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1 <br />this committee or start another committee that would have a different charter than the one <br />adopted for this Committee by the Board of County Commissioners in 1979 which has <br />continued to be our charter today. The original charge for the Cable Advisory Committee <br />came in response to the Board's recognition that in 1979 a new telecommunications <br />service called "cable TV" had emerged and we need citizens to advise the Board on how <br />to use this animal. But what we have is a different set of animals now. A larger <br />menagerie. And so it would be useful, especially with respect to the use of citizen <br />volunteers, if we took stock of what this Committee is about and what the County needs. <br />Ms. Rice asked if the purpose of the meeting is to "sunset" the Committee or to develop a <br />new direction for it. Mr. Patrick said that CAC does not control what will happen to the <br />Committee. "We can discuss this and make a recommendation to the Board," he said. <br />Context <br />Ms. Harvey said that Mr. Patrick's opening remarks were apt: the regulatory <br />environment with respect to cable TV has changed since the creation of the Committee, <br />and we now have a cable TV franchise agreement. The Committee's activities have <br />increased and decreased depending on what was happening in the franchise renewal <br />process, especially in the past decade. So the opportunity exists now for the Committee <br />to "transmute," or for the Board to appoint a new Committee with a new charge. This is <br />the Committee's time, she said, to develop a statement to the Board that reflects the <br />Committee's interests ("this is not about sta#~') with respect to what could or should <br />happen next. <br />Mr. Boyarsky asks how the idea of "sunsetting" the Committee arose. Ms. Harvey said <br />that the issue "bubbled up" to her from Board members by way of the County Clerk's <br />Office. The question appears to be, "What happens to the Committee now that we have <br />the cable franchise in place?" Upon hearing from the Clerk that Board members had that <br />question, she said, Ms. Harvey thought it appropriate to raise it with Mr. Patrick and then <br />with the Committee as a whole in order to be proactive rather than reactive. The <br />franchise is completed, and new state legislation is in place, and this convergence of <br />circumstances has led Board members and County staff to seek an answer to these two <br />questions. <br />Mr. Patrick added that he has talked with Commissioner Jacobs. The context at least <br />with respect to that Commissioner is not "the Committee has done its work and now <br />there's. nothing left for it to do," as it is "Is this the best way to do things right now?" In <br />reply to another question from Mr. Boyarsky, Mr. Patrick said that Commissioner Carey <br />would most likely have a perspective on the Committee's primary function due to his past <br />work with the committee. Others on the Board, he said, might not be paying as close <br />attention to the Committee as .these two. <br />Looking Ahead <br />The Committee next turned its attention to identifying any "unfuushed business" under <br />its charge, and any other important issues on the horizon relating to the County's role in <br />cable TV. As a starting point, the facilitator directed the group's attention to the April <br />3 <br />