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electronic village of abingdon "91st Day" Subcommittee
MINUTES [Corrected 4/24/97]
13 February 1997 7:30 P. M.
The scheduled meeting of the Electronic Village of Abingdon "91st Day" Subcommittee held in the Town of Abingdon Municipal Building was opened by Chairman F. H. Moore, Jr. There were thirteen members present. These included:
Minutes of the 15 January 1997 meeting were approved as presented.
Dr. Moore advised everyone of the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Phase 2 EVA project and announcement of the Phase 3 extension to be held in the Municipal Building at 10:00 AM on 19 February 1997 to feature Congressman Boucher and officials of Highlands Union Bank and others.
Dr. Moore also advised that the Town Council had approved the proposed contract with Highlands Union Bank for the Phase 3 extension and Bill Chaffin confirmed that the Board of Directors of Highlands Union Bank had approved the contract agreement also at their 12 February 1997 meeting. The Town Council had not, at this time, agreed to finance a partial extension of the EVA fiber cables from the main offices of Highlands Union Bank at 340 West Main Street to the HUB satellite offices to be located at 266 West Valley Street. The partial extension, as proposed, involved the purchase of enough cable to connect the two systems. The cost of the work as proposed amounted to a total of approximately $70,412; $10,412 in excess of the monies offered by HUB in the contract proposal to the Town. The Town Council was requested, but did not at this time agree, to finance the $10,412 overage from Town funds.
Dr. Moore also discussed our recent experience in the Virginia Legislature. Those present were informed that Delegate Joseph P. Johnson, Jr. had introduced House Bill 2098 at our request which would have changed the Code of Virginia § 15.1-292, allowing counties, cities and towns to construct and operate " . . . a communications system network which may provide cable, telephone, data transmission, or other information or on-line programming services." This bill attracted the attention of telephone and cable companies. When the much-revised bill finally left the House Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns, it bore no resemblance to the original. We, therefore, requested that Delegate Johnson remove the bill from consideration and he obligingly did so. Another separate bill to require [Minutes continued overleaf] utilities to pay localities for their use of street and other rights of way was tabled for further study and so will not be acted upon in this year’s session. Dr. Moore has volunteered his services with the Virginia Municipal League to help with this bill.
Updates on connectivity included:
Committee reports from the newly established Marketing and Content Committees were next. Al Bradley reported that David Taverner and Jay Cox had publicized and offered a quick course for computer professionals and residents of the EVA system, but only two interested individuals attended. Jay Cox stated that the EVA system would soon be generating $1,300 per month with the newest connections in and around the County Treasurer’s Office and from previously connected customers. This amount was recognized as less than expected, but a fair start.
The Contents Committee has announced its first meeting on 17 February 1997 at 7:30 PM in the Municipal Building. The group was informed that Jeff Peatross, EVA Webmaster, was moving to Florida and that a new Webmaster would have to be found. Jackie Stevenson stated that she thought the position of Webmaster now required enough time to be a paid position. This was discussed at some length and decided that, unless some grant or other outside funding was available, there was no money available for this purpose.
There followed some discussion of what the Webmaster’s duties might be. Some of the suggestions included:
With these suggestions, the actual determination of the job description was left for the Content Committee.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully Submitted,
Albert C. Bradley, Secretary
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