HACTAC MEETING MARCH 20, 2019

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

860-670-0442

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

extracreditcstudent@gmail.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

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the HACTAC March 20, 2019

 

 

Attendance:  

 

Bill Stephenson                                                           Claudette Miller

Alan Budkofsky                                                          Richard Ostop

Candace Fisher                                                           David Raney

Penny Leto                                                                  Brenda Saulnier

Matt Skane                                                                  Charles Jackson

 

Excused Absence:   

 

Zenobia Graham-Days                                               Jeff Stewart

Roger Goldbeck                                                          Ken Picard

 

Guest:   

 

None

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:00 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 Bill Stephenson and second by Dan Raney to accept the January minutes as presented.  Motion passed.  

 

Treasurer’s Report:

 

See Attached.  A motion was made by Alan Budkofsky and second by Brenda Saulnier to accept the January and February Treasurer’s report subject to audit.  Motion passed

 

 

Town Reports:

 

 

Bloomfield:

Alan reported that the new studio will be ready May 22.  Cannot move until the building is turned over to the town.  The studio is in the process of cleaning out and packing up the equipment.  Got rid of 3/4” tapes. 

 

East Hartford:

 

Brenda reported that they got through the budget season. 

 

Hartford:

 

See attached.

 

Simsbury:

 

Not much to report.  Still looking for bigger space.

 

West Hartford:

 

Candace and Roger attended the Alliance for Community Media.  They took away from it that everyone needs to look at their mission statements look at who they are and look where they are going.  The station changed their name and logo to West Hartford Community Interactive.

Jen has been involved with house bill 5486.  See attached information regarding the bill.

The station had their annual fund raiser.  They were able to meet their goal of $11,000.00 

Recorded pops and jazz at Hall High and presented all the budgets.

 

Windsor:

 

Dave reported that they are expecting about 125 people to their night of the Ollies.  Dave explained what the Ollies are all about.  In summary, it is used as an honorary event and a fund raiser.

 

COMCAST:

 

There have been a minimal number of updates. 

 

On the X1 remote you will be able to be interactive and vote on the World of Dance competition on TV.

 

The newsmakers program, promoting champions of Hartford area.  Taped at the CT Coalition to End Domestic Violence and Coalition to End Homelessness to talk about what is going on.  Matt will provide a link for anyone that would like to look at it if they like.

 

Comcast won the award for one of the best places to work in Connecticut.

 

On Feb. 8 Dave Ostop mailed Matt a payment check that he received along with a handwritten complaint that was received.  Dick passed on a copy of the complaint to Matt.  Matt advised that he did not receive the letter but he will be happy to look into it. 

 

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, (Video Advisory Council):

 

Alan reported that the Advisory Council is dealing with some complaints on Frontier.  If you cancel in the middle of the month, Frontier has been charging for the full month.  The State Advisory is looking into this. 

 

Dick sent a letter to PURA because his business phone has been out of service for over 2 weeks and every time he calls Frontier he has been getting nowhere.

 

They did offer to contribute $1,000.00 for the lobbyists. 

 

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)

 

See Attached.

 

 

HACTAC e-mail address:  hactac.org

 

Complaints:

 

No written complaints received.  Several phone call complaints received.  Most from Simsbury.  They see a Zoning Committee Meeting is going on and then the screen goes blank and then they get an error code; S0900.  Matt will look into.

 

Another complaint is that they will not be able to watch UConn games.  Will be on ESPN+ that you will need to subscribe to.  Cost estimate at this time is about $60.00 per year.

 

Matt reported that every cable provided will be faced with this problem.  Another programming cost that will need to be passed on.  It goes into effect 2020. 

 

Dick asked if Comcast has considered an ala cart ability to purchase the channels you want. 

 

Matt asked that if you get a complaint, get the persons phone number and reach out to him.  He will be more than happy to reach out to them. 

 

Dick advised that people state that they do not want to talk to Comcast, they want to talk to HACTAC. 

 

Candace reported that at 1:00 am her phone, tv and internet was down.  When she called Comcast she was told they were doing an upgrade between 1 -7 am.  Her point was that it could be very nerve racking to an elderly person to not have phone access as most burglaries and medial emergencies happen at that time. 

 

Old Business:

 

Dick asked the group what is HACTAC and what are they suppose to do.  Look back.  HACTAC is suppose to be the advisors, helpers etc.  He asked if the Board should go into the by-laws and go to the stations and remind them.

 

Alan felt that HACTAC could take a more active role in sending messages to our legislators for bills that effect the PEG stations and public TV.  HACTAC needs to have someone who looks up the upcoming bills and see if they effect the PEG stations.

 

Dick will check with the attorneys to see if this is something they can do. 

 

Jen asked if Dick could contact Kevin Witkos for help with the bills in the legislator.

 

New Business:

 

Penny brought up for discussion, if we lose PEG Petia funding, see if the stations can sell/use ads as a way to generate funds for the stations.  Can we look into a way to change legislation so that it can be done legally? 

 

 

 

What is the Towns responsibility for the public stations?  There is nothing in anyone’s laws or charters that states they must provide a location for the public station and help pay for it.  In recent years, funding from the Towns has gone away. 

 

 

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                   Meeting Cancelled due to inclement weather

March 20, 2019                       East Hartford, Town Hall Basement, 740 Main St

April 17, 2019                         Windsor – LP Wilson Community Center 599 Mantianuck Ave.

May 15, 2019                          Bloomfield 330 Park St.

June 19, 2019                         Hartford – Veeder Place 20-28 Sargeant St.

 

 

Adjournment:  As there was no additional business to come before the Board, a motion was made by Penny Leto and second by Claudette Miller to adjourn the meeting.  Meeting was adjourned at 8:02 pm.

 

 

Next Meeting and Location:

 

The next meeting will be in Windsor on April 17, 2019 starting at 7:00 pm. 

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