HomeMy WebLinkAboutTelecommunications Board - Minutes - 06/22/1999TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES
**** June 22, 1999 ****
*** 6:00 PM ***
Council Liaison: Kurt Kastein Staff Liaison: Liz Stroh
Members Present: Larry Bontempo, Howard Llowell, Tom Maher, Tim Tillson, Braun
Minchner, Greg Smith
Members Absent: Dave Augustine
City Staff Present: Eric Dahlgren, Gary Gordier, Liz Stroh
Guests: Kathy Stewart, TCI Area Manager
Chair Greg Smith called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM on June 22'.
Approval of Minutes: Tom Maher moved to accept the minutes as modified, Larry Bontempo seconded the
motion. Motion passed unanimously.
TCI Update: Area Manager Kathy Stewart reported that beginning July 1", customer service representatives
will begin answering the phone with their new name "AT&T Cable Services". She also announced an audit of cable
services will begin. TCI employees will check homes to verify that cable service provided to the home is being
received legally. TCI will offer an amnesty period prior to taking any legal action for theft of service.
TCl is adding another contractor to help with burying cable.
Tim Tillson asked about the progress of the @Home service. Kathy reported September is the target for the service.
TCI is currently certifying nodes as they are completed to verify they meet the @Home requirements. The audit
will also help with @Home requirement assessment as each home will be "toned out" to verify signal quality.
Kathy estimated that about 5,000 homes in the City have illegal service.
Tim asked about the number of TV's allowed in the home. Kathy explained that any number of TV's can be
hooked up to analog stations.
Franchise review update. Liz distributed copies of a preliminary report on the 5'^ Year Review and asked for
comments, concerns, or questions. She explained the methodology taken for the review and what the next steps are.
Board members made suggestions regarding format of the report.
Other Business:
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Legislative Update: Portland, Oregon won a district court case that will require ATT to allow access to their
cable system by other internet service providers, similar to the arrangement that requires US West to allow access to
their systems for other competitors wanting to provide local phone service.. Tom mentioned that Portland would
not approve transfer without commitment to open access. Kathy commented that AT&T believes that it will
become an FCC decision. Tim mentioned that there is precedent for access for CLEC's (Competitive local
exchange companies)s.
Howard brought up related issue related to who would own distribution system in a building. His concern focused
around how problems with distribution would be dealt with — who would the consumer call for service.
Braun Minchner compared this service to DSL (Digital Service Line), stating that he believes companies are
oversubscribing bandwidth. The rapid growth of on-line services is straining available bandwidth.
Board Activities:
Greg explained there was concern expressed regarding changing the meeting date from June 1" to June 22"^. Liz
explained the functions and authority of the board, according to information received from the City Attorney's
Office. Greg asked for input from the Board in terms of meetings, and activities. The members brainstormed
potential areas to explore:
Tim suggested that a topic for discussion might be to investigate problems that might occur with the entry of
competition in the local phone service market. Making council aware of what's coming may be helpful to them.
Larry is concerned about the role of "policing" the cable company, in that it is not the biggest issue for the board to
be concerned with. He cited the example of E911 and how that will work as of June 29 when numbers become
portable across vendors.
Further discussion included how to foster the build -out and use of the PRPA fiber loop, both for the community and
for the City government.
The Board members concluded that they wanted to become more proactive in bringing these issues to the attention
of City Council.
Tom mentioned identifying issues that need to be raised to City council- and wondered of the ability to use Council
Study Sessions to raise awareness of impacts of changes in technology.
Tim suggested changing the name of the group to more readily explain what is involved.
Gary suggested using the board as a lobbying group with state legislature.
Tom — suggested the board could be a lobby to TCI regarding progamming — or a way for board members to be
more verbal in providing feedback and input to providers — especially regarding services that might be desired.
Larry suggested having separate meetings with the Council Liaison if desired, rather than try to have a business
meeting with the Liaison present.
Howard suggested bringing a list of issues to board meeting, or sending them to Greg before the next meeting.
Next meeting will include time to prioritize what the Board wants to work on then figure out how to launch the
action items.
Meeting adjourned at 7:15 PM
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