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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCommunications Advisory Committee 12/18/07 4646 Dakota Street S.E. Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 Communication Advisory Committee Agenda December 18,2007 4:00 pm. 1. Request to Purchase a Tricaster Portable Live Production System. II. Proposal to Conduct Neighborhood Network Meeting www.cityofpriorlake.com Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 4646 Dakota Street S.E. Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 Date: To: From: Re: December 18, 2007 Communications Advisory Committee Frank Boyles, City Manager Proposal to Conduct Neighborhood Network Meeting Introduction The purpose of this report is to determine whether, and in what format, the City should proceed to conduct a neighborhood networking meeting. History The 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan under the Communication Vision Element provides that as part of a City-wide communications plan, the City should "explore a neighborhood outreach program and conduct neighborhood townhall meetings at different locations within the City." Accordingly, On August 6, 2007, at the Communications Advisory Committee recommendation, the City Council authorized the administration of a written survey to 56 neighborhood representatives requesting that they be returned completed so they could be analyzed and a neighborhood meeting scheduled to discuss the results. The purpose of the survey was to learn what steps the City could take to help homeowners associations and neighborhoods create a greater sense of community, improve safety and be more informed about City issues. Current Circumstances Of the 56 surveys distributed, 19, or 34%, were completed and returned (see attached master copy including responses.) Ten (59%) of the 17 respondents to the first question wanted a police officer, firefighter, City Council member or other City employee to discuss a City topic, concern or program. As to the topics to be presented by the City employees, the three topics most often mentioned for discussion were: crime prevention, traffic safety and social activities. Respondents were asked to pick their top three tools for getting community and city safety information. The largest single source was the Prior Lake American (13), next was This Week in Prior Lake (8), and finally the Star Tribune (5). When asked, would you read a column from the Police Chief, eight said they would read it every time it is written, while 9 said they would read it occasionally. The biggest traffic concern in the community is speeding (10). :'vf:\i\dvisory Bodies\Communications Advisory Committ~lc;;i~~!jipJ"Jieke.com '-'-"~--~~."---~-- .~-,~-------- ~ Phone 952.447.9800 / Fax 952.447.4245 Of those who returned a questionnaire, eight stated that National Night Out is a neighborhood event for them, four said it was not and six said somewhat. Ten suggestions were made to improve National Night Out. When asked, nine respondents said the level of crime reporting in their area was just right while three said not enough and six had no opinion. Six suggestions were made to improve crime reporting. When asked if their neighborhood or association would benefit from a neighborhood liaison, 11 said they would greatly benefit, five said little benefit and two had no opinion. Twelve respondents thought their association or neighborhood has done an excellent or pretty good job of creating a sense of community. Eight suggestions were offered for improvement. The final question was open-ended asking what other steps the City could take to help neighborhoods or homeowner associations. Twelve suggestions were offered. Conclusion The Communication Advisory Committee should determine if it wishes to recommend to the City Council whether a neighborhood networking meeting should be conducted and, if so, the format it should take. Issues The fact that only 34% of those receiving the survey responded suggests that there was not an overwhelming concern on this topic by the people who got the survey. The cover letter sent with the survey provided the incentive of a small gift for those who returned it completed. The results of the survey are instructive in the following areas: 1. There seems to be some interest in having a City representative attend homeowner association meetings. The neighborhood meeting would give us the opportunity to decide who and which topic(s) we should address. 2. A police chief article in E..News updates and paper publications sounds like it would be well read. 3. The next meeting could be an opportune time to get clarity regarding what we can do to make National Night Out better. 4. It would be valuable to further discuss the concept of a neighborhood liaison. 5. Finally, we could discuss in greater detail other steps the City can take to help neighborhoods and homeowner associations. Alternatives The Communication Advisory Committee could: 1. Recommend to the City Council that we conduct a neighborhood outreach meeting. 2. Take no action. Recommended Action Alternative #1. 56 mailed, 19 responses = 34 % The Prior Lake City Council would like to offer support to neighborhoods and community-based homeowner associations in their activities and engage them in becoming more involved in city activities. The purpose of this questionnaire is to learn what resources the city can provide to assist in accomplishing your goals. Please answer the questions below and return the completed questions by mail, e-mail, or in person to City Hall, 4646 Dakota Street, Prior Lake, MN 55372 or to Charlotte Green at cqreen@citvofpriorlake.com by August 15, 2007. The city will tabulate the responses and invite all neighborhoods and association representatives to a meeting to discuss the results and how we can work together to assist one another. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Charlotte Green at 952-44'7-9803. 1. Would you like a police officer, firefighter, City Council member, or other City employee to attend one of your association meetings to discuss city topics, concerns and programs? (circle one) 1 0 Yes 6 No 1 A "maybe" may be a better answer If No, please continue to question 3. If Yes, continue to question 2 2. Which topic or topics would your neighborhood or homeowner's association want discussed? Please put them in rank order with "1" being the most important and "6" being the least important. (Responses were collated by "weighting" the rank order. The most important were given a weight of 6 and the least important a weight of 1. Thus, the category with the greatest interest will have the highest number.) 50 Crime Prevention (Neighborhood Watch, Operation 1.0., Safety Camp, Self-Protection, Crime Reporting, DAR.E.) ~Communications (Code Enforcement, Development issues, 800 MHz radio system, Association Formation) 32 Social Activities (Parks and Recreation, National Night Out, Neighborhood Block parties) ~ Neighborhood Identity (Beautification, Ad opt-A-Park, Adopt-A-Street) ~ Volunteerism (Central Office at City Hall, Civic Organizations, Community Education) ~ Traffic Safety (Traffic Report, Speed Wagon, Traffic Safety Committee) M:\Networking With Neighborhoods Questionnaire responses. doc 3. How do you receive information regarding your community and city safety information? (Please choose your three primary sources) 1 PL TV-15 (Local Government Cable TV Channel) 2 City Council meetings 4 Neighborhood and City Gatherings 1 Civic Organizations I belong to 1 Talking to individual officers 1 Police Flyers 13 Prior Lake American 8 "ThisWeek" in Prior Lake 5 Star Tribune 2 Commercial Television Channels Police and Fire Open Houses 3 Other . Would like faxed "crime alerts" . Website . www.citvofpriorlake.com · Council members (Hedberg, Millar) Don't Know/No Opinion For question numbers 4 thru 9 please circle one answer. 4. How often do you think you would read a column from the Police Chief in the local newspaper? 8 Every time it is printed 9 Occasionally 1 Seldom Never 5. In your opinion, what is the biggest traffic concern in the community? 10 Speeding Signage 2 Not enough intersection controls (stop signs, stop lights, etc) 1 Too many intersection controls 1 Drunk Driving 4 Vehicle Noise 1 Construction 1 Road probIE~ms, please specify · Access to Hwy 13 from Oakland Beach area 3 Other . No real concerns. · Aggressive driving . Need stop light at 150th Street and 13 M:\Networking With Neighborhoods Questionnaire responses. doc 6. In your opinion, is National Night Out an event in your neighborhood? 8 Yes 4 No 6 Somewhat What can be done to make National Night Out better? · I had to work this year on Tuesday, August 7. No one else organized it for our neighborhood. . More city awareness and involvement - supplies. · Maybe each year the City can concentrate on a particular neighborhood. Send the neighborhood flyers saying police and fire will be there for kids. Spend a little more time in that neighborhood. Free tickets for Lakefront Days to the neighborhood organizer with the most attendants. · Stay longer and participate more with neighborhood showing how the fire and police car work to our community. . More community backing/advertising. · Larger involvement by neighborhood and more local government influence. · Allow streets to shut down for a period of time. Better publicity. · The City Council member, police officers, and firefighters will continue to help. Maybe some ideas for communicating the location to the rest of the neighborhood. · Send out packets ahead of time. Our neighborhood would need to plan and have ideas in order to do this successfully. · Difficult to say - to me it seems that it takes a good center of gravity like exceptional neighborhood chemistry or one or two gung-ho neighbors to get it to catch on. We seem to have a crowd that keeps mostly to themselves. 7. How is the level of crime reporting in your area? 3 Not enough 9 Just the right amount Too much 6 Don't know/No opinion How could crime reporting in your neighborhood be made better? · Advertise. Make people think it's the proper thing to do. Have police make statements such as we can use all the help we can get. · If we could receive quarterly reports from the police department on calls responded to on Deerfield/Marshfield. · Make neighbors feel "OK" about calling and reporting something. · Use the electronic message board saying "to see the most recent crimes in your neighborhood visit www... ... Put the sign at the entrance of neighborhoods. · With more cooperation from the dispatch over in Shakopee. M:\Networking With Neighborhoods Questionnaire responses. doc . Odd question - I guess I don't understand it. Am I being asked if people report enough crime when they see it? If so, the answer is yes. Among a core of neighbors, we've adopted NY City's saying, "If you see something, say something." 8. How much would neighborhoods/homeowner associations benefit from a neighborhood liaison, from the City (Police, Fire, City Council member, or other City employee), to be directly responsible for working with your neighborhood? 11 Greatly benefit 5 Benefit a litt~e Very little benefit No benefit 2 Don't Know/No Opinion . We do not have an association in our neighborhood! 9. In your opinion, how well has your association/neighborhood done at creating a sense of community in your area? 5 Excellent 7 Pretty Good 3 Somewhat 2 Very Little Not at all No opinion What else could your association/neighborhood do to create a sense of community in your area? Please explain. . Get involved in the local park and get involved with neighborhood watch. . Develop a project either within Deerfield or sponsor one outside of Deerfield. . I don't think many of us use the park in our neighborhood - Brooksville - due to its remote location and LOTS of mosquitos! . Go door-to-door and introduce themselves. . Nothing much. . Organized events such as Easter Egg hunts, breakfast w/Santa at the warming house, workshops for kids, Le. crafts, sports, picnics. . Getting more people involved in neighborhood activities. Getting the neighborhood more involved in the community. . If we had a "guest speaker" at our meetings - perhaps a city employee, maybe a water patrol sheriff, perhaps a DNR person - something other than business as usual to get residents engaged. 10. What other steps could the City take to help neighborhoods and homeowner associations? · Implement ordinances in our neighborhood. We have a home that is a rental property that has many items and we have asked for order and no response. M:\Networking With Neighborhoods Questionnaire responses. doc · Strengthen neighborhood crime watch program and signs. . See question #8! · Notify neighborhoods I communities with policy decision affecting them are coming before Council. i.e. Burnsville posts signage in affected neighborhoods before coming to Council. . More news or reporting of activities. · Get an RSS feed on the Website that would e-mail people in a specific neighborhood when a topic concerning just that neighborhood came up. Example: street closing, hydrant flushing. The e-mail updates we get now are great! Short and topical. · Could make community meetings. Thank you. . Nothing much. . Stay visible. · Form neighbor watch groups. I believe the community wants to be involved - especially based on the number of National Night Out events. The neighborhoods need to be supported! · Offering a way of asking questions of other associations. Offering tips for increasing neighborhood involvement. Offering ideas for community involvement. · Simply attend a meeting, even if only to observe our micro-governments at work, and be aware of our concerns. Like the city itself, we're always trying to stay in bounds regard resident rights and responsibilities, area expansion, tax code, DNR, code compliance, etc., etc. We have a full plate just maintaining an aging infrastructure on our property. M:\Networking With Neighborhoods Questionnaire responses. doc "~_~io~, .... ~r '\ . ~ \ 4646 Dakota Street S.E. :-\) Prior Lake, MN 55372-1714 n,j ! ". - /" , ~lJ\iNESO:.~ . " Date: To: From: Re: December 18, 2007 Communications Advisory Committee Frank Boyles, City Manager Request to Purchase Tricaster Portable Live Production System Introduction The purpose of this item is to request City Council authority to purchase approximately $12,000 worth of cable television production equipment. Historv Some years ago, the City entered into a franchise agreement with Mediacom to provide cable television services to the Prior lake community. Mediacom also serves Savage and portions of Spring Lake and Credit River townships. During the negotiations for the last franchise agreement, the City and Mediacom agreed that the five percent franchise fee would continue, that a Public Education and Government (PEG) access fee would be collected and that the City would receive $70,000 to purchase new PEG access equipment or replace the original equipment we were provided. We utilized about $30,000 of the funds to upgrade the production equipment in the fire station city council chambers so that our Council and Planning commission meetings could be seen by the viewing public. Upon our relocation to the new city hall, some of the fire station equipment is being reused in the City Hall studio. The vast majority of the equipment was technologically obsolete and inconsistent with our use of DVDs rather than VHS tapes. Current Circumstances In accordance with the 2030 Vision and Strategic Plan, we have identified equipment to increase the number and type of productions for rebroadcast on PL TV 15 by saving the communication coordinator's time in editing. Public Access Equipment We solicited quotes to improve its own portable TV production capabilities to expand its public programming in and out of the studio. Having portable TV equipment will improve the City's ability to producing shows outside City Hall and save time in the process. Shows about recreation, partnerships, parks and outdoor activities can be produced in a shorter time frame and with greater quality. Also, PL TV-15 could begin increasing its public access component, becoming more of a "people's channel." Any Prior Lake resident could get free training in the basics of video production through the Prior Lake Communications Department, checkout equipment and produce video programs, thereby increasing the number and type of productions available for rebroadcast on PL TV 15. www.cityofpriorlake.com _ ____"_,.~~~~_~,_~_~__._d _.~~. . ._~_~~_~~~~_~~>_ . . Phone 952:447.9800 / Fax 9520447.4245 Current time required to complete a 45-minute video production: Time 45 min 45 min 45 min 45 min 240 min 45 min 30 min 135 min (2 % hrs) 360 min (6 hrs) Task Move equipment to site of shoot and set up Videotape production Tear down equipment and return to studio Download digital video tape to computer in real time. Create story board, graphics, add music and clips in real time Burn DVD in real time. Schedule and play show on PL TV 15 Total elapsed time outside the studio Total elapsed time inside the studio New technology is now available which eliminates many of the above steps - particularly those which are most time consuming (editing). The equipment can be used inside or out of the studio. The portable television production system is known as a Tricaster. Time required to complete a 45-minute production with a Tricaster Portable Live Production System: 30 min 45 min 45 min 45 min 45 min 30 min 135 min (2 % hrs) 75 min (1 % hr) Preprogram Tricaster with music, clips, and graphics. Move equipment to site and set up. Videotape production. Tear down equipment and return to studio. Burn production to DVD. Schedule and play show on PL TV 15. Total elapsed time outside studio. Total elapsed time inside studio. As can be seen, the elapsed time to complete a 45 minute production both in the studio and outside the studio is more than cut in half with the Tricaster (10 hours to 4.5 hours). In addition, the production is higher quality and includes multiple angles from multiple cameras. Bids were obtained for each piece of equipment as shown below: Tricaster Production System with keyboard, monitor and case. Full Compass System (without case) DVS Direct DV Gear $5,930.40 $6,689.00 * $6,139.00 Two digital video camelras Full Compass System DVS Direct DV Gear USA Photo Nation Expo cameras $4,749.34 $4,990.00 $5,258.00 * $3,398.00 $3,498.00 Two Boger/Manfrotto Tripods Full Compass Systems DVS Direct DV Gear $946.20 $498.00 $690.00 Adorama * $438.00 One Mackie 1202 Audio Mixers Full Compass Systems DVS Direct Power Max Markertech * $271.00 $349.00 $329.00 $299.99 One Panasonic 15" LCD AV Monitor Webcam Store Full Compass System BH Photo A V Supply $648.00 $648.00 $599.95 * $575.00 * = lowest quote Total Cost DV Gear (Tricaster Production System, keyboard, preview monitor w/case) USA Photo Nation (Two digital video cameras) Adorama (Two Boger/Manfrotto tripods) Full Compass Systems (Two Mackie 1202 audio mixers) A V Supply (Panasonic 15" LCD A V monitor) Sales Tax Shipping (estimated) $6,139.00 $3,398.00 $438.00 $271.00 $575.00 $10,831.00 $704.02 $400.00 $11,935.02 FinanciallmDact The $70,000 in funding originally received by the City from Mediacom was for equipment. Presently there is $39,425 remaining. Our intent has always been to use these funds to upgrade or replace equipment as necessary. In addition to allowing for quicker production, this equipment allows us to begin public access (loaning equipment to the public which they use to create their own productions on cable TV). This is the purpose for which the money was originally received. After this purchase, $27,489.98 would remain in this account. Alternatives 1. Recommend acquisition of the equipment. 2. Recommend that we defer purchase.