"91st Day"
Subcommittee
MINUTES
30 December1998 12:30
PM
The scheduled
meeting of the Electronic Village of Abingdon "91st Day"
Subcommittee held in the Johnston Memorial Hospital Cafeteria was opened by
Jay Cox, Vice-Chairman. There were seven participants present. These
included:
Jay Cox, Vice-Chairman
Jack White
Al Bradley, Secretary
Randy Robertson
David Taverner
Jean Luker
Steve Galyean
The minutes of the 28 October,
1998 meeting were approved as presented with one correction. The temporary
fiber referenced near the bottom of the first page is a two-strand fiber,
not a four-strand fiber as was stated. The minutes were accepted with the
one correction as noted.
New connections were discussed. First among these was the
Glenrochie Professional Building near the Hospital. This extension has been
completed by the Town. Secondly was the proposed connection of the
Washington County Office Building and William King Regional Arts Center. Mr.
Bradley's letter of 8 December 1998 was included in the agenda materials.
There has been no response from the County. An application by French Moore
III to the new North Abingdon Extension is being studied. A final connection
is under consideration for the Summers Law Office at 120 North Court Street,
but no official application has been made by the Highlands Festival office.
The next agenda item was that of the status of the North
Abingdon Extension. The project is complete. Also discussed was Sprint's
temporary fiber connection. Randy Robertson noted that this fiber was
disconnected on 29 December at the Town's end and so the temporary
connection is no longer in use.
Mr. Bradley reported that he and Dr. Moore had made two
recent trips to Richmond on the behalf of the Town and EVA. They had
attended meetings of a study subcommittee established as a result of
hearings held by the Legislators in Abingdon, Lynchburg and Danville. Dr.
Moore has spoken at the 18 December 1998 meeting in order to clarify for the
subcommittee members just what is being done in Abingdon.
The meeting was adjourned for members to witness a
demonstration of videoconferencing between the Hospital and the Municipal
Building using .PictureTel videoconferencing equipment supplied by
NetAccess. Interest in this teleconferencing equipment came about as a
result of the work of the 21st Century Committee which presented its report
including the following excerpted recommendation at the 26 August 1998
meeting:
Videoconferencing and archiving to employ the potential of the Town network
to a fuller extent. A schematic drawing entitled "EVA
Videoconferencing" was developed by David Taverner and available for
all to view.
The videoconference featured Randy Robertson at his office in the Municipal
Building networked with the rest of the 91st Day Subcommittee members
located in the JMH Finance Office Conference room. Randy's image and voice
was transmitted to the Hospital flawlessly and without noticeable blurring
of movement. From Randy's side at the Municipal Building, the Subcommittee
members appeared as television images and with the same quality of audio and
video transmission at both locations.
Following the demonstration, some discussion ensued of
making such equipment available to users of the EVA system. The pairs of
communications ports cost around $2,400 and some additional equipment would
be necessary for more sophisticated usage as is referenced in the schematic
diagram that was developed by David Taverner. While the matter was briefly
discussed, definition of how deeply to involve the 91st Day Subcommittee in
videoconferencing as a potential benefit to EVA customers was left
undecided.
There being no further business, the meeting was
adjourned.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Albert C. Bradley,
Secretary