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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001/05/10 - ADMIN - Minutes - Community Technology Advisory Commission - RegularOFFICIAL MINUTES ST. LOUIS PARK TELECOMMUNICATIONS ADVISORY COMMISSION MAY 10, 2001 7:00PM ST. LOUIS PARK SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL MEMBERS PRESENT: Bruce Browning, Rick Dworsky, Dale Hartman, Ken Huiras, Bob Jacobson, Mary Jean Overend MEMBERS ABSENT: John Herbert STAFF PRESENT: Reg Dunlap, Civic TV Coordinator, John McHugh, Community TV Coordinator OTHERS PRESENT; Charlie Fiss, St. Louis Park High School Video Technician, and Tom Marble, School District Technology Coordinator 1. Call to order Chair Huiras called the meeting to order at 7:05pm. 2. Roll Call Present at roll call were Ken Huiras, Bruce Browning, Dale Hartman, and Bob Jacobson. Mary Jean Overend arrived at 7:06pm and Rick Dworsky arrived at 7:20pm. 3. Approval of minutes for December 7, 2000 Moved by Bruce Browning, seconded by Bob Jacobson. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Adoption of Agenda Moved by Bob Jacobson, seconded by Bruce Browning. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Old Business--None 6. New Business A. School District funding for 2001 Mr. Dunlap said that perhaps this is the year to fix the annual grant process, which in the past has varied between extremely informal and micro-management. He said that Commissioner John Herbert was unable to attend, but wanted this comment passed along: that he (Commissioner Herbert) would be willing to assist drafting an agreement to specify the expectations of the School District and City, since he has worked on similar agreements in the past. Mr. Marble said the School District is trying to get a clear understanding of what is needed for this grant. Mr. Fiss said that he receives more calls now requesting information on when programs will be run. Mr. Marble described how the classroom instruction and program production has improved as a result of the grants for new equipment in the last few years. One goal is to begin producing a video yearbook again with contributions from many students, a contrast to earlier versions where a few very motivated students did all the work. Mr. Fiss said that the new digital camcorders and editing equipment have made a huge difference with the students, as reported on end of year surveys: it’s easier to learn and they are being productive and having fun with it. Commissioner Jacobson said that the money was well spent, that this feedback was needed by the Commission, and asked what else can be done to help? Mr. Marble said that the focus to date has been on the Senior High School, and that he would like to put similar equipment in place at the other schools. The schools already have the I Mac computers and the editing software comes with it, so what they need are digital camcorders and additional computer storage for the editing works in progress. Mr. Fiss described other equipment that was in poor condition: the studio video switcher and cameras that date to 1987 and 1991. He would like to add a teleprompter to the studio, which would help doing a student news show, and buy a higher quality digital camcorder and tripod for staff to use to record events. Mr. Marble said the goal was to use the 2nd studio space as a TV studio again, which is currently used for storage. The distance learning project ended a while back when state grant funding was cut and the Picture Tel codec ceased working. He said in past years, the franchise fee grant was used to pay students to cable cast shows, which is no longer done because of the automated system purchased by franchise fees several years ago. But Mr. Marble would like to start paying students to cover events, so there is a core group of skilled students that can be counted on. Commissioner Overend asked how much increase they were asking for? Mr. Fiss said about $15,000 for equipment, including: Studio video switcher $4,800 Fluid head tripod 400 Camcorder for staff 3,000 Teleprompter 3,000 2 student camcorders 1,600 4 external hard drives for editing storage 2,100 Total equipment request $14,900 Commissioner Overend asked if there was a plan over a few years for new equipment, and if the specific request could be put in writing. Mr. Fiss said yes to both, and that the request would be forwarded to the Cable TV office before the end of the school year. Commissioner Jacobson asked if there were any conditions on how the equipment will be used. Mr. Marble said it would be stipulated in the future, as it is now, that the equipment is used to produce programming for the District’s channel. He also said that he could provide a breakdown of how all grant funds have been spent, to allay concerns about accountability. Commissioner Dworsky said he would like to see a strategy to equip the second TV studio, and Mr. Marble said that would be developed. Mr. Dunlap asked for the Commission’s opinion of the discussion, to expedite action at the next meeting in August after review of the District’s specific proposal. The consensus was expressed by Commissioners Browning and Huiras, that they liked the direction we were heading. B. School District request for a second educational access channel John McHugh said that the consensus gathered in talks & emails with Mr. Fiss that an uninterruptable power supply (UPS)was the most important missing component that the District needed to provide full time NASA coverage on the proposed second School District dedicated channel, and that the City proposed to buy one along with the signal generating equipment needed to provide the channel. Mr. Marble said that even a UPS wouldn’t help with the loss of electrical service that would occur July 4-8 while the building is being remodeled. Commissioner Overend asked what else, in addition to NASA, would be seen on a second School District channel? Mr. Marble said the missions usually run for 8- 10 days, and that NASA has other programming as well. Commissioner Overend said that community health care was an area of great need, and could be an important part of a new channel. Chair Huiras asked what needed to be done, since the franchise says the District is entitled to 2 more channels. Mr. McHugh said historically, Time Warner has added other channels after the new year, so it shouldn’t be hard to add another PEG channel. How rapidly they can provide one is unknown. It depends if the City paid TWC for new or used channel modulators. Chair Huiras said to get the clock running and send the required request, and the rest of the Commission concurred. C. NASA/MNDOT This was mostly covered in the previous item. Mr. McHugh said MNDOT had been on channel 96 for months and had been more reliable lately, but not yet reliable enough for morning drive time when no staff is around to reset the Windows NT computer, which frequently loses its internet connection. D. High Definition TV & Must Carry rules as applied to cable systems Mr. Dunlap reports that standards are still being negotiated, but that some cable systems are offering HBO in high definition. This item will be updated at a later meeting. E. Legislative update Mr. Dunlap said that six St. Louis Park officials would attend the May 19 MACTA Legislative Luncheon, including Councilmember Chris Nelson. F. Election of Officers Commissioner Jacobson moved the same slate as last year; Commissioner Dworsky seconded. Unanimously re-elected were Chair Ken Huiras and Vice- Chair Bruce Browning. 7. Reports 8. Communications from the Chair Chair Huiras requested that one additional item be added to the August 9 agenda, that the Time Warner Customer Service Manager (Deb Squire) be invited to attend the meeting to give an update for the Commission. 9. Communications from City staff Mr. Dunlap said Time Warner has supplied free cable TV to the Cop Shop at TexaTonka and has installed Roadrunner high speed online service for an ongoing rate of about $140 per month. Mr. McHugh distributed a draft copy of the Community TV newsletter which will be sent soon. Mr. McHugh also raised the issue of a Time Warner outage on January 30 which cut off service (except local channels 14, 15, 17 & 96) to all of St. Louis Park from 4:30pm – 8:30pm, and was not listed on their monthly report. Commissioner Jacobson recommended that staff draft a letter to Time Warner asking why the outage wasn’t listed and asking what steps were being taken to prevent similar problems in the future. Commissioner Browning concurred. 10. Adjournment Motion passed at 9:13pm. The majority of the Commission and staff took a brief tour of the School District’s edit stations to examine the gear purchased with franchise fees last summer. Respectfully submitted by: Reg Dunlap Civic TV Coordinator