PEG Grant RequestTHE CITY OF
DuB E
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
MEMORANDUM
June 13, 2007
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: PEG Capital Grant Expenditure Requests
Cable TV Coordinator Craig Nowack is recommending agreement with the
recommendation from the Cable N Tele-Programming Commission to .approve three
requests for funding from the Capital Grant for Access Equipment and Facilities.
I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval
Michael C. Van Milligen
MCVM/jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Craig Nowack, Cable TV Coordinator
THE CITY OF
DuB E MEMORANDUM
~.~~
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Craig Nowack, Cable TV Coordinator
DATE: June 13, 2007
RE: PEG Capital Grant Expenditure Requests
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memorandum is to forward a recommendation from the Cable TV Tele-
Programming Commission to approve three requests for funding from the Capital Grant for
Access Equipment and Facilities.
BACKGROUND
The Capital Grant for Access Equipment and Facilities created by the cable franchise
agreement that went into effect on June 5, 2005, began FY07 with a balance of $199,630.
Subsequent interest payments and quarterly adjustments have added $34,050 this fiscal year.
In addition, on June 11 we received Mediacom's pre-payment of $194,354 for FY08. Thus far in
FY07, the City Council has approved $179,525 in requests; currently there is a balance to be
awarded of $245,467.
Last night the Commission recommended three grants from this fund:
• $39,000 for Loras College for various equipment and software to augment their facilities
and help them .produce what will be Iowa's first Spanish-language newscast. Loras
students are among the access community's most frequent contributors and their
productions have garnered many awards. This is their first request for funding.
• $14,500 for Dubuque Community Schools to purchase an on-air server and automation
system for Channel 19. The school district channel began operations in February 2006
and has won several major awards for programming. However, they are asking too
much of the single-computer playback system that now runs their channel; as a result,
the audio for their programming is rarely in sync with the video making it difficult for
viewers to watch. This new system will solve this problem by providing a server
dedicated solely to play back programming.
• $28,000 for cameras for the Federal Building Council chambers and County Courthouse
Supervisors chambers. $20,000 goes for three new cameras to replace the three
existing cameras in the Library auditorium that the City had planned to move to the
Federal Building. With the two additional cameras already being purchased for the
Federal Building, this will give us a total of five new cameras: The remaining $8,000 is
for one new camera to be added to the three existing Library cameras to be installed in
the Supervisors. chambers at the County Courthouse. This replaces the aging single-
chip cameras at the Courthouse and will markedly improve the quality of the Supervisors
telecasts. The Courthouse project is subject to the approval of the Supervisors.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
I respectfully request that the Commission's recommendations for these requests be forwarded
to the City Council to receive, file, and approve. Thank you.
CC: Randy Gehl, Public Information Officer
Cable TV Tele-Programming Commission