HACTAC MEETING MAY 16, 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

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minutes of the HACTAC Meeting of May 16, 2018

 

 

Attendance:  See Above

 

Excused Absence:   See Above

 

Absent:   See Above

 

Guest:   See Above

 

The meeting was called to order at 7pm

 

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 Alan Budkofsky and second by Jeff Stewart to accept the April minutes as presented Motion passed.  

 

Treasurer’s Report:

 

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

 

 

 

Town Reports:

 

 

Bloomfield:

The Bloomfield CATV elected new positions.   They are moving forward with the new building.  Howard is trying to get some help for the station.  He is trying ways work with the school system to enlist more student participation & assistance perhaps by compensating their volunteer work as academic credit or community service.  Howard told Zenobia  Bloomfield’s report is posted on the PURA website. 

 

New Officers Alan is the president. Wayne Hippolite VP, new members Jo Suggs & Eric Coleman.

 

 

East Hartford:

Same old.  3 Board members who are the 3 volunteers. Busy summer concert season.  They are having to turn away things because they don’t have enough volunteers to cover. 

 

 

 

Hartford:

Gil Martinez HPATV’s Executive Director reported quite a lot going on thanks to a committed board.  It’s been a struggle for financial reasons because of the state & city’s financial crisis.  But Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has been generous & HPATV was able to get a PEGPETIA Grant in 2015.  It is their 3 year big ask to the Hartford Foundation so they are gearing up for another big ask for operating support caused in large part by dwindling monies coning from COMCAST & FRONTIER with more people cutting the cord on cable & the demise of the PEGPETIA Grants.

 

They are implementing a fee for service production program & looking at corporate sponsorships.  They recently submitted a revenue development plan thanks to a Technical Assistance Grant through the Hartford Foundation. Just submitted a strategic technologies grant proposal to the Hartford Foundation for wireless broadcast technology which would allow them to go live from the field. A brand new Website redesign is in the works which is going to be done by the same web site developer as the Newtv.org website, as well as new computers for staff which is long overdue & would allow them to better serve their community in terms of being a multimedia center.

 

They have 2 new graphic equalizers in their control room now that allows them to do more music productions. It allows them to focus on original artist productions & get rid of the hum which reverberates though the concrete from the 3rd floor heat pump. This allows them to go live & eliminates post production editing to get rid of it. Streamline’s the whole process.

 

A new coat of paint coming throughout the facility & new carpeting which was negotiated as a part of their new lease agreement.  The station will be transformed into an art gallery. They’ll have open houses & really make the station open to the community which is one of the biggest pieces of feedback they got when they did their environmental scan which is part of the process of their strategic technology plan. 

 

The new revenue development plan is in place. A lot of new innovated ways to reach out & get monies.  They met Paula Giberto of United Way so they’re are now registered with them.  They have their own designation code.

 

They’ve done a lot of professional development thanks to a program from the Hartford Foundation.  It required 4 of the board to go & get this training. It then qualified them for 35 hrs of free consulting. So the same associates that did their training, revenue development plan & strategic plan basically helped them to recruit new board members & train those new board members.  So now they’re up to eleven.  They have a couple of inactive board members due to retirement & medical reasons but they are actively recruiting.  Actually Leadership Greater Hartford Leaders On Board Program works really well it’s like Speed Dating for non-profits. They’re currently interviewing a gentleman from UHA which is great because they have a strategic partnership with UHA.  UHA has invested $37,000 on new TV set which opened 3 weeks ago.   So they are doing a lot of productions with the students. They’re doing a cinematography & production program this summer with their best students & are going to be with HPATV as free lancers.  This is very exciting because summer is their busiest time in terms of productions. 

 

Just did their financial audit it went very well.  Just finished their 990 report to the IRS. 

 

Got a $5,000 sponsorship from St. Francis Hospital to produce the Cooking Matters show which is a six episode series which they did & finished all about cooking & eating healthy.

 

Chairman Ofstop suggested perhaps East Hartford should look into some of these innovated partnerships with schools to help with their volunteer issues. 

 

City budget hearings are wrapping up.

 

Working on the Nate Paul documentary project with Hartford High Green Technology students.

 

Also did a Hurricane Maria relief mission documentary which will be released soon.

 

Also documenting the Hartford Rib Off weekend of June 15 & 16th.  Next year’s their 10th annual.

 

Thanks to West Hartford Jennifer Evans, they were able to demo wireless broadcasting at the Yard Goats opening day last year.  It was a test to see if it worked well with their system.  They’re now investing into it with a grant. It will allow them to go live from the field in HD so they are not competing with the newsrooms of the world.

 

 

Simsbury:

Not much to report, been very busy with budgets, graduations.  Looking forward to the summer programs.   The PURA report has been filed.

 

 

West Hartford:

Jen has been working & held a special meeting with the board to look for ideas for fundraisers.  Roger has not heard back any of the results yet.  Looking for creative ways to get funds. 

 

June 2nd WECTV will do their first 5K.  The following weekend Celebrate West Hartford takes place. WHCTV is busy with live streaming TV and this year Jen is having a booth.  They will try to do some sort of a green screen ride.  Obviously they are covering the Memorial Day parade, graduations from some of the High Schools, Downtown Council & Board of Education meetings.  Also there is a new police chief coming on & they are going to do his swearing in ceremony live May 29th

 

 

 

 

Windsor:

They have had a really interesting couple of weeks their video server went down.  The company is looking at it & reviewing what they can do with it.  It’s about 15,000-20,000 worth of costs. It goes off sporadically.  Big expense for them. They have a Fund raising committee.  They meet monthly & looking at different kinds of things they can do to get money in to replace this.  This weekend there is going to be a big event in the middle of the town with about 2,000 people.  They’ll be having a booth selling T-shirts & other kinds of goodies.    The committee is trying to all kinds of things to try & save their station which is the bottom line. 

 

Getting ready for summer programs & graduations.

 

Also put a grant into the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to replace the server.  Dave’s not sure what’s happened with that.  It was noted they have emergency procedures for grants of those kinds (emergency) they can turn it around pretty quick. 

 

Just a side note Simsbury has lifelike statues turning Simsbury into a walkable art exhibit.

There are 23 works by the sculptor Seward Johnson, who's known for making real-life bronze statues depicting people doing day-to-day activities. The hope is that by bringing art by a known and renowned artist to the streets of Simsbury, they'll attract more visitors to the town, in turn benefiting local businesses. The sculptures will be on display around Simsbury from May 15 through Sept. 15.

SCTV plans Dick believes, to take a shot of each one of them they are unbelievable.  They look like real people.  They’re at the post office, library all over town.

 

 

 

COMCAST:

They will be coming for two meeting a year now.  Matt Skane has updated us by email of any issues or changes in-between those times.  Any issues or complaints we receive between those times he attends will be forwarded to him by email or in writing.

 

Dick hears they are going to fight for statewide franchise.   

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Committee Reports:

None

 

 

Frontier/State Advisory Council:

Alan reported that the fact that the franchise was up for renewal is untrue.  They said no it is not up for renewal.  It just continues.  Dick offered to stop in PURA’s office to get more information.

 

All the complaints we hear at our meetings are the same everywhere all over the state. The biggest one being the dollars.  Finding money to support the stations & programming is getting increasingly more difficult particularly with State & Local support being challenged & the PEGPETIA Grant program gone

 

 

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)

 

No written complaints. 

 

PURA info is attached. 

 

See Attached.

 

 

HACTAC e-mail address:  HACTAC@yahoo.com

 

Complaints:

None

 

 

Old Business:

Last meeting it was discussed about doing a summer picnic meeting to replace our annual HOLIDAY Dinner that was cancelled due to bad weather.  Dick did some research.  Dick went to the Tavern in Keney Park.  It was very nice.  The lady in charge Amanda turns out to be at the country club.  So to make a long story short for $30 each including tax/tip, we would get cheese & crudités, then a huge choice of entrees, salad, and berry parfait.    This would be for the 20th at 6:30pm at the Tavern.  HACTAC pays for this.  It would include members, Station Managers & we should ask the Managers to ask their board president and/or a member of their board and a station volunteer to attend.  It was suggested we invite our legal team to come as well, Comcast & PURA Commissioner, even though they may say no due to conflict of interest.  Like to have 20-25 people attend. 

 

A motion was made by Alan Budkofsky and second by Jeff Stewart for June 20th, 6:30-6:45pm to go to Keney Park Tavern Motion passed.  

 

RSVP’s must be in by June 8th, with dinner choice.  $100 deposit needs to be put down. 

 

Has there been any changes to the WEB site?  We haven’t been sending the minutes so that should change.  Vitali is willing to update the site but hasn’t been getting info.  Ken did look into re-doing it but it was thought to give it a couple of more months with Vitali to see if we can get caught up before spending more money.

 

 

New Business:

Stations are really struggling with funding.  Everyone is scrambling for creative ways to recoup funds that have been lost, are drying up & are needed to continue & grow the programming for community TV.  Folks should share any new ideas they have or hear about.

 

Certain forms of fundraising are not supposed to take place i.e. advertisements. But the Community TV stations are finding themselves is in desperate state.  We should help locally.  CPTV does advertise & have fundraising campaigns.  We may need to look into ways to help the Community TV stations.  Sponsorships of shows vs. merchandising advertising. 

 

The economy has changed so much we have to find ways to assist the stations.  Roger stated he believed that there was a station that had run into financial difficulties & that PURA indicated to them that there was an expectation that stations are supposed to maintain 6 months - one year of operating funds on hold for each year.

 

Stations are wondering “What can HCTAC do for our stations?”  At one of our next meetings perhaps we need to contact our 6 towns’ state reps & say hey guys what can you do to help? 

Jeff Stewart suggested we need to have something to give them.  We can’t just have them sit in a listen & ask what can they do.  We need to be specific with requests and/or suggestions.  Like we want to change the state statutes so our community tv stations can do the same thing CPTV does with sponsorships & direct fundraising. This would help all the stations.

 

At our September meeting we need to come up with a list of items, an exact proposal to present to the state representatives & PURA to help the community access stations.  All HACTAC members should go back to their station managers & ask what kinds of things they would like us to put on the table as part of a proposal. 

 

 

A motion was made by Jeff Stewart and second by Penny Leto to utilize the September meeting to come up with specific requests and/or suggestions like wanting to change the state statutes so the community stations can do similar fundraising that CPTV does the Motion passed.  

 

 

 

 

Schedule 2017-2018:

 

Sept. 20, 2017                      

October 18, 2017                  East Hartford Town Hall basement 740 Main St.

November 15, 2017              Simsbury – Simsbury Library Hopmeadow St.

December                               No Meeting

January 17, 2018                  Holiday Meeting

February 21, 2018                West Hartford – Town Hall 50 South Main St.

March 21, 2018                     Windsor – LP Wilson Community Center 599 Mantianuck Ave.

April 18, 2018                       Bloomfield 330 Park St.

May 16, 2018                        Hartford – Veeder Place 20-28 Sargeant St.

June 20, 2018                        Comcast – 222 New Park Drive, Berlin

New Schedule for Next Year

 

Schedule 2018-2019:

 

Sept. 19, 2018                      

October 17, 2018                  East Hartford Town Hall basement 740 Main St.

November 21, 2018             Day before Thanksgiving Simsbury Library Hopmeadow St.

December                               No Meeting

January 16, 2019                  Holiday Meeting

February 22, 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                         Comcast – 222 New Park Drive, Berlin

 

 

Adjournment:  As there was no additional business to come before the Board, a motion was made by Jeff Stewart and second by Alan Budkofsky to adjourn the meeting.  Meeting was adjourned at 8:50 pm.

 

 

Next Meeting and Location:

 

The next meeting will be at Keney Park Tavern starting at 6:30 PM.

 

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