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.

Communications Committee meeting of Nov 19, 2008
Reading Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                 Also Participating:
Tish Liggett, Chairman              Peter Williams, Board Liaison
Al Sanborn, Voting                    Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator          
Dan Grynaviski, Voting             Mike Hill, Planning Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                  Bernie Patton, Guest
Jeanne Allen, Alternate
Bob Gray, Alternate
Brenda Rogers, Alternate

Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 10:00AM.
The agenda for the current meeting and the minutes of the Oct 22 meeting were approved unanimously.

New Business

Channel 18 Audio. Complaints have been received regarding poor quality audio especially noted during recordings at the Woods and Community facilities. The problem is believed to be the results of poorly installed/positioned microphones.

Advertising Inserts for Lake Currents. Recently advertising inserts have been included in the Lake Currents. This method of advertising raises the same revenue as a regular full page ad in Lake Currents and has no impact on the workload of LOWA personal. Consensus by the committee was that that being the case by all means continue the procedure.

Policy on Club Articles and Club Ads. It was proposed that a policy be determined as to when articles for Lake Currents may be properly deemed advertisements. A subcommittee consisting of Brenda Rogers and Bob Gray will attempt to provide guidance in this matter.

Editing Policy on Lake Currents Articles. Reported complaints have been received from some authors regarding the lack of feedback before articles go to print and after editing. In some cases the originator feels that editing should have been coordinated closer before printing, with the person originating the article. The above Article and Club Ads subcommittee agreed to try and come up with standards that may be established for these issues.

Reports

Website Report. Discussion regarding the reorganization of the website continues. Proposals have been received this past month and the website subcommittee needs to get a handle on what is realistic regarding these proposals/cost as well as capabilities they will provide. In addition Mr. Grynaviski has suggested some capabilities that are available immediately and are free on the web now. He suggests an expanded function committee page for each LOWA committee with some functions password protected and available only to committee members. 

Bulletin Board Subcommittee. Discussions regarding the replacement of the Main Entry bulletin board with some other method/approach should be implemented.  Safety and traffic considerations continue to push this need to the forefront. It has been estimated that only half the members are able to read the main gate board messages anyhow because the other half either enter from the rear gate or enter the main gate and make a right turn and hence have no clear view of the board. The General Manager during a meeting on this subject proposed the idea of installing a couple of bulletin boards, at a few selected mail stations as an experiment to measure the acceptance of this approach.  The main entry board during this period would continue until it was evident that the new approach was or was not appropriate.  The subcommittee, consisting of Tish Liggett, Jeanne Allen and Bob Gray will look at this approach to determine if it is feasible. They will also consider what information should be posted in these bulletin boards. For instance should these boards be used for general information or restricted to emergency information.

Unfinished Business

Advertising Policy was approved by the BOD and an article will be published in Lake Currents.

Channel 18 Negotiations with the County continue with Memorandum of Agreement recently presented to the County Administrator. We look forward to their response.

LOWA Email Address List is now reported to be around 1500 addressees. The Comcast server has a problem when the number of Email addresses goes over 999 and a workaround is being looked into. Email addresses must also be kept up to date and the members must be made aware of this potential problem.

Charter. The final version of the charter was reviewed by the committee and a few small amendments made.  Mr. Grynaviski moved for final approval of the Charter, seconded by Mr. Sanborn, and met with unanimous approval by the committee. It will now be forwarded to the BOD.

Announcements. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 after the Chair proposed that the next meeting be set for 28 Jan 2009 at the Holcomb Building conference room.

Communications Committee meeting of Jan 28, 2009
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                             Also Participating:
Tish Liggett, Chairman                           Peter Williams, LOWA Board Liaison
Al Sanborn, Voting                                Neil Buttimer, LOWA Board    
Dan Grynaviski, Voting                          Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Bruce Bixby, Voting                              David LeMay, Finance Liaison
Wyatt Gosnell, Voting
Brenda Rogers, Voting
Bob Gray, Alternate
Jeanne Allen, Alternate

Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 3:05 PM.
The amended agenda for the current meeting and the minutes of the Nov 19 meeting were approved unanimously.

Reports

Website Report.  Dan Grynaviski reported on his effort to acquaint all the LOWA committees with the use of either the Yahoo or Google Groups capability, both available at no cost on the internet.  This Group capability allows committee members to file and access committee documents and reference material via the web, and to discuss issues in a single email repository. Each committee Group is administered by a committee member who can assign access to the individual capabilities provided by Yahoo or Google (file storage, internet hyperlinks, polling, email, etc) on either a group member or open basis. The documents, reference material, and email stay with the group even as the membership changes over time, providing long term continuity on committee issues. The committee group pages can be easily hyper linked to/from the LOWA website, providing an association umbrella for all LOWA committee groups.

Some time ago, several past and current committee chairs have identified the need for our website to better support committee operations, to include the ability to post reference information and working documents, and to be able to discuss issues via e-mail, in some cases in a password protected environment.

Currently, two committees, External Affairs and Youth Activities, have shown interest for this capability. Communications has experimented with this capability over the past couple of years.

Sunshine Issue. The use of the above Groups capability raises the Sunshine issue. Discussion regarding this issue revealed the need for legal guidance relative to the law in Virginia.

Updates to Website. In an effort to improve the reading flow a number of hyperlinks have been incorporated into some of the pages of the LOWA website. It was also mentioned that another improvement that would be helpful is to ensure that the contact information for the various clubs, organizations, and committees be continually kept up to date. The Chair will contact Diane Weller and ask her to take on this task.

Bulletin Board Subcommittee.  The subcommittee reported they have reviewed a couple of options including suggested replacement for the front gate bulletin board with boards located at each mail drop/box site. For some time the front gate bulletin board has presented a number of problems. The committee found that installing boards at the mail sites would cost about $500 per site. They also determined that keeping these boards current would be labor intensive and would likely be prone to vandalism.  A Lake Currents article will ask for input from the community.

Advertising and Editing Subcommittee.  Mr. Bob Gray reported that they are studying the need to determine when an article for Lake Currents is advertising and not genuine editorial comment. He plans to make a recommendation on this matter at the next committee meeting in Feb.

Lake Currents. Ms Melanie Parmelee handed out a report on the Lake Current’s ad/classified revenue to date and projected to the end of the fiscal year. It projects a short fall considerably below the budgeted advertising sales of $150 k.

Unfinished Business

Channel 18 Negotiations with the County. The county has taken the position that while they could see a great deal of benefit for the county’s use of Channel 18’s capability, their budget is such that they will not fund it for 2009.  This represents about a $30k yearly loss of income for LOWA.

Emergency Notification. Last Friday LOWA Communication sent out a notification, via email notification, that Rappahannock Electric Cooperative planned for the following Sunday. This event, definitely not of an emergency nature, evidently occurred only for a very limited number at LOW. It did however; raise the issue of how to be more effective in notifying more LOW members then could be reached via the email that currently has about 1350 addresses. The reverse 911 capability that the County has was mentioned as a possibility.  Mr. Neil Buttimer pointed out that LOWA should not be in the emergency notification business as that is a County or governmental responsibility.  

Announcements.
Mention was made that the Wireless capability at the Holcomb building was discontinued during the recent installation of two new servers. The Information Technology contractor for these servers took the position that Wireless networking has too many security issues.  If wireless is still desired it may be necessary to use another approach, perhaps via Verizon DSL with a desktop computer.

Mr. Buttimer mentioned that Planning is preparing for a new survey and suggested that the Communication Committee may want to include questions regarding the number of LOW households having cellular phones, internet capability, and email capability.

Mr. Buttimer also recommended that the Communication Committee make the LOWA website attractive enough so the membership would use it as a homepage. He recognized that to be effective the LOWA website’s homepage must have features making it enticing enough that the membership would see it as in their interest to do so. For instance, the purchase and presentation of such new features as news feed or stock quotation etc for the LOWA homepage.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:35 PM after the Chair proposed the next meeting be set for Feb 25 Holcomb Building conference room.

Communications Committee meeting of Feb 25, 2009
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 3:05 PM.

Approve Agenda. MOTION to approve by Brenda Rogers. Seconded: Al Sanborn. Passed unanimously.

Approve Minutes of Jan 28, 2009 Meeting.  MOTION to approve by Wayne Gosnell. Seconded by Al Sanborn. Approved unanimously.

Reports

Website Subcommittee.  Diane Weller reported that they are now reviewing and updating all the LOW Web Club information for description and contact information. She stated that they are nearly done with the task and suggested that this be a yearly requirement and volunteered to take the action.

Advertising and Editing Subcommittee. Brenda Rogers reported that the committee is in the process of editing a draft policy provided by Bob Gray. They expect that next month should see a final draft of this policy ready for the committee’s attention.

Bulletin Board Survey. The chairwomen reported that over 50 responses were received from the membership on this subject and she is still receiving input. The one unequivocal response is that Bulletin Boards at the mail stations are a bad idea. She intends to provide a more detailed report at the next committee meeting.

New Business

Annual LOWA Survey. A question on the best way to send alerts to members was submitted to the Panning Committee. Any revisions must be submitted by 11 Mar.

Orange County Emergency Notification System.  The chair reported that there are problems with the reverse 911 system. The County is looking for additional supplemental system

More LOWA Information in Lake Currents.  The Lake Currents content has dropped off substantially in the past several months. How to increase the input to Lake Currents was discussed without reaching any conclusion. Mentioned was the idea of having the BOD meeting highlighted and/or key actions resulting from committee meetings provided as articles. The question of who would be responsible for such actions was tabled. Brenda Rogers suggested that perhaps it would be appropriate to include in Lake Currents legislative updates from Ed Scott and Edd Houck.

Issues for Meeting with the General Manager. The chairwomen proposed the need to setup a meeting with the General Manager to discuss such subjects as the Bulletin Board, drop in Lake Current input, and other current issues.

Announcements. Al Sanborn asked the status of the Ops Manual and Melanie Parmelee advised that it still is undergoing preparation.

Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 after the Chair proposed that the next meeting be set for 25 Mar 2009 at the Holcomb Building conference room unless the date or time have to be adjusted to accommodate the General Manager’s schedule.

Communications Committee meeting of March 25, 2009
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Meeting called to order by Chairman Liggett at 3:05 PM.

Approve Agenda. MOTION to approve by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded: Al Sanborn. Passed unanimously.

Approve Minutes of Feb 25, 2009 Meeting.  MOTION to approve by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded by Tish Liggett. Approved unanimously.

Reports

Advertising and Editing Subcommittee. Bob Grey submitted to the committee a handout that made recommendations  in regards to the handling of paid club advertising vs free editorial content The handout also included  policy guidance for the timely notification to authors when substantial revisions are made in the content of their articles.. Comments on his handout were positive but suggestions were made for the need to establish clearer definitions between free articles and paid advertising. It was suggested that “Writing Articles for Lake Currents” be updated to include both new policies.  Mr Grey stated that he would provide further guidance by the next committee meeting. The three additional questions posed by the subcommittee will be discussed at the next meeting.

Bulletin Board Subcommittee. The Chair reviewed the results of the survey of the Front Gate Information board. Some 73 response were received with varying views but what was apparent was that the idea of having Information boards located at the LOW mail sites was not well received. Reasons cited were cost, the vandalism potential of such a system, and that it would be labor intensive.  The committee then reviewed other possible alternatives. Electronic sign boards have been considered an expensive approach. Currently we have $40k budgeted for the outyears for this. One of the main negatives of any sign in the current location is the belief that drivers have insufficient time to digest info when entering LOW. The GM advised that future plans for the front gate’s redesign will require the input from a traffic engineer who may shed light on the best solution to such a sign location. Meanwhile the committee agreed that the website need’s an activities page providing the info found on the front gate’s bulletin board.

New Business.

Political Articles in Lake Currents. Recently Lake Currents included articles from both Ed Scott and Edd Houck which were mainly legislative updates info. The committee discussed the potential problem of these articles becoming political statements. The GM felt that he can control and stop this if it develops.  The chair asked if the Lake Currents articles should continue to be included in Lake Currents and a motion by Al Sanborn and seconded by Wyatt Gosenll , Yea Bixby, Nay Liggert, motion passed to continue this policy.

Property Management Contract Impact on Communications. The possibility of the BOD hiring an outside property management consultant to handle some of the LOWA business in the future has been mentioned. The GM assesses the impact on LOW communications not to be significant. He recognizes that such a consultant is likely to have some type of website for their own requirements but believes that our current website would remain intact with perhaps links over to a property manager’s website for specific requirements.

Future of Wireless Communications.  No report

Capital Expense Requests for 2010 – 2014. Mike Hill reported that guidance will be issued by the end of April or early May. Requests will coincide with regular budget development. The chair asked the committee members be prepared to provide input for this in the near future.

Old Business

Annual LOWA Survey. It was reported that the planning committee has the annual survey approved by the BOD and it is already printed and ready to be included with the April assessments package.  

More LOWA Information in Lake Currents. As reported previously the Lake Currents content has dropped off substantially in the past several months. One suggestion was made to include highlights from the BOD meeting notes because it is believed few people read these notes. Perhaps highlights would get more attention. The Chair will provide input to the Administrative Assistant to emphasize communication responsibilities in the Committee Chair Orientation Handbook.  The General Manager said he would try to do better on providing reports for Lake Currents.

Advice from Legal Counsel on Password Protected Web Site.  Nothing new reported.

Announcements.  None

Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned around 4:30  after the Chair said that the next meeting is set for 20 April 2009 at 3:00 pm in the Holcomb Building reading room.

Communications Committee meeting of Apr 20, 2009
Reading Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                             Also Participating:
Tish Liggett, Chair                                 Peter Williams, LOWA Board Liaison
Al Sanborn, Voting                                Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Bruce Bixby, Voting                              Bob Gray, Alternate
Wyatt Gosnell, Voting                              Jeanne Allen, Alternate
Members Absent                               Mike Hill, Planning Liaison
Dan Grynaviski, Voting                          Bernie Patton, Guest  
Diane Weller, Voting                                                     

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

Approve Agenda. MOTION to approve by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded: Al Sanborn. Passed unanimously.

Approve Minutes of Feb 25, 2009 Meeting.  MOTION to approve after being amended by the Chairperson seconded by Wyatt Gosnell. Approved unanimously.

Reports
Advertising and Editing Subcommittee. Per a Lake Currents staff request for standards for determining what submissions are paid advertising as opposed to legitimate editorial content and to establish a procedure for notifying authors when editing has led to major revisions a Communications subcommittee was formed some time ago. The subcommittee noted that all editorial content is subject to standard editing. If major revisions are made the article will be sent to the author via Email with recommendations making it suitable for publication. The author retains the option of withdrawing the submission. The subcommittee also recommended that advertising vs. editorial comment needs clarification as to who and what qualifies an organization, activity or individual as entitled to be published. The committee will revisit this area for further action.

Website Activities Page.  A subcommittee report recommended that an activities page should be introduced on the “Home” (first) page on the website. The goal is to display a one week calendar format presenting the major activities scheduled for LOW that week. The free Google calendar has been looked at but has one shortcoming i.e. - no calendar one week format, although it has a daily planner in a one week format. The Google one month calendar on the other hand is helpful but presents a very “busy” appearance. The subcommittee will look for the availability of a one week calendar format.

New Business
Joint Subcommittee on Emergency and Other Notices. The issue of how to be more effective in notifying LOW members in time sensitive situations then can be reached via email (currently about 1300 addressees) continues to be a requirement. The County’s reverse 911 capability was mentioned as a possibility but it is now understood to have problems and even if available it implies emergency situations use only.  One board member has stated that LOWA should not be in the emergency notification business as that is a County or governmental responsibility.  Low power FM radio broadcast band has been used in some college situations and at Lake Monticello with success. However per the FCC there are no FM frequencies available in this area. A Highway Radio Alert System via AM radio is a possibility, but approval for this approach is a major task and the corresponding expense is likely to be prohibitive.  The Safety and Security committee has an interest in this requirement and the Chairs from the two committees have agreed to work together in this effort. Bruce Bixby has been appointed to be the contact for the Communication committee.  

Redesign of Lake Currents.  Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator is looking at some redesign of the Lake Currents to set off the various section of the paper. This may include using different fonts etc.

Old Business
Board Meeting Bullets in Lake Currents.  Bob Gray proposed that highlights of the BOD minutes should be presented in the front page of Lake Currents in a box arrangement.  He presented a handout that illustrated several examples of what he thought were appropriate points. Even more abbreviated bullets could be used. The committee agreed and Melanie Parmelee plans to implement the suggestion in the immediate future.

Committee Chair Orientation Handbook.  The chairperson plans to draft revisions to this handbook so it will be available for this year’s committee changes.

Charter.  At a recent BOD workshop it was agreed that standardized core material be developed for all committees charters. The area where each committee may differ should cover their particular mission.

Announcements
The Chairperson announced that the reconstitution of the committee is scheduled for May. Mention of the role of committee advisors was raised by our guest. He also questioned if the community is being properly provided material for BOD meetings. A package of material is made available in the Reading Room of the Holcomb prior to each BOD meeting and is available for the community. In response to another question it was pointed out that Viewpoints is a vehicle that accomplishes the goal of providing communications among all the members.

Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.  The next meeting is scheduled for 27 May at 3:00 PM in the conference room of the Holcomb building.

Communications Committee meeting of May 27, 2009
Reading Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                             Also Participating:
Tish Liggett, Chair                                 Peter Williams, LOWA Board Liaison
Al Sanborn, Voting                                Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Diane Weller,  Alternate                        Mike Hill, Planning Liaison
Wyatt Gosnell, Voting                             Dave LeMay    
Bob Gray, Alternate

Members Absent
Bruce Bixby, Voting
Jeanne Allen, Alternate
Dan Grynaviski, Voting 

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

II. Approve Agenda. MOTION to approve by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded: Al Sanborn. Passed unanimously.

III. Approve Minutes of April 20  Meeting.  MOTION to approve by Al Sanborn, seconded by Wyatt Gosnell.  Approved unanimously.

IV. Reports
 Website—Activities page: The committee continued discussion of whether an Activities page should be added to the LOWA web site. The matter of hosting the website is still to be determined.  A decision on this issue is awaiting direction from the board.
  Emergency/other notices:  The committee continued its review of the most effective ways to notify the community of an impending emergency situation.  A preliminary report of results of the recent community survey conducted by the Planning Committee shows that member preference for such notices is, in order email and answering machines, with personal digital assistants being the least favored.

 V. New Business
   Posting  annual reports of committees on the web site:  Peter Williams noted that consideration of  this issue should include reference to the Board of Directors’ plan to change the reporting year to a Sept.-Sept. basis to conform with the board’s year.  He said that such reports could offer a cover sheet providing highlights of the content provided. 

VI. Old Business
   Lake Currents articles: A general discussion was held on what type of articles should appear in Lake Currents. There will be further discussion on this topic.
   Board Meeting Bullets:  The board of directors expressed interest in the Communications Committee recommendation to highlight reports of board activities with a bullet-point listing of key actions to appear on Page 1 of Lake Currents, with references to pertinent sections of the minutes of the meeting  inside the paper. Melanie Parmelee explained that lack of space has thus far prevented implementation of the plan.
    A question was raised as to whether board work shop actions should be covered in a similar manner.  Peter Williams noted that such meetings are intended to provide information to the board and there are no formal votes of the type that will be the subject of the bullet-point feature.

   Orientation Handbook: Chair Liggett said she had submitted recommendations for revision and a new Communications Committee section for the Committee Orientation Handbook to the board vice president and general manager.  No response has been received thus far.

   Committee Charter:  Peter Williams reported on the board initiative under which charter provisions common to all committees will be established through changes in the LOWA By-Laws or Rules and Regulations.  Charters for individual committees will then concentrate on the specific mission and functions specific to each.

VII.  Election of Officers
   The committee addressed its annual reorganization.  Chair Liggett noted that these voting members would continue to serve in the new committee year:  Al Sanborn, Wyatt Gosnell, and  Bruce Bixby,  and alternate members Jeanne Allen and Diane Weller. The chair noted that an appeal for new members had been published in Lake Currents.
 Al Sanborn was unanimously elected chair of the committee, Bruce Bixby was elected Vice Chair and Wyatt Gosnell, Secretary.

VIII.  Announcements
  The chair called attention to the fact that the committee Yahoo site, comcom1, is  being used by outsiders as a source of email addresses to which spam messages are being sent, raising a concern about the spreading of viruses. 

IX.  Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 3:55 p.m.  The next meeting is scheduled for June 24 at 3:00 PM in the conference room of the Holcomb building.

Communications Committee meeting of June 24, 2009
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                             Also Participating:
Al Sanborn, Chair                                  Peter Williams, LOWA Board Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                              Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Members Absent                               David LeMay, Finance Committee Liaison
Wyatt Gosnell, Voting                             Pat Rowland, Guest
Diane Weller, Alternate
Jeanne Allen, Alternate

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

The committee members present did not have a quorum, and the meeting was held for discussion purposes only.

The agenda as proposed was agreed upon by the members present.

A question arose regarding the election of officers during the May meeting. The Chair later investigated and discussed with the secretary during that meeting to clarify if a report on the election is available. The secretary verbally reported that at the May Committee meeting, members were nominated and elected as follows: Al Sanborn, Chair, Bruce Bixby Vice Chair, and Wyatt Gosnell, Secretary.

Reports

Website- Activities Page:  Discussions continued on how to implement an activities calendar on the website. We are continuing a search for a web calendar that will present a suitable weekly format.  It is currently though that it should be on the “Home” page and not be overly obtrusive. So far the proposed Google calendar, and others web calendars do not meet that requirement. Melanie Parmelee is planning to contact a source she knows to see if they have any capability for this requirement.

Emergency Notices: Very little progress on this long standing requirement has been made.  Who has the primary role for this requirement is unclear. Peter Williams, also the Board liaison to the Safety and Security Committee, volunteered to bring this requirement up at their next meeting to seek clarification of this requirement.

Annual Reports:  The question of publishing the Committee Annual Reports on the LOWA web site was again considered.  As previously reported, the yearly committee reorganization may change to a Sept time frame, which will correspond with the election of a new BOD.  It is suggested that this time frame, would be appropriate to present, at least the highlights of the committee’s annual reports, on the web.

BOD Meeting Highlights: This requirement was implemented in the latest Lake Currents issue on the front page. No feedback has yet been received.
Lake Currents Articles:  No substantial report on this agenda item at this meeting.
Committee Charters:  Peter Williams reported that BOD member Tom Sheridan has taken the lead on this developing this policy and is expected to presents the results shortly.  The policy will have boiler plate material that is common to all the committees. The individual committees will then be expected to provide the material that is specific to their committee.

Announcements
The chair announced the pressing need for more new Communication Committee members and would like to see at least five new members. He plans to make an appeal for members at the next BOD meeting.

Melanie Parmelee requested of Peter Williams when the new budget guidelines will be available and was advised that they should be in final form by mid July.

Peter Williams advised that the BOD and the local realtors have agreed to present a “LOW open house” Aug 16. Plans are in the early stages but likely will allow the realtors to present to prospective customers a single day to follow a route to visit as many available homes in LOW for sale as possible. More details are sure to follow.

The chair mentioned that the Civic Club posed questions to the LOWA candidates and queried if space could be made available in Lake Currents or Channel 18 for the candidates individual statements. Melanie Parmelee said she would check with her management.

Meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

Communications Committee meeting of July 22, 2009
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                 Also Participating:
Al Sanborn, Chair                     Peter Williams, LOWA Board Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                   Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Wyatt Gosnell, Voting               David LeMay, Finance Committee Liaison
Jeanne Allen, Alternate             Mike Hill, Planning Liaison

Members Absent                    Visitors:
Diane Weller, Alternate             Betty Tabor
                                                  Kerry Sipe
                                                  Priscilla Kowsic
                                                   Bill Hershey
                                                   Mr & Mrs Dick Bradie

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

II. Approve Agenda. MOTION to approve by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded: Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously.

III. Approve Minutes of Meeting May 27 with amendments.  MOTION to approve by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded: Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously.

IV. Approve Minutes of Meeting June 24 with amendments.  MOTION to approve by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded: Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously.

V. Old Business
Website- Activities Page:  Discussions continued on how to implement an activities calendar on the website. We are continuing a search for a web calendar that will present a suitable weekly format.  It is currently though that it should be on the “Home” page and not be overly obtrusive. So far the proposed Google calendar, and others web calendars do not meet that requirement.  Melanie Parmelee and Bruce Bixby will continue to search for a suitable calendar. One possible solution is to have a link on the Home page directing the viewer to a web activities page elsewhere on the site where it should not be overly obtrusive.

Critical but Non Emergency Notices:  Currently we rely mainly on the LOWA email program which covers some 1500 people.  The other method is the front gate bulletin board.  Neither is completely satisfactory because these methods cannot be expected to cover even most of the LOW populace. Other approaches have been considered such as the Orange County reverse 911 but it reported that it can takes hours to send a message even to a small percentage of the county. The LOW security can assist in this by notifying key members perhaps the Wardens who could then alert their areas.  Another approach that has been considered is Low Power FM Broadcast radio. Quite a few drawbacks exist for this method, not the least being cost. This long standing requirement still is un-resolved.

Annual Reports:   A MOTION to publish the Committee Annual Reports when they become available this fall on the LOWA web site was made by Wyatt Gosnell.  Seconded: Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously.

Committee Charters:  A revised LOWA Bylaws governing the Committee Charters was presented at the orientation of committee chairmen earlier that day by Director Tom Sheridan. The audience had several recommendations for changes that pertain to their respective committees that the BOD will consider in their upcoming workshop.

VI New Business
Lake Currents Articles:  The Chair reported that there is a need for more input from committees, staff as well as other individuals for LOWA business/news in the Lake Currents. He asked the committee members to give some thought to this matter for review at the next committee meeting in Aug.

Need for Committee Members: The Chair previously made appeals for new member volunteers for The Communication Committee and judging from the visitors at this meeting, conversations and applications it appears a full committee can be achieved..

Operations Manual:  The staff portion of this manual was reported not yet complete.
2010 Budget:  New budget guidelines will reportedly be available in final form by 1 Aug.

VIII Announcements. The next meeting is scheduled for August 26 at 3:00 PM in the conference room of the Holcomb building.

IX Adjournment. A MOTION to adjourn was made at 4:10 p.m. by Wyatt Gosnell. Seconded by Jeanne Allen. Passed unanimously.

Communications Committee meeting of Aug 26, 2009
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                             Also Participating:
Al Sanborn, Chair                                 Peter Williams, LOWA Board Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                             Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Peter Rainey, Voting                          David LeMay, Finance Committee Liaison
William Hershey, Voting
Betty Tabor, Voting
Jeanne Allen, Alternate

Members Absent
Wyatt Gosnell, Voting  
Diane Weller, Alternate
Pricilla Kowasic, Alternate   

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

II. Approve Agenda. MOTION to approve by Bruce Bixby.  Seconded: Pete Rainey.                               Passed unanimously.

III. Approve Minutes of Meeting July22.  MOTION to approve Bruce Bixby. Seconded: Betty Tabor. Passed unanimously.

IV. Old Business

Website: Discussion concerned the possibility of future revamping of the current website per previous years recommendations but were never followed up because of lack of funding resources.

The new committee members were advised of the existence of COMCOM1 Yahoo Groups website and that it is a repository of committee documents and other communications pertinent to the operation of the communication committee. New communication committee members are encouraged to join and participate in the group activities.
Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/COMCOM1/

It was pointed out that the website email directory, a fairly sophisticated database  program on the website and not readily capable of being compromised, was removed apparently because a few LOW members claimed that their names appeared on a email spam list that they believed originated from LOWA’s web email directory. This was thoroughly disputed by most committee members as not likely. There are any number of companies worldwide gathering email address by anyone using the web to sell to any interested buyer, We support the LOWA  communication staff claim that none of the LOWA members email names have ever been purposely divulged to any outside source. It is believed by the committee that removal of the email directory based on such flimsy evidence was unwarranted.

Betty Tabor moved that the Email directory be restored to the website; this was seconded by Bruce Bixby. The motion passed unanimously. It is requested that this email program be reintroduced soonest.

Critical but Non Emergency Notices:  No report made except to note that Safety and
Security Committee, who has the lead on this matter, in their June minutes had stated that reliance will be on LOW Fire and Rescue, Orange County Sheriff’s Office, USSA, and local news and weather.

Annual Reports:  The Chair thanked Jeanne Allen for the Communication Committee Annual Report that she prepared. The Chair will recommend that this report be published on the website along with others as previously suggested by the committee. A draft for this committee was previously prepared and should be utilized as appropriate.

Communication on LOWA matters-routine and special: No report given.

Committee Charters:  Peter Williams reported that the BOD has the standardized core for all committees charters established and expects the BOD will make it available for all the committees by Oct for comments. Eventually the individual committees will supply their own esoteric input.

V New Business
Need for Committee Members: Mostly overtaken by events. With about a full complement of members the committee was reconstituted with Pete Rainey nominated for Vice Chairman and Bruce Bixby nominated for Secretary. William Hershey made a motion to approve these nominations which was seconded by Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously. This will be recommended to the BOD.

Operations Manual:  No report.

2010 Budget:  No report.

Suggestions for next Committee business: Some suggestions were the possibility of updating the Guidebook and a revisit to the website for future upgrades. The Chair requested committee members consider suggestions on how to get the general membership more involved in LOW communication matters. This would probably involve how to utilize the various tools available i.e.-Channel 18, Website and Lake Currents.

VIII Announcements. The next meeting is scheduled for 23 Sep at 3:00 PM.
The Chair announced that in his role in the Civic Club he needs a guest speaker on 15 Sep and requested any volunteers from the Communication Committee for a communication presentation. Jeanne Allen indicated that she may be available.

A motion by Betty Tabor was made for a recommendation to the General Manager to permanently delete from Lake Currents the columns provided by both  Ed Scott and Edd Houck. William Hershey seconded the motion. Discussion ensued and it was pointed out that the original concept was articles from both would mainly be legislative updates info. They instead are thought to have become mainly politically and very partisan.  Normally Lake Currents’ editorial policy would prevent any member of LOW being able to get such partisan policy published. The motion carried with four votes for the recommendation, and one abstention.

XI Adjournment. A MOTION to adjourn was made at 4:20 p.m.by Betty Tabor. Seconded by Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously.

Communications Committee meeting of Sept 23, 2009
Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                             Also Participating:
Al Sanborn, Chair                                 Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Bruce Bixby, Voting                             Kerry Sipe, Visitor
Peter Rainey, Voting                          Penny Siegel, Visitor
William Hershey, Voting
Jeanne Allen, Alternate
Members Absent                              
Betty Tabor, Voting
Diane Weller, Alternate
Pricilla Kowasic, Alternate
                       

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

II. Approve Agenda. MOTION to approve by William Hershey.  Seconded: Pete Rainey.  Passed unanimously.

III. Approve Minutes of Meeting Aug 26.  MOTION to approve William Hershey. Seconded: Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously.

IV. Old Business

Website: The need for video presentation capability on the website was viewed favorably by the committee. Melanie was asked to look into the cost of such a capability. Discussion also continued regarding the possibility of future revamping of the current website and the costs that would entail. A new look at the Hileman proposal, made last year, for such a revamping should be reviewed again for possible implementation.

Communication on LOWA matters-routine and special: The chair raised the question of how to increase the readership of Lake Currents. Is the often heard voiced statement that “Nobody reads it” (ie--Lake Currents) a real problem or just an alibi for not being aware of events at LOW?

One real problem suggested was how to improve the membership voting during referendums or elections. Suggestions were limited but one idea mentioned was LOWA providing refreshments at these elections events.

Committee Charters:  Still awaiting the BOD approval of the standardized core for all committees’ charters. Eventually when approved the individual committees will supply their own esoteric input.

V New Business
2010 Budget:  Melanie will provide a first crack at a budget next meeting.

Suggestions for next Committee business: A suggestion to look into the existing capability that the VDOT 511 alerting system provides by dialing 511. The Virginia Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS system) provides the 511 caller the real time traffic and road conditions in Virginia. Perhaps a similar system for LOW residents who, after observing a signal at the entrance gates, would know to call a telephone number and get the latest news reflecting LOW conditions. A dedicated telephone line together with an answer phone and a prerecorded message would then provide the nature of the event. It is possible the telephone company may be able to provide such a capability. This capability would supplement the present email notices now being used but would extend to those not using email.

VI Announcements. The next meeting is scheduled for 28 Oct at 3:00 PM.

VII  Adjournment. A MOTION to adjourn was made at 4:00 p.m. by Peter Rainey. Seconded by Bruce Bixby. Passed unanimously.

Communications Committee Meeting
October 28, 2009
Conference Room – Holcomb Building

Members Present:                       Also Participating
Al Sanborn, Chairman                     Mike Hill, Planning Liaison
Kerry Sipe, Voting                            Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
William Hershey, Voting                 Pat Rowland, Board of Directors

Members Absent:
Jeanne Allen, Alternate
Bruce Bixby, Voting
Pricilla Kowasic, Alternate
Peter Rainey, Voting
Betty Tabor, Voting
Diane Weller, Alternate

Call To Order:   The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sanborn.  He then announced that because there were insufficient Committee Members present a quorum could not be constituted and therefore the Committee could not formally conduct any business.  Chairman Sanborn introduced Kerry Sipe as a new member of the Committee and announced Mr. Sipe would be a voting member. Chairman Sanborn also announced that Betty Tabor has asked to resign from the Committee because of scheduling conflicts.

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve by Kerry Sipe.  Seconded by William Hershey.  Passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of Meeting September 23, 2009, were approved with one correction to an item in  paragraph 3. The month identified should read August vice July as was recorded in the minutes. Motion to approve by William Hershey. Seconded by Kerry Sipe. Passed unanimously.

Old Business

            Website:  As a result of budget constraints, there are currently no funds in the budget to undertake any website related activities

            Charter:   The Charter was mentioned but there was no substantive discussion nor was there any actions proposed or taken with regards to the Charter.

            Other:   The topic of composition and members of the Communications Committee was brought up by Chairman Sanborn and he stated he would be pursuing both with the Board Of Directors.

New Business

            Budget:  There was no discussion of matters relating to the budget.

            5 Year Plan:   There was no discussion of matters relating to the 5 Year Plan

            Other:    Chairman Sanborn announced he would be otherwise occupied for the next several weeks and that 1st Vice President Pete Rainey would be assuming the position of Committee Chairman.  There was no discussion of this matter.

Next Meeting Date and Time:   Chairman Sanborn announced that due to the scheduled date for the next meeting falling on the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving Holiday, there would be no meeting in the month of November. The next meeting regularly scheduled meeting will be a combined meeting and it will be held on December 9, 2009 at 3:00 PM.

Open Discussion:    Board of Directors member, Pat Rowland commented on the recent “Coffee with the Board Of Directors Meeting” and stated that approximately ½ of the attendees at this  meeting were not aware of the e-mail blasts that were used to communicate matters pertaining to the residents of Lake Of The Woods. He further suggested that some action needs to be taken to publicize this capability and make its existence better known.

Committee member, Kerry Sipe suggested that consideration should be given to synopsizing the video of the Board Of Directors meetings and producing a shorter version that would cover only the highlights of the meeting rather than the text of the entire meeting.

Adjournment:   There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, Chairman Sanborn thanked all who attended and the meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM.  

Communications Committee Meeting
December 9, 2009
Conference Room – Holcomb Building

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:05 PM by Vice Chairman Rainey and it was noted that a quorum with four voting members present. 

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approving the agenda was made by Al Sanborn seconded by Bruce Bixby and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of October 28, 2009, were approved with a motion by Al Sanborn and seconded by Bruce Bixby, passed unanimously.

Old Business

New Capital Equipment:  The Planning Committee is requesting all committees to provide input for their capital equipment (Hardware or Software) requirements for the next five years (2011-2016) that is expected to cost $3500 or more. A subcommittee to be chaired by Peter Rainey and consisting of Jeanne Allen, Costa Apostolakis, and Kerry Sipe was formed and scheduled to meet and respond to this requirement before the next full committee meeting in Jan.

Website: Director Buttimer suggested that it may be of helpful if the communication committee could develop the LOWA website such that members would be encouraged to make it their homepage on their home computers when they surf the web. Such ideas as including news feeds, amenities news etc on the LOWA website homepage are all concepts that may entice members to make it their personal homepage. No firm action was proposed at this time.

Charter: The BOD has approved a standard boiler plate section of the by- laws which will be the preamble of each committee’s charter. Now the committees are expected to develop their own charter.  Jeanne Allen volunteered to prepare that charter for the Communication Committee and plans to have it available by the next committee meeting.

New Business

Viewpoints: Considerable discussion followed regarding what are acceptable opinions for letters in the Viewpoints section of the Lake Currents publications. It was pointed out that guidelines were established as recently as last year and until recently generally observed by the members. Recently, however, some letters have become definitely more strident and in some cases may have moved beyond the guidance provided last year. The committee decided to continue to monitor the situation for a few months and observe if any further action is called for.
Announcements. The next meeting is scheduled for 27 Jan 2010 at 3:00 PM at the Woods Center

Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM.

Communications Committee Meeting
Jan 27, 2010, Conference Room – Woods Center

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:05 PM by The Chairman Al Sanborn and it was noted that a quorum with five voting members present. 

Approval of Agenda:  Motion approving the agenda was made by Bruce Bixby seconded by Kerry Sipes and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of December 9, 2009, were approved with a motion by Bruce Bixby and seconded by William Hershey, passed unanimously.

Old Business

New Capital Equipment: Melanie Parmelee reported no request for new capital equipment in 2010.

Capital Equipment Requirement 2010-2014: A subcommittee, consisting of Pete Rainey, Jeanne Allen, Kerry Sipes, and Costa Apostolakis was formed at the last communication committee meeting to meet and develop the capital equipment requirement for the next several years. Mr. Sipes and Apostolakis  presented a draft proposal which included the expansion of the present website to include live video stream and digital recording capabilities of LOWA records, and finally to convert Channel 18  from analog video to digital video operation. The draft proposal with out year costs was well received by the committee. A motion by Kerry Sipes seconded by Costa Apostolakis to begin the action by securing a new LOWA.org host server with sufficient bandwidth and storage capability to stream and archive video and other digital content was made and passed unanimously.

New Business

Tour of Communications Section:   A request by the committee for a tour of the LOWA communications section to view the operation and equipment was made by several of the newer members.  Melanie Parmelee said that could be arranged with very short notice. Friday at 0900 was suggested for the first visit.

Channel 18 Educational Video Service: The chairman mentioned that he had received a requirement asking if it was feasible to use the LOWA Ch 18 as an educational tool by presenting low tech video recordings of subjects that may be of interest to LOWA’s membership. For instance low tech video presentation of “How to handle wild-life that you may come across in your yard”, would be a subject of interest. The idea was considered worthwhile.

Announcements: The next meeting is scheduled for 24 Feb 2010 at 3:00PM in the Woods Center.

Neil Buttimer asked the reasoning for the decision several months ago to delete from Lake Currents the columns provided by both Ed Scott and Edd Houck. After some discussion it was recalled, somewhat garbled, that the original goal was that articles from both would mainly be legislative updates info. The decision to remove the articles was based on complaints they had been become mainly political and very partisan.  The committee at the time supported the recommendation to remove both columns from Lake Currents.

 Adjournment.  A motion to adjourn was made at 4:30 p.m and passed unanimously.

Communications Committee Meeting
Feb 24, 2010, Conference Room – Woods Center

Members Present:                Also Participating
Al Sanborn, Chairman              Neil Buttimer, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                  Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
William Hershey, Voting
Kerry Sipe, Voting

Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Alternate 
Peter Rainey, Vice Chair
Jeanne Allen, Alternate
Dianne Weller, Alternate
Pricilla Kowsaic,Alternate
Penny Siegel, Alternate

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:05 PM by Al Sanborn and it was noted that a quorum with four voting members were present. 

Approval of Agenda: Motion to approve the agenda was made by Bruce Bixby seconded by William Hershey and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Jan 27, 2010, were approved with a motion by William Hershey and seconded by Kerry Sipe, passed unanimously. 

Old Business

1. New Capital Requests/5year Plan for 2010: Discussions for the draft proposal, which included the expansion of the present website to include live video stream and digital recording capabilities of LOWA records, and finally to convert Channel 18 from analog video to digital video operation has been prepared. It was agreed by the committee that the next step is to present it to the General Manager. This plan covers the out years through 2015.
2. Channel 18 Educational Video Service: Agreement in the committee was reached that this has some possibility. The LOWA committees and clubs need to be surveyed to determine if they have ideas on what subjects they would like to see aired.  Mr. Sipe volunteered that he would be willing to look at the possibility of producing some of these if an interest was identified.
3. Tour of Communication’s Facilities: Last month a tour of the communications site was conducted for Kerry Sipe, Costa Apostolakis and Bruce Bixby by Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator. We all thought it was well done and suggest future tours would be beneficial for members of the committee.
4. Legislative articles to be reintroduced in Currents :A motion was introduced by Kerry Sipe to once again include into Lake Currents the columns provided by both  Ed Scott and Edd Houck. William Hershey seconded the motion. It was agreed that the articles from both would mainly be legislative information.  It was passed unanimously.

New Business

Ads vs. Articles:  Considerable discussions ensued regarding what the Communication Committee position’s with respect to LOWA Lake Currents and/or other news sources be regarding Ads vs. Articles. It should be recognized that any newsletter (like Lake Current) has to maintain a balance between the two. If Ads becomes overemphasized than many people will not bother to read what news items they may find. Think of how many times when you receive mailings with just coupons you toss it into the trash. We certainly don’t want that situation to develop with our information services. Of course some ads help with expenses but that is not the purpose of the service. The purpose is to provide news items to the membership including even political opinion when appropriate. Therefore we suggest continuing to encourage contributions from the clubs without necessarily hairsplitting if every input is an ad or not. The policy should be clear.

Announcements:  The next meeting is scheduled for 24 Mar at 3:00 PM at the Woods Center.

The Chair noted that we have received the Jan 13 Draft LOWA Budget and By Law changes re charters.

The Chair also noted that we need to switch a few Alternates to Voting members, he will contact Jeff Flynn.

Adjournment:  There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 PM

Communications Committee Meeting
Mar 24, 2010, Conference Room – Woods Center

Members Present:                             Also Participating
Al Sanborn, Chairman              Neil Buttimer, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                             Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
Kerry Sipe, Voting                  
Jeanne Allen, Alternate/Voting

Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Alternate
Peter Rainey, Vice Chair  
Pricilla Kowsaic,Alternate
Penny Siegel, Alternate
William Hershey, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00PM by Al Sanborn and it was noted that a quorum was present. 

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the agenda was made by Bruce Bixby seconded by Kerry Sipe and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Feb 24, 2010, were approved with a motion by Bruce Bixby and seconded by Kerry Sipe passed unanimously. 

Old Business

a. New Capital Requests/5year Plan for 2010: Discussions for the draft proposal, which included the expansion of the present website to include live video stream and digital recording capabilities of LOWA records, and finally to convert Channel 18 from analog video to digital video operation has been proposed.  A meeting between the General Manager and members of the Communication Committee should be arranged as a first step to come to an  agreement to proceed to acquire a new more capable host website that can accomplish the first phase of this project .  If approved than the next step is to forward it to the authority preparing the 5 year plan covering the out years through 2014.

b. Channel 18 Educational Video Service: Agreement in the committee was reached that this has some possibility. The LOWA committees and clubs need to determine if they have ideas on what subjects they would like to see aired.  A request in Lake Currents soliciting inputs for this project should be considered.

c. Legislative articles to be reintroduced in Lake Currents : Further discussion on this matter revealed that someone in authority needs to be responsible for monitoring these articles to ensure they don’t get overly political. It was pointed out that this is a subject for the General Manager to arbitrate 

New Business

 Advisory Radio Station for LOW:
Discussion  centered on a proposed new capital project to procure an Emergency Advisory Radio Station for a transmitter located in the center of LOW that could reach the entire community, particularly cars entering and leaving the Lake, with (non-commercial) notices, events and information. Obviously, its benefit during emergencies would be significant. LOW residents could punch up the channel on their car radios for up-to-date information. This also would alleviate the need for the bulletin boards at the gates. The station is in the Medium Frequency (broadcast band ) range and compatible with any normal AM radio receiver. One possible scenario would be someone recording the announcements at beginning of day which covers any subject of interest for transmittal via the station. A possible candidate for this system is “Alert AM” produced by Information Station Specialists. The station consists of a cabinet with electronics and backup batteries connected to a medium frequency broadcast antenna located outside the building. The early estimates for this system would be in the order of $20k. We do need to apply for an FCC license which the company ISS supplier will handle by preparing engineering work and submitting the FCC license application.

Announcements:  The next meeting is scheduled for 28 Apr at 3:00 PM at the Woods Center.

The Chair noted that we have received the Jan 13 Draft LOWA Budget and By Law changes re charters. Jeanne Allen plans to work on the charter for the next meeting.

The Chair also noted that we need to switch a few Alternates to Voting members, he will contact Jeff Flynn.

Adjournment:  There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 PM

Communications Committee Meeting Apr 28, 2010
Conference Room – Woods Center

Members Present:                 Also Participating
Al Sanborn, Chairman              Pat Rowland, Board of Directors Liaison
Peter Rainey, Vice Chair          Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
William Hershey, Voting            Mike Hill, Planning Committee Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                   Dave McKee, Finance Liaison
Jeanne Allen, Alternate             Bob Shope, Visitor

Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Alternate      
Penny Siegel, Alternate
Kerry Sipe, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00PM by Al Sanborn and it was noted that a quorum was present. 

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the agenda was made by Bruce Bixby seconded by Bill Hershey and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Mar 24, 2010, were approved with a motion by Bill Hershey and seconded by Pete Rainey and passed unanimously. 

Old Business

a. Capital Requests Discussions for 2010 and outyears. The Chairman plans to schedule a meeting with the General Manager to discuss the capitals requests for 2010 for the redesign of the website. The outyear funding for this project also needs to be proposed and we await input from the planning committee on how to proceed.

b. Channel 18 Educational Video Service. The Chair and Vice Chair plan to write an article for Lake Currents that will ask for suggestions from the members for suitable programs to present on Channel 18.

c. Charter. A new Communication Committee charter was discussed. Suggestion were made to make certain modification to the proposed charter. Jeanne Allen, plans to rewrite the document where necessary and submit the modified charter to the committee before the next meeting.

d.  Advisory Radio Station for LOW. Discussions concerningthe proposed Alert AM radio station were mentioned and a review of the project’s description indicate the need to acquire a frequency from the FCC. The manufacturer, ISS claims it will handle this after a form defining the requirement is completed by LOWA. Early estimates are that it will require a New Capital outlay of $20,000. Approval from the BOD  is needed to proceed with this project.

New Business.

Annual Survey. The Planning Committee representative asked that the Communication Committee provide assistance in the preparation of the yearly survey questionnaire that goes out with the yearly assessments. Bill Hershey volunteered to be the liaison for this assignment.

Announcements:  The next meeting is scheduled for 26 May at 3:00 PM at the Woods Center.

Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 4:10 PM

Communications Committee Meeting
May 26, 2010, Conference Room – Woods Center

Members Present:                            Also Participating
Al Sanborn, Chairman                        Neil Buttimer, Board of Directors Liaison
Peter Rainey, Vice Chair                    Melanie Parmelee, Communications Coordinator
William Hershey, Voting                    Lauria Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                          Dave McKee, Finance Liaison
Kerry Sipe, Voting

Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Alternate
Penny Siegel, Alternate
Jeanne Allen, Alternate

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00PM by Al Sanborn and it was noted that a quorum was present. 

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the agenda was made by Bill Hershey
seconded by Bruce Bixby and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of 28 April, 2010, were approved with a motion by Bill Hershey and seconded by Kerry Sipe and passed unanimously. 

Old Business

a. New Capital  Requests/5year plan for 2010. A meeting with the General Manager on this date prior to our regular Communication meeting was held with Peter Rainey, Kerry Sipe and Bruce Bixby from the Communication committee participating. The goal was to seek authorization to contact host servers that will be capable of meeting a first objective which will substantially increase the capabilities of our LOW website. The GM gave that authorization and expects us to provide costs and identify host services before the next Committee meeting. He also plans to let us know the current costs of the LOW website. During the Committee meeting Pete Rainey proposed that a subcommittee consisting of Kerry Sipe, Bruce Bixby, Costa Apostolakis and Melanie Parmelee be formed for the purpose of providing at least three suitable host services. Peter Rainey’s proposal was accepted by the Committee.

b. Channel 18 Educational Video Services. Peter Rainey has written an article for a recent Lake Currents issue explaining this idea. No response to this article was received from the community. We plan to continue to running articles along the same lines to find out if any interest and capability exists in the community to video record short human interest articles on DVD discs that could, if judged suitable, be displayed on channel 18.

c. Advisory Radio Station for LOW.  The Committee is waiting for the call forNew Capital expenditures.  This proposal will be submitted to the Planning Committee after being properly formatted to whatever format is approved.

d. Communication Charter. The chairman deferred this to next meeting. It was mentioned during the discussion that the Finance Committee’s Charter has been accepted by the BOD.

New Business.  None

Announcements:  The next meeting is scheduled for 23 June 3:00 PM at the Woods Center.

Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 3:35 PM

Communications Committee Meeting
June 23, 2010
Conference Room – Woods Center

Members Present:                            Also Participating
Al Sanborn, Chairman                        Neil Buttimer, Board of Directors Liaison   
Costa Apostolakis, Alternate              Melanie Parmelee, Communications
Kerry Sipe, Voting                             Dave McKee, Finance Liaison
William Hershey, Voting                    Lauria Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                          Bob Shope, Candidate for LOWA BOD
                                                                       
Members Absent:
Peter Rainey, Vice Chair                 
Jeanne Allen, Alternate

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Al Sanborn and it was noted that a quorum was present.

 Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the agenda was made by Kerry Sipe and seconded by Bruce Bixby and passed unanimously

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of 26 May, 2010, were approved with a motion by Bill Hershey and seconded by Kerry Sipe and passed unanimously. 

Old Business

1. New Capital  Requests/New Website Host Server.  A recommendation was made by the subcommittee and approved by the committee to acquire a new host server from Crystaltech and transfer the present LOWA.org site over to this host server seamlessly.  Kerry Sipe and Costa Apostolakis will prepare a letter advising and requesting approval to proceed in this matter. Eventually it is planned to upgrade to the point we can present streaming video. For background on streaming video go to http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=8816&page=1
2.  Channel 18 educational Video Services. No interest has been forthcoming for this idea. However the committee hasn’t given up on it and plans to pursue this in the future with additional articles in Lake Currents on this subject.
3. Radio Station for LOW. It was agreed by the committee to present the proposal for approval by the BOD and the General Manager.
4. Communication Charter. The communication charter prepared by Jeanne Allen was reviewed and with minor changes approved by the committee. It will now be forwarded to the BOD  for their consideration

New Business. 
            Lack of Communication. An email message from Steve Cakouros suggesting an agenda item that would focus on the apparent lack of communication from LOW entities regarding certain prominent activities was received by the committee.  Steve cited two recent examples. The repaving of Mt Pleasant Dr which occurred twice within a short time and caused unexpected problems to people using that road. A second event cited occurred when several hundred members had their barcodes deactivated and which resulted in the unnecessary delays/outrage at the entrance gate for other members. Steve pointed out that with some foresight, these situations could have been explained in advance to the members with articles in the Lake Currents or on Channel 18 and could have prevented the inconvenience that resulted. The committee urges the management to, when possible, providing the membership with such information in a timely manner. Committee intends to submit a letter to management.

            Need for a new Chairman. At the request of the Chair the committee was asked for a member to volunteer to take the chair for the remainder of Al Sanborn’s term. Kerry Sipe rose to the occasion and Bill Hershy made the nomination which was seconded by Costa Apostolakis and passed unanimously. Mr. Hershey pointed out that Kerry was a good fit with his background in view of some of the projects now coming before the committee.

Announcements:  The next meeting is scheduled for 28 July 3:00 PM at the Woods Center.

Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 4:00 PM.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
July 28, 2010, Conference Room – Woods Center

Members Present:                         Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                        Neil Buttimer, Board of Directors Liaison
Peter Rainey, Vice Chair                   Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
William Hershey, Voting                    Melanie Parmelee, Communications
Al Sanborn, Voting                            Dave McKee, Finance Liaison
Bruce Bixby, Voting                          John Edwards, Guest
                                                          Bob Shope, Candidate for LOWA BOD

Members Absent:
Jeanne Allen, Alternate
Costa Apostolakis, Alternate  

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00PM by Kerry Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present. The chair welcomed the two visitors.

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the agenda was made by William Hershey and seconded by Al Sanborn and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of June 23, 2010, were approved with a motion by William Hershey and seconded by Peter Rainey and passed unanimously. 

Old business

1. Response from general manager to a request for improved communication. The chair together with BOD member Neil Buttimer, and Melanie Parmelee met with the General Manager to follow up on future plans especially with a planned new website. The GM suggested that the committee read up on the general policy for homeowners associations “Communication Policy” dated 1995. Copies were passed to the committee members and it was suggested we become familiar with it.

The chair suggested to the committee that we also give consideration to what we want to next accomplish with our new webserver.

2. Progress on moving lowa.org to new server. The transfer to a new website host server (CrystalTech) was accomplished within the pass few days. Generally it was felt that the next step is to present a video of special interest via the website. The BOD meeting would probably be a first choice.

3. Alert AM radio communications station for LOW. Funding for this requirement needs to be determined. The Chair is expected to contact the GM and determine the best process to follow.

4. Communications Committee charter. The charter is in final form and will be sent to the BOD in the next few days. It surfaced that the new charter will direct that 7 members be voting members. Prior to this most committees used a 5 to 7 members as voting members and when a quorum was lacking then Alternate members were appointed as voting members during the meeting. With this new requirement a motion was made by Pete Rainey seconded by William Hershey and unanimously passed that both our alternates, Jeanne Allen and Costa Apostolakis be made voting members.

5. Channel 18 educational Video Services. Pete Rainey mentioned that a video recording was made of the Orange County Historical Society and should be available for publishing on Channel 18. Melanie was aware of this recording and said it is planned to be shown in the next couple of weeks.

New business
        a. Member’s concern about web page e-mail system. As I understand the problem a member objected to the fact that when he attempts to email the staff or board members he gets the “Outlook” email program which he considers old and outdated. He believes, apparently, that it is the email program that LOWA.org uses. In fact the email program that one uses is your computer’s   operating system's default mail program. It can be changed by going to the Tools/Options and in the case of the Firefox browser under Application changing the “mail to” to whatever email program you prefer.
          b. Annual report due Aug. 1. It was agreed that Kerry, Bruce and Al would jointly prepare and submit Annual report within the next week.

Announcements:  Because of vacations etc the next meeting is scheduled for 22 Sep at 3:00 PM at the Woods Center.

Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 4:00PM.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Sept 22, 2010, Conference Room Woods Center

Members Present:                                        Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                       Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Costa Apostolakis, Alternate            Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Al Sanborn, Voting                           Melanie Parmelee, Communications
Bruce Bixby, Voting                          Lisa Naghshineh, Communications Assistant                                                                    Neil Buttimer,Visitor
                                                         Bob Shope, Board of Directors Visitor
Members Absent:
William Hershey, Voting                              
                                   
                                                                                                                                   
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:10PM by the Chair Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present. The chair welcomed the visitors and the newly designated Board of director Liaison Margaret Darby..

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the agenda was made by Sanborn and seconded by Bixby and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of July 28, 2010, were approved with a motion by Bixby and seconded by Sanborn and passed unanimously. 
Old business

1. Communication Policy review: The Chair asked if the committee was aware of procedures and/or policy guidelines existed for disseminating emergency or general information to the membership. Parmelee advised that there is such policy and various policy procedures describing communication in LOW and she would provide this information to the committee.
2. Communications Committee Charter: A new Charter was presented to the committee by Darby following the format of many of the other committees. A motion by Bixby, seconded by Sanborn was made to accept the charter as written and passed unanimously. The Charter will now be presented to the BOD for final review.
3. Status of Alert AM Radio communications station: The status of this proposal and who’s action is required is unknown to the committee. Ms Darby said she would query the BOD of the status of this project.
4. Advancing the Web site upgrade: As recommended the Communication section transferred the Web site host to CrystalTech a few months back and they report all is working well. The next step is to setup a bata site (or a test site) on the new web site. Next we will be testing video recordings of some of the LOW functions on the Website. Costa who is very experienced in this capability will work with Melanie to make this installation/capability available.

New business

1. Need to repair or replace notice board at front gate: Issues were raised regarding the front gate notice board which is described as being in disrepair. Repairs would require the   need to replace the rails that support the message’s letters. It was mentioned that these rails were repaired a few years back but once again are now not very functional. Some in the committee are in favor of recommending that the board be removed as being redundant to all the other information channels now available. It is also viewed as a potential traffic hazard and that it is almost impossible to read for drivers turning right at the entrance. Of course drivers using the back gate never see the message board. At the very least restriction on the number of messages being displayed should be enforced. It was also suggested that a lot of man hours is estimated to keep the board updated. A new sign to replace the old sign would cost in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 k dollar range. Melanie will bring this situation up to the GM.
2. Resignations and need for new members: The committee is in need of new members and the Chair plans to place an ad in the next Lake Currents requesting new candidate.  We may have lost two members recently. BOD liaison Darby pointed out to the committee, that members who resign should email the VP of the BOD at <margaretbod@msn.com> of this fact as this is one way they can keep track of the committee memberships.
3. Announcements:  The next meeting is scheduled for 27 Oct at 3:00 PM at the Woods Center.
4. Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the committee at this meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 4:30PM.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Oct 27, 2010, Woods Center

Members Present:                          Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                        Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Costa Apostolakis, Voting                 Melanie Parmelee, Communications
Al Sanborn, Voting
Bruce Bixby, Voting
Neil Buttimer, Voting
William Hershey, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00PM by the Chair Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the agenda was made by Bixby and seconded by Hershey and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Sep 22, 2010, were approved with a motion by Hershey and seconded by Sanborn and passed unanimously. 

New Member: The committee welcomed its newest voting member, Neil Buttimer, our recent BOD liaison and thoroughly familiar with the issues facing the committee.

Old business

Communications Committee charter revisions. The chair asked for a motion to approve the revised Communication Committee Charter and for submission to the BOD for approval. A motion to approve the revised document was made by Buttimer and seconded by Hershey, passed unanimously. This document should be presented to the BOD on 6 Nov.

Status of sign at Front Entrance: Removed by management. The front gate sign was removed last week. Feedback, we understand, has been both positive and negative, which is not unexpected.

Renewing proposal for Alert AM radio communications station. The chair has updated the original proposal, and requested a motion to approve the new proposal and forward it to the Planning Committee. The motion was made by Hershey and seconded by Sanborn, and passed unanimously.

Status of Web site upgrade. Apostolakis briefed the committee on the current status, and said that the new host server has been setup with a test site with a login/out capability. He requested that all the committee members try logging in to the site. Login is done by providing an email name which will be your id. He provided us a standard password which will be used for testing purposes. There are several actions one can take once they are in the site and he requested the committee members give the site as much activity as possible to shake out any possible glitches.

New business
Phonevite (see www.phonevite.com)   Mr Hershey described  a system that allows one to instantly communicate with multiple people over the phone, receive immediate responses from them as well. All at $. 05 per call. If it was used by LOWA and we tried to reach all the members 4000 it would cost $200. At that price it would serve only in cases of urgency. It is simple to use. The negative would be the need to load 4000 telephone numbers into it. There is no unusual hardware involved. A good demo would be for Bill to send all the communication committee members (with a listed number) a demo message.

LOW Survey.  Mr Hershey is the Communication Committee liaison to the ad hoc committee charged with developing survey questions. He reported they have developed some early questions that have been forwarded to the Planning Committee for comment.

Reconstitution of Committee/Election of New Officers:  Pursuant to LOWA rules, the committee ended with election of officers.  Kerry Sipe was nominated for committee chairman by Neil Buttimer, seconded by Costa Apostolakis.  Bill Hershey was nominated for vice chairman by Neil Buttimer, seconded by Costa Apostolakis. Bruce Bixby was nominated for secretary by Neil Buttimer, seconded by Costa Apostolakis.  Election of all three officers was by unanimous vote.

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

The next meeting is scheduled for Dec 1 at 3:00 PM at the Holcomb Building, Conference Room.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Dec 1, 2010, Conference Room, Holcomb Building

Members Present:                         Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                        Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting                         Bob Shope, LOWA BOD
Bruce Bixby, Voting                          Melanie Parmelee, Communications
Al Sanborn, Voting                            Lisa Naghshineh, Communications Assistant                                                                   Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Members Absent:
William Hershey, Voting                  
Costa Apostolakis, Voting                            

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00PM by Chair Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda:  Motion to approve the amended agenda (removal of Planning Committee Survey question), was made by Bixby and seconded by Sanborn and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Oct 27, 2010, were approved with a motion by Buttimer and seconded by Bixby and passed unanimously. 

5. Old business

1. Communications Committee charter approval: Announcement of the charter’s approval and it is now available for viewing on the website <http://www.lowa.org/charters/communications.htm>
2. Feedback on removal of the sign at Front Entrance: Considerable discussion ensued on this subject. The committee was advised that a petition is now being circulated to request the restoration of this or another similar substitute sign.
3. Safety and Security Committee endorsed the proposal for Alert AM radio communications station: The Chair and Neil Buttimer attended a recent Safety and Security committee meeting where they explained how the system operated and described the value of this proposal and gained the support of this committee.
4. Initiation of Web-based mass e-mail system: The new email message system, similar to the Blast email system, was introduced yesterday to the membership. Messages went out to LOWA Blast members advising them of the system’s introduction. An article on this subject is planned for the next edition of the Lake Currents

6. New business: No new business was introduced.

Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.   
The next meeting is scheduled for Jan 26 at 3:00 PM at the Holcomb Building, Conference Room.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Jan 26, 2011, Holcomb Building, Conference Room

Members Present:                             Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                        Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting
Bruce Bixby, Voting
Al Sanborn, Voting                            Members Absent:
Jon Anderson, Voting                         Costa Apostolakis, Voting
William Hershey, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present. Jon Anderson was introduced as the newest voting member.

Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve an amended agenda, after a unanimously approved motion by Buttimer to include an additional item under new business ( see item b. under new Business).  A motion to approve the amended agenda was made by Hershey seconded by Sanborn and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Dec 1, 2010, were approved with a motion by Buttimer and seconded by Anderson and passed unanimously. 

5. Old business

• Developments concerning proposal for AM Alert system: This item was publicized in the Jan 14 Lake Currents issue as a FY 11 as a new capital expenditure. It was mentioned that three of the four committees recently briefed on the item voted favorably on the need for it . One committee, however, believed that they were not sufficiently briefed and is thus not favorably deposed. It was suggested that certain Communication Committee members be available during the 5 Feb BOD meeting, when this is scheduled to be discussed, to give any possible background/specs/benefits on the item. The committee feels that somehow we have not managed to get the positive capabilities of the system across to the community, which are many and perhaps, at this BOD meeting, we can do so. This appears to be the only capability that will solve the requirement for the often requested need to alert the entire community in special event, such as snowstorms or power outages etc.
• Advancement of plan for LOWA Web site development: The next step to the redesign of the website was discussed. We now seem to be at an impasse as to how to proceed. We have a server that is capable of using an interactive approach which could provide access to all, designated, or some, or both to LOW BOD/members/management. To move to that capability will probably require some funding (not expected to be large, perhaps a couple of thousand) to set up a CMS dummy website on the server until members can test it and be assured that the redesign does what is expected. Suggestions were made to establish a subcommittee to determine how to proceed. 
• Progress report on Web-based mass e-mail system: The committee agreed that we would like feedback on how the changeover to the new ealerts has progressed.

6. New business:
a. Review of Planning Committee Survey question: It was reported that the survey has been completed and the Planning Committee will present the results to the BOD at the 16 Feb meeting. The Communication Committee has no questions in the survey.

b. Proposed Bylaws Change: Buttimer moved that the Communications Committee recommends that the BOD direct the Rules Committee to take action to make the following change to the Association Bylaws.

Add to SECTION D
3.  Meetings
All meetings of committees appointed by the board of directors, including any subcommittee thereof, shall be open to all members. Notice of the time, date and place of each committee meeting shall be published in advance.

The motion was seconded by Anderson and passed unanimously. 

Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.   
The next meeting is scheduled for Feb 23 at 3:00 PM at the Holcomb Building, Conference Room.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Feb 23, 2011, Holcomb Building, Conference Room.

Members Present:                             Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                        Jeff Flynn, President/Board of Directors 
Al Sanborn, Voting                             Bob Shope, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                          Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison  
                                                            Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
                                                            Melanie Parmelee, Communications  
Members Absent:
Neil Buttimer, Voting
William Hershey, Voting
Jon Anderson, Voting  
Costa Apostolakis, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was not present.

Approval of Agenda: We were unable to approve the agenda because of the lack of a quorum but elected to discuss most of the items on the agenda.

Approval of Minutes:  Due to a lack of a quorum we had to defer the approval of the minutes of the Committee Meeting of 26 Jan 2011 until the next meeting. 

Old business

• Board action on Emergency Alert Radio Station (EARS):  By a four to three vote the BOD voted not to budget for the program this year. It is understood that the Planning Committee  is going to include it in next year’s Master Plan.

• Request from President Flynn to study front-gate message board: The chair plans to consult with Planning and Safety and Security Committees and together with Communication seek a subcommittee to look at this requirement, determine its’ necessity and if it is found to be genuine the best way to proceed. Keep in mind that both front and rear gates need to be covered and that there is a possibility that the front entrance may need to be reconfigured if Wal-Mart decides to build locally in the future. A local sign company contacted thought that a single programmable LED, 3 X 8 ft sign would cost about $17k. Communications staff has several other estimates and found that the lowest cost sign similar to the one removed (i.e. mechanical and non- programmable) would begin about $3k.

• Approval of plan to automate member services/ Progress on Web site development: The website now needs to be further defined as to the private/public content. The communication staff intends to provide their view of what these sections should cover.  As it will be a content management system the private sector (password protected) will have the capability for certain LOWA individuals to interact with certain sections of the private site. For instance perhaps a calendar on the private sector could allow the Committee chairs to go to the site and add/delete/edit the calendar as they see fit. This access will be determined by the administrator(s) of the website and a certain amount of filtering of this access will be necessary. Tests/forms/neighborhood info/surveys/upcoming events all are capable of being included on the private area of the website the public sector of course will be open to the public, much as it is now, and will show the positive aspects of living in LOW. It probably will have video of some of the amenities here. 

• Report on use of blast e-mail system: Melanie reported that the e-mail system (e-alerts) has over 1500 addresses, some being families having both spouses registering separately.

New business:

Lake Current's advertising revenue: Because of the economic conditions the advertisement revenue has fallen off the last few years. This can be seen in the reduction in the number of pages. It was pointed out by the Chair that Lake Currents is a valuable advertisement resource with direct contact with over 3500 customers. Some businesses should find this a great way to contact its customers.

Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:45p.m.   

The next meeting is scheduled for Mar 23 at 3:00 PM at the Holcomb Building, Conference Room.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Mar 23, 2011 at Holcomb Building, Conference Room

Members Present:                          Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                      Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting                      Bob Shope, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                        Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Al Sanborn, Voting                          Melanie Parmelee, Communications
Jon Anderson, Voting                      Rob Martin , Assistant GM
William Hershey, Voting                Tom Sheridan, Planning Committee

Members Absent: Costa Apostolakis, Voting 

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve the agenda was made by Hershey and seconded by Buttimer and passed unanimously.

Approval of Minutes:  Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Jan 26, 2011, were approved with a motion by Buttimer and seconded by Hershey and passed unanimously. 

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Feb 23, 2011, were approved with a motion by Buttimer and seconded by Anderson and passed unanimously.

Old business
Updateon report to President Flynn on message board. The chair, following the directions of the President of BOD to coordinate with both Planning and the Safety & Security Committees on the Front Gate Message Board problem met with those committees recently. Both committees asked that Com Com prepare a response and forward it to their committees for their review and, if in agreement, for their endorsement. The chair therefore brought the subject to the attention of the committee today. He presented a well researched draft working paper covering what we know of the Message Board. Following a lengthy discussion on this subject, three motions were made as follow:Motion by Buttimer, seconded by Anderson called for the original sign or similar replacement be made.

The motion failed by a vote of 4 to 1.Another motion by Buttimer seconded by Hershey called for the emergency alert radio system (EARS) to be implemented in the future, which would cope with emergency situations and could also act as a replacement for the message boards.

This motion passed unanimously.A final motion by Buttimer, proposed that the committee undertake to study and recommend a policy statement covering the specification for “signs” in general within LOW.

The motion was seconded by Anderson and passed unanimously.

Report on recent changes in e-mail alert system. The blast email alert system and its’ database evolved as a result of the planned eventual expansion of the LOWA website into a content management site. Management recently implemented an email marketing system, “Constant Contact”, with its’ own subscription database on the website. The presence of two databases on the same website, although on separate pages, both requesting the members to join, may cause confusion to the membership as to why they are both required and which is the appropriate one to use. The Assistant GM apologized for the failure to coordinate with the committee with this marketing tool but nevertheless felt the “Constant Contact” tool was of value to LOW. It is possible that both databases can be united for a single database as they both request similar inputs.

Progress report on comprehensive communications policy. As a result of the GM’s requests for Com Com to research and propose a communication policy guide, the chair prepared an early draft from inputs developed from several sources that have similar policies. He requested that the committee be prepared in the future to discuss and amend this draft for it’s’ applicability to LOW.

Progress on Web site development. Ms Parmelee, communication section, has prepared a draft paper on what should be included in the overt/public side and what should be in the private side (i.e. - Logged in) of the new proposed cms website. She will make this available to the Com Com members in the near future.

New business2012-1016 Master Plan.  Tom Sheridan, Planning Committee, presented a request for Com Com to update the Master Plan for the next five years. This plan would focus on requests for new capital projects, program and processes and must be coordinated with management. He explained that replacement capital is management’s sole responsibility. He stated that the last approved Master Plan from the committee covered the period of 2006-2010. It was pointed out that we are in good shape to provide such a plan because last summer a draft proposed plan was presented (see Five-year strategic plan (Proposed) 2010-2014) to the committee. It is believed that with some adjustment, this plan can be reviewed and updated, and with minor mods made the Master Plan.

Adjournment.  A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn at 5:00 p.m.   
The next meeting is scheduled for Apr 27 at 3:00 PM at the Holcomb Building, Conference Room.

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
April 27, 2011, Holcomb Building, Conference Room.

Members Present:                          Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                        Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting                         Pat Rowland, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                          Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Jon Anderson, Voting                       Desmond Flanigan, Safety & Security
William Hershey, Voting                   Jim Walsh, Visitor

Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Voting 
Al Sanborn, Voting  

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve the agenda was made by Buttimer and seconded by Anderson and passed unanimously

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Mar 23, 2011, were approved with a motion by Buttimer and seconded by Anderson and passed unanimously.

5. Old business

a. Finalize report to President Flynn concerning message board: Considerable time was spent in discussions about this agenda item. Desmond Flanigan, the Chair of the Safety & Security committee reported that his committee has a member with expertise in the use of highway road signs and how they should be employed. The main point of his input was that signs can be of negative or even dangerous value when employed incorrectly. For instance signs generally should not be used, unless absolutely necessary, to provide information to a person operating a vehicle. Mr. Flanigan will provide ComCom a report of many of the observations of their limitations made by this expert. This report will be included in ComCom’s recommendation to President Jeff Flynn. 

b. 2012-2016 Master Plan: The new plan will be prepared using the data generated last year in a proposed Five-year strategic plan.

c. Discussion of policies regarding signs: In conjunction with the discussions of item a above of this agenda, Neil Buttimer proposed that the BOD set policy in regards to the use of signs to be employed on LOW’s property. He pointed out that there is such a policy for signs on member’s private property. If we had such a policy and it was favorable to the display of signs under certain conditions, than perhaps an area could be designated to display signs at both the front and rear entrances to LOW. These signs would probably have to follow (to be specified) size, shape, and format restrictions. The signs than could be displayed only for specific times and the installation and removal would be the responsibility of the originator. An approval mechanism would also need to be initiated.

d. Progress on Web site development:  The Chair announced that as a result of a meeting with the GM, and concerned parties, especially ComCom member Costa Apostolakis, a process to install on LOWA’s website a beta version of the Lake Test. This test, with initially a limited number of questions, will demonstrate the feasibility of the website’s ability to handle the test results with scoring and feedback to the user. The results are being driven by the BOD who are expecting results by mid May.

6. New business:
Lake Current Ads: The question, raised by William Hershey, if Lake Currents is marketing its ads medium to the fullest potential. He counted 31 ads in the last issue and wondered if we could not acquire more. With our large member audience it would seem that ads revenue could be increased. The potential of ads for businesses as far away as Fredericksburg was discussed. ComCom realizes that the manpower for such an effort is limited but consideration should be given to his proposal.

7. Adjournment.  A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn at 4:30 p.m.   

Next meeting: May 25, 2011 

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
May 25, 2011, Holcomb Building, Conference Room

Members Present:                           Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                         Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting                           Bob Shope, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                           Tom Sheridan, Planning Committee 
Jon Anderson, Voting                         Melanie Parmelee, Communications
William Hershey, Voting                      Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
                                                           Jim Walsh, Visitor
Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Voting
Al Sanborn, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve an amended agenda (after including under new business, a proposal that committee membership be published) made by Anderson and seconded by Hershey and passed unanimously

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Apr 27, 2011, were approved with a motion by Anderson, seconded by Hershey and passed unanimously.

Old business
a. The 2012-2016 Master Plan: A five year Com Com strategic plan covering the 2010-2014 years prepared a few years ago is thought to still be appropriate for this requirement, with some modifications. The Chairman will prepare a new modification of this plan this month and forward to Tom Sheridan a Com Com Master plan for inclusion in the Master plan for the BOD.
Buttimer made a motion seconded by Hershey regarding the funding of a new front gate sign. After discussion, the motion was amended to recommend that the funding should be from replacement reserve and that it be included as part of the redesign of the front gate project to be managed by Facilities. The Communication Committee request Facilities coordinate with the committee as to the aesthetic of the sign. A sign similar to the Front Gate should also be designed for the rear gate and be funded from New Capital. The amended motion passed unanimously.

Buttimer made another motion , seconded by Anderson, that the EAS or Emergency Alert System sometimes referred to the AM Radio, be moved to New Capital expenditure next year and funds estimated at $30 k be appropriated for its’ procurement. The motion passed unanimously.

b. Progress on Web site development:  The new website, currently under development and named the beta design has focused per the BOD direction on getting the “Lakes Users Test” on line by the end of May. The BOD representatives present advised that they have viewed the test and made some minor recommendations but in general seem it should be ready for prime time by the deadline.
Some discussion then followed on how then to proceed with the design. The chair asked the committee members to forward their suggestions regarding what should be in both the private side and public side of the website.
It was agreed that Melanie would edit the most recent BOD meeting and make video clips of some to the sections. These clips/sections, for instance,  the various reports by committees, security etc, would be make available on the website by categories for viewing by the committee members and other interested parties. The video capture of these segments of the BOD meeting will demonstrate the video streaming capability for the website.

New business

1. Lake Currents advertising: Hershey prepared a report showing the local area business establishments, their commodities, weather they advertise in Lake Currents. There were approximately 125 companies on his list and only about 44 used Lake Currents for advertisement. Melanie then provided Lake  Currents statistics for the year to date. The ad revenue ranged from a low of $3000 to a high of almost $6000 per month. Lake Currents ads to text goal are 35% to 65%. Melanie reported that attempting to increase the ad revenue was always of low priority. In sum it appears that with some effort an increase in ads could result in substantial increase in ad revenue. If this could be accomplished in section pull outs it was agreed that it would be the most beneficial way for Lake Currents’ readership. To do so may require hiring an ad agency. Hershey intends to pursue, via Google, the availability/suitability of ad agencies in our area.

2. Low Advisory Committees Members:  Anderson suggested that it would be helpful, in his opinion, if all 19 committee member names be published twice a year. This may be useful for the LOWA membership who may know some of these members as neighbors thus providing an avenue of easy access to talk about LOW concerns/issues. It was generally agreed that it seems more likely that a member with a concern would approach a neighbor, who he knows as a committee member, than approaching a BOD member at the formal meetings.

Adjournment.  A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn at 4:35 p.m.   

Next meeting: Jun 29, 2011 

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes of
22 June 2011

Members Present:              Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman             Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting               Bob Shope, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                Tom Sheridan, Planning Committee 
Jon Anderson, Voting         Melanie Parmelee, Communications
William Hershey, Voting          Jim Walsh, Visitor
Al Sanborn, Voting
Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Voting 

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve the agenda was made by Hershey and seconded by Buttimer and passed unanimously

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Committee Meeting of May 25, 2011, were approved with a motion by Anderson, seconded by Buttimer and passed unanimously.

Old business

The 2012-2016 Master Plan: The Master Plan has been submitted to the Planning Committee. COM COM efforts are centered on the development of the LOWA website for the next several years.

Progress on Web site development:  The committee agrees that the next major progression is to develop video on demand on the website. “Video on Demand” would allow  any LOW member to log on to the LOWA website and see, at their convenience, video recordings of events occurring in LOW that now are available only on Channel 18 and then only at limited scheduled times. The benefit is it would allow members now without Com Cast access, in Florida for instance, to view events with a visit to the website on their own schedule. The next step is to determine the practical/technical realities of this approach.
The committee chair plans to work with the staff communication section to explore the first video presentations on the website and to obtain feedback on the presentations.

New business

Channel 18:  A suggestion was made by the Communication staff that perhaps the committee consider the idea that Channel 18 go “black” (ie cease  transmitting)  because its’ need in the future may be of  minimum value. A few years ago, for various reasons, LOWA ceased to receive substantial revenue from Orange County for this station. The costs of this channel continue and are not insignificant. In the future, as is expected, a LOWA redesigned website would be capable of providing many of the features currently seen on Channel 18.  Channel 18 could then be viewed as a duplication of effort.  Also, Channel 18 would not have the wider audience capability of the LOWA website, ie-video on demand.
The committee fully understands that some features on the TV Channel 18 are still considered worthwhile. For instance, the Scala software that presents events at LOW. That capability and the crawl at the bottom of the site will always have value. In any case, we all recognize that any decision on the above is a long way, if ever, down the road. However, the discussion was enough for the committee to reconsider any future funding of Channel 18 in the Master Plan. Anderson moved that mention of Channel 18 out years funding be deleted from the Master Plan and was seconded by Buttimer. The motion passed unanimously.

Comment: Margaret Darby reported that the front gate redesign, to be managed by Facilities, will be coordinated  with COM COM, as to style and layout.

Adjournment:  A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn at 4:20  p.m.   

Next meeting: Jun 27, 2011 

Communications Committee Meeting
July 27, 2011

Members Present:                                Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                           Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting                            Bob Shope, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                              Melanie Parmelee, Communications
Al Sanborn, Voting                               Pete Rainey, Civil War Storyboard
William Hershey, Voting                       Doug Crain, Chair M&E Committee
Jim Monical, Alternate                         Gale Buresh, Civil War Storyboard
                                                            Jim Walsh, Visitor
                                                           Jack Walker, Visitor
                                                            Pat Licata, Visitor
Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Voting 
Jon Anderson, Voting   

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve the agenda was made by Buttimer and seconded by Sanborn and passed unanimously

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Committee Meeting of  June 22, 2011, were approved with a motion by Hershey, seconded by Buttimer and passed unanimously.

Old business
a. Candidate videos: the Chair stated that per the goal of last month’s Com Com meeting the video on demand capability has been presented on the LOWA website. A link on the Home page www.lowa.org under News and Activities titled Video of Board Candidates will take you to the video. Those of the group that have seen the video thought it was well done.

b. Board videos: The next progression of this “video on demand” capability (which allows users to select and watch video content on demand) will be a video tape of a BOD meeting.  Mention was made that the annual meeting would be a good choice. In order to keep the video files to a useable size (so it does not take inordinate download time) it will be necessary to employ video file compression, a technical means to reduce a file’s size. For the same reasons it also will be necessary to divide the meeting into video sections highlights. Perhaps, a video section on the various committees, security reports etc. Experience will probably dictate how this will be accomplished.

The need for a policy, similar to what the Lake Currants uses for control of the Viewpoints published matter, in regards to member comments from the floor during the meetings. What should or should not be video published was recognized as a potential problem. With that in mind Hershey moved that a ComCom subcommittee be formed to develop and propose such a policy for the BOD.  Buttimer seconded it and it passed unanimously. The subcommittee will consist of Hershey, Buttimer and Monical.

c. Front-gate sign: The redesign of the front (and perhaps rear) gates was discussed. One comment made and generally agreeable to all was that a sign designer should be hired to achieve a sign that was aesthetically or pleasing in appearance.

New business

Civil War historical signs (Pete Rainey). Rainey spent a few minutes presenting and describing the Civil War message signs (markers) that are being considered for installation in LOW at appropriate locations. They consist of two horizontal and one vertical board, commonly seen at the various local battlefields. As Pete points out the LOW area is a major part of the Battle of the Wilderness and it certainly has many significant historical sites that should be so recognized.

The life of the signs is estimated at 15 years and the cost for all three signs total $2400. The cost of installation and maintenance would be paid by LOWA but is not considered significant. The ComCom committee voted on a motion by Buttimer, seconded by Sanborn and passed three to one opposed, to recommend to the BOD that up to $3000 be allocated for the procurement and installation of these sign.

Reconstitution of the ComCom Committee The chair suggested we be prepared to discuss at the next ComCom committee meeting in Aug the reconstitution of the committee in preparation of the Sep actual reconstitution.

Adjournment:  A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn at 4:45 p.m.   

Next meeting: August 24, 2011 

Communications Committee Meeting Minutes
Holcomb Building, Conference Room 24 Aug 2011

Members Present:                             Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                           Margaret Darby, Board of Directors Liaison
Neil Buttimer, Voting                             Bob Shope, Board of Directors
Bruce Bixby, Voting                              Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Al Sanborn, Voting                               Jack Walker, Visitor                
William Hershey, Voting                                   
Jim Monical, Alternate                                    
Pat Licata, Alternate

Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Voting
Jon Anderson, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe and it was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve the agenda was made by Monical and seconded by Sanborn and passed unanimously

Approval of Minutes: Minutes of the Committee Meeting 27 July 2011, were approved with a motion by Buttimer, seconded by Monical and passed unanimously.

1. On-demand videos: The Communication staff is currently planning to televise the annual BOD’s meeting, scheduled for Sep, with the intention of presenting sections of the meeting on the website.

2. Report of subcommittee on policy regarding BOD video: Policy drafts were presented by the subcommittee. The policy’s initial goal is to keep the video recording, which will be available to the general public, focused on the BOD with no plans to record BOD Workshop meetings. Member comments will not be recorded because, much like Lake Currants Viewpoint’s policy of not publishing these to the public, because they are just opinions and are not necessarily LOWA policy. The subcommittee plans another meeting to finalize the policy paper and then present it to the committee for approval next month.

3. Re-organization for 2011-2012: The Chair mentioned that the Sep meeting will have the reconstitution of the committee on the agenda. Elections of Committee Officers for the Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary will be made.

New business

1. Annual Report: The chair completed the annual report on the Com Com activities last year and forwarded it to the BOD. The committee’s BOD rep who reviewed the report requested clarification of the disposition of a “telephone emergency contact” system that Hershey had brought to the committee’s attention last Oct. The system is marketed by Phonevite (www.phonevite.com) and it allows one to instantly communicate with multiple people over the phone. All at $. 05 per person. If it was used by LOWA and we tried to reach perhaps 4000 members it would cost $200 per emergency.  It is simple to use. The negative would be the need to load approximately 4000 telephone numbers into it, and the continuing need to manage the telephone database. The system is very capable, assuming the phone system is available, of notifying LOWA membership in the event of an emergency.

2. Website Security: The chair mentioned that he has received queries about the need for an enhanced website security when we proceed to a content management system. It will certainly be a requirement to implement such a capability and we need to determine the costs etc for such a tool.

3. Front Gate Sign: The committee was informed by the BOD rep that AGM for Facilities is  expecting  input on the front gate sign’s  redesign from the committee. An advisory subcommittee was formed of Buttimer and Licata who will contact and meet with facilities to discuss how to proceed and report the results at the Sep meeting.

 Adjournment:  A motion was made, seconded and passed unanimously to adjourn at 4:30 p.m.   

Next meeting: Sept. 28, 2011

LOWA Communications Committee
October 26, 2011

Members Present:                            Also Participating
Kerry Sipe, Chairman                          Jon Anderson, Board of Directors Liaison
Jim Monical, Voting                              Bob Shope, Board of Directors
Pat Licata, Voting                                Al Sanborn
Neil Buttimer, Voting                           Melanie Parmelee, communications director  
Laurie Brown, Planning Committee Liaison
Members Absent:
Costa Apostolakis, Voting 
William Hershey, Voting

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chairman Sipe. It was noted that a quorum was present.

Approval of Minutes:  The minutes of the August 24, 2011, and September 28, 2011, Committee minutes were approved.

Communications Committee Reconstitution:
Kerry Sipe was elected chairman
Pat Licata was elected vice chairman
Neil Buttimer was elected secretary

Unfinished Business

1.  Chairman Sipe reported that the Board of Directors will form a Working Group to examine whether to recommend the installation of message boards at the front and back gates. After some discussion, Chairman Sipe agreed to represent the Communications Committee on the working group.

2. Neil Buttimer, a member of the Planning Committee, reported on the status of Communications New Capital requests for FY 2012 by the Planning Committee. (1) The Emergency Advisory Radio System was given conditional approval with the recommendation that it be considered by the Working Group as part of the front and rear gate message board discussions. (2) The Web Site Development Program was approved for consideration as part of the FY2012 New Capital request.

New Business
A motion was made to combine the November and December Communications Committee meetings and hold the meeting at 3:00 p.m., December 8, 2011. The motion was passed unanimously.

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

Next meeting: December 8, 2011, 3:00 p.m. at the Holcomb Building Conference Room.