HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 12/07/1999E
TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
**** December 7, 1999 ****
*** 6:00 PM ***
Council Liaison: Kurt Kastein Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh
Members Present: Larry Bontempo, Howard Lowell, Tim Tillson, Bill Murray, Braun
Mincher, Tom Maher
Members Absent: Greg Smith
City Staff Present: Gary Gordier
Eric Dahlgren
Liz Stroh
Guests: Kathy Stewart, Area Manager, AT& T Cable Services
Meeting was called to order at 6:05 by Acting Chair, Larry Bontempo
Approval of November Minutes.
Howard Lowell made a motion to approve the November minutes, as corrected. The motion was
seconded by Braun Minchner and passed unanimously.
TCI Update
Larry Bontempo, on behalf of the Board, thanked Kathy Stewart for the @Home demonstration
at the November meeting.
Kathy reported that AT&T Cable Services had targeted December 171h as the date the upgrade
would be complete. There are 1200 subscribers waiting for the implementation of the @Home
service. Tim Tillson was curious about when/if AT&T planned to offer phone service. Kathy
was not able to give any projections at this time. Larry Bontempo indicated interest in visiting
the City of Aurora when AT&T's system there is completely implemented. Kathy expressed
willingness to set up that visit whenever the Board would like to schedule.
Kathy also reported that AT&T Cable Services home office seems to be shifting policy related to
sharing cable bandwidth with other Internet Service Providers.
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Meeting with Council Liaison
The members agreed that meeting with Kurt Kastein would be beneficial, and suggested that
Thursday evening would work best for those in attendance. Liz will work with Greg Smith to
schedule the date and time. The Board members brainstormed some potential agenda items for
the meeting:
➢ What does City Council want/need from the Board
➢ Share information from field trip to Aurora with Councilmember Kastein. Some of
the potential items to investigate and report include billing for phone services, service
delivery, how service issues are dealt with, how the "last mile" connection is being
handled.
➢ Does Council have concerns about _l 1 services (411, 911, etc). At this point it is
unknown how alternate carriers will handle these services.
➢ How would Council like to inform the public of these activities. Should the Board
and/or Council be involved with information to the media.
➢ Is Council interested in learning more about the legislative issues related to
Telecommunications.
➢ Does Council want the Board to be more involved in the 800 MHz changes.
➢ Is there an opportunity to review the occupation tax and how that is implemented for
other telecommunications providers.
Competition
Gary reported that the City had been approached by two Telecommunications providers who
expressed preliminary interest in providing cable TV services to Fort Collins. Seren Innovations
and Wide Open West have issued press releases that announce their plans to investigate
opportunities along the Front Range. Eric reported that a provider called ATG has inquired
about providing data and voice services for small businesses in the community.
Howard moved to adjourn the meeting at 6:45PM; seconded by Bill Murray and passed
unanimously.
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