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Capital Outlay Committee
July 15, 2009 Meeting Minutes

Attending: Ron Kirven, Acting Chairman and Ray Eisenbies. Jonathan Asher and Andy Mooradian attended representing the Advisory Committee
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The meeting was called to order at 7:30 PM.

Ron Kirven deferred the Chairman’s position to Andy Mooradian for the meeting. Sandra Peavey, Katy Gallagher, Amy Goebel, Jim Dellot, Eric Connerly and Eric Gauthier representing the Cable TV Advisory Committee (CTAC) presented a request for six separate capital items. Laura Burns, Board of Selectmen, attended as well.

The committee recommended to the Board of Selectmen the acquisition of three of the six items from cable revenues as follows:

• Up to $11,000 for playback equipment in the town hall so that recorded meetings could be played back on Channel 10. The second part of the request, a second piece of playback equipment, was not advisable at this time because it was related to the “public access” channel, a concept not thoroughly vetted at this time.
  
• Up to $6,000 for editing equipment as outlined in the CTAC memo because of concurrent training on equipment outlined in Item 1.
  
• Up to $15,000 to upgrade the broadcast functionality of the equipment in the Selectmen’s room. It is not “broken” in traditional terms but broadcast quality is well below reasonable expectations.

Overall, the Committee was receptive to all the CTAC recommendations and would like to commend them on their fine work in a changing environment. However, the Committee felt that it needed more information before it could recommend the remaining three items, along with a second set of playback equipment for the “public access” channel.

The Committee would like to know the long term plans for a “studio in a box” before committing funding and would also like to know more about the wiring of all Town Hall meeting rooms, the associated labor costs to tape and air the meetings and how other boards and commissions view having meetings broadcast and taped. Finally, the Committee would like to receive a more detailed listing of the equipment that is currently in the High School and Middle School before beginning a replacement program for that equipment. Specifically, the Committee would like to know the types of equipment currently in use, their functions and life expectancies.

The Committee elected Ray Eisenbies as the Chairman of the Capital Outlay Committee.

The Committee elected Lucy Hancock as the Secretary of the Capital Outlay Committee.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted

Ray Eisenbies, Secretary