Back to Cable Advisory Committee Minutes
6/25/2009
I. Call to order
Chairman Sandy Peavey called to order the regular meeting of the Cable Advisory Committee at 7 pm on June 25, 2009 at Hingham Town Hall.
II. Roll call
Eric Connerly conducted a roll call. The following persons were present: Sandra Peavey, Katy Gallagher-Wooley, Jim Dellot and Eric Connerly.
III. Minutes
Mr. Dellot proposed and Ms. Peavey seconded approval of the minutes for June 17-18 as well as revisions to the minutes of June 8-13. The final minutes were UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED
IV. Open issues
A. Wiring additional meeting rooms for broadcast from town hall
a. The committee made plans to coordinate all equipment purchase and installation with Steve Becker, head of IT for the town.
B. Potential locations of public access studio
a. Mr. Dellot raised the possibility of using the attic of town hall as a studio; potential occupancy issues were discussed
b. Mr. Dellot also raised the possibility of using the Trees and Parks building – using the upper, difficult to reach floor for servers and racks while saving the more easily accessed ground floor area for the studio and functional rooms. Potential parking solutions were also discussed.
c. Were a town building used, the potential for the studio paying rent to the town for use of space was also discussed.
C. Equipment for town hall
a. Mr. Dellot went over the results of three competitive bids for equipment to enable playback of recordings on channel 10 (government channel). Mr. Dellot endorsed acceptance of the bid from Access AV for $10,793, even though it was roughly $500 higher than the lowest bid, due to Access AV’s provision of additional training necessary to operate the playback system.
b. Mr. Dellot further suggested that the committee endorse purchase of an equivalent package for playback on the public access channel, so that the price could be fixed in advance of studio location selection.
c. Third, Mr. Dellot recommended that expenditure of roughly $15,000 be approved in order to allow contractors to evaluate equipment upgrades needed for the Selectmen’s room, with the final amount dependent on bids received for contractors.
d. Fourth, Mr. Dellot recommended seeking Selectmen approval of roughly $42,000 for purchase of a “studio in a box” including 3 cameras, a portable switcher and modulator for broadcasting other meetings in Town Hall on the Government channel.
D. Equipment for High School
a. Ms. Gallagher-Wooley recommended the committee seek the approval of the Selectmen for $27,629 of equipment for the Education channel, including a switcher and various audio equipment to enable the digitization of programming delivery on the Education channel.
E. Community support effort
a. Ms. Peavey agreed to coordinate efforts with Ms. Goebel to encourage various community service groups in Hingham to support continuation of townspeople’s access to a public access studio.
V. Adjournment
Ms. Peavey adjourned the meeting at 10:15 pm
Minutes submitted by: Eric Connerly
Minutes approved by: Hingham CAC