morning. I'll now call this meeting of the Amherst Cable Television Advisory Committee to order. The date is Friday, June 26th, and the time is 11:37 a.m. Please be advised that this meeting is being recorded by the town and will be posted to their YouTube channel
with live remote participation available via Zoom or in-person from Town Hall's Town Room, and meeting materials can be found at amherstma.gov/cable. So, let the record show that we now have a quorum of this body. I will now take roll call attendance to confirm members
present. Members, when I call your name, please respond in the affirmative. Peter Beck. John Milos. >> Present. >> Rachel Weber Garrett Smith. >> Present.
>> Fred Civian. >> Present. >> Brianna Sunryd, present. And we also have Sean Hannon, IT Director, present with us. Okay. So, switching over to the agenda, our
first real item will be public comment. I will pause and take a look at our virtual space to see if there is any comment from attendees. Please raise your hand and you will be allowed into
the room. Um, please unmute, introduce yourself, name and Amherst address, please. >> So, we have one hand raised, so >> I am
>> allow them to talk. >> Perfect. Welcome. Please unmute and introduce yourself. >> I assume that's me. >> Is that me? >> It That's Abby, yep. >> Okay, hi. My name is Abigail Weeks. I've been living in Amherst uh 26 years.
And we're here to talk about the pros and cons of Comcast, is that correct? >> We are here um to review whether or not the that if Comcast is um meeting the requirements of their
current license and to also understand whether or uh what the future cable related needs are for the community. So, um that includes customer experience and and so >> Okay, great. Great. So, I could go on and on, but I'm going to try to make it
very brief. As I mentioned, I've been back 26 years. I've been working I've had Comcast. It is such a pain to deal with them. Also, it's very important for everyone to know that their that their numbers
have decreased drastically. I think it's very important for the town to look at options. In Belchertown and in Hadley, they're using Spectrum. I highly recommend And Chicopee, I have friends in the area that use Spectrum. I highly recommend that you consider that.
I do not vote or approve of I would not recommend to go with Comcast Xfinity again for another 10 years. I'll give you a very brief example. I had a triple play plan, which is phone, cable, and internet, and I tried to
switch and reduce my phone, get rid of the phone. It took me 6 hours. It took me 6 hours with five customer service calls, and I was ready to kill myself. I mean, it's just not
it is not an option. It's not an option to stay with them. It it it's Yeah, every time I've had to deal with them. Recently, um I'll give you another example. At one point, I just went to I only have internet now, just Wi-Fi. Just Wi-Fi
internet with Xfinity Comcast. My bill a few years ago was $45, 45, 50 bucks. Then it went up to $75, then it went up to $108. I had to call them on the phone. It took me an hour. An hour. So, over the past 3 years, it
went from 45 to like 110 just for Wi-Fi. Took me an hour on the phone. First of all, you have to try to get it get someone, which is impossible, to talk to a person. After an hour, I managed to get a plan for $30. It's a
prepaid plan with Xfinity, but I just I don't want to deal with them anymore. I don't think any of us should have to have be put through the misery and the headache and the heartache of dealing with Comcast Xfinity. Um, I highly vote again, there are other options out there. Spectrum is one of them. Thank
you for your time. >> We thank you for your comments, Abby, and we will include those in our review in this ascertainment process. We appreciate that. I'm going to pause and see if there's any other public comment at this time.
Seeing none in the virtual space and none in the physical meeting room, we thank you, Abby, for your comments. Um, just as a reminder, and we will get to this in just a second, but while we're
on the topic, we will be having a survey go out um for those who are at this meeting live now, you will see that soon. Um, so it's a another opportunity for you to share your experiences in and answer some of the the questions that this
committee has designed um to help us with that review process, so. Okay. Moving on from public comment, we can now um go into discussing uh
agenda item three, the ascertainment process steps. Um as I just mentioned, 3A, the community survey update. Um when we last met as a body, we had some um some tweaks to the survey, some light tweaks, and those
have been made. The survey um I have shared that with the town's communication manager for dissemination, uh as well as some sample language that can be included for uh the going along with that survey in terms of
a press release. So, that has been shared with the the town manager's team. They have that. I did suggest an end date of Friday, July 17th, um for that survey.
It has not gone out yet, so I'm happy to discuss that with members here, but before we do, the reasoning was to be able to have some of that information before our next meeting. Um I would like to open that up for
discussion if anyone has any thoughts. Rachel. >> Um I would love for us to have the information >> Oh, you froze. Oh. >> Can you hear me? >> We can hear you. >> But not see me? >> Uh we can see you now. Your video froze
for just a moment. >> Got it. I don't know what's going on. Um but that's not [clears throat] the first time today. Um I think having a full two weeks is important, so I to know from the communications
department if they're going to be when they're going to be able to get it up if that timeline will still work. >> [snorts] >> I agree. I think having a full two weeks. So what I can do, let me just look at the calendar as we're as we're
discussing this. That would mean that if the the town were able to get it up and shared as early as Monday that would give a full three weeks.
And at the very latest July 6th, which is the following Monday, would give us a two a full two weeks. I can find out definitively when they're going to be able to post it. That can help inform that.
I imagine they would be able to get it at the beginning or by mid next week unless there's some some sort of issue with the with the survey tool. But Fred? >> What I was thinking about was that after the survey closes we'll need some time to be able to
analyze the data coming in. So the July 24th seems like too closely scheduled in order to have the survey be finished and then to do the analysis. So I pushed things off into into August.
Again, it's probably going to take a week or two for us to be able to analyze the information that's come in. That's really the kind of the most important part of of the survey is accurately determining what the survey means to us. So I push
it off until August sometime. >> So just as a clarification, Fred, are you looking to push off the deadline for which people should respond or the placement on our next meeting of July 24th as a as a review of those uh
>> I give the survey a whole month and then I uh shoot for try um discussing the MLIS data in our August meeting. Whenever that is. >> Peter, you have your hand? Can you talk into the microphone,
please? You can bring it closer to you. Thank you. >> I'm wondering if you know whether the town staff will analyze the data and present us with tabulated results or just with the raw data?
>> I have a feeling that we are on the on our own for the analysis. Um some things in the tool Microsoft Forms will present some of that information to us, especially the quantitative responses.
It'll be the the qualitative open-ended responses that will be the ones that have the burden of our analysis. I do not think we have staff uh resources for that. >> Uh I I have been my question was really addressed to the
quantitative stuff. I've been assuming that we would have to read ourselves the the qualitative stuff. Uh and obviously a lot depends on whether we get 25 responses or 1,000 responses. 1,000 would be nice. And if we do, then
then I completely agree uh with Fred that we need much more time. But if the if the number of responses is small uh and the the tool we're using tabulates the the quantitative responses, then then we maybe we could
move a little faster. >> Yeah, so Microsoft Forms, it's it's not at a super advanced tool when it comes to analytics on the back end and doing a lot of the analysis for us. There are some things that it will aggregate and
and and and do as particularly as I mentioned quantitative questions. Um but we are on our own in terms of analyzing that. So, I think we should just assume that we will need more time. Um
and that is that is fine. So, I guess what I'm hearing is we should adjust and and open for more comments in just a just a second. Adjust the due date of the survey um through the end of July
and have a the placement of review of that those materials at a subsequent meeting in August of this body. Peter? If you could just make sure you're speaking to the microphone so they can hear you. >> Sorry. Uh my major concern as I've said many
times is the same as the one that Abby Weeks raised. But and until her comment, uh I'd been the only person complaining about the Comcast service and one's ability to contact them. But and it seems to me whether that's
an issue we need to address or not depends very much on the results of the survey. If Abby and I are the only two people in Amherst who care about this, then uh then there's no argument for getting Comcast to change its ways. But one of
the things that I want to talk about when we get to talking about the draft contract but is that it seems to me to be little relationship between the language about customer service in the draft contract and the realities of how people actually try to
contact Comcast. But and again, how how much effort to put into revising that depends very much on the survey results. It's the delay is fine with me as long as we have time, but after that to work on the language of the contract.
>> Thank you, Peter. So, as far as my understanding, we are, you know, still within that time frame. I'm the contract is the current contract goes through mid-October, I believe. Uh or or the >> Yeah, October 15th.
>> October 15th, 2026. >> Correct. >> Um other communities have gone past their contract date in order to complete negotiations, so it's not unheard of. So, if for some reason we think we do need additional time that impacts that
timeline, I think there's precedent for us to to do so, um although maybe not a preference to do so. So, absolutely, I think Peter, we want to hear what people have to say and and make that inform our requests of Comcast. So,
um Okay, so what I propose is having the survey up through July 31st, which is a a Friday, the last day of July. Um and then we will and maybe we'll discuss this today um about when our meeting
times in August should be. We Currently, our next meeting is July 24th. We don't have a a scheduled date in August, but I The idea would be to um put this on the agenda for the review of those
uh responses. And we can talk about that when we get to that agenda item in terms of um scheduling, Rachel. >> Um I don't know if this is off uh off agenda, so redirect me.
Um but the the comment that the public comment we heard and Peter's comment has me wondering whether there is capacity to look at Spectrum at all. Is that or or at any other cable providers? My My instinct as she was talking and then I
was able to find My instinct was to assume that that was an internet contract and it's not. They do Hadley does have their cable contract with Spectrum. I'm curious if and why and why we have not looked at that at all. >> I think that's a that's a great question
that I think if we can capture I know Fred will be capturing that in in the minutes, but I will bring that forward. Um and and can put that request to the town manager and or the um our town council in terms of
how that fits into to this particular process cuz I'm not exactly sure if that's more of a they come to us thing or we solicit out. I I really couldn't say. Maybe Shawn has any thoughts on that and if not, that's okay.
>> Yeah, my my understanding from going through this last time was this is we I think our only power in this and and this is Ultimately, this contract is between the town signed between the town manager and
Comcast and it's really only if Comcast is not meeting their obligations of the contract that I think we we in in ascertainment, we could potentially show that if they're not meeting the
obligations of the contract and then then I think it's potential for the town manager to essentially reject that franchise reject the renewal of the franchise agreement. Um >> We have Can I just make sure I'm
understanding that? Even though it's a brand new contract, like we're committed to Comcast for a new 10-year period unless I mean, I think we have I do think we have some evidence that they're not meeting the terms of the contract, but we're we're committed to them
for a new contract, not just unable to break the contract. >> My understanding and this is this is a great question for the lawyer, so it >> Okay. >> This is not I do not know this definitively, but my understanding on this is that it's it's it's up to us to show some sort of
>> I see. >> breach of that contract in order for us to not allow Comcast to renew it. Um so the the default is for Comcast to renew the contract. Um And one other piece of information is
last time we went through this, we did Um we did go beyond the deadline to renew the contract. I I can look up when it went, but it we went beyond the October date and what happened was the contract just kind of stayed in place while we were
negotiating the renewal of the contract. There there there may have been something that Comcast had to do to make that happen, but it it just continued as is until we until we we renewed it. Um The other thing I'll say is
our contract our franchise agreement with Comcast does not prevent any other cable providers from coming in here. So if Spectrum um if Spectrum wanted to come into Amherst, there's nothing
they would have to negotiate another franchise agreement. They would have to negotiate a franchise agreement with the town. Um but there's nothing in the franchise agreement with Comcast that prevents that from happening. The only language in the current contract and I
anticipate it being the the future contract is that we have to offer the same or less favor favorable um offering to the next company that would want to come in. So, if Spectrum wanted
to come in, we would have to offer them the same same arrangement that we offer Comcast, or it would have to be worse in basic in the favor of Comcast. Um so, that's that's what's in the current contract, and I anticipate will be in the future contract.
>> Thank you, Shawn. And And one thing I will say, um we will capture questions that are that we should um direct [clears throat] into to the to legal counsel, um and we I'm told that they will be present at
our next meeting. Um so, we will have an opportunity to to be able to get those questions um at our at our next meeting, as well. Peter, you have your hand? >> Thanks, Chair. Sorry, I'm not speaking into the microphone. I apologize. I was agreeing
with Shawn uh about uh what he said, which seems to be the track with what the lawyer told us, uh that we have very limited power to reject this contract. Uh but Shawn, is it also correct that if, for example, Spectrum decided it wanted
to offer cable service in Aver, it would have to wire the whole town. They would not They would not be able to run their service over the lines owned by Comcast. >> I I believe that to be true. And so, in in our Comcast agreement,
we do have the line extension policy that requires them to to offer Comcast service television service throughout the town with basic with the exception of where they're they're they don't meet the density requirements, which my understanding is there's one one
location in town of two two houses that do not meet that requirement. So, my understanding is that Spectrum would have to provide that service through the whole town because I I think that's that's what we're asking Comcast to do. My expectation is the same would be
required of Spectrum. That That's my understanding. Again, I'm I'm not a lawyer. >> In theory, I suppose we could try to negotiate for Comcast allowing other carriers to use their lines, but I can't imagine Comcast accept such agreement.
>> I don't have a I don't have an answer to that, so I I don't I don't think I can say at this juncture. Um but it's certainly something we can capture and seek advice from counsel on. All right, just going back to the agenda uh for a moment. We We talked about the
survey. We've moved on from that. The next item um 3B. And And there might not be much to say now, but I'm going to just open it up in case Rachel and Shawn have anything they want to share as an update. Um and that's the the business plan uh Amherst Media business plan
status update and or any update relating to town equipment needs that have been identified. Um Shawn or Rachel, if there's any updates on that. >> Um I can [snorts] share some. Shawn, do you have anything to share on the town
and school end? >> I can put something together for the town end, um but it it's not a lot, so. And I I'll ask Jerry from the schools again. They're They're at the end of their school year, helping with some moves, and and also
um have staff retreats, but so I know he he's been incredibly busy. >> Uh-huh. Um I uh my big question to you to the lawyers of the committee, everybody is what the
ideal timeline for me to have a completed supply list is. Do you know that or can you find that out, Brianna? >> So, the the the understanding and I can um follow up this week to see if there's some actual kind of real dates for us
for me to share with you. Um but upon speaking with the town attorney last um in advance of our last meeting, it it it seemed like as soon as possible for the the financial elements in terms of needs in that sense. Um
you know, the the quicker that we can get those things would be would be better. I did not get a specific time frame. Um which I can try to get. I mean, obviously they're going to work within our time frame, but
it is something that they um are requesting on the sooner side. So, that being said, if there's if there's a a reasonable timeline that makes more sense for you, I can share that back with them if you if you want to go that
way. >> I mean, I could be done I'd say by the by July 18th. Um I think this needs to be done at the same time as Shawn's though. So, Shawn is that manageable for you and for Jerry?
>> Yes. >> Okay. Great. >> Um yeah. >> So, I just need to really review. I Brianna, I shared a a draft version with you. I just need to look it over one more time with my whole team. Um and I met with Paul this week and and
spoke to him about it. My um the the list is large and um Shawn, the recommendation is you do the same at this point that we start with a higher dollar figure and can negotiate down from there
both because equipment costs are just going to continue rising and 10 years is a long time and because if we start low we'll only negotiate lower um so I'm I have things broken out in a similar way to how Amherst Media did
this years back with with some adjustments because we're not looking at um a building in the same way but we are expanding our in in in the community program offerings um and
uh landing ultimately with a similar total number to what it had or no that's not true I mean he landed at like 3 million initially we're landing at um I think just under a million dollars um and and that does not yet include the
town and school costs. >> Great thank you Rachel. So um I guess I would say would it be reasonable for us to put this back on the agenda for the meeting on the 24th or for an update? Okay. >> I'll I'll um >> That'd be great. >> Yeah.
Any other thoughts comments from the the committee on this this item? >> Uh that would be great if we could do it talk about it at our next meeting in July. Thank you. >> Yeah. And I can talk I can share the business plan as it looks right now on screen and then share
it to review at the next meeting. Would that be helpful? >> Would that help members to get a a sneak peek or would you prefer to get a an advanced copy to review of ahead of the meetings
so that you can look at it on your own? >> More of the latter for me. >> The latter? >> Mhm. >> Okay great. >> Um so I will get both the 10-year plan and the equipment list I I would just was typing into my calendar by July 13th to Breanna and she can
share it with the committee at that point. Great, Rachel. That's great. Thank you so much. >> Okay. So, our next item is 3C discussing the the draft license agreement. Um
we this board got a a review memo um that was prepared by the town attorney to to help guide your review of the very large document. Um so, that is something
I had hoped that you would have gotten sooner. Um but, you know, we're working with the the the time frame of the um of the attorney. So, we got that on Wednesday evening. Um I would just want to open up for
discussion, but one thing I will say is um and and we can vote on this and and discuss it after we hear from the members um in just a moment. But, one thing I think is starting to capture the elements that
we have a questions on um if something doesn't seem clear um particularly the things that were highlighted in the review memo. Um but, also separately and maybe from feedback
from our review, but also what we hear and what we've heard so far in public comment and what we will get from the survey is coming up with that list um so that we can bring that to the town attorneys to inform the negotiations of the things
that are negotiable. Um and I have a suggestion for that after we have a chance to discuss. So, just open up the floor um for folks if you had a had had a chance to to review, does anybody have,
um, any items that they want to bring to the the group for discussion? Peter. Make sure you tuck into your mic. >> Sorry to be popping up every time you ask a question, Brianna. Uh, guided by the the helpful memo from town
council, uh, I looked at the sections, uh, in the con- in the draft contract that pertain to customer service. I think it was uh, 5A 5B and 12A or something like that. Anyway, with some difficulty I found them,
uh, and they they they they appear to make the assumption that the way you contact Comcast is by making a phone call and that the only issue was how long the phone keeps ringing before someone answers it, uh,
and, uh, whether you have to leave a voicemail or and so on. Uh, this is is totally out of touch, uh, with the way Comcast actually operates now. Uh, I think I'm the only person on the committee who who is afflicted with
cable TV service from Comcast and so the rest of you may not be as aware of this as I am, but, uh, when you call them on the telephone, uh, you you get a telephone tree. Uh, only by heroic efforts of shouting and button
pushing can you ever get anyone to talk to. Uh, and while the service from the people you talk to is not impeccable, uh, and here I would agree with what what happy week said. I've had very similar experiences, but uh
the contract ought to make reference to the actualities, uh, of the way Comcast works now, uh and the I do not know how how to run a cable TV business and so I cannot make
any thorough package of suggestions about how Comcast ought to operate to give better service, but I would think one thing we might want to insist on is that it be possible within a short time of initiating telephone contact to speak
to a human being. But I mean that seems like something that it might be possible for Comcast to engineer. But there also are quite elaborate electronic means of contacting Comcast which you find
yourself in chat with someone on a different continent with you can ask your questions and get answers and that may well be a a reasonable way to operate, but once again it would to me it seems that it
needs to be easy to move from that to a human contact. >> Thank you, Peter. Um any any thoughts any additional thoughts on the customer service language or provisions or things that we
want to above and beyond request be put in there. So some thoughts from Peter, but others. And and this isn't going to be your only opportunity. So I know we're we're just kind of doing a high-level discussion here. We will
be able to make this list and and review it at a subsequent meeting, but Fred. >> Yeah, I just want to second Peter's suggestion that they concentrating on the metrics that are used to assess whether they're succeeding or not. I
don't know if it's necessary human contact, could be time to resolution. Um it um but looking more at the at the metrics that are in the contract would be really good idea. >> And one thing that I'll I'll say is um um
it will be helpful for us to have of course the language that we probably write will have to go through multiple filters, but if if uh Peter or Fred, if you have specific language that you um or requests
um and and it doesn't have to be at this moment, but if we can start to capture those somewhere, I can um start collecting all of these pieces and I imagine we're going to be adding to this after we um hear from survey respondents as well.
>> Point taken. Thank you. Great. >> Peter, did you have your hand? >> Yeah, I I I wonder whether it would also be possible to ask either Comcast or the town council to draft some language. I'm perfectly happy to try to draft something, but I'm acutely conscious, I
suspect Fred is as well, that that there are real limitations to how you can set goals if you have no idea how the internal systems operate. But and you know, our goal is better service rather than than inventing some particular way of
doing it. But the something about time to resolution of the issue might be reasonable to to put in the the contract stipulations. Another thing that might be useful to put into the contract is some
stipulations about how you file a complaint. Who do you turn to if you're if you spend six hours on the telephone as as Abby did or four hours as I've done recently to straighten out a fairly simple issue.
But one possibility would be to though I I doubt very much that the town will like this, would be to say that you call the town office that that's responsible for the contract but and they intervene with
Comcast. But another possibility would be to have some kind of dedicated Comcast number that would serve people in Amherst. But but these may or may not be good ideas but but some way of
getting beyond the problem and filing a complaint so it becomes known and actionable would be helpful. >> Thank you Peter for those suggestions. I think I think you're you're kind of spot on. There needs to be some middle ground instead of waiting every 10 years for
people to ask them how things are going. Um and I think what we'll do and is start putting those things to page. Some things and from the legal perspective we'll find out from from town attorney are
possible or not. So I think what we should do is put these great ideas together and then we can see what's possible um through the negotiation process to even to even move forward. But I think those are great great suggestions. Rachel, you have your hand?
>> Um on a totally other other end, I'm I'm still I it's a tough time of year to get every anybody in the same room but um in the next couple weeks I'll be looking closer with with our team but some of the things on on my mind on the PEG end
um are whether the list of meetings that we cover is the right list. Um whether three channels are still necessary is is the right number um and
to clarify, PEG stands for public education and government. Um some people in Amherst are under the impression that that means there's a requirement of three channels that are dedicated to each of those. That's not the case. Most of our peer
network TVs have only one channel or two channels. Uh and that is something that I think could be poked at. Um and the third thing
this will come up more in the second round of negotiation that that we do that is between the town and Amherst Media. Um another thing on my mind just is um when we hit the point at which the
amount of money coming from cable does not support the work that we the contracts that we need to do um which my calculations have it about 5 years we
I think there needs to be some attention to that. Um The first two are more more explicit. I don't quite know how to what we're going to do about the third though. >> Great. Yeah, thank you. I think that's a good point to
I actually learned that from from hearing that from you about the the three channels and the PEG and um it would that create some sort of efficiency for Amherst Media and or cost savings if those were
condensed? >> Yeah, cost savings just in that it takes staff time to program all three. So, like right now we have a person whose job it is to make all of the meetings um the the whose job is to record meetings
and to um live cast simulcast them. Um and he also programs the TV the other all three TV stations. So, anytime that meetings are not playing there is like
old shows from years ago when Amherst residents made more TV shows or current residents who do make TV shows um and NASA stuff playing like anything publicly accessible is on those stations. So if we had one less to be
programming for, yes, it would shift that workload and and in turn save some money. >> And just so I'm sure I have one more follow-up question um on that because uh I have not downloaded the whole contract into my brain yet. I don't know
about you all but there's not a lot of room in there. Um would that have any bearing on the discussions with Comcast or is that as you said a later Amherst media to town
part like are there >> That's in this contract. Um there's a there's a the PEG section notes the number of channels and and what they are that are dedicated to PEG. Um yeah. >> Awesome. Thank you for that clarification.
>> Yeah. >> Fred? >> Um on another topic um what my dream would be that the uh Amherst media's uh um content and all be provided to streamers also. My understanding is it's just
provided to people that are on cable. Um having a way to have that their content and channels go to streamers would be excellent so to spread that good information more broadly. I don't know if that's part of the
contract or not uh but uh it would just be my dream at this point. >> Rachel? >> So our town meeting content or the town meeting content is always available on YouTube as well as the TV channels. Um
the other the other things that play on Amherst Media do not play on YouTube. I would imagine that that's an area where Spectrum might be able to offer that differently than Comcast. >> That's a great suggestion. Thank you,
Fred. Peter? >> Rachel, are you content with standard definition? Uh or would you be interested, for example, in trading some channels for high definition? >> Um, we're asked that's that's one of the
repeated calls that come in to Amherst Media asking why the quality isn't Part of that is because we we are just just getting onto fiber. Thank you, Sean and IT team. Um, but part of that is because we're on standard definition channels. I think
that would be a Rachel you're >> We keep losing you a little bit. >> I'm sorry. Um >> If it helps with bandwidth, feel free to um >> Let's try that. Yeah. >> can hear you. Yeah. >> Okay. Um the perks of living in the woods in
Pelham. Um I'll try I'll try to repeat all that. Part of why a call that Amherst Media gets with some consistency is why the um [clears throat] quality of our recordings is not higher and part of the answer is because we have not been on
fiber. Um we're we're still working that out with the town, but we will be on fiber shortly. Part of that though definitely is because we're only on standard definition channels. Um, so I think that would be a welcome addition that doesn't feel, I'd say, hugely important though. So
yes, if possible, not um not not needed. >> Thank you for that background and I do believe um we will we we can and should um especially hearing what we we just heard from Rachel have that on our on our list that we're building and I do
remember from earlier conversations at our meeting when we did have town attorney here that that was something that is in play in terms of negotiating. All right, let's see. Are there other points that the committee would like to bring up regarding
the most recent review at this time. Okay. I do have a suggestion that I want to open up for discussion. So let me just
introduce the the motion so that we can discuss it and then vote upon this. So one thing that I think might be helpful considering especially that we're not meeting for another month and we are backing up into this line. We
know that I Amherst IT and Amherst media are have been and continue to work on their their asks for equipment and otherwise. But to start cataloging all of these
pieces so that we can get them cohesively together in order to bring them in front of the attorney to take it to the next steps. Again, this will be ongoing cuz we'll be waiting for survey responses from the public. Um but I move to delegate the preparation
of a draft list of requests for the contract negotiation to both Sean Hannon, the IT director in collaboration with myself, Briana Sunratt as committee chair to be brought back to this full committee for review and discussion at
our next meeting on Friday July 24th. Do I have a second to advance this discussion? >> Second. >> Okay. Um any questions, thoughts before we make a motion to to vote on that?
No? Uh Fred? >> It sounds like a really good idea. That That's great. I appreciate you to really be willing to do that work. >> Great. Thank you, and I think, you know, the the the notes from today um
will kind of start there in terms of some of the asks and and our questions, um and then we can continue from there. Um >> To help that along, I'll go ahead and work on that part of the minutes and get those my notes at least to you folks
within the next few days. >> Great. Thank you, Fred. All right. So, since a motion has been made and seconded to delegate the preparation of this list to Shawn Hannon and myself as committee chair, um we just want to do a roll call vote by member since we have hybrid
participation. So, I will just go through and you can um give me your votes. Peter Barrick. >> I. >> Fred Sivian. >> I. >> Rachel. >> Yes. >> John. >> I. I.
>> And Brianna, I. So, the eyes have it, um and the motion passes. Okay. Next on our agenda is agenda item four, which is discuss and confirm our upcoming meeting occurrences. Um
our next meeting that we have discussed and secured um meeting space for is Friday, July 24th at 11:30 a.m. The physical meeting space um that we have secured is the
first floor conference room and we will have um a Zoom webinar link for participation. Um and the agenda is being built for that as we speak. Considering that we will have want to have some time between the survey and
when we meet in August, um I am open to hearing from the group a proposal for our meeting date in August and I know this will take some coordination of calendars. Um
any thoughts on the August meeting? Fred. >> Yeah, um maybe the 14th let's start discussion here. In part because we will be able to get the raw quantitative results, but we'll need
some analysis time to see what that those qualitative results tell us. There's some analysis that needs to occur for that. Then there's also the time we need to go through the the qualitative responses we get too. So I was looking at 14th.
>> Okay. Um August 14th is a Friday. 11:30 a.m. has been our traditional meeting time. We can coordinate this offline if people need more time, but um if you do have your availability,
>> That probably works for me. I'm still coordinating a couple things, so possible it'll change, but I think that will work for me. >> August 14th works for me. >> Okay. >> Yeah, that works for me. >> Okay. Sean. >> Works for me.
>> Works for me. >> All right, so tentatively we will put a hold on that. Um if you could have put a hold on your calendars um for that as well and I will confirm that um, after speaking with the
town staff to get the space reserved. All right. So, that is helpful. Um, next we have on our agenda Where are we? Approval of minutes. Um, so in advance of this meeting members
received and I'll I'll give Fred a chance to to speak to this if there's any updates. Um, we received minutes for May 26th, the June 10th public hearing, and our regular meeting for June 12th.
Before we entertain a motion for approval of those minutes, Fred, did you have anything you wanted to say and or other members? Any questions, corrections regarding that the set of minutes? >> Yeah, in just in writing up those
minutes, um, the minutes for the public hearing and our subsequent regular meeting were fairly short and routine. We Um, so the the meat of the information is in the minutes of the 26th.
Um, so people have some maybe want to take a couple of minutes to look at the minutes of the 26th gamut meetings. The minutes for the 10th and the 12th are pretty straightforward. >> Thank you, Fred, for that update and thank you for your
diligence, um, on capturing our meeting minutes. Any questions, comments from the rest of the board? Okay. Seeing none, um, let's see. I would entertain a a motion
to um approve the meeting minutes from those three previous sessions, May 26th, June 10th, and June 12th. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, so the motion's been made and seconded
to approve those minutes May 26th, June 10th, June 12th. I will now conduct the roll call vote. Peter Barrick. >> I. >> Fred Civian. >> I. >> Rachel Furgerson Smith. >> Yes. >> John Mulas.
>> I. >> Breanna Sunnerton. I. Okay. The eyes have it, the motion passes and the minutes for all three dates are officially approved. They will be added to the town website after I get a chance to
to send them over to the town manager's office. So, they should be up there shortly for anybody who's following along and would like to view those. All right, let me see if there's anything else on our agenda. There is a a hold for any any new
business. I do not have any new business to introduce. Anybody else? Okay. Any topics not anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance, so this would be your opportunity to bring something up
that we did not have on our agenda that you would like to bring to the board. Okay. Seeing none, I will entertain a motion to adjourn, please.
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, it's been moved and seconded that we adjourn. I will conduct another roll call vote of members now to to make this happen. So, Peter Barrick. Fred Civian. >> Yes.
>> Rachel. >> Yes. >> John Mulas. >> Yes. >> And Breanna Sunnerton, I. The eyes have it. I declare the meeting adjourned at 12:28 p.m. on Friday, June 26th. Thank you. >> Thank you, Madam Chair.
>> Take care.