MINUTES
ACTV Board of Directors’ Meeting
Thursday, April 10, 2008, 7:30 pm

Call to Order: 8:12 pm, Isaac BenEzra presiding

Board Members present: Isaac BenEzra, Anna Carter, Josna Rege, Alan Root, Eduardo       Suarez, Ruth Backes

Board Members Absent: Kathleen Anderson, Frank Gatti, Kathleen Anderson, Paulette        Brooks

Quorum status: This constitutes a quorum of the Board.

Also present: Lauren Goldrich (camera), Derek Cuneo (control room), Jim Lescault (ED)

Treasurer’s Report  (February Budget Report)                
Treasurer Anna Carter presented the February 2008 budget report.  Comcast payment received; membership up, sales up, donations down; expenses below budget predictions. Ms. Carter recommended that Office Expenses category be broken down into additional categories for Insurance and Professional Fees.
MOTION
A motion was made and seconded to:
Accept the Treasurer’s Report, subject to audit.
The motion passed unanimously.

Approval of March Minutes                           
Clerk Josna Rege presented the March minutes for approval.
MOTION
A motion was made and seconded to:
Approve the March 2008 Minutes, with inclusion of ED report.
 The motion passed unanimously.

Executive Director’s Report (see full ED report below)                                               
            MOTION
A motion was made and seconded to:
            To approve Board and Staff participation in the May 2008 ACM Annual             Conference in Providence, RI, with a subsequent report to the Board,      subject to approval of the expenses by the Executive Committee.
   The motion passed unanimously.

Gretchen Saathoff has prepared a spreadsheet showing that, since July 2007, ACTV Community Calendar has served 125 Community organizations. A brief discussion ensued as to the proper format in which to submit PSAs and Community Calendar items.

Committee Reports                                                              
Technology Committee
Jeff Lee reported on the Tech. Committee activities since last meeting. The meeting discussed of possible Media Access Coordinator job description presented by the ED.
Report on technical specs of the current web server. Discussion of a possible ACTV move to the Town’s web server.  ED will meet with Kris Pacunas on this issue. Wireless internet is to be installed at the station. Josna Rege inquired about the functionality of the live feed on the Amherst Town Common, with all the upcoming summer events. Jim Lescault said that there was some question about whether it had ever been installed, and that he would look into it.
The Technology Committee has been looking to expand the Tech. Committee and has proposed John Bruner, of Hampshire College. President BenEzra has approved the appointment. Jim Lescault presented some background on Mr. Bruner’s extensive experience and areas of technical expertise. Anna Carter asked whether Hampshire College has the ability to view ACTV. Mr. Lescault replied that they do, and that a number of Hampshire students have become involved in ACTV, and an exciting partnership is developing.
Report accepted unanimously.

Personnel Committee
            MOTION
            A motion was made and seconded to:
ratify the Executive Committee decision to approve the Personnel Committee    recommendation for a wage increase for Staff Assistant Darol Bishop; and to      approve a second  Personnel Committee recommendation for a wage increase           for Staff Assistant Lauren Goldrich.
   The motion passed unanimously.

By-laws Committee
Anna Carter reported that the By-law committee had been meeting regularly, and would be ready to present its recommendations to the Board by June 1st.
Report accepted unanimously.

Outreach/Membership Committee
Josna Rege presented the report of the Committee’s last two organizing meetings.
Isaac BenEzra suggested an Outreach/Membership table at the Amherst Farmer’s Market. Possibility of a live show at the May 3rd opening of the Amherst Farmer’s Market.
Anna Carter reminded the Board that in the past, ACTV has had a booth at the Taste of Amherst. Alan recommended a roving camera.
Report accepted unanimously.

President’s/Executive Committee Report                        
Isaac BenEzra reported briefly on the Executive Committee meetings with Jim Lescault since the March meeting.

Executive Session

Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 9:07 pm.

Executive Director’s Report
To the
ACTV Board of Directors
April 10, 2008

Outreach:
Met with:

• Patty Brandts and Jack @ ACTV putting a testimony video together for honoree, Ned Markert for June 5th Annual Mtg          
• Michael Keston Engineer on design for Bids on Town Room
• Amy Zukerman, Valleywood, future interactions and possible studio shoots
• Marcus Demaio, certified Final Cut Pro trainer, for conducting ACTV trainings
• Alice and Mary Jane @ LWV Live Shoot on Elections Night
• Bob Flannery, STCC communications student, @ intern position during summer
• Valerie Hill, Mass. College of Liberal Arts, communication student, @ intern during summer
• Lauren Goldrich, Production Assistant, @ hours and conducting trainings
• Carlos Fontes, @ conducting field equipment trainings
• Group of 8 West Springfield residents, @ how to go about establishing an access center in West Springfield
• Marla Michel, Director, Research Liaison and Development, UMASS @ regional technology group, future interactions
• Chamber of Commerce’s marketing committee @ ideas for ongoing shows and issue of underwriting
• Jon Reske, Vice President, Marketing, UMASS Five College Federal Credit Union, @ ideas for trainings/information on credit issues shot in studio
• Rotary Club, follow-up to Plymouth auction, discussion on setting up trainings for members on studio cameras
• 250th Anniversary of Amherst, Marketing Committee, @ how ACTV will help in getting the year long messages out to the public, ideas included a round table discussion with area experts on themes that would be covered during the following month
• John Bruner, Hampshire College, @ becoming a member of the Technology Committee
• Maya Gounard, Hampshire student, @ her proposal to the College to teach digital animation to youth, ages 11-16 at ACTV during the summer
• ACTV Executive Committee, @ personnel and creation of new position
• Adam Quiros, certified Final Cut Pro training @ conducting trainings at ACTV
• ACTV By-law committee
• Molly Mead, Amherst College Civic Engagement, @ ACTV proposal
• Dr. Jan Servaes, Chair, Communications Dept. UMASS, @ future interactions between ACTV and his Dept

Personnel:
Lauren Goldrich, Production Assistant, recently conducted a training workshop for six new members in need of field equipment exposure.  Lauren also scheduled and conducted a field equipment workshop for the newest Video Vanguard members.  I submitted to the Personnel Committee a request that we increase Lauren’s hourly rate and limit her weekly hours to 20 hours/week.

I have interviewed four potential production people for either teaching specific workshops and/or part time help in production coordination.

I have been giving serious consideration on our job descriptions in regards to future initiatives such as the move towards being a Media Center.  I have submitted a draft job descriptions based on Cambridge Access and other sources to use as a primer for the new position, possible called Media Access Coordinator, to the Executive Committee and Technology Committee.

I began a draft for a part time position that would be responsible for all scheduling and finalizing all government shootings.  Additionally, I submitted a recommendation that Darol Bishop’s role at ACTV the four mornings he is here to be responsible for the changes and set-ups required by studio shoots a well as up-grading the Studio Control Room and Studio B as well as certain trainings related to Studio Productions.  I also submitted a request to the Personnel Committee, that Darol receive an hourly rate
increase that more adequately reflected the market rate of someone with his technical skills.

I conducted a Performance Evaluation for Gretchen Saathoff whose hiring anniversary was October, 27th  and very overdue.  This report was sent to all members of the Personnel Committee for review.

Town Room:
Michael Keston, our contracted Engineer, compiled a list with very specific terms on what each piece of equipment must do, given actual brand and model numbers when appropriate and/or comparable equipment.  This was done to try to keep the vendors within a certain cost range.  Additional equipment was added due to our need and the fact they had been left out in the original list.  A schematic drawing was created along with a list of desired equipment.

This information, equipment list and schematic drawing will be sent to the Town of Amherst to be packaged and advertised requesting bids.

Town Meetings:
After initial research into purchasing a Tricaster it became evident that it would not meet all of our production needs. I asked Michael Keston and Darol Bishop to review our existing road box and make recommendations as to how best to up-grade to meet our needs. 

Again, a list of equipment needs was developed with an eye to utilize equipment that would be identical to some proposed for the Town Room.  This would mean we would have actual back-up equipment in case of any technical difficulties down the road.  We would be able to replace the piece of equipment temporarily while the piece in question was being repaired.

Technology Sub-Committee
ED met with the Technology Sub-Committee. The following is a copy of an e-mail they received from me:

Darol Bishop has been actively getting us ready for the LIVE shoot out of the studio next Tuesday Elections results- doing some new and interesting graphics to help the cause

I approached John Bruner at Hampshire College and Brian Eccelstone at ARPS about becoming committee members; both have agreed.  I have asked them for a brief bio/overview of their work experience to present to the Board for confirmation.

I asked Darol to go through our road box-which is our control center for the Town Meetings, which he did and has set up a meeting for next Monday with Michel Keston, engineer ,to go over our needs, trying to improve our capacity before we get into actual meetings.  Michael is also expecting to bring in the latest specs he did for us of the Town Room to review with me before we send them out again to the vendors.

I have asked James O'Connor to write up his analysis and comparison of the two digital servers- Tightrope and Princeton, he did an online tutorial with the Princeton folks.  I will review with him tomorrow and hope to have him present to you at the next Tech Com mtg.

Next Monday, Molly Mead from the Civic Engagement, Amherst College, is coming in to discuss our proposal.  Additionally, I have connected with the new UMASS Communication Dept. Chair, Jan Servaes who will be coming in to observe our facilities and discuss possible future interactions between his department and ACTV.

I have attached a draft job description for the proposed new Media Access Coordinator position.  I presented this last Friday to the Exec. Committee to start the ball rolling.

A Hampshire College student, Maya Gounard, has proposed teaching a digital animation class here for youth during the summer.  We met and developed her proposal to Hampshire which if accepted will pay her for her services.  This will be aimed at youth 11-16 years old.  More to come on that.

Marla Michel, Director of UMASS Research Liaison and Development, came to the station and we discussed ways in which we might interact.  She was very glad we were looking at both the Media Access Center and Economic Development issues.  She currently sits on the Regional Technology Enterprise Council and gave me some new contacts, which we both have started following up with.

Martha Fuentes-Bautista, UMASS Communications Dept., is planning on a forum at UMASS, April 30th, with the Mass Telecom and Cable Commissioner Gillett.  We have been asked to help get the word out through our regional access center network and to possibly videotape the forum.
I met with Scott Hurley, Comcast, to discuss the questions raised at our last meeting regarding Fe. 2009, digital conversion.  Here is what he had to say:

They will be only affecting the Second Tier - Channels 25-70.  We will not have anything to worry about in 2009.  However, in year 2013, everyone else will be switched over.  Our channels frequencies will change, requiring a digital encoder which we will have.  All modulators will need to be replaced, questionable at the moment as to who will be responsible for that cost- we will want Comcast to commit to that earlier than later.

As far as High Definition (HD) we have nothing to worry about- all Comcast boxes now have a card in the back of the boxes- these are activated when someone orders HD service only.

The whole issue seems to be driven by the consumer side- w/o a lot of options currently for programs- as these increase- so will home HD TV's if we are out of the current recession/depression.  ACTV, will meet the improved digital signal and will not have to or be able to afford to shift to HD CABLE CASTING.

Other News:
Molly Mead came to ACTV and reviewed our Proposal for Amherst College’s Center for Community Engagement.  She is still very interested in pursuing some of the possibilities, however she does not see their full involvement this coming summer.  She did ask if we would be willing to conduct workshops for the 30 students who will be interacting with area non-profits this coming summer.  I indicated we would be interested in 10 students at a time, three Fridays in a roll for some hands on production classes if the College would provide some money for our trainers.  This idea will be further developed.
Dr. Jan Servaes, new Chair of UMASS Communication Dept., came to ACTV for a tour and discussion.  We covered a wide range of issues, including how ACTV might expand capacity to house more interns, future working relations between his Department and ACTV, overall a very fruitful initial meeting.

On Saturday, March 29, Darol Bishop and the ED hosted 15 Cub Scouts from Belchertown and their parents.  Tours were given and a special demonstration of the evolution of video recorders and cameras were set out.  A studio shoot was conducted with the Cubs being the talent, camera operators and control room observers.  ACTV was thanked by all involved and many parents commented that they had not expected so much fun and information.