HCTV
MINUTES
7/23/2020
Atkins Field

Present: Leif Goldberg, Kurt Bos, Kip Keller, Rachel Kane, Elizabeth Dow, Michael Gray
Absent: Robin Grant

Rachel opened the meeting at 7:01.
Review of the minutes. No additions or corrections. Rachel moved acceptance; Kurt second; unanimous
acceptance.
Profit and Loss: Kurt asked for a couple clarifications. Nobody saw any problems. Wiz moved
acceptance; Michael seconded; unanimous acceptance.
Balance Sheet: Leif pointed out that that the extended tax year (July 15 deadline because of the COVID
pandemic) means that our taxes went in 2 months later than usual, so he hasn’t seen how the tax preparer
has handled some of the increased assets. Rachel moved acceptance; Kurt seconded; unanimous
acceptance.
Station Report:
After the crisis started and the Governor shut down the state, Leif and his daughter, working with
the Neighbor to Neighbor group, launched a series of videos about wearing masks.
Leif approached Brent and Maya McCoy about doing something under our ‘seed money’
decision from the last meeting. Kurt has also taken advantage of that money. Emmet Avery is working on
a story about transitions at the Gazette and interviewing some people in the community.
We’re losing our play-by-play guy — going to NVU/Lyndon in the fall.
We discussed additional summer projects and how much impact our local productions. We
discussed collaborating with the Gazette about adding our videos to their new digital version of the
newspaper. No conclusions.
Kurt is working with Nancy Schade to get a few more videos.
We discussed the fall season — what if soccer and basketball don’t happen? What can we do?
We might capture the games and provide the only way people can watch the games.
The Drive-in movie project with Neighbor to Neighbor group is about to start.
Other business: None.
Kurt motion to adjourn; Rip seconded; meeting adjourned at 7:48.

HARDWICK COMMUNITY TELEVISION – ANNUAL MEETING
Via ZOOM video conference, May 28, 2020 AT 7:00 P.M.

Present: Leif Goldberg, Rachel Kane, Elizabeth Dow, Michael Gray, Kurt Bos
Absent: Rip Keller, Robin Grant, all community members

Rachel called the meeting to order at 7:07.

Kurt moved we approve minutes from July 2019 Annual Mtg.; Rachel seconded. Unanimous
approval.

Leif had circulated the annual report ahead of time. Rachel noted happily that the number of
local programs has increased. Rachel also noted that the coin drop did not appear in the 2019 report, and
that we did fairly well. Rachel liked the fact that the coin drop provided excellent outreach about the
station. Wiz reminded the Board that the sign-up for the 2021 coin drop is July 1, 2020.
Wiz, Rip, and Robin are up for renewal. Each term is a 2 year term. Michael Gray has agreed to
join the board representing Woodbury. Since we have 3 board members up for election this year, we
decided to elect Michael for 1 year, so that next year we will have 3 members up for election, instead of 2
in 2021 and 4 in 2022. Kurt moved that we accept the slate of Rip Keller, Robin Grant, and Elizabeth
Dow for another 2 years. Rachel seconded. Unanimous approval. Kurt moved Michael Gray for a 1 year
term. Rachel seconded. Unanimous approval.

Wiz moved we adjourn; Kurt seconded. Meeting adjourned at 7:23.

HARDWICK COMMUNITY TELEVISION – QUARTERLY MEETING
Via ZOOM video conference, May 28, 2020 AT 7:25 P.M.

Present: Leif Goldberg, Rachel Kane, Elizabeth Dow, Michael Gray, Kurt Bos
Absent: Rip Keller, Robin Grant

Rachel called the meeting to order at 7:25. Kurt moved to approve the minutes of the January
meeting; Michael seconded. Discussion: Rachel liked that we re-set the CDs. We had some discussion of
the decision not to pay to have our schedule published on the Comcast Program Guide. Leif reported that
those who decided to go with publishing it have had nothing but trouble. Leif filled in some background
of our relationship with Comcast for Michael. Unanimous approval of the minutes.

In discussion of the Balance Sheets, Rachel asked about some of the discrepancies. Leif covered
the details. Wiz moved we accept the Balance sheets. Rachel seconded. Unanimous approval.
Kurt moved to accept the Profit and Loss statement. Wiz seconded. Discussion: Rachel asked
about the timing of the town appropriation. Wiz explained the town’s fiscal calendar (vote at Town
Meeting; pay out upon receipt of a request after July 1, the start of the fiscal year. Leif pointed out that
operating with one staff person means a lot more money going to independent contractors. The cost of the
two modes of operation is very close. Kurt reminded us that having only Leif on staff and contracting for
everything else started as sort of an experiment, and Leif agreed that the system is working. Unanimous
approval.

Robin joined the meeting. Sociable chatter followed.
8:00 P.M. Station Report
Leif had distributed the station report in advance. Rachel expressed great pleasure at the fact that
people are contributing pieces on their own – Emmett Avery on the Gazette; Arthur Hynes on the Food
Shelf. Leif is working with Neighbor to Neighbor to make PSAs about “Who Do You Wear a Mask For?”
Leif raised the idea of providing small amounts of funds for making small videos. He suggested
$150 for a short video. Rachel moved that we approve Leif’s suggested donation of $150 per video. Robin
seconded. Unanimous approval. [By an email vote several days later, we raised the price to $200.]

Wiz moved to adjourn. Kurt seconded. Unanimous approval. Meeting adjourned at 8:04. Next
meeting July 30.

HCTV MINUTES

January 23, 2020

Rachel called the meeting to order 7:00
Present: Rip, Kurt, Leif, Rachel, Wiz

Minutes:
After those present examined the minutes, Kurt moved to accept, and Rip seconded. Unanimous
agreement.

Financial Reports:
Leif explained the Profit and Loss Comparison numbers and people asked about individual items,
but we saw nothing untoward to be concerned about. Balance Sheet also raised questions about specific
lines, but only because we’re not involved in the day-to-day finances. Rip moved acceptance; Kurt
seconded; we voted unanimously to accept both.

Station Report:
Leif took the Comcast deposit ($23,000) and asked about their best CD. We have a large $10,000
CD that we have never touched so he moved it into 55 month CD at 2.225%. We discussed moving all
our savings into 55 month CDs in $10,000 lumps, thinking that if we have to break into one of them, we
can take a penalty on one and not jeopardize anything else.
About a dozen stations need to renew their contracts, including HCTV. Comcast has sent us a
contract with a Feb. 6 date for signing, but we don’t know the down-side of not meeting that date.
Comcast deals with each station individually, but VAN is organizing a web conference for all the stations
during which they will give their take on the proposed contract. Leif and Robin both noticed missing
language, and the VAN consultant recognized it and that it’s significant. Mostly the gaps have to do with
remote origins sites.
Comcast has agreements with the state and CPG that requires Comcast to maintain the ROSs, but
they don’t mention that in the proposed contract.
This basketball season we have had trouble with the Hazen (a remote origin site) internet
connection during ball games.
There is a planned phone call between VAN and the stations to discuss what the VAN lawyers
think of the contract. Rachel suggested that Robin attend.
We may become Channel 1080 on February 17. Still tentative, but we’ll know soon.
The board talked about how to change our ‘brand’ from 16 to 1080, if we do, in fact , get that
number. Both channels will work for 3 months. Tasks before advertising the new number:
1.

Verify that the channel works

Develop outreach campaign to explain the change.

Change our signs
Rachel likes the logo and suggested we can just change the number. Leif will play with it.
Leif suggested we have explanatory brochures to hand out at Town Meeting in Hardwick and
Woodbury.

Leif got a one-year contract from a Neilson third-party company in an arrangement with Comcast
to deliver our programming through the ‘guide’ function of cable remotes. They want $150 set-up fee

followed by $100/month with 3% increase each year. Rachel asked if we can assess the efficacy of this in
terms of our audience. Leif didn’t know of any. After a lot of conversation on the pros and cons of the
idea, factoring in Leif’s time and the costs and the feasibility of meeting the contract deadlines, we
decided not to sign it. We’re the smallest station in the state, and this will add a couple hours a week to
Leif’s work that takes him away from more important work.
Rachel moved that we table the contract idea until a later time.

Leif needed some help with internet access, and so he brought in additional help — Doug
McClure to sort it out, and he did. He and Leif have combined the functions of three different computers
to one new machine.
We now have a workers’ comp policy with Calderwood Insurance. Our regular insurance has
been updated with Morse Insurance.
We have an announcer for the basketball games — a senior from People’s Academy (James
Salvas) Doing a very good job. Plans to go to Lyndon in broadcasting. Griffin has been doing the camera,
but the student adds commentary. Leif has provided John Sperry, athletic director at Hazen, with a link
that has the basketball games on a private channel.
Hazen teacher, Sean McIntyre, runs a career cafe. Students did 7 HCTV programs as part of it.

Charge-back: Comcast is taking a bunch of stuff away, so they’re not going to be able to charge
back for it.

Next meeting: Annual Meeting April 24.
Rachel suggested we adjourn.
Adjorned at 9:05.

Elizabeth H. Dow