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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Cable Communications Commission - 12/15/2008 ECEVED MINUTES CABLE COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION JAN 2 8 2009 December 15,2008 CITY SECRETARY'S OFFICE PRESENT Chairperson Connie Gutierrez,Vice Chairperson Steve West, Commissioners Carolyn Moon,Leo Estrada and Latrice Sellers ABSENT City Staff Lisa Aguilar,Assistant City Attorney,Kim Womack and Andreina Keller,Public Information Office Connie Gutierrez called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm and verified the necessary quorum. Steve West motioned to approve the minutes from November 17, 2008, Carolyn Moon seconded the motion. All Commissioners approved. REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING VIOLATION APPEALS— a. "Rolando Garza Show" — Mr. Garza's violation was from a missing production date. Mr. Garza explained that he had bought some new equipment at that point had not fully learned the program and had forgotten to add the production date for that week. It was his understanding that because the lottery period in which the violation was incurred was over, that the issue was moot so there was no need to issue a violation or for him to pressed on any other issue, such as the issue of his address and the fact that he has not provided a working address on his producers application. Mr. Garza's violation letter was never received by certified mail because the address he provided to the CCC was not his address, but actually that of Pricilla.Leal, whom when called stated that Roland Garza does not live at that location. Ms. Moon attempted to begin the conversation with Mr. Garza over the issue; however Mr. Garza was unwilling to talk as he did not receive proper notification of item for discussion. Ms. Womack offered to send Mr. Garza a notice and that the topic could be added to the agenda at the next Cable Commission meeting. Ms. Moon moved that Mr. Garza receive a violation; Mr. West second the motion and all approved. Mr. Garza argued that the violation was still,moot because it occurred during the past lottery; however Ms. Aguilar confirmed that the violation was not moot, violations last for 6 months, regardless of if it is in a new lottery or not. Therefore his violation stands. The legal opinion in regards to commercial advertising during an episode of the Rolando Garza Show was that according to new guidelines,the ad would not be considered commercial advertising. DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING UPDATING RULES AND PROCEDURES— Ms. Sellers began submitting the rule changes that producers had presented to her regarding rule changes so that they would be available to everyone to see. Also there was no subcommittee meeting over the rules as she was unable to attend,therefore she requested an alternate. Mr. West volunteered to be an alternate for Ms. Sellers as long he was notified with proper time of when he would need to stand in. All commissioners agreed. The next subcommittee meeting will be scheduled after the holidays. SCANNED .REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING CABLE OPERATOR COMPLAINTS. Ms. Triplett was not able to attend the meeting. Mr. Garza offered a recommendation that Time Warner should have consequences for errors made broadcasting of the public access shows. Ms. Moon was also concerned because a representative from Time Warner has not been able to attend Cable Commission meetings regularly. She requested that an alternate be sent in Vicki's place when she is unable to attend meetings. REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING PUBLIC ACCESS COMPLANTS- Ms. Barbara Sellers, brought to the Commission a letter that she had received from Jack Gordy which she considered malicious in nature. She also informed the commission that when she drops off her monthly tape, she brings someone with her to verify the date and events that take place when she goes to the drop off location at Jack Gordy's residence. Ms. Barbara Sellers also recommends that the drop off location be changed, as she does not feel it is appropriate to do such business at anybody's personal residence. Ms.Moon offered the opinion that Ms. Barbara Sellers was brining issues to the Commission that were interpersonal in nature between her and Mr. Gordy, and that if she feels threatened to call the police. Ms. Barbara offered that she has in fact filed a police report and provided a document of activities on record for Mr. Gordy's address. Ms.Moon still was of the thought that this was interpersonal in nature and was of the opinion that changing the location of the drop off point is a users group issue and that if the users group votes to change the location than it will be so,however the cable commission wouldnot be the group to decide that. REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING MEDIA DELIVERY LOGS— Mr. Gordy and Mr.Nesmith simply reported that all was well the media logs. CABLE OPERATOR REPORT— Triplett was not able to attend the meeting. PAUG UPDATES—. Channel 10: Mr. Gordy presented to the Commissioners the schedule for Channel 10 to show them how full it is. Channel 18: Mr.Nesmith had nothing to report except that everything was well. REVIEW AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING CHANNEL 10 LOTTERY Mr. West was concerned that the Channel 10 lottery was not actually a lottery and was conducted illegally. Ms. Aguilar read the rules and procedures regarding how a lottery is to be conducted. According to procedure, numbers are to be drawn randomly by producers and then starting with the lowest numbers to highest times are picked by the producers. Mr. West pointed out that was not what was conducted at the last Channel 10 lottery. Ms. Sellers and Mr. Gordy had completely different accounts of how the Channel 10 lottery occurred. Either way, however, it was decided that in the end it was done incorrectly according to rules. Therefore Ms. Moon offered that there needs to be need a new lottery conducted. Ms. Womack suggested that the commissioner present at the lottery not also be a producer for that same channel, so that way there would be no perceived conflict of interest. Also Ms. Barbara Sellers expressed concern about how the numbers were drawn ahead of the lottery meeting date as the fairness of the drawing could be debated. Afterwards several opinions were expressed by Jerome Bradford and Ms. Gordy about their interpretations of the events at the lottery. Ms. Moon moved that a new date be scheduled _ } � for a redo of the channel 10 lottery. It was decided that the City would secure a date, place and time, for the new lottery as well as send letters to all channel 10 producers letting them know about the new lottery. It was decided that the two commissioners to attend the lottery would be Steve West and Carolyn Moon. It was also decided that City staff would be present at this lottery. Also it was suggested that perhaps Time Warner could run a crawl on channel 10 reminding producers about the new lottery time. STAFF UPDATES- Ms. Womack informed the Commission that staff will continue to coordinate as much as possible and asked that if they commissioners have any questions or concerns to let the staff know. PUBLIC COMMENT— Mr. Gordy started public comment in reference to the police activities on Mr. Gordy's address. Mr. Gordy informed the commission that out of the 28 calls placed, he placed 20 of them and that Ms.Barbara Sellers should provide a copy of the police report to the commission. Kurt Logan commented that people should not be angry at Mr. Gordy for performing his duty in upholding the rules. Mr. Gordy commented that channel 10 has no way to pay for a different drop off location. Ms. Sellers asked if cable commissioners are supposed to be fund raising. Ms. Aguilar informed that fundraising is something that commissioners have the power to do. More details about fund raising will be gathered by City staff and provided in the packet for the next meeting. COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS— Ms. Moon commented on the length of the current meetings being far too long for the responsibilities of the commission and that interpersonal issues be left aside at Cable Commission meetings. ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING Ms. Sellers requested that on the next agenda, PAUGS being non profit be added. Ms. Moon voiced that she would like to discuss changing the months in which the 6pm meetings take place. ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING—Ms. Gutierrez adjourned the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.