Cable Advisory Council
of Charter Communications

CABLE ADVISORY COUNCIL
P. O. Box 87
Newtown, Connecticut
 

~ Minutes ~

Minutes of Public Regular Meeting – Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Newtown, CT

There was a regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Council called to order at 7:07 p.m., Tuesday, November 15th, 2005 by Vice Chair, Jim Lang at the Charter Communications facility, Newtown, Connecticut.

ATTENDEES:

Eugene Rosen (Newtown), Steve Donahue (New Milford), Kate Donahue (Trumbull), Jill Zaloski (Monroe), Carl DeVoe (New Milford), George Linkletter (Sherman), Jim Lang (Trumbull), Tony Minotti (Trumbull)

From Charter: Greg Van Antwerp, Brian Davis, John Palinkas (via phone)

PUBLIC INPUT:

First Jim welcomed new member Tony Minotti who is the Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Trumbull.  He is replacing Jeff Hackett. 

July Genmell and Dana Welles of New Fairfield shared difficulties they are having with the running of Channel 17 in their town.  Although the Council has no authority over how Channel 17 is operated in each town, the members did share some suggestions for what the pair might do including contacting the DPUC and the state Elections Enforcement Division.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Minutes approved (Motion by Zaloski, second by Rosen; unanimous except DeVoe who abstained) .

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Jill presented the Treasurer’s report with one correction: the opening balance should be $7,878.70.  Motion to approve amended report: Donahue, Linkletter second, unanimous.  Jim asked that future reports include interest and tax on the CD and Money Market accounts.

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS REPORT:

Brian Downs introduced himself as the Connecticut Operations Manager.  There are three Ops Managers in the Northeast Region for Charter.  Brian is in charge of the installers, service techs and front lobby operations in Connecticut.  He focuses on technical skills and community image.

Greg provided a quick overview of community access activity over the last two months.

The customer survey was briefly discussed.  Kate thanked Charter for including us in the process and suggested that next year we be brought into the loop earlier so we can more meaningfully participate.

COMMUNICATIONS & CORRESPONDENCE:

Eugene indicated that one customer problem he had from last meeting was referred to Bob Spain and the issue has largely been resolved.

Jim shared the service statistics.  Carl and Eugene both indicated that we don’t have the same access to Charter executives as we used to.  Brian promised that he is the person we should go to with customer problems.

We got several thank yous for the library grants.

DPUC request for comments – we missed the deadline.  It was moved (Donahue, Zaloski second) to have Jim captain the process of addressing this Docket issue.  He will ask the DPUC for an extension to the deadline so we can respond.  Kate will download the docket for distribution.

OLD BUSINESS:

Video Festival:  Jill reported that the judging criteria, submission form are done.  January 9 is the deadline with the awards ceremony on March 11.  Jill had her kids design posters for the competition.  The posters need to be put in libraries and high schools, Jill needs help with that and with getting the word out to newspapers.  Carl suggested getting a fancier viewing location.  The Council is grateful for Charter’s support of this program.

Officer election:  The slate was presented: Carmella, Chairman; Jim Lang, Vice Chair; Kate, Secretary and Jill, Treasurer.  Motion (Linkletter, DeVoe second), unanimous vote.

Audit:  George will review the financial records with his town treasurer on a volunteer basis.  George will report back at the next meeting if any additional steps will need to be taken.

Grant process:  Carl reported his foundation raised $10k for the tv studio in Brookfield.  He shared the criteria and application for the grand process used in 1997.  Back then the Council gave out four $3k grants.  Motion to revive the grant process to support local Channel 17s (DeVoe, Zaloski second), unanimous vote.  Carl will sort through the criteria (he needs feedback on the old process) and make a recommendation on how many grants (and for how much each will be).

NEW BUSINESS:

Need to set meeting schedule for 2006. Motion Linkletter, second DeVoe to accept the following schedule (unanimous vote).

2006 Meeting Dates ~

Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Tuesday, May 9, 2006
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006

ADJOURNMENT:

The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9:05 PM.

Respectfully submitted by:  Kate Donahue, Secretary

©2005 Cable Advisory Council
Designed by Ben Haase
PC Wizard