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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSBCCF Min 1988-01-13 . . . . . SEAL BEACH CABLE COMMUNICATIONS FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING January 13, 1988 The Board of Directors of the Seal Beach Cable Communications Foundation met in regular session at 7: 30 p.m., with Chairman Mr. Peter Arnold calling the meeting to order and leading the Salute to the Flag. Roll Call Present: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Covington, Mr. Stein, Mr. Claw, Mr. Looney Also Present: Assistant City Manager Mr. Joseph; Ray Allebaugh, Staff Minutes of October 26, 1987 Mr. Looney moved that the minutes be approved as written. Mr. Clow seconds. Ayes: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Covington, Mr. Claw, Mr. Stein, Mr. Looney Noes: None Motion Carried Minutes of November 23, 1987 Mr. Stein moved that the minutes be approved as written. Mr. Clow seconds. Ayes: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Covington, Mr. Stein, Mr. Clow, Mr. Looney Noes: None Motion Carried Mr. Arnold then apologized to the members of the audience for any inconvenience caused by the sudden rescheduling of the January 5, 1988 Board meeting. He explained that because of the important items on this agenda, combined with the late arrival of the Director's agen- das through the mail, the Board had decided to reschedule the meeting to this date. The Board then amended the agenda to accept New Business, prior to Old Business, so that the funding requests could be quickly resolved. NEW BUSINESS--Funding Request--Penny Granafei Mrs. Granafei told the Board that her request had been reduced to $15.00. Mr. Looney then moved that the Board fund $15.00 to Mrs. Granafei for her public access production "Val- uable Volunteers." Mr. Claw seconds. Ayes: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Covington, Mr. Looney, Mr. Claw, Mr. Stein Noes: None Motion Carried Funding Request--Stephen Bruce Mr. Bruce was unable to attend this meeting, and asked that this request be held over until the Board's next regularly scheduled meeting. Funding Request--Bill Marrazzo Mr. Stein moved that the Board fund $53.66 to Mr. Marrazzo for his public access production "Local Focus Ill." Mr. Looney'seconds. Ayes: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Stein, Mr. Looney, Mr. Claw, Mr. Covington Noes: None Motion Carried Funding Request--Miss Suzan Grab Miss Grab asked that this particular request be withdrawn from consideration. Funding Request--Miss Suzan Grab During the discussion of this request, Mr. Stein asked staff to research the total amount of money spent by the Foundation on Los Alamitos High School sports programs for 1987. Af- ter this discussion, Mr. Covington moved that the Board fund $2,040.00 for the public ac- cess productions of three Los Alamitos High School basketball games on 1/22/88, 1/29/88, . . . . and 2/10/88. Mr. Looney seconds. Ayes: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Covington, Mr. Stein, Mr. Looney, Mr. Clow Noes: None Motion Carried Newsletter Funding Request--Miss Suzan Grab Miss Grab explained to the Board that the SBOC Newsletter had been designed and printed, and the Board was asked to approve this expenditure. Mr. Looney then moved that the Board pay $424.00 to A.T. Morgan Printers for the cost of designing and printing the SHOC News letter. Mr. Clow seconds. Ayes: Mr. Arnold, Mr. Clow, Hr. Covington, Hr. Stein, Hr. Looney Noes: None Motion Carried OLD BUSINESS--Foundation Audit Staff Staff presented to the Board the completed audit, and was directed to place copies with the City Manager's office and in the local libraries. The Board members also asked staff to contact the auditing agency for more information concerning the audit categories en- titled Liabilities and Equities. Foundation/City Financial Arrangements Assistant City Manager Dan Joseph appeared before the Board to request a grant of $4,000, for the financial services provided to the Foundation by the City's Finance Director Deni Thomas and his staff. A lengthy discussion followed, with Mr. Covington emphasizing his opposition to such a grant based on the fact that the City, to his knowledge, does not charge any other agencies for such financial arrangements; and that no other Cable Foun- dations in other cities are charged for such an arrangement; and that the records made available to the Foundation are on an accrual basis, with no accurate monthly detailing I expenditures. Hr. Covington felt that because of these issues he could not support this granting of money to the City for these current financial arrangements. After further dil cussion, Hr. Looney moved that the Board fund $4,000.00 to the City of Seal Beach for thl financial assistance provided of the fiscal year 1987/88. Hr. Clow seconds. Ayes: Hr. Arnold, Mr. Looney, Mr. Stein, Hr. Clow Noes: Hr. Covington Motion Carried 4-1 After voting, it was recommended to Dan Joseph that he and members of the Board meet in the future to discuss the monthly reports from the Financial Director, and how to best achieve an accurate monthly accounting. Franchise Agreement Proposal Information--Mr. Tom Kezar This item was to discuss an extension of the three-year agreement reached between the Cil of Seal Beach and Comcast Cable (then Group W) in 1985; this agreement was to expire in March of 1988. There had been several different proposals and conversations between the City, the Foundation, and representataives of Comcast Cable regarding this agreement. At this Board meeting, Assistant City Manager Dan Joseph and Comcast General Manager presenl to the Board the proposal (attached to these minutes) which would effectively, in their view, continue the relationship and commitiment by Comcast to local programming in Seal Beach. There was a complete and full discussion of this agreement, with Hr. Joseph askinl for the Board's recommendation of this agreement, if the Board felt so inclined. During the discussion, Hr. Arnold stated the importance of Comcast's commitment to the position of one full-time public access coordinator, even though this position is not mentioned bJ the Franchise Agreement. Hr. Arnold also reviewed the history of the agreement between ~ Foundation and Comcast Cable, and stated his general satisfaction concerning the Board's efforts to promote public access and local origination programming in this community. Hr, Joseph, Mr. Kezar and Hr. Arnold answered questions from the Board and from the audience concerning this proposal. Mr. Kezar made it clear to the Board that this is a different proposal than the one attached to the January 13 agenda, and he also reiterate4 Comcast', commitment to the proposal before the Board. After this full discussion, Mr. Covington moved that the Board approve in essence the proposal before the Board (see attached), . . . ~ and that the Board recommend this agreement to the City Council. Mr. Stein seconds. Ayes: Mr. Arnold. Mr. Stein. Mr. Covington. Mr. Looney. Mr. Clow Noes: None Motion Carried Board Communications The Board had received from staff a complete list of programs that had received grants from the Foundation. and Mr. Stein asked the programs that were listed as incomplete. Mr. Looney asked Comcast Programming Director Lisa Yale about the possible relocation of the Seal Beach studio to a school sight (McGaugh School) and he expressed his concern over Comcast meeting the various city. county and state guidelines for usage and construction of such a studio at a school location. Miss Yale responded that she was aware of such guidelines. haVing successfully located a public access/local origination studio on a high school campus in Buena Park. This opened the discussion to the possible relocation of the Seal Beach studio. with audience members expressing their concerns. Mr. Peter An- ninos asked about Comcast's intention to allow McGaugh students an alloted amount of stu- dio time. and said he was impressed with the student's previous productions. but was still concerned about equipment use by students. Mr. Charles DeWitt voiced his concern that if and when the studio relocates. the equipment and staff provided for the new location be as technically superior as the prior location. if not the same equipment. This was an area of concern expressed by several speakers. There was also worry that the amount of staffing would be reduced. thereby removing the attention and help that access producers require. Miss Yale. Mr. Kezar and members of the Board answered questions from the audience. and explained that this studio relocation was only in an early. preliminary stage. and was not yet a definitive and scheduled action. Comcast also expressed the desire to work with the Board concerning this relocation. Several producers spoke to the Board. with each es- sentially repeating the theme of the continued quality"of the studio equipment with no downgrading should this studio move occur. and Mr. Arnold thanked the audience for their attendance and their comments. Mr. Arnold encouraged the audience to continue to attend the regular Board meetings and express their concerns, and said these comments are always ap- preciated and given strong consideration by the Foundation. After a complete and full discussion of the above items, it was the consensus of the Board, and so ordered by the Chair, to adjourn the Seal Beach Cable Communications Foundation at 10:11 p.m. Ray A1lebaugh/Staff