00:00:00,000 Yes we can. We do have a quorum. All right. We have a quorum for the commission meeting. So I call the northwest suburbs Cable Communications Commission meeting to order. Uh, we’ve had the roll call done by our very competent roll call person. And, uh, the next item is the approval of the agenda. 00:00:25,270 Does anybody have any suggested changes, or does somebody have a motion to approve the agenda? A motion to approve the agenda. Second. Um, discussion. All those in favor say aye. Aye, aye aye aye. Those opposed say no. Okay, now we have our agenda. 00:00:51,100 The first items on the agenda are the consent items, the approval of the minutes from May 21st and the approval of the treasurer’s report. Anyone can withdraw for separate action or discussion. Any of the consent agenda items. Does anyone want to withdraw anything for separate discussion? Hearing none. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. 00:01:15,500 Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye, aye. Those opposed say no or nay. That motion carries. Next. Action items. Presentation and approval of the 2025 Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission and Media Audit Report. And we have Andy Grice here from, uh, Creative Planning Bergen CDB. Uh, to give us that report. 00:01:42,630 All right. Thank you so much for having me here this morning. Um, here to present the audit report for the year ended December 31st, 2025. So looking back, uh, nine months or so here, I wanted to highlight first, uh, the independent auditor’s report that’s included in the commission’s financial statements. 00:01:59,270 This highlights our role as the commission’s auditor and also the role of management in that. Management is responsible for the financial statements in our role is to provide assurance on those financial statements through our audit opinion as to whether we believe the financial position at the end of the year, to be fairly stated in all material 00:02:14,200 respects, and happy to report that we are providing a clean, unmodified opinion which is the best that we can give. As your auditor. We also issue two other reports, one being our report on Minnesota legal compliance. 00:02:28,600 So the State Auditor’s office has us take a look at certain state statutes that are applicable to the Commission and report any non-compliance that comes to our attention as part of our audit procedures. And there were no findings or no non-compliance that was noted as part of those procedures. 00:02:44,200 And then lastly, we have our communications letter that includes some trend data, some charts and graphs just to highlight the performance of the two funds for the year. So I wanted to start taking a look at the first chart, and that’s looking at the Commission’s operations. And this is the governmental fund of the Commission that collects the revenue and ultimately transfers those funds out to the media. 00:03:03,870 Um, full accrual enterprise fund to expend those resources. And the budget called for a decline in fund balance for the year of about $676,000 and ultimately did better than anticipated. Oops. Going back, let’s see there. Going back, just a few, probably a few slides there. Uh, the one that says NWS, CC operations. There we go. 00:03:25,670 Uh, so the net change in fund balance that was expected for the year was a decline of $676,000 and ultimately had a decline of about $50,000. So outperform that budget by about $625,000. Part of that was due to revenues coming in better than anticipated by $418,000. Just being conservative on subscriptions. 00:03:48,600 And then the transfer required out to the Media fund for operating expenses ended up being less than anticipated by about $190,000, just with less cost that needed to be covered there, with some staffing reductions. And that led to an ending fund balance in this fund at the end of the year of about $5.3 million. 00:04:04,730 Those are resources that are available that are mainly in cash and investment balances, that are about $750,000 in receivable balances at the end of the year, but again, end of the year at $5.3 million, going on to the next slide. This highlights the media operations. 00:04:22,870 And again, this has a bit different terminology because this is a full accrual fund. So this is where the capital assets are held. So depreciation expense is recorded here. Uh the um employees are also part of the statewide pension plan. So you see things like the net pension liability in this fund. 00:04:37,330 And you can see this fund actually has a negative net position at the end of the year, uh, of $825,000. And that was an improvement from the prior year by $333,000. Because of the current year, uh, surplus in this fund. 00:04:57,330 Uh, the fund, uh, again, does have that negative financial position, but that’s mainly due to the net pension liability that the that’s required to be reported there, that you ultimately do not have to write a check for. 00:05:13,630 So if you factor some of those things out, this fund typically breaks even, uh, at the end of the year or is expected to in terms of operations, the budgeted operations in this fund, again, were to have a decline of about $16,000. Again, you know, fairly break even, but did end up better than anticipated by $349,000 with that $333,000 surplus. Uh, going on to the next slide. This shows the five year history of budget and, uh, actual results for revenues. So here in 2025, again, seeing revenues exceeding the budget. 00:05:33,330 So that was the first time in the last five years that had occurred. And then going on to the next chart. This highlights the expenditure budget to actual results. Uh, again, seeing here that um, actual expenditures came in less than anticipated, uh, here for 2025. And then going on one more slide. 00:05:52,070 This highlights the overall revenue sources for the commission, which franchise fees continue to be the most significant source there, but did decline a little bit from 81% down to 76% because access fees did make up a larger portion of the FY of the pie, with the renegotiated, uh, fees and increase in revenue in that 00:06:10,900 area. Uh, the next chart highlights just the overall franchise and access fees in just the proportionate share of overall revenues between those two sources. So franchise fees has historically been about 80% of overall revenues. Um, and then here did decline just under 80% at 79%. Again, with that increase in the access fee. 00:06:33,830 So that access fee also increased to 21% of overall revenues. And then the last chart, uh, highlights the other sources of revenue as well, such as investment income that came in at the highest point in the last five years here in 2025, at $152,000. Uh, and then also highlights the access and franchise fees. 00:06:55,130 So that’s the overall audit results here for the year ended December 31st, 2025. And some of the financial information from the communications letter next. Just like to open it up for any questions. Okay people, do you have any questions. Um, I somebody should ask one question. 00:07:15,870 The very last slide, it says, uh, you pointed out the fact that our investment income substantially increased, especially as compared to like about three years ago when there was a negative situation. Um, as part of your services, do you ever say, compared to other organizations such as you? Um, this particular form of income is less or more, uh, than is typical. 00:07:42,800 And the reason I’m asking that is I’m thinking, well, if we would have heard that like four years ago, maybe we would have jumped on some things earlier and, um, made some extra money. Sure. 00:07:59,600 And we don’t do any specific analysis comparing organizations, but we do take a look at, you know, income and comparative to what types of investments that are being held and making sure that the, you know, related income appears reasonable. 00:08:21,000 Um, and then we also take a look at, um, you know, obviously the reporting for investment income does include interest earnings, but also includes the market value adjustments for any increases or decreases in investments, which can swing significantly from year to year just based on economic, economic, um, economic conditions and interest rates. And so when there are significant amounts of like fixed income securities that have a fixed interest rate, sometimes those market the market value of those securities, you know, can fluctuate. 00:08:39,670 And so it does government audit accounting standards do require that you record each of those fluctuations at the end of the year. And so that you’re presenting the fair value. 00:08:54,870 Um, and so now we’re kind of starting to see, you know, back in 21 and 2022, you know, when interest rates go up and the, you know, commission had fixed income securities at a lower rate, those market values were lower. And so you had to kind of record some of those losses at those times. 00:09:09,630 And now we’re kind of seeing that those fixed income securities are kind of now producing, um, you know, actual interest earnings in those market value adjustments aren’t as significant at this time. And then along the same lines, um, we had a repeat of the fact that we don’t have a lot of staff and there’s, uh, a lack of segregation of certain duties. 00:09:34,270 If there was a thing that we should be doing that were not doing, uh, given the fact that we are as small as we are, you would recommend that you should be doing more of whatever it is to make sure that there’s protection. Um, from fraud due to a lack of segregation of duties. Sure. 00:09:52,430 And so, yeah, that’s a good point to highlight too, just in terms of because that is a repeat finding and one that the Commission has had, you know, for, for several years. And that’s just acknowledging that there’s certain accounting duties that, you know, do not have perfect segregation, as you indicated in terms of, you know, one individual initiating an activity, another individual 00:10:08,200 recording and processing, another person with, you know, custody of the asset and another individual responsible for recording and recording or reporting and reconciling that information. When any individuals can have access to perform multiple accounting functions that can exist. Um, but the commission does, you know, have, um, some mitigating controls in place to monitor. 00:10:28,530 Um, has a third party involved in some of the recording and accounting associated with that. But, um, in terms of the cost benefit of resolving that and potentially adding other individuals to kind of further segregate duties that sometimes, you know, um, may not make sense, just kind of 00:10:43,430 based on budget. And, you know, you know, resources and kind of where you’re at financially, you know, going forward as well. So it’s just kind of that balance there is that risks there that, you know, governance is required to monitor and manage. 00:10:57,070 But you know, what benefit is there? You know, with the mitigating controls is kind of up to up to management to determine there. So but given our size, if you discover something in the industry that, uh, better makes it so that that thing can’t happen due to a lack of segregation, you would inform 00:11:14,470 us, oh, there’s a new way that people can monitor this with this new program or whatever. Sure, that’s what I’m worried about. Yep, yep. And, um, there are areas that I think are at heightened risk, like you said, of error or potential, you know, fraud. 00:11:30,500 And so direct access to the system to make journal entries or manual map modifications. We’ll take a look at kind of those processes. And it’s really the year end financial reporting that we take a really hard look at, just to be sure that, you know, the year end reconcile, uh, reconciliation process, which that process is contracted out to another accounting firm and third 00:11:47,000 party. So I think that gives you gives a very good, um, third set of eyes, you know, to those numbers that I think helps to kind of limit the risk of it more. Okay, good. 00:12:07,870 Anybody else have any questions? Um, so the I guess we don’t have to have a motion that the, um, budget the report has been, um. Oh, no, it does ask for approval of the audit report. So, um, is there a motion to approve the 2025 Cable Communications Commission? Media audit report? So moved. Is there a second. Second? Discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye aye aye. Those opposed say no or nay. That motion carries. Okay. 00:12:39,570 Now we’re being asked to appoint a nominating committee. That’s item four. Uh, part two. Yes. Mister chair and commission members. Good morning. Every year at the September meeting, we approve a nominating committee that works to present a slate of officers that will be voted upon at the November meeting. 00:13:00,300 Um, three members, Chair Lonegan and I talked about who to appoint to the nominating committee. And we have three members who have said yes, and we have them before you today. Uh, Darryl Santas, commissioner from Brooklyn Center, has it Parmar from Brooklyn Park, and then Beth Kramer from new Hope. 00:13:16,200 So these members will meet at some point over the next month to, um, come up with the slate of officers and who is on our executive committee. It’s on your screen right now. 00:13:33,930 Um, I won’t read through, but I’ve always been very proud that we have seven generally of our nine cities represented on the executive committee. I do know we will have at least three vacancies, one vacancy. With the passing of Commissioner Roger Bergman of Golden Valley earlier this year. Uh, Carol Morris, representing Maple Grove, will be retiring. 00:13:50,070 And, um, Darryl Santos of Brooklyn Center is retiring from our body at the end of the year, and he will be very missed. So, um, we will have at least three vacancies. So if anyone is interested in stepping into one of these leadership positions, please let me know. At some point over the next month. Um, or let one of our nominating committee members know. 00:14:05,900 But with that said, I would recommend that we approve the nominating committee. Uh, discussion. Does anyone have a motion to approve the people that are being appointed to the nominating committee? Adam. Make a motion. Is there a second. Second? Uh, it’s been seconded. Any more discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye aye. 00:14:31,030 Aye aye. Those opposed say no or nay. That motion carries. Um. Now we’re going on to the presentation and hopeful approval of the northwest suburbs cable Communications Commission 2027 budget. Sometimes Shannon pointed out to me that we refer this on to the executive committee. Uh, we’re doing a little differently today. 00:15:01,930 We’re just asking the commission to approve the budget and not going through that extra step. Um, probably a good idea, because the commission is really the body that approves the budget anyway. So this way we won’t have to bring it back again for Darryl’s last meeting in December. All right. Mr. 00:15:26,470 Chair, Commission, I am very pleased to present the 2027 budget to you after two very difficult budget cycles. As you all know, this budget process was much more favorable than the last one. And that was really, um, thanks in part to many of the changes that we made over the past year. 00:15:42,800 We will begin by looking at this graph that if you’ve been on our commission, you’ve seen before, this is our cable Commission revenue graph that outlines the two different ways that we receive funding. Uh, the pink line. This is also in your packet. If it’s hard to read up there. Uh, pink line up top, that is the franchise fee line. 00:15:57,530 We’ve received 5% of gross revenues from cable television service from our nine city area, and then peg fee funding. That’s the bottom line. That’s yellow there. And we now receive 2.25% of gross revenue from cable television subscribers in our area. If you will see it’s ticking up just a little bit. 00:16:17,200 And that is because with our cable franchise extension last year, we moved from receiving $1.36 per subscriber to to that 2.25%. So that more than doubled our Peg funding. It is still declining. Don’t get excited. But we got bumped up to a higher place to decline to, so that is it’s good news. 00:16:35,430 It means more revenue for us. Um, on the next slide you’ll see some changes here that I am very proud of. This is our projections, expenses and balances sheet. And it’s the same one that’s in your packet as well. If it’s hard to read that. 00:16:50,670 Now if you remember last year when we presented this sheet, the balance is lying on the very bottom that indicated that if we kept spending and receiving in the way that we were, we would be out of money. Starting by 2028 and we would go through our revenue. 00:17:05,270 If you look at this line now, thanks to three changes that we made last year on the balances, we still have 2.25 million in the bank in 2031. That is a big change. There are three reasons why this happened. First, the revenue stopped making those big steep drops and it returned to something a little slower, a little more predictable. 00:17:23,930 Of course, we could see those steep drops again, but we saw kind of a return to what we were used to, which is about 3% quarter over quarter. And then we are bringing in more revenue. Those Peg fees are cable extension, franchise extension, increased the amount of Peg funding that we are receiving. And we also are changed up our investments. 00:17:38,330 This was something strategic. I had the help of Chair Lonergan and many of these investment meetings, and it really was changing our thinking. 00:17:51,800 I remember sitting down with our investment advisor at one of these first meetings and he’s like, well, you have all of this in reserves for a rainy day. And I said, sir, the rain is here. I’m looking out the window. The rain is here. It’s time to make some changes. So we were able to convert some of our investments that were coming due to money market accounts. 00:18:05,600 With the interest fueled right back into our checking account, that gave us greater operating revenue. So that’s made a big difference. And then finally, as you all know, we reduced our expenses and our the way we operate in a very big way. Last year, it was a hard process, very difficult, but it really set us up for a better place within the next few years. 00:18:20,700 So those three changes really changed this graph and changed our outlook in a very favorable way. Moving on to the next slide, the commission budget that’s in your packet is fairly straightforward. Monthly fees on the top line. Those are our Peg fees. The quarterly that’s down below. That’s a larger number. Our franchise fees with interest income. 00:18:41,600 We’re expecting to bring in about 3.3.4 million in revenue. Expenses down below are fairly self-explanatory. We are increasing the budget for legal services due to our continued push for broadband franchising. The largest line item out that’s at the bottom of that expenses is the 2.696 million. That’s the line that funds media. So that is the commission’s largest expense. 00:19:06,400 The commission also owns this building, and that’s reflected in the very bottom of the budget. We have money set aside for building repairs and maintenance. We are very fortunate to own this building, and we try to take really good care of it. 00:19:19,270 And then we’re asking for a capital budget request of two air conditioners, one in our server space. If you know servers, they tend to run hot. So we need to replace an air conditioner there. And then one in the control room. On the media side, it’s not good when your air conditioner is raining in the control room. 00:19:34,130 But we’ve had a few incidents this year, so those are up for requests for this next year. And with that said, I’m happy to answer any questions on the budget. We can refer this to the Executive committee as mentioned before, or we can have approval. So I’m trying to find the pleasure of the commission. 00:19:51,930 Uh, anybody have any questions or comments about the budget? Mr. chair? Yes. Thank you. I just offered my thanks to staff. As was mentioned, I know the last couple of years has been very difficult. Um, certainly not completely out of the woods yet, but to be where we are, it is a good feeling. 00:20:11,530 And again, just offer my thanks to staff for all the hard work. Yeah, and many city managers and administrators will have great sympathy for what you had to do a year ago. 00:20:29,870 Uh, laying off people that you knew and worked with and, um, we did the best that we could, and we did something that had to be done. And everybody here that was on the commission participated in that. So everybody deserves some credit for, um, being willing to vote for that and, and to do it even though it was sort of unavoidable. So yeah, thank you for that. 00:20:50,530 Uh, so is there a motion to approve the 2027 Cable Communications Commission budget? So moved. Is there a second. second discussion? And this is not the media budget that occur later at another meeting to follow this. Um, no more discussion. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye aye. Those opposed say no or nay. That motion carries. 00:21:21,930 Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, next is informational items. And, um, legal and legislative update is on that. I do want to comment on the fact that, um, by necessity, really the legal fees are going up next year and those are more than offset by the fact that there was a suggestion that we should or I 00:21:48,070 expect it to be more than offset by this fact that there was a suggestion that after five years, we have an audit of what Comcast has been paying to us, and I would expect that, um, in so much as every time we do an audit, we more than make 00:22:06,330 up our legal fees and get a lot of money. Uh, relatively speaking. Um, that, um, through the efforts of, of our attorney largely, uh, having this audit, uh, that we’re going through right now will more than make up for what the increase in legal fees are. 00:22:26,770 And, of course, there’s reasons for the increase in legal fees to. So with that, go ahead. Well, thank. You, Mr. Chair. Good morning everyone. Um, my, uh, my report is in your packets. 00:22:51,200 The last four pages of your packet, um, in that in that report, I, I, uh, I gave a pretty significant update on, um, some litigation that’s going on with broadband franchising. So, um, I would encourage you to, to read that we have some litigation going on in Washington County District Court with, uh, Lake Elmo and Woodbury, two separate matters. 00:23:12,530 Uh, there was a temporary injunction issued against the city of Lake Elmo and, uh, that, um, that order has now been appealed. It was appealed last week. That’s an update from the report that wasn’t in the report because it just happened last week. 00:23:30,100 Um, and then there’s some litigation at the FCC with a preemption petition against the city of Maple Grove and the commission and, um, we have submitted our opposition as a response. And then, uh, and, uh, reply comments will be due here, uh, next week. So there’s a lot going on with, uh, broadband franchising on the litigation front. Um, there’s also activity going on with, um, on the legislative front. 00:23:54,200 So, um, you should know that I’ve, um, presented at the League of Minnesota Cities to their policy committees on broadband franchising. Um, I’ve been told that every single committee, with maybe one exception at the league, um, uh, people have been bringing up broadband franchising, so that’s good that it’s getting, uh, at least from my first perspective. That’s good. 00:24:18,700 Um, so we think that it will be a priority for the league in the, in the upcoming session, and we’ll continue to work, you know, with the league through that process. Shannon, by the way, has been absolutely fantastic. 00:24:38,000 I know we’ve mentioned her before, but if you’re newer to the commission, uh, Shannon’s been a rock star going up to the Capitol and testifying on behalf of broadband franchising, but also other ways of funding community media. Uh, going forward. And her work and Magda has been terrific. Um, uh, the chair mentioned, uh, the franchise fee review. I thought I would give you just a very brief update on that. 00:24:59,470 Um, through my firm, uh, the commission has engaged a company called Ash Pond Schuylkill, and I reported on this before, but it’s been a little bit, uh, they’re a nationally known, um, accounting firm that reviews the franchise fee and peg fee payments of cable operators. Um, you know, in my view, they’re probably the best in the country at doing this. 00:25:22,300 Um, just given their experiences, um, each ash pond, Schuylkill, each have 20 plus years, um, and some, you know, one of them even more, but at least 20, um, and I’ve had experience working with them here in the Twin Cities, but also, um, across the country on franchise fee reviews. 00:25:44,330 They have prepared a final report and they’ve delivered that to me. Um, what I’ve done now is I’ve, I have asked, uh, I shared that final report with Comcast and asked them to respond to the findings and the report. And when I have those responses, then I’ll, we’ll we’ll get back together again. We may have a work session. 00:26:05,800 I may suggest a work session to go over the the final report and Comcast, uh, responses to it. I also made a data request. Um, to Comcast when I submitted the, uh, the final report of Ashbourne Schuylkill. So you should know that within the next 30 or 45 days, I’ll get a response from from Comcast. 00:26:26,870 I just recently sent it over to to Comcast. Um, and then we’ll go from there. You’ll, you’ll have you have an idea where Ashbourne Schuylkill landed and you’ll have an idea of where Comcast landed. So you’ll have the full picture when we get together. Um, let’s see. Oh, notice a proposed rulemaking. 00:26:46,070 I’ve been working on. These comments are due on Monday, so I’ll be submitting comments on behalf of the commission. Uh, I believe the league is joining our comments. I believe Matt is joining our comments. Um, I believe the City of Saint Paul is joining our comments and any other, um, commissions like yours are joining these comments. 00:27:03,430 So it’ll be a really good set of comments on behalf of Minnesota local franchising authorities. Um, and basically this is we call this the wireline n PRM notice, proposed rulemaking. 00:27:25,770 Um, the important thing to know about this is that the FCC is, um, um, suggesting of making rules that would preempt local governments relating to, um, right of way fees. Um, and obviously that would be a negative impact on, on all of your cities. And this commission. Um, so, uh, in my spare time, that’s what I’m doing. Um, so those will go out Monday, probably Monday morning. 00:27:45,330 So just be on the lookout. Um, channel will probably send you, um, a summary and a link to the comments. Um, Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, maybe Monday, if we’re really good, if I’m really good. And getting the summary out. Um, and I think that’s. 00:28:04,700 Oh, uh, I was at Natalya earlier this week, so I spoke to at Natoma. That’s the national organization, um, for municipalities on telecommunications and cable matters. Um, I was asked to speak on Tuesday afternoon in Kansas City, and, um, um, it was a good, lively group. Lots of interest in Minnesota’s activity and broadband franchising, for sure. On a national level. 00:28:29,670 Um, and so my, my, uh, my presentation was, uh, rapid fire. So you, you go there and then you have no idea what the crowd is going to ask you, and you hope that you know the answers when they do so or can refer them somewhere else. Um, but seem to go, okay. 00:28:52,000 So with that, I’m happy to answer any questions that you might have. Questions? Anybody. That was a good, uh, preparation for your appellate court practice to have people give you rapid. fire questions. 00:29:15,070 Uh, unless there are any other questions, we will move on to other, um, and, Shannon, do you have any staff things that are under other members of the commission? Do you have anything that you want to bring up under other, uh, hearing? None. And a motion to adjourn. Well, before that, I do I do want to say thanks to, um, Roger Bergman, who passed away since our last meeting. Uh, he was a dedicated member of the commission for a long time. Uh, Golden Valley representative. 00:29:41,670 He never failed to, um, really, most of the time be here early. Um, be here. Um, when he was on a different committee, and, um, you know, he he wasn’t a city council member. He wasn’t a city staff member. 00:30:02,330 Uh, he was just doing this out of the goodness of his heart for a long time. So I want to thank him. If he could hear this and thank his family for the time that he spent away and just acknowledge what a good person he is and what a great job he did for us. So, uh, anybody. 00:30:19,630 Oh. So unless anybody has anything else, uh, a motion to adjourn is in order. Is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Is there a second? Second? All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye aye aye. Those opposed say no. Renee. The motion carries. We sit. Adjourned. All right. 00:30:43,070 We’re gonna just slide right into the media board of directors meeting here today. Um, I believe we’re good with roll call. Right, Shannon? We are. Okay. Um, Shannon, you wanted to welcome new board member. Yes, I’d do it, too. I just don’t want to mess up your name by accident. Naima. Basher from Golden Valley. 00:30:59,670 She is the new communications manager for that city. And really new on the job. But she’s already been by for a tour and an orientation for board service. It’s got lots of ideas for communication in the city, and we’re excited to join you and be alongside you in that effort. So welcome and thanks for being here bright and early. 00:31:16,700 Thank you. Thank you. I’m happy to be here. Thank you. Welcome. All right. Uh, next we’re going to move on to approval of our agenda for today. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda, please? So moved. There we go. Second. Well, we don’t need a second for this meeting, but thank you for your enthusiasm. 00:31:35,900 I appreciate you running. Early, but I am awake. I got. You. Um, it’s really not a debatable issue. So all in favor of approving the agenda? Hi. all opposed? All right, there we go. Now we’re moving ahead. Um, unanimous approval on that. Uh, moving into consent items. 00:31:54,430 Um, we’ve got two items on the consent agenda. Approval of meetings from the meeting minutes from May 21st, and approval of the treasurer’s report. Anybody can remove something from Moore. Um, conversation that they’d like to. Otherwise, I’ll entertain a motion for approval of the consent items. Motion to approve consent items. Thank you. Daryl. Okay. 00:32:16,470 Any conversation or questions about that? Hearing none. All in favor of approving the consent items? I opposed. Great. Moving right along. Um, agenda item number four. Action items. Resolution. Accepting donations of CC media. Yes. Mr. President and board members, I always like to read the folks who donate to us. 00:32:36,730 We are a nonprofit and we have some routine donators. So. Or donors. Excuse me. So we’re thankful for them. Fatima Hajji Taki and Alicia Cameron. And then we had a one time donation from Thaddeus Stryker for a total of $75 received. Since May. We have give to the max day coming up. So we are hoping for a big push then as well. 00:32:54,470 So I would ask that we approve the resolution accepting donations. Great. Thank you. Okay. Can we get into resolution to accept the motion to accept these donations. Please? Excellent. Um, any questions or conversation about. This? Awesome. 00:33:15,800 I just want to thank the donors for giving voluntarily of their own resources to help support media. Um, with that said, all in favor of approving the donations. I, I opposed. Great. Unanimous approval. Um, next action item. Appointment of the nominating committee. Yes, Mr. president, board members, the media board of directors has elections for officers every two years. 00:33:35,630 So it’s a little different than the commission that elects every year. They elect every two years. But we follow much the same process where we put a nominating committee before you and, um, nominating committee meets over the next month to propose a slate that will be voted on. 00:33:52,230 Then at the November meeting with the term beginning right after the November meeting. And so we have the following members who’ve agreed to serve on the nominating committee Beth Kramer of New Hope. Michael, Staff at Large member. And Bob woods and At-Large member. So we ask that these nominating committee members be approved. Any questions? Hearing no questions. Can I get a motion to approve the nominating committee members as suggested. 00:34:14,500 So moved. Okay. We have that motion. There was no dialogue last time. Don’t think there’s going to be any at this time. So all in favor of appointment of the nominating committee? I. I opposed great. If we can get the next one presentation approval of mayor budget 2027. 00:34:32,100 Yes. Before we jump into the budget, I’m wondering if we could go back to slides because I did not recognize the current officers for media. So here’s here’s who is currently on our executive committee, and I know we’ll have at least one vacancy with Mr. Daryl Santos rotating off. 00:34:50,330 So if anyone’s interested in serving on the Executive Committee, please let us know. Thank you. So all right then we’ll go into the budget, if that’s okay. Thanks, guys. Uh, the media board of directors, budget was once again a much better process than it has been the last two years. The budget is just over $3 million. 00:35:10,300 And I would like to thank the staff members that really helped in putting this together. So the budget outlook chart that’s on your screen shares our expenses. The largest increase is in program services. These are our people. This includes salaries and benefits. There’s two two different items in the program services line that’s different from previous years. 00:35:28,400 One, we are proposing a 5% cost of living increase for staff members. If you remember, we did not receive any cost of living last year as part of this big effort to reduce expenses. 00:35:44,400 So I proposed just a little higher cost of living increase this year to help say thank you and make up for what staff members did not receive last year. Secondly, I’m proposing a new position. Uh, add a new staff member. And that would be a development director. Um, as we have talked about, we’ve got a little bit more money now, thanks to some of the efforts that we have made over the last few years. 00:36:00,270 And so I would like to use this as runway. Let’s get someone who can get in and fundraise for us, who can gather donations, who can grant, be a grant writer and do those sort of things to really develop that line of revenue that we really need to sustain all departments in our building. 00:36:17,630 So this would not be just for one department. It would be to support media operations as a whole. Um, some of us do the best we can with fundraising on the side when we have time. But I’ll be honest, we could do a lot better. 00:36:31,730 And so I do believe if we have someone that is dedicated to this, there are news operations all over the country that survive this way on donations and on fundraising initiatives. So I would like us to give it our best shot and we have this opportunity. 00:36:47,730 So I’d like us to take advantage of that and hire this person within the next year. As far as other increases, supplies and equipment, fuel costs went up. We’re seeing several increases, contractual services. That’s everything from insurance, payroll, audit services, janitorial and more. 00:37:06,470 Um, all of this is itemized in the following pages, but this kind of sums it up on the next slide, you’ll see the sources of revenue for media. Of course, the largest one comes from the Commission for Higher Creative Services. We generally budget around $100,000. This will be the first year we actually hit that number. So I’m very excited about that. We’ll talk about it in a few minutes. 00:37:24,070 Uh, Google ad revenue is going down and it is continuing to fall. If you use Google, you have probably noticed there is an AI overview that now pops up right below the search engine box. And what’s happening is people are reading that AI overview and they are not clicking on websites. 00:37:38,470 And this is why website traffic and clicks are going down across the board for everybody. And Google revenue will go down across the board as well. Uh, let me see other that’s our in-kind trade media sells and the dubs that we do. And then we also try our best at sports sponsorships. 00:37:55,530 So that’s where our revenue comes from on the next screen I just have some budget highlights. I won’t read through all of the budget, uh, additions of development director. I just mentioned increased expenses. Uh, this year we will be adding audio descriptions on city meetings. 00:38:13,200 This will help us be in greater Ada compliance when we hit that first deadline, which for our commission, because of our size, will be at the end of April of this year. So when we put audio descriptions on your city council meetings, it’s not hardware. It’s really just purchasing minutes. Uh, so and we purchase minutes when they go on sale and they have sales. 00:38:27,800 So, um, we’ll be ready. Ready for that. With Ada compliance, we’re going to replace the Wi-Fi in our building. That’s a cost of around $8,000. We hope to upgrade the control room on the media side of the building. 00:38:44,830 The control room over there was designed, um, more than ten years ago when we had a live newscast, when we had five people in that room running the equipment for that newscast. Now we have one, and we no longer have a live product. 00:39:01,270 And so we’re really just trying to upgrade the equipment number one, but then configure that room where one person can operate all the equipment instead of running around the room to push buttons, which is what happens now. We also have several pieces that are past the end of life, and we’ve had to develop contingency plans. If one dies mid-year. So we hope to put $28,000 into our control room to upgrade that. 00:39:18,330 Our production truck generators are very temperamental. They do not like hot weather to the point that we we pretty much don’t use our big production trucks during the summer if we can help it. 00:39:32,870 So we are going to try to replace the two generators and hopes that, um, we can keep our productions on the air and we don’t have gaps in our games because you can imagine folks don’t like when you miss a whole quarter because you’ve got to get the generator going again. So we’re hoping to purchase two generators for a total cost of $25,000. 00:39:48,400 Uh, we’re hoping to put about $4,000 into the podcast room on this side of the building to upgrade it. The podcast studio continues to be one of the most sought after pieces of equipment. 00:40:02,770 Our studio on this side of the building, and when we put the podcast room together 3 to 4 years ago, we really just pulled equipment from all around the building to make it work. So as the each year we’ve tried to upgrade that just a little bit to make it a more desirable space. Um, again, trying to make everything to be able to be as simple as possible and operate with even one person. 00:40:17,700 If one person wants to come in and do their podcast, they can push all the buttons from one space and then archive. That’s supposed to be conversion, not conversation room. Uh, archive conversion room is a fancy way of saying a dub space. 00:40:35,670 We’re hoping to turn one of these edit bays into a dub space so people can bring in anything from their VHS tapes to their old slides and convert that into something digital. And so this will be something a service that we offer. It’s under the public access umbrella. So if you want to come in and use the equipment for free and learn how you can do that. 00:40:49,730 But, uh, if you would like us to do it, we will charge you for it. So we believe this is something that we can earn a little bit of revenue for, and it will be a service for the community. And so those are the highlights of what’s in the budget. With that said, I will be open to questions. And Mr. 00:41:06,730 President, this can either be referred to executive committee for further discussion or it can be approved. Okay. Any questions. Eric. Go ahead. Yes. Thank you. And thank you. 00:41:27,000 Uh, I was uh, as you may recall, looking forward to seeing some kind of, you know, uh, increase in compensation for the staff given everything that had happened last year. So it’s good to see that I really I just have a question of clarification, and I apologize if I’m not understanding how to read the budget, but I do believe I heard you say there would be a 5% cost of living increase. 00:41:45,070 And when I look at the salaries and benefits lines for each department, it doesn’t seem to align with that statement. Uh, in some areas I see. like a 19% decrease, in others a 35% increase. And then and a lot of departments that’s not even hitting the 5%. Just wondering my reading it wrong. 00:42:03,800 Well, the salaries and benefits line includes like insurance increases as well. So that’s there. And also like some departments have freelance help as well. So it’s not it’s not just one salary with a 5% increase. There are some things in there but it’s people okay. Just to make sure I’m following. 00:42:21,930 So the current staff on the payroll, um, can look forward to a 5% cost of living increase. Correct. But the math in the budget doesn’t seem to reflect that in some departments, the entire salaries and budget line, this percentage change column here is less than 5%. 00:42:45,400 So that would mean that I don’t see the 5% cost of living, and not even counting the benefit part. So that’s why I was confused when you say freelance, yes, that would be bringing in additional people. Yes. And paying them to do other stuff. I’m just focusing on the 5% cost of living.. Right. Well, that that’s how it’s configured. 00:43:07,970 Um, so is there a certain line and maybe I could give more clarification with what’s included in that line? Yeah. I mean, because I don’t have a breakdown of which staff are in which one and how much the freelance accounts for in each line, or the part time folks. Right. 00:43:25,770 I’m sorry, I’m not trying to belabor at this point. I’m just really trying to get clarity. But, um, when you say freelance, just to make sure I’m not confused, you’re saying that’s money available to bring in additional people to do additional work. It’s hourly assistance from hourly people that come in. Yes. Okay. 00:43:46,200 So if we can set that aside, the current staff that are on the payroll. Yes. Should look forward to a 5% cost of living increase. Yes. So that would not be reflective in the freelance dollars. Correct. We increase generally across the board for everyone, our part time staff and our freelance staff. Everyone gets the 5% increase. 00:44:07,100 Okay. I mean, maybe we can have a further discussion on this item in the executive committee because I don’t want to keep everyone here. And I’m sorry if I’m dense this morning. It’s just not quite aligning for me. Um. If there’s a certain line that I can give more clarification. 00:44:23,670 For example, I know one is the sports and events line. Um, um, we had our, our full time events director is no longer with us, but we have one person that shares, um, duties between sports and events, and it so that salary is divided in two places. 00:44:44,670 So that’s one reason I think why those two lines might not align. If we look on the creative services and creative side, you’ll see that the total percentage change of, uh, salaries and benefits is less than 5%. 00:45:06,430 And so in thinking of the people in that particular department, not the freelance dollars, uh, I’m just trying to translate how they can expect a 5% increase in the cost of living. We will definitely not hold anyone out. I’m just saying the document doesn’t reflect that. We can we can go back in and look at those and look at the numbers. Okay? Sure. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Any other questions. All right. 00:45:28,970 So taking a look at this particular item, we’ve got two routes here. We can either approve this budget today and move it ahead. Or it can be referred to the executive committee for further examination. Then brought back to um the group. So does anybody just kind of like a does anybody have any propensities to which direction they want to go free conversation. 00:45:52,300 I would like it preferred so we can discuss the item. Anybody else any other side. Do I have any acknowledgement that people want to approve this today, or if they would prefer to have it, go back to executive committee. Adam. my preference. Is to adopt it today. My preference is to adopt it today. Okay. 00:46:16,300 So we’ve got a couple of different things. So let’s just go ahead and I’ll accept a motion one way or the other. I move that it be referred to the executive committee okay. So we’ll act on that motion. Um anybody want to discuss that. Yes, yes. Go ahead. 00:46:33,370 Um, I feel that, you know, there are a couple of items that, you know, we could get clarity on and then we could come back and fully support and adopt this. There’s still time to adopt this budget. 00:46:46,130 You know, we have one more meeting, and we did spend a lot of time last year talking about how we were going to have more input from the board as a whole on these items. Um, and it’s a little surprising that, you know, we didn’t get the opportunity to do that. 00:47:04,100 And so some were having our first executive committee meeting really in a long time. It would be nice to be able to discuss that there. Okay. Any conversation to the opposition. My position gets a chance to go first. Okay. Um, we did not have oppositions kind of balanced. And according to our rules, it needs to kind of go back and balance things. 00:47:23,130 So we’ll go ahead right now and we’ll just call for a vote. So, um, all in favor of moving this to executive committee, please say I. I, I. Um, opposed. Nay, nay. Okay. So seems close. 00:47:40,670 Can I just do a show of hands to make it easier to calculate, please? Sure. So, um, again, those who want to move this activity, just go ahead and stick your hand up. We’ve got three for that. And then opposed. Okay. The opposition the the opposed. Um this motion fails. Can I have a motion to the opposite then please? I will move. To adopt. The proposed budget. 00:48:05,230 Okay. Thank you. Adam. Uh, any additional conversation? Hearing none. All in favor of approval of this budget? I’m sorry. Excuse me. Okay. Yeah. Um, yes. I actually also have some questions on the budget. Um, dealing specifically with the news and sports, uh, control room retrofit. 00:48:25,000 I know I reached out to Shannon yesterday to ask some questions, and I got a couple answers. Um, it it’s with regards to the specific items and the choice and technology change for the switching equipment and how that was made. 00:48:43,130 And was there or is there any analysis or plan that was followed or technology roadmap, if you will, in making that choice? Or was it just right? So, um, depending on that answer, I might be satisfied with this budget or not. So that was an additional reason I would like would have liked to have had the opportunity to refer it to executive committee. For following. I just following our rules. So. 00:49:06,600 Shannon, do you want to respond? I will uh, staff members came together. We actually had one one staff member go to nab uh, in Las Vegas to to research different technology options. The technology we have in the control room today is Grass Valley. 00:49:26,930 And so the decision was made to go to Vmax, which is, um, a more affordable option and has more affordable long term support. I’m told the only training cost that we would need would be staff time. And so we have one V mix, uh, for creative services. We have several control rooms. In case you don’t know, we have two production trucks that are both on different switcher systems. 00:49:47,200 We have a control room on this side of the building that’s on a different switcher system, and one in the in the news side that’s on a different one. These were all rolled in in different times. So I can’t give you the reasoning and rationale for each one. 00:49:59,930 Um, but we’re looking at installing a v mix on this side in the podcast room. I’m told it will be very simple. It will have three buttons. So it’s very simple for the public to come in and be able to operate that, particularly when we have several one person shows. 00:50:15,830 Um, and then that it’s a good switcher on the other side of the building for what we do now, which is pretty simple, shows that are done, um, edited in post-production. I don’t know if that helps. Right. 00:50:38,400 I think this um, so as you mentioned, there’s already a quite a diverse selection of equipment and consistency due to lack of forward thinking or planning on a technology roadmap. In the past, it would have been good to be able to provide some input along the way. Or do do some review. Um, because I know that’s not everyone’s expertise, right? Um, and so. 00:51:05,670 Yeah, I guess speaking to Eric’s point, having had a chance to look at this before. Friday and ask questions and or have been involved in the planning in the first place as part of an advisory committee would have been appreciated in this case. All right. Okay. Any additional conversation? Okay. All in favor of approving the 2027 budget? I, I opposed nay. 00:51:32,800 Okay, I’ll take it. Um, moving on to agenda item five, information items, sports legacy club. President and board. I would like to call sports director John Jacobsen to the microphone. Who better to talk about our sports and leaving a legacy since he’s on the road to retirement. As you all might remember, retiring this spring. So, Mr. Jacobsen. 00:51:57,970 Thank you very much. Well, it’s just something we’ve kicked. Around for the last couple of years. Um, it’s a way to perhaps bring some additional revenue and we go and it’s those of you that have been on the other side of the building and seen our Hall of Fame members. 00:52:16,200 We’ve walked by there before, half jokingly, like this person here could run for ten years if they wanted to based on how they’ve done professionally. And a lot of pro athletes. And so we thought, well, let’s see if we can reach out to some of those people. And so we’ve developed, um, the legacy Club. 00:52:35,870 You all have a brochure in front of you that kind of lays it out there different, uh, giving levels. Um, that we have, uh, laid out for people. And we have a website or a web page rather on the media website. Now that’s live, we’ll start promoting that. 00:52:56,200 We’ll have a 62nd PSA that’ll run soon, that people will be able to see, um, when they’re watching our channel, we’ll be able to catch it online as well. Um, the different levels I mentioned, um, we have one anonymous donation already for $250. 00:53:17,670 We got we got, uh, a start, but if you know anybody that’s, uh, interested in helping, maybe a parent or grandparent that’s appreciated our coverage of, uh, their child or grandchild or neighbor or whatever. Um, please let them know. And any of you that want to donate as well can do that. Um, we appreciate that. Um. You can see some of the highlights that we’ve had, uh, over the years. 00:53:41,000 And we want those to be able to continue for future generations of people watching CCI long after I retire. And I will add that we have hired, excuse me, someone to help us with fundraising. 00:54:00,430 And it’s, uh, John’s wife, Lisa Jacobson, who many of you know, she was mayor of Brooklyn Park, but she was also a fundraiser for the Saint Paul Winter Carnival and several non-profits. And so she kind of came to us and helped us shape this. And she’s been very busy at work developing a database with John and Jay’s help. 00:54:15,000 Of all the athletes that we can, we can go after and is working on getting like that first big donation for us. So we needed somebody to be boots on the ground. And we are very thankful for the work that she’s done so far. Yeah, she’s with us for the rest of the year and kind of get us started. 00:54:29,070 And then the hope is that the development director that we hire in 2027 will be able to kind of take that and continue this. But yes, one of the first things is developing a database of some of these people to reach out to, um, that maybe have the means to be able to contribute. And so thanks to my wife for doing that. Okay. 00:54:49,270 Do you guys have any questions for John? I do. Yeah. Yeah. Um. Is this legacy club just part of, like as a so it’s just any contributions are for a non-profit and can be written off. Yes. Tax deductible. Tax deductible. Um or is this kind of a separate donation pool. 00:55:15,130 Right. Um, the the overarching picture, if you remember, our strategic plan is to figure out a funding stream for each one of our four major departments. And what I have found in researching ways to fund sports, there are not grants out there for sports. 00:55:33,270 There’s just this belief that the business community and the local communities will fund their sports coverage. And so if we are going to figure out a sustainable way to fund sports, it’s going to have to be through donations. So this is this is it. This is one this, along with sports sponsorships. 00:55:49,670 Um, I think I think if you look at how much our sports department cost, I feel like we can do it. So this is one of those pieces. That might be a good thing to put on here, that it is a tax deductible. I’m looking at the Legacy Club. Yes. Thank you. Very nice by the way. Good, good. But that might be a good bet. 00:56:03,430 Because we haven’t sent them to the printers yet. This is a special copy for you. Guys. Thank you. Thanks. And depending on the. Level you’re asking me, I get a. media Legacy Club. Cup. Great idea. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you. All right. Um, moving on. Next item. Staff reports. 00:56:31,830 Yes. I am pleased to present your staff reports. If you notice, there are a few pages in your packet. I won’t highlight everything, but I’ll highlight a few of the larger initiatives that we’ve worked on in the past few months. Right now it is candidate season. 00:56:48,430 We are inviting 110 candidates into our building to record a 45 second candidate statement. Some of you have been through this process. Uh, we set aside 30 minutes for each one of those candidates so they can record their statement. 00:57:02,470 They can watch it, they can make sure it’s it’s good and it’s ready for publication on October 1st. Um, the only rule is you can’t say anything bad about anybody. And I’ve only had one person do that the whole time. So we’ve got a good group of candidates. Um, we’ve had 66 through already, and we have 20 scheduled just for this week. 00:57:16,300 So it’s pretty busy in the studio over here. I really enjoy working with candidates. Many are polished, some it’s their first time, so we try to treat everyone fairly. Uh, we’re covering 45 races this year and then 18 candidate forums, and there’s, um, some races are on the same day, so that adds up to 46 races. 00:57:35,000 And then we’re also doing some for higher work as well in this category that I wanted to highlight. We have 13 different forums that we’re doing for hire for the League of Women Voters, Lake Minnetonka, Plymouth area, and then the North Metro Mayors Association. 00:57:52,730 So very busy up until election season, but we hope to link all of our nonpartisan candidate information to the League of Women Voters website on their vote for one one. Um, with the decline of local newspapers profiling candidates, this is a way we can kind of help fill that gap as well. On the next page, we have our Hall of Fame members this year. Mr. 00:58:09,200 Jacobson, can you quickly tell us about these individuals? Did I mention that we have the Hall of Fame wall that you’ve seen on the other side of the building, which includes over 90 members now, former athletes and coaches? We started this back in 2004 as a way to recognize the accomplishments 00:58:26,670 of some of the great athletes and coaches that have come through the northwest suburbs, uh, through the years. So, uh, starting top left, Ken Novak junior is now the all time winningest coach in Minnesota boys basketball history. He broke the record this past season. 00:58:42,270 He retired after the season after 40 plus years of coaching. The last 37 at Hopkins. Uh, Cheney, new top right, was a three time, uh, state champion in gymnastics from Champlin Park High School. 00:59:02,670 She’s the only gymnast in state high school league history to record a perfect ten score at the state meet, had a ten on the vault. Um, in her last year competing, uh, Evan Hull, bottom left. It was a one of the great running backs at Maple Grove High School. Also was a wrestler state qualifier in wrestling and track and field. 00:59:21,330 Went to northwestern, had a good career, and now in his fourth season in the National Football League, he’s with the Arizona Cardinals and Jordan Hallgren, bottom right, was a record breaking, still holds the record and the girls triple jump at state won that event three times. 00:59:38,870 Was also a state champion gymnastics gymnast and had a good career after that at the University of Wisconsin, and one of the first inductees into the Wayzata Athletic Hall of Fame. When they started that up two years ago. So four very deserving. Nominees are inductees that went in. We had a special 30 minute show highlighting all four of these that played Labor Day weekend, and it’s available online on. our website too. 00:59:59,830 If you want to watch that. Thank you John. Hopefully they want to make a donation. Right. All right. On the next slide, I would like to highlight a really special production that we put on a few, um, few weeks ago, we had a create volunteer come in with who is an actor 01:00:20,500 and has a one person show, but she needed help with staff and some long time create volunteers to help make the magic happen. So we had a studio audience in here. 01:00:37,030 Um, I’d like to recognize Bob Woods and Kevin Vandenberg, who spent many hours on rehearsing and getting the lights just right and making this production really sing. So we had the production on August 25th. Would either one of you guys like to say anything about it? You can blame us for the lighting here today. Sorry about that. Uh, to the train, but it was it was a lot of fun. 01:00:55,600 It was, uh. Uh, you know, a very pertinent topic. And, uh, it was it was great to be part of that. And we learned a lot about how the studio works, and we have some things we can take back, certainly to the large group of volunteers and how the 01:01:11,670 facility works and how we can, uh, leverage some of the things we learned to improve future productions. For sure. Sure. And what I really like to is we had around 20 people come into the building that had never been here before, so it was a way to really introduce them to our services and what we do. 01:01:26,700 So thanks guys. They put a lot over 100 hours that we estimated of time that you guys put into that production. So thank you. And then we have one more slide or two more slides actually um I do want to highlight that we’ve raised more money in creative services this year than we ever have the 01:01:42,230 last two years we have raised about $43,000 all year. And now we’re at 94. So yeah, that’s great. Um, one of the big reasons why is that we moved all of our commencement or graduation services into the for higher production category, so we were able to work with our schools over the course of 01:02:00,130 several meetings to say this was coming. This is something we’re working on. And they were all willing to become clients. So we are very appreciative for that as well. And then we had one of the biggest challenges we’ve ever had since we were charging them is Robbinsdale. 01:02:16,900 And Wayzata is graduation was on the same day on different places. So we had to navigate that. But our crew did a really great job this first time. Anyone can remember that happening. And then finally, this is kind of breaking news. Um, we have an Emmy nominee, um, for multimedia journalists that we are very proud of. Um, we did win this category. 01:02:34,330 Chaz moots won it last year. And so this year, um, we have Dylan Cleveland, one of our reporters is up for the nomination. So this came out just last week. And if you will notice, we are the only community television station in this. This is one of the craft categories. 01:02:50,970 These are really hard to win. And so I was really proud that, um, it’s an honor to be nominated. It feels great to win. But we’re we’re really glad to be nominated. So congratulations to Dylan. If you see him out and about, please pass along your congrats. And that is all I have. I’m open to questions. If we have. 01:03:06,300 Any any questions comments. What is the story or package that Dylan was nominated. When he entered a composite? So it was several different stories that he looped together. So hopefully they’re looking at his shooting and editing and writing and how that all goes together. So yeah. Well, I, I hope he went. He’s very talented. Yeah. Me too. 01:03:27,830 Was there another one that I saw on the side of the. Room? No. Alrighty. Moving on to the next agenda item. I’m looking for a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. There we go. Now. Debatable. All in favor of adjournment, I, I opposed. All right. We are adjourned. We’ll see you next meeting. Looks like November 19th. 01:03:49,030 Yes. And our executive committee meets right across the hall.