Communications Committee Meeting Minutes

 

LOWA, Inc. COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting held July 25, 2007
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Attending
Jeanne Allen, Chair	Dan Grynaviski, Vice Chair
tish Liggett, Voting	Bob Gray, Alternate
Connie LeMay, Secretary	Melanie Parmelee, LOWA Communications Director
Peter Williams, Board of Directors Liaison	Ernie Dvorak, Planning Committee Liaison
Lynn Huntsman, Visitor	Lincoln Klabo, Board of Directors Visitor

Meeting is called to order by Chairman Allen at 7:03 p.m.

Mr. Grynaviski moves to approve the agenda and Ms. Liggett seconds.

Chairman Allen notes that the final viewpoints policy was approved at the May meeting and June minutes should be revised to reflect that.  Mr. Grynaviski moves to accept the minutes as amended and Ms. Liggett seconds.

Lake Currents

Ms. Parmelee reports that she is receiving more advertisements for the paper.  Chairman Allen states that she has sent the recommended new Viewpoints policy to the Board.

Channel 17

Ms. Parmelee states that neither she nor Chairman Allen have received any comments in response to the Lake Currents article.  The request for comment also was aired on Channel 17 and posted on the web site.  Mr. Grynaviski recommends increasing the frequency of LOW related programs and reducing other programs.  Mr. Klabo suggests a program to introduce the new Activities and Wellness Director, Nicki Davis.  Ms. Parmelee states that she has received an additional check for $24,000 from Comcast for reimbursement.

Web Site

Ms. Parmelee distributed the latest statistics for the web site.  She has already received one committees minutes even though the new process will not begin until August 1. 

Chairman Allen states that she will prepare an article to encourage the community to sign up for email notices. 

Ms. Parmelee states that Eldon Rucker and Doug Rogers approached her in regard to the new policy regarding posting committee minutes on the web site.  They informed her that  a change in policy had to be approved by the Board.  Mr. Williams states that he will discuss the policy with Mr. Rogers, and Chairman Allen will call Mr. Rucker to discuss his concerns.  Chairman Allen also states that the Legal and Compliance Committee will not be able to post their minutes on the web site.

Wireless Communications

Chairman Allen will invite Don Weinert to join the Communications Committee because he has expressed a desire to pursue wireless communication.  Mr. Williams has spoken with Bill Rolfe,, Orange County Administrator, who said it would be two years before wireless would be installed at the Lake.  Mr. Rolfe stated that a major reason for the delay was a lack of towers.  Mr. Williams suggested to him that the OC tower in LOW be used.  The County is planning installation of a wireless communications system in OC facilities, including LOW Fire & Rescue as a pilot program.   .

Ms. Parmelee stated that she received the AM radio equipment and gave it to Elton Rupp.

40th Anniversary

Mr. Gray states that he has sent his first draft of the script to Chairman Allen and Mr. Williams for review.

 Budget

Ms. Parmelee proposes requesting funding for a router and an additional Comcast subscription to set up wireless communication at the Holcomb Building.  Mr. Klabo recommends installation at the Woods center.

Master Plan

Ms. Liggett asks the committee to review the list of items in last year’s plan and suggest revisions, deletions or additions.  We will ask John Bailey for information on redesign of the front entrance and renovation of the Holcomb Building when we meet with him on September 26 at 2:00 p.m. in his office.  Chairman Allen requests that the committee send her their suggestions for agenda topics for the September meeting. 

LOW Electronic Communications

The Committee discussed posting committee agendas on the web site. The Board meeting and workshop agendas will be emailed for posting.

Annual Report

Committee annual reports are due on August 2.  Chairman Allen states that she will use the report as the basis for a Channel 17 feature and a Lake Current article.  Chairman Allen also states that she will contact the chairs of the other committees asking them to use their reports as articles also.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 22.

Meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting held August 22, 2007
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Meeting called to order by Chair at 7:11 p.m.

Mr. Grynaviski moved to accept agenda and Ms. Liggett seconds.

Lake Currents

Ms. Parmelee announced that there will be 32 pages in the next issue and colored advertisements will continue in future issues.  There was discussion about new policies for advertisements but no decisions were reached at this time. 

Viewpoints

Discussion centered around the new Viewpoints guidelines and the fact that no letters about commercial business or services will be included. Chairman Allen and Mr. Gray attended the last Board of Directors workshop and they informed the Board that there would not be any additional commercial letters printed in “Viewpoints” according to the new guidelines. They also stated that letters could not be held over for more than one issue and that letters would not be placed on the public page of  the LOW web site.

Mrs. LeMay moved to approve the new Viewpoints guidelines and Mr. Grynaviski seconded the motion. 

Channel 18

Chairman Allen stated that she had received several phone calls from residents about the coverage on channel 18. One suggestion was that there should be more coverage of the swim team and another resident stated that she wanted more information about the clubhouse menus and information on the different committees. Another resident stated that she enjoyed the candidate interviews. Mr. Grynaviski stated that these phone calls supported the idea that there should be more lake news on Channel 18 and that there should be more video taping of the board meetings.

Web Site

Ms. Parmelee announced that we had received 28 requests on the web site to sign up for the LOWA email directory.  Ms. Parmelee also stated that the committee minutes would be posted on the web site at the end of each month and that Eldon Rucker would be making a decision soon as to whether or not the agendas will be put on the web and he will be notifying Chairman Allen as to his decision.  Ms. Parmelee announced that there are 5,000-6,000 hits a day on the LOWA web site.

Wireless Communication

Mr. Grynaviski stated that he had talked with Bill Alessi of Virginia Boardband.  Mr. Alessi  told him that he had tried to reach Mr. Bailey by phone but was not successful. Mr. Alessi wanted to discusss the future possibilities of VBB with Mr. Bailey. It was decided that this subject would be put on the agenda for the Communication Committee meeting with Mr. Bailey in September.

Chairman Allen stated that she will try and reach Donald Weinert and invite him to join our committee because he has expressed an interest in wireless communication.

40th Anniversary

Mr. Gray stated that a draft script has been prepared for the videotape of the anniversary celebrations, and he also stated that he has scheduled additional interviews for the videotape.  Mr. Gray also said that he has called Germanna College and Channel 3 asking for interns to assist with the production of the anniversary DVD. Chairman Allen stated that she has talked with the Orange Country Historical Society and asked if they had any historical photographs of Lake of the Woods, and she has also spoken with Frank Walker, local Orange County historian. Mr. Walker suggested that she contact members of the Goodwin family which she plans to do. Mr. Gray also stated that Boise Cascade has not been able to help with any historical documentation.

New Business

Ms. Parmelee stated that she has prepared a budget for communications for the Board but will be updating it in the future before submitting it. Ms. Liggett asked if there were any changes in the proposed Communications Plan for the Master Plan – 2009-2013 and there were no changes suggested by the committee. Ms. Liggett stated that she had not received a deadline date for the Master Plan. 

Mr. Grynaviski asked for suggestions to be emailed to him for agenda items before the next meeting with Mr. Bailey. 

Ms. Parmelee also announced that in the spring of 2008, every resident will receive a picture identification badge and that cameras and a call box will be installed at the back gate in order to assist with survelliance.

Meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting held September 26, 2007
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Meeting called to order by Chair at 2:00 p.m.

Mrs. LeMay moved to accept the agenda and Mr. Grynaviski seconds.

Ms. Liggett moved to accept the minutes as amended and Mr. Grynaviski seconds.

Lake Currents

Chairman Allen noted that there have been complaints about the last letter that Doug Rogers did in the Currents as Chairman of the Board.  His letter appeared to be asking for support for his candidacy for Supervisor and some people felt that it was inappropriate.

Mr. Grynaviski stated that downloading Lake Currents is a very lengthy process.  Ms. Parmelee stated that she is currently working on a PDF for all letters that are received for Viewpoints, and that these letters will be placed on the web. Access to reading this material on the web will be a passcode which will be given to members only and which may be changed once a month.

Chairman Allen stated that she will write an article about published and online Viewpoints for Lake Currents. She recommended that the only way someone could receive Viewpoints online is if they are in the e-mail directory, and the committee agreed. Suggestions for maintaining and updating the directory were considered.

Channel 18

Ms. Parmelee stated that she would be receiving streaming video from Infinity. She also stated that Ken Burnett will tape the Board workshops and George Chapin will tape the Board meetings.

Mr. Bailey stated that there would be access to four televisions in the Woods Center and that they should be hooked up to Comcast. Ms. Parmelee stated that Dr. Stubbe taped a health show.

Web Site

Ms. Parmelee stated that she is in the process of putting committee documents on the web.  The Committee discussed putting the LOWA Guidebook on the web, as well as all charters, committee documents, and committee liaisons.

Wireless Communication

Mr. Bailey stated that discussion is still ongoing with Virginia Broadband. Ms. Parmelee stated that the Holcomb Building and the Woods Center will become wireless with Infinity. The Clubhouse will be the next facility to be wireless.

Budget No New Business.

Master Plan

The Master Plan calls for the front gate to be redesigned in 2010. There is also a new Communication Sign in the Master Plan as well as a new editing bay for Channel 18 in the 2009 Master cycle. Dick Martin will be consulted as to what the new editing bay should look like.

New Business

Reading room materials will be made available electronically in the future. The secretaries from each committee are responsible for reviewing the web information and making sure it is up to date.

The members agreed to review the Operations Manual before the October meeting.

All future contracts/studies conducted for the BOD or GM should be submitted in electronic format for posting to the website.

Meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Minutes of Meeting held October 24, 2007
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Attending:

Jeanne Allen, Chair
Melanie Parmelee, LOWA Communications Director
Tish Liggett, Voting
Connie LeMay,  Voting
Bob Gray, Advisor
Al Sanborn, Voting
Ernie Dvorak, Planning Committee Liaison
Peter Williams, Board of Directors Liaison
Bruce Kay, Board of Directors Visitor

Meeting called to order by Chair at 7:00 p.m.

Mrs. LeMay moved to approve agenda and Ms. Liggett second the motion. The committee approved the agenda.

Ms. Liggett moved to accept the September minutes and Mr. Sanborn second. The committee approved the minutes.

Lake Currents

The committee decided to table the issue regarding Viewpoints letters on the web site.  Chairman Allen asked the committee members to give the issue some thought and the topic would be placed on the agenda for the November meeting.

Lynn Huntsman has requested that public service announcements be placed in the newsletter on a reoccurring basis. The committee approved this proposal and it will be referred back to Lynn and the Safety and Security Committee for further development. That committee can prepare announcements and they will be run in the Lake Currents on a space-available basis.

Channel 18

Chairman Allen asked Ms. Parmelee about putting the veterans’ series interviews together and selling them as a video. Ms. Parmelee stated that she would research this idea and consult Dick Martin about it and then report back to the committee. Mr. Williams suggested that if we pursue this idea then we should contact the company that is developing the 40th Anniversary DVD.

Mr. Sanborn asked the committee to explore the idea of having interns doing some of the filming and editing. He volunteered to check with Germanna College about acquiring interns through their Communications Department and he would report back to the committee in regard to this.

Chairman Allen has made a formal request to all LOW Committees that they report their activities on Channel 18.

Web

Ms. Parmelee provided a statistical chart to all committee members listing the number of hits for the LOW Web Site. Chairman Allen will send memos to all committees that are not sending in their minutes for publication.

Wireless Communication

Mr. Grynaviski requested a schedule for installation of wireless into the Woods Center.  Ms. Parmelee  stated that there has not been a set schedule for the Holcomb Building and she had no information in regard to the Woods Center. Mr. Williams stated that there is no set date for the opening of the Woods Center.

40th Anniversary

Mr. Williams reported that he will be submitting a proposal to John Bailey next week in regard to producing the anniversary video.  Mr. Williams stated that he has received several bids and that the best one appeared to be a cost of $65 an hour and the estimated time of putting the video together was 15-20 hours. The price of the individual videos would be between $8-$10 apiece. 

Operations Manual

Mr. Sanborn agreed to coordinate the revision of the manual. Ms. Liggett recommended that everyone on the committee work on a section. Chairman Allen and Ms. Liggett stated that they would assist with portions of the revision.

Master Plan

Ms. Liggett stated that she is focusing on the narrative portion. The new signs for the front and back gates will be placed in the 2010 budget. Ms. Parmelee stated that live broadcasting will not be happening in the near future.

New Business

Mr. Williams stated that he spoke to Mr. Rucker (President of the Board of Directors) in regard to the Holden Realty Web Site and requested that Holden remove the misleading information which they had placed on the Web Site. Mr. Williams also pointed out that our logo is copyrighted and cannot be used by other firms.

Chairman Allen stated that Lyn Nowakoski had spoken to her regarding the policy  that political advertisements and articles should not be allowed in the Lake Currents. Chairman Allen will speak to Ginny Thoms about the history of political advertisements and report back to the committee.

Mr. Dvorak stated that John Bailey will issue each LOW member new smart membership cards next May which will replace the current paper membership card. A committee, headed by Sam Hall, has been formed within the Planning Committee to research smart cards. Our committee has been asked to give information to that group. Mr. Dvorak also asked for input in regard to questions that can be placed into the 2008 survey.

It was announced that Fareways is the official name for the grill at the Woods center.

The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Final Approved Minutes of November 28, 2007 Meeting
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Meeting called to order by Chair at 7:05 p.m.

Mr. Gosnell moved to accept the agenda and Ms. Liggett second. The committee approved the agenda.

Mr. Sanborn moved to accept the final draft of the October minutes and Mr. Gosnell second the motion. The committee approved the minutes.

Lake Currents

Chairman Allen stated that the Safety Committee was notified by Mrs. Huntsman that articles would be printed in the newsletter regarding safety concerns. Mrs. Huntsman stated that one of the first articles which would be submitted was concerning the safety of walking along Lakeview Parkway. There was general discussion about the house number signs which the Lions make and sell and how necessary they are for house identification. Mr. Gosnell was asked to inquire if someone connected with Fire and Rescue could write an article urging residents to purchase these signs.

Chairman Allen has contacted four people who formerly were on the Communication Committee in order to find out if there has ever been a stated policy about political advertisements appearing in the newsletter. No one that she spoke with has ever heard of any policy regarding political advertisements. Chairman Allen will continue to investigate the history of political advertisements at LOW.

Ms. Parmelee asked Chairman Allen to report that some of the current Lake Currents pictures were blurry in some of the issues. Because of this problem, the printer has given a $250 credit towards the cost of the next printing.

Viewpoints

The committee discussed Harry Ridge’s letter in Viewpoints. It was decided that Mr. Williams ask the Board to approve a policy where in the future, if a committee is mentioned in a letter, that there be an opportunity for a reply by the committee at the same time that the letter is published.

Mr. Gosnell moved that the committee vote on whether or not the Viewpoints letters be placed on the LOW web page.  Ms. Liggett second and the vote was unanimous that the letters not be placed on the web page.

Channel 18

Chairman Allen announced that a digital editing bay for the station is still being researched. 

Chairman Allen has discussed selling the veterans series interviews with Dick Martin and they both decided that there is not enough of a market at the Lake for this enterprise.

Mr. Sanborn stated that he had contacted Germanna College about acquiring an intern for Channel 18 and they told him that they would consider it in the future.

Web Site

Viewpoint letters will not be posted on the web site. 

Ms. Parmelee provided the committee with a list of hits for the web site.

Mr. Williams noted that Holden Realty has removed their “Lake of the Woods” web page.

Wireless Communication

Chairman Allen reported that Ms. Parmelee had met with Infinity and they informed her that they hope to connect Holcomb Building in two weeks. After discussion, the committee decided to request that Ms. Parmelee ask Infinity about protective software.

40th Anniversary

Mr. Williams reported that ”BonAventure Videos” presented a bid for the production of the anniversary DVD and that Mr. Bailey had accepted the bid. Mr. Williams stated that he felt confident that “BonAventure” would do a very professional job. Mr. Williams reported that he had finished the voice over and that Doug Rogers and Eldon Rucker have completed their interviews. He stated that the DVD would sell for $10 each.

Electronic Distribution of Committee Meeting Minutes

Ms. Liggett stated that only two months of the Communications Committee minutes were posted on the web page. Mrs. LeMay stated that the minutes had all been sent in and she would contact Ms. Parmelee and urge her to post the other three months.

Chairman Allen stated that she would send Mr. Bailey’s and Ms. Parmelee’s email addresses to all of the committees.

Operations Manual

Ms. Liggett and Chairman Allen both stated that they are in the process of revising several of the sections. Mr. Sanborn also stated that he has been working on several sections.

Master Plan

Ms. Liggett reported that she is waiting on figures for the digital editing bay and then she will proceed with the report.

New Business

Mr. Dvorak asked the committee for feedback on providing questions for the 2008 survey.

The committee members voted unanimously to cancel the December meeting because of the conflict with Christmas.

The committee voted to continue meeting in the Holcomb Building on the 4th Wednesday evening.

Mr. Williams announced that the Woods Center would open this Saturday, Dec. 1st.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.  

Submitted by Connie LeMay, Secretary

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Final Approved Minutes of Meeting held January 10, 2008
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Meeting called to order by Chairman Allen at 7:05 p.m.

Mrs. LeMay moved to accept the agenda and Mr. Grynaviski second.  The committee voted to accept the agenda.

Ms. Liggett moved to accept the final draft of the November 28th committee minutes and Mr. Sanborn second.  The committee voted to accept the agenda.

Lake Currents

Ms. Parmelee was unable to attend the meeting but asked Chairman Allen to report several pieces of information for her.  Chairman Allen stated that advertisement revenue was down in December but in January, revenue came up to over $4,000.

Ms. Parmelee also stated that there were no letters to put into Viewpoints in the Jan. 4th issue and only one letter for the January 18th issue.

Channel 18

Ms. Parmelee also asked Chairman Allen to report that she had received a lot of complaints about the poor quality of filming for the Orange County meetings.  After discussion, the committee decided that Chairman Allen would email Lee Frame and ask him to check into this matter.  In the same email, Chairman Allen will also address why Channel 18 has not received the payment from Comcast for 2007.

Mr. Williams stated that he has arranged with BonAventure Video’s owner, David Jennings, to come to Channel 18 and analyze the equipment in order to make suggestions about updating the entire set-up. The entire committee felt that this would be very beneficial and thanked Mr. Williams for making the arrangements.

Web Site

Ms. Parmelee put the Master Plan on the LOW web site for all LOW members to study.

Mr. Gynaviski gave every committee member a list of recommendations for updating the web site.  The committee agreed with Mr. Grynaviski that his recommendations should be followed up on.

Wireless Communications

Ms. Parmelee advised Chairman Allen that the wireless network would be installed in the Holcomb Building tomorrow. 

Mr. Sanborn recommended that the various wireless systems within LOW be made fully secure.  After much discussion, the committee agreed with Mr. Sanborn’s recommendation and requested that Mr. Williams forward our request to the Board.

40th Anniversary DVD

The committee expressed great appreciation to Mr. Williams and Mr. Gray for the 22 months that they spent working on and producing the anniversary video.  The committee felt that they had produced a superior video which we are all proud of.

Operations Manual

Mr. Sanborn is working on the sections concerning Channel 18 and community meetings as well as the Information Center and Front Entrance Board. Ms. Liggett is working on the Lake Currents portion of the manual and Chairman Allen is working on the first section which concerns the LOWA communication process.

Mr. Grynaviski agreed to draft the procedures for the web site.

Master Plan

The Planning Committee’s orientation  session date is February 7th and Ms. Liggett and Chairman Allen plan to attend.

The committee presents the final draft of our portion of the Master Plan on May 7th.

New Business

Mr. Williams stated that he had received an email from a LOW resident concerning the installation of a T1 line.  Mr. Williams will respond to this email and he will also investigate the high phone bills that have incurred in the LOW offices.

Mr. Dvorak stated that this year the Planning Committee Survey will center around residents opinions on major issues.  He requested that members of the committee bring questions that could be placed into the survey to the next meeting.

Chairman Allen suggested that since so many members will be away on our next meeting date that the date of the meeting be changed to Feb. 13.  Everyone approved the new date.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Submitted by Connie LeMay, Secretary

LOWA COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Final Minutes of Meeting held February 13, 2008
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Meeting called to order by Chairman Allen at 7:03 p.m.

Mrs. Huntsman moved to accept the agenda with a second by Mr. Sanborn. The committee voted to accept the agenda.

Mrs. Huntsman moved to accept the final draft of the January 10th committee minutes and Mr. Sanborn moved to second the motion. The committee voted to accept the minutes.

Lake Currents

Ms. Parmelee reported that the latest edition of Lake Currents is 32 pages, but advertising and articles are down. She would like to keep Lake Currents at a maximum of 32 pages.  Chairman Allen said that she would contribute more committee reports and Mr. McKee said that the Planning Committee would do four reports a year. Chairman Allen stated that she would send an email to the other committees encouraging them to submit reports.

Channel 18

Mr. Williams stated that he had received a complaint about the “No Committee Reports” which is shown on Channel 18. Chairman Allen will include a request to report when she sends the email to other committees. Chairman Allen received a response from Lee Frame regarding the poor quality of filming for the Orange County meetings. He also contacted Ms. Parmelee and told her to contact Donna Curry about the DVD tapes. Mr. Frame also is checking on why Channel 18 has not received the payment from Comcast for 2007. Ms. Parmelee said the County got $131,000 in November from Comcast through the State. Last year, the Franchise Agreement  rolled over for another five years. 

Mr. Williams stated that Dave Jennings and his wife from BonAventure Video met with the staff and had useful pointers. Mr. Jennings suggested purchasing another dedicated digital editing device, which will be in the Master Plan for 2009.  He also recommended Sony Vegas software. 

Dick Martin starts in May as a part time (20 hours) employee. Ms Parmelee is trying to get in touch with Comcast about the conversion to digital in 2009. Ms. Liggett said the Board Meeting sound was bad because Board members are not talking into their microphones. Mr. Kay suggested clip-on mikes, which did come with the equipment. The Board will discuss the problem.

Web Site

Pete Rainey, from the Finance Committee, recommended a separate page for the final budget.  Mr. McKee recommended putting the committee agendas on each committee’s page to encourage greater participation.  He suggested starting with Communication, Planning, Security, Maintence and Equipment to see how it works. Ms. Parmelee will report on the number of hits. Mr. McKee did not like the idea of  putting Capital Expense Request forms on the web site. Chairman Allen will send an email to the committees asking them to email their meeting agendas to Ms. Parmelee and reminding them to submit their draft minutes to Joanne at the same time that they distribute them internally to their committee members. Chairman Allen reviewed some of the other community web sites that Ms. Parmelee identified. One charges for ads on the web site; another had names and pictures of staff, and in one community Security will do home security checks for $12 a week. Mr. Williams said that the security audit may identify other communities that do security checks. Lake Monticello only issues their newsletter on the web and makes copies available at central distribution points.  The committee thought this would not be a good idea in LOW because of the size of Lake Currents and the potential loss of advertising income if the newsletter is not mailed to individual households. Chairman Allen distributed a copy of the Washington Post article on association web sites. This topic will be discussed further at the March meeting.

Wireless Communications

The Holcomb Building is up and running. It worked when Ms. Parmelee tested it on Mr. Gray’s laptop. Chairman Allen will check with the Woods Center to see if they have wireless and will write an article.  Mr. Grynaviski sent an article to everyone about WiFi security.

Operations Manual

Chairman Allen thought it best to finish the communication process section after the rest of the manual is completed. We will have a subcommittee meeting in March to hash out any issues.  Chairman Allen also recommended that the committee charter be updated and submitted to the Board. We will attach a one pager to the manual on how to write Lake Currents’ articles that can be used as a handout.

Master Plan

Chairman Allen, Ms. Liggett and Ms. Parmelee attended the Planning Committee’s orientation.  Capital Expense requests and the Plan are due to the General Manager on April 10. Ms. Liggett will send a draft to the Committee for review and discussion at the March meeting.  Chairman Allen will send an email to Elton Rupe about a ramp for the information center. 

New Business

Planning Committee Survey

We discussed several suggestions for Communication Committee questions. Chairman Allen will email the final draft to the committee for comment and then submit the final to Mr. McKee by February 14. The Committee may develop its own survey, but will first review the results a of a 2001 survey that are on file in the reading room. Mr. McKee recommended collaboration between Planning and Communication with each committee doing a spot on Channel 18 and an article in Lake Currents.

LOWA Operational Evaluation

The Potomac Group, a management consulting firm, invited all committee chairs to a meeting on Feburary 14. They are reviewing LOWA processes and procedures. Chairman Allen will report at the March meeting.

Meeting With John Bailey

Two new Assistant General Managers have been hired.  Ms. Parmelee will be reporting to Maria  Levering. The committee hopes to meet with Ms. Levering in April and we will invite John Bailey.

40th Anniversary DVD

Mr. Williams has placed an order for a second 100 copies.  His goal is to sell 400 DVDs.

The meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

Lake of the Woods Association Communications Committee
Final Approved Minutes of Meeting held March 26, 2008
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Meeting called to order by Chairman Allen at 7:00 p.m.

Ms. Liggett moved to accept the agenda with a second by Mr. Gosnell. The committee voted to accept the agenda.

Mrs. Huntsman moved to accept the final draft of the February 13, 2008 minutes and Ms. Liggett second the motion. The committee voted to accept the minutes.

Lake Currents

There was no discussion in regard to the Lake Currents.

Channel 18

Mr. Williams stated that there would be more meetings held in the Woods Center and that filming is better there for Channel 18 because of the light and acoustics of the room.

Ms. Parmelee stated that she had talked with Comcast about the volume adjustment and it has improved.  Chairman Allen stated that she will be sending an e-mail to Lee Frame about receiving the Cable Franchise fees from Comcast which is owed to LOW.  Lisa Nagshineh, Communications Assistant, sent a suggestion to Chairman Allan via e-mail that if Committee Chairs are reluctant to give Committee reports on Channel 18 due to stage fright or general discomfort in front of a camera, a volunteer will be recruited to read their report for them.

Web Site

Mr. Grynaviski proposed the use of a password to get into the protected LOW sites. This was discussed and will be brought up at a future meeting.

Committee members reviewed and discussed the HOA web sites mentioned in the Washington Post article distributed by Chairman Allen. It was agreed that none of these communities were a good match to ours. Mr. Gray mentioned a particular site that he discovered “demo.hoa-sites.com” and found interesting.  He recommended that we make a detailed review of the site and its offerings.  Ms. Parmelee requested and received a brochure from this site (a web site development company) and will forward it to Committee members for review.  Chairman Allen requested that each member study both the site and the brochure for further discussion at the next meeting.

Mr. Sanborn stated that our web site must be user friendly and not complicated in order for LOW residents to easily access it.

Mr. Grynaviski volunteered to write an article for Lake Currents encouraging residents to use the web site and giving the types of information that can be found there.

The Free Lance Star is launching a new web site and has requested input from the Board of Directors and our Committee regarding content.  Mr. Williams and other BOD members are meeting with Robin Knepper, Free Lance-Star staff reporter for Orange County, to discuss the new site.

Wireless Communication

The Woods Center has not been connected for use by wireless laptop though it does have cable.  There has been no date set up for connecting the club house either. The Holcomb connection is finished.

Operations Manual

Mr. Kay suggested that the Committee postpone further work on the manual for a month because there may be changes due to the recent GAP assessment. The consultant’s report will be discussed at the next BOD workshop on April 16 and the committee agreed to postpone any revision on the manual until then.

Master Plan

Ms. Liggett distributed a report for the framework of the communications master plan. 

After much discussion, a vote was taken and the committee decided to leave in the proposed expenditure for an electronic sign by the front gate and eliminate the proposal for a radio station channel.

Ms. Liggett stated that her deadline is April 10th to submit her report and she hoped that Ms. Parmelee and Mr. Bailey could have the statistics that she needed before that date.

New Business

Mr. Williams stated that 129 Anniversary DVD’s have been sold and he has ordered another 100 for the Pro Shop to sell.

Chairman Allen stated that she had sent an email to Eldon Rucker asking him to urge committees to send their minutes in to Ms. Parmelee to be placed on the web.  Mr.

Grynaviski developed a spreadsheet indicating all recent Committee minutes submissions by each committee and highlighted the omissions.

Chairman Allen is recruiting prospective members for the Communications Committee

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m

Lake of the Woods Association Communications Committee
 Final Approved Minutes of Meeting held April 23, 2008
Holcomb Building, Reading Room

Meeting is called to order by Chairman Allen at 7:00 p.m.

Ms. Liggett moved to accept the agenda with a second by Mrs. LeMay. The committee voted to accept the agenda.

Mr. Grynaviski moved to accept the final draft of the March 26, 2008 minutes and Ms. Liggett second the motion. The committee voted to accept the minutes.

Channel 18

Supervisor Frame discussed the work that was being done to obtain the cable franchise fees from Comcast for LOW. Supervisor Frame is working with the Orange County Attorney and others in attempting to persuade Orange County to pay LOW the approximately $30,000 that is owed. Curt Pendergrass, Channel 18 volunteer who was instrumental in establishing cable service at LOW, will provide Supervisor Frame with copies of the original contract and other documents. After obtaining these documents, Supervisor Frame will continue to pursue the payment and keep the Committee informed of his progress.

Chairman Allen stated that she had received an email from Doug Weiford stating that hearing impaired viewers were not able to hear the programming on Channel 18. The committee discussed Mr. Weiford’s suggestion to have closed caption added to  television programming.  It was decided that additional information had to be gathered in regard to the cost factor before a decision could be made. The new Channel 18 assistant could pursue this information.

Lake Currents

Mr. Grynaviski moved that the editors notes be eliminated from the Viewpoints page and Mrs. LeMay second. The motion passed with a unanimous vote that any comment from the Board or General Manager must be in the form of a letter and placed in the same issue as the letter that they are commenting on.

Mrs. LeMay  moved and Ms. Liggett second that any subject that could be conceived as an advertisement for a company be placed as a paid advertisement and not an article.  This motion was made in response to the Regency Park article which was placed on the front page of the Lake Currents.  The motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Gray proposed the adoption of an advertising policy for Lake Currents.  He had done research on the Internet and obtained the advertising policies of a number of small newspapers.  Mr. Gray proposed also that the publisher’s name be listed in the Lake Currents as the General Manager.  After much discussion, it was decided to table this proposal until the May meeting to give everyone time to read the material.  Members should forward their comments and suggestions to Mr. Gray via e-mail.  He will incorporate them into the final policy for the Committee’s approval in May.

Web Site

Chairman Allen asked each committee member to review the HOA web site and determine its capability to develop web sites.  Mr. Grynaviski objected to the PDF component.  Upon request from Chairman Allen, Mr. Grynaviski agreed to chair the research on web site development.

Wireless Communications

There is no new information on connections being made at the Woods Center or the Clubhouse.

Operations Manual

The Committee decided to postpone any additional work on the Communications section until all recommendations of the Gap report are implemented.  Mr. Grynaviski stated that the Operations Manual is on the LOWA web site.  Mr. Sanborn volunteered to prepare a brief outline of each of the sections which have been rewritten.

Master Plan

Ms. Liggett stated that the Communications portion of the Master Plan was submitted on time.  The committee thanked her profusely for her hard work on preparing this section of the Plan.  There is a hearing at the Woods Center on May 7, 2008 on the Capital Requests Hearing.

New Business

Chairman Allen reported on an e-mail that she received from Board of Directors member Tom Sheridan asking for Committee member’s names for the coming year.  Mrs. LeMay and Mrs Huntsman are resigning effective May 1, 2008.  Mr. Gray stated that he would remain as an alternate.  Chairman Allen’s three year term on the Committee has stretched into five years so she will step down as Chair but will remain on the Committee as a voting member or an alternate if needed.

Chairman Allen stated that she would contact Wyatt Gosnell to find out if he wants to continue, since his three-year term is up this year.  All other voting members expressed an intention to continue on the committee.  Chairman Allen stated she would continue her efforts at recruitment, and asked the Committee to forward her the names of anyone interested.

Mr. Grynaviski stated that he would send the Board members a chart showing what committees send in their minutes to Ms. Parmelee to be placed on the LOWA web site.

Mr. Sanborn distributed a letter that was published in the LOW Lake Views in April, 2008 asking about improved communications.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 pm.

Lake of the Woods Association
Communications Committee meeting of May 28, 2008
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                                            Also participating:
Jeanne Allen, chairman                                       Peter Williams, board liaison
Tish Liggett, voting                                              Neil Buttimer, LOWA board
Dan Grynaviski, voting                                        Ernie Dvorak, Planning Committee liaison
Al Sanborn, voting                                               Melanie Parmelee, communications coordinator
Bruce Bixby, voting                                              Diane Weller, observer/prospective member
Bob Gray, alternate                                                              

I.  Chairman Allen called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m.  Bob Gray was appointed temporary secretary, the position being vacant as a result of the resignation of Connie LeMay.  The committee endorsed Peter Williams’ commendation of her performance in that job.

II/III. The agenda for the current meeting and the minutes of the April meeting were approved unanimously.

IV. New Member: The committee welcomed its newest member, Bruce Bixby.  Asked to introduce himself, he noted he was a retired employee of the Central Intelligence Agency and his duties had included audio surveillance, is an electrical engineer, and has been a resident of Lake of the Woods for 15 years.

Recruitment:  Chairman Allen reported on continuing efforts to recruit new members to the committee and cited a list of potential members that had been compiled and submitted by Melanie Parmelee. 

V. Lake Currents—Viewpoints:  Peter Williams reported that, in response to a committee recommendation, the board has adopted a procedure that any administration response to letters appearing in “Viewpoints” will be attributed to the board president or the general manager. The committee had expressed concern that such comments frequently sought to rebut statements made in a letter but did not identify the association representative making that rebuttal.

Ad Policy: The board adopted unanimously a proposed Advertising Policy for the publication. It will be submitted to the board for final approval.  Among its principal provisions, the proposed policy formalizes the right of the publisher to reject any advertising for any reason, establishes that the Lake of the Woods Association shall not be liable for legal/economic liability arising from advertising content, and sets additional guidelines for political/issue advertising. 

Other Issues:  Dan Grynaviski suggested that an extensive report recently published in Lake Currents on developments re the dam should also be available on the LOWA website.
Melanie Parmelee reported on typographical changes that have been made in Lake Currents. The type size will be reduced slightly and a new font used.  She explained the point reduction would enable publication of more editorial content without use of additional newsprint, thereby reducing printing costs.  The changes also include a more stylized heading for the “Viewpoints” page.

Neil Buttimer recommended broader Lake Currents coverage of activities that reflect association initiatives to improve the number and quality of facilities for member use.  He noted that this would enable members to make a direct connection between their dues and the benefits those dues provide.  Communications Coordinator Parmelee said that recent staff changes in her department would allow her to give greater priority to such coverage. Dan Grynaviski suggested that, as a further step, the board issue news releases about such developments.

VI. Channel 18—Cable Fee: Melanie Parmelee reported that efforts were continuing to trace the history of the $30,000+ fee paid by Comcast (and predecessor Adelphia) to LOWA.  The payment was formerly paid directly, but under a new arrangement is part of a larger payment by Comcast to the state government which forwards the LOWA share to Orange County for relay to LOWA.  No payment has been received for 2007, and efforts to determine the status of this and future payments are under way.                    

Orange County Board of Supervisors meetings: Melanie Parmelee reported that technical difficulties with broadcasts of those board meetings is the result of problems with the DVDs the board is providing.  Efforts to resolve this issue will continue.

VII. Web Site—The committee continued its in-depth review on choosing a company to redesign and provide continuing services for the LOWA website.  After review of a large number of sites developed by various companies, the committee is now centering on HOA Sites, Inc., because of its price level and the quality of the sites it has developed for other associations.  Dan Grynaviski, who has been spearheading this initiative, noted that once decisions had been made, it would take a very brief period to get the new site going.  He noted that HOA has commented that it sees no significant problems to developing and implementing the redesign project.  In view of the extensive menu of website content that HOA suggests for consideration in a redesigned site, Chairman Allen appointed a subcommittee, consisting of herself and members Grynaviski and Bixby, to review this list and determine which aspects should be incorporated into the new LOWA site.  Dan Grynaviski will prepare a one-page description of the committee’s efforts for the Board.

VIII. Wireless Communications—Steps needed to expand wireless communications access within LOW were discussed further.

IX. Operations Manual Revision—Al Sanborn distributed an outline of specific aspects being covered in this initiative.  He noted that Section 1, dealing with the purpose and goals of the committee’s operation, was the key element in the document.  Its stated purpose is “To provide overall guidelines for the maintenance of adequate communications between the Association and its members.”  Tish Liggett suggested the need for establishing a step-by-step procedure on duties of the communications staff.  Melanie Parmelee reported that she had been tasked by John Bailey with completing procedures for the communications staff by June 30.

X. Master Plan—Ernie Dvorak provided an advance report on the results of the communications-related questions in the Planning Committee’s recent membership survey.  Among other findings, was that Lake Currentsis by far the LOWA’s membership No. 1 source of information on matters affecting the community.  He said results would be available the first week in June. The Planning Committee will send the raw data to all the relevant committees for evaluation.

XI. Emergency Communications—Radio Station:  The committee has been exploring cost and other aspects of a radio station as a vehicle for instant communication with members.  Potential problems identified thus far include the availability of a broadcast license in this region and the high capital costs. Buttimer explained that any consideration of this means of emergency communication would focus on a low-power facility that would involve much more reasonable costs than those associated with establishing a full-scale, standard radio broadcasting station.  

Emergency Communications—The committee reviewed the various exploratory efforts by itself, the administration, and the LOW Safety and Security Committee to develop an effective emergency-communications system.  The Orange County Reverse 911 system will be used to notify people in the inundation zone.  Chairman Allen suggested that, as one step toward better coordination, the Communications Committee determine whether the Safety and Security Committee wanted to work jointly with this committee on these issues.  Al Sanborn agreed to speak with Steve Cakouros, Chair of the Safety and Security Committee, in this regard.

XII. New Business--Reconstitution of Committee/Election of New Officers:  Pursuant to LOWA rules, the committee began its new year with election of officers.  Tish Liggett was nominated for committee chairman by Dan Grynaviski, seconded by Al Sanborn. No further nominations were made, and she was elected.  Al Sanborn was nominated for vice chairman by Dan Grynaviski, seconded by Bruce Bixby, and Al was elected. Bruce Bixby was nominated for secretary by Tish Liggett, seconded by Dan Grynaviski, and he was elected.  Election of all three officers was by unanimous vote.  Jean Allen will continue as an alternate member.

Committee Orientation:  Chairman Allen designated Al Sanborn to represent committee at the Committee Orientation on June 20.

XIII.   The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.   

Communications Committee meeting of June 25, 2008
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 7:00
Mr. Pierce proposed an amendment to the current agenda to include the updating of the Communication Charter.
Chairman Liggett elected to include Mr. Pierce’s amendment, time permitting.

The agenda was then approved unanimously.
Mr. Sanborn moved to accept the May minutes and Mr. Bixby seconded the motion. The committee unanimously accepted the minutes.

New Members: the committee received two new members. Dianne Weller and Pierce Crowell.  All introduced themselves to the committee and spent a few minutes providing some background information.

Lake Currents: Only significant comment was made by Chairman Liggett and that was it was fortunate that the proposed new Flame design for the Viewpoints is being shelved.

Channel 18: Melanie Parmelee reported that the closed captioning proposal was determined to be too expensive at $165 per half hour for what may be a problem now overtaken by events. That is the improved audio quality now being experienced on the channel.
Lee Frame is reportedly still researching the Cable Franchise fees due from Comcast which is owed to LOW and paid to Orange County for distribution to LOWA.

Orange County Board of Supervisors meetings: Melanie Parmelee reported that the previously encountered technical problems encountered with the DVDs of these meeting have not reappeared with the latest DVDs of these meetings. Problem seems to be solved.
It was also reported that the taping of the various Amenities has begun. These are expected to be .5 to 1 minute shots appearing on Channel 18 in the future.

Web Site. The redesign of the web site continues to be pursued. Several sites are now being compared as to their various features, including the HOA Sites. Mr. Bixby prepared a power point presentation attempting to define the goals and the features desired to and the presentation is to be installed on a website for viewing, comments, additions etc.
The various site’s costs and features seem to generally be similar, with a few feature variations that we need clarification on. Some time was spent discussing the required funding and its availability once we reach agreement on how to proceed.
Chairman Liggett mentioned that the Youth Activities would like a link to their activities on the home page.

A discussion then ensued regarding the main aim of the website. Is it concerned mainly with focusing and pushing the amenities as opposed to being a BOD and library resource?  The consensus was that it could be and should be both.

A Calendar/Scheduling proposal was reviewed by Pierce Crowell. Google has a freely available calendar (Google Calendar-Beta) on the net. He explained that 22 separate calendars are possible. The various calendars are capable of being shared which opens the possibility of the various amenities or other operations sharing their calendars so to avoid scheduling conflicts. A very useful management tool for free. He is currently populating some of the calendars.

There was no discussion in regard to the Email Directory as it was reported to be currently on standby.

Wireless Communications:  There is no new information on connections being made at the Woods Center or the Clubhouse.

Operations Manual Revision:  Melanie Parmelee reported that she will not make her input deadline and is now shooting for 1 Aug.  Peter Williams suggested that we not wait for all recommendations of the Gap report to be implemented but move ahead. Jeanne Allen volunteered to take action to prepare Section 1.

Emergency Communications:  Al Sanborn mentioned that he had talked with Steve Cakouros from Safety & Security and they are not planning to take any action beyond the Warden program. Peter Williams mentioned that a draft charter is currently being prepared for this program. The reverse 911 program came up again as a possible solution and Chairman Liggett stated she would take the action to determine if the Orange County reverse 911 is usable for emergencies other than flooding. It was pointed out that this requirement arose as a result of the need to replace the front gate sign.

Annual Survey: Ernie Dvorak advised that the survey results will soon be presented to the BOD. It is anticipated the results will then be publicly available. He spent a few minutes explaining some of the essential results and some conflicts. Not unexpectedly, Lake Currents won first place of the media modes. It was opined that all of the methods are valuable assets.

New Business:

Committee Orientation: Both Al Sanborn and Bruce Bixby attended the orientation held on June 20.  An agenda and a booklet were provided all attendees. Al reviewed the essential results of this meeting and delivered a written as well as the verbal report.   Some of the essential points he reported on were that agendas should be provided with enough lead time that members have a chance to prepare for the meeting. They should focus on key and current issues and should not be too long to be covered adequately during the meeting. Meeting minutes need to record action/votes taken with names of those making motions and those seconding. Keeping to the essential of these reports without attempting to record all discussion is a worthwhile goal. Finally the minutes should be presented in draft in a timely manner.

The Communication Committee Charter was discussed and it was agreed that a subgroup needs to be formed to prepare an updated version of the Charter. Chairman Liggett, Pierce Crowell, Jeanne Allen with Peter Williams monitoring the subgroup was formed.

Support for Recycling Information in Lake Currents: Linda Hiross spoke about how our membership could be doing a better job on recycling and pointed out that compared to surrounding counties, our 2007 county recycling rate (16%) is the lowest in the area. Well below the Virginia state-mandated 25% goal for our region. She stated that the recycling program is poorly understood by the LOW members who need to be better educated in the process. An education program to this effect should be supported in Lake Currents and on the website among other approaches perhaps even a pamphlet in Lake Currents for each member.

During the above a question arose as to what is the editorial policy of both the website and Lake Currents in regard to feedback to the writer when editorial corrections are made.

You Tube: Jeanne Allen mentioned that perhaps it would be feasible to use the You Tube approach to show future BOD meetings. It was pointed out that Direct TV does not provide Channel 18 coverage and as a result a great many members do not get coverage of the BOD video. Apparently You Tube time limit is not a consideration but the question becomes does the BOD want such a public forum.

Next committee meeting will be at 3:00 PM on July 23.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 PM

Communications Committee meeting of July 23, 2008
Reading Room, Holcomb Building

Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 3:00PM.

The agenda was then approved unanimously.

Mr. Sanborn moved to accept the June minutes and Mr. Grynaviski seconded the motion. After one minor change the committee unanimously accepted the minutes.

Channel 18
Supervisor Frame explained that the cable franchise fees from Comcast are paid to Orange County. LOW is designated the System Administrator for the service and as such is expected to provide semiannual reports to the county. The reports should include what expenses or other support is required for the franchise customers. With this as a basis, Supervisor Frame can claim the franchise fees due LOW. A memo to the BOD may be necessary explaining the situation. In the discussion that followed it was estimated that less than 400 customers are outside immediate LOW area. The Town of Orange is the other major customer population area.

Orange County Reverse 911
The county does have a reverse 911 capability and it can be used to contact county people, apparently on some defined area basis. Supervisor Frame advised that the issue is that the administration of this capability is not yet defined. It appears, at least at the present time, this is not a realistic emergency contact method for LOW, but certainly has long range potential.

Web Site List of Desired Improvement
Considerable discussion followed on the need to define the web site better as to the features desired in a revised interactive website. A subcommittee meeting is planned prior to the main August meeting in an effort to define these features. With the specifications/features issue settled, the web host services can be reviewed and final recommendations made, as the optimum way to proceed.

New Business
Chairperson Liggett advised that the 2008 Annual Report has been prepared which highlight the communication committee recommendations made over the previous year. Comments were requested and a few suggestions were offered and accepted by the chair.

A subcommittee met and did some preliminary editing to the Communication Committee Charter. Several areas were added to in the Charter such as the web site, and a general area for projects like wireless communication (Wi-Fi hot spots) locations. The subcommittee will meet again.
 
Announcements
John Bailey is planning to attend all of the committees meetings during the Aug/ Sep timeframe to review the 2009 budget.

The chairperson continues to receive complaints regarding editing in articles for the Lake Currents. She reports that people complain about the arbitrary reduction of their articles to comply with the need for ad space and receiving no feedback when this is done. She plans to look into the matter.

Adjournment
Before we adjourned, Mr. Patton, a visitor at the meeting, requested that the Vision Plan, which goes back several years, be added to the website. Opinions differed whether it was ever published or not. The consensus was that it had been and should be available in the library.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.  The next meeting is scheduled for 27 Aug at 3:00 PM in the conference room of the Holcomb building.

Communications Committee meeting of August 27, 2008
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

  Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 3:00PM.

The agenda was modified to include a statement from Supervisor Frame regarding the cable franchise fee situation. The agenda was then approved unanimously.

Mr. Sanborn moved to accept the July minutes and Mr. Bixby seconded the motion and the committee unanimously accepted the minutes.

Unfinished Business

Channel 18 Franchise Fee. Supervisor Frame explained that the annual cable franchise fee was the result of an agreement between Orange County, Prestige Cable (now Comcast), and LOW completed in 1984 for a 15 year period.  LOW was designated as the System Administrator for this service, and would receive 2/3 rd of the yearly franchise fee.  The System Administrator duties were never defined. In 1997 the agreement was extended for another 15 years, or until 2012. Apparently the agreement could be terminated by either party with due notice. Up until 2007 the agreement was followed by all parties but at that time the State of Virginia instituted a 5% communication tax which in the eyes of the cable company effectively replaced the franchise fee that had been paid. The State refunded the tax directly to Orange County who apparently did not recognize the need to pay the System Administrator any fee. Supervisor Frame recently raised the fee issue with the Board of Supervisors and the Board agreed that LOW should be paid a fee at least for 2007 and some part of 2008. However, the county also is now taking the position that the agreement should now be terminated, because there is little benefit to the county.  Mr. Frame nevertheless advised that the County Administrator does sees the potential for a new agreement with LOW as System Administrator for the entire county but will need the scope of work (duties and services) defined. It was pointed out during the discussion that LOW’s communication service is probably the only video capability in the county.  If the county loses this capability it will lose a direct link to the citizens that later may be regretted.

New Business

2009 Budget, not effective until next May, needs to be presented at the BOD meeting in Oct and is currently being prepared by the General Manager. Income from Lake Currents ads for the last budget year has fallen substantially due to the economy and is now projected to be some 15 % to 20 % less. The $30000 franchise fee may be eliminated completely.  The question of an increase in the ad rates is judged not appropriate as the rates were raised only two years ago. Other expenses that could be affected are the possible need for a full time communication assistant and the need for a part time website assistant. A Communication Committee special meeting with Mr. Bailey, to finalize the communication portion of the budget is now scheduled for 12 Sep.

Balancing Articles and Ads in Lake Currents-deferred

Free Ads for Kids in Lake Currents was an email suggestion believed having some merit. One suggestion was for a one page Lake Currents pullout, probably in May, at the end of the school year. The pullout would advertize for babysitter, lawn mowing and other jobs for children under the age of 16. It was recognized that a coordinator would probably be required and that the parents of these children would need to authorize the child’s employment.

Reports

Web Site Jeanne Allen reported on the results of two website subcommittee meetings in Aug. During the first meeting the subcommittee focused on what was needed in a redesigned website. The need for the present website to be reorganized to eliminate outdated and irrelevant material and where feasible, to update the site using the Guidebook as a base was recognized. There also is agreement that certain features most HOA’s offer, would be very useful on a new site. For example, the capability to fill in forms online is desirable. Other useful capabilities may be the ability to post committee reports directly, a home page with public and private section, with access to the private sector restricted to LOW membership. Terry Hilleman a LOW member who has website design expertise was present at this first meeting and kindly offered his capability in defining these efforts in the future.

The second meeting was with Ted Wessel, Assistant General Manager who pointed out that in his experience with other associations, the difficulty in gaining participation of the membership in preparing articles for publication was always a problem. Equally, getting the membership to participate even in signing up for email notification was difficult but nevertheless needed to be encouraged. He was dubious about a member directory noting possible legal issues may be involved. In general he supports the effort to reorganize the website but the bottom line is at little or no increase in costs.

Charter Subcommittee tabled.

Announcements
Mr. Bernie Patton reported that a new resident approached him a few days ago, when he was outside the Community Center who asked if she could find information on LOW activities in the center, which at the time was locked. He correctly suggested she go to the Holcomb Building for that information. However, he was unaware of the existence of the Guidebook, which provides the requested information, and along with other material, is made available to all newcomers.

Melanie Parmelee, communications advised that the planning committees requested the 2007 Draft Master Plan on the website be replaced with the approved 2006 Master Plan. She plans to make that change in next few days.

Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for 24 Sep at 3:00 PM in the conference room of the Holcomb building.

Special Communications Committee meeting of Sep 12, 2008
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Meeting called to order by Chairwoman Liggett at 3:00PM.

New Business

2009 Budget, John Bailey with Melanie Parmelee reviewed the 2009 Communication Budget at this special Communication Committee meeting. The main topics discussed were as follow:

Advertising Income is projected to drop considerably (about 20 %) as a result of the downturn in the economy and the drop by local business in using Lake Currents as an advertising medium. Ms. Parmelee believes revenue may be higher than projected. She will take another look at the figures based on August actuals.

Cable Franchise Fee John Bailey is optimistic that the cable franchise fee ($30,000) will be re negotiated successfully with Orange County for a new three-year agreement. The actual amount is yet to be determined.

Part Time Communication Assistant (30 hr/wk) slot is already approved but yet to be filled because physical space at Holcomb needs to be resolved first. Mr. Bailey discussed several possibilities to increase the space but these solutions remain to be resolved.

Web Site discussions focused on the re-hosting of LOWA’s website with a new webhosting server based on the same costs as last year ($1200). Mr. Grynaviski recommended changing to either Yahoo Small Business or Altman Business Solutions. The latter is a local firm and the CEO is a LOW member. Altman Business Solutions uses content management system, a platform for building professional websites with dynamic content and interactive features. The latter approach should provide more capability for the future at close to the price we pay Infinity the current webhost. Melanie Parmelee was tasked to seek price info on both approaches.

WiFi Installations are still needed for the Community Center and the Woods Center and funding for this will be budgeted out of other committees.

Announcements   Chairwoman Liggett announced that Mr. Peter Williams will remain as the board liaison for this committee.

Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for 24 Sep at 3:00 PM in the conference room of the Holcomb building.

Communications Committee meeting of Sept 24, 2008
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                    Also Participating:
Al Sanborn, Vice Chairman         Peter Williams, Board Liaison
Dan Grynaviski, Voting               Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Bruce Bixby, Voting                   Bob Gray, Alternate

Meeting called to order by Vice Chairman Sanborn at 3:00PM.
The agenda for the current meeting and the minutes of the Aug meeting and the Special meeting held on 12 Sep were both approved unanimously.

Web Site.  Editing is now in progress to bring the website background data up to the newer standards of the Guidebook. Current plans are to keep the redesign of the website within the present budget of approximately $1200. With the above in mind Melanie is presently looking at several venders to provide price for this service. Dan Grynaviski advised with the above goal we may be able to provide some new features such as a site calendar. We will probably have another subcommittee meeting in Oct to clarify what final goals the website should have.

Operations Manual and Charter. The Charter is currently being reviewed by Jeanne Allen and a report is expected next month. Melanie Parmelee reported that little or no progress has been made on the development of an Operations Manual for the Communication section. She reports that the workload appears overwhelming and she is unsure where to begin. Peter Williams suggested that the Quality Management Council, which is working with the various operations sections will eventually be interviewing her and he feels sure that they will have valuable contributions to give her on how to get a handle this task. Al Sanborn offered to have the committee assist including input from previously prepared draft revisions

Budget Presentation to the BOD. The Vice Chair solicited the views of the committee on the need for a representative from the committee to plan to attend the mid Oct BOD review of the Budget and the committee recommended that a member be present to answer any questions that may arise.

New Business

Channel 18 Expansions to County Viewers. We have approximately 3000 LOWA viewers to Comcast TV while outside the LOW gates there are approximately 300 external viewers. The question arises how to better service these external viewers that someday may grow larger. By this we mean provide them county information that they may otherwise miss. Agreement was reached that leaders of this external community need to be contacted to determine what these may be. Al Sanborn will provide a list to Melanie. It was also suggested that the GM request information from the County during negotiations.

Priority of Lake Currents Articles. General agreement has always considered that LOWA association news has top priority. However, currently Lake Currents receives decidedly less input with this type news compared to the past. Mr. Sanborn submitted a paper on this subject and asked for committee comments on the subject.

Committees Agendas and Minutes on Website. Generally the response by the committees has been favorable. Comments were made that some committees fail to notify promptly when the meetings are cancelled. We also may need a formatting policy to get all the committees on the same page for Website presentations. But so far the committee’s response is viewed as favorable.

Status of Email Signups. Melanie commented that we currently have some 433 people in the Website Email program. When we have over 4000 lots at LOW this represents only about 10% of the membership. Not particularly encouraging.

Announcements.  The Vice Chair noted that Jeanne Allen wrote an article for the Lake currents describing the Guidebook and its’ valuable information available to all newcomers.
Recently the subject of summer jobs for the LOWA teens and how they could be advertised in future Lake Currents issues arose. It was recognized that this program would require a coordinator to supervise the teens as to the type of jobs they could advertise and the need for their parents consent. Apparently a volunteer is available to handle this task in the future.

Mr. Williams advised that he presented the Committee's recommendation for a revised Lake Current advertisement policy to the Board at the September 18 workshop. He reported that the Board appeared to have no problem with the proposal. It was pointed out that the "publisher" is in fact the General Manager; Mr. Williams suggested that wording to this effect be added to the proposal. The revised proposal will be submitted for formal Board approval at the October 4 Board meeting

Melanie provided copies of the latest statistics of visits to the website. She also recommended that the first Jan 2009 issue of the Lake Currents be canceled because it was not cost justified (low ad revenue and short page count) and due to the holiday time crunch was difficult to publish. The committee agreed with her position.

The next meeting is scheduled for 22 Oct, time to be determined, in the conference room of the Holcomb building

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Communications Committee meeting of Oct 22, 2008
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 3:00PM.
The agenda for the current meeting and the minutes of the Sep 24 meeting were approved unanimously.

New Business

Entrance Bulletin Board. The need for improved bulletin boards both at the front and rear gate was discussed. The ideal approach would be a sign at both gates that could be updated from the Holcomb building real time, electronically. This approach is recognized as very expensive and at best, a long way down the road. It was also observed that the sign’s purpose should be more clearly identified.

Reports

Website Report. The goal ofreorganizing the website, using the Guidebook as a base, was to a large extent completed recently. Melanie Parmelee is now awaiting vendor’s responses for advanced techniques for the website that would provide for members to directly input (under controlled circumstances, of course) into the website as well as a very desirable calendar function that would also be interactive.

Melanie reported that recent website updates in the Fitness and Tennis pages have been completed and urged all of us to visit these sites.

Dan Grynaviski moved that a Website Editorial Subcommittee be formed, which was  subsequently unanimously agreed upon,  for the purpose of determining if the need for closer editing of media slated for LOWA Website was necessary. Melanie would pass any communication for the website that she deemed needed further editing to this committee.  The subcommittee, of Jeanne Allen and Diane Weller will look further into the matter.

Unfinished Business

Budget Hearing.  The Chairman stated she and Melanie Parmelee attended the recent Budget Hearing with the Finance Committee. John Bailey reported to the Finance Committee that the most significant budget event the ad revenues from the Lake Currents, are down considerably this year.

Melanie also advised that a slot in the Communication area, that has been vacant and was ready to be advertised, has been put on hold for the immediate future.

Advertising Policy Status.  Peter Williams, Board Liaison, provided the committee a revision to the advertising policy as “being determined by the Board of Directors of the Lake of the Woods and enforced by the publisher, usually the general manager. The publisher may delegate enforcement responsibility to appropriate staff.” The statement went into further detail.

This discussion raised the issue regarding ads that may accompany any internet program capability free or otherwise, such as a search capability, that could be used on the website. For example, Yahoo has a free site search capability that seems like a useful tool for the website. Unfortunately, as usual there is no free lunch, and the program comes with ads as part of its’ capability. Peter Williams suggests that this question be once again raised with the GC as to how appropriate this would be.

Channel 18 Negotiations with the County.  The general manager together with Supervisor Frame has prepared a Memorandum of Agreement to be presented to Orange County which will spell out the services that LOWA will provide the county. In exchange for these services the county will reimburse the Association $50,000, presumably yearly. The services to be provided will be aired locally in other areas of Orange.  The method to transmit these programs is as yet to be determined but a couple of approaches are possible. Melanie, who accompanied the general manager in the early negotiations, mentioned the use of a Slingbox. Briefly and for the technically minded, a Slingbox connects a TV source (via coaxial cable, composite cables, component cables, or S-video cable) to an existing Internet connection. This service would be provided by Comcast for a fee. In any case this would allow the video/audio source at LOW to be transmitted to Orange for rebroadcast via their video/audio studio at near real time. The other obvious way is to transport DVDs of the program over to Orange by auto.

Charter.  The subcommittee studying the Charter for the Communication Committee is editing the present charter to better describe what the communication committee does and make it more user friendly. A long discussion ensued as to who the committee should report to-the BOD or the general manager. The Chairman decided that the subcommittee needs to regroup and try to clarify some of these areas.

Priorities for Lake Current Articles and Other Communications. Some comments were made that there is a need to solicit more articles about the business of LOWA for the various media.

Announcements
Bernie Patton mentioned that for the second time in the last months he was planning to attend a committee meeting on the announced date but found that the meeting had been cancelled without apparently any notice of the cancellation being given. He also commented that he thought the location on the website for the Committee Agendas should be more appropriately located on the Committee page. It was suggested that both locations may be a suitable answer.

Al Sanborn suggested that both entrances signs should be used only for emergency messages stating that most of the daily routine messages are available through other media sources.

The chairman mentioned that all members of the communication committee should make a conscious effort to check their emails and make prompt replies.

Melanie Parmelee said the mass email program is now 469 members.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for 19 Nov at 10:00 AM in the reading room of the Holcomb building.