Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 04/08/2003TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD MEETING MINUTES April 8, 2003 *** 6:00 PM *** Council Liaison: Kurt Kastein Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh Chairperson: Lawrence Bontempo Phone: 484-3980 (W) Members Present: Larry Bontempo, Curt Cramer, David Heiberg, Herb Saperstone, Tim Tillson, Rob Koellner, Braun Mincher Members Absent: none City Staff Present: Eric Dahlgren, Gary Gordier, Liz Stroh Guests: David Bonsett, Poudre School District CIO Stan Reifschneider, Comcast Chair Larry Bontempo called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM. Approval of Minutes Herb Saperstone moved to approve the minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Dave Heiberg and passed unanimously. David Bonsett - Poudre School District David Bonsett from PSD provided the Board with an update on telecommunications activities at the school district. He reported that a new high school and new elementary school are in construction, with plans to put them on the District's fiber network. Mr. Bonsett explained that a company called Yipes currently has a contract to provide data over the PSD network. Most of the schools are on the PRPA fiber ring, although some are still on frame relay technology because of location. PSD is investigating the potential benefits of buying dark fiber from PRPA rather than purchase bandwidth. He also talked about the addition of technology classes to the high school curriculum. These classes have been made possible by Cisco Systems and Microsoft, and have had a high success rate. The telecommunications technology has also allowed the District to accommodate different learning methods of students. There is currently a "virtual" high school where 06/03/03 kids can get class content via the Internet. Some of the work is still done in the schools, while some can be done at the student's home. Upcoming projects include a shift to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to use the network for some of their voice traffic instead of lines from Qwest. The combination of voice and data on the same network is a long range goal. The installation of wiring in the schools is done by contractors, following standards established by PSD. Security is a major component of their network, as student information is available to schools across the network. The District also provides PC's for teachers on a 3 year rotation. The technology bond issue is in place until 2007, and while some of the mill levy supports technology, the majority of the needs will have to be funded from either a continuation of the bond, or other ways to provide equipment and technology to the teachers and students. Technology planning is based on the number of students in the district. Right now the number is about 23,000. PSD is also working on a wireless strategy. Wireless connections cost about $300 per user. The summer months are used to retrofit and upgrade their cable plant. The results of the economic downturn are presenting the District with obstacles, including a way to support technology with fewer employees. Since much of the funding for schools is based on enrollment, the loss of about 300 students creates additional strains on resources. Braun Mincher noted that while technology costs may come down, other costs are rising, presenting a continuing challenge. The plan to increase bandwidth may provide a way to increase distance learning and other teaching tools to meet some of the funding challenges. Mr. Bonsett cited efforts to attract students from home or charter schools. Schools of choice need to have technology in place to attract and retain these students. The District is also implementing a new record system that keeps information on each student, and integrated with tools that can push information out to parents, using voice mail, e-mail and other technology methods to keep parents informed and involved. Test scores, assignments and other information will be accessible by parents. Larry Bontempo thanked Mr. Bonsett for the update, and offered whatever support the Board might provide. He suggested that Mr. Bonsett visit the board again in the fall to provide an update on activities over the summer. Comcast update Stan reported on the Comcast branding in March. Logos for service trucks, changes of signage, etc took place. The founders visited the region and met with 95% of Comcast employees. The focus of the company is on video, with other things being secondary. Stan believes the emphasis on customer service will increase Comcast's competitive edge. From an operational perspective, things are going well. The operational methodology seems to be working to get more focus on customers. Stan mentioned the response to the recent blizzard was as high as possible. Denver had outages that were not experienced in Fort Collins, primarily because of the 06/03/03 underground plan. Customer service calls had to be switched out of the region because people in the call centers couldn't get to work. Things were back in place by Friday, and all service calls have been brought up to date. Reporting on upcoming activities, the domain migration for high speed internet customers will be coming. This will change the name from attbi.com to Comcast. E- mails are going out to subscribers explaining the process. Existing e-mail accounts will be able to keep the current attbi.com address until the end of 2004. Any new subscribers will be assigned the new domain name. Herb asked about local programming on channel 68. Stan explained that Comcast Media Services will do the programming for public access tapes that are presented by citizens for playback. Comcast is putting a server in place to digitize the tapes, which allows the replay schedule to be programmed more easily. Election of officers: Nominations for the position of Board Chair were opened. Curt Cramer nominated Larry Bontempo to continue in this position. Approval was unanimous. Curt Cramer was also appointed to continue his role as Vice -chair Other Business Larry brought up the emergency management notification system, and some of the audio level problems. Stan will look into it and work with the City to determine was might Ae done to improve the system. adjoug a :30 > Lawrence Staff Liaison Date Date 06/03/03