HACTAC MEETING OCTOBER 17, 2018

SIGN IN SHEET

 

NAME

TOWN

E-MAIL ADDRESS

PHONE NUMBER

Attend

Absent

Matt Skane

(Comcast)

Matt_Skane@Comcast.com

860-505-3349

 

x

Alan Budkofsky

Bloomfield

abudkofskycommittee@outlook.com

860-202-3077

x

 

Candace Fisher

West Hartford

QFQ118@hotmail.com

 

 

x

Roger Goldbeck

West Hartford

Goldbeck54@gmail.com

860-521-0838

x

 

Zenobia Graham-Days

Bloomfield

zgrahamd@gmail.com

860-778-8383

 

x

Charles Jackson

Windsor

cwindsorj@yahoo.com

860-604-9528

 

x

Penny Leto

Hartford

Penbar3@gmail.com

860-232-6674

x

 

Claudette Miller

East Hartford

wcmiller91@aol.com

860-528-1160

 

x

Richard Ostop

Simsbury

marshalreo@sbcglobal.net

860-658-2739

x

 

Ken Picard

Simsbury

kenpicard@comcast.net

860-651-4320

x

 

David Raney

Windsor

raneyda@comcast.net

860-668-2943

x

 

Andrea Seldon

Bloomfield

absdst75@gmail.com

860-243-0204

x

 

Brenda Saulnier

East Hartford

safirerose@att.net

860-528-4808

x

 

William Stephenson

Windsor

billtech@comcast.net

 

 

x

Jeffrey Stewart

Hartford

Jstew59@aol.com

860-522-9050

x

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GUEST NAME

COMPANY AFFILITATION

E-MAIL ADDRESS

PHONE NUMBER

Gil Martinez

HPATV

gmartinez@hpatv.org

860-539-1678

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the HACTAC October 17, 2018

 

 

Attendance:  See Above

 

Excused Absence:   See Above

 

Absent:   See Above

 

Guest:   See Above

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm

 

Note:  All attachments referenced in these minutes are available either on mentioned e-mail addresses or at your public library; or questions to the DPUC may be addressed to peter.pescosolido@po.state.ct.us.        

 

Minutes:

 

A motion was made by Dave Raney and second by Penny Leto to accept the September minutes as presented.  Motion passed.  

 

Treasurer’s Report:

 

See Attached.  A motion was made by Alan Budkofsky second by Jeff Stewart to accept the September Treasurer’s report subject to audit.  Motion passed

 

Town Reports:

 

Bloomfield:

Alan reported that the station is doing a couple of events working with seniors and high school children getting them to help with the operation of the cameras.  Progressing with the new building; should be done by next June.  They are trying to raise money to assist with the cost of the move. 

 

East Hartford:

Not much going on.  Barely making ends meet like everyone.  Working on various programs.  They had a program called Wally’s World which featured a little dog but unfortunately he passed away this year.  Looking for a new dog to replace.

 

Hartford:

Gil welcomed everyone.  Recently installed new carpeting at the station.  Everyone is going through the funding crises.  The Municipality cut their funding by 16k.  Needed to restructure what they are doing at city hall.  They also have cut positions to help with the budget and as people leave, they have not replaced them.  Not receiving money from PegPetia has also hit all the stations significantly.  Have to find new ways to raise money so that they can upgrade and keep equipment running.

 

Board of Directors were able to negotiate a new 3 year lease that included painting and installing the new carpet at the station.  Starting to run the station more as a business.  They now have a sponsor to help with costs. 

 

Every quarter they will be looking for new corporate sponsors.  The sponsorship is only $2,500.00, not much but it helps with the budget.  Partnering with the University of Hartford so that students come in and do a one (1) year internship. 

 

Gil stated that when you acknowledge the sponsor, there are no ads.  Hartford is just showing the brand, no address and no phone number. 

 

The station did receive a grant that has allowed them to purchase new computers and equipment that gives them the ability to stream live tv and transmit wirelessly from the field.  The grant has also enabled them to pay for a new website.  Gil stated that MA access stations are funded much better than the CT stations.   Through the grant, it has allowed Hartford to benefit from MA’s experience for developing their website.  It is only going to cost the station $4,600 to upgrade their system. 

 

HPATV received an award this past Saturday.  The award was presented for a documentary the station did on the solar project that was developed by Hartford students that allowed a village in Nepal to have electricity for the first time. 

 

One thing they the station has always fought for from Comcast is to have a HD channel and to be on the channel guide.  They are always asking for these issues to be addressed.  They have always been told that they were not HD capable but now they are. 

 

Dick advised that Hartford has three (3) empty seats for the HACTAC Board.  One from the Hartford Board of Education and two from Hartford. 

 

Simsbury:

There was a volunteer event in Sept.  Working with the public library to install cameras.  The station is working on a fund raising letter. 

 

There are no plans to move the station at this time.  There was a room at the current location that was being used for storage that has been cleaned out.  It has now become an editing room.

 

West Hartford:

Roger reported that Jen is questioning how Comcast counts the number of members and the reimbursement received.  VT has filed a suit that they are being shortchanged. 

 

Gil reported that the quarterly funding they received most recently, the numbers have gone down.  Last year the numbers went down even more significantly. 

 

Roger reported that WH lost 170 subscribers between July and Sept. according to Comcast. 

 

Main thing they have been filming has to deal with the elections and the League of Woman Voters.  All the candidates are encouraged to come in and do a profile.

 

Emanual Synagogue did a meet a greet for all candidates running for governor.  The station did film it.

 

West Hartford did a recording on hoarding and also on opiod use.  On Nov 1 at 8:00 pm there will be reading of Jacque LaMears Murder on the Access Express.  Suggested donation will be $10.00. 

 

West Hartford police are doing some in service training and the station will be filming it. 

 

Windsor:

Dave reported that they have been busy.  They are broadcasting 24 hours.  Looking for money.  Going to the community.  Next week on the 31st they will have fright night.  All the communities participate.  All the kids come in their costumes.

 

Library on next Monday will have a cut your cable night.

 

COMCAST:

Nothing

 

NOTE:All complete reports appear in the DPUC reports available on-line from the DPUC.  See below for e-mail address.

 

Committee Reports:

 

Frontier/State Advisory Council:

Alan reported that they have been pretty quiet.  Trying to bring legal action against the State for the loss of the PegPetia grant.  Working on trying to get legal students to work on it in order to keep the costs down.  All members are crying about fees.  The movement is away from cable to the internet.  Revenue is going down due to people going to the internet from cable.

 

Legislative Committee Report:

 

Nothing to report.

 

Public Relations Committee Report:

 

Nothing to report. 

 

Nominating Committee:

 

Nothing to report.

 

Chairman’s Report:  Most memos concerning the DPUC are available on the web-site for the DPUC (www.state.ct.us/dpuc/database/htm)

 

Dick did call PURA asking them to attend the meeting.  Received an e-mail back that they would get back to him.  Included in the e-mail they requested a list of topics.  Once HACTAC sends them a list of topics, they will advise if they fall within the guidelines of PURA. 

 

PURA info is attached

 

See Attached.

 

Gil asked how many stations there are in CT.  Maybe if each station contributed some funding, they would be able to higher a lobbyist to try and bring the PegPetia grant back.  Jeff asked if we were still members of the Alliance of Community Media.  Gil has reached out to them, but has not heard back with a response to his question. 

 

Gil will make a phone call to see if Sullivan and LaShane will be available to do a presentation on what they can do for the stations once we do some additional investigating.

 

Penny stated we should step back a bit and decide what they want us to help us with. 

 

Jeff asked to see if our lawyer can investigate the CPTV charter and see how they are set up. 

 

HACTAC e-mail address:  hactac.org

 

Complaints:

No official written complaints received.

 

Old Business:

Dick thanked Ken for putting the new website together.  Please take a look at it.  New website address is hactac.org

 

New Business:

Dick reviewed the Board openings for each of the stations.

 

When the meeting is set up with the State Reps, the Board will invite the station managers and encourage them to attend so that their needs can be addressed with the State Reps.

 

We will invite Sullivan and LaShane, to do a presentation at the next meeting.  Station managers will be invited to attend.

 

We may go into an executive session meeting at 7:00 to listen to the lobbyist at the next meeting.  After that meeting, we will go into our normal meeting.     

 

 

Schedule 2018-2019:

 

Sept. 19, 2018                         Simsbury Library 725 Hopmeadow St.,

October 17, 2018                    Hartford – Veeder Place 20-28 Sargeant St.

November 28, 2018               West Hartford Town Hall 50 South Main St.

December                                No Meeting

January 16, 2019                     Holiday Meeting

February 20, 2019                   West Hartford – Town Hall 50 South Main St.

March 20, 2019                       Windsor – LP Wilson Community Center 599 Mantianuck Ave.

April 17, 2019                         Bloomfield 330 Park St.

May 15, 2019                          Hartford – Veeder Place 20-28 Sargeant St.

June 19, 2019                        

 

 

Adjournment:  As there was no additional business to come before the Board, a motion was made by Penny Leto and second by Jeff Stewart to adjourn the meeting.  Meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm.

 

 

Next Meeting and Location:

 

The next meeting will be November 28th at 7:00 pm in West Hartford Town Hall, 50 South Main St.  

 

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