Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
~a <br />what is in the cable franchise. Mr. Barker added that no other utility has the kind of local <br />oversight exercised by the County over cable TV. <br />Citizen Participation <br />Mr. Barker asked who other than CAC would have the time to address the nine items on <br />the Action Audits list (NB: item (e) is not to be recommended as an item of concern to <br />CAC), or even the three priorities emerging from tonight's discussion (g, h, and i). Ms. <br />Harvey and Ms. Barber have a lot "on their plates," he said, and my concern is that <br />relative to all the other County issues they are dealing with, our concerns will not be <br />County priorities. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, he said; and a citizens committee <br />can play an important role in making sure compliance monitoring is not overlooked. <br />Ms. Keene asked CAC members to note that there are four cable TV franchise <br />agreements within Orange County. Each municipality and the County have their own <br />agreements with TWC, she said. Mr. Barker said that as a Hillsborough resident he <br />knows how to advocate for his needs under that franchise agreement. As a member of <br />CAC, he said, it is his role to caze about everyone in the County, including those in the <br />unincorporated areas. <br />Mr. Patrick asked if a citizens advisory group other than EDC's Infrastructure Work <br />Group is needed to help the Board. address such non-cable TV technology issues such as <br />high speed Internet. No one present had enough knowledge about the Work Group to <br />answer that question. "But it should be evaluated," said Mr. Boyarsky. <br />Ms. Harvey said that she's hearing that "some group" should take a look at how high <br />speed intemet can be made available to under served parts of the County. Mr. Barker <br />added that even areas akeady "served" by high speed Internet might need advocates for <br />improved services. Mr. Boyazsky said that Internet satellite services are not reliable for <br />"high speed" Internet, and so the focus of any new group should be on wireless or wire <br />line services. Mr. Bazker warned that all the new residential development in the <br />unincorporated area south of I-85. will be "too far from the switch" located in downtown <br />Hillsborough to get DSL service. They will all have to rely on cable unless Embark <br />installs a new switch south of I-85, he said. <br />Mr. Bazker said that BOCC needs to get advice from "techno-geeky dweebs" on <br />information technology issues facing the County. I would not narrow it to <br />"telecommunications" issues, he said, but instead use the phrase, "broadband" or "general <br />media access." Telecommunications is a 1970's term, he said. It should be about all the <br />different ways that people, receive information. Mr. Boyazsky added that the focus of any <br />newly constituted CAC should be on residents' access to information technology, not the <br />County government's internal IT needs. <br />Mr. Brown asked if the County needs to come up with a different franchise with TWC to <br />cover information technology beyond cable TV. Mr. Boyarsky said that everything else <br />falls under a state franchise. However, Orange County citizens need to be involved in <br />tracking how provision of those non-cable services impact our concerns about access, <br />8 <br />