| A. | Opening | ||
| 1. | Call to order | ||
| The meeting was called to order by President Middlemiss at 5:07 PM. | |||
| 2. | Attendance | ||
| Board members present: Blazek, Cole, Greene, Longo, Middlemiss, Schneider | |||
| Board members absent: Ash, Manos | |||
| Visitor(s): Roy Mayhugh | |||
| 3. | Approval of minutes | ||
| The minutes of the September meeting as posted to the Web site were approved 6-0-0. | |||
| 4. | Treasurer's report | ||
|
Treasurer Blazek presented a report for the preceding three months of 2004.
Major expenses for the period were for telephone service, conference fees for
the Community Broadcasters Association convention attendees, printing and mailing
the annual newsleter, and a $20,000 advance payment for new translators.
About $8500 has been received to date from the annual donation solicitation.
There is currently about $21,200 in the bank.
Secretary Greene inquired as to the last time an audit of TVB's finances had been performed. The consensus was that it had been years and it would be a good idea to have one performed in the near future. President Middlemiss authorized member Schneider to make arrangements for a complementary audit with some organization similar to TVB. No progress was reported on pricing of the Laurel Mt. inventory items. | |||
| 5. | Correspondence | ||
|
Treasurer Blazek stated that numerous comments were received along with
contributions received during the period, most of the comments being
positive.
He will provide a summary of the comments via email to the board members.
Secretary Greene reported having received two email responses regarding the DTV transition, both indicating that TVB should proceed. | |||
| B. | Committee reports | ||
| 1. | Standing committees | ||
| b. | Operations | ||
|
Investigation of the KMEX intermittent operation found that the
receive antenna cable has breaks in the insulation at two points
along its length and needs to be replaced.
China Lake Public Works is aware of the Laurel Mt. roof situation and is awaiting a financing vehicle before making any repairs. Security Engineering replaced the alarm control panel in the Laurel Mt. equipment building and the alarms should now work much better. The intrusion alarm has been enabled, so anyone entering the building needs to disarm the alarms to preclude a visit by the police. | |||
| c. | Publicity | ||
| A press release was sent to the News-Review and Daily Independent regarding TVB plans for the DTV transition and asking for Valley resident feedback. The release was published in the December 1 issue of the News-Review and is rumored to have been published in the Daily Independent, but the latter has not been confirmed. An abbreviated form of the release was printed and used as a handout at the TVB booth at Santa's Art Shop. In addition, extra copies of the handout have been left at several locations around the city. Member Longo will distribute the remainder of the handouts and make additional copies as she sees fit. | |||
| 2. | Ad hoc committees | ||
| b. | City council liaison | ||
| Member Longo reported that she's a member of the City's franchise review committees and will see what if any assistance TVB can obtain from Mediacom regarding the transition of KCET to DTV. | |||
| b. | Web site | ||
| Member Cole stated that he archives all email received via the Web site, so if all operations reports were addressed to "board@iwvtvbooster.org", they will automatically be saved and available for future reference. | |||
| C. | Old business | ||
| 1. | Translator rechanneling | ||
| Secretary Greene has made a couple of attempts to contact Emceecom about the B Mountain translator repairs but has gotten no response. | |||
| D. | New business | ||
| 1. | Board officer election | ||
| It was moved by member Longo, seconded by Treasurer Blazek that the board officers for 2005 will be: President, Ron Cole; Vice-president, Edward Middlemiss; Treasurer, Henry Blazek; and Secretary, Everett Greene. This motion was approved 6-0-0. | |||
| 2. | DTV transition authorization | ||
|
It was moved by President Middlemiss and seconded by member Cole
that: (a) declare surplus four Laurel Mountain TV licenses and offer them for sale at not less than $10,000 each; (b) authorize the president and secretary to enter into an agreement for the sale of the licenses; (c) purchase three 100-watt UHF translators, eight 10-watt translators, three transcoders, engineering services to support five applications for new UHF licenses for Laurel Mt., five Lindsay antenna units, and a quantity of hardline, 75-ohm coaxial cable, total cost not to exceed $44,000. The motion was approved on a 5-1-0 vote; member Longo cast the negative vote and member Ash was not present. Member Longo expressed concern about having an escrow agreement and having proper legal advice for any sale of the TV channel licenses. It was stated that the services of Greg Best have been obtained and the license applications are in progress. It was also stated that the new translators may arrive in January. Roy Mayhugh provided the board with a copy of a proposed contract for him to purchase the TV channel licenses. No action was taken on this proposal at the meeting. The president and secretary are to handle any negotiations on this matter per the motion above. | |||
| 3. | DTV transition committee | ||
| The DTV transition committee consisting of board members Cole, Greene, and Middlemiss met twice. The committee devised a plan consisting of reducing the Laurel Mt. operations to the eight "main" channels currently supported and obtaining new translators to replace nearly all the existing units. This plan would provide for transitioning the eight channels on Laurel and B Mountains to all-digital operations at an early date. Applying for companion channel licenses for use during the transition phase would allow continuation of analog TV services as well as allowing digital TV services to be initiated. It was noted that displacement and companion channel license applications needed to be submitted at the earliest possible moment to preclude being caught in an FCC application freeeze. A significant component of the plan is the sale of four Laurel Mt. TV channel licenses to underwrite a substantial portion of the transition cost. Detailed reports from member Middlemiss and Roy Mayhugh were made available to all the board members via email. | |||
| F. | Closure | ||
| 1. | Next meeting: 5:00 PM, January 10, 2005, Kern County Library, Ridgecrest | ||
| 2. | Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6:35 PM. |
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