Easthampton Community Access Television
Board Meeting
August 27, 2008
All members and employees present
1) Southampton
Diane Schindler visited from Southampton; she is a town advisor. The Southampton selectmen are interested in getting their meetings filmed, and Diane is interested in getting even wider services through PEG. They are just starting to renegotiate for a new contract with Charter, and it is a year overdue already. She is going to begin the process of negotiating for 3% in their next contract, and look into hiring an advisor to help them. ECAT would like to help build public support in their town by filming some meetings and school events, so residents can see the benefits of public access. ECAT will work up some prices for our services and stay in touch with Diane, since combining Southampton into ECAT’s operations in the future may make sense.
Southampton town meeting is Oct 7, and the next selectmen meetings are September 2, 9 , and 30
2. Minutes were passed – Becca motioned, Bob seconded
3. Ex Director Report
-Greg spoke with Karen at Mayor’s office about the remaining funds. The 20,000 + 56,000 received in May was the accrued money from the past few years, minus expenses that had been paid since the signing of the contract on April 1. This total was 76,000. The 56,000 received in June was the first installment for the year from Charter. The second installment will come in January, equaling roughly 56,000. After that, ECAT will receive one installment in full annuall yfrom Charter, in July for the beginning of the fiscal calendar each year.
-Van
The board would like the van to look finished and aesthetically pleasing, so Greg is going to work up quotes for this work and contact local contractors for trading their services and goods for advertising. He will do this after the board has come up with underwriting numbers for van advertising, as well as pricing for website, newsletter, Community Calendar, and pre- and post show underwriting spots.
Glyffy will get information from Greg about what kind of wood is needed and ask her husband about donating.
Lettering will be put on the van ASAP. Greg will submit to Puffer the design changes which include leaving room for sponsors on the right side of the van.
The van will be how we connect to the community in the coming months, so it is exciting to get it looking good (and functioning), and on the road!
Idea: park the van on a busy road location to increase the value of van-side advertising
Idea for slogan: “Hands on TV” with outline of hand for number 5
- Fall Festival, Sept. 20th
Things to Have:
We will bring van and park it in lot, as a visibility prop. Dohan will contact Eric at the Chamber about this.
A raffle with material donated from the Advocate, where people give contact info for our mailing list
Sign up sheet for workshops and program guide
Monitor with looped video of people walking by
Big computer monitor with text about what we offer, hooked up to laptop with loop playing
Donation bin for new van costs
We can walk to each table and talk to businesses about underwriting on van
One page flyer with bullet points – Dohan can get graphic design help, or Brian will do this
Suggestion box
Dohan spoke about using our current situation as an opportunity to garner interest and support, both with the community’s interest, and financially.
Timeline for upcoming projects:
Get van lettered and bring to concert series
Organize flyer, and several materials for Fall Festival
Work on carpentry and material donations and underwriting support to finish van
Work on equipment installation for van
After Fall Festival:
Van will get finished and get up and running with equipment
At least one workshop will be offered before January or so
New edit labs will be purchased and set up
Using the workshop example (community members in our studio in WBMS) we will continue to fundraise
More programming can be done with van to continue to increase visibility
Flywheel wiring installed
Next Board Meeting:
September 24 6:00 pm. Can be held at WBMS or Senior Center - TBD
On agenda:
Remaining items from this meetings’ unfinished agenda
Next Ex. Session: Tuesday September 2 6:00 pm Senior Center
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
ECAT Board Minutes from 7/31/08
ECAT Channel 5 Board Meeting 7/31/08
Present: Becca, Glyffy, Bob, Greg, Brian
1.Minutes
Minutes from June meeting were approved
2.Treasurer's Report
-WBMS rent will be renegotiated with them after Dec. 31, per a notice that Greg received from them
-$55,000 check received from treasurer, this is the half of the annual installment. They still haven't delivered the 70,000 that has accrued since the signing of the Charter contract (it was 90,000 that had accrued but they have given us 20,000 in May). The contract with the City states that we should have received it in full by now. Greg and Bob will draft email / letter to Mayor to clarify all of this.
-Voted to invest 50,000 from Op. Budget in 7 day CD. Bob motioned, Glyffy seconded
-Van is going well, just has a few more small expenses like locks and things to purchase for it
-Glyffy asked Bob to look into getting a credit card for the company, to be able to purchase items online and pay off at the end of each month. There will still be a limit to the amount (maybe $50 and under) that employees can use without board approval, and receipts will always be submitted for these smaller purchases to match to credit card statement at the end of the month.
3.Executive Director's Report
-We have gotten
-The van is going well – a tire had to be replaced, transmission filer, etc needed replacement. For titling, we are getting Puffer's to do decals. It will read:
“Easthampton Community Access Television” on sides and “Channel 5” on front, with phone # on back. Puffer will give estimate for this. We will use a green color that matches existing stripes on van.
-Becca and Brian will look into people who may be able to do logos and slogan proposals
-Southampton town advisor, Diane Schindler, and a Southampton town council member, will attend next meeting to discuss options of how they could be involved with ECAT by giving $ and having ECAT provide services. Board is concerned that this will stretch employees too thin, so we will just use the meeting with her to discuss what they may want, and not commit to anything.
-Before giving quote to Flywheel for the price of splitting wiring for filming in their new location in the Town Hall, we need to know if it is worth purchasing new, higher quality cables to improve signal quality. Greg and Brian proposed that we start with trying to clarify our signal by recording straight to hard drive, instead of to tape and transferring to hard drive, where we lose a lot of quality. A hard drive for the van (and studio if we use it there, too) to record to directly, and create backups on DVD and tape, will be $1375. This is the direction technology is going in, to “tapeless” format, so appears to be a forward-thinking investment. Also, if this cleans up signal then we can use wires we already own for Flywheel wiring. Board voted to purchase recording hard drive – Glyffy motioned, Bob seconded to purchase Data Video DN 300 for $1375.
4.Other Business:
-Health insurance for employees: family plan options were discussed, and percentage ECAT will cover toward expenses. Greg asked about some of the expenses built into the proposed budget, like training and conferences, that he sees as too high. Greg did not have a plan that he preferred. Decisions were made at Ex. Session regarding health insurance.
-School Committee needs to appoint a member to the ECAT board. We need to contact them about this as it is a good time at the beginning of the school year.
Next Meeting possibilities (Becca will check with Dohan):
August 27 (Wed is preferrable to everyone except Dohan)
Other options: Tues August 26 or Thursday August 28
Present: Becca, Glyffy, Bob, Greg, Brian
1.Minutes
Minutes from June meeting were approved
2.Treasurer's Report
-WBMS rent will be renegotiated with them after Dec. 31, per a notice that Greg received from them
-$55,000 check received from treasurer, this is the half of the annual installment. They still haven't delivered the 70,000 that has accrued since the signing of the Charter contract (it was 90,000 that had accrued but they have given us 20,000 in May). The contract with the City states that we should have received it in full by now. Greg and Bob will draft email / letter to Mayor to clarify all of this.
-Voted to invest 50,000 from Op. Budget in 7 day CD. Bob motioned, Glyffy seconded
-Van is going well, just has a few more small expenses like locks and things to purchase for it
-Glyffy asked Bob to look into getting a credit card for the company, to be able to purchase items online and pay off at the end of each month. There will still be a limit to the amount (maybe $50 and under) that employees can use without board approval, and receipts will always be submitted for these smaller purchases to match to credit card statement at the end of the month.
3.Executive Director's Report
-We have gotten
-The van is going well – a tire had to be replaced, transmission filer, etc needed replacement. For titling, we are getting Puffer's to do decals. It will read:
“Easthampton Community Access Television” on sides and “Channel 5” on front, with phone # on back. Puffer will give estimate for this. We will use a green color that matches existing stripes on van.
-Becca and Brian will look into people who may be able to do logos and slogan proposals
-Southampton town advisor, Diane Schindler, and a Southampton town council member, will attend next meeting to discuss options of how they could be involved with ECAT by giving $ and having ECAT provide services. Board is concerned that this will stretch employees too thin, so we will just use the meeting with her to discuss what they may want, and not commit to anything.
-Before giving quote to Flywheel for the price of splitting wiring for filming in their new location in the Town Hall, we need to know if it is worth purchasing new, higher quality cables to improve signal quality. Greg and Brian proposed that we start with trying to clarify our signal by recording straight to hard drive, instead of to tape and transferring to hard drive, where we lose a lot of quality. A hard drive for the van (and studio if we use it there, too) to record to directly, and create backups on DVD and tape, will be $1375. This is the direction technology is going in, to “tapeless” format, so appears to be a forward-thinking investment. Also, if this cleans up signal then we can use wires we already own for Flywheel wiring. Board voted to purchase recording hard drive – Glyffy motioned, Bob seconded to purchase Data Video DN 300 for $1375.
4.Other Business:
-Health insurance for employees: family plan options were discussed, and percentage ECAT will cover toward expenses. Greg asked about some of the expenses built into the proposed budget, like training and conferences, that he sees as too high. Greg did not have a plan that he preferred. Decisions were made at Ex. Session regarding health insurance.
-School Committee needs to appoint a member to the ECAT board. We need to contact them about this as it is a good time at the beginning of the school year.
Next Meeting possibilities (Becca will check with Dohan):
August 27 (Wed is preferrable to everyone except Dohan)
Other options: Tues August 26 or Thursday August 28
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