Cable Advisory Council
of Charter Communications

MINUTES

Public Regular Meeting – Tuesday, May 13, 2003
Newtown, Connecticut

There was a regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Council called to order at 7:40 p.m. May 13, 2003 by Chairperson, John Sabo at the Charter Communications facility, Newtown, Connecticut.

ATTENDEES:
John Bell, Jill Zaloski, Carl DeVoe, Paula Hopper, Eugene Rosen, Carmella Amodeo, William Fredrickson, and John Sabo, Chairperson. For Charter: Dick Elwell and GregVan Antwerp.

PUBLIC INPUT:
No public present.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
J. Sabo indicated that several members had requested we not take up time on reading of minutes as everyone previously received a copy via the mail and, in most cases, also via e-mail. A motion was made by W. Fredrickson to accept the minutes as submitted, and the motion was seconded by Jill Zaloski. P. Hopper indicated she felt the minutes as submitted led one to believe that, as a result of illness, she was not able to fulfill the duties of chairperson of the scholarship committee for the James Diaz Memorial Award/Video Festival. She asked that the record be corrected to show this was not the case, and that at no time was the schedule for the Video Festival off schedule, but did extend thanks to E. Rosen and J. Eslami, the other two members of the Scholarship Committee, for their assistance in launching the festival. There being no other discussion, a vote was taken and the minutes were approved with a vote of 6 in favor and 0 against and 2 abstentions.

TREASURER'S REPORT:
J. Zaloski, Interim Treasurer, presented her report to the council. She indicated she had followed up on a problem F. Standt had with the bank, indicating it was determined to be a computer glitch and had been resolved. She further reviewed expenses for the period. J. Sabo questioned whether Charter Communications had made payment of $1,000 towards the James Diaz Memorial Award, which they had previously pledged. P. Hopper indicated she was in possession of the payment from Charter and she presented the check to J. Zaloski. A motion was made by P. Hopper to accept the treasurer’s report as submitted. The motion was seconded by C. DeVoe and carried unanimously.

Opening balance of the checking Account (1/14/03). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 687.66
CHECKS WRITTEN: Newtown Secretarial Svc. (11/13/02 minutes) -333.79
Judith Eslami (food) -51.46
John Sabo (video tapes) -32.63
Kathryn Wlodarezyk (videotaping) -30.00
Closing balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 282.09

Opening Balance on the Money Market Account (1/14/03) . . . . . . . . . . $ 10,652.69
Interest 1/30/03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.05
Interest 2/28/03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.62
Closing Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 10,672.36
1 yr. plus CD @ $10,000 + $1,183.47 int. to date = $11,183.47 (Matures 8/27/03)

COMMUNICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE:
Due to a town-wide power outage scheduled for 9:00 p.m., J. Sabo indicated any letters that needed response would be copied to D. Elwell for response.

E. Rosen indicated the Selectman for the Town of Newtown sent him a copy of a letter from a subscriber regarding the addition of FX to the channel line-up. E. Rosen stated that he contacted the gentleman and explained the expense for the channel exceeded the demand for the channel. He further stated the gentleman was understanding and indicated his dissatisfaction was largely due to the fact that Charter had not responded to his request in a timely manner.

J. Sabo indicated he also received a complaint from a customer relative to a request for FX, again indicating dissatisfaction with response time by Charter. He urged Charter to respond to these requests, whether sent directly by customers or passed on by the Council, in a timely fashion.

P. Hopper indicated she received a call from the Newtown Bee, and indicated that had informed her they were having difficulty reaching Greg and had waited on the line for an extremely long time. D. Elwell indicated that are going through a change in their telephone routing system and that this has once again caused a delay in phones being answered. Greg also indicated that all correspondence related to community programming, as well as Channel 21 itself, contains direct numbers to his department, eliminating the need to go through the main number and be routed to another location or remain on hold for an extended period of time.

J. Bell questioned how or if the Council is notified of disposition of matters referred to Charter by the Council. C. DeVoe indicated that, as a result of proceedings with the DPUC, there should be a procedure in place for Charter to respond to the Council by the next meeting as to how each matter was handled. J. Sabo asked if it would be possible to obtain a copy of any written communications that have been issued as a result of matters referred to Charter by the Council for resolution. D. Elwell indicated the matters are usually resolved via a phone call, but indicated if there is written correspondence the Council could be copied on it. A question was posed as to whether or not a copy of the log of complaints/resolutions could be provided so the Council is assured that matters are being addressed.

J. Sabo indicated he received a letter of resignation from J. Eslami (Southbury).

OLD BUSINESS:
Changes to By-laws – Due to the time constraints resulting from the scheduled power outage, P. Hopper made a motion to table this item. C. DeVoe seconded the motion.

Membership Report – J. Sabo indicated that J. Eslami informed him she had received no response to the letter to First Selectmen/School Superintendents regarding open positions on the council within each town.

Distance Learning Grant – C. DeVoe once again addressed this issue, discussing the merits of reserving the money that was previously approved for distance learning. He indicated that he would prefer to leave this as an open expense item. J. Sabo suggested that, since a time limit had already been set, rather than hold this out as an approved expense item which has not yet been incurred, it should be resubmitted for consideration when it again becomes an active consideration.

Scholarship Committee Report – P. Hopper indicated she was very pleased with the response and turnout for the James Diaz Memorial Award/Video Festival. She thanked D. Elwell and G. Van Antwerp for all their assistance in making this event a success, indicating she has already received inquiries on whether or not this event will be repeated.

Web Site – J. Sabo indicated the web site is now up and running. He discussed the fact that he has two students working on the web site, and they will continue to maintain it on a regular basis. He questioned whether or not he needed to obtain approval from the Council for the related expense, as the Council had previously agreed that he had authorization to spend up to $1,000 in connection with the web site. C. DeVoe suggested that he did not need any further authorization as it was within the guidelines previously established. It was the unanimous consensus of the members present that this did not need to be voted on. J. Sabo distributed a draft of the web site content and asked that members review it and submit corrections.

Consolidation of Western and Northwestern Franchise Areas – In consideration of the scheduled power outage, this item was tabled.

Nominations for Office of Treasurer – J. Sabo indicated the floor was open for nominations to the office of Treasurer. There being no additional nominations, P. Hopper made a motion that the floor be closed for nominations, C. DeVoe seconded the motion. J. Zaloski was previously nominated for the office of Treasurer, and there being no further nominations, a vote was taken and it carried unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS:
Member Items and Issues – J. Sabo questioned Charter as to the airing times of the video of the Council meetings. G. Van Antwerp indicated it was dependent on his receipt of the tape, and indicated they would do their best to notify J. Sabo in time to make notification to other members.

Nominations for Office of Membership Chair – J. Sabo indicated that since J. Eslami had submitted her resignation, an opening now exists for the position of membership chairperson. He indicated nominations would remain open and an election will be held at the July 8, 2003 meeting.

P. Hopper suggested a letter of thanks be sent to J. Dee for Charter’s generous support in matching the grant for the James Diaz Memorial Video Festival.

CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS REPORT:

G. Van Antwerp distributed the most recent Community Vision 21 Newsletter and public access report.

ADJOURNMENT:

A motion was made by C. DeVoe to adjourn the meeting at 9:00 p.m. The motion was seconded by W. Fredrickson and carried unanimously.

Respectfully submitted by: Lorna J. Szalay, Recording Secretary

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, July 8, 2003 at Charter Communications offices in Newtown, 7:30 p.m.

©2003 Cable Advisory Council
Designed by Ben Haase
PC Wizard