January 6, 2016 Minutes

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