CTAC Minutes

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: September 7, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, September 7, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:04.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH), Don Levy, Secretary (H), Johnes Ruta (NH), Peaches Quinn (NH),
George Alexander (H).

CTV representative Joe Schofield was present.

Minutes from the previous meeting were adopted.

Joe Schofield reported that CTV was not yet being cablecast over the Frontier system. He said that one new cable must be laid within the building to get CTV up on the Frontier system. Joe said he sent an email to Frontier representative Steve Gemmell expressing his frustration that CTV had not yet been added to the Frontier system despite more than two years of promises to do so. Joe also noted that volunteer training had been resumed. He also said that CTV had made a personnel reorganization which eliminated the position of the Front Desk attendant. He also said that CTV had put a new computer system in place (Dimeo.com/CTV) which would make it easier for viewers to request retransmissions of CTV programs at times convenient for the viewers. He also said that the new system for retransmission of CTV programs would allow people who took part in a program to make copies of the program for themselves at no cost thus saving CTV resources. In reply to a question by Johnes Ruta Joe said that CTV has the capability to tape or to stream events of public interest in the three municipalities live. Joe said that people seeking to cablecast their events would have to provide CTV at least two weeks notice.

Council members noted that no progress had been made to finish the upgrade of the CTAC website to facilitate ease of use. George pointed out that the CTAC Cable Television Excellence Grant program could not move forward until the grant pre-application was posted to the web site. Peaches Quinn encouraged all Council members to seek out web site developers to hire in order to meet these dual requirements of the CTAC web site. People interested in working as contractors were urged to submit bids in writing which satisfied the Request-for-Proposals which George had generated.

Tad noted that the current one year terms of CTAC officers was about to expire. The Council voted to appoint Johnes Ruta and Ashley Sklar to act as a nominating committee charged with putting forward a slate of candidates for the upcoming year.

The Council voted to hold the annual CTAC Dinner meeting at Carmine’s Restaurant at 1500 Whalley Avenue, New Haven on December 7 beginning at 5:30 pm. Don volunteered to make reservations for 12 people. The Council agreed with Peaches Quinn’s proposal to invite former CTAC member Jenn Sacco to attend as a guest.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:07 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Don Levy, CTAC Secretary.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: July 6, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, July 6, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:03.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH), Don Levy, Secretary (H), Johnes Ruta (NH), Peaches Quinn (NH),
Ashley Sklar (NH).

Comcast representative Sharon Codeanne and CTV representative Joe Schofield were present.

Minutes from the previous meeting were adopted.

CTV was not yet being cablecast over the Frontier system. Joe Schofield said that one new cable must be laid within the building to get CTV up on the Frontier system. Joe said that per custom no training of new volunteers was being conducted during the Summer. He also said that CTV was in the process of completing its PURA audit. Joe said he would forward the 2015 audit as well as the first quarter 2016 audit via email. Tad indicated that he anticipated that the 2016 PURA audit will seek CTAC input. Due to a short timeline for CTAC input Tad said he would poll members via email for their input.

Sharon presented the Comcast report indicating contributions to the New Haven Public Schools as well as the City of New Haven Youth@Work Program. Comcast awarded scholarships to nine high school students from our area at a May 31st ceremony at the State Capitol.

Because Babz was absent no action was taken on the CTAC Video Grant program. CTAC has been delaying action of hiring someone to work on the website pending a report on this issue which Babz and indicated she would make. Johnes said he would continue to post meeting minutes to the CTAC website.

Tad renewed his call for current council members to be more active in recruiting for the many open positions on the council. Council voted to cancel its August meeting and to meet for its next regular meeting on Wednesday, September 7.

Meeting was adjourned at 6:43 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Don Levy, CTAC Secretary.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: June 1, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:04.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH), George Alexander, Treasurer (H), Don Levy, Secretary (H), Johnes Ruta (NH), Peaches Quinn (NH) (6:45 pm8)

Ashley Sklar

No representatives of Comcast, Frontier, or CTV were present.

Minutes from the two previous meetings were adopted.

CTV was not being cablecast over the Frontier system. A CTV worker indicated that progress had been made to add CTV to the Frontier system.

The CTAC website is not yet capable of accepting preliminary applications for the CTAC Grant program. Babz Rawls-Ivy was absent so she could not update the Council regarding whether or not she was able to move this project forward. Johnes said he was too busy to upgrade the website.

Tad renewed his call for current council members to be more active in recruiting for the many open positions on the council.

The Council decided to convene the July meeting as scheduled but did not decide regarding whether or not to hold a regular monthly meeting in August.

Meeting was adjourned at 6:59 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Don Levy, CTAC Secretary.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: May 4, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, May 4, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:08.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH), George Alexander, Treasurer (H), Don Levy, Secretary (H),
Ashley Sklar

Joe Schofield, CTV, Steve Gimmell, Frontier

A quorum was absent therefor no official business was transacted.

Joe Schofield said that a Frontier engineer have made a site visit to CTV in preparation for laying fiber optic cable to provide Frontier subscribers with CTV programs for the first time. Steve Gimmell from Frontier said CTV programs ought to be available to Frontier customers prior to the June CTAC meeting. On behalf of CTAC, Don Levy expressed the Council’s gratitude that CTV programs will soon be available on the Frontier cable system. Joe said that CTV programs are now being produced in High Definition. He said, however, that viewers are only able to access these programs in Standard Definition. Joe asked Steve to look into the possibility that the Frontier system would be capable of cablecasting CTV programs in HD. Joe also said that PEGPETIA equipment grants for the state of Connecticut would no longer be available due to the state’s budget shortfall. Joe indicated that he was spearheading a move in concert with other community cable operators to change the ongoing funding mechanism for the cable operators to provide equitable funding and to provide additional funding for equipment as well as to establish consistent and predictable financial support in light of the shrinking customer base of cable subscribers in general.

Steve Gimmell spoke about Frontier’s new download of the Vantage software. No advance notice of this download had been given to Frontier customers. Because the Vantage software changed many of the at-home cable functions this caused a great deal of confusion and concern among the customer base. Don pointed out that if CTAC had been alerted to this download and had the CTAC website been up and running the CTAC website could have alerted Frontier customers of the change. Don said this missed opportunity to provide service was the most glaring failure of CTAC during the time he has served on the Council. Steve said that once customers learned how to navigate using the Vantage download they would experience enhanced programming opportunities including being able to watch as many as four programs at the same time.

Ashley Sklar said that the mayor of New Haven had told the library director that the Mayor would be informing the Council of her new appointment to fill the CTAC seat vacated by Martha
Brogan.

Meeting ended at 6:58 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Don Levy, CTAC Secretary.

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: April 6, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:05.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH), George Alexander, Treasurer (H), Don Levy, Secretary (H), Babz Rawls Ivy (NH), Peaches Quinn (Vice-Chair, NH)

Ashley Sklar

Sharon Codeanne, Comcast

The minutes for the March meeting were approved as corrected.

Sharon Codeanne of Comcast said the 15th Annual Comcast Cares Day will be held on Saturday, April 30 at New Haven’s Lincoln-Bassett School. Peaches Quinn inquired as to the status of Comcast resolving its dispute with the YES Network. Sharon said that the matter revolved around the fact that the cost of the YES Network was too high relative to the number of Comcast subscribers using the service.

The Council voted to pay Johnes the second half of the payment for work he did to migrate the CTAC website to the WordPress platform. CTAC will be exploring other options to add an online application for the CTAC Video Grants program. Babz and Peaches said they would reach out to their contacts to determine the cost and time required to perform this task. Don will forward the draft online application form to all to facilitate this addition to the website. George will provide Babz with administrative status on the website to allow her to analyze the steps required to make sure the website is functional and searchable for community members wishing to use it.

Tad indicated that he had hoped Joe from CTV and Steve from Frontier has been present to update the Council on the much discussed and long delayed attempt to have Frontier add CTV programs to its network.

Don indicated that the Council still required a communication from the New Haven Mayor in order to add Ashley Sklar to membership on the Council

The March regular meeting of CTAC was adjourned at 6:59 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, CTAC secretary

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: March 2, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:00.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH),
George Alexander, Treasurer (H),
Don Levy, Secretary (H),
Johnes Ruta (NH).

Ashley Sklar

Joe Schofield, CTV, Sharon Codeanne, Comcast, Steve Gimmell, Frontier

The minutes for the February meeting were approved as submitted.

Sharon Codeanne of Comcast said the 15th Annual Comcast Cares Day will be held on Saturday, April 30 at New Haven’s Lincoln-Bassett School. Other Comcast outreach activities included sponsoring the Urban League Youth Forum in New Haven as well as the United Way New Haven “Read Across America” event on March 2. “Al Jezeera America” will be shut down on April 12. Steve Gimmell from Frontier said no progress has been made in cablecasting CTV programming over the Frontier system. Joe Schofield said he would reach out to the local Frontier office to express hjs and the Council’s disappointment in this regard and to seek a strong commitment to get CTV programs on the Frontier system as quickly as possible. Steve highlighted the fact that Frontier was sponsoring the New Haven St. Patrick’s Day Parade as well as the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk on May 7. Joe Schofield indicated that parking in the CTV lot has become difficult and that CTV will be installing a mechanized gate in order to maintain open spots for CTV personnel and visitor. Joe also indicated that the state budget shortfall was once again pirating funds paid by cable subscribers which had been earmarked for equipment grants via the PEGPETIA mechanism. Joe was also working with his colleagues statewide to establish (via new state legislation) a better formula to provide more consistent funding for the efforts of community cable program producers.

Johnes Ruta said he was about 90 percent finished getting the CTAC website migrated to the WordPress system. He was unable to indicate his charge to add functionality to the CTAC website so that community members could use the site to apply for the CTAC Video Excellence Grants to be awarded during 2016.

The March regular meeting of CTAC was adjourned at 7:09 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, CTAC secretary

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven
Meeting Date: February 3, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, February 3, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:11.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH), Peaches Quinn, Vice-Chair (NH), George Alexander, Treasurer (H)
Babz Rawls Ivy (NH), Don Levy, Secretary (H), Johnes Ruta (NH)

Ashley Sklar

Steve Gimmell, Frontier

The minutes for the January meeting were approved as submitted.

Steve Gimmell from Frontier said that although CTV programming is not yet available to Frontier cable customers Frontier has acquired the equipment necessary to add CTV programming to its channel line-up. Frontier needs to test the new equipment before it can be put in place. Steve anticipates this will have been accomplished by our March meeting.

Johnes indicated he was pleased with his progress on migrating the CTAC website to the WordPress platform. He acknowledges there were a few kinks remaining to be worked out. The Council decided that each member would examine the new website and submit feedback to Johnes by Wednesday, February 10. Once these final issues are resolved the Council expects to vote on providing the remaining funds to Johnes for his work on the project, perhaps as soon as the March meeting. Johnes also said that he would provide a new estimate of the cost for him to add functionality to the CTAC website so that community members could use the site to apply for the CTAC Video Excellence Grants to be awarded during 2016.

Chair Weinstein presented the 2015 Advisory Council Annual Report to be submitted to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. The council accepted the report as submitted. Chair Weinstein also submitted the 2016 Proposed CTAC Budget. The Council approved the 2016 Proposed Budget.

Don indicated that he would forward the draft press release to Babs Rawls Ivy as soon as the website was capable of processing grant applications.

The February regular meeting of CTAC was adjourned at 6:59 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, CTAC secretary

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven

Meeting Date: January 6, 2016

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at CTV Offices at 843 State Street, New Haven, Connecticut, on Wednesday, January 6, 2016. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:03.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH)

George Alexander, Treasurer (H)

Babz Rawls Ivy (NH)

Don Levy, Secretary (H)

Johnes Ruta (NH)

Sharon Codeanne, Comcast

Steve Gimmell, Frontier

Joe Schofield, CTV

Ashely Sklar, NH Free Public Library

The minutes for the December meeting were approved as submitted.

Sharon Codeanne submitted the COMCAST report. Six channels changed their names. George asked about a COMCAST salesperson who was unable to tell him the cost of standard COMCAST service after the proffered promotional rate expires. Sharon countered that promotional rates are always in flux and that COMCAST cannot provide the anticipated standard rate two years in advance.

Steve Gimmell presented the Frontier report. The report highlighted two community events including the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Parade in March sponsored by Frontier. The report also reiterated that Frontier is hiring locally and that it is providing some additional customers with higher transfer rates. Steve said that installing a new piece of equipment is the last major hurdle preventing CTV programming from being cablecast on the Frontier system. He indicated that he hopes to announce at the February meeting that adding CTV has been accomplished.

Joe Schofield reported that two years into the move to 843 State Street many new volunteer have been added primarily due to the frequent bus service to the location. He also reported that the City of New Haven recently refunded property taxes paid. He also indicated that the State of Connecticut seems unlikely to renew PEGPETIA funding and that as a consequence he is spearheading a move by many local cable programmers to revisit and to increase funding rates from money received from subscribers.

Johnes reported limited progress in moving the CTAC website from the Jumbla platform to the WordPress platform. He promised a much better report at the February meeting because he will have fewer competing work assignments. Don said that his work promoting the CTAC Video Grants program should wait until the new website had been established and pre-applications are available to be completed on the new site.

A discussion ensued regarding whether Ashley Sklar should be considered a voting member. Don indicated that CTAC would require a direct communication from New Haven Mayor Toni Harp appointing Ms. Sklar prior to her becoming a CTAC member. Don said he would write Mayor Harp to determine whom the Mayor will be appointing to the seat vacated by Martha Brogan.

The January regular meeting of CTAC was adjourned at 7:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, CTAC secretary

MINUTES of CTAC of Hamden, New Haven and West Haven

Meeting Date: December 8, 2015

Call to order: A regular monthly meeting of CTAC was held at App’s Ristorante, 283 Captain Thomas Blvd., West Haven, Connecticut, on Tuesday, December 8, 2015. President Tad Weinstein presiding. Don Levy, Secretary. Meeting called to order at 6:04 p.m.

Members in attendance:

Tad Weinstein, Chair (WH)

Peaches Quinn, Vice-Chair (NH)

George Alexander, Treasurer (H)

Babz Rawls Ivy (NH)

Don Levy, Secretary (H)

Johnes Ruta (NH)

The minutes for the November meeting were approved as submitted. No representatives of CTV, COMCAST or Frontier were present. No reports were submitted.

Tad indicated that he wouldcontact Steve Gimmell at Frontier to update the Council on the status of the long-delayed plans to have CTV programming available for viewing by Frontier cable customers.

With regard to an email from a member requesting that a substitute act in her stead, the Council reiterated its policy that only members appointed by the Mayors of member municipalities were eligible to cast votes. Furthermore, Chair Weinstein pointed out that CTAC bylaws state that any member missing three consecutive meetings would no longer be eligible to serve on the Council.

Johnes indicated that he had run into a snag and was unable to complete his work to migrate the CTAC website onto the new platform. He indicated that the migration would be completed by the January meeting.

Don indicated that he would wait to complete his draft of the news release regarding the CTAC Video Grant program until the website migration was complete and the Video Grant Application was up and running.

The December regular meeting of CTAC was adjourned at 6:43 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by D. Levy, CTAC secretary