FINAL
Chairman Linda Fox called the meeting to order July 13, 2009 at 5:40 p.m. in the Barrington Hills Village Hall.
1.2 Roll Call
Communications Committee
Present
Linda Fox, Chairman
Pamela Cools, Recording Secretary
Barbara Kemp
Laura Ekstrom
Victoria Kelly (departed 7:28 p.m.)
Debbie Stone
Village Representatives
Present
Joe von Meier, Village Attorney
Sarah Kenney, Planning and Zoning Coordinator
Absent
Fritz Gohl, Trustee
Robert Kosin, Village Administrator
Lt. Joe Colditz, Police Department
American Tower Corporation
Alex Gamota, Presenter
Michael Hill, Attorney
1.3 Approval of Minutes
Approved June minutes as submitted. Motion by Barbara Kemp, and seconded by Debbie Stone.
Approved 6-0-0.
2.1 Sarah Kenney
· In order to simplify and better address issues of www.VBHComm.info website management, Sarah suggested that we might establish an ad hoc committee of two members. The ad hoc committee would meet at the Village Hall with a staff member present (to comply with Open Meetings rules) to work on the project outside of the official monthly meetings. At the first meeting, members will discuss goals and direction of the website.
3. DAS—American Tower Corporation
· Alex Gamota from American Tower Corporation presented a new map showing the results of last month’s test drive for the proposed DAS network. The map included detailed locations of fiber optics mainly along existing poles or underground (beneath the railroad tracks) to connect nodes to the hub. The two possible hub locations are on the Village Hall property and on Old Hart Road near Hart Road.
· As part of the Right Of Way agreement between ATC and the village, the village could have free use of 2 strands of the fiber optics for municipal purposes.
· Other carriers can also use the data from the drive test results later if they need different coverage areas within the village. Coverage within the Forest Preserve was not tested, as it was not part of the scope of the work requested by AT&T.
· Village Attorney Joe Von Meier stated that the terms of the lease agreement are still being worked out and would be presented at the village board meeting.
· In terms of safety, DAS systems are low power and nodes are at .06% of the federal maximum safety guideline, which is roughly equivalent to the output from a typical cell phone.
· Once the 5 node sites along village roads are approved and the system installation begins, there will be a notification process by ATC for owners of properties adjacent to and abutting the nodes. Nodes on IDOT and County roads do not require notifications, but ATC and the village both intend to inform property owners. Notifications are projected to go out once pending applications and permitting processes are complete with the Cook County Highway Department and IDOT – hopefully in mid-August.
· If the project stays on its timetable, the active project will begin in October and they hope to be “on air” by the end of March.
· At 7:08 p.m., Mr. Gamota completed his portion of the agenda, and Chairman Linda Fox thanked him for his time.
· Linda assigned Barbara to formulate a resident information document, in the form of questions and answers. Mr. Gamota agreed to review the content for accuracy. The Q&A document will be posted on-line, as will the new coverage map showing test drive results.
· Linda stated that there is a push by the Village Board to reduce the length and content of the newsletter, partly for budgetary reasons.
· The Communications Survey which Pam has developed will act to reinforce the direction of our committee and will help to guide the content of the newsletter, as well as the website.
· Pamela has set September 15th as the submission deadline for the Fall Newsletter, with mailing by October 1st.
· Pamela volunteered to begin formulating a document to detail the process for selection of newsletter content, and to set word limits for submissions to prevent some of the problems encountered with submissions for past issues.
· Barbara made the website integration presentation at the June Village Board meeting. The Board expressed interest in the plan, and discussed costs and setting up a project team which would report directly to the board. Barbara will be project manager, with Fritz and Lt. Colditz as team members working to create structural guidelines.
· The Board will vote on the text and photos that will appear on the “mask page”.
· Debbie Stone will be re-assigned to work with Barbara on website content and updating. Debbie is familiar with Contribute software for websites, but will require training on the DreamWeaver software which we use for www.VBHComm.info.
6. Other Business
6.1 Census 2010
· Discussion was postponed to next month’s meeting because of Vicki’s early departure tonight. Sarah advised that before she left, Vicki was given a packet of Census 2010 material to review and use to formulate a promotional strategy for the village.
6.2 Communications Survey
· Pamela presented the latest version of the Communications Survey to the committee, having incorporated changes suggested by members since the last meeting. Further revisions to the draft survey were discussed and members agreed to changes in the text.
· Motion by Barbara Kemp to approve the final version, and seconded by Debbie Stone. Approved 5-0-0.
· Final version of the survey is attached to these minutes.
6.3 Twitter
· Linda presented background information about Twitter, the web service which allows free public distribution of short messages, called “tweets”. There is no cost for using the service, and village administration does not see a problem in our committee utilizing this as another mode of communication with the residents. There seems to be an option to broadcast tweets only, and not have to engage in two-way communication, lessening any concerns of collecting residents’ personal information, or violating their privacy.
· Pamela volunteered to research Twitter and report on her findings at the August meeting.
6.4 New Resident Marketing
· Laura, Debbie and Linda will form an ad hoc committee to work on brochure content, and will meet before the next meeting.
7. New Business: Such other business as may properly be presented for consideration of the Committee
· Chairman Linda Fox stated that Dan Mjolsness will not be joining the committee after all, and she intends to speak with Trustee Fritz Gohl and recommend Hollie Free to fill the final vacancy on the committee.
8. Adjournment
Given there was no new business, Linda Fox entertained a motion for dismissal at 9:42 p.m. The next meeting is on Monday, August 17, 2009. Motion to adjourn made by Pamela Cools and seconded by Barbara Kemp.
Approved 5-0-0.
Meeting Adjourned
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela A. Cools
Recording Secretary
Attachments
Communications Committee Resident Survey 2009
Website Integration Presentation