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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/15/03 Telecommunications TELECOMMUNICATION MEETING MINUTES July 15, 2003 The Regular Session of The Telecommtmication Board of the City of The Colony. Texas was called to order at 7:05 p.m. on the 15th day of July 2003 at City Hall with the following members present: Board Members Present Staff present Clark Switzer, Chairman Linda Camerlin- I.T. Manager Richard Kuether. Vice Chairman Rhonda Gann - Recording Secretary Bill Cunningham Rebecca Koo - Finance Director Walter Gillett Melvina Sparks Marcus Leatham Wallace Gehrke, Alternate Guest None With seven (7) board members present, a quorum was established and the follo~ving items were addressed: Clark Switzer opened the meeting by informing the board that Richard Kuether, Vice Chairman, will chair this meeting for training purposes. 1. Citizens Input Linda read a letter from Janet Rose dated 3-29-03. Linda informed the board Janet Rose withdrew herself as a member of thc Arts Board. Richard said they would talk to Ms. Rose and explain the Telecommunication Board's procedures to her. 2. Consideration of approval of the minutes of the Telecommunications Board meeting held on June 3, 2003. Bill requested a change to be made on the minutes for June 3. 2003. #4 Equipment to be purchased b. Paragraph 4 Oriy;inal minutes have: Bill Cunningham informed the board that he is cautioning the board that if these radios require FCC license, and we do not license them as required, the City could be fined by the FCC for using them without a license. Amend minutes to read: Bill Cunningham informed the board that he is cautioning the board that if these radios require FCC license, and we do not license them as required, the City and/or the person usin¢ the radio could be fined by the FCC for using them without a license. 1 Marcus made a motion to approve the nfinutes with an amendment to be made in today's minutes to correct #4, b., paragraph 4, for the board meeting held on May 20, 2003 as shown above. -- Walter Gillett seconded the motion. Those in favor: All Those oppose: None 3. Chairman Report: a. Consideration for approval of new equipment purchases. Clark reported he put together a list of new equipment for purchases but does not have prices together yet. Clark will distribute this list by the next meeting with prices. List will include: 1. 8 Cables 2. 8 Microphones 3. 5 Portable microphone stands 4. Raincoats for cameras 5. 1 - Bulk tape eraser 6. Bulk roll of audio cable 500' Staff needs to be aware of the bulk tape eraser. The eraser will erase anything around it. The eraser will need to be stored away from City office, away from the Telecommunication T.V. room and should be placed somewhere with no computer equipment or video equipment. The bulk tape eraser has holdover electro magnetic, and it boosts the power up ~vhen you plug it into electricity. Nothing of value such as tapes or diskettes etc. should be stored around it. The board and staff will need to place a ~ sign next to the eraser. b. Richard asked the board if they need to look into purchasing a PA System. There have been several occasions the board shows up somewhere for taping and there is no PA System. Marcus volunteered to donate a small powered mixer and a set of speakers. c. Clark reported the upcoming events: Police Department - National Night Out - August Park & Recreation Department - Opening of 5 Star - September Aquatic Park - Water Park - August Park & Recreation Department - Skate Park - September/October Football - End of August Volleyball - Melvina with get with the Coach to get a Schedule -- Baseball - Clark needs plexiglas placed behind catcher at fence. d. Clark said he has not received all equipment that has been approved by the board for purchase. a. Beldon cables - RCA males to RCA males 6' long - requested 10 each at $14.94 each. b. Winsted rack muffin tan - 1 6! $386.50 c. Rip-Tye Velcro cable wraps ( l0 per package) 2 pks - $23.95 each. The board received 2 pks of 4 per package, total of 8 wraps. The board needs 12 more cable wraps ordered. e. Clark informed staff~ when the City goes out for design on the Art Center, the telecommunication board has the expertise and is qualified to set up the lighting and sound equipment to save the City money. Rebecca asked Clark to send her an e-mail volunteering the board to set up the lighting and the sound equipment for the Arts Center and she will forward it to Dale Cheatham. f. Richard asked if the board was still considering purchasing a mobile radio for the power supply or at least an antenna. Marcus has a power supply at home and will take the power cable home and solder it together. Marcus said he would take an action item to make a list of the equipment he needs to purchase for the phase station on the radio in the control room. Cables and Antenna g. Richard asked staff when to meet with Council in reference to what Council wants to see the board doing now and in the future. The board needs this information to put the Telecommunication budget together. Clark said there are four Councilmembers who told him they want to meet with the Telecommunication board about equipment and guidelines. They want to know what the equipment on his budget list will be used for, and they would like him to go with it. Rebecca told Clark to send her another e-mail requesting the meeting and she will forward it to Dale Cheatham. Clark said he is going to talk to the four Councilmembers. If they want to have a meeting with them, they will meet with them on the equipment and the guidelines. Rebecca asked Clark if he wants her to give Dale the names of the Councilmembers who are requesting this information. Clark said no. It is just four of the Councilmembers he talked to that said they knew something was coming up but they did not know what the date was set for yet. 3 Rebecca told Clark it is possible staff and council is waiting tbr the special work session on the budget. Rebecca said she wohld send an e-mail to Dale Cheatham to inform him that/bur Councihnembers would like to have a work session with the Telecommunication Board. -- h. Rebecca told the board she would check with the City Secretary to see if she is moving forward on revisions to the policy and procedures. Rebecca will report to the board at the next meeting. i. Richard told staff at the last P&Z board meeting, the City Secretary talked about building a booklet lbr all the boards. Richard wanted to kno~v the status of the booklets. Rebecca said Linda to check with Patti on the booklets and the open record acL and get back with the board. j. Richard stated according to the policy, anyone who does not have training on the Telecommunication equipment is not allowed to use the equipment. Clark said the way the policy reads, anyone can check out the OLDER cameras if they have been trained by the Telecommunication board. Clark said anyone that uses the equipment is responsible for that equipment. If they bring the equipment back broken, that department will have to purchase the equipment new. __ Richard asked who has a key to the Telecommunication room. Linda Camerlin told the board the following people have keys: Linda Camerlin Diane Baxter Bryan McNuelty Clark Switzer Richard Kuether Walter Gillett k. Clark asked if the front wooden doors are going to be connected to the burglar alarm system. Clark said during football season, they would bring equipment back after each game sometime between 12:00- 2:00a.m. Linda said she ~vould check with Chief Clark and get back with the board. Chief Clark's dispatchers will need to know if anyone comes into the building during off hours, in the event the alarm does go oft: 4. Subcommittee Report Marcus reported on the e-mail he sent to everyone in reference to 4 handheld transceivers -- and 3 mobile transceivers he purchased. 4 Marcus reported on the e-mail he sent to everyone in reference to the "2-way radio headset adapters." Marcus said the handheld radios are all programmed individually. If someone picks up the radios and accidentally pushes the wrong switch, it will re-program the radio. Marcus typed up warning labels to show' anyone how to use the radios to avoid deleting the program in the radios. Linde Camerlin will have the warning labels laminated for the board. The laminated warning labels will be placed in the boxes with the radios. Clark asked Linde to shrink the warning labels first and laminate them to be placed on the radios as well as placed in each box. 5. Staff Liaison Report a. Reimbursement procedures: Linde reported that Marcus purchased a radio. The board has already approved the purchase of the radio. The funds were taken out of the Telecommunication account and a check was cut and given to Marcus. Linde informed the board if they are going to make purchases and ask for reimbursement, please let her know if the reimbursement check should be mailed out or held until someone comes and gets it. b. Notification of software/program for cable channel: Diane Baxter is working with RushWorks Media.com. In place of the basic PowerPoint presentation for the cable channel, RushWorks Media.eom and other vendors provide a more robust look and feel of the cable channel. The new look will show different sections of what is happening around the City and we can have an area that will be squared off on the screen to play different programs that have already been recorded. Linde told the board these changes would involve them when this is implemented. The board will need to be trained on the new equipment and the City needs their input since they are the experts in this area. c. Inventory and checkout procedures: Rebecca passed out the new "Equipment Check-in Check-out Log". Staff would like to recommend the board to implement this procedure by logging all equipment in and out on a daily basis. In addition, staffwould like to get an updated inventory list on all equipment. Linda's staff is bar-coding all equipment and the board will receive a list of all equipment with the bar code number. Clark told staff Dale Cheatham appointed him the sole person who is responsible for all the Telecommunication equipment. If anything goes in or out of that room, he is aware of it. Logging everything in and out of the building is a lot of headaches. 5 Walter and Richard said everything that is taken out of the Telecommunication room is in boxes. There are big boxes and little boxes with equipment: this depends on which one they are needing at the time. Walter suggested inventorying the equipment in each box and logging in the specific box. rather than individual items in the boxes. Melvina told the board and staff ti'om an insurance standpoint, it is very important to keep an inventory and a log sheet of who has what. Clark told the board and staff the equipment is not insured. Clark said that City~ State and County organizations do not have their equipment insured. The stolen or damaged equipment either is repaired, replaced or wrote off: Rebecca told the board she was sure the equipment had an umbrella policy with TML, but she will check into it and get back with the board at the next meeting. Rebecca suggested they log everything over $500.00 only to eliminate logging everything. If a box is going out, then items in the box need to be on an inventory list because items in the box could accumulate up to or over $500.00. The smaller items should be inventoried, but not logged in and out. Clark asked that we add another line item to the log for "Type of Equipment". Clark asked the board and staff to meet on Saturday, July 19. 2003 from 9:00 - __ 1:00 to take physical inventory of all equipment. Clark asked staff to let all City employees know that they cannot take Telecommunication equipment without asking/notifying four people by e-mail: Clark Switzer, Richard Kuether, Rebecca Koo and Linda Camerlin. If anyone is given permission to use equipment, they have to be on the board or employed by the City. If anything is broken, that department will replace the equipment immediately from their department budget, not the Telecommunication budget. Richard Kuether concluded the meeting at 8:50p.m. APPROVED: ,,'"~ ~, ~ , Oia~l~ ~Witz~r, Ch~e'~ Rhonda Gann, Recording Secretary 6