HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 08 Grant from Comcast AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 1/17/2012
Meeting Type:Regular Meeting
Staff Contact/Dept.: Len Goodwin/PW
Staff Phone No: (541)726-3685
Estimated Time: Consent Calendar
S P R I N G F I E L D
C I T Y C O U N C I L
Council Goals: Community and
Economic Development
and Revitalization
ITEM TITLE: GRANT FROM COMCAST
ACTION
REQUESTED:
Approve or reject a motion to accept a one-time grant from Comcast in the amount
of $75,000 to support providing improved capacity to distribute video from public
facilities in downtown Springfield.
ISSUE
STATEMENT:
Shall the city accept a one-time grant in the amount of $75,000 from Comcast to
support distribution of video from public events occurring in downtown
Springfield?
ATTACHMENTS: 1. Letter from Comcast offering grant.
DISCUSSION/
FINANCIAL
IMPACT:
For some time, staff have been discussing with Comcast, the local cable television
provider, the challenges faced in distributing video of public events occurring in
downtown Springfield. Unlike Eugene City Hall, and the Lane County Public
Service building, Springfield public facilities downtown have no equipment capable
of distributing video to the Public, Educational and Government channels (PEG)
provided by Comcast as part of its cable television franchise. As a result, when
meetings, such as the Metropolitan Policy Committee or Joint Elected Officials
occur in Springfield there is no live feed available to the public, and the City incurs
additional cost in securing services from Lane Council of Governments to
videotape the proceedings for later rebroadcast.
As a result of these conversations, Comcast has offered the City a grant of $75,000
to help fund the purchase of capital equipment to provide for video facilities in the
City Hall Library Meeting Room and the Emergency Operations Center in the
Justice Center. These facilities are the usual venue for these public meetings. In
addition, the grant will fund similar facilities in the Wildish Theater, for distribution
of such City events as the State of the City message, and for use by Willamalane
Park and Recreation District for Wildish productions and School District 19 for
Academy of Arts and Academics classes and programs. Staff are discussing
additional matching funds from those two organizations to assure that the Wildish
can be equipped. Finally, staff is preparing to submit an application for additional
funding available under the regular program managed by MPC which distributes
$50,000 in capital funding for PEG activities, to cover any potential shortfall.
A small portion of this money will also be applied to provide improved multimedia
capacity in the Council Chamber, although full video production would not be
provided, and will be applied to supporting the Library’s summer reading program.
Staff recommends that Council accept the grant.