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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSBCCF Min 1994-04-06 . . . - , ,. . SEAL BEACH CABLE COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES FOR APRIL 6, 1994 The Board of Directors for the Seal Beach Cable Communications Foundation met March 21, 1994 at Comcast Cable in Seal Beach, California. Mr. Palmer called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE There was no pledge of allegiance ROLL CALL Mr. Palmer, Mr. Rowland, Mr. Clow, Mr. Mueller and Mrs. Dahlin were absent Greg Mackney and Barbara Luna from Comcast were present. OLD BUSINESS MOVE OF CHANNEL 20 TO 53 Mr. Palmer said that the Board was concerned about the situation because the Board had been told some thing and then there seemed to be some' confusion. Mr. Palnier said that Mr. Rosenthal sent him some things that were sent out. I Mr. Clow said that Leisure World did not receive any mailings. Mr. Rowland said that he wasn't sure about that. lVlr. Palmer said that he wasn't happy about the way it was handled and felt the Board did not receive what was promised. Mr. Rowland agreed and said he thought the college did not get what they thought they were getting either. Mr. Palmer said he received a letter that was sent to Mr. Rosenthal by the college He said he invited Ms. lones to the meeting this evening but her secretary said she was out ill. Mr. Palmer also said that Ms. lones's secretary said that her office was unable to reach Mr. Rosenthal. Mr. Clow said that he wanted to go to Coastline College and talk to the Dean persona1ly but that Mr. Rosenthal advised against it, so Mr. Clow said he did not visit the college and now feels like the Board did not do their homework on the matter. Mr. Palmer said that the change had been made and in accordance with this educational channel issue, there is a clause in the contract on page 21, Item G. Mr. Palmer read item ,/ . . . 2 G: Educational and Cultural Programming. lVlr. Palmer said that he wasn't sure if that part of the contract has been followed through and Mr. Palmer said that the Foundation has spent money bringing Coastline Conununity College in. Mr. Clow said the Foundation has spent $20,000.00 Mr. Palmer said that the Foundation has also spend money bring in channel 55 and channel 55 has poor reception. Mr. Palmer said that he wasn't sure ifComcast has fulfilled it's educational and cultural programming responsibilities. Mr. Palmer asked the Board if they wanted to continue discussing the contract or move back to the channel change issue and vote on it. Mr. Rowland said that the Board should continue with the contract. The Board decided to look over the contract and then return to the channel change from 20 to 53. Mr. Palmer said that in the By Laws, the Athismy Director is the station manager of the city of Seal Beach cable system. Mr. Palmer read from the By Law on page 18, Item F. ~1r. Palmer mentioned that even in the By Laws, there is Comcast responsibility. Mr. Palmer said that he assumed that Marla is fulfilling part of that function. Mr. Palmer referred to Exhibit A, Amendment 4, Section lC. Mr. Palmer said that throughout the contract, there are items that state Comcast is supposed to provide the Foundation with help in a number of areas and Comcast seems, for some reason recently, that they were no longer responsible. Mr. Palmer also mentioned Exhibit A, Amendment 5, Section 1. Mr. Clow said he though that was the teleprompter. Mr. Claw said that the Board has a copy of the 1991, 1992 and 1993 agreement that the Board approved. Mr. Palmer said that it said essentially the same thing as the items he mentioned. Mr. Clow agreed. lVlr. Clow said that the agreement was null and void after 1993 and that it should have been renewed. Mr. Palmer read from the agreement that on May 1993 this contract will overt back 10 Form K, Exhibit B of the Franchise Agreement. ~...Ir. Rowland said that the Form K states that Comcast will provide at least one full time professionally trained Public Access Coordinator. l\1iss. Luna said that Ms. Kreps is the Coordinator. Mr. Rowland agreed but said that Ms. Kreps is busy doing UO productions. Mr. Clow said that when Comcast took over Group W, the Foundation did not have a Coordinator for six months. Mr. Mackney asked if he could conunent and Mr. Palmer said that it would be best to stick with current issues and asked the Board about the three year agreement and its renewal. Mr. Clow said that the Board should have received advice on renewing the three year agreement. Mr. Palmer asked what procedure the Board needed to take in order to reinstate the agreement. ,/ . . . 3 Mr. Palmer asked !vir. Mackney ifhe was familiar with the document. Mr. Mackney said that he was not, and was going off the same document as the Board. Mr. Palmer asked Mr. Mackney about renewing the contract. !vir. Mackney said he assumed that the city would go over some negotiations. Mr. Palmer said he was interested in renewing the three year agreement not the fifteen Franchise agreement. Pete Arnold offered the history and explanation of how the three year contract (E.-dribit B) was drawn up. Mr. Arnold also said that the Board should look into the issue of a full time Public Access Coordinator. Mr. l\1ackney asked if he could respond to Mr. Arnold's concern. Mr. Mackney said he was under the assumption that the Board was happy with Comcast providing an Access Coordinator and as far as an advisor, Mr. Mackney said that Ms. Kreps sits in cvCl)' meeting and she is the advisor. Pete Arnold asked why Ms. Kreps was not in the meeting. Mr. l\1ackney said he wanted to be at the meeting and Miss. Luna will make a transition to fill that obligation. Mr. Rowland asked if Miss. Luna was going to be the Public Access CoordinatOr. Mr. Mackney said that Comcast will work everything out. Pete Arnold said that the discussion was getting into personnel and that the Board should go into Executive session. . , Mr: Palmer asked Mr. Mackney if he would review three year agreement so that it can be discussed further in the next meeting. Mr. Clow said that Ms. Kreps worked on a va production and asked Mr. Mackney if it was taking away from her duties as Public Access Coordinator'? Mr. Mackney said that it was not. Mr. Clow was not sure about that. Mr. Palmer read from page 16, Item A of the Franchise agreement and asked the Board if they knew what it meant. Mr. Palmer asked Mr. Mackney ifit met that if the Board had not agreed to the change, would Comcast have been able to change the channel. Mr. Mackney said that upon a written notification Comcast could move the channel. Mr. Clow said he though that the three channels were designated. Mr. l'vIackney said the channels are designated not paid, but that doesn't mean Comcast is not charging for those channels. Pete Arnold said that a cable company has the right to change any channel. Mr. Rowland suggested that the Board take a minute a read Section 6, Item A, page 16. Mr. Rowland read the section. ,/ 4 . lVIr. Palmer said that he thought that the cable companies were able to move channels around, but that the Board should discuss it in further detail. Mr. Palmer said that on page 18 it states that the City Manager has a lot of power. Mr. Palmer said he thought that the Board needs to realize the power of the City Manager. !vir. Palmer then read from page 21, Item G - Educational & Cultural Programming, Mr. Palmer also read from page 22, Item B, - Rate Increases, Mr. Palmer asked why wasn't the Foundation money increased according to the consumer price index too. He also asked why hasn't the $75.000.00 mentioned in the contract been raised too. Mr. Palmer said that he feels that the Foundation is entitled to review the amounts of money the Board has received and it should not make to much difference to Comcast because two thirds of [he money is paid back to Comcast. lVlr. Palmer projected that the $25,000.00 that the Board is getting should be about $37,000.00. lvIr. Palmer said that he thinks the Board should look further into this matter. lVh'. Palmer asked Mr. Mackney how he would like to handle the issue on page 22. he asked !vir. Mackney ifhe would like to table it to the next meeting. . Mr. Mackney said yes and he thought that something else should be brought up as well. Mr. Mackney said there is an outstanding balance of S100.000.00 that is sitting in the bank of the Foundation. Mr. !\1ackney also said that the Board agreed to hold the money and collect the interest. Mr. Palmer said the Board appreciated the gesture. J\.1r. Palmer said that he would like the Board to look at page 23 and page 24. Mr; Palmer then read from page 26 and said it directly effects the Board as far as support from Comcast concerned. tvlr. Pahner said that the S25.000.00 has been used by the Board [or $2,500.00 tOr insurance, S6.600.00 book keeping, and $11,000.00 for fees. lVlr. Palmer said that he thinks the money is being distributed correctly and does not need to be changed, but that the cost of living for the Board nccds to be changed. Mr. Palmer said that he had nothing further to discuss in the contract. lVlr. Clow said that Local Origination had seven programs that have not been produced which is equal to $7,000.00 and that if the programs do not get produced, the Board should not pay $25,000.00 for the 25 shows. l\'lr. Mackney said it was si'l: shows and that Local Origination was behind and Comc:JSt was planning on completing the yearly total of 25. 1\,Ir. Clow said that Comcast always makes up for the shows but that they are not always events that the Board wants covered. Mr. Palmer said that in the last Board meeting the Board decided to review the VO shows every meeting. Mr. Palmer said that he thinks Comcast will make up the shows but if . Comcast wants to pay the money that would be fine too. Mr. Rowland said that it is agreed that if the Foundation does not get 25 shows produced by Comcast that the Board would not ha\"e 10 pay the $25,00.00. .' . . . 5 !vir. Palmer said that a few items have been tabled to the next meeting. Mr. Palmer asked Mr. lVIackney if Ms. Kreps would still be ronning the studio. Mr. Mackney said that Comcast will fulfill its obligation to the Board for a Public Access Coordinator. He said that Ms. Kreps will still do the technical work and Ms. Luna would be sitting in on the Board meetings. Mr. Palmer asked Mr. Mackney if Ms. Kreps would still be running the office. Mr. Mackney said no. Mr. Clow asked if Ms. Kreps was still going to be with the Board. Mr. ~lackney said that Ms. Kreps needs room to grow, he said that Ms. Kreps has great ideas and she needs to pursue that and Ms. Luna is very capable of doing the job. Mr. Palmer asked Mr. Mackney who would be doing the classes. Mr. Mackney said Ms. Kreps does a great job teaching the classes and Ms. Luna will be learning from Ms. Kreps and go on from there. Mr. Palmer said that he assuming that Ms. Kreps is being promoted. Items tabled to next meeting are Exhibit B and Public Access Coordinator. Mr. Palmer said that the Board was disappointed that Mr. Rosenthal did not let the Foundation or Coastline know when the change would occur. Mr. Palmer said that the Board wanted Coastline to be satisfied and that perhaps someone could contact the college. Mr. Clow said he would call the college. Mr. Mackney said that apparently not ever person in Seal Beach received the insert but Comcast did send them out. Mr. Mackney said that in is normal procedure for Comcast to send out information to its customers to notify them of:mY changes. Mr., Palmer said that perhaps Mr. Mackney could call the college to see if there is anything Coincast can do. lVlr. Palmer said the Board had written a letter but since the meeting went well, the Board was satisfied. Mr. Rowland agreed. Mr. Clow agreed. Mr. Rowland said that he felt it was important to note that the Board will be expecting a response from Mr. Mackney. Mr. Mackney requested a list of concerns or problems from the Board. Mr. Mackney said that he needs to be aware of any concerns so that Comcast can address them. AVDlENCE COMMUNICATIONS In sununary, Pete Arnold complained to the Board about there responsibilities and Comcast responsibility. He also said that he was upset that the Easter Parade did not air on Easter Sunday, that the Candidates Forum was shown after the election and the Soccer game was aired only once. ,/ . . . . . 6 Pete Arnold asked Mr. Mackney ifhe had been in meetings with the City Manager. Mr. IvIackney said that he did not think so, but that lVlr. Rosenthal may have spoke with him on the phone. BOARD COMMUNICATIONS Mr. Rowland expressed his concern to the Board that he felt that Leisure World tapes were not being played enough. Mr. Rowland also said that the CG should give the name of Fred Cooper's guest rather that just Fred Cooper. Mr. Palmer asked Mr. Mackney if Ms. Kreps would be back in the Board meetings? Mr. Mackney said no, Ms. Luna will attend all meetings, he said that Ms. Kreps will be responsible for all other Public Access responsibilities. Mr. Mackney said that he is aware of some of the concerns the Board has and hopes that he is able to work with the Board to make things better. Mr. Rowland motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8 :30 pm. Ivlr. Clow seconded. AYES: Mr. Rowland, Mr. Clow, Mr. Rowland NAYS: -0- MOTION PASSED: 3'{) Joseph Palmer, Chairman Barbara Luna, Recorder ,/