[0:00] Uh first appointment is with John Bosch
[0:03] the uh FCAT general manager uh about
[0:07] weekly representation on the FCAT board
[0:09] of directors. John please.
[0:11] >> Thank you very much for allowing me to
[0:13] come and speak to you be folks. So, I've
[0:17] been going through the bylaws at
[0:19] Frontier Community Access Television,
[0:21] which I believe you had a pardon
[0:23] writing. And one of the things in there
[0:25] is I have a select board member from
[0:27] each of the towns on our board.
[0:31] Currently, Deerfield is the only town
[0:33] that has a select board member on there.
[0:36] And I know for many years, as long as I
[0:39] can remember, I don't believe we had
[0:41] anybody, not even the select board
[0:43] member, even the resident from town of
[0:44] Wley serving on the committee. And
[0:48] I feel it's very important to have a
[0:50] select board member on there because
[0:52] it's not only part of the bylaws, but it
[0:54] will also help FCAT and steering the
[0:57] direction the organization goes. We're
[1:00] celebrating our 20th anniversary this
[1:02] year. The station was founded in 2006.
[1:08] Little bit of a time. Thank you very
[1:09] much. Give you a little bit of a
[1:11] history. When the station was founded,
[1:14] we didn't have technology like this.
[1:16] What we had was cable. I don't even
[1:18] think we had high definition then.
[1:20] YouTube was just coming out. Wasn't even
[1:22] owned by Google. Google had their own
[1:24] video platform. And I believe Google
[1:26] video
[1:30] 20 years. We're not recording the
[1:33] meetings with cable now. We're using
[1:35] Zoom and streaming. And there's a lot of
[1:37] input we could use to help guide us with
[1:40] just a technology interest. And actually
[1:42] good example of this, I was looking to
[1:45] update the technology in Deerfield and I
[1:48] approached Brian Domina, the previous
[1:50] town administrator about doing something
[1:52] similar. And this was back in 2022 when
[1:56] I took over 2023 and he said, "No, we're
[1:58] going to go with Zoom because the
[2:00] technology we were looking to update it
[2:02] with was well over $10,000." This on the
[2:06] other hand, I believe Jessica told me
[2:08] she doesn't have an exact number.
[2:11] >> All right, I I'm not going to quote her,
[2:12] but
[2:13] >> I will get you.
[2:14] >> It was a lot. It was nowhere near the
[2:16] $10,000
[2:17] >> Yeah.
[2:18] >> price number for this. I don't need the
[2:20] number, but having this input from the
[2:23] towns would help me and FCAD in making
[2:27] sure we do stuff that's right for the
[2:29] community to make sure that we're
[2:30] proudly serving everybody. I know that
[2:33] automation especially with the meetings
[2:35] is probably the most important way to go
[2:38] because this way we can even divert
[2:41] staff to cover other community events
[2:43] like more the school functions as well
[2:46] as other presentations which is also a
[2:49] very important part of serving our
[2:51] community as well. So, I I hope that
[2:55] maybe you guys would consider if you
[2:58] could, whoever's interested in joining
[3:01] the board, it would definitely help us
[3:03] out. And there's three of you. You need
[3:05] a three-sided coin.
[3:07] >> Oh, right.
[3:09] >> No hesit.
[3:14] So
[3:14] >> yeah, my understanding was what the
[3:17] initial board was um the select board
[3:20] chose a representative, the school
[3:22] committee chose a representative,
[3:27] some other person chose a representative
[3:30] for each town and then after that the
[3:33] board was to be self- sustaining and the
[3:36] weighty parted out after about 12
[3:38] yearsish. I to my knowledge I you know
[3:41] we haven't really I think with the
[3:43] exception of Bob Armstrong we really
[3:45] haven't had any like board members but I
[3:47] think in general it just because the
[3:49] technologies always change I mean 20
[3:51] years from now we may not even be using
[3:53] Zoom we'll be some using something else
[3:55] that hasn't been
[3:56] >> dreamed up yet so and so I think it's
[4:00] important to have that representation
[4:02] >> I think it is important but we have some
[4:04] representation there I was the last
[4:06] representative and I was termlimited
[4:09] Um, I had too many terms.
[4:12] >> This would definitely guarantee a spot.
[4:13] So, I
[4:14] >> But it doesn't Well, it wouldn't have to
[4:16] be a select board member necessarily. I
[4:19] think it would be good for a select
[4:21] board member to take a stint, which
[4:24] would be a three-year stint on Epcat's
[4:27] board every so often, but we we also
[4:30] have trouble
[4:32] getting people from the community
[4:34] involved. We had our 80some
[4:38] year old no she who passed away so she's
[4:41] not going to be available to be on the
[4:44] on get board. Um
[4:47] uh but it's I remember at the time
[4:49] really trying hard to get anybody
[4:51] interested. It was it's just hard to get
[4:53] anybody willing to you know come out and
[4:57] do something that in that straight. One
[4:59] thing I will add too, and I don't know
[5:01] how much you guys follow us, but there
[5:03] is a bill that they're trying to get
[5:05] into the office to get to expand to
[5:08] streaming services, too. So, it's not
[5:10] just limited cable. And I think that
[5:12] would probably help to get more interest
[5:15] in this because everybody my age I
[5:17] talked to, they don't have cable. They
[5:19] have uh Rokus.
[5:21] >> Yep. And I'm kind of hoping that might
[5:23] help stir up some interest from sort of
[5:25] the younger generations around my group
[5:28] and everything.
[5:29] >> Um, yeah. And I I think I would I don't
[5:32] know if you know like which kids are
[5:34] from which towns because I know a lot of
[5:36] Frontier kids are are there. Are there
[5:39] any uh kids from Frontier
[5:42] who are also from Wley whose parents
[5:45] might be interested? Yeah, that's
[5:47] something else too that we could look
[5:48] into
[5:49] >> because there's three spots. Um, and we
[5:53] h I think as far as I know, we haven't
[5:55] had a person in those spots in a long
[5:58] month.
[5:59] >> The reason why though I suggest maybe
[6:01] having a select board member do it is so
[6:04] that there's a guaranteed position too,
[6:07] >> which is why I bring it up. But again, I
[6:10] realize too, you guys are a volunteer
[6:13] committee and you only have so much
[6:15] time, too.
[6:16] >> How frequent are the meetings?
[6:18] >> We do them by monthly. They're usually I
[6:21] was looking into doing them on Tuesday
[6:23] nights, maybe Thursday nights because
[6:26] select boards send a meeting on either
[6:28] Monday or Wednesday. And this way
[6:30] somebody could be present.
[6:31] >> You say by monthly twice per month or
[6:33] every other month.
[6:34] >> Every other month.
[6:35] >> My mistake.
[6:37] >> Yeah.
[6:38] They used to meet every month
[6:41] before the pandemic, but then they cut
[6:43] back because of just with everything
[6:46] going on, but I I found that the six
[6:50] meeting um thing works. Uh one meeting
[6:53] is the annual meeting and then another
[6:55] is the budget meeting, then we just do
[6:57] the others throughout them throughout
[6:59] the year as well.
[7:01] That makes sense because when we were
[7:03] starting out, we really needed monthly
[7:05] meetings because we're trying to get uh
[7:08] in a very stable position,
[7:09] >> right? So, and
[7:12] >> one thing I will notice, I'm trying to
[7:14] look into ways to try to help improve
[7:16] the audio situation with recordings. I
[7:19] think the L's are great, but there's
[7:22] something I do notice that they are kind
[7:23] of a little muffled. Like, if unless
[7:25] you're like me who knows how to project
[7:27] well or close to it like you guys are,
[7:30] it's going to be hard. So, I am looking
[7:31] into a mixer or microphone system that
[7:34] might work. I'm still working on that,
[7:36] but hopefully in the coming months.
[7:39] Sadly, Julie might be interested.
[7:41] >> Uh, if it's every other month, I'd be willing to do that.
[7:45] >> Well, I'd make a motion that we uh point
[7:48] Julie Wagner to the FCAT board of
[7:51] directors.
[7:52] >> Second.
[7:52] >> All right. We'll get back to you on
[7:54] their next meeting.
[7:55] >> Hold on. She's not voted in yet.
[7:57] >> Right.
[7:57] >> All those in favor? I
[7:59] >> I
[8:00] >> All right.
[8:02] Okay.
[8:04] >> All right. Well, thank you very much. I
[8:05] appreciate your time. And on that note,
[8:07] though, unless you have any further
[8:09] questions for me, I will let you guys
[8:11] continue with your meeting tonight. So,
[8:13] >> yeah. Thank you.
[8:15] >> All right. Well, thank you and thank
[8:16] you, Julie, for taking on the role.
[8:18] >> You do with it.
[8:19] >> Yeah.
[8:19] >> Oh, thank you. It's been a privilege to
[8:21] serve this town. So, I one of my
[8:23] favorite projects I've done was that 250
[8:26] at highlight reel. Oh,
[8:28] >> the 45 minute film I did, that was a fun
[8:31] film, too. So,
[8:32] >> thank you for all the opportunities you
[8:34] guys have provided me as well. So, thank
[8:36] you. Thanks,