Appointment of Timothy Jasionowski, 143 Upham Street, to the Cable Television Commission, for a term of three years, said term to expire last day of February 2028.

Transcript (~5 min @ 1:29)

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▶ 1:19 Jen Grigoraitis: and those are now approved tonight. We have six appointments before us. Uh, the first, uh, appointment on our agenda is ID number 1 2 5 7 5 9 6. Appointment of Timothy Janowski, 1 43 Upham Street to the Cable Television Commission for a term of three years. Said term to expire the last day of February, 2028. Um, Madam Mayor, the, the floor is yours. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Good evening, counselors. Um, I'm thrilled to be here tonight. I do just wanna say it's really lovely, um, to have these meetings and get a chance to be with some of our nominees in person. There's been a lot of laughter and connecting, so thank you for that opportunity. Um, so I'm thrilled to have Mr. Janowski before you tonight to join our newly activated Cable Television Commission. Um, as you can see from his resume, he brings substantial experience in the telecommunications field. He also is a survivor of local government, having served in as, um, it truly is Survivor. Um, an elected position in his previous hometown, uh, um, of Virginia. And he and his wife have lived in Melrose for over 20 years. And it's really wonderful to have residents who've been involved in our community in different ways, um, reach out and wanna get active in local government. So I'm really pleased at your willingness to step up. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank You.

▶ 2:37 Kimberly Vandiver: And, uh, would you like to say anything to us before you open up for questions from the counselors?

▶ 2:41 Speaker 1: Um, as the mayor mentioned, I was once a councilman myself. Um, it's been quite a while. It was in the late nineties. Um, and, you know, coming up in the, the DC area, I've always had a, you know, desire to serve like many of the people who grew up in the shadow of the federal government. Um, you know, I put myself in for a variety of positions here. I, you know, I've also served as a planning commissioner, a member of an architectural review board. Um, but, you know, I think I can help serve the town best in helping bring my telecommunications experience as well as my general technology experience to the cable tele Vision commission. I don't know where we are in terms of reviving it. I know there are franchise agreements, the, you know, the basics of the, the Telecom Act and the like. But anything I can do to help serve the town in this capacity, I'm, you know, welcome.

▶ 3:29 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you so much. Um, are there any questions from the committee?

▶ 3:34 Manjula Karamcheti: I don't have any questions 'cause I don't know enough. But I just wanna say thank you for your previous service and for being willing to step up again. It is so appreciated. Thank you. It seems like it's gonna be a great fit.

▶ 3:48 Speaker 1: So, great. I appreciate it. Um, you know, as I, as I mentioned in my letter, having served as a council member once myself, um, I don't envy the, the role. And, uh, this is a, a fine way to serve as an alternative.

▶ 4:03 Kimberly Vandiver: Councilor Occhio. Yes.

▶ 4:04 Cal Finocchiaro: Sorry. This, um, uh, question is for our mayor. Mm-hmm. Um, could you just explain a little bit about the cable, um, television commission is, um, or we'll do, I mean, I know we've appointed maybe a few other

▶ 4:16 Jen Grigoraitis: People too. Yep. This is our final appointment. So the commission has been in existence for some time, but I don't think has been staffed. So the, the most important role is working with us on behalf of the city to negotiate the agreements with, um, Comcast and Verizon. So those come up on a cycle. We have an opportunity to be engaged, particularly on behalf of local cable access. Um, and then also to hold, um, I believe the commission is supposed to hold a public hearing once a year to hear from residents about public television access. So it's an important role. I know my office relies heavily on MMTV, there are such a critical link to our community, so we wanna make sure that we're putting all of the tools and levers in place. Um, and I, the commission will work closely with City Solicitor Phillips as we do prepare for some of those agreements. And that is probably my comfort level of explaining what the couple Cable Television Commission does. Great.

▶ 5:07 Speaker 2: Well, thank you. Thanks.

▶ 5:08 Speaker 3: Okay. I'll make a motion to recommend. I'm sorry, did you, oh,

▶ 5:13 Speaker 4: Okay. A motion to recommend, uh, by Vice Chair Karen Katy and a second Councilor Occhio on discussion. Uh, Councillor Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, thank you, uh, uh, for being here this evening. Uh, just the one question that, that I, I did wanna bring, uh, any concerns about conflict of interest?

▶ 5:33 Speaker 1: Um, I don't hold any holdings in any telecommunications firms, and I have been actively outta the telecommunications industry since 2020, sorry, 2015. Okay. My current role is as Chief architect of Travelport, which is a travel. And, you know, if you've ever seen anyone at an airport tapping on a green screen, looking like they're staring into the matrix, um, that, um, is the type of technology that I deal with these days. Okay. Uh, global distribution of travel flights, cruises, hotels, things like that.

▶ 6:01 Robb Stewart: Okay, great. Just one that was fair to ask that. Thank you Madam Chair.

▶ 6:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, no worries. Excellent.

▶ 6:04 Kimberly Vandiver: Anybody else on discussion? Okay. Uh, what, uh, all in favor? Uh, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Uh, so that passes, that will go back to the full council with the recommendation for passage. You don't need to attend at that time, but you're welcome to. Um, thank you so much as, as the others have said, for volunteering to serve.

▶ 6:23 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 6:24 Speaker 4: Congratulations. Uh,