we're just waiting for the countdown phones on silent silent thank you Tony it's like church checking this mic hello testing one two three four five six seven eight hello hello hello I think we got this one hello hello testing one two three good morning thanks everyone for joining us thank you congressman Welsh for being with us Peter it's just a pleasure we're here today with members and leaders of the Vermont access network which are the public educational and government access channels and centers all across the state there are 25 centers operating more than 75 channels believe it or not quite impressive and we're here to talk to you about some of the threats that we're facing particularly from the FCC and we'd also like to talk a little bit about net neutrality which we know is on the docket in Congress and the House this week and there are folks in the audience who are board members as well and if you have any questions well you just come and sit here in this chair because we have them like when it comes there's anything you would like to say so we're going to start with some comments from the congressman and then we're going to just have a discussion about the issues that are of concern to us and you can see our name tags here so that gives you a little idea of who you're talking to the high command yeah public access well Lauren thank you and by the way let's acknowledge Lauren's pioneering status I just remember when you were beginning and a public access was really not formed and somebody had an idea and a lot of you here but nobody more than Lauren about how this could serve the public and of course okay we it's under threat now and there's two things let me give a little background that I want to talk about one is net neutrality and the other is the public access funding one of the reasons I think they're so important is rural rural America is really imperiled these days it's getting tough in rural Vermont and it's getting tough in rural America and it is a whole variety of reasons from the real challenges in the farm economy to the new digital economy and not having the broadband infrastructure that you need in rural America it's the dynamic of people moving in the urban areas but we have to have federal policies across the board that renew our commitment this my view my view but I think others share it with me we have to have policies that renew our commitment to rural America you know there were other times in our history right around the depression when electricity was getting spread across America and there was no economic case then to electrify rural America but there was a social case to be made and we made it and that social case was that we have to have all of us in it together so we developed a rural electrification program and we got that last mile of electricity out to rural America and it's important in my view because rural America does embody a lot of values that are so important to our country and we now are at a point where with the weakening in the farm economy we have to have a farm we have to have a farm bill that focuses on local production of agriculture with the internet we obviously have to make a commitment like we did in the depression to get broadband out to rural America so that there's a chance to compete and one of the most important things that has to be part of it too is public access television which has as its mission informing people in the local community and local is real it's the only you know there's such forces of globalization that we can talk about quite some time but one of the things about globalization is that it kind of fragments communities it doesn't bring them together so I've always seen a public access television and Lauren I think this was from the beginning your your vision but I know it's shared by everybody here it's a way to let people in the community participate in public dialogue they can do it by watching but they can also do it by participating I mean the opportunities that local people have to to speak to their neighbors on public access television is enormous is and the fact that a school board meetings or select board meetings are broadcast and then people talk about it that is really important so the two things right now in Congress and they're on the energy and commerce committee on which I sit and I'm on the telecom subcommittee so it's a good place for me to be to try to help us preserve what it is you're doing last week you know it's not I hate to disappoint you but it's not all Trump all the time we actually did a little work but the the House Telecom committee passed the net neutrality bill no blocking no throttling no paid prioritization and that was to reinforce what had been the FCC rule under Mr. Wheeler and was rescinded under the Trump appointee Mr. Pi but in addition to those three things which the big telecom companies all say therefore we want the FCC to have cop on the beat authority to make certain that some new maneuvers that favor companies at the expense of internet access they can control they can they can weigh in on that and make certain that the public is being protected and that's what's controversial do we have a cop on the beat or don't we and you have to have a cop on the beat because who knows what the next paid prioritization maneuver will be who knows what the next throttling event will be who knows what the next effort to try basically to make it tougher but for you to have access to the internet or the people of Vermont in the country to have access to the internet so we're going to be having that on the floor very soon and I hope that we're going to get a strong vote on it I know our side will vote the big issue is whether you're going to empower the FCC to have cop on the beat authority to make certain that what the next iteration of putting the squeeze on your access to the internet that the access to the internet everybody whether you're a startup company a neighborhood neighborhood capitalist who is that here there she is yeah we were talking earlier whether you've got a small store and you want to have access to that internet because you need it for your business or your big company you were not going to discriminate against you so that's out of the energy and commerce committee telecoms the full committee and it's going to be going to the floor shortly so I'm really happy about that and if I've heard from Vermonters about one issue more than any others it's really about keeping the internet open and accessible to everybody and then secondly there is a challenge on your funding and as you guys know if the cable companies want to have access to this extraordinarily lucrative market that's there and cable rates last I knew have never gone down they're always going up there has to be some contribution to public access for the purposes of letting the public participate in benefit in the democratic dialogue and that's what you guys do all around the state the fact that there's so many people here is an indication of how intensely local it is and the cable companies are lobbying in effect to basically be given credit for doing what they were supposed to do before as an offset to the contributions financially that are essential absolutely essential to your continued existence and by the way I've been to a lot of your cable stations you're not living large so you do a lot with a little and I really appreciate that so I with many of my colleagues are going to working very hard to make certain that you're not cut off from the source of modest funds that you've had that it has allowed you to keep doing your work so those two things keeping the internet open and accessible and keeping the cable our public access television programming funded those are two absolutely essential priorities for me and I believe for most of my colleagues on the telecom subcommittee on the energy and commerce committee so thank you so much for the work you do thank you for being here today and I'm looking forward to hearing about how important this work is and how threatening it would be if either the internet was curbed or your funding was restrained thank you thank you so much thank you so the floor is open for comments Kevin Christopher is the president of the Vermont Access Network he not only runs LCA TV which serves Colchester Milton Georgia the islands and beyond but he also works tirelessly on our behalf to keep us herded and moving in the right way I wanted to make a comment I think when we're talking with our lawmakers here in the state yeah there is no partisan approach to this right we have Democratic support Republican progressive independent I would say if there is a partisan divide in talking with your colleagues about what we do I think it's important to note the impact that we have on the job market in Vermont and beyond we employ almost 200 people in the state really and hundreds more nationwide in addition to that we're we're partnering with job development groups nonprofits internships so the our job impact goes far beyond our centers and I think that's an important thing to note when when talking to people about the possible impacts to what we do is that there's a in addition to that link to democracy into that community involvement there's also a serious financial impact to our economy as well thank you thanks I don't have anything specifically prepared to say I guess one question I would have is you indicated that the your colleagues on your committee are also supportive of that so awesome what we do so that's kind of a good thing to hear for us because I feel like in Vermont we're kind of preaching to the choir I think that you and the rest of our delegation from not really understand the importance of what we do but we don't have a sense of how the rest of the country feels so I'm curious you know it's what's really interesting to me is that when I talk about some of the challenges that we face in the rural parts of Vermont and that's a lot of Vermont and my Republican colleagues who I disagree with on a lot of things when I'm talking about the concrete problems we have in rural Vermont they're the I'm talking their language because those are not unique to rural Vermont they're they're they're all of rural America and it's a real it's a real challenge now where the dispute gets in is that the cable companies are pretty powerful lobbyists down there I mean they're the ones that are standing in the way of they're very active in in on the open internet and basically there they say they're against paid prioritization and throttling in blocking but they don't want to have a cop on the beat the FCC who is going to be able to come in protect everyday consumers and small businesses when some new iteration of that discrimination occurs okay so that's where there's a that's where there's a kind of clash but and in terms of a lot of my colleagues and the Republicans frankly represent more of rural America than the Democrats do so one of the things I'm always talking about is the concrete issues in rural America and that is I say allows me when I'm really specific about that we don't get into ideological stuff but how do you deal with your cable stations and what's their challenges and what's going to happen to their funding or what'll happen to your small entrepreneurs if they don't really have the long-term access to the internet then that's kind of that that's we share that in common so that's my hope that's that's the way I want to approach this yeah oh right exactly of course that's something that our stations are set up to really allow for right and you have a lot of like report by the local rep who's that's right we have that show at bctv but we also have right now we have the orca which is the station here on appeal year is streaming now live a lot of the budget addresses and legislative legislative committees and and governor's addresses and so that local people can stay in touch with that you know where's Brattleboro is so far from my appeal year and people there are very active and want to stay involved but they can't be driving two hours all the time right so I just think that's something that you know when you come and do a press conference in northern Vermont we're watching it right in Brattleboro no it's you in a lot of people will mention that to me I mean I know people are watching just by people commenting that they saw me you know on your program was there anything more that you wanted to add about the impact of the funding decline on bctv the course from Brattleboro as you well and and you probably know that our stations have a wide range of sizes right right and that's according to the the service territory that's designated to fund that station and and so bctv is on the smaller side of that and you know this threat to funding could potentially eliminate Brattleboro station so for how many others would this threat to funding pose an existential challenge all of us yeah you just because you have a pretty modest budget as it is if it didn't eliminate kingdom access television in st. John'sbury area it would at best completely stifle the outreach that we provide supporting community groups and institutions in our area these kinds of impacts would just be devastating to what we do well you know it's in I want to hear more but I know that if I'm in St. Alvin's or I'm in St. John'sbury and we're doing some event that you guys are there and just I can say that for everyone there so you're getting and that doesn't happen automatically you've got to have somebody on the staff who can bring the camera to the place at the time and do the production and ask the questions we rely on a network that we've set up by working together a file-sharing network where van has set up a system where if something's happening in st. John'sbury that's how it gets to Brattleboro is is by a file-sharing network that Vermont Access Network has set up and a little bit more about that because that that is like cooperation as opposed to competition that benefits the public right kind of a weird concept don't let out don't let that secret out all right we might get something done in Washington that's interesting because there's always been that misconception of you know because we we work so closely together but it's always collaborative it's never competitive yeah and we get a lot done throughout the state the amount of local coverage that we have I don't think can be compared to any other media outlet that yeah where we cover everything and we really do work together to do that but that's right but but people are van board members as volunteers on top of their jobs also as executive directors of these stations yeah and so along with those stations being diminished what they can do those jobs are going to be diminished that network that is going to disappear talk a little bit about your boards because that's community people right yeah so maybe somebody could really for the viewers talk about that as much yeah no we have we have some great board participation it's it's it's critical for us because we're you know in terms of our staffing we have one and a half employees plus contract employees I got one and a half one and a half yeah mad river mad river Valley television in in in Waitsfield so yeah it's it is a critical source in terms of fundraising we have fundraising events and we have board members that help out there so we wouldn't be able to survive without our board members helping out in those are community volunteers in effect it's a volunteer position yeah we have we have a nine-person board eight currently serving but it's it's a nine-person board probably between seven and 15 yeah I mean just we were very worried about the same size one and a half people a budget of about 150,000 and we broadcast 24-7 on in our two channels 24-7 yes yeah I mean and we have much more material the thing is like we're the three little towns of Jericho under Hill and Richmond but there's always there's never a dull moment but often right here but we we tend to share a few shows with the rest of Vermont and actually the rest of the nation and the system the files sharing system we have like our calligraphy show has gone to California and a prison in Massachusetts and things like that most of our select boards we keep to ourselves but but we are big downloaders big users of the system we're constantly downloading things from CCTV from Mad River I mean we just have so much great local local content from on Pilar half of our government stuff comes from on Pilar so the media exchange is just a huge asset and it's also a great way to get producers in like a high school student if they know they're going to make a video with us and not just share it with their towns but like with the whole world it's pretty exciting for them and a lot of our students do go on to become to study film like I've seven years I've been there I've seen kids go through all those stages and they're now like media professionals so we're kind of a training ground and we always we have like three or four high school middle school students that come in like today I have to get back there at a certain time because I have a high school student I'm helping to learn the basics of editing so yeah talk more about that so like younger people I can learn these skills I like to share my name is Tony campus from Central Vermont television talking about training yeah recently I found out that one of the young men that we trained in our studio Aaron Janice is now vice president of 20th Century Fox and I said I called him up I said how did you get this job he goes well you taught me my passion gave you the opportunity and I shared another letter we partnered with a local sports online company and he sent me a letter last month that because of our station support of his small company he is employing 25 part-time people to cover sports so we touched so many people out there in our communities and you know I don't understand why the cable companies want us gone because we help them sell the internet with all the stuff that we do I think another point to make is that the training is free the facilities are free for people come in and to use so this is something that yeah I mean I'm in a rub because I actually that's a serious question why do they I mean it's not that much and they don't pass it on right but it creates a competitive disadvantage for them they see at first it was the satellite companies yeah didn't have the peg feet and then yeah now it's all the internet companies they're competing with please come use them like Greg Epler would is our member services yeah hi yeah I have us maybe to put two things two perspectives Kevin mentioned I think the amount of money that all the access centers in the state get a cat TV was one of the pioneers in figuring out what the what the value the value added the indirect result and so from the it works out to be a fact multiple error about 8.5 in other words the revenue into the state is about 8.8 point is it 8.7 million yeah of revenues that come from the cable operators to the 25 access centers 8.7 million yeah and if you multiply that times 8.5 of all the services the training the video recording of all the all that it comes out to us 65 million 68 million dollars something like that and so the jobs that are being supported is not the whole story but but let me look in the macro sense of this as well I was just telling Keith here on the way in that one of the difficulties that peg access has is that most of the rest of the country particularly the rural areas in the southeast in particular do not have public access it was either killed off by the cable operators and so when you look at a company the monster company of Comcast why doesn't come why don't the cable company support this well it's because one of the reason I believe is that because this thing that is so wonderful in Vermont is a small part of their business and they look at other states and don't see their systems and they've been able to stifle public access and so their their corporate policy does not include us and so we have to fight on the regional level you know that's interesting because you know the airways are public and the private companies end up owning spectrum but there's always been a sense that the public should benefit right and you know the cable fees are they're so outrageous and they just keep going up and basically what happens you know you get you get an athlete who gets a four hundred million dollar contract and how do they pay for that it's by television rights that go over cable and then our cable bills go up and up and up and the the the companies are feeling some pressure I think from subscribers who are I think rightly complaining about this escalation in rates but is the remedy to put the squeeze on public access I mean it's not to me and it's one of the big challenges we have in this country right now public community engagement we need more of not less of we've just got to have that if we're gonna kind of revitalize our democracy I mean this is really existential for our democracy I'm sorry one of the underlying issues here is that the franchise fee is compensation for the rights of way and so really what is happening the FCC is doing is an assault on the state's authority to manage the rights of way right and so peg funding is a symptom of this bigger issue which is the FCC saying you don't get to actually be in charge of your local rights away so I think that's an important kind of bigger issue for Congress to be aware of because the the legislature and the Public Utility Commission half it's a fight on them and their ability to say to the cable operators you have to allocate some of these resources that are subscriber dollars not cable company dollars to public use in exchange for the rights of way for the viewers could you just break down that public right of way and what that term is that you're talking about so it's the it's this green belt in the streets where the poles are where you see phone poles and cable wires are attached to them they're in this public property which local municipalities and in this case the state have the authority to dictate the terms and conditions on behalf of all of us because that's public property so when you put in a phone pole you have to pay a fee when you string when you string cable you're in effect the franchise fee and the peg fee is compensation that the that Congress said in the cable act in the communications act is legitimate payment for the use of these right of way and so just to be very specific about the financial impact on our channels the FCC is going to is likely to say that the in kind the in kind franchise compensation the channels right okay could be the cost of the channels could be subtracted from this that's what they're trying to say so we don't know yet how the cable companies are going to value like what the permission is going to be to value so it is really uncertain whether it will be market rate whether it'll be some kind of internal rate but they're clearly planning on quantifying this as as far as the FCC will allow them so we have we don't know exactly what the implications are but we are expecting that they'll try and accrue reduce the peg fee as much as right and that's a big issue for us right I mean I think and that so it's a real question and we also with Comcast at least have even in very recent history they they're poor communicators they don't tell us what their business activities are that will have an impact on us in with enough time in advance so we are really in the dark about what the implications will be so how much notice do you usually get year-to-year in order to plan your budgets they pay us quarterly right we get yeah we get no no notification we get a check and that's how much you get and you but has it been steady so actually yeah this past year comcast which is the majority of our cable operators made an accounting change that affected us by five to ten percent which yeah so when you're a non yeah and it's particularly big when we've been seeing growth in almost that direction some of us right particularly in the rural areas have seen continued growth year over year so it's not even just a five to ten percent loss it's a five percent loss plus the five percent that you were perhaps budgeting an increase which is the case in ours so because we're nonprofits we don't really operate with large margins and even just that small small change meant that those community events that you mentioned that were always at I had to start saying no because I didn't know what the next quarter's check would be and so that's a problem yeah because if you can't do the local events you can't do your mission exactly and then you start losing viewers and that's five to ten percent and people are forecasting if this new rule goes into effect from the FCC they're forecasting 30 to 50 we just don't even know how much we'll lose of our budgets yeah if I could speak hypothetical here in 2003 Comcast sued the city of San Jose I believe part of their filings they stated that they valued a cable channel at $150 per subscriber per year so that's a very different market but also a very different time I did the math on our end operating budget of 560,000 roughly mm-hmm our three channels will be valued at 4.5 million mm-hmm charge back against us that math doesn't really make sense in terms of our path forward yeah you'll owe them yeah okay do folks want to talk a little bit about what we're doing to respond to this because we we're not actually just sitting ringing our hands right we're doing some creative things and I think folks might want to talk about I know Tony likes to talk about his his ideas and the work he's doing in Barry to generate revenue and help fund CVTV well we focused as you mentioned earlier on agriculture yeah and our sharing our videos we have people stations in California downloading our food and travel shows and I asked them why they go because Vermont does it so well you know one thing people are always looking for our things these are other cable TV channels Massachusetts Connecticut we share our videos on this platform yeah and you know we get underwriting for that we received a USDA grant to create our programming because we focus on the local farmers we focus on the local story and we hire young people we pay them anywhere from 15 to $20 an hour we don't have them do it for free and we give them an education but everyone in this room has a passion for what we do in the public access world and so you know we're looking down the road of other revenue sources to keep our local programming going because people will eventually cut the cable and watch their program on this and we we we do not receive any revenue from internet it's all cable subscribers but I'm sure many of the stations now I mean we've just started doing it we we are providing streaming our channels are streaming on the air they are you can watch it on your yeah watch it on the iPhone watch it because we do know this technology is changing but as he says we are seeking out other revenue outlets because we know people are cutting the cords people are looking at other options to the view and we don't get that revenue from the internet which is you know but you you you deliver on the internet yeah with the ads to our expenses you know in terms of staffing and technology and you know you have to you have to go where the viewers are or deliver where the viewers yeah that's it it's coming out of our budgets yeah so but I think that everybody is locally trying to work to find alternative revenue sources a lot of us have had to go to our town you know boards you know we've never charged our towns for meeting coverage but we've had to do that on this town and school board meetings and there's I think you know everybody at this table can talk about things that we're doing locally in our own stations to try to identify ways to remain sustainable but I think that as a group collaboratively we've been doing a lot of work as well with the state legislature and I mean Lauren Glenn can speak to all the things I think we're trying to look at it from all different levels so that we're not just sitting and wringing our hands but it's an unknown we don't know when the FCC is going to rule we don't know how quickly after they rule but you have to have some stability in what has been your traditional fee revenue yeah and unfortunately I mean we're going to have to turn to more of a fee for service model realistically and I think all of us got involved with this because it provided pure access for anybody no matter who they were no matter what they could pay no matter what they wanted to say right you know that's the free speech yeah ideal but I'm going to be looking at saying you know if you want to use the studio it's going to be this much money because I have to pay a staff member to run the studio and that's really would change the culture I would think huh one of the we deal with a lot of challenges as an organization and the members on our board but this is one of the toughest things that we've looked at and tried to resolve because we're nonprofit community groups that are transparent under the nonprofit bylaws and we're providing a transparency service for in a lot of cases for local municipalities and schools so if we go out to monetize part of that service streaming on the video and getting underwriting to supplement that and make up for any of the budget cuts that are on the horizon one of the things that we've realized in st. John'sbury is that we're going to be going head-to-head competing for underwriting money with the local museum the local library the local arts center right on the commercial side we don't have a broadcaster in st. John'sbury that's offering television service right but we will be going up against local radio stations right and going after that money that could be used on the nonprofit sector for right you know their missions and also getting into the commercial for-profit sector taking money away from those organizations it's devastating it's a total change in the way we have to run our businesses instead of delivering our mission we're trying to you know learn how to create a new business to stay sustainable yeah we've had to launch several new services to try to generate revenue and it's essentially a form of fundraising you know we've got a live streaming service we've launched a production services you know division in terms of doing production work for folks and charging for that work and yeah so it's and we do underwriting as well and it's it's tough because in our community in the manor of alley there's not a lot of big businesses that can you know support that that kind of fundraising so well you know this is really alarming because we're chuckling because yeah we're glad you think well it you know it's there's there's such a I think of concentration of there's an assault on the public good you know the common and there are certain things that we just as a society have to decide that we share that we're in it together and we have to have a system of funding where the objective of the service to the public can be viable and you know it's like we can't have a mini Comcast in the Mad River Valley in the Northeast Kingdom you know where you're trying to compete as though you're some type of entrepreneurial cable company you've got you've got a mission to the local people and we believe in that or we don't that's really kind of what it boils down to so if we believe in it we have to have a funding system is viable and sustainable and again I I keep you know I haven't been to so many of your studios it's pretty modest it's not like we're talking big money here and what did you say the headcount for full-time people is about one and a half people in general that's for you yeah so if you have to do all these other things that you're talking about then that comes at the expense of what the basic mission is so it's a different it's a different animal then you have to be competing in a marketplace and markets are fine for the appropriate places but you know it's like public schools have to be publicly funded because we believe in public education and public access television is serving a public function I mean we were talking a little earlier what I love about the public access television is people feel authorized to get on there and say their peace and it not might be the peace I would say but the people can say it they have access to a public forum where their words get disseminated it's so core of democracy for people to feel empowered to speak and to be heard and you provide that I just wonder Bill is that Bill from Nat TV or Bob I'm sorry to put you on the spot but you drove all the way up here and I just want to give you a chance to come and sit and tell us a little bit about the work at Nat TV because that's quite an innovative center I mean all of our centers are but there's a really good yeah come on up here and yeah good and you came up from London area I came from London area this morning snow still have snow in the lawn yeah yeah not too much on the roads anymore we're just about gone but yeah it's still winter there banana belt you know so we serve about 11 different towns that TV so Manchester is your Manchester our home is in Arlington but we serve Manchester and the hills we are to hear us hear some stats for you that I think are kind of interesting because and these are six numbers they're based on a study we did between the period of 2013 and 2018 so it's not just last year was a great year or anything else but we had 3600 locally produced programs during that time 3600 3600 we trained over 2600 people to use the equipment we covered over 1200 government meetings and in terms of people coming in and using our equipment we had over 3700 reservations for that equipment over the five-year period we had 2000 plus volunteers involved in the programming during that five-year period and online video views this is a good one 303,114 online video views so we don't we don't have you know part of part of the problem is you know our we spend a lot of time creating nice programming and then cable company puts it up on the channel for us and they put it in standard deaf and nobody watches it I mean unless you want to watch a board meeting or a town meeting or something where it really doesn't matter so we can't it's very hard to compete on that level so everybody goes to the internet I mean that's the that's the best place for us you know we have your programming goes out over the internet or I think our biggest views are probably on the internet yeah and they go out in high-def you know because there's all it's all 720 on the internet so looks it looks great and it's convenient and we get a lot of that on their devices yeah you can watch it on your phone you can watch it on your iPad your computer not necessarily in your television unless you got a very good one one of the newer ones it takes you to the internet we have about 4400 subscribers I think in our total area and it's going down it's not going up it is going down but you know the interesting thing is that if you get your cable bill if you look at the bottom of the bill it says peg and there's a charge there for peg the cable company gets I think I got it right it's $10.95 a month it depends on your bill it's a percentage of your bill percentage of your bill five percent or five and a half percent of your bill which is which is the revenue that we're supposed to receive right it's the five percent so we're actually we're already paying for it and we don't get it we do the cable subscribers are charged it and then the cable company passes that on to us in the form of a check yeah in total but not in it but offset against the the the original commitment which is about five percent right well they pass it on originally the cable companies paid it out of their pocket and then they were given the option to pass it on so they're they're they're doing what they're required to do subscribers month exactly this is really what it comes right so it's now local people supporting their local channel right exactly and a recent Vermonter poll we had four questions on the Vermonter poll and it indicated that about 30 percent of the people surveyed watched our channels and it's pretty good and 78 percent of them felt that it it was either important or very important that this service really that's great yeah fantastic I also want to point out one of our towns we cover is playing field that a lot of the people don't have cable but about 2,300 people are watching the select board in the school board online and again we do not we see that's the court cutting or they're still getting a company this doesn't go out there yeah it's but they're still watching the service that we're providing but they don't pay for it right and so right it's the ultimate dilemma so I wonder if um is there anyone else in the audience that would like to make a comment just while you're sitting there I have one more thought you're all right no we haven't thank you those are impressive statistics by the way I just wanted to go back to something that you were saying before about this being an opportunity for anyone to have access to the channel a show that you were on at bctv is meet the candidates right and that is an opportunity where we send a and all of our stations do this send out an email when all of the candidates are registered and saying hey if you want to come and be interviewed so that people can get to know you right come to your local access and we're doing that across the state and for some uh third party candidates this is the only access to media they have right this is the only time that they get to say this is what I stand for this is why I'm running and um so we have um uh established politicians such as yourself on this show but we also have people who are just saying hey um yeah we're making you know it's wonderful because that again people feeling the the ability to decide to run and to speak their mind and to be heard that's a good thing you know that's great and how else are they going to be heard right if we don't have this network of stations we're reaching out and saying this is your right to be heard just a historical note to say is that bctv and bennington actually oh bctv and st. johnsbury have been running access channels since the 70s wow and um bennington for a long time maybe before 84 but um so we got sort of the whole movement going but it existed in 1975 that's it in 75 you're out of her wow they wanted to see that brown bro select board that's right they did exactly so and yeah let's have angelica yeah just a little point um and I think us all being here today is part of it as non-commercial small public access channels none of us really have time for marketing we're always just busy doing stuff filming meetings sending out equipment training people but this has you know not to be all doom and gloom this um negative oppert is an opportunity for us to remind our communities of our value and when i turned around this year to our three towns for the first time was asking for some money to cover the shortfall from Comcast funding they were extremely supportive and um just the process of going through and number crunching and realizing our own value i think it's good for our communities to know so that we're not taken for granted after 21 years of doing all this stuff in our case that's reassuring that's good and i just want to point out earlier you're talking about competing against the local radio station and newspaper you were in our studio with steve pappas right and what we've tried to do is central vermont television is to partner with the local newspaper right and saying all right we're going to go after the well but we're also going to support you and use their sales people because we fly we all agree the newspaper is a huge value for our communities and we want to keep them alive so we're trying to partner so you link up with them bundle yeah i just wanted to add i'm scott campatelli i work with the vermont access network i've also worked uh with retn and uh and i've actually been in the vermont media ecosystem professionally for 30 years and one thing that gets lost sometimes is that this group in the vermont access network is the most powerful group of television professionals here because no one else compares actually in terms of the volume of programming created and especially the training and i think these folks sitting at the table with you are struggling with how to create the sustainable business plan it's the community's channels it's the community's television it's the community's media and and the community is thousands and thousands of people and having worked in the business for this long in vermont one other thing i've worked with college interns for three decades uh both in my work at vermont pbs vermont e tv and retn i can't even count the number of times college interns have said some of their first experience was in their community media organization and i'm not just talking about vermont talking in colleges people come from massachusetts they come from all over the country and their formative experience might have started with their high school and some of these organizations are both the high school and the community media organization but i've worked with with young people who that's where they started they've gone on to work for nbc cnn whoever it is and some have come back i can't say i've gotten to the top of 20th century fox tony but uh but i didn't either but but it's it's really about the people it's about the people of vermont and i just wanted to say that's a perspective from 30 years of having been involved with television you got a lot to be proud of i mean that's that's the thing this is tens of thousands of people you know and young young people they really love the media right well i just want to share too as well of scott mentioned i'm with retn the regional educational television network and talking about you know that the student piece of it and there's there's this sort of intangible thing that we all do as well or sometimes very tangible but the real direct work within our schools and teaching teachers how to use video in the classroom and using video as an engagement tool one of my favorite stories to tell is you know what happened last year and it goes back to that sort of television professional piece and that we are the professionals here and we had an opportunity we serve chitin in county charlotte central school had this opportunity to talk to the international space station and the folks in school called us and said we don't know how to do this how how do we do this and you know and how do you do that you know and i think is it legal it is i think i can speak for everyone around the table where you know our answer is always we'll figure out how to do this i love even if we don't know how to do it and you know we we did it so because we have television professionals and our community investment in the work we do we were able to basically be the crew for a satellite uplink with the iss so the students spoke directly with astronauts on the international space station and it was a live broadcast on nasa tv that our team supported and and we take it further and that then our education team goes in and works with the students to make videos about their experience so it's it's this sort of multiplier effect in a way that i think you just can't undercut and you know what an experience for the students i mean you know i can't tell you what it was like to be in that room and suddenly up on the screen came the international space station it was mind-blowing you know that is that's remarkable it's a wonderful story so were you able to like to share that with the other absolutely and we we made a short documentary about it and shared it on the media exchange so that folks could see it and and a lot of the programming like that really does end up being picked up by other stations you know around the country and that particular show also got to be broadcast on nasa tv so that's me that's cool Helen really Helen hi how are you i'm i'm very well and i just wanted to make two comments from another perspective i serve on the channel 17 board so i'm very interested in this and i share your concern it is very concerning and troubling but i also am on the south barlington city council and for me having all of the meeting meetings film is really critical to the public eye serve to really understand the breadth and depth of the issues that we deal with on a on a twice a month basis precious few people unless we're debating guns or the f-35 actually come to council meetings right so but there's but they're still interested they are and they listen and they come up to me in public and i know they weren't at the meeting but they know what's going on and have input so i think um it's just so critical to democracy and and such a good point um and and that i mean it's that seems to seems to be um a challenge nationally or for a whole nation about really communicating and getting the real news or hearing that's really true and they can't go to the meetings you know they're getting kids got hockey or you know they're making dinner they're doing whatever that keep the busy lives of people who are working uh but they want to know what's going on and all they have to do is tune in and you run do you do you repeat the you don't have to get out there also we're fortunate enough we have live streaming so you have live streaming work so there's some convenience but not very often does it not work so you hear when it doesn't you hear when it doesn't yeah yeah we know when it's uh disappointing but it's it's really remarkable and really i think critical to our democracy and having informed voters yeah well especially i mean you've got some very controversial issues you know um so that's good to hear in your colleagues you find that with your other other colleagues pardon me and it's just on your board but other boards say that they get a lot of input from oh i think you do yeah it's amazing um and then we did support our our um fees were doubled or contribution and um the council even in a tight budget year said of course this is really so critical the public would be up at arms if they had to come every monday night right so thank you Helen good to see you lisa i had some thoughts as i'm listening to everybody kind of backing up into a big picture view for a second um yeah and um i think it's important to understand that we've known cord cutting was coming and and we've seen a slow decline in revenue over time and i think that kind of all been preparing knowing that we have to um diversify our funding and and all of that at the same time technology was changing and and we were trying to really seek parity um here in vermont with comcast specifically for hg channels to be listed on the programming guide and those kinds of things and we've been fighting comcast on the on those things for almost five years they um the the public utility commission has been very supportive of those issues and and have supported us but comcast continues to fight those obligations and is now suing the commission over those very issues and we continue to be involved in that case in a very intimate way um so the the FCC rulemaking is kind of a blind side for us you know it came from nowhere we had no idea that it was coming um and it's like taking us out at the knees right because we felt as though we've been so focused on the future and making sure that we would be here as technology changed as cord cutting happened and this just kind of came out from left field and it's undercutting the very foundation of why we're here it's it's taking away the very funding through the public rights of way that we thought were protected with the cable act right um so we've been fighting all of these other fights um just to find out that we're being taken out from the cable act and um that's i think what's so jarring for all of us is because um this is a fight that we don't know how to fight we've been fighting comcast we've been there and we've made some really great headway at protecting peg in vermont but we don't know how to fight the FCC and this battle could mean that it could shut us all down right and that's i think the real um you know we feel helpless we don't understand what to do and we're worried uh what's going to happen so that's why we need your help um that's my job and patrick and bernie and i'll do everything we can and i do sit on the committee so i've got a good place uh to make the case on your behalf and as i say you know there's conversations like this going on probably in iowa and colorado you know wyoming and michigan michigan i mean it you're so much part of the local community uh around the country that those are our allies and also the point you made that it came out of nowhere that's just not right you know you you you just can't disrupt established patterns that communities depend on everyone from the city councilor in south berlington who sees it as the way that she can communicate with her voters to the kids who get their first opportunity to learn media skills to the programming that is intensely local and can only be done by people who fundamentally care about where they live what's what what religious impact you know how much faith-based programming we have how much you know we really the shut-ins the elder yeah i mean there's just right forever change vermont if peg access didn't exist so um you've been able to from congress to take action on net neutrality right because there is this relationship between the FCC and congress well we've done it in our committee the energy and commerce committees passed out legislation to protect net neutrality and that's going to go to the floor and i'm confident that we'll get it passed on the house floor it'll go to the senate and senator mcconnell has a lot to say whether comes up or now but it's one of those things where you put it on the floor anybody who votes against net neutrality they've got a lot of explaining to do and again i don't care whether you're republican or democrat people just want to know what's your problem of course we want to have net neutrality so we get it on the floor i i bet we'll get a number of republican votes even though in the committee we didn't get them so is there a corollary that we action that we could take once i imagine what's the FCC rules or is there some congressional action that can offset what the FCC does well here theoretically there is it'd be much it'll be it'll be difficult so i think the best place to start is fighting on the rule change because the legislation just always has a different agenda and then you're talking about your funding as opposed to where your strength right now is in the cable act that already is in law and then what has been the FCC protection of that and now we've got this new FCC and a new trump administration that's not as friendly to the local access efforts and you know it's odd with chairman pie he's from Kansas you know and they've got similar challenges there very rural and they like this so i think there are things we can do the letter heaven members of congress speak out that's all very helpful but i think the focus of our attention should be in opposition to a change in the rule that has been the basis of your funding your secure and stable funding do you feel as though your committee can influence that i i guess again we don't we can influence it we can't you know but it's the it's a mysterious process to some extent we can influence it and you can imagine how we feel because no right but but in you've got powerful forces the cable industry against you okay and that's a powerful interest you have got a kind of people power to some extent on on your behalf because as i mentioned my counterparts in say Kansas or Oklahoma they're probably sitting around a table with people just like you who are saying to them the same things you're saying to me all right and that's this rural coalition that i've been trying to create in congress so the more of us who let the FCC know where we're coming from that has some influence you don't see a direct line but it's advocacy and it's persistent and ongoing and the more people like you in other parts of the country can speak out to their local members of congress the more we can get republicans frankly because it's a trump appointed majority commission we've got two great democratic appointed members on there new one just last week but the more we can get your colleagues in other parts of the country particularly if they are represented by a republic house member that creates an alliance for for us so i don't know if there's any way to reach out to them there is a petition going around and i'm sure many of us have sent out to our communities and it is it's nationwide there's been nearly 8,000 signatures good that what you would recommend the public to do is to write their congressperson is that well i think the most important thing is like you guys here you all have the responsibility to make these stations run you talking to me patrick and bernie that's makes the biggest impression on me so if i'm a member i'm a republican member democratic member of congress from cancels or oklahoma or wherever and i'm hearing from you you know not just an internet petition but from people who are actually showing up at the equivalent of the south burlington a select board meeting and i'm hearing from her i'm hearing from the folks who do the production that has a real impact because you're you're embedded in the community you know and the personal contact i think is the most important it makes a difference you know anybody in the job i have when they hear from people in the community you pay attention you know it might not be you know we might not be as responsive it depends from member to member but we hear we hear it when it's from somebody in our community much more so than when it's an over-the-transom petition signed by people we don't know and aren't from our district so we're at eleven fifteen okay any other closing comments other than thank you everyone so much what would you like to say in closing well i want to just reiterate how important it is that the public be a consideration in these major decisions affecting our technologies and access to our technologies and you know there's two issues right now that are incredibly important will the public have access to an open internet that's under dispute right now you know are we going to have an internet where if you're a local person you're going to have the same access as if you're a giant corporation you know no throttling no blocking no paid prioritization and to have an ally in the form of the FCC who's there to make certain that if there's some new encroachment on your access to free and open internet you'll be protected that's essential and interestingly listening to you more and more people view your program on the internet and then secondly is there room in this vast media universe for an institution public access television whose sole purpose is to serve the public well i hope there is that's really what we're talking about you know in this multi-billion maybe trillion dollar industry is there not some room for public access where some young high school person or a local school board or a select board that's dealing with very very important issues for that community that they can't have that information disseminated to the people who live there locally well we've got to maintain that we have to preserve that that is fundamentally what democracy is about so your mission is really important and i'm committed to doing everything within my power to protect your ability to do the job you're doing thank you thank you thank you thank you everybody thank you that was really helpful yeah no i will maybe lauren you can be the point of contact yeah kevin and i yeah if anything you want


all right let's do it um pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 and extended again by chapter two of the acts of 2023 this meeting will be conducted by a remote means members of the public who wish to access the meaning may do so in the following manner by emailing steve mccarthy at mccarthyassetammerstma.gov that's m-c-c-a-r-t-h-y-s at ammerstma.gov no in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means in the event that we are unable to do so for reasons of economic hardship and despite best efforts we will post them at the Amherst website the Amherst town website and audio or video reporting transcript or other comprehensive record of proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting and with that done we'll call the meeting to order at 503 p.m um and take a roll call dylan here uh gaston here doug here and i'm here so we're four here and one absent heli made pop in at some point um okay so oh here she comes um hi hi we just did our roll call of attendance so if you want to say i'll say heli here great we're all here um okay so next up is public comment is there anyone here for public comment that is general public comment unrelated to anything on the agenda and if so you want to make such a comment you hit the raise hand button at the bottom of your screen and i don't see anyone here for public comment so we can go to licenses um a common victualers license renewal application cv-107 the black sheep limited 79 main street is there anyone here from the black sheep or are there any questions i assume this is standard right steve yeah this is just a standard late one that came in and nothing nothing changed or anything i don't believe they're coming okay super um if there are no questions about this common vict application from the black sheep is there a motion to approve oh thanks doug who would like to do the second second thank you dylan any further discussion if not we'll take a vote uh dylan hi guest on hi doug hi hallie hi and i vote i that is five to zero the license application is approved um next up is special short term liquor license application sst-23-32 michelle kahan hitchcock center for the environment 85 west street um october first and it's a wine and malt um okay is someone here for that one steve that's somebody in me oh hi kasey here should be coming right in okay hi i think you're muted hi oh there you are now you're not yeah great welcome and so you are this is an event at the hitchcock center yeah so um it's our second event um you all approved for us to do it last year as well um it's a one-time event it's a fundraiser it's at the hitchcock center grounds it's uh sunday october first from three to six um we've invited a few vendors local brewers to come um and offer offer their their tasting i can describe a bit more if you'd like but um you know it's sort of part of the event it's a meal um the fundraiser okay great thanks i don't have a chance to look at the application if not it came in your packet a couple of days ago are there any questions about the event dylan uh yeah just how did it uh how to go last year smooth any lessons learned yeah how'd it go it was great it was very smooth we loved it that's where we're choosing to do it again um you know no issues our our venue worked really well for it um the few vendors that came were happy so yeah it was it was smooth great um as if there's no further questions is there a motion to approve the short term license for the event at the hitchcock center for the environment so moved thanks Doug is there a second i will second oh thank you heli um any for that's all right any further questions if not um we'll take a vote heli Doug hi gaston hi dylan hi and i vote i that is five to zero the application is approved thanks so much for coming in and best of luck with your thanks okay bye okay so next up um discussion topics rental registration bylaw steve just sent around i just got from mandy johanneke the updated versions um so the crc has voted to pass them under the town council the town council is going to be talking about them on monday and um then that's our first kind of pass through them and then they're going to do a second uh discussion in tuesday i mean not tuesday september i don't know why i said that um so if we have if we'd like to go over it if you want to maybe put on the agenda for next time um so we can look at it a little more thoroughly if we have anything to add or change um those questions should go directly to mandy so i i i would say let's put it on the agenda for next time okay all right that sounds good to everybody all right so um we'll talk about that a little more thoroughly at the next meeting um next up is marijuana regulation and do we want to do the subcommittee update now is that kind of part of the whole thing or i think so yeah because we did meet last week um so oh i did hear oh sorry go ahead and cast on oh no no no i was just going to say we met and we came up with a kind of a strategy for the next session right so we should we should definitely um update doug right okay so uh we were so part of this is and i just heard from mani johannaki is that we wanted to find our point person on um the town council and many just wrote back to me and she said that she's probably the best contact um elissa but as we know was their expert but uh due to a state committee she's serving on she's been talking to her about it and she can't make we're going to have our next subcommittee meeting on the 15th at nine in the morning um she did she does recommend reaching out to elissa and said she might have good insights and i think we know from past years that she does and she said she's fine with being the town council contact for it um even though she can't make it on the 15th in order to help the blc shepherd any required bylaw so the board is able i guess the board is she says the board is able to sponsor general bylaws in front of the council for their rules so it won't need a council sponsor but she can help us navigate the system so that sounds good so we decided to start looking at the yeah that's great so we can just get to work on that so get to work on the we sort of think with the bylaw language first and um and then move on to the regulations and we were also going to look at uh the Worcester application i mean the Worcester license and a couple of other things the ccc uh guidelines and their their laws was there anything else well yeah i mean Doug what i um i guess one insight that we got to is that what we're looking at is a bylaw and regulations and moreover trying to figure out what are the sweet spots of the commission being able to do stuff in the future without going back to the council yeah and your your first draft is in the is in the form of internal regulations and so and so the suggestion that that i made was how about i can try to just put all of the terms that are in your draft in the Worcester law in uh present in the local agreements and anything else we thought of so that we can go through it at that next meeting of the of the task force and just kind of say okay we we want this and this seems like bylaw or this seems like regulation or this is not something we feel like we need to do and just kind of create a master list of the issues and where we think we'll locate them between those two documents yeah it sounds good yeah okay so those were our tasks for the next uh subcommittee meeting and um that's going to be on the 15th and we did nine in the morning just because it seemed to work out best for everybody and we hope to keep it i think to like every other thursday that we're not meeting as the board of license issues so all right anything else on that oh yeah go ahead dylan oh yeah i was gonna say um i was talking to my work and it looks like i should actually be able to make some time uh for um the subcommittee it's something i'd like to work on a little bit more so i figure i'd like to officially join it and if i'm gonna officially join it as well there's no point to not have dawg officially join it as well so uh would i be able to uh i'd like to make the motion to have uh me join the subcommittee yeah sure can we do that i would interject at that point it really defeats the purpose of the subcommittee um because the purpose is that um a quorum of two could still meet um when if there's only three members but if there's five members then it would have the same quorum requirements as the full board but if um everybody would be around on some week it could just be a regular board of license commissioners meeting with that the only topic on the agenda and that'd be what's the rule for four uh i believe it would be three at that point yeah oh really okay i mean because if it helps i can step off just for numbers and still join meetings but yeah i think we i think when we set this up we said people can step off if we wanted to keep it kind of small well i mean i would suggest if we if we can plan ahead of time um then um you know if any day that there would be three people confirmed to come it could just be a regular board of license commissioners meeting okay and then um everybody'd be able to participate anyway there wouldn't be the you know subcommittee members and non subcommittee members and right um so that that would okay i still think having a subcommittee uh we have the advantage because that's the only thing that we're talking about that day but it's not for regular business so i don't know we can we can change it up i i'm sick with my mom's me and dog on the subcommittee um the full the full members of this uh body that's hey that's my motion well let me yeah just a question uh Steve so um is there any difference bearing on agendas and public comment or anything else that would turn on whether it's deemed a you know unusually large subcommittee or a regular or just the regular quorum of meetings nope everything's pretty much the same okay we're venting a there's nothing preventing a a board of license commissioners meeting from just being purely okay public comment always has to be on there and then okay topics not anticipated you always want to put on there but besides that it could be just um just marijuana regulation okay yes go ahead i'm not sure we have to have public comment at those meetings but i think you're required to have it to some extent but i don't know that you have to have it at every meeting but not that we're going to get a lot of public comment and sometimes we don't want it but right okay that important i don't think it'll be a big deal we can just leave it off is that required can we just i don't know if that's a state law or just the cameras town policy but okay we were advised to put that on every agenda okay i don't think it hurts to have it on there i think the key thing is who we just you know have meetings that are are fully focused on this to think it's gonna you know it's a fair amount of work and i think that's the intention behind what was it yeah years to get to that and you know keep moving okay i mean what i'm hearing is that it seems like given the importance of this and i guess you know the interest that dylan has and and his availability work wise that our quorum is not going to be such a concern but i i think the advantage of having those focused meetings and having it be its own kind of process is is uh is considerable to help us kind of keep cruising along and stay focused so i don't know if that's a reason to basically just say oh we have a we have a big subcommittee but that's what we do or we just run it like it's a subcommittee in the sense that it's kind of got its independent agenda and momentum well we could just keep the sub game i guess we are just i don't know do we want to keep the 15th meeting does everybody want to make that or do we want to try who couldn't do dylan so what is your schedule like dylan so you couldn't do the seven the the 10th right or no guest on you needed more more time to do your your chart and that was you're gonna you were going to schedule that correct and so the 10th was going to yeah okay well yeah the 10th is the 10th is is a tough date for me for a couple reasons so if that if that morning is continues to work for folks i can i can i can commit to delivering for that okay what i would suggest all right so we could either keep that and everyone can show up for the current subcommittee meeting or we could and then we've got another blc meeting standard on the 17th and then we have we could do uh or we could just move to the 24th and do either um a subcommittee meeting or just a regular board of licensed commissioners meeting with just adult use marijuana on it and nothing else um and dylan would that work that would be at five would that work for your schedule or what is with your new your new work thing now how is that going to work um so if so where are we looking to keep the meeting at the time i that's my question is everyone still want to do that or um either we keep that meeting and then do the 24th or we just do the 24th at five i mean i can i can potentially do either okay for meeting times okay all right i don't know what anybody else is i like this day morning though okay the morning of 15th i can't do but i don't think it should stop you guys from keeping on so if the four of you can get together then go for it okay all right only fourth i'm available so the 24th you're available okay great so is everybody else want to keep the 15th at nine in the morning yeah i'm i'm i'm i'm i'm open to what people think here okay yeah me too uh dylan and hallie let's see if we're gonna try to get this for licensed this for january i'd say we continue if we realize that that may not happen and i'm happy i can do either day so whatever the group wants to do okay dylan what do you think how was i mean i either one as long as i know the dates i can i can make sure i can have the time to do it mornings are generally better for me but um okay i can still all right so should we just keep the 15th and guest on if you can you said you can schedule time to do the chart for then we can have yes perhaps i will okay we're not too long meeting and that will be just be the subcommittee do we want to expand that to include dylan and dug or do we want to keep it in its current iteration manifestation we can expand it we can always reduce it later if we if we feel like we need to okay great so let's expand that sorry who's that i this is steve i really um i am coming against my limit of public public meeting laws and everything okay but i don't really know the if it is possible to have a subcommittee of every member of the board okay i may have to ask around about this but we could certainly keep the the time and just make it a standard board of licensed commissioners meeting with just uh just this on the agenda okay let's do that then um so nine a.m. august 15th standard board of licensed commissioners meeting just adult use marijuana on the agenda and then the 17th is uh standard board of licensed commissioners meeting at five o'clock and then the 24th we do a uh spread of licensed commissioners meeting five o'clock just adult use marijuana on the agenda for discussion and then steve will look into making a larger subcommittee and see what the laws are does that sound good to everybody in the meantime yes i will okay does that sound all right dylan go ahead sounds good wait steve you can do you can you can be on the staff for meeting so long as they're below a certain threshold of people but the number of meetings you're on is irrelevant no i i'm not sure what what you're asking so i was i was saying that um you know the reason for the subcommittee was just so that work could continue with a focused group of you know three people who were the most focused on it and um and uh and and then um only a quorum of two would be needed but if um four or five people on the on the uh subcommittee then the normal quorum of three is needed which was the the point of the subcommittee if i recall our discussions but i don't know if it is i'm not really uh well versed in subcommittees at all it's not something i've ever dealt with so um i don't know if it is possible to make a subcommittee of every member of the board i am sorry hey i can i was to say i can step down and still attend the meeting we do live in a very vocal town so i don't want to do anything that could be perceived as us trying to bypass any kind of open meeting law or and you have to have a subcommittee of the entire right i mean i'm bored yeah i'm happy i don't have to be on the subcommittee either um so i'm happy if dylan and dug want to be on it i'm happy to i don't really know the the ramifications of um non-subcommittee members attending i i mean again this is not something i'm really but i think they would just have to be treated like any member of the public where you know they raise their hands for comment and if they're allowed to speak the entire time i don't know if you can have different different um you know then a member of the public who's not in the board could be okay not allowed to speak the same amount of time i don't really know the ramifications of these things um okay but i would but the regular board license commissioners meeting with just the just that and the agenda will certainly work and just be like normal so um if the board wants me to look more into a five-member subcommittee or those other ramifications i certainly can but at least for this upcoming meeting i would suggest to just make it a normal board meeting okay so as long as we have three people for the 15th at 9 a.m we're good right yes okay great okay and then we'll figure out the subcommittee intricacies a little bit later um okay does that sound good to everybody dylan has his hand up oh sorry dylan go ahead yeah i just i don't want to be like koi about this while i'm going for like i know on this issue this is something i care about um and i would like to take a more active role in like the subcommittee and potentially try to lead on this issue but uh i don't want to do that in terms of trying to you know take take lead on the on the board of licensing uh so i like the idea of it being a separate body but if that's going to be too cumbersome i think we can take a different approach on it as well but i like it being separate uh for that reason but i also want everybody to be you know able to participate fully in it so i guess that's why i want to expand the board but keep it a separate body or something right right right right well i think we plan that like the the subcommittee would work on the off weeks and then update everybody on the the regular weeks so that could certainly happen um and that can because we we're not just a just a focus i mean there's certainly nothing improper at all about uh meeting every week and every other week is strictly about marijuana and the other meetings are about regular business that's certainly perfectly kosher okay so so we've got a we've agreed that we want a separate kind of discourse a separate space and and we'll figure out the uh kind of nuance of of how to structure it next time and i'm hearing that bill wants to wants to kind of is willing to step up and and and push forward on this and and so that is good good for the commission okay great so um so the 15th nine o'clock um that's great that's a regular meeting all right fantastic thank you um anything else on this currently let me see where my sorry okay so we did kind of covered marijuana regulations subcommittee update marijuana regulation um upcoming meetings agendas i think we just did that is there anything else we want to keep rental registration on um any other discussion items uh steve anything that you know is coming up soon um lunch carts i would like to um oh right really move forward with that i just have to follow up with the town engineer who's on vacation right now but um i think we might have uh you know maybe some um draft altered regulations to allow for uh the plan as it has been discussed to uh go forward in um in the fall on a trial basis so okay probably have that on for then okay great i do think we have a couple minor liquor license applications coming in but nothing nothing huge okay sounds good like that fantastic oh did you ever find out about garcias did they ever submit a change of manager spoke with him this week and he said he would be submitting it this week oh good okay that's great thank you and how is the update from oh are we in what about the um interim police chief and the abcc uh he definitely had said he would be reaching out i haven't um i haven't uh heard back from him about that okay great thank you um is there anything else for upcoming meetings and agendas no all right um let's see topics not reasonably anticipated 48 hours prior to meeting any topics no okay and then we go on to adjournment so is there a motion to adjourn so moved thanks Doug is there a second second thank you dylan um we'll take a vote Doug hi hallie hi gaston hi dylan hi and i vote i five to zero we're adjourned at five twenty eight p.m thanks everybody i'm good to see you all hi and okay feeling better see people yeah well i appreciate dad i'd say i'm about 85 percent of the way there thank you all right all right bye good luck okay thank you bye


Out of the gun, his player, Fakes, wants to throw the football, airs it out down the middle of the field. Picked off Christian Beleter, midfield, he's down the sideline at the 40, the 30. The 20, cuts back at the 10, the 5. Touchdown, Pikeville, that's a pick 6. That's across the middle, wide open. Here's the receiver, right down the middle of the field, passed on the middle. Follows his blocker off the right side, but the 30, 25 cuts back at the 20. He'll bring it to the near side at the 20, the 15. One more block, 10, 5. Touchdown, Pikeville. Given to Zach Roberts to the end zone, touchdown, Pikeville. Out of the gun, to Pelfrey into the end zone, touchdown, Bulldogs. Most of the attacks against him, given to Hensley. Hensley cuts back at midfield, the 45, he's at the 40, got a block for Beleter. 30, 20, cuts back at the 15, the 10, the 5. Brought down, Watkins in motion, given to Watkins. Takes it to the far sideline, got a block from Seth Pugh, touchdown, Pikeville. Takes it, keeps himself, didn't get there on the first effort, the second one he did. Roberts, Roberts, rolling to the far sideline, pass down the middle. Beleter, yes, caught at the 25, the 20, breaks the tackle, the 10, the 5. Touchdown, Pikeville.


Hi everybody, Joe for JaspysCaseGrakes.com. Great late night rally. We knocked out the filler. We knocked out the random number block randomizer, which ultimately knocks out Pick Your Team 7 Museum Collection Baseball. Half case from the fresh case. Thanks everybody here for getting in on it. Thanks for spending a bit of your Sunday with me. So here was the list right there. I forgot to print out the number block list. Let me print that out really quick. So we pulled about 21 teams out for the random number block. So R&B might get a lot of spilled some water on this paper here. I think the R&B might get a lot of hits right there, just because they've got a majority of the spots. So these numbers could prove to be pretty important. And that randomizer we did in a separate video. Congrats again to the people who won their spots in that pristine 14 pack. And thanks to the people who bought their spots straight up, as always. All right, let's get to it. Let's pop this case open. Let's see which side we're going to do. All right, so there's six boxes on the left side and six boxes on the right side. And as always, we're going to take the die. We're going to roll it. 1, 2, 3 for the left side, 4, 5, 6 for the right. And it's 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. This side we will do next time, hopefully, tomorrow. This will be break number eight. So we'll mark those eight. So you know they're from the same case. Should probably be able to get that knocked out by tomorrow. Pretty nice. All right, we're looking for four hits per master box. Got Vlad Jr. on the front. Pretty nice stuff. So break eight, obviously, the second half. And then we should have one more case after that. Supplies I need here. I think that should. Museum Clutching has the potential for really nice stuff. Sketch cards, one-of-one sketch cards, gold frames or black frames that are low numbered. Maybe even wood frames this year. I don't know if that's a possibility. But a lot of cool stuff potential in here. And that last card should be the hit. Anyone in this break watching live? I know Joe Christian was around. Oh, there's the frame right there. Anyone else? Everyone else might be asleep. Although, C. Jim and Roe bought spots late. So he's probably this thing in the background somewhere. Book possibilities. It's Cal Ripken Jr. 45 out of 99. That'll be for Aaron and the Orioles. There he is. There's Joe. OK, just making sure. Sean's in the random number block, but there's like 21 teams in there. So that could be a big winner today. Cedric Mullins, 6 out of 50 for the Orioles. Another one for Aaron. Behind rookie Alec Thomas is Andrew Vaughn. There you go, Joe. Triple Relic and autograph. Old Vaughn. Do they call him Vaughn? I don't know if they call him Vaughn. There you go, Joe. Thanks for staying up late with me. That's 1 out of 25. Nice little number on that, too. Let's do the other one first before the frame. A Quad Relic, a quartet of Phillies. Bryce Harboury, Hoskins Alec Bohm, and JT Real Muto. 36 out of 99. Phillies are a number block team. So we go by that digit right there. So it was 36 out of 99. And that's CJ with number 6. The frame behind Jacob de Grom is Edgar Martinez. 8 out of 10. Nice frame. I kind of like the brick sort of look they have in the background there. I think I don't remember seeing that in recent years. Mariners, Mariners are a number block team. There's been a lot of that. Mariners, 8. That'll be for Sean Healy. There you go, Sean. Next box. I was pointing out I've been in a minute or two maybe since I've seen a Seattle hit. I'm still marveling at the Pittsburgh Cincinnati game. The long snapper getting injured. They had to have a backup. And long snapping is a highly priced skill. That's not an easy thing. A lot of high snaps. A lot of just throws the whole kicking unit off. You're a good long snapper. I feel like you can have a very long career in the NFL. Just a low key, just a low key long career in the NFL. And then for a second, I thought that game was going to end in a tie after the Steelers missed the field goal. Oh, look at this. Julio Rodriguez, rookie card, and number to 50. That's 28 out of 50. So the Mariners are a number block team. And it's 28 right there. So that'll go to Sean Healy. And of course, the non-numbered base cards here for that huge group of teams will randomize to one person in that random number block. Winner take all on those non-numbered cards. There's Jordon Alvarez, dual relic, and autograph. Nastros are a number block team. Here, we say that a lot. That's 48 out of 50. Look at that. Sean Healy, another number eight. And there's a quad relic, Jacob de Grond, 53 out of 75. I don't think I realize that either. I thought that was more of a holder's job to get the laces correct as the cinema has told us. But apparently, that the long snapper spin the ball the exact same way every time. So it lands in the holder's hands. When you see a holder spin it, the snapper didn't do their job. Metz are a number block team. So that goes to Metz 3, which will be for CJ. I don't think I realize that. Couple base cards here, relic, Blake Snell to 50. That goes to the Padres. Oh, Padres are a number block team. So that goes to San Diego 2, 32 out of 50. That jersey goes to, goes to Mac. Purchased the last full spot. The other spots were giveaway spots. Juan Soto, 45 out of 125. Still national's addition there. That's part of the random number block group. Wrinkles out of the penny sleeve. So that goes to five. Washington Five, CJ. Next box. Yeah, that's crazy to think about. The Patmagafee, when you see a holder spin it, that means the snapper didn't do their job. So out of the long snapper's hands, it just rotates perfectly enough where it just ends up in, so all the snapper, or all the holder has to do then, right? It's just, you're just catching it and you're putting it down. That's it. Snap, put the ball down, put the fingertip on it, and that's it. Now I'm gonna look for that every time.   And then, Joe, you know what else is gonna happen? Here's the other thing that's gonna happen. I'm gonna think it's so cool that I'm going to tell my friends about it every time that happens. If I'm lucky, it'll be me attending to impress a lady friend while we're watching the NFL and I'll be like, hey, did you know that when the holder has to spin the ball, that means a long snapper didn't do their job? Because the long snapper usually gets it to him one revolution. Well, I mean, if she's impressed by that, Joe, then that would definitely be, I'd definitely have to propose to her right then and there.  And be like, I care, Joe Christian cares. Patmagafee cares. Holder's care, kicker's care. Luis Severino, 233 added in 2.99. Yankees are a number block team. Yankees three, dual relic and auto. It'll be for CJ. I got Francisco Lendor, 54 out of 75, quad relic. Couple pieces of his lumber in there as well. That goes to Metz number four, and that'll be for Dale. And we got another relic here. That's a Metz Tom Glavin. So that goes to Metz two, and that goes to Matt. Yeah, I think it's pretty cool info. And behind the sketch reproduction of Donnie Baseball is Alar's Noot Bar, 271 out of 2.99. All I had today was a Noot Bar. Matthew Wood got the Cardinal straight up. He's got to get into the nutrition bar in this year. I really hope he does. After he plays for 20 seasons, right Matthew? He plays for 20 seasons and wins multiple awards. Perennial All-Star, price of that autograph going up and up. After all that, then yes, I would want to see him in the nutrition bar industry. How would the commercial go? Hi, I'm Lars Noot Bar, hall of famer for the St. Louis Cardinals. You know, in my playing days, I had a lot of weird foods that I had to eat. And I thought, with all those lame, sugary, well that's the commercial, that's how you pitch the Noot Bar, Joe. Hall of Famer, yeah. Hi, I'm the Hall of Famer, Lars Noot Bar of your St. Louis Cardinals. My playing days, we had to eat a lot of weird nutritional stuff and I just thought there's got to be an easy way to just get all of my nutrition in one action-packed bar that I can just eat on the go in between innings. And that's why I developed the Noot Bar. So take it from me, Hall of Famer, Lars Noot Bar and try a Noot Bar today. Only made with the freshest ingredients. No preservatives. That's what you want to see, Hall of Famer, Lars. He's pretty good. Is he Hall of Fame? Good, I don't know. Right, yes, yes, there would be an animation of a candy bar while the Noot Bar, which is a nutritional bar, hitting a home run, absolutely. Now would it be him holding a bar and hitting the home run or would it be a bar with arms, little stick arms that's like hitting a home run? What are we thinking here? Listen, this is our last late night break of the night, ladies and gentlemen.  All right, there's George Kirby. It's late. It's late, this is the late night, weird late night columns we have. There's Strasburg, a lot of nice colors in there. Quad relic, and that goes to Washington Zero. 10 out of 25, that's gonna be for Brian Crouch. We got an Elohim and his autograph. There you go, Joe Christian. Two color, dual relic and autograph, Elohim and his. See you, Teddy, Wednesday? Nice. See you later, alligator. 80, 181 out of 199. The bar with stick arms, okay, good. Maybe some googly eyes or something like that. I'll take it. There's a dual relic, Byron Bucks and Jorge Polanco. That is 25 out of 25. Twins five is gonna be for CJ. And behind Joe Ryan is Luis Castillo, 234 out of 299. This is still Red's edition, and the Reds are part of that number block group. That goes to Cincinnati Four, we're on Cincinnati. Dale, we're on Cincinnati. All right, two boxes to go. What is Lars Newt Bar's path to the Hall of Fame? No, the frame was an Edgar Martinez autograph, eight out of 10. So Lars Newt Bar, just in two short seasons, it's a dimly lit path to the Hall of Fame. Yeah, I guess his 162 game average, it's only a 226 average, 18 homers a year, 56 RBIs. I don't think he's really much for power. Like, hmm, no, no, no. I don't know what his minor league stats are here. Baseball reference, tell me. I guess in the minors, at some point in the minors, it's kind of a 300-ish, 250, 70-ish hitter. Path could be if he gets like a hit smile stone, I think. If he played for like 20 plus seasons and got like 3,000 hits or something like that. That usually gets you in on a later ballot. Not in Joe's Hall of Fame, but in the current setup. We got the captain, Derek Jeter, 126 out of 150. I gotta finish that series. It's actually a little more interesting than I thought it would be. Yankees, six, right there, is gonna be for CJ. Pity votes. Well, you know what, nice one for Franco.  You know, in retirement, Joe, if that Noot Bar really takes off, he may get, you know, the Baseball Hall of Fame is often about champagne campaign. It's a popularity contest. It's as much as it about your results. There's Cool Whit Merrifield, dual relic and autograph. So maybe the success of the Noot Bar may get him some votes, gets him friendly with some of the riders. 10 out of 399. Royals, Kansas City, zero. That is for Brian Crouch. There's Paul Molliter, 20 out of 25. He'll bribe them with cases of Noot Bars. I wonder, I feel like that's a scandal that has to happen someday, right? Like Wonka Bars, he'll bribe them. There's Paul Molliter, Brewer's, Milwaukee, zero.  Like what a post-playing career. He like ropes in some Baseball riders to have equity in his Noot Bar business. And that takes off. I mean, is there like a wink, wink, nudge, nudge? You're gonna vote for me in the Hall of Fame. 11 out of 35, Jared Walsh. That'll be for the Halos. Oh, Angels One. That's gonna be CJ Monroe. And there's Ivan Castillo, archival autographs, 103 out of 299. Padre, Ivan Castillo. I do, do I not? Oh, that's cause he's, this is his last year was the first year in the league. So that goes to Padre's three. That'll be for CJ. All right, final box coming up. There's Matt. Matt has the Cardinals, Matt. We were talking about old Lars Noot Bar. How we wish that he has a Noot Bar, a nutritional bar. Noot, Noot, like, we put the Noot in nutrition. How about that? That's a good question. I don't know. How many first ballot Hall of Famers are my daughters? I have no idea. Trying to think of Dodgers Hall of Famers in general. Jackie Robinson must be. Kershaw's gotta be a first ballader, right? Fig Noods, those aren't nutritious. That would not hold up to Noot's nutritional vibes.  But Matt saying, listen, Noot Bar had a pretty, pretty horrible first half of the play. Great outfielder though. There could be a path to play off or maybe a Hall of Fam or maybe a Hall of Very Good. I feel like he's come up clutch at certain points too. Is that an extra hit? I think we got an extra hit in there. We put the Noot in nutrition. There's Aaron Judge, Yankee Zero, that's gonna go to Brian Crouch. Our shipping team will get that sorted out for you. Mariners, this Julia Rodriguez rookie card is gonna be part of that non-numbered group. Yeah, Bartoga is a ball player too, but maybe he should have been eating more nutritious Noot bars. You like the ad script, Matt, thanks. Hall of Famer, Lars Noot Bar for your St. Louis Cardinals. Noot bars, we put the Noot in nutrition. All right, our final hits behind Kershaw, we're just talking about him, Tim Salmon. Part of the All-Fish team, 108 out of 2.99. Trout and Salmon in the outfield, that's a pretty good defensive outfield too. Make a hit a little bit. Angels, eight, that is gonna be for Sean Healy. The extra hit behind Kershaw is a quad relic hunter Dozier. 20 out of 99, the Dozier Hunter. Royals, that is gonna be for Royals Zero, that's Brian Crouch, Miggy. And a big jumbo patch in autograph, Miguel Andujar, 11 out of 15. That goes to Yankees One, CJ with Yankees One. All right, we got a Yankees Relic Rocket Roger Clemens, 18 out of 25, that's another eight for Sean Healy. Bought that spot straight up. And last but not least, after the chip off the old Block Chipper Jones, it is Gary Sheffield, four out of 25. Maybe that candy bar in the Noot Bar commercial can maybe waggle the bat like Gary Sheffield. That'd be kind of cool. Little nod to Gary Sheffield. A known gym rat, maybe? That goes to Yankees Four, Dale with Yankees Four. And that's that, ladies and gentlemen. Let's randomize those non-numbered cards. Let's flip back to this list right here. So that's gonna be a pretty nice lot of extra cards. The non-numbered base cards for all those R&B teams right there are gonna go to the name on top after three out of four, seven times. One, two, three, four, five, six. And good luck, seventh and final time. It's gonna go to CJ. He definitely had the odds on his side on that one. There you go, CJ. Thanks very much for helping out on that late night rally. I appreciate it. I appreciate everybody getting into the action. Second halves in the store, no filler yet. We're still got a lot of teams up there, but it'd be a big help if you're able to put some work in on some of those teams. That'll make any filler that we do maybe a little less expensive, and that helps everybody. We may have one more case after that as well. So keep working on it. Thanks, everybody. I'm Joe for jazkiescasebreaks.com. Have a great night. Bye-bye.


House Republicans have announced their leadership team for the upcoming legislative session. Local State Representative Josh Heinzman of Niswa was among those elected by his peers to serve as an assistant leader. First elected in 2014, this will be Heinzman's first session as a member of the House leadership team. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.