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2.0.A SWCSR 4-23-2020 Minutes of the Sherburne/Wright County Cable Commission Thursday, August 15, 2019, 1:00 p.m. (Buffalo City Hall) Present: Chair Tina Allard (Elk River), Vice Chair Gina Wolbeck (Big Lake), Commissioners Mert Auger (Buffalo), Anita Smythe (Cokato), Terri Boese (Dassel), Paula Bauman (Delano), Sabrina Hille (Maple Lake), Rachel Leonard (Monticello), Lynn Tschudi (Watertown) Absent: Dan Madsen (Rockford), Also present: Technology Consultant Bill Bruce, Attorney Bob Vose 1. Call to Order – Chair Allard called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. 2. Approval of Minutes – September 20, 2018; December 19, 2019; February 21, 2019 Executive Committee Meeting Commissioner Wolbeck made a motion to approve the 3 sets of meeting minutes as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Smythe, unanimous ayes, motion carried. 3. Treasurer’s Report a. Financial Statements – Treasurer Mert Auger presented the financial statements as outlined in the staff report. He noted a balance of $866,000. Commissioner Wolbeck made a motion to accept the financials. Seconded by Commissioner Tschudi, unanimous ayes, motion carried. b. Return of Franchise Fees – Treasurer Auger recommended returning up to 3 franchise fee payments in 2019. He would prefer to return the May 2019 and August 2019 payments now, and then plan to return the December payments as long as the Commission’s fund balance is sufficient. Commissioner Wolbeck made a motion to refund two payments with option to return a third payment at the discretion of the treasurer. Seconded by Commissioner Tschudi, unanimous ayes, motion carried. c. Audit Report – Commissioners were emailed a copy of the audit report in advance. Commissioner Wolbeck made a motion to accept the audit report. Seconded by Commissioner Boese, unanimous ayes, motion carried. d. LMC Liability Waiver Form – Treasurer Auger recommended not waiving the statutory limit. Commissioner Auger made a motion to not waive the statutory limit of the liability waiver. Seconded by Commissioner Leonard, unanimous ayes, motion carried. 4. Attorney’s Report a. Finalize Charter Renewal – Commission attorney Bob Vose updated commissioners on the latest changes with the renewal. At the last meeting, the Commission reviewed the final version and voted to recommend cities enact the renewed franchise. However, after cities began to pass the franchise agreement, Charter came back to Mr. Vose requesting additional changes. The changes were initially categorized by Charter as minor changes, but they ended up being more substantive changes. After several rounds of discussion, the two sides finally agreed on minor modifications that the attorney is reluctantly willing to recommend passing. Commissioner Auger made a motion to recommend following the Commission attorney’s recommendation that the cities adopt the updated version of the franchise Sherburne Wright Cable Commission Meeting Minutes from 8-15-19 Page 2 of 4 renewal agreement. Seconded by Commissioner Wolbeck, unanimous ayes, motion carried. b. Issues with Spectrum Service to Public Buildings – Bill Bruce recounted this issue that has been ongoing for several years. Charter approached the Commission through Mr. Bruce with a new contract related to service. Mr. Bruce recommended not signing because service is required by the franchise agreement. Mr. Vose sent a reminder email to contact at Charter that complimentary service accounts do not pay for service or the install fee; Charter responded that the contract was sent in error. Mr. Vose reiterated that a contract would still be required for services beyond cable (voice or data). Commissioner Smythe highlighted the conflicting information throughout this entire process. The renewed discussion of contracts for service came from issues with cable boxes. Mr. Bruce noted he’s still having trouble getting access to the now non-public Charter office in Buffalo, but the Commission would prefer the boxes are swapped out with our staff for best results. Mr. Vose summarized the discussion by reminding Commission cities not to sign anything for cable service. In addition, given that the Commission provides cable in HD, we need to switch out the set top boxes and we want to do that with Commission staff rather than Charter staff. c. FCC Order – Added item. Attorney Bob Vose provided an update to the Commission about FCC Order 621 which was adopted on August 1, 2019. He outlined the changes enacted in the rule and recommended that, given the potential impacts, the Commission send a letter to Charter. The draft letter reiterated to Charter that the current franchise agreement does not allow them to make any changes to the franchise fees unilaterally; they must notify the commission to negotiate before they begin to offset any fees. Commissioner Allard noted her support of sending the letter. Bill Bruce stated that future changes to the FCC could result in the rule being reversed. Mr. Vose added that this will certainly be contested in court, but it is unlikely the rule would be suspended during litigation. During the conversation, Commissioner Leonard asked about franchise fees as they relate to wireless television service. Mr. Vose noted that’s not really covered under the franchise agreement, but we have the right to require a franchisee to provide standard cable service. Commissioner Auger made a motion to authorize a letter to Charter with an amendment from Commissioner Allard that it come from the Commission as a whole. Seconded by Commissioner Smythe, unanimous ayes, motion carried. 5. Production & Equipment Report a. Production & Equipment Reports – Bill Bruce provided the August 2019 production report. Bruce noted this is the busiest season of the year with a variety of events like parades, coronations, and Movie in the Park events. Bill Bruce provided an overview of recent changes and upgrades to Commission equipment. He highlighted the preparation of the new office in Buffalo which will offer an editing suite and storage space. He also noted they have built two new systems to improve the quality of productions: a portable TriCaster system and a portable wireless mic rack. Finally, Bruce called attention to the beta testing for Facebook Live capabilities. Elk River has volunteered to be a test site for this and the results of initial trials will be reported at a future meeting. b. Equipment Purchase Requests – Bill Bruce noted the Commission continues to have problems with the current truck. Given its worth, the money already invested in repairs, and upcoming costs to make it functional, it does not make sense to keep it. He requested Sherburne Wright Cable Commission Meeting Minutes from 8-15-19 Page 3 of 4 authorization to sell the truck through the City of Buffalo. Mr. Bruce will continue to research options for a replacement. Bill Bruce outlined three equipment requests. First, all cities currently have VGA style wiring in their council chambers. This infrastructure is outdated and needs to be upgraded. Mr. Bruce test several systems and made a recommendation based on his research to use the company Crestron. He recommended trying it in Buffalo first and then moving to the other cities. Commissioner Auger recommended installing it in all cities right away if there are no problems in Buffalo. Second, Mr. Bruce requested authorization to purchase Leightronix Raid USB storage systems for eachcity. The current raid drives are filling up and are reaching an age when they need to be replaced. He recommends replacing them before there is a failure and we lost a meeting or program file. Finally, Mr. Bruce requested authorization to purchase two portable Bose sound systems for cities to use. Currently have one and there have been recent scheduling conflicts. Commissioner Allard summarized the equipment requests calling for a motion to sell the truck and approve the equipment purchases, including the HDMI upgrade for all cities. Commissioner Wolbeck made a motion to approve the equipment requests as outlined. Seconded by Commissioner Tschudi, unanimous ayes, motion carried. 6. Personnel Committee Report a. Production Employee Hiring Recommendation – The Personnel Committee provided historical background on the Commission’s production position. They noted the changes to the job description prior to beginning the hiring process in 2019. Commissioner Wolbeck gave an overview of the applications received, the interview process, and the recommendation of the Committee to extend an offer of employment to the top candidate meeting the qualifications. The offer would include a 6-month probationary period with a review by March 2020. The offer of employment also includes following the City of Buffalo’s vacation accrual policy. Commissioner Auger asked if the Commission uses a step system. Commissioners Wolbeck and Allard noted the Committee recommends following the Buffalo policy. Commissioner Wolbeck also noted the employment offer would be at Step 1 and recommended the Commission allow negotiation up to Step 3. Commissioner Allard asked if the Commission would offer vacation time to start. Commissioner Auger noted it would be 8 days during the first year and then increase at 8 hours per month thereafter. Desire to be flexible due to the full employment economy. Commissioner Leonard motioned to extend an offer of employment based on the recommendation of the Personnel Committee and with benefits package as outlined during the discussion. Seconded by Commissioner Tschudi, unanimous ayes, motion carried. b. Personnel Committee Appointment – Added item. The commission needs one more person on the Personnel Committee to replace LeeAnn Yager who recently retired from Maple Lake. Commissioner Smythe motioned to add Sabrina Hille, Maple Lake City Administrator, to the Personnel Committee. Seconded by Commissioner Wolbeck, unanimous ayes, motion carried. 7. Commission Business a. Advertising Policy on City Channels – Commissioner Smythe noted a recent question in Cokato regarding a local nonprofit healthcare provider advertising on the cable commission channel. Bill Bruce distributed the Commission’s policy and highlighted the language in the Sherburne Wright Cable Commission Meeting Minutes from 8-15-19 Page 4 of 4 franchise agreements that says we will not allow commercial, political, or religious programming on the channel. Commissioners discussed current practices in the various communities and consensus was the request in Cokato was not appropriate content for the channel. b. 2020 Movie Dates – Bill Bruce requested that all cities submit their 2020 movie and special event date requests so can create the calendar of events for next summer. 8. Other Business a. Introductions – Given recent staffing changes in some of the member cities, representatives in attendance introduced themselves to the group. 9. Adjourn - Meeting adjourned at 2:49 p.m. Chair, Tina Allard Secretary, Rachel Leonard