HARDWICK COMMUNITY TELEVISION – ANNUAL MEETING
April 29, 2021 AT 7:00 P.M
Via ZOOM video conference
Present: Leif Goldberg, Elizabeth Dow, Rachel Kane, Michael Gray, Robin Grant, Kurt Bos, Rip
Keller, Jim Kelty
President Rachel Kane called the meeting to order at 7:03.
Kurt moved acceptance of the minutes of the 2020 meeting; Rip seconded; unanimous vote to
accept.
Leif gave the station report: He signed the contract with Comcast, good to 2028. VAN did the
initial negotiating, and he signed the same contract as other stations, except he further negotiated that
HCTV keep Hazen and the Hardwick Town House as ROS sites.
- Comcast ended our courtesy phone/internet services, so Leif came up with a faster
phone/internet plan from Comcast at effectively $50 per month more than our previous
payment.
Hazel is willing to continue as our bookkeeper, but Leif is still looking at local bookkeeping
options.
The basketball season had the crew covering Hazen Union’s JV and Varsity Hazen games, as
well as the Middle School home games. The station covered 17 games (2/3 of what we usually cover)
in a season beginning February 1, making it only ½ as long as usual. The Athletic Director at Hazen
found us new sponsors. We had 3 people working at each game (camera, announcer, and scorekeeper),
but because we had three sponsors per game, we made more money than usual; the sponsoring
basically covered our expenses.
We will be doing baseball games when the season starts.
We have a coin drop coming up from 9:30 to noon-ish on June 26 with June 5 as backup.
Lots of stations around the state want state funding. They have concern about the future of
broadband in the state. PEG has begun to lobby for legislative awareness of what the station does. Leif
expressed some concern our relationships with the surrounding communities – towns we work with but
have no technological connection with. He’s not sure how the push to expand broadband will impact
the station’s activities. He encouraged the Board to consider how we might hire ourselves out to serve
them. Rachel endorsed PEG’s efforts to promote the role and importance of the local stations. Rachel
also requested that Leif continue to cultivate a relationship with neighboring towns.
Leif asked about whether the station support Rip’s “At home with the Maestro” idea for a series of
26 programs about music. After much discussion, the Board agreed conceptually that it would like to
support it, but settled on no specifics.
ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS
Two-year terms – Members of the Board
Rachel Kane
Michael Gray
Kurt Bos
One-year term
Jim Kelty
Robin moved we accept the slate; Michael seconded. Unanimous approval.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
Pres. – Michael Gray
Vice Pres. – Rip Keller
Secretary – Elizabeth Dow
Treasurer – Kurt Bos
Robin moved; Kurt second; unanimous approval
Kurt moved adjournment. Rip seconded. The meeting adjourned at 8:33
Elizabeth H Dow, Secretary