back and talk about it next month.  
Caplinger talked about the guidelines and procedures.  She stated that they would no longer require the disclaimer from the public on submitted programs.  Section C regarding the Government Access the meetings have been moved to add North Liberty Board of Adjustment and North Liberty Tree & Stormwater Advisory Board, the North Liberty Cemetary Board and the North Liberty Board of Appeals.  In the same section regarding #5a, where it states “Public Meetings shall be shown until the next monthly meeting,” Wagner wanted to know what about meetings who only met quarterly?  Maybe change the verbiage to “shall be shown until the next scheduled meeting or whichever happens first.”  Caplinger agreed.  Section #6 regarding the agendas for public meetings be posted 24 hours in advance on the North Liberty web site would not replace the agendas being posted on the bulletin board, but a courtesy.  Wagner said that there was a state bill possibly being passed that would require a 24 hour notice for the public regarding the agenda and will need to keep an eye on that.  Caplinger covered the changes in red regarding the procedures and guidelines included in the packet.  Wagner wanted to know regarding the emergency message in Section VI. G. if there were any problems as to what constitutes an emergency.  Caplinger stated that it was mostly snow emergencies, but no problems.  NLTV doesn’t do the crawl at the bottom of the screen like for tornadoes warnings, that’s through Mediacom and South Slope.  Caplinger may have additions to section IX regarding VHS, she wasn’t sure if we should remove the VHS info.  Wagner said that if you don’t do it, probably should remove it from the department services.  Hoffman agreed.  Caplinger stated that VHS is not convenient.  Colony suggested maybe at your own discretion then.  Caplinger said that it had been 2 years since a request.  All agreed to remove the VHS service.  Caplinger talked about the $15 charge in section IX and if they should change the pricing to something along the lines of tiered pricing.  Wagner said don’t do the tiered pricing leave the charges the same for any time.  Colony asked about the public videos and the conversion service that was in that section and Caplinger said that it was being cut from NLTV’s services, but that a specialized conversion house would be able to do that for the public.  Wagner asked about the archival of meetings and how long would they be kept for.  Caplinger said that 1 DVD goes to the library and the other stays in-house for the public meetings.  And they will be available on flash video online.  Wagner wanted to know what the proper amount of time would be to preserve these and that we should be clear as to how long because we may not be able to reproduce something that happened or was taped many years ago.  Caplinger said that we have it in a variety of forms and for archiving it we have multiple plans for storing it.  Wagner said that we could state in the procedures that meetings would be stored and available until technology changes.  Hoffman said until technology changes or allows for.  Caplinger wanted to know if there were any other changes and nobody had any besides what was listed.  Caplinger said we would wait to hear from Ryan and wanted to know if the commission would like to see the rewrite, and all said yes.  Wagner wanted to know if the rewrite and suggestions needs to go before the council for approval and Caplinger wasn’t sure and we would find out next meeting.

Commissioners’ comments.
Colony was thankful for the guideline review.  Wagner apologized for missing last month’s meeting.

Telecommunications staff report.
Caplinger stated that Lemmage’s last day was April 16th.  Regarding the video camp, it would show teenagers how to work the video equipment and would go from noon until 4.  Planning for the Blues & BBQ was underway, this was Caplinger’s 3rd year.  In addition to what was listed in the packet Caplinger said that project videos were ramping up in the community and that’s what they’re working on this year.

Approval of February 8, 2010 meeting minutes.
Colony moved to approve the minutes from February, Schechinger seconded.  Motion passed with all in favor.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 5, 2010.

Wagner moved, seconded by Hoffman to adjourn the meeting at 6:35 pm.  Motion passed with all in favor.

Respectfully submitted,
Denise Schechinger, Secretary