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Minutes of November 10, 2016 PEGAOB Meeting Present: Mark Barth, Mario Chiarello, Don Hyman, Tracian Gordon, Marc Gronich, Ron Lesko, Cathy Taylor, Ocasio Willson. Meeting called to order at 6:04 PM Approved Minutes of September 8, and October 13, 2016 PEGAOB meetings Public comment Dennis Karius asked about efficient ways to upload programs, cites Ann Perrillo’s Schenectady Today program. Kimberly Krepp: Catherine’s show is not on the air at the scheduled time slot. Her name is misspelled on the card. Kim requests that producers have access to public events, street fairs etc., to create programs. Nancy Benedict emphasized the need for more money from the Common Council. Keith Irish reported a) going to Neighborhood Association meetings would have more impact better if PEG members handed out information other than business cards; b) our website has information gaps, e.g. Ch. 18 shows on Ch. 16. c) CC discussion regarding allocations to PEG. Chairperson report Meetings that occurred between PEGAOB meetings. 1. Coordinator Log sheets for the past 4 weeks were completed and distributed to board members. 2. Equipment needs: Mario met with Marc and Keith and discussed specifically equipment upgrade proposals received from ComTech Inc $153,000 and from Audio Video Corp $236,000. 3. TW Internet Connection: the fastest residential connection option of 50 meg x 5 meg for $230/ month with a 3 year commitment quote: $250/ month the first year and $270 month to month. We currently have 8MPS (Megabytes Per Second) download; .8MPS upload: very slow. The Technology committee will report back. 4. PEGAOB needs a budget of $35,000 for 2017. ACDA came through with renewed funding of $15,000 to pay the coordinators’ position. PEGAOB asked the Common Council for an additional $20,000 in the next City budget: 5. Marc attended Neighborhood Association meetings with Keith Irish. Mario and Ocasio met to review a draft Outreach Brochure. A new draft will de-emphasize encouraging new studio users given limited human resources and for now emphasize PEGAOB’s need for volunteers and outside content development. Old Business Open Stage Media Proposal – no progress to date. The board put off making a decision in 2015 and revisited it in 2016. The Mayor and the Common Council ad hoc committee supported and are interested to have the PEG board consider it. Mario wants PEGAOB members to have a multi-faceted conversation about the OSM proposal and will schedule a date when Phillip Morris and Zebulon Schmidt can meet the Board. ---PAGE BREAK--- Mario sees benefit in the partnership especially given our limited resources. Potentially, the partnership can lead to a more professional look and feel of our broadcasts. Marc points out that Guilderland, Schoharie County, and Bethlehem have similar challenges. There may be synergy to including them in this meeting. Ocasio cautions that bringing in outsiders will complicate PEGAOB’s purpose Mario will circulate OSM’s October 2016 proposal. New Business Technology committee: Marc recommends adding outside members with industry experience, creating a committee of experts. Marc sees this as a better alternative to the Board as opposed to to vendors pushing their product. Ocasio: what would interaction look like? Marc: These specialists will review three proposals and write a report. Cathy volunteers Tom Brownlie to be on this committee. Other discussion about including more members and time to meet, is left unresolved. Outreach Committee - Who and how to better engage, inform and solicit volunteers, viewers and community content developers. Marc will leave the meeting early to continue visits to 18 neighborhood associations. Ocasio asks if other members can help. Marc mentions he cannot go on Saturdays. The visits should be completed by mid-December. Mario as Chair appealed to Board members to get involved in committee work for the next month, specifically, adding more content to the brochure, recruiting more volunteers to help in the studio. Ron, Cathy, Tracian and Dennis Karius volunteer. Donald asked if University Albany has an office we can link to. A Board member mentions UAlbany office of “neighborhood life” provides a phone number. Mario suggests a similar office at the College of St. Rose. Don will follow up. PEGAOB also needs to reach out to citizens active in their neighborhood associations to borrow a camera from the studio and create new content. Meeting adjourned 7:25 PM Mark Barth informed the board that he notified the Mayor’s office in the summer of his desire to leave the board at the end of 2016.