MONTANA TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACCESS PROGRAM
FULL COMMITTEE MEETING
November 8, 2006
HELENA, MONTANA
DRAFT
Ms. Kirkland called the meeting to order at 10:00 am.
Committee Members Present: Linda Kirkland (chair), Ron Bibler, Eric Eck, Kristen
Bruner-Kober, Charles Charette, Cheryl Gillespie, Char Harasymczuk, Christy Keto,
Amber Lang. Joe Matthews.
MTAP Staff Present: Connie Phelps, Bowen Greenwood, Iris Lazarus, Susan Sperry
Visitors/Speakers Present: Peggy Williams, DPHHS; Deann Willcut, DPHHS; Barb
Handrup, Hamilton Relay
MOTION: Ms. Kirkland moved and Ms. Keto seconded that the minutes of the
previous meeting be approved. Motion carried.
Public Comment:
Ms. Kirkland called for Public Comment – none offered.
Subcommittee Reports:
Mr. Bibler reported on his attendance at an FCC meeting. Discussion included TTYs
becoming obsolete – we are relying mostly on information systems (computers) and the
federal government does not see IS as telecommunications, therefore does not fall under
FCC guidelines (for captioning, etc..) Other items discussed were legislation for
surcharges that the legislature will be voting on this session (2007)
Director’s Report:
Recap of NASRA and TEDPA
Candidates for MTAP Outreach coordinator have been chosen, interviews to be
conducted and concluded November 17.
Welcome to Amber Lang, representing the disabled as our newest member to the
committee, taking Gil Martell’s place. This position’s term is up in July, 2007, Amber
will reapply at that time.
We have contracted a programmer to write reports and train MTAP staff on extrapolating
more reliable data from our current database.
Report on MAR conference in West Yellowstone
Budget Report: MTAP’s expenses are right on track. The norm is for the beginning of
the year to be slow. Upon release of the Governor’s budget mid-November, the
subcommittee will plan to meet in December.
Hamilton Relay: Barb Handrup presented information about Hamilton Relay’s outreach
efforts done in conjunction with MTAP. Also discussed were the call statistics.
.
Outreach Report: Radio and television advertising is on hold until we have the
outreach position filled, but have renewed our advertising in newspapers and have
targeted Native American newspapers as our next advertising arena.
Equipment Distribution Report: Distribution figures were given. Steve Johnson gave
an overview of different types of training supplied by the equipment specialists, focusing
on 9-1-1 training sessions for law enforcement dispatchers. He also gave an explanation
of troubleshooting.
Discussion ensued concerning new technologies available.
THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED AT 1:20 PM